Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1899-11-08
AL EYES ON LADYSM|TH.
War Office in London Does Net Credit
Rumor of the Surrender of
White to the Beers.
THE WIRE, HOWEVER, is INTERRUPTED.
Really Captured Ladysmith He Would
Only BE Too Glad TO Report 1t, for the
Moral Eject such q Victory Would
Have ON the War.

London, Nov. 5.-The following Off
cial announcement has been made by
the war Office: mo news has been re-
ceived from Ladysmith up to two
O'Clock this afternoon. We therefore
presume that the wire is still inter-
rupted." In spite of silence the Off
cials of the war Office do not credit the
various rumors as to the position of
the garrison and no grave anxiety is
felt at present regarding the ability of
Gen. White to hold his own.
The fact that the British war Office
has received no news of the situation
at Ladysmith seems to effectua1ly dis
pose of yesterdays contingent rumors
of Gen. Whites capitulation and kim
dred stories, as, if the general had sus-
tanned severe reverse there is no rea-
son to believe but that Gen. Joubert
would be only too glad to forward Gen.
Whites official announcement to the
nearest telegraph station, while, it is
added, had news of such serious char
acter reached a foreign government in
cipher it would undoubtedly have been
promptly conveyed to the British gov
ernment
As the Mozam bique cable is still
broken, it is impossible for any un-
censored messages to reach Europe,
with the exception of the dispatches of
foreign governments, and in view of
the fact that an important victory
would be of the greatest moral assist
ance to the Beers it seems obvious that
the Boer sympathizers- would make
such an event known as quickly and as
widely as possible. The war office
here is making every endeavor to COM
municate with Ladysmith, SO news
may arrive at any moment. In the
meanwhile, the best opinion is salts
fed that if Gen. White keeps strictly
on the defensive he will be able to hold
his own. The British experts smile at
the Boer plan of campaign, which con-
templates seizing Durham in order to
prevent the landing of British troops
there.
j. b. Robinson, the South African
millionaire, writes that Gen. White
will be perfectly safe if he sits tight at
Ladysmith, refusing to be induced by
the usual Boer tactics into being drawn
out with a view of inflicting a defeat
on the Beers
Next Saturday Maj. Gen. Buffers
troops will begin to arrive in South
Africa, and whether he decides to be-
gin an invasion of the Orange Free
State through de Aar junction and
send troops to- cooperate direct to Gen.
White, the situation will Immediately
be relieved.
The dispatches show that the forces
of the Orange Free State at length have
70 iY,un1a Co1o
forces are not overwhelming, but the
Dutch in the neighborhood of Coles
burg and Burghersdorp are exception
ally pro-Boer and their support is evil
IDENTIFY expected.
British Have Evacuated COlensO.
London, Nov. 5.-It is officially an
nounced that the British have evacu-
ated Colenso, south of Ladysmith.
Another "Bitter Pill" for London.
London, Nov. 3. News that Colenso
has been evacuated was another bitter
pill for the British, and is arousing
fears that the continental statements
of a second serious defeat of Gen. White
may prove true. A significant fact is
that the war office does not say when
Colenso was evacuated, SO that this
statement, which emanated Thursday
from DR.. Leyds, the diplomatic repre-
sentative of the Transvaal, who is To-
Gated at Brussels, that the Beers had
occupied Colenso, was possibly true.
There is much apprehension that the
war office is suppressing bad news
May Overrun All Natal.
London, Nov. 5.-Advices from Cape
Town show the people there are now
realizing the seriousness of the situa-
ton in Natal. The merchants are ap-
prehensive of the Beers overrunning
the entire country and it is reported
that many of them have instructed
their representatives to leave Pieter-
maritzburg. All this in spite of the
hopefulness of the military men.