The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-02-01
MAJUBA, ONLY BETTER.
Full Facts About De Vets Opera
lions Now Leaking Out,

Dublin Freeman: The full facts
about De Vets Christmas operations
jare only now leaking out gradually.
through. and they give just the de-
tails that the public wanted concern
ing the affair with Dartnell and the
Light Horse, which was the prelimi
nary to and preparation for the sur
prise at Tweefontein. 1t appears that
De Wet attacked Dartnell tiercely, the
Beers making a grand charge across
the open ground, covered by the fire
of the high velocity guns and of d
pompom.' The official message care
| fully concealed the fact that the Beers
had any guns. Not merely had De Wet
guns, but he appears to have used them
with effect, and Dartnell appears to
have made no effort to follow him. The
mystery about the Tweefontein guns
is also cleared up. De Wet, it is now
declared, carried them off, The Lon
don Standard account of the exploit
shows what a marvellous leader the
Boer general is, and what wonderful
and daring men he possesses. 1t was
another Majuba, only better. The
Beers climbed an almost precipitous
cliff in their bare feet; they overpow-
cred the pickets, seized their guns and
bayonets, and with them charged the
camp. The greatest indignation exists
amongst the writer's for the British
press at this proceeding, the same
British press which gleefully recorded
the sticking" of Beers as one of the
pleasant relaxations of the Lancers
during a Boer defeat in the earlier
phases of the war. British soldiers
stabbed by Beers" is the amusing
caption which appears in an English
paper with reference to this marvellous
military exploit. 1t is, in fact, set forth
as some kind of brutal murder for the
Beers to seize British arms in fair fight
and Immediately turn them on their
enemies. Had DartneII seized De Vets
pom-pom and turned it on $he Beers
what glee there would have been
amongst the journalists, who have such
a grievance against the Beers for
actually using British bayonets after
risking their lives to take them. The
whole Tweefontein episode now, it APP
pears, only lasted half an hour. The
guns, ammunition, supplies. and prao>
tically all the unwounded British were
taken prisoners, and the Light Horse
arrived too late to take up the pursuit,
fact which. no doubt, they found
very comforting and consoling, since
De Wet is a very nasty customer to
pursue. A significant passage in the
Standard telegram relates that De
Wet, after the affair with Dartnell,
was reinforced by LOO men. This was
in the center of district which was
supposed to be completely guarded by
blockhouses. If the bloclzhouse sys-
tenn was of any use a reinforcement Of
this kind would. of course, be impossi
BILE 1t appears extremely likely that
the British are really besieged in
the blockhouses. Whenever they ven
ture into the open they apparently fall
into the hands of the enemy. 1t is only
by making themselves practically pris-
oners in wired-in shanties that they
succeed in holding ground at all. The
Standard kilograms just give us a
glimpse behind the scenes. There is a
wealth of detail in them in which the
generals dispatches are sadly lacking.
But even these press messages had
probably to pass the censor and it is
extremely likely that worse remains
behind.