The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-02-18
Baden-POwen Is There Keeping
Guard Over His Beleaguered Gar
rison and the Citizens.
LETTERS FROM THE COLONEL
THAT SHOW HE HAS FULL COMMAND
OF THE SITUATION.
Mail Advices from the Cape Colony
Field of Operations-HOw Gatacre
Was Surprised mt Stormburg.
of the Associated Press.

Correspondence of the Associated Press.
LONDON, Feb. 10.-The correspondent Of
a news agency, writing from Durham,
speaks with apparent knowledge of the
Boer armament. and the way in which it
was obtained, as follows:
The expenditure of the Transvaal gov
ernment for artillery during the past four
years is shown with startling bluntness in
a document that has been brought here
from Pretoria and was issued some time
before the opening of the war for the pri-
vate information Of the members Of the
volksraad. In 1894 the Beers gave their
first order for quantity Of heavy guns,
and then they expended e10O.0Oo with
Krupp, Of Germany, and about 100000
with an Austrian firm for small arms. The
Krupp guns were delivered in 1885, and in
cluded two of what was then the largest
pattern for a gun in the world. These
guns are forty-eight feet in length, weigh
12O tons, throw shell weighing $500
pounds and require 904 pounds of powder
for each discharge. One of these enormous
weapons has been dragged to the hills
overlooking Ladysmith, the labor neces-
sary to accomplish this feat having been
prodigious. The other Is on the fOrtifica-
tions defending Pretoria, where it awaits
the approach of the British in their coming
attack on the capital. Both are amply
provided with ammunition, which. in addi-
ton to the great steel and iron shells, con-
sisting of shrapnel, holding three thou
sand balls weighing three and one-half
ounces each. Its bore is 1855 inches. This
a
Portable spot during the past several
weeks.
. 'In 1895 another e1O0.0O0 was expended
with Krupp, and a number Of field guns OF
long range were obtained. as were also
several mountain and bush guns, these be-
ing especially adapted to the hilly country
and the hot climate of the Transvaal.
but 1t was in 1890 that the Beers con-
tracted for the guns that have thus far
in the war done them the most effective
service. 1t was at this time that they made
their first purchase of six cannon manufac-
tured at Creusot, and so satisfied were the
Boer officers with them that eighteen have
been added to the Transvaal armament
since that date. One of the many effective
features of this gun is the clever arrange
ment of springs and brakes that lessons
the recoil materially and brings the gun
back to it's former position within two Sec
onds after being discharged. This gives
greater velocity to the projectile and in
creases the range. The velocity is over
1SOO feet a second at the muzzle, and the
carrying distance is a trifie under five
miles, this remarkable result being OBJ
tanned from a charge Of less than two
pounds of powder and from a gun weigh
ing only 3.4O0 pounds.
Eight shots may be fired each minute
without heating the metal and every gun
goes into action provided with IA rounds
of ammunition. There is sufficient quantity
of ammunition for these particular guns to
keep them in active service for the next
two years.
During 1S97-lS9S and portion of 1899,
the Beers continued to strengthen their
artillery arm and also to fortify many of
the hills along the frontier. In this period
they bought forty-eight rapid-ire Schnei-
der-Canet 14le-pounders that throw a
shrapnel containing 231 bullets. Five bat
teries of eight rapid-fire Maxims each are
being used against Mafeking and Lady
smith. The Beers also provided themselves
with four batteries Of 2-pound quick-fire-
ing Vickers-Maxim guns with range ex-
tending up to 5000 yards. They have also
four guns with range Of 1000 yards Two
of these are said to be mounted on the hills
at either side of the narrow pass that leads
from Natal into the Transvaal, another is
overlooking Ladysmith and the fourth pro-
tects Pretoria.
I'm all the Beers have between 220 and
23I heavy guns and field pieces. every in
dividual gun being Of the latest design
and with the latest improvements, and the
entire number superior in nearly every way
to those possessed by the British.