The Portland daily press., 1900-03-14
FROM MAFEKING.
British Having Hard Time 60 Hold
Their own.

London, March 14.-Lady Sarah VIII
son wires the Daily Mail from Mafeking,
under date Of March (by native runner
10 LobAtis, March %, as follows;
On Saturday, March 3. the Bosrs furi-
ously bam barded the brick fields And
trenches about q mile from the town
fer three hours. killing one and wouna-
ing two colonels.
On March 8, they made q determined
attack. Owing to q misunderstanding
the colonials evacuated the foremost
trench. This she Beers occupied; but
reserves wers called up and the trench
was rs-oartured with rush. We had no
Casualties.
The Beers continue very active and 10
taxes Col. Baden Powell and the garrison
very heavily to prevent them encroAching
on our lines. Since Comman dant
Snyman returned from the north. the
siege has been prosecuted with
renswed vigur.
Dynamite EXPLOSIONS were heard dur
ing the last two days of Febr uary. The
Beers have tesn blowing up section oil
the Northern railway. showing that they
fear the approach Of Col. Plum's column.
The new five inch gun made here has
proved very unsatisfactory and accurate.
Col Baden Powell warned Commandment
Snyman that. uulefs he disbanded and
disavmed the native lsvies filling the
Boer forward trenches, by March 3, he
(Raden- Powell), would no longer be
responsible for restraining Chief Linehsw
in the Seouani district.
Commandant Snyman declines to dis
band them.
rue Daily Mail has the following des-
patch from Kimberley, dated Tuesday,
March IS:
Lard Nethuen occupisd Boshof on sun
day, without opposition. He left asrri-
son there and returned here.
The railway and telegraph lines have
been repaired 80 miles northward Of Slyp
Kip. 1t IL understood that the line be-
tween Fourteen Streams and Vryburg lie
not very badly damaged.
MI. winston Churchill wires to tho
Morning Post from Durham, protesting
the oeremonious treatment of zen.
Cronje. He adds:
s'The stern decision not to exchange
prisoners viii! undoubtedly accelerate the
end OF the war, but 1t will prove very
hard and perhaps even dangerous for
the British pris> ners in PTetnria.
"There lie abundant evidence that the
Eo,rs are becoming more cruel and that
the war will enter n darker phase. 1t Is
very doubtful II the RGer government
win tie able TO control the wild passions
Of the exasperated ruffians forming the
noisy part Of the Boer forces in the event
of siege of Pretoria and the position of
the British prisoners would then become
precarious.
"I have visited the dam which the Beers
began on Kip river below Lady smith.
II 1t had been completed, It would have
submerged the Toni i camp, where there
were two thousand sick"
Mr. Spenser Wilkinkon in the Morn
ing Port. says:
Lord Roberts is probably now wait
ing In front of Bloemfon tein for the in.
fantry divisions None OF them could
well be expsoted TO arrive before dsrk.
Tho three divisions would probably be
so directed that the leading one would
follow the cavalry and turn the Beer de-
fsuses, the other two would come up In
eohelon ON the original Boer front so
that In care OF resistance the Beers could
bs envelopsd and compelled to retreat
under difficulties and with heavy less.
''Lord Roberts is not the man to forget
In his CONTAMINATION to reach strate-
gical point, any measures likely to con-
tribute toward cruising a Fart Of the
enemy's force.
"Thers are abundant signs of the de-
morHlization of the Beers. The first is
the bad strategy Of their resistance to the
advance of Lord Roberts. Then comes
the message OF the Presidsnt to Lord Sal
isbury. Kruger and Stsyn, iI can BE-
seen, have not yet quits realized their
position, but Lord Salisbury IS reply, be-
in precisely what thu British nation ex-
Pected him to send, may open their
eyes"