OCR Text |
Show CRONJE SUmiOUNDBD floor Clonorol Ittt now St on, lloramtd la 11 tho llrlllsh (leneral Cronje Is surrounded by the llrltlsh near I'aadersbcrg, about thirty allies Irom llloemfonteln (leneral Cronje has been In a desper-tle desper-tle plight, endeavoring to stand off 8 force several Units at large ns Ills own, In hopts that reinforcements would come to his aid The fighting Is described de-scribed as the hardest uf the war When Cronje left Magersfonteln he made a inagnllleent night march lie waaaoenoumbored with heavy guns, however, that his progrea was slow llrltlsh mounted lntsntry was tenl after Cronje to cither Hank and eheek his advance or compel him to leave hit alege guns behind He cliov to fight, and selected a strong oUIon al Koodoosrand, which the llrltlsh. wltb superior numbs rs, were enabled to surround sur-round Tho battlo began Huuda 'lilt approach to tho Doer position wat across level country and tho llrltlsh loss was heavy Hlxty llrltlsh guns were continually dropping shells Into the lloer camp, which apparently wrought fcarfti' havoc. The third day uf the fight Cronjo asked for an armistice to bury his dead. "Fight to a finish or surrender unconditionally," un-conditionally," was Lord Kitchens ri reply, (leneral Cronje Immediately teut back word that hit request for a truce had been misunderstood, and that lilt determination thin, at before, wat to light to the death. the btttlo went nn Thlt wat tho sltuullon of (lenernl Cronje 'lueaday evening, ai sketched In thescanty telegrams tele-grams that have emerged from tha scml silence of South Africa Itelnforcements marching to (leneral Crouje a relief wiro Intercepted and scattered by Lord lloberts. |