The Topeka state journal., 1899-10-12
War IS ON.
Beers Occupy Laings Mex and
Pour Into Natal
AS Soon as Their Ultimatum
Had Expired.
is NO FIGHTING YET
British Are Not Fixed to Offer
Resistance.
Kruger's Forces Moving In Two
Separate Columns.
is NO FIGHTING YET

London, Oct IA special from
Ladysmith says: The Beers occupied
Laings Mex the moment the ultimatum
expired. They are now pouring into
Natal and Ingogo Heights have been
occupied.
Ohcial confirmation of the announce
ment that the Orange Free State
burghers have entered Natal by way of
Van Reenens pass is at hand. 1t leaves
no further room for doubt that acts of
war have already been committed and
that the campaign has begun.
News of an invasion on the northern
border is also generally accepted as re-
liable. It seems improbable, therefore,
that a clash between the forces of
Briton and Boer can long be delayed,
if, indeed, it has not occurred already
This mornings dispatches furnish
ample details of the situation on the
frontier and enable a clearer exposition
of the military status. 1t now seems
that the Beers intend to act in two
columns, those from the Transvaal
working from the north and those from
the Orange Free State working from
the west with the object of keeping the
British forces at Ladysmith and Dun
dee occupied while parties of Beers slip
past to destroy the bridges along the
railway forming the line of communica-
tion between the British at Durham,
Natal the advanced base at Pieter-
maritzburg, and the front.
1t is regarded as possible that the
Beers will attempt to occupy Estcourt,
where there are only a hundred men of
the naval brigade and the news that the
Beers are raiding Zululand in the
neighborhood of Eshowe, is taken as
confirmation of this possibility.
NO IMMEDIATE FIGHTING.
New York, Oct IA Tribune spe-
cial from London sss5s:
A state of was has been philosophically
accepted since 3 o'clock p. m, London
time. Military officers agree that the
first act of war will be the invasion of
Natal during the night and the occu-
patton of the battlefeIds of the first
war of Independence Iaings Mex and
Majuba Hill. AS no British force is be-
lieved to be within fifty miles of the
tunnel leading into the Transvaal i'm
mediate fighting is not expected in that
quarter. BOer raids against Mafeking
and in the rear of the British position
at Ladysmith are considered likely, but
q military expert Scoffed at the idea
that the defensive line already occupied
could be broken by any attack from the
Transvaal.
1.-The campaign will not be a serious
one,' he said, until the beginning of
December, when Gen. Sir Redvers
Butler will be prepared to march
through the open country of the Orange
Free State and leave Sir George White
well entrenched in Natal. The Beers
will not be allowed to fight on their
favOrite battlefelds-"
Mr.. Chamberlain's reply to Secretary
Reitzs ultimatum is known to be brief
and barely civil. His work ended when
Reitz's insolent dispatch arrived. There
is general revulsiOn of feeling
throughout the country respecting the
whole controversy. The nation is sud
denly united as one man in defense of the
empire. The outgoing soldiers received
the greetings of excited and enthusias-
tic multitudes. War is now welcomed,