, 1900-02-24
CRONJE HOLDS OUT
THE OLD LION OF SOUTH ARR
CA" IS DYING IN HIS
TRACKS.
The Generals Wife Said to Be Urging
Him to Surrender-Unless Power
full Boer Reinforcements Arrive on
the Scene Cronie's Fate Must Be
Regarded as Sealed.

London. Feb. 24.-Trapped. ringed
round with fire, 4 target OF a
very tornado of shot and shell, Gener-
al Cronje, the old lion Of South Afri-
ca" is dying in his tracks, and fighting
to the death. He is paying "a price
that will stagger humanity" in a sense
that President Kruger did not dream
of when he made that famous phophe-
cy.
Lord Roberts silence yesterday
leaves it to be inferred hat the sur
render Of which there were rumors in
London last night had not yet taken
place. The Boer commander would
seem to have but one alternatiye-an-
Inhalation. On Tuesday, the third day
of General Crohje's fight at bay, the
fire of some 30 guns was directed upon
his lager. He had been given the
forenoon to reconsider his refusal to
.lsurrender, but as he remained stead
fast in his determination to fight to
the finish, Lord Kitchener, "the man of
ice and iron,' resolved to crush his re-
~sistance once for all, and until night
fell six field batteries, a Howitzer and
five naval guns poured %shrapnel and
lyddite shells into the Boer position.
How long could flesh and blood stand
the strain? One London paper de-
scribes the Beers position as a hell"
and the British press as a whole pays
tribute to General Cronje's courage,
thing of the fanatical. General Cron-
je's wife, who has accompanied her
husband throughout the campaign, is
reported to be urging him to surrend-
er.
C~ommandant Dewet, one of the b.
er generals in charge of reinforcements,
telegraphed to Pretoria on Tuesday that
he expected a big fight Wednesday at
Pe%tursberg, which is Is miles southeast
of Modder drifts and Koodoosrand.
Lord Roberts may therefore have 10. OGp
or As. 900 Beers in front of him at Pet
ursborg, and as the conditions of this
war have hitherto led to engagements
Icing prolonged for several days it is
possible that side by side with the bat
tie of P~aardeberg, in which General
Kitchener is holding General Cronje
in his grip. another portion of Lord
Roberts army has been having a long
fight with Dewet.
An absence of news from Chieveley
also suggested that a battle is raging
there, and an engagement is certainly
required by the situation.
If General Cronje was on Tuesday, in
the position described, under heavy fire
of six batteries, a HowitZer battery and
five naval guns, his condition must have
been desperate. He then has to stand
up to the projectjles, thrown by AZ
guns, many of them of large caliber.
This total of guns vas probably greatly
increased on Wednesday as even with
out horse artillery Lord Roberts should
have 80 or 100 guns available. New bat.
teries are now arriving at the Cape, and
one may presume that they are being
sent up to him, though as yet the horses
cannot be fit for hard work.
Unless, therefore, very powerful Boer
reinforcements arrive IN the scene in O
body General Cronje's fate must be re-
garded as sealed. =
All the newspapers this morning join
with one accord in expressions of ad,
miration for the amazing pluck of Gen,
eral Cronje and his men, who after be-
ing cornered by Lord Roberts strategy
are making such a splendid fight. Tc
the west of them are their lost posi-.
tions. comparatively a safe refuge Of
great hills. To the east of them they
a hear the fateful, thunder Of Genera