Evening star., 1896-01-11
THE TRANSyAAL.
President kruger is Rr,xe n.a
Dutchman, Who knows Nm Ea,..

president Kruger Is n Rrnxe oil
Dotchmnn, Who Knows No Fears.
From the New York Tribune.
Although the Transvaal is in name n ra-
pubic, 1t is really governed by a desnotic
ohsarchy Indeed, it might be said to he
ruieo py tr1umvirate, consisting of Presi
ueht hruger, Gen. Joubert and Gen Smit
Inc chlef and best-known of these is Presi-
oent Kruger, or ''Oom Paul" as he ts AL
hhosl universally called by the Beers He
Is ROBUST Old man of something more than
seventy years. In early life he was phv
sicaiiy the strongest man in the whole
Transvaal, and he is even now by no means
decrerit. He has long, narrow head with
sLdii, cunning eyes deeply set under fur
roWed brows, large and rather coarse
nose and mouth and a strapgJjrp haar nd
ihere IS little of the phlegmatic Dutchman
IN MS manner in conversations; on the con-
.iils, = ne IS Voiuble excitable and given to
a profusion of gestures
IN religion he is '.Dopper" that is q
memper OF the most conservative and big
oted sect among the Beers He used to h.
d great hghter and leader of raids against
the natives. When ne was mere lad he
distinguished himself in a campaign against
the Auius A Boer expedition on the upper
waters of the Vaa1 river received tidines
at the close of days fighting that a Zulu
lnpi was advancing to attack them The
Boers, all excepting young Kruger refused
to believe it, and lay down to sleep but
hfuser believed the news. determined to
keep watch all night and persuaded one
comrade to sit up with him.
sitting on wagons on opposite sides of the
camp, their rifles in their hands. tbey
watched all night. At length, just before
sound of approaching feet He had lust
time to give the alarm when a thousand or
more Zulus charged full upon the camp
Ihere was desperate struggle, but the
Lulus were repulsed. But had it not been
for kruger's watchfulness there is little
doubt that every one of the Beers would
have been slaughtered
Kruger bears upon his body many scars
of bullets and spearheads. His left hand is
minus thumb, which he lost many years
ago. He was out hunting when his gun
burst and terribly mangled the thumb He
was afraid lockjaw would set in and so
entreated his comrades to amputate the
member. One of them tried to do So but
his heart failed him and he gave it up.
Thereupon kruger seized knife with his
other hand and himself cut off the man
gled thumb. The very small scar now re-
naming shows how good job he made of
it. He has several times visited England
on missions for his countrymen.
He first went wearing the broad felt hat
the short jacket and shoes of untanned
leather which form the usual costume of
a 'Dopper" Boer. But on his return home
his astonished friends beheld him clad in
d nigh SILK nat, long Dldck frOck coat
and polished boots. He told them that
England was good enough country and
contained some fine houses, but all the
land seemed to belong to some one Even
outside of London you could not sit down
under tree to smoke pipe without hav-
ing some one come up and say the land
was his and ask you what you were doing
there. Kruger has stubbornly refused to
learn word of English, and there is no
man in the whole republic who regards
Englishmen with more hatred and COLI
temDt than he does