The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-01-26
SITUATION UNCHANGED.
BULLER UNABLE To MAKE ANY AD-
VANCE ON THE B0ERS.
B0ER POSITION STRENGTHENED.
Almost Impre2nable- - Can be Taken
Only at a Tremendous Sacrifice OF
Life-No News from the Contem-
. plated Night Attack-Constant Fir
ing Between the Lines-Continental
Press Declare Buffers Advance a
Failure Situation at AIodder River.

Press Declare Buffers Advance a
FaiIure-Situation at Modder River.
Berlin, January 24.-German press
tacticians are almost unanimously of
the opinion that the situation of the
British forces around Ladysn1ith is
desperate. The Ie. liner Tagehlatt
prints a Brussels special, claiming that
Sir Charles Warren has been signally
defeated. A military writer for The
Kreuz Zeitung says the movement to
relieve Ladysmith has failed. render
ing the British line of retreat endan-
gered.
London. January %, Ais a. m-The
morning papers went TO press with
conjectures and forecasts of all sorts,
striving to guess out something from
Spion kop.
Spion kop is the highest part of a
rocky plateau. Eastward for eight miles
are the Boer positions along the Tuge-
Ia. Northwestward 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
a natural glacis three quarters of a
mile wide and climb 500 feet up a steep
slope.
Nobody here seems to know, not even
the war office, what Lord Roberts has
done with his large reinforcements. Six
thousand troops awaited his arrival at
Cape Town, and since then 5000 others
reached thPrp
are all hoping that a good share of
these $1,000 have gone to help General
Butler and they argue that a few days
wait may make him strong enough to
overcome the deadlock.
There are $4,000 troops at sea, and
this heavy weight on the British side
is expected to destroy the equilibrium
now existing on every field Of opera
tions.
The British losses up TO date in kill
ed, wounded and captured, according
to General Buffers last list, is S,216
men.
TUESDAYS FIGHTING.
Spearman's Camp, Tuesday, January
%, $50 D. m.-The British field artil-
lery and hOwitZers shelled the enemy
posted on the crest of the ridge this
morning.
The infantry, under excellent cover,
k pt UP an effective rife fire. The
Beers resigned a kopje, of which the
British infantry took possession. When
retiring, itIhe enemy sheltered them
selves behind a stone wall on the slope
of the kopje, which they held for hours.
This afternoon they are across the
ravine. The British artillery poured
shrapnel and Lyddite into them and the
infantry took the stone wall. The
British casualty list was small.
London, January 25.-The Daily Tel
eSraph publishes tine following dispatch
from Spearman's Camp, dated Tuesday
January 23rd, $50 p. m:
'On Monday Sir Charles Warren s
force cannonaded and fusilladed the
Boer position west of Spion kop, near
the Acton Homes road. A Lyddite
battery co-operateC with the other
batteries and Maxi rs. Certainly the
fire was effective. ceusing the enemy
clung desperately to their works, from
which they are only being very slowly
driven. Today the enemy fired their
guns oftener, using also the captured
15-pounders with shrapnel. Our cas-
ualties today were less even than those
of yesterday. Fighting began about G
o'clock in the morning and continued
until dusk, butt there mas been nothing
like general engagement. The big
naval guns assisted from Potgieter' S
drift in shelling the Boer positions
BOERS STRENGTHENING THEIR
POSITION.
A dispatch TO The Times from
Spearman's Camp, dated Tuesday, 9
p. m, says:
The Beers today had more guns and
are prepared to fight almost intermin-
ably, having entrenched their ridge,
which stretches in an almost unbroken
line from the Drakensberg many miles
eastward.
day. We have not advanced any fur
ther, but we threw up entertainments
during the night, from behind which
the muskeItry duel continued from ex-
actly the same position as yesterday"
The Cape Town correspondent of The
Times, telegraphing Tuesday, says:
The bondites are preparing to seize
the first decisive British victory or the
invasion of republican territory as the
signal for a violent peace agitation.
They will accompany their appeal to
by covertly limiting that
they are unable to restrain the Dutch
coloniSts from rising.
FROM MODDER RIVER.
London, January 25-A correspondent
of The Times at Modder river, tele-
Tuesday, says:
THE report of deserters agree that
the situation of the Beers at Mayors
fontein is becoming unbearable, be-
cause the camp is unsanitary; entric
fever is spreading, and vegetables are
wanting. On the other hand, the
health of the British camp is salts
factory, although the ground has been
exhausted by the long encampment
and the trees have been cut down by
insect pest and dust storms.
A dispatch to The Daily Mail from
Lourenze Marques, dated Wednesday,
says: This morning all passengers
booked for the Transvaal were stopped
by government order, with the excep-
ton of the members Of the Russian
ambulance corps, who proceeded by
special train"
Kimberley, Tuesday, January o.
The bombardments have ceased, but
the Beers are perpetually engaged in
sniping. Long Cecil is doing excel
lent work, and Cecil Rhodes has per-