Frank Craig.]
Stormberg district abandoned by the British.
On the southern frontier the Boers remained inactive all October. Small detachments of them were observed at Bethulie, at Norvals Pont, and at the Colesberg Bridge. A larger commando 1,500 strong, with three guns, was noticed drilling and practising on the north bank of the Orange River. At this date 2,500 Boers were watching the Basutos, who, it was feared, would take advantage of the war to wipe off old scores. But owing to the tact and skill of Sir G. Lagden, the British Resident in Basutoland, this tribe of Kaffir warriors was kept so thoroughly in hand that it soon became safe for the enemy to withdraw their commandoes and move them to Norvals Pont and Bethulie. The Boers were further emboldened by the victory of Joubert before Ladysmith on October 30. On November 1 they crossed the Orange River in all directions and in considerable force, their main body making Stormberg Junction, some fifty miles south of the Free State border, its objective.
Oct.-Nov. 1899.] The Boers in Cape Colony.
Stormberg Junction was a point the possession of which was almost vital to the British forces. It was easily defensible, and if lost might be very hard to retake. It commanded the lines of communication between the advance from East London and the advance from Port Elizabeth, so that if it fell into the enemy's hands the eastern portion of Cape Colony would be entirely cut off from the west. Through the later weeks of October it had been occupied by a small naval brigade with guns, and by a detachment of the Berkshire regiment. On November 3, by express orders from General Buller, this little garrison retired and fell back upon Queenstown, farther down the East London railway. At the same time a skeleton force at Naauwpoort was withdrawn to De Aar. The Boers pushed forward slowly; Aliwal North was occupied and rechristened Oliviersfontein, in honour of the Boer commandant; then they appeared in some force at Burghersdorp, some miles to the north of Stormberg, and destroyed a bridge at Steynsburg, on the line between Stormberg and Naauwpoort Junction. The disloyal farmers of this district crowded in numbers to the Free State flag, and the "commandeering" of British subjects and confiscation of British property went on merrily. It was a terrible time for the loyal Britishers, who had foreseen what was coming, but whose warnings had uniformly been disregarded.
[From a Photograph.
EX-PRESIDENT STEYN.
Martinus Theunis Steyn, President of the Orange Free State, was born at Wynburg (about 50 miles N.E. of Bloemfontein) Oct. 2, 1857. His father was a waggon-builder and farmer. He lived an outdoor life during his early years, and at twelve went to school at the Grey College in Bloemfontein. At nineteen he was sent to study law in Holland and England, and returned to his native State when twenty-five. He practised at the bar of the Supreme Court, became Attorney-General and (in 1889) a judge. In 1895, on the retirement of Mr. Reitz, he was elected President. It was not until September 1899 that he definitely threw in his lot with Kruger and the Transvaal Boers in opposition to the British Government.