St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1896-04-04
THE TRANsvAAL.


y BCOo00ut AHOBcE ~ - nk8V0 Ob3 AOSC8~
man. who Knows No Fears.
Although the Transvaal is in name q
republic, it Is really governed by Q
despotic oligarchy. Indeed. it might
be said to be ruled by a triumviratc,
consisting of President Kruger, Gen.
Joubert and Gen. Smit. The chief and
best known of these is President Kru-
ger, or 'Oom Paul." as he is almost
universally called by the Boers. He
is robust old man of something more
than 20 years. In early life he was
physically the strongest man in the
whole Transvaal, and he is even now
by no means decrepit. He has long.
narrow head. with small, cunning eyes
deeply set under furrowed brows, n
large and rather coarse nose and mouth
and struggling beard. There is little
of the phlegmatic Dutchman in his
manner and conversations; on the con-
trary, he is voluble, excitablc and given
to profusion Of gestures.
In religion he is "Dopper''-that is,
q member of the most conservative and
bigoted sect among the Beers. lie used
to be a great fighter and leader of raids
against the natives. When he was u
mere lad he distinguished himself in a
campaign against the Zulus. A Boer
expedition on the upper waters of the
Vaal river received tidings at the close
of a days fighting that 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
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.
they watched all night. At length, just
before daybreah, Kruger's keen ear
caught the sound of approaching feet
He had just time to give the alarm
when a thousand or more Zulus
charged full upon the camp. There
was desperate struggle, but the Beers
were at last successful and the Zulus
were repulsed. But had it not been for
Krugcr'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 spearheatis. His
left hand is minus 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 20 entreatesl
his comrades to amputate the men,
hn- nu> - <h>,r, %vs>~l - IL ~ I~,,< h II
heart failed him and he gave it up.
Thcreupon Kruger seized a knife with
his other hand and himself cut Oh the
mangled thumb. The very small scar
now remaining shows how good q job
he made of il. He has several times
visited England on missions for his
countrymcn.
He first went wearing the broad felt
hat, the short jacket and shoes Of un-
tanned leather which form the usual
costume Of "Dopper" Boer. But on
his return home his astonished friends
bcheld him clad in high silk hat, .
long black frock coat and polished
boots. He told them thnt England was
a good enough country and eontainc'l
some flne houses. but Ill the land seesned
to belone to soWo 90. Even out64se
Of Lond0a you eould ppt IT down under
. tree = smSan pipe withest havin9
some d eosns mp cd aay ths 1ant
was his and ~ yon what you wese
doing tAGes Ksuter - stuhees19y
refused to learn 8 W6f6 Of English.
and there is NO man In the whole re-
public who regards Englishmen with
more hatred and contempt than h..
,loes.-N. Y. Tribune.