The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1900-04-07
TELEGRA7HIC NEWS or TIL WEEK

ask if there was anything he could dc
for nv comfort.
yet. the English told me with great
positiveness that the savage Beers
would shoot me as soon as they learned
I spoke English. They tell this lie SO
much at Cape Town that they even
got Colonel Stowe, our consul there 10
believe it. At Pretoria, l was given
, a cordial greeting. Marvellous to state,
during all the time 1 was there not one
man asked me whether 1 favored the
British or Beers.
L viewed the defenses of Pretoria
| and / consider them impregnable. 90
not believe the English troops Will ever
| pass the line of hills surrounding the
town, bristling as they are with high
power krupp and Creueot guns.
! There seems a very general impress
! sion that the guns used by the Beers
in the field were taken from the fort
resses at Pretoria, but l saw every
earthwork and fort surrounding the
town and | could not see where any
guns had been removed. They were all
there and formidable they looked.
when l describe the city as impreg-
nable, l speak from the judgment OF
man of common sense. Pretoria lies In
a basin surrounded by rugged hills, af-
fording most admirable opportunities
for defense While there L learned
enough to know that the city is one
vast storehouse of foodstuffs and am
munition.
What impressed me most was the
natural bigness of that grand old man,
Kruger | consider him as possessed OF
more of the elements of greatness than
any man ] ever met. AT 40 he is as full
of Vigor as the average man who owns
UP to twenty years less. His VerSatil-
ity impressed me deeply.
Il have it on unimpeachable author
ity that the battle Of Colenso, where
Butler was crushed by the Beers, was
planned entirely by this old man. Jou-
bert carried out Kruger's instructions
to the letter and won that signal vic
tory by the directions of an old man
away up there in Pretoria.
Il was present at the battle of Splon
Kop and saw thin line OF Beers drive
an army before them. After the fight,
! walked over the field and counted the
dead bodies Of 125 Englishmen in one
trench, where the Beers had placed
them for burial, During my stay IN
the neighborhood. l visited every lager
in the lines surrounding the city and
talked with scores of officers and men.
L visited the lines along the Tugela, |
where Butler and his 10000 men were |
held at bay, and / speak from the most |
positive knowledge when l say that all !
of the Boer troops in that region num- |
bered but 1000. With this force Jou- |
bert and Botha held Butler back and |
kept White and his $4,000 men corralled |
in the town.
when Cronje was threatened, 5000 !
men were sent to him from LadySmith.
leaving about 1000 to face the $1,000 |
men of the enemy.
At the battle of the Little Tugela, when
Butler was again driven back upon
Chieveley, l saw General Louis Botha
n action and I consider him the great
est of the Dutch commanders. When
he fighting began, Botha was saunter-
ng along behind the line of trenches
his men taking careful shots
ut the advance of the British force.
For half an hour after we could first
ietect the movement, there was not
much excitement, but ali at once there
vas a rush of cavalry and artillery
md the double quick of infantry in
pen order. The bullets began to patter
.round us and two burghers were hit
lose beside Botha.
He seemed to awake instantly and
prang down into the trench. exclaim- +
ng Shoot, shoot in Dutch. As the
word was carried along the lines, he
aught up the rifle from the hands of
dead burgher and began making
uick but careful shots at the foe.
Five minutes and II was over, as
uickly as the rush had begun. From
he Boer side it was like the Kipling
fight with the Fuzzy
Vuzzies in the desert.
''At Pretoria l met President Steyn.
also learned that there is no truth
n the report coming from English
ourcee concerning dissensions between
he two presidents. They are in perfect
ccOrd.
LAS l said before, do not believe
he British will ever enter Pretoria.
ven the women of the town are sup
lied with rifles and are daily practic-
lg in craftsmanship. Some of them are
cry expert and their average shooting
good. The strength Of Kruger and his
urghers lies in the belief that God is
18th them"