Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-06-04
EXPECTED soon
BRITISH TROOPS NEARING THE
TRANSVAAL CAPITAL.
IN CONFUSION AND CHAOS.
Rumor That British Have Been Beaten
Back at Lindley With Heavy :
Loss-Guerilla Warfare.

warfare. g..
London, June 4.-Passengers arriving
at Lourenzo Marques Saturday direct
from Pretoria says that the capital was
preparing to surrender when they left
Thursday. The forts were dismantled.
The Beers guard at komatlpoort
searched all trains and turned back most
of the fugitives, among them deserving
foreigners who were striving to reach
neutral soil.
Boer conveys of provisions
are between Pretoria and Middlesburg.
Fifteen trains are sent daily to Mach
adasdorf with supplies for Luxembourg.
Pretoria is pictured by the refugees as
in a state of indescribable confusion
and chaos. %, The populace are disnay-"
ed and the British are expected hourly.
Some foreign attaches have arrived
at LourenZO Marques to Ommunlcate
with their governments for orders to
leave, as they consider that organized
war on the T%ransvaal side is at an
end. Flying among the Beers are re-
ports that the British have beeen beaten
back at Lindley with heavy loss, that
the main attack on Elandsfontein failed
and Lord Roberts was forced to retire
to klipriversburg: that the railroad has
been cut behind him south of Vereenig-
ing and that a provision train has been
captured.
Without crediting any of the Boer bull
letins everything from the field of war
behind Lord Roberts points to a great
effort last week to paralyze his advance
by a bold stroke from the eastward at
the railway north of Bloemfontein Four
Roer columns were in a movement SEEM
ingly with this object. There was a
commando in front Of General Brabant
near Ficksburg. another faced General
Rumble near Senekal. a third occupied
Lindley and pressed toward the railway
and a fourth seized Hebron and push
ed toward Kroonstad. These operations.
assuming them to have failed. A revival
of the Boer fighting power east of Lord
Roberts advance, although fruitless. is
a symptom that the Beers are not yet
crushed. In General Rundle's attack on
the entrenched Beers. seven miles east
of Senekal, May 20, the British did not
see a sRoer all day, so completely were
they screened. The 1872 losses wired by
Lord Roberts were suffered by the Gren-
elders and Scots Guards while a
ing over a level from which the grass had
been burned. The British in khaki We're
a conspicuous target against the black
BACKGROUND. General Rumble withdrew
his whole force at shutdown to Senekal.
having succeeded in drawing the Beers
from Lindley. allowing the threatened
force to get away safely. me Roe"s
sent to the British for medical help' say
ing that Commandment De Villiers was
seriously wounded. General Rumble
send a doctor with a bottle of champagne
and his compliments as well AS a mess
g that he would release all the Boer
prisoners at Se0eral.
The TourenZo Marques c"orresnonden
of the Times. t~elegraphing June 2. says:
AN Austrian who has seen seven
months active service in the Tfansyaa1
declared that a large proportion of the
burghers We're deserving to their homes.
The arrangements whereby the British
prisoners at Pretoria have been placed
under an armed guard with British Off
GERS. pending the formal occupation of
the town. is ascrihed to the good sense
and human disposition of General Louis
Botha and the Transvaal war secretary,
both of whom have earned the profound
respect of all classes.
1T is. interesting to note that Lord
Roberts soldierly qualities are admired
greatly by both Beers and foreigners. 1t
seems that the Boer attack upon Irene
was intended to cover the withdrawal
from Pretoria Of all the supplies pro-
durable. The last consignment was GOO
wagon loads"
4:so a. MIN the advance of the Gren-
adiers Colonel Lloyd led in the face of a
deadly fire. He was hit, but struggled
on. only to be disabled by another bull
let. Lieutenant Murray, falling, cried
Forward, Grenadiers!' The binding
smoke of the veldt hampered the oper
ations.
Lieutenant Lord Seymour. on offerins
to go back to direct the artillery. was
wounded. The order to retire was giyef
and executed under a screen of smoke
The Boer fire was kept up until dusk.
According to a dispatch to the Daily
Telegraph from Newcastle. lated Satur-
day. the Beers exhibit no signs of leav.
ing Laing's Mex.
Newspaper commentators here gener.
ally regard the situation at Pretoria as
enigmatical. They rather expect news
of the British occupation today.
An odd consequence of the impendins
d~estinies of the Transvaal is that it:
coinage Is at an enormous premium il
Capetown, pennies bringing so shillings
In the Indian mail landed at Dove
Saturday was a bag of dispatches from
Pretoria, including some from the Trans
Vaal government to it's agents abroad
but was landed at Alden by a Germa,
steamer through mistake and wa.
shipped with the Indian mail to Brindisi
Where it was taken up by the English
authorities.
London, June 4.-The Daily TELEGRAPH
has the following from Senekal, datet
Nifty 2:
The scene during the battle was won
derfully picturesque, rolling pillows O
smoke higher than the highest kopje oh
securing the ~combatants. The roar of ar
tillery and the crackle of un
der the light of the flames of the burnin,
veldt combined to produce a picture O
appalling grandeur, but terrible for thos
engaged within it's field.
Tonight the surroundings of the Boo
position are blackened and waste. W
expect the enemy to vacate the hills
Is-