Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1888-10-25
Election Tuesday, Nov. 9th.
A BRAVE WOMAN.

the Cape Colony known d5 OdIehd!dhu
had been in considerable ferment, and
the fires, after smoldering for some time,
had broken out in the flames of rebel
lion and war. The fierce tribe who in
habited this country from the first con-
quest by the English in 1884 bore the
yoke of thralldom with no good grace,
and had on more than one occasion
since that time broken out in revolt
against their conquerors, and as many
petty breaches of discipline and good
behavior had gone unpunished, had at
length thrown down the gantlet to Eng
land and commenced hostilities by
sudden and violent attack upon her ma
tive allies, the Fingres, an adjoining
tribe. A call to arms was made by the
colonial authorities, and as soon as forces
could be organized they were sent with
all haste to the front to check these saw
ages in their career of rapine and plum
der. 1t is during the time that passed
between the breaking out of the war
and the arrival of troops to the rescue of
the scattered white population in this
rebellious district that the following
episode took place.
Situated about fifteen miles from
Ibeka, small native village and in the
Idutche reserve, was a lonely mission
station, comprising small chapel, a
house and few native hutS. Here 1t
was that member of the Church of
England Missionary society carried on
his labors and sought to turn these saw
ages from their ways of darkness to
those of light. The family besides the
minister consisted of his wife and three
small children, the eldest girl aged Il
and two boys, aged respectively 10 and
Z, besides which were two native female
servants.
At the time of the attack by the Kaf-
frs upon the Fingress the missionary
was away from home attending to his
religious duties at neighboring village.
The first news of the rising that reached
his wife was of dreadful massacre that
had taken place by the Kaffirs near
Ibeka, in which the proprietor of store
and his family had been murdered by a
band of these bloodthirsty warriors after
a stubborn resistance, and the store loot
ed and burnt. The poor woman was for
the moment paralyzed with fear as to
what would be the fate of her husband,
far from home and unarmed, and in the
midst of these relentless foes, and also
what would be the fate for herself and
her children if an attack was made upon
them. The first night was passed in
anxious watching and waiting and hop
ing against hope that her husband might
return, though she knew that unless
warning had reached him in time he
must be ere now surrounded.
The morning dawned without any
event of Importance having occur
red, and the day wore on and no sign of
either friend or enemy was seen. Anoth-
er night passed and another dawn broke,
and with it came terrible news. A
friendly native who had been travelling
on during the night reported to one of
the servants that the fiends at Quintana
had cruelty butchered the missionary in
a drunken frenzy, turning a deaf ear to
his entreaties to spare him who had done
them no harm, and that he had died af-
ter enduring terrible torture, asking par
don for his murderers. The shock was
terrible to the afflicted wife, but the in
stinct of the mother arose within her for
the preservation of her children. She as
sumed command of the little garrison
and set herself about victualing it to
withstand a siege if necessary. Every
thing was brought in from the chapel
and stored in the house, the window and
doors were barricaded with bags of
mealies (corn), and anything that came
to hand that would serve to turn spear
or stop a bullet. A plentiful supply of
water was brought in from the stream,
and lastly all the available arms of the
quondam fortress were turned out, load
ed and put in readines at some small
loopholes that had been left for the pur-
pose.
A friendly native went out to recon-
hotter, and about 10 o'clock returned
with the startling information that a
band of about fifty men, on foot and on
horseback, were making their way across
the plain in the direction of the station,
and were then about three miles distant,
coming on at leisurely pace, but fully
armed. The doors were instantly fasten-
ed and barricaded and every corner of
the house was inspected by its brave
commander, who determined to sell her
self and her little ones as dearly as pos
sible. She strove to rally the courage of
her little force by prayer and recollec
ton that they were in Gods hands, but
the servants were almost beside them
selves and moaned and wept at their
danger. A little hero arose
in the oldest boy, who said: "You and
Tomb shoot, nanny, and l and Harry
will load the guns" Nearly an hour pass
ed in this dreadful suspense. The ap-
preaching party came leisurely on and
headed toward point quarter of a
mile to the left of the house, where they
paused, and hope began to assert itself
that after all they might pass and leave
them unharmed. But it soon became
evident that the result of this short halt
only InednI CouuCH VI Wal DIS W Ille
plans to be pursued in attacking the
house, their eagle eyes having taken in
the fact that it had been put into a stage
of siege and that the inmates were de-
termined to show fight. About dozen
of the horsemen galloped forward, and
pulling up their horses hundred yards
from the house, one of their number rode
forward few PAGES and sending out his
strong voice, he uttered in the peculiar
rolling, mellihuous language of the
Kaffir summons upon the garrison to
surrender, promising that their lives
should be spared. There was not an in
mate of that household that did not know
!. I;t4Is ...c.,.I cc.,la Il,