Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1900-03-20
To LEAD into Pre- OR|A
Promise Made by Lord Roberts in
an Address to His Troops.
STEYN is DENOUNCED.
Condo mined for His Und gui fed Fig Et
from the Capitalize Case
of johannesburg.

London March 16.-Lord Roberts sue
cess in handling the civil problems at
Bloemfontein and the manifest equanimi-
ty with which the residents OF the capital
Of the Orange Free State accept the
British occupation momentariy eclipse
in interest the military situation. 1t is
believed there that the COMMANDMENTS
chief OF the British forces i'll South Afri-
ca will soon push on TO Pretoria, but
Great Britain is quite content to listen
for Il few days to the accl2matlOnS of the
people of Bloemfontein and permit the
troops 10 enjoy 4 few days rest before
expecting further success. Lord Roberts
made Il quaint Spo cch to the guards at
BlOemfOntein today when, III his hrSt
congratulatory words, he expressed pride
in their splendid march OF th!rty-elght
miles in tWenty-eight hours and gave am
pie assurance OF his ultimate design.
Through small mistake said Lord
Roberts, Il have not been able to march
brigade az / intended. | promise you,
however that l will lead you into Pre-
Ioria.
Cat ,cre Holds Bethulie.
Gen. Gatacre is holding Bethulie and
the whole line Of the railroad south OF
Bloemfontein is DOW in the hands of the
British, and Cen Brabant's column
forced march, at Aliwal North on Sun
day. and Gen. Clements column being
across at Van Zyl the three columns
will form an army Of l2,oOO to lo,OoO
men, which is expected to replace the
forces Of Lord Roberts at Bloemfontein
AS he pushes northward. Just where
the Beers will attempt to oppose that
march is an important question:. but 1t
cannot be- easily answered until Gen.
Joubert is more definitely located. Fur
Their news has reached the outside world
from Mafeking dated Friday. March >.
showing that though the garrison was in
hard straits they were buoyed up by the
knowledge that their plucky fight was
appreciated at home.
A barring Exploit.
The courageous exploits of Capt. Grant
and Lieut. Popham, which saved the
Bethulie bridge, enabling Gen. Gatacre
to cross tire river. conceded. fortunate
~ for the British, with ali equaly-darinG
feat nOrthward of Bloemfontein. There
Maj. Weston Of the engineers attached
10 Gen. Frenchs brigade, passed the Boer
lines on the evening of March II with
ten men. who cut the telegraph and blew
up the railway. thereby preventing the
removal of the engines and cars in Bloom
f0ntein. Gen Roberts was thus enabled
promptly to dispatch force to intercept
the Beers whom Gen. Gatacre holds in
front. That this force in day
reached Bethany, thirty-five miles dis
tant. is regarded here as smart work. in
view of the necessity for constant recon
nGissance of the track and the positions
from which + could be commanded.
Boxes of Dynamite Seized
\ correspondent telegraphing from Be
thule on March IA describes some eycit.
ing incidents in connection with the say
ing of the wagon bridge which the Beers
continued 20 mine under an artillery fire.
Later on Lieut.. Popham of the Derby
shire regiment {the Sherwood Fores-
ters''l crossed unobserved during a storm
of shot and shell and cut the connecting
wires. He discovered several boxes Of
dynamite and returned and took a party
of his regiment who crossed and carried
off the dynamite. At night Capt Grant
removed the charges from the borngs
and threw them into the river. He also
disconnected the remaining wires