The Saint Paul globe., 1900-06-12
GREAT FORCE AT HlCHlDODORP
FIFTY THOUSAND BRITISH TROOPS
CLOSING IN ON BOERs NEAR
KROONSTAD
THE REVERSE AT RooDEvAL
Later Details Show 1t to Have Been
as Disastrous as First Re-
pOrted-Many BOers
Surrender.

LONDON, June 12.-The Lourenzo
Marques correspondent of the Times says:
"At Machadodorp President Kruger has
assembled 12,OoO Beers. Stores are being
moved as quickly as possible from that
point at Lydenburg. The Portuguese au-
thorities sent further body of troops to
the border today"
OVERWHELMING FORCE.
LONDON, June IL, $3.50 a. m-Fifty
thousand British troops are within half
hundred miles of the marauding Beers
north of I<roonstad, and they are expect
ed, of course, to make short work of
them. Nevertheless, outside Of the slen-
der war office kilograms, no one knows
what Is going on. South of KroonstaG
there is a wide gap. The railway is only
partially defended, and as Gen. Kelly
Kenny has hurried all the available troops
northward, the assumption is that there
is danger of a second raid. The loss of
the Derbyshires is estimated at from 400
to 700 men.
A Reuter- dispatch from Maseru, dated
June II, S:35 p. M, says:
Fifteen hundred Boers surrendered TO
Gen. Brabant in the Ficksburg district"
Machadodorp has been officially pro
claimed the capital of the Transvaal A
Lourenzo Marques dispatch says that the
village has swollen into small city, the
majority of the new corners living IN tents
An official Boer telegram asserts that
the British have been defeated with con-
siderable loss at Donkerspoort, in the
southern extremity of the Free State, or
Orange River Colony, ten miles from Nor
valspont. 1t was thought that this dis
trict had been cleared Of Beers and rebels
long ago.
The Beers still cling to Laings Mex.
but Gen. Buffers forces are still working
far around in that direction. Lord Rob
erts has wired Cape Town that priGr TO
Wednesday, he liberated 151 officers and
! 3,5G0 of the rank and file. The Beers, con-
sequently, only took off 800.
A Boer deserter who arrived at Maseru
yesterday asserts that 1000 Beers partict-
pated in the Rooekrantz engagement, that
Cen Olivier was killed and Gen. de Viii
liers mortally wounded.
ROODEVAL AFFAIR
LONDON, June II. = Lieut. Gen. Sir
Frederick Forester Walker, in command
of the lines of communication in South
Africa, reports that in the disaster to the
British troops June Z, at Roodeval, where
the Beers cut Lord Roberts line Of com
nunication, the Fourth battalion of the
Derbyshire regiment was all killed,
wounded or made prisoners, except six
enlisted men. Two officers and fifteen
men were killed and FIVE officers and sew
| enty-two men wounded, many of them
! severely The Beers returned the wound
ed to the British. The officers killed
were Lieut. Col Baird Douglas and
Lieut. Hawley. The wounded include
Col Wilkinson and Lieut.. Blanchard, of
the Canadian infantry.
The following telegram has been re-
ceived from Charles Knox:
''Kroonstad-The following casualties,
reported from Roodeval, June Z, received
from Stoneham, commanding the I'm
perial Yeomany hospital, dated Rhenos-
ter river, June 8, received here by flag of
truce, June 10: The Fourth battalion Of
the Derbyshlre regiment (the Sherwood
Foresters) killed: Col Baird-Douglas
and Lieut.. Hawiey and fifteen of the
rank and file; wounded, Col. Wilkinson,
Capt. Bailey, Lieuts. Hall, Lawder and
Blanchard, and fifty-nine of the rank
and file; the Shropshire light infantry
one; Cape Pioneer Railroad regiment,