LONDON, Feb. 23.— Tbe official report
gives 146 njen Killed at Paardeberg Drift on
Sunday, February 18, including sixty-three
Highlanders and eighteen Canadians.
World from London dated Saturday. 6 a.
am., says: There are strong rumors that
the siege of Ladysmith has been raised.
They were received by wire too late to be
printed In • the regular editions of the
newspapers, and cannot be confirmed at
present. ¦
HEAVY FIGHTING YET
ON AT LADYSMITH
LONDON, Feb. 24.— The Dally Telegraph
has the' following dispatch from Chieveley,
dated Wednesday, February 21:
"If is reported that General White sor
tled from Ladysmith yesterday and cap
tured a number of Boer wagons. There is
heavy firing in the direction of. Lady
smith. either on 'the part of Sir George
White or of the Boers."
A dispatch to the Daily Telegraph from
Pletermaritzburg, dated Thursday, says:
"Fighting is proceeding in the vicinity
of Pieters this morning. General Buller*s
advance is being opposed by both big guns
and rifle- fire,"
. . The , Daily Chronicle has the following
dispatch from Ladysmith, dated Saturday,
February 17:
- "All day men gather on the convent hill
and try to see General Bull er's shells burst-
Ing in the distance. The siege has been
Inexpressibly tedious for the last fort
night. The Boer camps have entirely dis
appeared from the old positions within tha
last few days, and large parties with
wagons are trekking westward. It la as
sumed that the Free Staters are. going to
resist the advance of Lord Roberts.
"We estimate that about 6000 have gone.
Near. the foot of .Butuwuna the Boers hava
been constructing a work near the river.
possibly a dam. We can see a figure like
a noted lady in a red petticoat directing
operations."
DELAY IN UTILIZING
WIRELESS TELEGRAPH
Special Cable to The Call and New York Her-
ald. Copyrighted. 1300, by the New Toxic
Herald Company.
LONDON. Feb. 23.— At a meeting of tha
Wireless Telegraph Company to-day the
chairman. Major Flood Page, mentioned
the fact that a vessel, which got in the<
Goodwin sands, was saved by means of
the Marconi system. He said the an
nouncement that the American navy had
founded another system was untrue. Tha
chairman dilated on what might have hap.
pened at Kimberley and Ladysmith had;
the War Office let the company's asalat-
DURBAN, Feb. 23, evening.— The rumor gains credence that Ladysmith has been relieved. It is also reported that General Cronje
has surrendered 8000 men and that General Kitchener has been slightly wounded in : the left arm: ; ? ; ;
Crowds throng the streets singing and cheering because of the supposed victories. Seventeen hundred -Boer^ or
wounded, the latter, it is reported, including General Cronje;
GENERAL P. A. CRONJE.
Knowing Reinforcements May Not Be
Able to . Reach Them, the Repub
licans Make a Splendid Defense
That Wins the/ Admiration of the
\/\/ ii t^ l n ¦ ¦¦•¦•.
With Nearly Five-Score Guns, Many
of Large Caliber, Lord Roberts' At
tacking Forces Continue to Bombard
the Boer Position, Causing Terrible
Carnage.
* - *
Fighting Stubbornly, the Bur
ghers Seem Determined to
Justify Their President's'
Threat He Would Stagger
Humanity With the Lives
the War Would Cost.
Although Urged by His Wife
to Surrender, the Gallant
Commander of the Free
State Forces Continues to
Battle Again st : Most Desper
ate Odds. . .
CRONJE YET HOLDS OUT AGAINST THE
FEARFUL FUSILLADE OF BRITISH CANNON
i [Special Cable to the New York Herald. Copyrighted. 1900. by the New York
Herald Company. Republlcatlon of this dispatch Is prohibited. All rights
reserved in the United States and Great Britain.]
MODDER RIVER, Feb. 22.— General Cron
je's wife, so prisoners say, is urging him to
surrender to save the lives of \)\s men.
Prisoners also assert that a death; blow r;as
been struck to the resistance in trje Free
State.
LONDON, Feb. 24.- : — Persistent rumors were current in
London throughout yesterday that General Cronje had
surrendered with 7060 men, but up to this moment no
official news of any such event had been received by the War
Office.
If Cronje was on Tuesdayin the position described under
the heavy fire of six field batteries, a howitzer battery and five
naval guns, his condition must have been desperate. He then
has to stand up to the projectiles thrown by forty-seven guns,
many of them of large caliber. '
This total of guns was probably largely increased on
Wednesday, as even without the horse artillery Lord Roberts
should have ninety or a hundred guns available. . New batter
ies are now arriving at the Cape, and one- may presume they
are being sent up to him, though as, yet the horses cannot be .,
fit for hard work.
Unless, therefore, very powerful Boer reinforcements ar
rive on the scene in a body, Cronje's fate must be regarded as
sealed.
All the newspapers this morning join with one accord: in'
an expression of admiration for the amazing pluck of Cronje and j ,
his men, who; after being cornered by -Lord Roberts' strategy,
arc making such a splendid 'fight. . . ... . :v . ... „ , -;-.
To the west of them are their lost possessions, a compar
atively safe refuge of greac hills. To the east of them they can
hear the fateful thunder of General French's field guns, keeping
all aid away. Yet they fight stubbornly . against the "Red
Their dead and wounded are lumbering every post. Their
store wagons are flaming around them. Their oxen, which
should be with their transports, are slain by artillery or mad
with fright and thirst. They themselves seem* to be fighting for
nothing better than to justify their President's menace that he/
would stagger humanity by the lives the war would cost.
On other fields of warfare the news which has reached.
London favors the British campaign. It is true that the Boers
claim a success Tuesday on theTugela, and assert that they
drove back a body of British troops who were trying; to cross ,
the river, but from information of a later date. we. know, that the
passage was successfully accomplished.- It is still quite uncer-.
tain whether General Buller has a large Boer force before him
or only a small rear guard. The latter. seems probable.
. , ;On Wednesday the British troops appear to have advanced
very slowly. It was then thought the Boers /would take \up a ;
position on the slopes of Mount Bulwaria and enfilade the lines .
of the main British advance. The British moved in extremely
open order, and were greeted with heavy shrapnel fire from
Grobler's Klooff, which did littie damage, however. , . :
' The impression is gaining ground in Sir Redver's head- :
quarters that the Boers are merely covering, the retirement of
their entire force. White's, guns at Ladysmith have been -
turned on the Boer, positions along the Klip River to prepare :
the way for'the advance of the relieving forces.
At Colenso it is reported that General White ; has made . a '.
sortie and has captured some Wagons of the retreating /Boers..;
In.thehorth of Cape Colony a fresh British advance seems
to;have_been begun, theßoers giving way in front of Arundel
and. -at Stormberg. Naturally
both from Natal and from Coles
berg the invaders of the British
colonies are streaming back to
their. own country to help their
hard-pressed comrades on the
Modder. From all accounts,
however, it will be impossible for
them to give material assistance,
for. Lord Roberts, with the aid o£
French's cavalry, seems to be
easily able to both hold Cronje
closely invested and drive off in
detail such reinforcements as ap
pear- in the neighborhood of
Paardeberg.
NATIVES REPORT THE
RELIEF OF MAFEKING
;- : NBW YORK, -Feb. 24.— A Sun special
from London sftys: The Standard's cor
respondent at Kimberley reports that
General ' French .'when he left to co-oper
ate In the pursuit of Commandant Cronje,
encountered a body .of the . enemy • at
Droonfleld. He led them, by clever tac
tics;- on to an' open plain and then loosed
the lancers on ' them. " Forty .Boers were
killed. . " .
U The j dispatch adds- that a | farmer at
Barkley West auotes the natives as re
porting that Colonel Plummer has relieved
Maf eking and is now south of | Marsbogo
advancing to Vryburg. The farmer, whose
name Is Kelly, does not profess to vouch
for the truth of the .reports.
REPORTED RAISING OF
THE LADYSMITH SIEGE
KTCW TORJC. Feb. 23.— A special to thai
PRICE FIVE CENTS.
SAN FRANCISCO, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1900.
VOLUME LXXXVH- S?)^ 86.
The San Francisco Call
w ONBON, Feb. 24. — The liourenzo Marques correspondent of the Daily News, telegraphing Tuesday, says:
¦ v "We are in. a state of doubt and anxiety regarding events in j the Free State. We hear that the
telegraph wires between General Cronje and Bloemfontein have been severed' and the news from the
front is conflicting. •
"It is a symptom of the present trend of events that storekeepers in the Free State have wired here,
stopping the forwarding of goods. I learn that the Transvaal Government has £5,000,000 in bullion at Pre
toria and is coining 35,000 sovereigns a month." - '-, .¦"• \! . • '
LOURENZO MARQUES, Feb. 23. — Fighting continues around Petrusburg and Kimberley. The gen
eral result is yet undecisive.
CHIEVELEY, Feb. 22. — The main body of the Boers has fled, evidently with, the object of stemming