Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1900-06-09
BRITISH ARMY RESTING.
Roberts Making Pretoria Base
of Supplies.
LYDENBURG is VERY STRONG.
Narrow PASSES Between Ramparts OF
PERCEPTIONS Rock Lead Into Fertile
Valleys ArmiStice at LaingSnek.
Beers May Make Hard Fight There.

London, June Military operations
in South Africa are apparently ut
standstill For day or two the tired
troops of Lord Roberts are resting, and
he Is filling the magazines and ware.
houses at his new base, Pretoria, prepar-
atory to chase after the retiring Beers
iii the direction of Lydenburg. His cav
airy already are probably seeking to in
tercept Commandant General Botha.
A dispatch which left Pretoria Monday
while the fighting was going on outside
the city says:
''All day armed burghers have been
leaving Pretoria, going east. The greater
part of the railway rolling stock has been
removed General Botha was fighting an
essentially rear guard action. his object
not being to defend Pretoria. but to delay
Lord Roberts until the railway switch
had been cleared and the main part of
the Boer army had started to withdraw.
Possibly Lord Roberts may have been
able to cut the railway before a full re-
tirement was effected. That Pretoria
would be defended Ws.s apparently given
out after the council of war, with view
of misleading the British.
''In the Lydenburg district, where Kru
ger is supposed to be, a cartridge factory
has been erected. The place is described
as a volcanic region of fertile valleys, in
closed by great ramparts of precipitous
rock, penetrated by narrow, winding
passes There are herds of cattle in the
valleys. and there is much native labor
available for terrifying.
what is supposed to have been the
last train out of Pretoria arrived at Lou
renco Marques Sunday evening. The pas
da1 If
unteers, who described Pretoria rs desti-
tute of food and clothing"
Surrender of Pretoria.
Details of the negotiations for surren-
der of Pretoria We're given in this later
dispatch:
"Just before dark yesterday the enemy
were beaten back from nearly all the po-
sitions they had been holding, and Ian
Hamilton's mounted infantry followed
them within 1000 yards of Pretoria,
through which they retreated hastily.
DE Lisle then sent an officer with a
flag Of truce into the town, demanding its
surrender in my name. Shortly before
midnight l was awakened by two officials
of the South African Republic, Sandberg,
military secretary to Commandant Gen
eral Botha, and a general officer of the
Boer army, who brought me Il letter from
Botha, proposing an armistice for the
purpose of settling the terms of surren-
der.
II replied that | would gladly meet the
commandment general the next morning,
but that | was not prepared to discuss
any terms. as the surrender of the town
must be unconditional. | asked for a re-
ply by daylight, as l had ordered the
troops to march on the town as soon as it
was light.
'In his reply Botha told me that he had
decided not to defend Pretoria and that
he trusted the women, children and prop
erty would be protected AT l a. IN. to-
day, while on the line of march, | was
met bN three of the principal officials
with Il flag of truce, stating their wish to
surrender the town.
at was arranged that Pretoria should
be taken possession of by her majesty's
troops at 2 o'clock this afternoon.
Mrs. Botha and Mrs. Kruger are both
in Pretoria. Some few of the British
prisoners have been taken away, but the
majority are still at Waterfall. Over 100
of the officers are in Pretoria. The few
l have seen are looking we'll"
Late Tuesday night news was received
from Lord Roberts of the capture of the
Thirteenth battalion of imperial yeoman-
ny under Colonel Spragge by superior
Boer force near Lindley. On Thursday,
three days.ag it was stated that Gener
al Rundle's attack on the Beers near
Senekal had relieved the pressure on
Colonel Spragge's detachment and ena-
bled it to reach Lindley, but this must
have been an overoptimistic view of the
situation, for the little force was compel
led to surrender.