Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1900-02-24

London, Feb. 22.z-Lord Roberts list
of 49 killed and wounded officers, in
GLIDING Generals Macdonald and Knox,
in the engagements up to Sunday even
ing, causes anxiety, especially as in the
officers list neither the losses of the
Welsh and Essex regiments nor those
of the mounted infantry are included.
This is about the number that fell at
Colenso. where the on-commissioned
officers and men brought the total
losses to 500.
1t is considered strange that when
sending his casualties Lord Roberts
gives no information as to the result
of the fighting. If he has sent such a
report the war office is Withholding 1t.
Moreover, nothing is known as to
what took place Monday, Tuesday and
Wednesday. This absence of details
from Lord Roberts dispatch, contrast
ed with his rather full narratives dur
ing the first part of his operations,
produces uneasiness among military
observers. All the comment in the
morning newspapers, both editorial
and critical, is threaded with the dis
turbing suggestion that, despite hard
fighting, General Cronje has been able
and is being reinforced by rail from
Ladysmith and by forces on foot and
horseback from northern Cape Colony,
as we'll as the late beleaguers of Kim
berley.
The Daily Mail prints the following
dispatch from Mafeking. dated Feb. 90:
The houses in the women's lager are
riddled with bullets, notwithstanding
A o,,x rIn oC
standing with a sucking child was
shot through the breast, while among
400 women ard children. An explo-
sive "a FOUNDER sheet burst in the
lager, piece fixing itself IN the spine
of a 9-year-old boy. The explosive
used causes blood poisoning and he
fingered several days in agony.
AS the correspondents with Lord
Roberts are silent the kilograms from
Boer sources receive some countenance.
The latter aver that General Cronje,
while the British were endeavoring to
surround him between Paardeberg and
Koodoosrand. received reinforcements
under Dewet, and that together the
Boer commanders fought the British
to q standstill. General Dewet claims
to have captured, in an attack upon the
rear guard of General French's col
umn, $50 wagons of provisions aHS
ammunition, $500 oxen and So raen.
According to a Cape Town dispatch
special correspondent of the Cape
Argus telegraphs that paper that Gen
eral Cronje is surrounded at Paarde-
berg Drift, but is offering a stubborn
resistance The British are Smelling
the Beers vigorously and expect to
capture the whole force"
81 have the best reasons for assert
ing that an attempt is likely to be
made by Boer supporters in the col
.ony to force easy terms for the Free
Skaters, now or soon. by holding out a
threat of Dutch rising in the colony.
"Any idea of leaving the Free State
its independence would be fatal to
British interests. The British people
must not deceive themselves into
thinking that it Is now only walk
lover They have a most dangerously
subtle and powerful foe to deal with
in more ways than it would be polite
to discuss publicly.
''There should be no hating in send
ing out troops. A quarter of million
of British troops will be none too
many The more we have and the
sooner they are here the quicker will
be the end of the war"