The record-union., 1899-10-13
GREENE LEAVES PRETORIA

| River.
GREENE LEAVES PRETORIA.
CAPE TOWN, Oct. 12.-News has
been received here that the British di-
| plomatic agent in the Transvaal,
| Conyngham Greene, paid his farewell
| visits to President Kruger and the
high Boer officials at Pretoria last even
| ing.
| In the Cape House of Assembly to-
| day Premier Schreiner made an i'm
l passioned appeal to the country and
| the press to preserve the peace 1t
| is asserted that Mr. Schreiner refused
| to sign the proclamation of the Gov
ernor of Cape Colony, Sir Alfred Mil
| ner, declaring all persons abetting the
| enemy in a state of war against Great
Britain to be guilty of treason.
1t is understood that the military
authorities will Immediately establish
a censorship over all kilograms to and
from Cape Colony as has already been
done in Natal.
Last evening the Drainage Free State
| commando moved nearer the western
| border in the direction of Modder River
All available troops of the garrison
of this district were dispatched to a
| point nearer the western border last
night. ttsi
BOERS CROSS INTO CAPE COLONY
LONDON, Oct 12-The Free State
Burghers, according to a private mes
sage just received, have crossed the
Orange River into Cape Colony and
have occupied Philipstown. Their OBJ
| ject, it is supposed is to cut the rail-
way at De Aar Junction, which is con-
sidered an important strategic point.
According to a dispatch from Cape
Town, it is asserted there that the
Beers have arranged with Chief Linch-
We, a prominent chief of the north
western border, to take UP arms
against Great Britain.
A dispatch from Mafeking under to-
days date says that Colonel Baden
Powell has just sent strong British
force from Mafeking toward the bor-
| der, with field guns and ambulances,
presumably with a view of occupying
advantageous defensive high ground
Dispatches from Durham, Natal, con-
| firm the report that the Orange Free
State authorities seized the Natal
train that was leaving Ladysmith yes
terday morning for Harrismith. They
also stopped a train due to leave Har-
rismith tomorrow. All the rolling stock
has been ordered down the country out
of reach of seizure.
1t is understood that telegraphic
communication with the Transvaal
ceased punctually at o'clock yester-
day afternoon, Transvaal time.
MOVEMENTS OF BOERS.
All kinds Of rumors are telegraphed
from South Africa regarding the Boer
movements. Apart from the advance
of the Volksrust and Van Keenan, COM
mandos, reports have arrived of the
concentration of the Utretch and Vry-
heir commandos toward the drifts along
the Buffalo River, east of Dundee.
One of the special correspondents at
Ladysmith expresses the opinion that
a Boer commando of some 200 men WIS.,
tied Newcastle on Tuesday, made pur-
chases and then withdrew These, he
suggests, may have given rise to the
reports regarding the occupation of
Laing's Mex. + Ia
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 col
umnS, those from the Transvaal work
ing 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 commune
cation between the British at Durham,
Natal, the advanced base at Pieter-
maritzburg and the front. 1t is re-
garded as possible that the Beers will
attempt to occupy Estcourt, where there
are only hundred men of the naval
brigade, and the news that the Beers
are raiding Zululand in the neighbor-
hood of Eshowe is taken as a confirma-
tion of this possibility.
An easy road connects Eshowe and
Estcourt through Greytown and Pam
poennek, and from Greytown it is also
an easy reach to Howpick to the south
If the bridges along the Umgenie River
were destroyed this would increase the
difficulty of reinforcing the British.
However, it is still suspected that the
entire Boer concentration on the from
tiers of Natal may be merely an elab-
crate feint to draw off attention from
Mafeking, which many experts regard
as the real objective point of the Beers
A successful dash there would give the
Beers great prestige with the disaf-
fected Afrikanders in the colony.
Colonel Baden-Powells movement at
Mafeking this morning is held to in
dicate that he is not prepared for sharp
fighting, but probably expects it at that
point.
Five of the leading South African
firms in London have subscribed $4,000
each to the Lord Mayors fund for the
relief of refugees. The directors of Sir
cided to acquiesce in a suggestion
cabled by him from New York that all
reservists on the company's pay roll be
given half pay during their absence and
be reinstated in the companys employ
after hostilities are ended.
Hiram S. Maxim, chief engineer and
director of the Maxim -Nordenfeldt
Guns and Ammunition Company, linn
tied, in an interview to-day said: $50
far as / am aware the Beers possess
thirty Maxims, but the British could
not fear the Boer artillery, which has
always proved a source of weakness
rather than strength to the Burghers."
After warmly approving armored
trains and pointing out how useful they
had been to Americans in the Philip
pines, he said: 1.-THE Beers remind me
of the people of the Southern States Of
the American Union. They are excel
lent marksmen, and as good fighters