Birmingham state herald., 1896-04-29
ALL CONDEMNED ID DEATH Five Leaders of the National Re-
 form Committee
 GUILTY OF HIGH TREASON
They Pleaded Guilty in Hopes of Having Their
 Punishment Mtigated.
JOHN HAYS HAMMOND ONE OF THEM
The Prisoners Maintained That Their Ac ton Was Not Hostile to the Govern ment, Although They Had Asked
 Jameson to Go to Johannesburg.

Pretoria April 8.--Five of the leaders of the national reform committee who pleaded guilty of high treason yesterday, including John Hays Hammond, the American mining engineer, were con- demned to death at this forenoon s sitting of the court.
 Col. Francis Rhodes, brother of Cecil Rhodes, ex-premer of Cape Colony; Li- onel Phillips, George Farrar and Charles Loffin are the four leaders who, with Hammond, were sentenced to death. Phillips, Rhodes and Farrar pleaded guilty of high treason Friday last, and Hammond, who was i'll and not in court on that day, made similar plea. This course, it was thought, would have the effect to mitigate the severity of their sentence but it turns out that it did not.
 Counsel for the defense yesterday read statement to the court signed by Ham, mond and Phillips, Farrar and Colonel Rhodes, admitting that they had asked Dr. Jameson. to go to Joha hannesburg, but deplorng his mistake in entering the Transvaal and marching on Johannes burg when there was no urgent need for his presence.
 They maintained that their action throughout was not hostile to the gov- ernment. The statement also enumer- ated the grievances of the Uitlanders, and elaborated reasons to prove that the actions of the committee were not hos tile to the republic. Regarding Dr. Jameson's raid the statement declared that when the committee learned cer- tain facts it sent on December ? two messengers Major Heany by rail and Captain Holden across the country, to forbid Dr. Jameson to move.
 Sentences Asked to Be Commuted.
 London, April 2S.-In the house of com mons today Joseph Chamberlain secreta- ry of state for the coloi.ies. said: "I have received private telegram, of the accu- racy of which I have no doubt, saying that five of the leaders of the so-called national reform committee at Johannes burg have been condemned to death. 1 thereupon cabled to Sir Hercules Robin son at Cape Town instructions to com municate the following to President Kru- ger: The government has just learned that the sentence of death has been inn posed upon the chief leaders of the re- form committee. The government has no doubt that your honor will commute the sentences. Indeed, the government has assured parliament that this is your hon. or's intention.
 MT. w. J. Galloway asked whether the law governing such cases did not provide simply for the confiscation of the prop erty of persons found guilty, and not for me imposition or oeath sentences upon them
 MT. Chamberlain replied that he could not answer that question, as he was in doubt whether the condemned men had been tried under the statute law of the Transvaal or the Roman and Dutch law.
 Rt Hon. James Bryce asked the names of the prisoners under death sentences, and MT. Chamberlain said they were Col. Francis Rhodes, brother to Cecil Rhodes; George Farrar, Lionel Phillips and John Hays Hammond. The name of the fifth condemned man he had forgotten for the moment Four of them are British sub- jects, and one (Hammond is an Ameri- can.