The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-05-25


at the Rhenoster river for day or two
by the depth of the stream, which is
not fordable The banks, which are pre-
cipitous are forty feet high. A pontoon
and temporary bridge constructions are
under way.
The railway had not been damaged
to any great extent between Kroons-
tod and Rhenoster. The Transvalers
have offended the Free Staters by de-
stroying their splendid bridges while
retiring to Kroonstad. They refrained
from doing this on the retreat to Rhe-
noster, but now they are destroying the
railway and bridges almost completely
north of the Rhenoster.
Position of the british.
The British troops are in the form
I of a crescent win horns 80 miles
apart, with General French's cavalry
/ on the left within twenty-three miles
/ from the vaaI and General Ian Ham
iltOn's mounted infantry on the right
/ within thirty miles of the Vaal- The
! centre of the crescent is about forty
miles from the Vaal.
/ Seventy or eighty miles to the left,
Lord Methuen is advancing upon the
Vaal.
! Boer kilograms say that 5000 British
with ten guns are near Vreedefort
which is close TO the VaaI and close to
Barys.
Beers Are Ridiculed.
One correspondent refers to the adj
vance as a promenade" Another de-
/ scribes it as a "boer hunt" The Free
Staters are pictured as boiling like
hares" at the first right of the British
] The latter, according to the writer, do
not even find women and children, as
/ the fleeing farmers take their families
with them, in consequence Of the re-
ports current among the Transvaalers
/ that the British kidnaD all children
over Il years of age.
! The BOer rear guard was composed
! of Russians to whom was committed
/ the task of destroying the bridges.
They also looted freely.
Doubt as to Boer Course.
What the Beers are doing is an alb
! solute mystery. The embargo of news
out of Pretoria for the last twenty-four
hours has been complete. Such shreds
I of information as the correspondents
! at LouTenZo Marques have picked up
( do not illuminate the Boer designs and
I dispositions further than that the
movement toward Lndenburg continues
and that referendum on the question
/ of continuing the war is going on
among the Boer fighting men. It may
be a fortnight before the results OF
! this singular vote are fully before the
/ TranSvaal government. If the English
view of BOer encouragement is one
half right, the Beers vii vote to quit
The Lourenzo Marques correspondent
of the Times telegraphing Wednesday,
says:
a. aaar5;,,o-, =, n y,r;xyo r. Iaffay~ cua1Ipr-
gled through from Pretoria, President
! Kruger now favors surrender, on the
ground that continuance of the war
would ruin the property Of the burgh-
ers. He has thrown upon the COM
mandants the onus of what course to
pursue"
Civilian prisoners released at Pre-
I toria report extraordinary activity dur
/ ing the last two weeks on the railway
from Pretoria to Piterburg. AS many
as twenty trains are running daily, and
! it is possible that a large portion have
been used to move supplies northward
for safety.
A dispatch from Cape Town says it
is announced there that President Kru-
ger has issued a proclamation saying
he will defend johannesburg and call
ing upon all the Beers to fight to the
bitter end.
B11L1SnNEOSlI1OnS III Natal.
In Natal General Dartnen's volun-
teers occupied Mount Prospect Mon
day. Lord Dundonald's cavalry is at
Firmstones, near Ingogo. His infantry
rests at Schoenshoogte. The names are
all of fateful memory in the first BOer
war.
The British face Laings Mex, where
the Beers, through the range glasses
of the British, are occasionally visible.
In the march across the Biggarsberg
all the farms except one were found
vacant. A temporary bridge has been
finished at Waschbank. Trains now go
to Dundee. General Butler said the
best way to celebrate the queens
birthday was to repair the railway to
! Newcastle, and every man was put to
work
Earl de la War;, who was supposed
to have been captured at the time of
the disaster that befell the squadron
of Bethuen's horse, contrived to es-
cape. He lay all night with a wounded
leg behind an ant heap, reaching the
camp next day.
AS the railway is now open north
of Mafeking, an abundance of proyi-
! siOns is entering the town, plenty of
flour and meat and a few lu,.Sries. The
telegraph messages will probably come
from Mafeking direct over the north
ern route in day or two.
Plague Enters South Africa.
South Africa has another infection
An extraordinary issue of the Gazette
at Durham announces the death of an
East Indian. from the bubOnic plague.
The government has put into force the
most stringent preventive measures,
but fears are expressed that the pesti-
lence may get among the troops.
Transvaal Bank Suspends Gold.
The Transvaal national bank has sus-
pended gold payments, under authori-
/ zation from the government requesting
the acceptance of bank notes. The in
stitutiOn has large assets, apparently
in London. One hundred and fifty thou
/ sand pounds were seized at Cape Town,
and 925000 at Durham. Mr. Lucan
| chairman Of the London committee of
the bank. said: The Transvaal gov
eminent is laying hands on every
! ounce of gold it can find in the country
| The government has nothing to lose
and everything to gain thereby Finan-
cial circles here are interested in many
indirect ways, especially as to whether
the TransvaaPs |. o. US will be re-
| deemed
Election to Settle ColoIsy's Fate
The Birmingham Argus, which keeps
in pretty close touch with the colonial
Office, says.
I'VE understand that q general cleo
ton will be ordered as soon as Lord
/ Roberts obtains an additional success.