Arizona silver belt., 1900-03-15
A FIERCE BATTLE
Vivid Story of General Cronje 'sMagniicent Fight
 Against Great Odds.
BRAVE SOLDIERS SURRENDER
A Graphic Recital of the Battle in Which the Gallant Boer Gen eral Stubbornly Combatted
 Superior Forces.

lne lOllOWlnp interesting dccOunt of the battle in which General Cronie
 was Outnumbered, and finally surrend- cred after gallant fight, is taken from the St. Louis Republic of
 March l:
 Ut was on February that the army
 of Roberts and Kitchener, numbering about 5O,00o of horse, foot and artillery set out from the NIodder river for the purpose of relieving Kimberly and to crush General Cronie, with his 5000 or less intrepid Boers. Four days later the cavalry, moving northward, had captured important drifts in the river while the infantry rolled up rapidly behind it.
 Roberts had the lesson of the whole campaign before him. He knew he must be swift as well as strong. He knew that the BoerS thought all English soldiers slow, however sure.
 The brave Cronje was immensely surprised on February l5, when the British cavalry swooped down upon him southeast of Kimberly with such fierce onslaught that his forces were scattered quickly. CrOnje did not wait to give battle to the advancing British host, but retreated, hoping to escape. Fighting every inch of the way in the face of such odds as men have rarely stood up against, CrOnie finally succeeded in reaching koodoo'S Rand. on the Modder river The Boer general had a task of the utmost diff ticulty. His transport. moved for the most part by mules and oxen, was necessarily slow. It was constantly haraSsed from the rear, while the at tacking army with its line of commu- nicdtion open to the base of supplies and with its great numbers, was able to push fast upon the retreating burghers.
 At Koodoo S Rand CoUe was forced tO halt. His men, his horses, his ami | malS were tired out. Here he hoped | tD check the entrance of the British ]. into the Free State A breathing | spell, and Cronje was of again, for he | knew that he was shortly to be pur- sued with unabating vigor. For . greater speed he dropped valuable | convoy, which the British. following . after, picked up and passed on.
 As soon as Kitchener discovered | that Cronje's retreat was not a vile he stuck spurs into his corps and urged !. it into full chase. Kitchener sent . Colville and Kelly kenny with the Ninth Division eastward on d road parallel with the Boer line of retreat. French was dispatched far around by forced marches, for the purpose of heading of the fleeing burghers.
 ''Cronje always seeking the protec- tion of the river bank, fell back with the greatest stubbornness and valor. While the main body of his little army sought tO Outrace the British, 2OO0 of the farmers with Mausers and cannon, halted again and again to pour what repelling fire they could at the following English.
 But Kitchener, Kelly Kenny, Col vile and French had shown the Boers a likeness of their own celerity, and ten days ago Cronje knew that the bed of the Modder river must be his stand, for better or wurse for in what ever direction his reconnaissance es were made the scouts came upon the British, now converging upon the doomed band of the twin republics.
 'Cronje fortified his laager at Koo- dOOs Rand, chose circle of kopjes near the river, planted his few guns and with defiant heart awaited the inevitable.
 "A week ago London, cXhilarated by the success of the British trap, was sunk into temporary doubt by the rumor that De Wet had joined Cronie Had this been true the issue might have been different, but no such good fortune was to come to the redoubta- be BOer captain
 Pressed back day by day, Cronje's men were finally penned up about Paardsbcrg Drift. and 1t was here that the soldiers, with many of their wives, were to make their ever memo rable resistance.
 For the British, the fighting now became potting game, with the re- lentlesS Kitchener of khartoum pour ing down the raln of lead and iron in their basin uf earth.
 The question here was to be de- cided quickly fiat all War was seen in these days at its cruelest men fighting against hopeless numbers, in the face of certain death.
 But one cry came from the brave Cronje; Give us a days armistice to bury our dead.'
 Not a minute." said Kitchener. "The whole force must surrender or fight to finish"
 "We'll fight then, came answer in the boom of his guns