The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-01-25
Night Closes With Both Sides Oc-
cupying the Same Positions.
. an Artillery Duel, with the Brit
ish Loss Reported Small and the
Boer Loss Unknown-The War Of
fice at London Professes to Have
No News to Give Out-Portuga1
stops the Parties EN- Route
Through Her Territory to the
Transvaal-Boers mt Maegersfon-
tein Are Suffering From Fevers.

LONDON. Jan. 25.--1he Daily Telegraph
publishes the following dispatch from
Spearmans farm, dated Tuesday. January
%, $50 p. M:
ION Monday Sir Charles warren's force
cannonaded and fusilladed the Boer posi-
ton west OF Spionkop. near the Acton
Homes road. A lyddite battery co-operat-
ed with the other batteries and Maxims.
Certainly the fire was beavy. causing the
enemy serious losses.
''The Beers. however. clung desperately
to their works, from which they are only
being very slowly driven. Today the en-
emy fired their guns oftener. using also
the captured fifteen-pounders. with shrap-
mel Our casualties today were less than
those of yesterday.
Fighting began about In the morning,
and continued until dark. but there has
been nothing like a general engagement.
The naval big guns assisted from Pot
gieters drift in shelling the Boer position"
Not an Inch Gained.
A dispatch to the Times from Spearmans
camp. dated Tuesday, $3.50 p M. says:
.'The Beers today had more guns, and
are preparing to fight almost fnterminably,
having intrenched their ridges, which
stretch in an almost unbroken line from
the Drakensberg many miles eastward.
Firing continued throughout the day.
We have not advanced any further. but
threw UP intrenchments during the night,
from behind which the musketry duel con-
tinued from exactly the same position as
yesterday
Beers Abandon . Hill.
SPEARMANs CAMP, Jan. q. $3.50 p. M
The British field artillery and howitzers
shelled the enemy. posted on the crest Of
the ridge, this morning.
The infantry. under excellent cover. kept
up an effective rife fire. The Beers re-
signed kopje. Of which the British in
fantry' took possession. When retiring
the enemy sheltered themselves behind
stone wall on the slope of the kopje. which
they held for hours.
This afternoon they ran across the ra-
vine. The British artillery poured shrap-
mel and IyddIte into them and the infantry
took the stone wall.
The British casualty list was small.
Contectures and Forecasts.
LONDON, Jan. Is, Ais a. m.-The az
semblage in Pail Mall outside the war
office and those privileged TO wait in the
Hobbies reluctantly dispersed at midnight
after the final word that nothing would be
announced. The morning papers went to
press with conjectures and forecasts OF
all sorts, striving to guess out something
from Spionkop.
Typographical maps show that Spionkop
is the highest part Of a rocky plateau East
ward. about eight miles, are the Boer
positions along the Tugela. NorthwestwArd
from Spionkop the plateau runs gradually
UP to a great spur of the Drakensberg.
Gen. Buffers infantry, TO reach the sum-
init of Spionkop, must cross natural
glacis, three-quarters of mile wide and
climb 500 feet up steep slope.
Where Are the Reinforcementsg
Nobody here seems to know, not even
the war office. what Lord Roberts has done
with his large reinforcements. Six thou
sand troops were awaiting his arrival at
Cape Town and since then 6.0O0 others have
reached there. Military critics are all hop
ing that a good share of these 1900 have
gone to help Gen. Butler and they argue
that few days wait may make him strong
enough to overcome the deadlock
There are 1900 troops at sea and this
heavy weight on the British side is ex-
pected to destroy the equilibrium now exist
ing on every field of operations.
Losses Up to Dnte.
The British losses up to date in killed.
wounded and captured. according to Gen.
Buffers last list, totals S,216 men.
Parody ON the Recessionnl.
r. w. Reitz, the Transvaal state secre-
tary, has written a parody on Mr.. Kip
lings "Recessional." 1t is entitled PRO
gressional," and is dedicated to "Mudyard
Pipling." The first stanza follows:
Goods of the jingo. brass and gold,
Lords of the world by right divine.
Under whose baneful sway they hold,
Dominion over mine and thine
Such lords as these have made them rotten.
They have forgotten They have forgot
ten!
Ambassador Choate Calls.
United States Amba bassador Choate called
twice on Lord Salisbury yesterday which
was the regular diplomatic day.
The Cape Town correspondent of the
Times. teiegraphing Tuesday, says:
1.-THE bondites are preparing to seize the
first decisive British victory or the invas-
ion of republican territory as the signal
for violent peace agitation. They will
accompany their appeal to magnanimity by
covertIy limiting that they are unable to
restrain the Dutch eolonists from rising"
Boers Getting Beyond Control.
The correspondent Of the Times at