The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-03-24
CRONJE'S INCREDUL1TY.
His Refusal to Believe the Report OF
Lord Roberts's Thanking Movement

= COuHt AqdlDefS SteriDeIS, YUM
. Austrian noble, well-known in Vienn
: society, who spent couple of months Il
the western Boer camp, up to his cap
ture by the English on February Is, ha
, given the London correspondent of tn
ticulars of the effect produced upon tn
burghers by the unexpected appear
ance of the British forces in the Orang'
Free State. These fully confirm the
opinion previously expressed that Gen
eral Cronje had utterly failed to recog
nize the significance and object of Lore
Roberts's strategic move.
Count Sternberg had arrived at Mag
ersfontein shortly after the Boer vic
tory of December II. He found tbs
camp in jubilant spirits. The burghers
were accustomed to sing psalms anc
hold Divine service while they We're be-
ing bombarded by the naval guns Early
in February they began to observe the
arrival of large massea of troops in the
English camp, and on the 10th they re-
ceived news of the British advance on
Koffyfontein. Count Sternberg immedi-
ately rode to Jacobsdal to reconnoitre,
and actually came in sight of three
British patrols. That evening goo burg
hers were sent to check the advance of
the British cavalry. General Cronjes
opinion was that the English were adj
vancing on Faureemith. via Koffyfon-
TEN, with the object of cutting off the
retreat of the Boer detachment at Coles
berg. Another possibility was that the
advance was merely a feint on the left
flank, intended to weaken the defence
at Magersfontein.
On the morning of the 18th Count
Sternberg, attracted by heavy artillery
fire, found the English endeavoring to
cross the Ramdam ford, opposed by the
Beers, whose lines extended along the
Riet river, towards Koffyfontein. Two
wounded Inniskilling Dragons told him
| that Lord Kitchener (sic) was proceed
ing to the relief of Kimberley with H.
000 men. While bathing in the Riet the
Count himself saw several English regi-
ments march past Escaping notice, he
galloped back to Cronjes camp, and
told what he had seen. He met with
general incredulity, the Beers insisting
that large bodies of troops neither would
nor could undertake such movement.
The only action taken by General Cron-
je waie to send 200 men across the river
to cut off the English transport wagons,
which they succeeded in doing.
On the following day, five English
miles from camp, Count Sternberg saw
at a short distance, huge clouds of
dust. which indicated the presence be-
Il; af l,a
march At this time General Cronje
was in the trenches at Magersfontein
in constant expectation OF an attack.
Count Sternberg's news was laughed at
by the Beers in camp, who were all con-
vinced that he was mistaken. 1t was
not possible to dissipate their doubts
until one of their own number, Com
missary Arnold, accompanied the Count
later on and himself saw the British
cavalry under General French and the
burning Free State camp which they
had destroyed. Some skirmishing then
after which the burghers oc-
cupied favorable positions and took no
more trouble to follow the movements
Of the enemy.
1t was not until the next day that
General Cronje began to recognize the
Of the situation. The can
non were hastily withdrawn from Ma
two guns being despatched
to attack General Frenchs cavalry In
the engagement at Kalkfontein the dis
order wac such that Major Albrecht's
fired on distant attachments
without knowing for certain whether /
they were burghers or English. Even
that afternoon the Beers were still of /
opinion that the attack was directed
against their camp, and consequently /
set about raising defences in the rear.
Landdrost Steyn, who arrived from
Jacobsdal, was convinced that the game
was lcct on the Modder river, while
General Cronje still awaited the main
lttack in the intrenchmente a Mayors
ontein, and did not wish to weaken his
position there. The immediate vicinity
# the British with a large force Of ar
ilery had created great confusion in
he camp, which at two o'clock in the
morning removed to a safer position
bout three English miles to the south
vest. The breaking up of the camp
realty affected the spirits of the entire
3oer force When the British renewed
he attack early next morning III was
vdent to Count Sternberg that the
urghers had no stomach for the fight.
lie says;
"As ! rode out / met numbers of fly
lg Beers, whom I vainly endeavored to
estrain. The panic was general, and
ach sought safety in the intrenchments
Magersfontein. AS the supreme con-
'ol was quite ineffective, and had, so
} speak, ceased to exist, no combined
ction could be carried out that day.
owarda noon, when large number of
oers had already made off a very bad
oirt began to prevail in camp. The
ield Comets urged Cronje to summon
council of war, and although most
the Boer officers, including their bsst
ZEN. were absent conducting opera
ons elsewhere, those present decided
the camp and retreat to
via 'Olifantsfontein 1t
lme to high words at this council, at
hich Villebois and | were also present.
he majority Of the Free State burghers,
no We're anxious for their cattle and
'operty, positively insisted upon the
treat. Vienna Correspondence Lon
N Times
D MEDICAL SCHOOL CLASS BOOK. !
The Yale Medical echool faculty 50
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