Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-12-14
Was the Reverse Suffered
by Gen. Methuen.
POSITION HE. ATTACKED
Was an Easy One For the Beers to
Defend and the Enemy Outnum-
bered the British Three to One.
Hope CenterS in Gen. Butler.

London, Dec. IA. 4:45 a. m.-Each inn
portant battle seems to bring a worse
reverse for the British, and the papers
this morning sorroWfully admit that
Lord Methuen's check at Magersfontein
is the most serious event the war has
yet produced. The Morning Post says:
w have had our day of humiliation
appointed for us. Let us accept it hum
bly and soberly and be better and
stronger for the lesson it has taught us.
This last reverse will make us a fresh
butt of Europe. There never was a more
apt occasion to prove to Europe VIA
we are worth" -
The position Lord Methuen assaulted
is thus described by a correspondence:
"Magersfontein range terminates on the
east with an abrupt saddle rock, some
$50 feet high. Boer entertainments run
around the whole front. The position
is some two miles long, due east and
west. The western end of the trenches
follow the contour of the kopjes and
afford a retreat"
1t is estimated here tina Lord Meth
uen's forces amounted to II, 900 and per-
haps more. Mo reliable estimate of his
losses has yet been received. They are
believed to have been at least $50. All
the papers comment upon the extreme
gravity of the situation and upon the
momentous decision Lord Methuen now
mas to take-whether to remain at Mod
der river or to retire on Orange river.
The Times says: A least 80, 1000 addi-
tional men must be sent out. The en-
tire available reserve must be called I'M
on and the militia and volunteers turn
ed to account. Efforts must be made
to increase the local colonial forces and
further offers of troops from Canada and
other colonies must be sought and ac-
cepted.'
The Standard, which comments upon
the seemingly astonishing number of the
Beers" is driven to the conjecture that
a substantial portion of the Boer COM
mands have been recruited from Cane
Dutch.
All eyes are now turned hopefully to
General Butler, who, taking into account
the troops with General White in Lady
smith, has altogether 80, 900 men. The
must he few men in her majesty's doni-
MONS who have as great a weight of
care upon them as General Butler car
ries on his shoulders"
A dispatch from Boer sources says that
Kimberley remained quiet during the
Dattle at Magersfontein.
The special correspondent of the Daily
Mail at Modder river, describing the
fighting, avs: 'The Boer trenches ex-
tended far beyond the kopje into the open
plain. Those on the plain We're hidden
by screens of leaves: Those near the
kopje We're guarded by a double line of
barbed wire. Evidently they feared our
storming and bayonet attack.
we raked the kopje and trenches with
an intense, we'll directed fire of 30 guns.
including a naval gun and a howitzer
battery. both using lyddite. believe
they effected severe damage. The Boer
prisoners report that one lyddite shell
fell among 40 men. only five of whom es-
capped unhurt. Other shells burst in
the enemy's lager, causing it's complete
destruction. Thu Beers are in still larger
force at fModder, outnumbering US three
to one.'
London, Dee. 13.-Julian Ralph, describ- :