The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1900-05-25
ADVANCE
of Lord Roberts is Delayed For
Want of Bridges.

LONDON, MAY 25-The Lorenzo Mar
.ues correspondent of the Times, tele-
,raphing Wednesday, says
According to private letter smuggled
through from Pretoria, President Kruger
now favors surrender, on the ground that
a continuance of the war would ruin the
of the Burghers. He has thrown
upon the commandauts the onus of what
course to pursue.
Civilian prisou,Ss released at Pretoria |
report extraordinary activity during the
last two weeks on the railway from Pre-
toria to Petersburg. As many as twenty |
trains are running daily and it is possible !
hat a large portion have been used to
move supplies northward.
ROBERTS DELAYED
LONDON, MAY 25.-Lord Roberts in
fantry advance is delayed at the Rheu-
oster river for a day or two by the depth
Of the stream, which is not fordable. The
banks, which are precipitous, are forty
ft ct high A pontoon and temporary
bridge constructions are under way.
The railway has not been damaged to
Rhenoster. The Transvaalers may have
offended the Free staters by destroying
their splendid bridges when retiring to
Kroonstad. They refrained from doing
this on the retreat to Rhenoster, but
now they are destroying the railroad and
bridges almost completely north of the
Rhenoster.
The British troops are in the form Of
a crescent, with horns thirty miles apart,
with General Frenchs cavalry on the left
within % miles Of the Vaal, and General
Ian Homilton's mounted men on the right
within thirty miles of the Vaai. The CEN
ter of the crescent is about 40 miles from
the Vaal.
Seventy or eighty miles to the left Lord
Methuen is advancing up the Vaal.
Boer kilograms say that 5000 British,
with ten guns, are near Vreedefort, which
is close to the Vaal and close to Parys.
One correspondent refers to the advance
as a promenade" Another describes IL
as a "Boer hunt"
The Free Staters are pictured as bolting
like hares" at the first sight of the
/ British The latter, according to one
writer, do not even find women and chill
dren, as the fleeing farmers take Their
families with them in consequence Of the
reports current among the Transvaaler
that the British kidnap all children owe
:. years OF age.
The Boer rear guard was composed o
Russians to whom was committed the
task of destroying the bridges. They alsC
looted freely
What the Beers are doing is an absolute
mystery. The embargo Of news out o
Pretoria for the last "A hours has beer
complete Such shreds of information "a
the correspondents at Lorenzo Marque
have picked up do not illuminate tn
,, Boer designs and dispositions furthe
Than that the movement toward Lyden
burg continues and that a referendum o.
the question of continuing the war i
going on between the Boer fighting mer
It may he a fortnight before the result
of this singular vote are fully before tn
Transvaal government. If the Engis
: view of Boer encouragement is one-hal
right, the Beers will vote to quit
In Natal, General Dartnelrs volunteer
occupied Mount Prospect Monday. Lor
Dundonald's cavalry is at Firmstone'
near Ingoge. His infantry rests a
Schoenshoogte The names are all {
fateful memory in the first Boer war.
The British face Laing's Mex wher
n the Beers, through the range glasses {
e the Britlch are occasionally Visibkle.
In the march across the Biggarsbur
e all the forms except one were found Va
: can't A temporary bridge has been fiji
- ished at Waschbank. Trains now go
- Dundee. General Butler said the be-
- way to celebrate the queens birthda
was to repair the railway to Newcastl
"a and every man was put to work
,e Earl De La War;, who was supposed
IS have been captured atthe time Of II
a disaster that befen the squadron Of Bet
le uen's horse contrived to escape. He Ia
rs all night wit ha wounded leg behind a
1f ant heap, reaching the camp the ne
N day.