The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1900-06-13
THE B0ERS TEAR UP
VlTALRAILW AY LINE
Connecting the British army
With Its Base of Supplies.
MAY CHECK LORD ROBERTS
OPERATIONS.


OPERATIONS.
London, June IL, 80 a. m.-The
Beers have torn up 81 miles of Lord
Roberts vital line of railway between
America siding aud Roodeval. 1t is
= bold raid and vexatious. but it does
not dlsquiet the military authorities
as yet, for they expect Gen Kelly.
Kenny to drive off the marauders and
to reopen the line
The rapidity of the advance of
Lord Roberts cannot have permitted
him to accumulate large reserves of
stores Therefore an interruption of
the railway, even for q week. must
embarrass the army and may bring
the forward operations to q stand
still
Nothing has been heard from Lord
Roberts for three days This raid on
the railway, the strenuous opposition
to Gen Rumble and the nimble escape
Of Commandant General Botha's di.
vision have forced the war Office oh
servers to the reluctant conclusion
that the war IS not yet over, although
even the occasional civilian Boer
sympsthizer cannot see how the
Beers will be able to do anything to
change the result
Gen Butler is in Boer territory.
Dispatches Of correspondents with
him. filed yesterday at sunset. de.
scribe the corps as camping at Gan.
soIei. close to the point where the
frontiers of the Free State, the Trans.
vaal and Natal meet.
"The British marched eight miles
yesterday" says q Reuter- cores.
pondent, "before encountering any
opposition The Beers. who had
one gun. withdrew under heavy ord
nance fire to ridge just ahead of
the Damp"
This long range, running skirmish
will doubtless be renewed this morn
ing Gen Butler ia expected to make
rapid progress now and to throw the
weight of 10000 men into Lord Rob
erts' Transvaal combinations
The fighting on June 6, in which
there we're fewer than 20 casualties,
was kept up ell day long by mueket
~ and artillery. The British attack.
ing line, three miles in length, made
it's way amid the precipitous hills
A Boer gun on Spitz kop fred
shrapnel rapidly ct a range of 400
yards at the British right flank, but
every shell was buried in the ground
before bursting. The defensive
power Of modern weapons seems lees
effective in rough country than upon
levels. where wide spaces can be
covered with fiat trsjectories
Gen. Rundle's and Gen. Brabaut's
divisions are still at Hammonia, in
the Ficksburg district.
The latest intelligence from their
headquarters is that the Beers are de
termined to fight to the bitter end.
They are concentrating 1000 men
around Bethlehem. The country be
tween them and Gen Rumble is
mountainous and resembles northern
Natal in being exceedingly difficult
for military operations
Gen. Rundle's present care is to
prevent the Beers getting past aim
southward. Maj Wood. of Bundles
staff, rode to Boer outpost on June
6 .and announced that Pretoria bad
been occupied by the British How
the Beers received the news ia not
recorded Altogether 600 Beers
have surrendered to Gen RundIe
Gen Hunters advance has occu-
pied Ventersdorp, 100 miles south.
west of Pretoria. This took place on
June I
Gen. Pumer's column ia on the
Glands river, northwest of Pretoria
The British are sending detachments
right and left to accept the surrender
of commanders, horses, cattle and
forage, aud to overswe the sparsely
settled country Thus for only one
small commando has been heard of, q
commando at Tailbasch
Gen. Hunters immediate objective
is Potchefstroom This town aud
Rustenburg are the largest towns
west Of Johannesburg. II is reported
that Potchefstroom is ready to sub
NIT Gen HuHter has warned eli
burghers that If the telegraph is cut
behind him he will send back and
burn the houses near tho line.
The Dutch in Cape Colony appear
to have split. q majority of the Afri
kander buud being displeased by the
unwillingness of Mr.. Schreiner, the
Cape premier, to go the full length of