The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-11-14
THE BULL AND THE B0ER
THEY ARE DOING IN TRANSVAAL
is KEPT SECRET.
THERE is ABSOLUTE CENSORSHIP

AAOOPlhE II
Public Completely I'm the Dark Some
Unimportant Dispatches Given Out
by the War Ofice-Rumor of Another
British Regiment Cut to Pieces-The
Middle Over the British Siege Train
Under Preparation.
London, November IL, 4:30 q. M
complete silence has again fallen
upon affairs in South Africa. The
British public must, per force, be con-
tent with the brief, ~stereotyped report
which the censor allows To filter
Through from Cape Town. That this
condition of things is nc longer due to
pressure of work or defective cables,
has been amply proven. The Eastern
Telegraph Company reckons that the
real delay in transmission Is about two
days. 1t is evident, therefore, hat the
censorship is responsible for The other
two days of delay which seems to oe-
ital all the dispatches. Moreover, the
Daily Telegraph that its
appropriated" dispatch from Lady
smith, dated Monday, which the war
office published on Tuesday was not
delivered in Fleet street until yester-
day Thursday morning. 1t is believ-
ed the var office received further dis
patches yesterday afternoon but none
has been published. 1t is expected
that General Butler never expected to
commence the campaign before Christ
mas, and it now looks as though this
will be the case. Certainly no artillery
can reach Durham before November
Hath; and without additional guns, an
advance from EStcourt would be i'm
possible.
No doubt, as Lord Salisbury said in
a recent speech, England will "muddle
Through it" and yet another illustra-
Ition of muddling has become apparent
in thefact that gunnery instructors
have only just arrived at WoolwiCn
arsenal for instruction in siege train
duties. Although hurried prepara-
ttions are being made to prepare the
Siege trains, the fact that the men are
at Davenport and the guns at Wool
witch seems to show that the idea of
the siege train was quite an after
Thought.
The Morning Post says: What will
Icome of such muddling, if we ever
come to fighting a foe able to turn it
to advantage? Some radical reforms
are still needed in our mobilization ar
Ir~angementS."
The statement from L%adysmith that
the British guns do not reply to the
IBoer artillery because the concrete beds
for the guns have not yet hardened, is
interpreted in some quarters to mean
simply that the British are outstanding
their ammunition, as the BOer fire is
only a trick to get the British to waste
shells.
Among the few items that have ar
rived from the Cape today is one say
ling that the Beers are planting more
IgunS in the hills surrounding Lady
smith. All the correspondents in the
~beleagured town are safe and anxious
Ito reopen communication.
A gentleman who visited Nicholson
Mex after the engagement counted
twenty-five killed and seventy
wounded.
The latest advices from Kimberley,
we'll there then. An explosion had been
heard, and the supposition was that
the Beers had blown the railway Gull
vert south Of Dronfield.
The Belgian government, it is said,
has warned DR.. Leyds, whose head
quarters are at Brussels, that Belgium
is a neutral country.
London, November 10.-Another ru-
NOR emanating from Amsterdam
sources says that "a British regiment
was decimaited Friday by Free Stat
Iers.' 1t is added that 600 Of the Brit
Iish soldiers were killed or wounded
and hat 800 horses were captured.
The British war office has received
from General Butler the following dis
patch:
Cape Town, Thursday, November 9.
Il nave received by ~pigeon-post from
General White today the following:
1.-The b~ombardment att long range
by heavy guns continues daily. A few
casualties are occurring, but nc seri-
Gus harm is being done The Beers
sent in today a number of refugees
from the Transvaal under a flag of
truce. A flag of truce from Lady
I--,;tL ,oo+ fLo~o o,,ECi1n tho riolzotc
When the party separated h BOer
gums fired on it before it reached ou1
Ipickets. Major Gale, of the royal en-
I%gineers, was wounded today while
sending a message. The entrench-
ments are daily growing stronger and
THE supply Of provisions is ample"
The war office this evening issued the
following:
From Butler, Cape Town, 12:4O p. m.
by message from Buluwayo, dated No
Ivember 3rd:
GA small onvOy and eScort under
ISpreckley, of Plumer's force, was at
Itacked by Beers November End. Six
men missing and los convoy"
The war office has also issued the
following:
"A report having appeared in the
South African papers that our artil-
Ilery fired on the Geneva flag, Genera.
IBuller telegraphs h following ac-
Icount of the incident given to The
standard and Diggers News by the
Rev. Mr.. Martens, a Dutch clergyman
with the Beers:
Directly after the first canno shot
1.-THE English thought our men were al
the railway station and fired there
They were not, but one of the shots
went through a. ambulance. AS soon
as they found their mistake they
Iceased firing. The ambulance, in ac-
lcordance with the usages, should have
been three miles from the field of bat
tie, SO the ambulance cannot claim the
English broke the usages of civilized
warfare; but / do not think the Eng
llish would have fired on them had they
known this. 1t was unintentianal.'"
A Bank Safe Cracked.
Melvern, Kas, November 10.-The
safe and office furniture of the Mel,
IT, 1911 -o-~ ~