Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1900-03-31
ELUDED THE BRITISH
Boer Commander Olivier Performs
the Great Feat of the War.
THE BoERs BECOMING BoLDER.


A Small Party Headed For Jscobsdal
with the Intention OF Cutting the
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Losses to Date
Aggregate Nearly 1900.
London, March 2S.-The Beers are
having a little good luck and are show
ing some boldness again, as a raiding
party estimated at 400 Is believed by
the British forces at Warrenton to have
crossed the Kimberley Bloemfontein
wagon road Monday and to have head
ed for Jacobsdal, with the intention of
cutting the railway ten miles west.
Commandant Olivier appears to have
gotten his 5000 men and Is miles Of
wagons into rugged country, where he
can make an easy rear guard defense.
Charles Williams, the military expert,
says:
eff this column gets through sub
stantially Commandant Olivier will
have carried out the great feat Of the
war, seeing that he ran every chance
OF being ground between the upper
milestone of Lord Roberts army and
the neither milestone Of the broken
Basuto frontier"
He will have done it within so miles
or so Of Lord Roberts main strength.
Certainly 1t looked for a week as
though Lord Roberts held Olivier in
the hollow of his hand.
II Olivier gets through to Kroonstad
with even 5000 men 1t will be an i'm
portant addition to the Boer gathering
there. His escape is attributable In
part to the worn out condition of the
British cavalry horses. Lord Roberts
transport appears to have been badly
dislocated by the loss at Riet River,
before Cronje's surrender, of the
wagon train, and In addition to this
the army with which he proposes to
advance toward Pretoria is nearly
double that OF the earlier rapid move
ments.
Ten thousand transport, cavalry and
gun animals are due to arrive at cape
ports during this and next week.
1t is given out at Cape Town that
Lord Roberts advance may be delayed
for months. Although such statements
should be received with reserve, 1T
seems positive that he intends to go to
Cape Town to meet Lady Roberts, who
is due to arrive IL are in ten days.
General Sir George White, who ar
rived at Cape Town yesterday, related
several instances Of the courage of the
British troops during the Ladysmith
siege He said: During the attack
on Caesars Camp a remote corner was
held by 16 Manchesters, who fought
from in the morning until dusk, when
the Devonshires reinforced them. Four
teen of them lay dead, but the two
survivors, one of whom was wounded,
still held the position. The same day
sergeant with one of the guns had a
leg and one arm shot OF. He fell
across the trail OF the gun and said
Roll me out OF the way and go on
working the gum"
The war Office has issued another
table OF British losses, showing an ag-
gregate of 1862, which does not in
clude 1904 who have been invalided
home.
Last Friday Lieutenant Lyon was
killed and Lieutenant Colonel Crabbe
Lieutenant Colonel Codrington anc
Captain Trotter were wounded by
members Of the Johannesburg mount
ed police. The Britons had ridden
eight or nine miles beyond their camp
on the Modder river without escort ex-
cept one trooper. They met a party
OF five Beers, whom they tried to cap
ture. The Beers took refuge on n
kopje, where three OF their comrades
were hidden, and within five minutes
every member of the British party was
hit After dressing the wounded the
Beers sent them to the British camp
In an ambulance.