The Saint Paul globe., 1900-06-04
NOTHING FROM PRETORIA.
News of All Kinds FiItering
Through From LOurenzO MARQUES.

News of All Kinds FiIterinr
Through From LOurenzO Marques.
LONDON, June 4, 4 a. m.-There is no
direct news from Pretoria of later date
than Thursday evening. Gen French's
cavalry was then at Irene, eight miles
south of Pretoria, and firing was heard
there Lord Roberts was conducting sec
ondary operations elsewhere and the sit
uation at Johannesburg, dated at Orange
Grove, farm four miles northeast OF
Johannesburg, shows that on Saturday
at S;lO p. m. he was twenty-five miles
from Pretoria.
The correspondents with Lord Roberts
have not got through line about the op-
eratons after the occupation OF Johannes
burg. Official messages continue to come
through, but press kilograms are held
up, probably TO avoid their giving a hint
even as to what may be the pending
operations. From the other side there
filters through Lourenzo Marques a mass
OF statements, some contradictory, others
obviously improbable, but all purporting
to be facts
Passengers arriving at Lourenzo Mar
ques Saturday, direct from Pretoria, say
that the capital was preparing to surren-
der when they left Thursday The forts
Were dismanted. The Boer guard at
Komau Poort searched all trains and
turned back most of the fugitives, among
them deserting. foreigners who were striv-
ing to reach neutral soil
Immense Boer conveys of provisions
are between Pretoria and Middleburg.
Fifteen trains are sent daily to Machada-
das with supplies for Lydenburg
Pretoria is pictured by the refugees as
in state of indescribable confusion and
chaos. The populace are dismayed, and
the British are expected hourly
Some foreign attaches have arrived at
Lourenzo Marques to communicate with
their governments for orders to leave, as
they consider that organized war, on the
Transvaal side, is at an end
Flying among the Beers are reports that
the British have been beaten back at
Lindley with heavy loss; that the main
attack on Elandsfontein failed, and Lord
Roberts was forced to retire to Klipriver-
burg that the railway has been cut be-
hind him, south of Vereeniging. and that
provision train has been captured
Without crediting any of the Boer bull
letins, everything from the field of war
behind Lord Roberts points to great eff
fort last week to paralyze his advance by
bold stroke from the eastward, at the
railway north of Bloemfontein Unless
four Boer columns were in a movement
seemingly with this objective there was
a commando in front of Gen. Brabant
nearing Ficksburg; another faced Gen
Rundle, near Senekal; a third occupied
Lindley and pressed toward the railway.
and a fourth seized Heilbron and pushed
toward KroOnstad. These operations. as
suming them to have been independent
all appear to have failed.
A revival of the Boer fighting mower
east of Lord Roberts advance, although
fruitless, is a symptom that the Beers are
not yet crushed. In Gen. Rundle's at
tack on the intrenched Beers, seven miles
east of Senekal, May 29, the British did
not see a Boer all day, so completely were
they screened. The British infantry did not
get within 1000 yards OF their rihemen. The
1S2 losses wired by Lord Roberts were SUI
fered by the Grenadiers and Scots guards,
while advancing over a level from which
the grass had been burned. The soldiers,
clad in khaki were a conspicuous target
against the black burned ground
Gen. Rumble withdrew his whole force
at sundown to SeneKal, having succeeded
in drawing the Beers from Lindley, al
lowing the threatened force to get away
safely. The Beers sent to the British
for medical help, saying that Command
ant de Villiers was seriously wounded.
Gen. Rumble sent a doctor, with a bottle
or champagne and his compliments as
well as message that he would release
all the Boer prisoners at Senekal
The Lourenzo Marques correspondent of
the Times, telegraphing June 2, saws:
An Austrian who has seen seven
months active service in the TransvaaI
declared that large proportion of the
burghers are deserving to their homes
The arrangement under which the Brit
ish prisoners at Pretoria have been
placed under an armed guard under Brit
ish officers, pending the formal occupa-
ton OF the town, is ascribed to the good
sense of Gen. Botha and the Transvaal
state secretary. both of whom won the
profound respect of all classes"
In the advance of the Grenadiers, Col
Lloyd lead in the face of a deadly fire
He was hit, but struggled on, only to