Show PILCHEBS RAID ITirst Accounts Sent Out Considerably Consider-ably Exaggerated London Jan GThe latest news of I Col Pll hers raid shows that some of the first accounts considerably exaggerated exag-gerated its effect on the Boersand their sympathizers While it is true he successfully suc-cessfully drove a couple of hundred I I rebels from Sunyalde killing or woundIng 1 wound-Ing thirty and capturing fortythree Cot Pllchera immediate evacuation of Douglass seems to prove that he had Information that there was a sufficient number of Boers in the neighborhood to make his position unsafe I SAVED BY CAVALRY Indeed there is reason to believe that only the dispatch of th6 cavalry brigade from the Modder river prevented the force of COO mon sent by Gen Cron3q from attacking Cot Pilchers column and as soon as the cavalry returned to he Modder river Gen Cronjes troops reocoupled l Sunnyslde According to advices from Stcrk stroem the Boers havo completely retired re-tired from the neighborhood of Molteno but Gon Gatacro does not appear to have pursued them as the reinforcements reinforce-ments from Sterkstroem have returned there Gen Gatacrcs report of tho Molteno affair confirms the Associated Press dispatch showing It was merely a skirmish of outposts There were no British casualties SORTIE AT MAFEK1NG A Matching dispatch Just received but dated December 26th confirms the report of the t British sortie from that place 1 which was first announced from Pretoria December 30thMafe king dispatch says There was a sortie sor-tie today with the view of capturing the Boer earthworks but It was unsuccessful unsuc-cessful The works were crowded with Boers awaiting the assault and a hall of bullets forced the British to retire killing and wounding a number The British storming party numbered eighty men of which number tve tone t-one were killed and thirtythree wounded |