The Saint Paul globe., 1900-06-04
Fighting FOR THE BI)ERS
GEN. BLAKE, A FORMER TEXAS
COWBOY, WRITES TO AN
OLD FRIEND
LITTLE USE FOR THE BRITISH
Gives Some Figures to Show What
Handful of Men Has
Done Against an
Army.

DALLAS, Tex, June 3-Gen. ]. Y. P.
Blake. commander of the First brigade
In the Boer army, was a Texas cowboy
In early life. Alexander w Robertson.
Of Denton county, received the following
letter from Gen. Blake today:
"Helprnarra, Natal. April 1, 1900: I
must thank you and all my friends for
the interest you have shown for me and
my welfare as an Old Texan Of Denton
county.
Yes, am no other fellow but the
Beau Beau Blake who you well knew many
years ago. Here l am in the most ad-
Xanced position of the left flank of the
Boer forces in Natal, surrounded by
mountains and face to face with the
English, and as / write these words
can see the enemy's camp and he can
see mine. Each is waiting for the other
to strike. and when the crash comes I
thlnk Johnny Bull will as usual, make
a bold dash and then curl his tail over
his back and run for all that is In him.
put without leaving the greater part of
his best blood behind him. In every
Dattle so far his conduct has been de-
scribed and ne has been numerically
cut and slashed before making his es-
cape.
Think of It. Our total force in South
Africa so far has been $1,000. Our total
loss in killed wounded and prisoners has
been 661 killed $500 prisoners and about
l,4OO wounded. Before Cronje's capture
the English reported their losses to be
Il, 300 killed, 1900 wounded and prisoners
and missing enough to bring the total to
$4,000 Cronje had 1900 men and was
surrounded by 10000 men and 110 cannon.
Cronje had two cannon and two MaXims
He fought for six days and surrendered
because his ammunition gave out. He lost
43 Killed and aDout 120 wounded The
English lost in killed and wounded be-
tween 1900 and 10000 so that the total
English loss to date is not far from $1,000,
which leaves us still fighting 134010 I be-
neYe We wilt win with our little army,
because our force are better fighters. The
English soldier can murder, debauch and
plunder, but he cannot fight. Until this
war | believed the English soldier the
best In the world and now l place him
on par with the Spaniard. When I
tell you not one man more than $500
penned up LOCO English soldiers in Lady
smith for four months and that 1t took
$4,000 soldiers and $50 cannon to relieve
the Dutch fight. Five thousand Dutch
tried to stop the SO, eco, but failed because
they had but six cannon. 1t cost Butler
more than 1900 men to relieve 11,O00 in
Ladysmith.
I'VE are now 5000 strong along a line
forty miles long, holding in check about
$500 English. If they had the nerve
they could drive US back, but their loss
would be tremendous This war is to
destroy the liberty and independence of
the Dutch and deprive them Of their
gold fields to satisfy Rhodes, Chamberlain
and Miner. He that would serve hu-
manity best would have hung for their
perfidy the above trio of political ras-
Gals. The Dutch are too liberal, too
humane and too strict in their observance
of the rules governing civilized warfare
to contend with the English, who abused
the armistice, the Red Cross, the white
flag and murder wounded captives with
the lance on the battle neId.
THE Irish brigade which 1 have the
| honor 10 command, is composed of IRISH
| and Irish Americans. and braVer and
| more determined lot of men you will
never find anywhere. / have seen them
| put to the severest tests, but never yet
! has man swerved. They will prove
| themselves an honor and a credit to the
countries they hail from. I was wound
| ed in the right arm below the elbow
! by a shrapDel shell on Oct 30 at the
| battle of Modder Spruit, in front of
| Ladysmith. The bone was broken, the
| artery and main nerve cut and my arm
| is lost forever, except the thumb and
/ first finger. ! never left the battle field
| although / was laid up for six weeks
J On that day we had twenty-fOur cannon
| firing at us for eight hours. yet we
! completely routed the English. =
again thanking you for your kindness
and wishing you and all the boys all
| the joys and happiness possible in this
wide world of woe, / am, very sincerely,
y. Y. F. Blake"