The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1900-06-13
THE B0ERS TEAR UP
WTALRAILW AY LINE,
Connecting the British army
With Its Base Of Supplies.
MAY CHECK LORD ROBERTS
OPERATIONS.

London, June IL, 80 m.-The
Beers have torn up 81 miles of LORD
Roberts vital line Of railway between
America siding and Roodeval Il is
bold raid and vexatious, but it does
not dlsquiet the military authorities
as yet, for they expect Gen Kelly
Kenny TO drive off the marauders and
to reopen the line.
The rapidity of the advance Of
Lord Roberts cannot have permitted
him to accumulate large reserves o1
stores Therefore an interruption ot
the railway, even for week. must
embarrass the army and may briDg
the forward operations to stand
still
Nothing has baen heard from Lord
Roberts for three days This raid on
the railway, the strenuous opposition
to Gen Rumble and the nimble escape
of Comnandant General Botha's dl-
vision have forced the war Office oh
servers to the reluctant conclusion
that the war is not yet over, although
even the occasional civilian Boer
sympathizer cannot see how the
Beers will be able to do anythiog to
change the result.
Gen Butler is in Boer territory.
Dispatches of correspondents with
him, filed yesterday at sunset, de-
scribe the corps as camping at Gan.
solei, close to the point where the
frontiers of the Free State, the Trens'
yaal and Natal meet
1.-The British marched eight miles
yesterday" says Reuter- cores.
pondent, "before encountering any
opposition The Beers. who had
Que gun, withdrew under heavy ord
nance fire to q ridge just ahead OF
the camp"
This long range, raining skirmieh
will doubtless be renewed this morn
| lug Gen Butler is expected to make
rapid progress now and TO throw the
weight of 10000 men into Lord Rob
erts T.ansvaal combinations
The fighting on June S, in which
there were fewer than 20 casualties,
was kept up all day long by musket
! ~ and artillery The British attack.
ing line, three miles in length, made
its way amid the precipisous hills
A Boer gun en- Spitz kop fred
shrapnel rapidly st range Of 400
yards at the British right flank, but
every SHE'LL was buried in the ground
before bursting The defensive
power of modern weapons seems lees
effective in rough country than upon
levels, where wide spaces can be
covered with fat trajectories
Gen. Rundie's and Gen. Brabant's 8
divisions are still at Harmonic, in
the Ficksburg district.
The latest intelligence from their
headquarters is that the Beers are de
termined TO fight to the bitter end.
They are concentrating 1000 men
around Bethlehem. The country be
tween them and Gen Rundle is
mountainous and resembles northern
Natal in being exceedingly difficult
for military operations
Gen. Rundie's present care is to
prevent the Beers getting past him
southwark Maj Wood, of Bundles
staff, rode to Boer outpost on June
6 and announced that Pretoria bad
been occupied by the British How
the Beers received the De~s ia not
recorded Altogether 600 Beers
have surrendered to Gen Runde
Gen Hunters advance has occu-
pied Ventersdorp, 100 miles south
west of Pretoria This took place on
June I
Gen. Piumer's column is on the
Glands river, northwest of Pretoria
| The British are sending detachments
right and left to accept the surrender
of commanders, horses, cattle and
forage, and to overawe the sparseiy
settled country Thus far only one
small commando has been heard Of, a
commando at Taiibasch
Gen hunters immediate objective
is Potchefstroom This town and
Rus;enburg are the largest towns
west OF Johannesburg. 1t is reported
that Potchefstroom is ready to sub
nit Gen Hunter has warned all
burghers that if the telegraph is cut
behind him he will send back and
burn the houses near the line.
The Dutch in Cape Colony appear
to have split, majority of the Atr1
kander bupd being displeased by the
uuwillipgness of Mr. SchreineT, the
Cape premier, to go the full length OF
the proposed opposition to the
British.
LARGE BODIES OF BoERs