Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1899-11-04
| |BOERS WAITING FOR
| JOUDERT'S COLUMN
Postpone Attack on Ladysmith Until
Reinforcements Reach
Them.
BREATHING SPELL FOR BRlT0NS
BOer 1nnctiOn Gives Them a Much
Needed Rest--Kruegcr Is tic.
ported To Have Arrived
at Glencoe.

London, Oct. 3i.-The position at
tadysmith, without being alarming, is
sufficiently dangerous to excite anx-
iety. Evidently the Beers are trying
to repeat their Dundee tactics. Rough
iy estimated, they have 1900 men, as
against $4,000 British.
General Sir George Stewart White
has the better artillery, but his is OF
lesser range. The delay In the Boer
attack Is reported to be due to the
non-arrival of Commandant General
Joubert's column. This has given the
British a much needed respite after
their recent eXertions.
Everything, il is now considered,
hinges upon General Whites re-
sources and judgment. Nothing is
konwn regarding the progress of de-
fensive works for the protection of
Ladysmith.
The censorship is more active than
ever. According to the Daily Chron-
icle's correspondent "the new regula-
tions limit the number OF words al
lowed for press messages TO one
fourth of the number allowable be.
fore"
Farmers in the neighborhood Of
Ladysmith have left their farms and
stock to the mercy of the Beers and
are congregating in the town. The
two guns the Beers have mounted
are powerful weapons. They are the
ones used in shelling Dundee, and 1t
Is matter of conside rable surprise
how they managed TO transport such
heavy pieces.
Again Il is reported that President
Kruger accompanied GeneralJoubert
to the front in d splendidly fitted trav
cling wagon.
The Standards correspondent al
Ladysmith, telegraphing Saturday
sends a statement that the Beers have
captured 1,5O0 mules, loss that must
seriously inconvenience the British
transports. The attempt of the Beers
TO cut the railway at Peters was frus
trated by British cavalry.
The wife OF General Jan Kock has
arrived at Ladysmth under n flag OF
truce to nurse her wounded husband
All the unwounded Boer prisoners
have been sent to Durham to prevent
any attempt at rescue.
The explanation of the alleged Boer
massacre at Dundee appears to be that
portion of the town guards, al
though fairly warned by General fule,
before his retirement, continued to
carry arms and thirty OF them were
shot before the Beers discovered who
they were.
The body of Cir William Symons
was buried without a coffin, shrouded
in the union jack.
Later accounts of the first battle
and the evacuation of Dundee do not
give these affairs a roster hue. Ow-
ing TO the shelling of Glencoe camp
the telegraph operators were com
PEELED to scamper with numerous un-
forwarded dispatches.
When the Beers entered Dundee
they INDUCED in general looting of
stores, but apparently did not other
wise molest the populace.
In the first battle the Beers captured
the Maxim of the Eighteenth hussars,
but only after the entire crew of the
gun, with one exception, had been dis
abled. The survivor effectually dam
aged the gun. Only two officers of
the staff of General Symons came off
without wound.
Again 1t is asserted the moment the
Royal Dublin fusileers reached the
summit of the Kopie at Glencoe the
Beers showed white flag and asked
n truce to bury their dead. The Brit
ish artillery was ordered to cease fir
ing and the Beers took advantage Of
the opportunity to retreat EN- masse.
Otherwise they would have been deci-
mated by the British cannon.
The special correspondent of the
Daily Mail at Ladysmith, telegraphing
Sunday, describes the arrival Of the
war balloon there on Saturday. 1t was
welcomed, he said, with wild dances
by the Kafiirs, who regard it as deity.
Generals White and Hunter both as
cended on Sunday and reconnoitered
the enemy's position.
According to the latest reports from
Cape Town, General Joubert has
Joined hands with the Free State
forces, and there has been some out
post fighting. President Krueger has
arrived at Glencoe.