Show BRTISH LOSE GBO MhlBn and Four tillS arc Captured by 1 Gei el Dlarey D REVERSE A SEVERE ONE Three British Officers Thirty Eight Men Killed j I I SEVENTY SEVEN WOUNDED One Officer and Two Hundred Men Missing Battle Occurred Last Fri day Just Before Dawn Between Winberg and Iilchtenburg Orange River Colony British Force Nub Nu-b rcd Twelve Hundred Men Boers Charged on Three Sides Gen Methuen Wounded Being Shot i the Thigh Maj Paris Then Surrendered rendered He Was Afterward Released Re-leased and Has Reached Kraaipen Dispatch from Kitchener Detailing the Victory of tho Boers Is Read in Both Houses of Parliament London March 10it was announced today that Gen Lord Methucn and four guns had been captured by the Boers commanded by Gen Delarey The news came like a thunderbolt to London The extra editions of the evening papers giving giv-ing an account of the disaster were eagerly bought up Their readers hurried hur-ried through the streets with anxious faces and bitter remarks were passed on the subjcqt of < the Governments declaration that the war In South Africa was over The news came too late to i I aJTect Jbysln ss on the stock exchange but excited curb dealings quickly fri < l lowed the closing In which South Africans slumped heavily MINE MARKET EXCITED The news caused great excitement in the mine market rhro morton street was thronged with South African operators opera-tors early inquiring for details of the British defeat and watching the effect of the announcement Shares were offered of-fered freely at first but by 6 oclock tho excitement had abated and the curb tone hardened EXCITEMT3NT IN COMMONS The news was received in the House of Commons amid great excitement The reading of Lord Kitcheners telegram tele-gram by Mr Brodrick the War Secretary Secre-tary was listened to In deep silence which was broken by loud Irish cheers Instantly there were cries of Shame ahame from the Government benches Then the Irish members seemed lo think better of their outbreak and suddenly subsided The subsequent eulogistic references to Gen Mclhuen were received re-ceived with cheers WHAT DISPATCH SAID In brief Lord Kitchener announced that when Gen Mothuen was captured wounded with four guns three British officers and thirtyeight were killed and live officers and seventytwo men were wounded In addition one officer and 200 men were reported missing The full text of the dispatch follows KITCHENER REPORTS REVERSE Pretoria Saturday March SI greatly regret to have to send you bad news of Methucn He was moving with 900 mounted men under Maj Paris Par-is and 300 infantry four guns and a pompom from Wynburg to Lltchen burg and was to meet Grcnfcll with 1300 mounted men at Rovlralnesfontelu today Yesterday morning early ho was attacked by Delareys force between be-tween TwoBosch and Palmlelcnlll The Boers charged on three sides METHUEN HELD PRISONER Five hundred and fifty men have come In at Marlbops and Kroalppn They were pursued by the Boers four miles from the scene of the action They report that Methucn and Paris with the guns baggage etc were captured cap-tured by the Boers Methuen when last seen wan a prisoner I have no details of the casualties and suggest delaying publication until I can send definite news S I think this sudden revival of activity activ-ity on time part of Delarey is to draw off the troops pressing DeweU SECOND MESSAGE In a second dispatch dated Sunday March 3th Lord Kitchener says Paris has come In ut Jvroaipen wart the remainder of the men He reports that the column was moving in two parties One with the ox wagons left TwoBosch at 3 a in The other with the mule wngor8 started an hour later la-ter Just before dawn the Boors attacked at-tacked Before reinforcements could reach them the rear guard broke Tu the meantime a large number of Boers galloped up on both Hanks These at iflrst wore checked by tho flank parties but the panic and stampede of the mules had begun and all the mule I terrible mixture of wagons with a I mounted men rushed past the ox wagons All efforts to check thorn were unavailing Mnj Paris collected forty men and occupied a position a mile In front of the ox wagons which wero then halted After a gallant but useless defense the enemy rushed Into I the ox wagons and rMethuen was wounded in the thigh Paris being surrounded surrendered at 10 a ra Icthuen la still In the Boer camp OFFICERS KILLED Then follows the number of casual lies as already cabled The killed include in-clude Llcuts G R Vennlng and T P r W Naslfam of the Royal artillery who j were both killed whllo serving thelu I i guns with case shot U 3 As Lord ICltchener announced thac j MaJ Paris had surrendered and also telegraphed that ho had reached witU tho xemalndec oi th < IL J 1 inferred that the Bocra It He men may released the Major iud subsequently re1clg hla companions READ IN PARLIAMENT dispatch announc Lord Kitcheners clspatch the c1fgastt to Gen rtthuen lug Inl < lsste at fOl5 was i ottd in both the nou lOl1 < tb ofComm0fl Lords and thn Hous nf < commandor the Lord flobert dny b by ny RobcrU War J ichloV and Mr Brodrlck the Secretary respectively a hey both paid tributes rts to Gen Methmn the former poid for-mer tribute expressing his npPfc cloton pC throughout tho war ATetliuenfl success declaring that 3UCCS task of forcing the dclnrlng n Boor position at Magersfonleln was an almost Impossible one TRIBUTES TO METHUEN Lord Roberts comnrnMerltl chief who announced the British disaster In the House of Lords Mid Gen Mcthuen for HouS nearly two years had carried on Ws work with seal Intelligence and CTcat perseverance adding1 that tuo General as beloved of his men and no Gntrl difficult < work was too dangerous nor i lm for them qr Gen Methuen The corn maadorInclilef was sure the House was deeply grieved at what had occurred JlIeved wa curred He would ask their Lordships to concur with him In his sympathy for the gallant olllcer In his present unfnvtitnntff nosltlbu mid defer adverse criticism till they had more Information Informa-tion as to what was directly responsible responsi-ble From Delarcys conduct throughout through-out the war they could al b assured that Gen Mcthuen would be taken good caro of Lord Spencer Liberal the former president the Council said he thoroughly thor-oughly believed in Gen Unions ea1 lie did not want to offer n hint of criticism atth present time SYMPATHY OF SALISBURY The Premier Lord Salisbury also expressed ex-pressed deep sympathy with Gen Alcthucn under the unfortunate circumstances cir-cumstances He said It was not the time to discuss hIs actions He had always acted with the greatest gallantry gal-lantry and the Premier therefore thought they should defer celticism or examination of the very fcad intel gence until details arrived Ills Lordship Lord-ship was convinced Geiu Methucn had done his best In accordance with this most melancholy affair DEPRESSION IN COMMONS The feeling of depression In the lobbies lob-bies of the House of Commons over < the news of the disaster In South Af I rica was very marked The service members of tho House expressed the opinion that It will necessitate sendIng send-ing fresh troops to the front while the belief ivan widely expressed lhat the Boers will not fall to take advantage ad-vantage of Gen Mcthucns prominence to hold him a hostage for the safety of Commandant Ivrltzlngcr and other Boer leaders now in the hands of the British SOMETHING ABOUT METHUEN Gen Mcthuen commanded the column col-umn sent to relieve Kimberley In the latter part of 1SD9 and while on that service fought the Boers at Belmont Graspan theo < der river and Ma gersfonteln At the battle of Graspan the Boers were under command of Gen Delarey who Is Gen Mcthucns captor now After these engagements Gen Lord Roberts was sent to South AfrIca wLere he took personal command com-mand of the British advance on Klm belle and relieved Klmborlev Febru releved ary 1C 1300 TVOLSELEYS OPINION After Gn Methuens defeat at Ma gersfonleln Itwn reported that he had shown signs of breaking down almost Immediately I he took command of his dhlslon and Gen W < seiey who was the commanderInchlef of the British forces Is said to have suggested suggest-ed to the War office after the battle of Belmont that Methuen should be relieved but his advice was not heeded SENT REMARKABLE MESSAGE Gen Mcthuen sent n number of remarkable re-markable messages to the War olllce one of which contained just three words Darkness after dawn His lls handling or the troops aroused the most violent criticism which was only stilled by the relief of Kimberley when the question of his health and ability seemed to be dropped Since that time Gen Methuen has rendered efficient service and several notable successes over the Boers stand to his credit DELAREYS SECOND VICTORY Gen Delarey who has proved himself him-self the most able of the Boer Gen erals has within a fortnight gained a second decisive victory His first vic tory was the capture Von Donopa convoy when the British casualties In Brllshcasualtes killed wounded and prisoners totaled 632 and he has now added to his laurels laur-els by the capture for the first time throughout the campaign of a prominent promi-nent British General and by inflicting what Is generally admitted to be ono of the worst reverses the British have suffered throughout the whole war I Is supposed that Lord Methuen was marching with the intention vo avenge convoy the capture of the Von Dor ti BRIEF DETAILS The newspaper correspondents In South Africa have not yet been allowed alowed to describe the affair The only addi tional details available are contained In a further dispatch from Lord Kltch ener which Mr Brodrlck the Secre tary for War read Just a Parliament way adjourning This dispatch shows that the first confusion was caused Wos by native Boers with horses who gal loped through the mule convoy as the latter was endeavoring by Lord Meth uens directions to close on the ox convoy MOUNTED TROOPS IN DISORDER The disorder among the mules com municated Itself to mounted troops and the Boers dressed in khaki I and riding alongside the wagons frS trated ajl the attempts of the British officers to rally their forces Great confusion ensued among this portion of the mounted troops They and the mule wagons galloped three miles be yond the ox wagons where they were cut oft of FOUGHT GALLANTLY Sections of the Fourth and Thirty eighth batteries of artillery fought with great gallantry galatry and COO men composed of the Northumberland 01 slleers and the Lancashire showed conspicuous showet courage In protecting the wagons and refusing to surrender ml 1 resistance was useless WORE BRITISH UNIFORMS The force under Gen Delarey wns almost entirely dressed In British uni Britsh forms This made It I Impossible for the infantry to distinguish between their own men and the enemy when the mounted troops were driven in on them The enemy numbered ICOO men They had one 15pounder and a pom pom Delarey Ccllcrs Kemp Verasso 0 VetasB Tromp and other commandants present were METHUEN WELL CARED FOR Gen Iethuen was seen by an agent of the Intelligence department Intcligenc He was being well cared for In his own 1s wagon In WIIOn 0 prIvate telegram just received T cce1icd here Lord KJlchener adds I found Methuen has a fractured thigh but ho lg reported to be doing thlghbut wcl In another message Lord Kitchener says the wounded will be brought Into the the railroad today and adds I hope reinforcement now arriving will rectify the situation In this arena wi out disturbing operations elsewhere WORST NOT TOLD I t feared that Lord Kitcheners incomplete accounts have not told the worst but among the and newspapers tho public there is a tendency to ac cept Mr Brodricks advice to suspend judgment pending tho receipt mslend lalls |