The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-01-20
HIGH HOPES Of THE BoERs.
Are Generally Elated over Their
e,,ooa--.- G. r.

Successes So Far.
New York, Jan. 1s.-An idea of the
high hopes entertained in the Trans
wall republic of the outcome of the
war with Grea1 Britain is given in a
letter written by E. Houthakker, as
slstant station master at Johannes
burg, TO his sister in Brooklyn. The
letter was sent in November by way
OF Lourenzo Marquee. The letter says
in part;
We are getting used to it a bit now.
since Oct. Is no more letters reached
Us from beyond the Transvaal. A sol
itary cable dispatch manages to come
through occasionally. but then it is a
week old. At first I still maintained
correspondence with Cape Town. but
that is no more possible now.
The Beers are scoring an enormous
success, and have already conquered
the biggest part of Natal. They are
pushing already into Cape Colony,
where they are joined by the burgh-
ers. Kimberley is likewise completely
surrounded, as well as Mafeking. while
IN the northern part of the Transvaal
the Beers are already beyond our boun-
darles. On every side the British are
getting a good thrashing.
The internal arrangements here are
excellent. All the English have left
the country. OrGer is beautifully main
tanned. The Beers still remaining
away may be seen daily leaving for
their various Commands. The enthu-
siasm has reached such a pitch that
the stay-behinds who don't Go anything
Tor their country grow ashamed.
Johannesburg now is fearfully quiet.
All the male population has been
drafted into a special constabulary. No
one is allowed out after 9 p. m. With
the exception of ten mines. which are
being worked by the government all
the mines on the Rand are shut down.
If you could but see how everything
is being taken care of and looked after,
even to the minutest detail. you could
not fail TO feel great respect for the
genius in organizing which is being dis
played by the Beers in command.
UD to the present 1,500 English are
prisoners, among which are fifty Off
GERS and COCO are slain Our loss does
not amount to ZOO including the dead
and wounded. It sounds ike a miracle.
It still looks doubtful who viii come
out ultimate eOnquerOr, but as things
look now the burghers stand a good
chance. No fighting has occurred on
their own country. The supply of food
is plentiful, the enthusiasm is great.
The English soldiers are not worth
much and surrender easily. Already
two of their generals are dead. Cape
Colony will revolt The English are
getting their well earned reward and I
should not feel surprised to see the
English leave South Africa, neck and
crop.
No doubt it will surprise you to see
me having changed thus. but that could
not be otherwise after having witnessed
everything. It is now clear that Cham
berlain's sole aim has been for three
years to make war against the Trans
vaai and obtain possession Of its ter
ritOTy. These last months I have
learned a great deal about the Beers
and their country, and though I am in
no wise infatuated with them, they are
much superior to those that work the
mines. One of the striking features is
that in this war the Beers show all
their good qualities, leaving their bad
ones at home"