The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1900-06-02
PROGRESS HINDERED.
Lord Roberts Meets with Delay I'm
His Advance, Caused by
Deep Water.

London, May 25.-Lord Roberts In
fantry advance is delay ed at the Rhe-
noster river for day or two by the
depth of the stream, which Is not ford
able. The banks, which are precipitous,
are 40 feet high. A pontoon and tenn
porary bridge constructions are under
way.
The British troops are in the form
of crescent, with horns 30 miles apart,
with Gen. French's cavalry on the left
within 20 miles of the Vaal, and Gen.
Ian Hamilton's mounted men on the
| right, within 80 miles of the Vaal. The
center of the crescent is about 40 miles
from the Vaal. Seventy or eighty
miles to the left Lord Methuen is adj
vancing up the Vaal. Boer kilograms
say that 1900 British, with ten guns,
are near Vreedefort, which is close to
the Vaal and close to Parys.
The railway has not been damaged
to any great extent between Kroon-
stad and Rhenoster. The Transvaalers
have offended the Free Staters by de-
stroying their splendid bridges when
retiring to Kroonstad. They refrained
from doing this on the retreat to Rhe-
noster, but now they are destroying
the railroad and bridges almost COM
pletely north of the Rhenoster. The
Boer rear guard was composed of Rus
slams, to whom was committed the
task of destroying the bridges. They
also looted freely.
What the Beers are doing is an abb
solute mystery. The embargo of news
out of Pretoria for the last "a hours
has been complete. Such shreds of in
formation as the correspondents at
Lourenzo Marques have picked up do
not illuminate the Boer designs and
dispositions further than that the
movement toward Lydenburg contin-
ues and that referendum on the ques-
ton of continuing the war is going on
among the Boer fighting men. 1t may
be fortnight before the results of
this are fully before the Transvaal gov
eminent. If the English view of Boer
encouragement is one-half right, the
Beers will vote to quit.
Mafeking, Thursday, May II, via
Kimberley. = The British relieving
force occupied this town at nine
o'clock. The garrison Immediately
moved out with 12-pounders and POM
poms and attacked McMullin's lager.
The Beers resisted weakly for half an
hour and then fed in disorder, leaving
their tents, wagons and impedimenta.
The British then occupied all the Boer
positions. Col. Baden-Powell gave the
garrison an opportunity of revenging
themselves, using the relief force as
reserve and as supports. Men and
women swarmed to the housetops, and
Lady Sarah Wilson, on a bicycle, ac-
companied the troops as far as the
Boer lines. The town guard formed
up in the market square for the march
past the relief force. There was i'm
mense enthusiasm over the fact that
the relief of the place was accomplished
by colonials.
AS the railway is now open north OF
Mafeking, an abundance of provisions
is entering the town, plenty of -four
and meat and few luxuries. The tel
egraph messages will probably come
from Mafeking direct over the north
ern route in day or two.
The Transvaal national bank has
suspended gold payments, under au-
thorization from the government, re-
curing the acceptance of bank notes.
The institution has large assets APP
parently in London. One hundred and
fifty thousand pounds were siezed at
Cape Town and f25.0OO at Durham.