WAR NEWS

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     VRYBURG, OCT. 31, 1899

     MAFEKING SPEECHLESS WITH TERROR

     KIMBERLEY TREMBLES

     40 ENGLISH SOLDIERS DESERT TO JOIN OUR RANKS

     It appears by telegram received this morning that the Burghers
     started firing on Mafeking with the big cannon.  The town is on
     fire and is full of smoke.

     The British troops in Natal met the Burghers at Elandslaagte. 
     The battle-field was kept by the Burghers under General
     Prinsloo.  Two were killed, four wounded.

We drove down the street, and pulled up at the Central Hotel, where I got capital rooms and was most civilly received by the manager, an Englishman.  The latter, however, could hardly conceal his surprise at my visit at this moment.  He at once advised me not to mention my name, or show myself too much, as that very day a new Landrost had arrived to take charge of the town, and strict regulations respecting the coming and going of the inhabitants and visitors were being made.  He then gave me some splendid news of the Natal border, the first intelligence of the victories of Dundee, Elandslaagte, and Glencoe.  To hear of those alone was worth the long drive, and he also showed me the Dutch reports of these same engagements, which really made one smile.  On every occasion victory had remained with the burghers, while the English dead and prisoners varied in numbers from 500 to 1,300, according to the mood of the composer of the despatch.  The greatest losses the burghers had sustained up to then in any one engagement were two killed and three wounded.  The spoils of war taken by the Dutch were of extraordinary value, and apparently they had but to show themselves for every camp to be evacuated.  They were kind enough to translate these wonderful despatches into a sort of primitive English, of which printed slips could be bought for threepence.  The hotel manager said if they did not invent these lies and cook the real account the burghers would desert en masse.  So afraid were their leaders of news filtering in from English sources that all messengers were closely watched and searched.  In the afternoon I drove up to the little hospital to see three of the occupants of the ill-fated armoured train.  They were all convalescent, and said they were being very kindly treated in every way, but that the Boer doctoring was of the roughest description, the surgeon’s only assistant being a chemist-boy, and trained nurses were replaced by a few well-meaning but clumsy Dutch girls, while chloroform or sedatives were quite unknown.