Show BRITONS ARE AfiAIN ALARMED Fact That Boers Could Collect a Gr at Force So Near Headquarters Prom i ih > yokes Uneasy Criticism N u r Only the Opportune Arrival of Reinforcements Saved BroadwoocTs Column from Complete Annihila tionBritish Showed Magnificent BraveryBoers y < Opened from Ambush With Murderous r London xSprll 3 450 a mTho latest news from the front adds little to the public knowledge of the convoy disaster dis-aster No credence Is given to reports that the Boers numbered between eight and ten thousand men The general belief is that there could not have been moro than half thab number but tho mere fact that even so many as half could have been collected so near headquarters head-quarters without the knowledge oCthc British commanders provokes much uneasy criticism The disaster Is regarded as a direct t result of the Inability of Gen French to cut off the commandoes s of Gen Olivier and the other commandoes when escaping from the Orange river Lord Robertss own dispatch dated two hours later than the Dally Chronicles Chroni-cles Bay nothing about the guns being be-ing recaptured The story therefore I looks doubtful from other iittlc news has arrived 1 points Kcnhardt was formally reoccupied re-occupied Saturday The report that the 1 Boers arc massing In the vicinity of Taunga and Kllpdam confirmed Lord lfethuens dlllicultles are apparently ap-parently Increasing He has Doer laagers l or guerrilla bands on three Bides ofj 1 im and he will be obliged to watch carefully his afcnmnnlcatloir with Orange river LOSS OF CONVOY DESCRIBED The BloemfoiUeln correspondent of Dally Chronicle telegraphing Sunday and describing the loss of the convoy says The Boers opened with a murderous fire It was simply slaughter The Kallir drivers of the convoy ran away leaving their teams and it Was impossible impos-sible for our men to hit the hidden enemy Our gunners fought bravely trying to save the guns but our people were greatly hampered by the Kaffirs who ran hither and thither looking for cover cov-er from the fearful flrc that poured In on all sides Meanwhile tho enemy were hotly pressing Col Broadwood whose mounted troops were completely surrounded GREAT BRAVERY SHOWN The British showed magnlllccnt bravery The officers were quite cool and composedly directed operations The opportune arrival of reinforcements reinforce-ments saved Col Broadwood from annihilation an-nihilation I The water supply was cut and the pumping gear destroyed as well as the field telegraph One hundred wagons were lost through the cowardice of the Kaffir drivers It la I reported that two guns have been recaptured The whole force Is retiring on Bloemfonteln BROADWOODS RETREAT The War office has received th < j following fol-lowing dispatch from Lord Roberts dated Bloemfonteln April 1st 1 received news late yesterday evening even-ing from Col Broad wood who was at Thabo dChu thirtyeight miles cast of here that Infoimatlon had reached him that the enemy was approaching In two forces from the north and tho easU He slated that If the report proved true he would retire toward the waterworks seventeen miles nearer Bloemfonteln whoro we have had a detachment of mounted Infantry for the protection of the works RETIRED FROM WATERWORKS luoadwood was told in reply that the Ninth division with Pitchers mounted infantry will march at daylight day-light today to support him and that If he considers It necessary he should retire re-tire from the waterworks He moved there during the night and bivouacked At dawn today he was shelled by the enemy who attacked on three sides He Immediately dispatched two horse artillery batterlus and his baggage bag-gage toward Bloemfonteln covering some of them with his cavalry WALKED INTO AMBUSH Some two miles from the waterworks water-works the road crossed a deep nullah or xprult In which during the night a force of Boers had concealed themselves them-selves So well were they hidden that our lending scouts passed over the drift without discovering them and it was not until the wagons and guns wre entering the drift that the Boers showed themselves and opened lire Many of the drivers of the artillery immediately shot down at horses were Short range and several of the guns were captured The remalnd galloped away covered by Robertss horse which suffered heavily Meanwhile Lieut Chcslcrmasters of Remingtons scouts found a passage across tho spruit unoccupied by the enemY by which the remainder of Broadwoods force crossed They reformed re-formed with great steadiness notwithstanding notwith-standing all that had previously occurred oc-curred curredBRITISH LOSS HEAVY Broadwoods report which has just reached me and contains no details stated he had lout seven guns and all his baggage He ostlmate all his casualties at about 350 including 200 1 rpJMlng that I On hearing this morning Broadwood was hard pressed I Immediately Imme-diately J ordered Gjn French with two j remaining cavalry brigade u follow In suppjrt nf Hi NJnth division The Uttrr nrr 3 Tn air n marh art I ar-t < r Ti t > nr if ian lv a tf p 1 I rested C thA Pr H 1 > r Royal Household cavalry the Tenth Hussars the Q and U batteries of the Royal Ilorso artillery and Pitchers battalion of mounted Infantry The strength of the enemy Is estimated at from SOOO to 10000 with guns the number of which Is not yet reported KILLED AND WOUNDED The War office has received another dispatch from Lord Roberts dated Bloemfontcln Sunday April 1st 815 p m In which after referring to his previous telegram he gives a partial list of the missing British officers Of Q battery four officers were wounded two of whom arc missing One gunner was killed and forty noncommissIoned officers and men are wounded or missIng miss-Ing Lord Roberts then continues CAVALRY LOSS SLIGHT In U battery all are missing except I MaJ Taylor and a serge intmajor Two cavalry regiments did not suffer so much A report has Just como In that the enemy has retired toward Lfidybrand leaving twelve wounded officers and some seventy men at the waterworks We arc now sending an ambulance for them themI will be noticed that In the foregoing fore-going advices Lord Roberts says nothing noth-ing In regard to the British guns being recaptured HUMILIATING DEFEAT DEIEAr l I Rumor of the recapture by the British Brit-ish of the seven guns taken from Col Broadwoods force based on a dispatch tpthe tliroi1eieLfrom Bloempt ln which Is In all probability correct fails t compensate London for the severe shock exp jdciicea by f hV humiliating l 1 defeat sustained within oXow miles of j the Kpau iuarfars of the British army of I occupation The public Is painfully surprised to learn after all that British officers of high position can still neglect precautions which the veriest tyro might bo expected to observe and blunder Into traps which the observance observ-ance of the elementary military rules would have revealed BOEr TACTICS SUPERB There Is no attempt here to minimize i the dlscredltablcneSs of the whole affair fair so far as the British are concerned or detract from the dexterity of the Boers who were apparently commanded by Gen Dewet The tactics of the burghers were evidently excellently conceived and boldly carried out and unless the reinforcements sent by Lord Roberts have turned the tide and recaptured re-captured the prIsoners a couple of hundred hun-dred men from two rack corps of the household cavalry and the Tenth Hussars Hus-sars arc now on their way to swell tho growing deposit of British prisoners at Pretoria WHAT KRUGER PROMISED President Kruger Is said to have promised to reoccupy Bioemfon Loin this cek and the stubborn burghers seem to be closing mound the place In such t force closing to be troublesome especially when it Is realized that tho atclvlty of a strong Boer force In the i vicinity of Paaidoborg ha already in I tQrruptel direct communication between be-tween Lord Roberts and Kimberley But for tho overwhelming numbers at the dlspoal of Lord Roberts tho situation situa-tion would Justly cause Great Britain greater anxiety As It Is the nation is beginning to realize from the nature of the guerrilla warfare that It Is liable to embarrass the future movements of the British troops WATER SUPPLY CUT OFF A special dispatch from Bloemfonlein this morning reports that the water supply of the place has been cut oft This Is the natural sequence of thc Boer success at the waterworks But the authorities arc hopeful that the strong reinforcements sent by tho com manderlnchlcf will promptly remedy this I la 1 evident from Lord Roberts dispatch that a big engagement is In porgrcss Although It L difficult to estimate es-timate the number of British engaged they probably exceed even the 000 J or 10COO men which the Boers arc estimated mated to number SCENE OF BRITISH DISASTER The scene of the British disaster appears ap-pears to be MeaJle Spruit where the I Bloemfontein road crosses a tributary of thc Modder riverA river-A dispatch from Lourenco Marques dated today announces tho arrival there of Capt Haldane of the Gordon Highlanders and Lieut Lcmeslourler of the Dublin Fusllcers who escaped from Pretoria after perilous adventures adven-tures SPIRITED HEROISM A special dispatch from Bloemfon teln dated today says The loss of the gums was attended by Incident of splendid heroism The leading battery was so near the Boer ambuscades in the river bed that tho Inter MId It Is useless your attempting to advance Throw down your arms The sergeant of the battery fearing the other battery would misunderstand the hindrances rushed through the convoy and warned his comrades enabling en-abling the rearmost battery to save a portion of the guns which came Into action later I Life Guardsmen and a gunner golD gun out under a tremendous fire and four others were sa oIl by the men I dragging had been hot them oft after their horses |