The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1900-01-25
A BRITISH CONUNDRUM.
How to Reach the Beers at the
Summit Of Spion Kop.
THE BRITISH REINFoRoEMENTs.

SIX Thousand Have Reached Cape
Town Since General Roberts Land
ell There, and There Are Nineteen
Thousand on the Sea En- Voyage.
London, Jan. 25.-The assemblage
in Pail Mall outside the war Office and
those privileged to wait in the lob
bies reluctantly dispersed at midnight,
after the final word that nothing more
| would be announced.
Topography maps show that Spion
Kop Is the highest part of a rocky
plateau. Eastward for eight miles are
the Boer positions along the Tugela.
N0rthwestward from Spion Kop the
plateau runs gradually up to a great
spur of the Drakensburg.
General Buffers infantry to reach
the summit Of Spion Kop must cross
natural glacier three-quarters of a
mile wide. and climb 500 feet up q
steep slope.
Nobody here seems to know, not
even the war Office, what Lord Roberts
has done with his large reinforce
ments. Six thousand troops awaited
his arrival at Cape Town, and since
then 5000 others have reached there.
Military circles are all hoping that a
good share of these 10000 have gone
to help General Butler, and they argue
that few days wait may make him
strong enough to overcome the dead
lock. There are $4,000 troops at sea,
and this heavy weight on the British
side is expected to destroy the equilib-
rum now existing on every field Of
operations.
The British losses up to date in kill
cd, wounded and captured, according
to General Buffers last list, total
8,2l6 men.
A press dispatch from Spearmans
Camp, dated Jan. 23, says: The Brit
ish field artillery and howitzers she'll
ed the enemy posted on the crest Of
the ridge this morning. The infantry,
under excellent cover, kept up an eff
fective rifle fire. The Beers resigned
kopies, of which the British infantry
took possession. When retiring the
enemy sheltered themselves behind
stone wall on the slope of the kopje,
which they held for hours. This at
ternoon they ran across tne raVihe:
the BRITISH artlllery poured snrapnei
and lyddite into them, ana the IN
fantry TOOK the stone wall. Inc BTU
ish casualty list was small.
The Daily Telegraph publlshes the
following dispatch from Spearmans
Camp, dated Tuesday: On Monday Sir
Charles Warrens force canhonaded
and fusilladed the Boef posltlons west
OF Spion kop, near the Acton Homes
road. A lyddlte battery co-operated
with the other batteries and Maxlms.
Certainly the fre was eHectlVe, caus-
ing the enemy serious losses. Ihe
Beers, however, clug desperately 10
their WORKS, from when tney are ohiT
being slowly driven. Today the enemy
fired their guns oftener, using also tbe
captured l5-pounders, with shrapnel.
Our casualties today were less even
than those of yesterday. Fighting be-
gan about D In the morning ana con-
tinued until dark, but there has been
nothing like general engagement.
The naval big guns assisted from Pot
g;eters Drift in Smelling the Boef po-
sitions.
The correspondent of The Times at
Liurenzo Marques, telegraphing yes
terday, and dealing with the laWless-
ness Of the low class OF Beers, VINO
are getting beyond the control or the
government and the better class or