Show FEARFULLY DEAD CITY I What the War Has Done for I Johannesburg ALL STREETS ARE DESERTED I Countless Chimneys Which Tower Above the Mines are Cold Except the Few Being Worked by the Government Gov-ernment Mint Which Before tho Outbreak was Grinding Out Money I at Rate of Million Dollars a Day Hns Closed IndefinitelyThree Thousand Prisonersat Pretoria New York J April 3The Herald today i to-day publishes the following correspondence corre-spondence from Pretoria under late of February Johannesburg of which It has been said that she supports all South Africa Is a fearfully dead city at present The bulk of Its white population I I pop-ulation has deserted the Rund and also I many of the Kaffirs The Htreets are I deserted the tram cars do not run and I the hundreds of rickshaws have dwindled I dwin-dled to half a dozen Afew decrepit I looking cabs stand Idly about the I I square Most of the shops arc closed and the windows boaidcd The countless count-less chimneys which lower above the I mines are cold cxcem the few being worked by the Government The enormous I I enor-mous gold output has stopped MINT HAS CLOSED This vast mint which before the I war was grinding out money at the rate of 1000000 a day has closed I down indefinitely But one hotel and I a few small restaurants are open Millionaires Mil-lionaires no Ion er loaf In the luxurious luxuri-ous rooms of the Rand club Thanks I to the special police principally composed com-posed of Americans perfect order Is maintained and ample protection af I I forded No saloons are permitted to kQtp I open The same wise precaution is enforced in Pretoria U S FLAGS DISPLAYED A striking feature of Johannesburg at present Is the large number of United States Hugs displayed The I Stars and Stripes wave everywhere even above many Kafllr kraals in the I suburbs Apparently Uncle Sam has a few black citizens in South Africa he I has never heard of MANY BRITISH PRISONERS More than 3000 British prisoners are now In Pretoria They are well and humanely treated as they themselves gladly testify The officers of whom over hundred have been captured are quartered in tho Staat Model school a fine new wellventilated building People in England who have friends i Imprisoned by the Boers need have no uneasiness on their accouht The problom ofjvjiat to do with tho prisoners of war Is becoming a serious one Although there is at present no I scarcity of food the Government feels I that it can ill afford to feed so many hungry mouths for an Indefinite period 1 HAPHAZARD FIGHTING A scene Incidental lto the perpetual skirmishing about the Tugela and I Ladysmlth illustrates the seeming haphazard hap-hazard fighting methods of the Boers Just as dawn was breaking one morn ing a patrolof about 200 British eavul ry crossed Klein Tugela near the pont 1 drift and rode rapidly toward where a small herd of cattle which had rayed I from the Boer lines during th6 night was grazing The British had advanced f some distance before they were observed ob-served bj a Boer picket stationed on an > Isolated roolkopje STIRRED THE BLOOD Four burghers composed the picket They mounted Instantly and rods to Intercept In-tercept the British first firing several shots to give the alarm It was a sight to stir the blood to see those Boers dashing at a swinging gallop over the rocks and gullies which roughened the plain The pale blue mist rising from the river and veiling the hills beyond made a protty background to the spirited spir-ited fight which followed The four Boers readied a roolkopje In the path of the British sprang from their horses bought cover and began peppering away Bj this time a dozen other burghers drawn from neighboring neighbor-ing pickets by the jlrst shots fired were galloping across the flats to aid the original four making a total foice of sixteen A PRETTY SKIRMISH Then ensued a pretty skirmish The British dismounted and 1 pushed ahead to dislodge the Boers and Secure the cattle For half an hour there was a I splatter of rifle firing then the British concluded the game wan not worth the j candle and retired They left sixteen r dead on the ground and carried away a number of wounded The Boera did not have a man scratched By tho time the fight was over fully 200 Boers were hurrying to got into it No orders had been given to a single man The standing order for the Boers is to hasten to where there Is fighting J It Is Mollkes principle March to the 1 sounds of the firing on a reduced scale DEFENSIVE TACTICS j The Boer Generals determinedly adhere I ad-here wherever possible to their defensive de-fensive tactics This policy accounts for their small losses which have not yet reached a total disability of SOO for the entire war They have no reserves re-serves The army consists of the malo nODulation of the two republics between be-tween the aces of 12 and SO Everyman I Every-man or boy put out of action Is permanently i per-manently lost Men are precious particularly the burghers for even If Transvaal had Eurone for a recruiting ground such men once lost could not be replaced I A Boer rifleman Is equal to half a dozen ordinary soldiers Them the Boer Government Gov-ernment regards tho lives of Us citizens citi-zens as too preclousto be thrown away It Is not lack of courage that induces a Boer to seek cover Let no erroneous Impression gel abroad about this PICTURESQUE SCENES At night the scenes about the lacers la-cers are Intensely picturesque The burghers sit about smoking and char ting Jovially generally about matters of the home and farm Nine oclock Is the hour for retiring There Is I no bugle to sound taps but here and there a cowhorn Is blown as a signal of the hour The chatter ceases and within five minutes the moon If It Is shining will reveal scattered groups of I burghers their knees offering up the evening prayer |