Show I nOVING ON PRETORIA U British Mounted Infantry A re North of Brandfort REACH BANK OF VET RIVERHead RIVER-Head of Lord Robertss Army Has Advanced 32 aMiles Within Two Days and is Now 53 Miles North of BloemfonteInLord Roberts and Gen Kitchener Arc Both at Brand fort Boer Flag Was Plying When Britons Entered the TownHunter Crosses the Van I London May Cth 405 a m The mounted Infantry with Lord Roberts among which arc the Canadians have picketed their horses on the south bank of the Vet river eighteen miles north of Brandfort Tho head of Lord Rob ertss column has thus advanced thir tytwo miles from Karen Siding In two days or fiftythree miles north of Bloemfontcln The Val office last evening Issued the following from Lord I Roberts dated Brandfort Friday May 4lh I The mounted Infantry have gone onto on-to the Vet river The rest of the force will march there tomorrow The railway rail-way has been repaired to this place I Hunter reports very satisfactory I news that the passage of the Vaal has I I i been carried at Wlndsorton without opposition op-position I I LITTLE POWER SPENT 1 Little power was spent The British work was hard marching the Boer I retiring out the reach of tho British 1 shells Tho correspondents supplement I IJ Lord Robcrtss plain statements with I a few details I As Gen llutton with the first mounted i mount-ed infantry brigade drew near Brand fort he saw a khakiclad body of troops ahead of him He was surprised but thought they must be the British 1 Soon however they opened fire upon the British who replied heavily They were the IrishAmerican brigade from Lourenco Marques and It Is reported I that the Irish lost heavily I BRITISH ENTER BRANDFORT The Boer flag was flying over Brand I fort as the British entered the town Several British wounded were found In the hospital The Boer postmaster gave up the keys of the public buildings build-ings to Capt Ross Lord Kitchener arrived at Brandfort a at noon and Lord Roberts at dusk I I Gen Frenchs cavalry are sweeping the country northward The expectation Is that the Infantry advance will be continued toward Kronstad LONDON IS ELATED Although no prisoners were taken and although no hot pursuit was attempted at-tempted the news greatly cheers London Lon-don Nevertheless It has not been received re-ceived with the line rapture that attended at-tended erts the first successes of Lord Rob ertsGen Gen Hunters crossing the Vaal at Wlndsorton brings the relief of MaCe I 1 < lnS ll 3 miles beyond almost within a calculable Interval I Is now regarded as quite possible that Mafeklng may be succored before the Queens birthday BRANDFORT OCCUPIED Lord Roberts reports to the War olllce as follows under date of Bloemfonteln May 3rd We occupied Brandfort today without with-out much opposition and without I i hope many casualties The First brigade bri-gade of mounted infantry covered the left flank of the Fourteenth brigade of the Second division and the right flank was supported by the Fifteenth brigade bri-gade PoleCarews division advanced directly on Brandfort The Boor army which was under command of Delarey retired in n northeasterly direction IMPORTANT CAPTURE Tho above Is considered the most important Im-portant communication received from the front since tho capture of Gen I Cronje and the relief of Ladysmlth The fact that the position gives the key to one of the main roads leading to tho Drakkonsburg passes which possibly may be the means of cooperating with Gen Duller later on provide an advance ad-vance base of supplies etc and at the same time menaces the Boers now southeast of Blocmfontcln is obviously tho reason for the Importance attached by all hands to the Intelligence BOERS RETIRE ON WINBERG The Boer army which was at Brand fort commanded by Gen Dclarey Is presumably retiring on Wlnberg which will possibly bo the next Immediate objective ob-jective point of the British At Brand fort thirtyfive mllc nearer the Transvaal Trans-vaal capital Is Lord Robertss headquarters head-quarters BRITISH PUBLIC I I I GRATIFIED I I What particularly gratifies the British I Brit-ish public Is I the evidence that the army of Lord Roberts In tho Free Slate has recovered Its mobility and IH again capable I ca-pable of undertaking the general advance ad-vance so long retarded It Is hardly I expected that lie Boers will make much of a stand south of Kroonsladl and possibly not there If Lord Roberts succeeds In capturing I Wlnborg thus Interposing between the main Federal army and the Boer forroy In tho neighborhood o Thaba NChu and Houtnek In which case the hitter I would bo forced to move farther to the eastward in which direction tholr mobility mo-bility would probably enable them to reach the Bethlehem and Harrlsmlth line of safely j I MET LITTLE OPPOSITION i The only opposition which the British encountered at Brandfort seems to have come from the IrishAmerican commando com-mando Time central l British army Is now In harmony with the extreme left at Bos nehof under Lord Methuen and the cx tromo right at Elanclslaagte under Gen Buller so that the movements of these wings will be In cooperation with the main army may be expected shortly I TIIAI3A NCHU HILL EVACUATED A dispatch from Thaba NChu says The Boers have evacuated Thaba NChu hill and aro believed to be still trekking though one gun has shelled the camp Intermittently Scouts report that some of the Boers retired from Wepener They believe the Doers evacuated evac-uated the position during the night trekking noi therly in three directions Gen French left tOfU Gen Rundle Is in command here I is expected Gsn Brabant will effect a Junction at any moment I HART OCCUPIES SMITHFIELD i I Allwal North Cape Colony reports that Gen Harts brigade has occupied Smlthlleld Out of the ICO Boers In the town Iwentyfivo wero captured and the rest decamped Ladybrand Ins recently recent-ly full Ut fjoor woumlid who have now been removed Flcksburg i removet Flcks1uS I |