The Red Cloud chief., 1896-02-28
THE TRANSvAAU
President Kruger IL . Bravo Did Dutoh-
man. Who Knows No Fears.

Presidsnt Kruger IL . Brave Old Dutch-
man. who Knows No Fears.
Although the Transvnal is in name q
republic, IL is really governed by .
despotic oligarchy. Indeed. IL might
be said TO he ruled by n triumviratc.
consisting Of President Kruger. Gen.
Joubert and Gen. Smit. The chief and
best known Of these is President Krn-
ger, or "Oom Paul." MS he Ia almost
universally called by the Beers. He
is a robust old man Of something more
than 70 years. In early life he was
physically the strongest nan In the
whole Transvaal, and he Is even now
by no means decrcpit. He has a long,
narrow head, with small, cunning eyes
deeply set under furrowed brows, u
large and rather coarse nose and mouth
and "a struggling beard. There is little
of the phlegnatic Dutchman in his
manner and conversation; on the con-
trary, he is volublc, excitablc and given
to Il profusion of gestures.
In religion he is "Dopper"-that Is,
a member of the most conservative and
bigoted sect among the Boers. lie used
TO be n great fighter and leader Of raids
against the natives. When he was -
mere lad he distinguished himself in n
campaign against the Zulus. A Boer
expedition on the upper waters Of the
Vail river received tidings at the close
of IA days fighting that a Zulu impi was
advancing to attack them. The beers,
all excepting young Kruger, refused to
believe it and lay down to sleep, but
Kruger believed the news, determined
70 keep watch all night and persuaded
II comradc to sit up with him.
Sitting on wagons on opposite sides
of the camp, their rifles in their hands,
they watched all night. At length, just
before daybrcak, Krugcr's keen ear
caught the sound of approaching feet.
lie had just time to give the alarm
when n thousand or more Zulus
charged full upon the camp. There
was "A desperate struggle, but the Beers
we're at last successful and the Xulus
were rcpulscd. But had it not been for
kru~cr'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 spcarheads. His
left hand is minus "A thumb, which he
lost many years ago. He was out hunt
ing when his gun burst and terribly
mangled the thumb. He was afraid
lockiaw would set in, and so cntreated
his comrades TO nmputate the mem.
Der. One of them tried to do SO, but his
heart failed him and he gave IL up.
Thcrcupon Kruger seized n knife with
his other hand and himself cut Off the
mangled thumb. The very small scar
now remaining shows how good a job
he made of it. He has several times
visited England on missions for his
co%untrymcn.
lie first went wearing the broad felt
hat, the short jacket and shoes of I'M
tanned leather which form the usual
costume Of n 'Dopper" Boer. But on
his return home his astonished friends
bcheld him clad in II high. silk hat. a
long black frock coat and polished
boots. lie told them that England was
n good enough country and contained
some fine houses, but all the and seemed
TO belong to some Even outside
of London you could not sit down under
a tree to smoke n pipe without having
some one come up n say the land
was his and ask you what you were
doing there. Kruger has stubbornly
refused to learn Il word of English.
md there Is no man in the whole re-
public who regards Englishmcn with
more hatred and contempt than he
does.-N. y. Tribune.