Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-05-29
Pretoria Be the
Beers Last Ditch?"

base when 1t was stopped by an oppos-
ing force Of Beers, then allowed to go
on until, at Modder River, it lost more
than 900 men, and was obliged to stay
there at the Beers pleasure
General Butler had intended to assail
the Free State, but he was alarmed at
the reports from Ladysmith and gave
the command Of the army Of invasion
over to Gatacre, himself going to the
relief Of General White. But General
Gatacre walked right into a Boer trap
at Stormberg, and for long time it
was feared that his whole force would
either be captured or destroyed. AS for
Butler, all the world knows what hap
pened to him; in brief, it was what
happened to all the others-he was out
generated, brought to halt and only
allowed to fight whenever the Beers had
him at a disadvantage and could
slaughter his men without overexpos-
ing themselves.
During the first two months of the
war the Beers had round half dozen
Of the British generals bottled up
and there they were kept until the ar
rival of overwhelming e-enforcements
under Lords Roberts and Kitchener.
With the coming of Little Bobs"
things took on more roseate hue BY
the skillful use of the enormous forces
at his command he thanked that re-
doubtable old lion Cronje out of his
lair and eventually caused his surren-
der. with several thousand of his men,
Another great loss to the Beers about
this time was the death by disease of
General Joubert and the capture of sew
eral foreign auXiliaries who were serv-
i,,er f,o fed
leaguered points were relieved but
Mafeking, one after another, the Beers
sullenly retreating toward their great
central base in the direction of Pretoria.
This withdrawal, however, can hardly
be called retreat, since it had been
anticipated in the Boer scheme of OPP
CREATIONS and was expected by them in
case the British came upon them in
Overwhelming numbers But they con-
tinued to harass the British lines of
by sudden dashes at ex-
posed points and by gathering in small
detached bodies of infantry or cavalry,
and whenever the van of the English
columns came up with the rear guard
of their enemies they discovered that
the snarling boar had teeth, which it
used to good advantage upon the too
sanguine foe.
After the inevitable capture of the
Free State capital, Bloemfontein, Rob-
erts halted awhile to rest and recuper-
ate-to perfect his line of communica-
ton with the Cape, nearly 700 miles in
length; to replenish his exhausted
stores, and to fill the gaps in the caval-
ry ranks.
Up to this point the respective losses
were all of two to one against the Brit
ish, and the number of prisoners, ag-
gregating over 1900, have become Sc,
we're tax upon the hospitality of the
Beers, Notwithstanding the vast
amounts of provisions of all kinds they
have been accommodating for years.
Great Britain now has 100000 men in
the field commanded by the greatest
of her generals and supported at an ex-
pense which the British taxpayer may
well regard with dismay. At last, but
|only after having it hammered into her
by repeated thrashings, she has taken
the real measure of her antagonist and
has come to the conclusion that he is
mot SO easy" after all.
I But the kernel Of the matter - this: