The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-05-18
MARCHING
ON PRETORIA
Roberts Crosses the
VaaI River.
SOME LIVELY FIGHTING
The Beers Preparing to Make a Stand
in Their Mountain
Fastnesses.

WARRENION, May 5, evening.-The
Vaal river has been successfully cross
ed at Windsorton by Barton's brigade,
with whom is General Hunter. COM
manding the division. The Beers have
evacuated Windsorton and Klipdam.
They are trekking northward and are
fighting for all they are worth. Barton
is hanging on to their rear and she'll
ing them vigorously. Judging from
the clouds of dust, the retreating Beers
must be in very large numbers.
The Beers today vainly attempted to
reach the British new gun with their
artillery, but some of the shells from
the big gun effectually silenced them
Natives report that the Beers are va
eating Christiana, many of them ad-
mlttlng that the situation is hopeless
and apparently are trekking from Kip
dam and Windsorton northward.
The Beers Retire.
LONDON, May 1.-THE troops which
Lord Roberts led out from pleasant
quarters around Bloemfontein a few
days ago have taken a great spring for
ward, which has brought them almost
at single bound at Least within strik-
ing distance of Winburg, if not already
within its gates. The Beers were fore
ed to evacuate their positions at Brand
fort without making serious effort to
hold them, and on Saturday evening
Lord Roberts reported that he himself
had reached Vet River, few miles
southeast of Winburg, on the main
road from Bloemfontein. The pas
sage was stoutly contested for some
hours, but toward dusk General Hutton
and his mounted infantry turned the
right flank of the enemy and forced
their way across the river in the face
of a heavy fire.
Meanwhile smart fighting had been
going on along practically the whole
widely extended British front ranks.
| General Hamilton, who it will be re-
membered fought his way north from
Thaba Nchu, thrust himself between
two Boer cOmmandos that were en-
! deavoring to join forces The House
hold Cavalry, Twelfth Lancers and
kitchener's Horse had the golden op-
| portunity for which they have long
waited of charging body of Beers in
the open. Such chances have been few
IN this company. Those Beers who
survived this first lesson in the shock
and fled, leaving a number of dead and
wounded on the ground. General
! Hamilton was able to push on toward
a drift on the Little Vet River, which
is described by Lord Roberts as diff
cult, and it is clear that this force was
! acting as the extreme right wing of the
| British army. General Macdonald's
| brigade, which was also acting on the
| rlgnt, dlSlodged the Beers from a group
of kopjes under cover of the naval
guns.
OF equal interest is the news which
! comes of General Hunters operations
on the extreme left He crossed Vaal
River at Windsorton on Friday, and
pushing ahead found the Beers in
strength near Rindam.
The brunt of the fighting fell on Cen
| eral Barton's union brigade The Fu-
| siliers carried ridge after ridge over a
| front of four miles and drove the enc
my before them. To the north the I'm
perial Yeomanry chased the Beers for
| some miles, while at Warrenton yester-
day General Paget's brigade moved to
! force passage of the Vaal
Further Particulars.
LONDON, May 8, 4:20 a. m.-The
Beers are everywhere retiring before
| the British except on the Natal frontier
and at Mafeking, to the inner circle OF
their defenses. They appear determin-
ed not to fight until the Kroonstad
hills are reached
Lord Roberts is expected to do ar
| other forty or fifty miles and then wait
for time in order 10 bring up supB les
and repair the railway There are one
or two hints IN the dispatches from the
front that he may rest for few days at
Smaldeel
General French's 900 cavalry has
| not been mentioned in the official or
unofficial dispatches for four days. 1t
is by no means likely that he is idle,
and the conjecture is that he is either
detouring toward Kroonstad or raiding
the Larybrand district. Fifteen thou
sand British are now operating on the
western frontier of the Free State. AS
the deadlock at Warrenton has been
broken and the Beers are retreating
| there is nothing formidable except dis
tance, between Warrenton and Mafe-
king. The most hopeful advices from
Mafeking Of April % were that the gar
rison would be barely able to hold out
| for a month. At that time the fever
| was spreading. According to advices
| from Maseru, Basutoland, several thou
sand Free Staters are north of Lady
| l,..-v, Il -l~ l.