The Portland daily press., 1897-05-29
A Friends Narrative Of His Life
From Boyhood.
THE BOER PRESIDENT A MIGHTY
HUNTER AND ATHLETE.
Some of His Famous Exploits His
Controlling Power Over Man and Beast
-Boer Hatred of England.


| A life long friend of President Paul
Kruger is DIR. Isaac Van Alphen, Post
master General of the Transvaal, now
| sojourning in the United States. DIR.
Van Aphen has known Dom Paul ever
since their fathers were next door neigh
bors in Rastenburg over half century
since, and the extraordinary personality
of the Boer President finds loving de-
lineator in the visiting Postmaster
General.
DR. Van Alphen was interviewed on
the subject of President Kruger while on
his way to attend the International Postal
Congress in Washington.
''When was born" said DIR. Van AL
phen, "Paul Kruger was a great sta1wart
lad of 16 or 1.-THE acknowledged leader
among the boys in all feats of strength
and skill. He took me under his protec-
ton at an early age, and it was he that
taught me to handle the rifle, to ride, and
to manage horses and cattle. In the fight
with Umziligase, the Matabele chief,
Kruger always led our section, although
there were many men older and more ex-
perienced in arms than he. He could out
run and outshoot any man of his age. I
well remember that on one occasion, in
named Jacobs, Kruger ran a race against
fleet horse, and won it, too. The course
extended fully 700 yards Many times
have watched him in running contests
with the very best long distance athletes
of the Kaffirs, and he was never once de-
feated by these natives OF the veldt, not
withstanding the fact that while the
Kaffirs ran naked, Kruger always carried
rifle and wore his ordinary clothing in
these races. His nickname among the
Kaffirs was 'Windfoot.'
s'About his wonderful shooting could
tell you tales for hours Almost every
Boer is a good shot, SO that to win pre-
eminence with the rifle among us one
must be marksman of extraordinary
skill. Such assuredly was Kruger. The
number Of slain elephants, lions, and
buffaloes represented by the notches on
his rifles surprised even Mr.. Selous the
renowned hunter. There is one story told
widely of the President, of which this
is the correct version: Kruger happened
| to be buffalo hunting when the beast
which he was chasing stumbled into d
water hole, and the hunter, unable to
pull up his horse, was thrown on top of
the struggling animal. The odds seemed
to be altogether in the buffalo's favor,
when, suddenly springing up, Kruger
seized his gigantic prey by the horns and
forcibly held the animals head under
water until it was drowned. The furious
struggle between beast and man lasted,
as Kruger himself told me, for fully
twenty minutes. s,.s.i-. .g
II was with Kruger in a battle fought
against the Matabele in 1865, on the banks
OF, the Limpopo. This was one of the last
fights of that long and bloody struggle
which ended in our driving the Matabele
tribes beyond the Limpopo for good. On
this occasion the blacks had made an
incursion under son of Umziligase, and
several of our farmhouses had been
burned. But it was the murder Of two
female children which aroused us far
more than the destruction of our property.
1 acted as sort of courier on that &C.
casion, riding from farm to farm, sum-
moning the men and boys. We mustered
about 700 rifles, and with Paul Kruger
at our head Che had not as yet entered
the Executive Council), rode against the
enemy. Some of our men wanted to ride
straight toward where the Matabele lay,
but Kruger tried strategy. He marched
a few leagues up the river, and then sent
out decoy party to lead the sayages on
Seeing what they believed to be our full
force. retreating, the Matabele pursued.
Meanwhile Kruger had disposed the main
body upon rising ground in ambush
behind some rocks. The enemy were per-
mitted to come well within range, and
then Kruger gave the word to fire. We
simply moved them down, and continued
to fire until they fled iIf confusion, leav-
ing their leader dead behind them. Then
it was our turn to pursue, and there were
very few of that tribe left when Paul
Kruger had finished with them.
II recall grim albeit humorous in
cident of that battle. A Matebele
threw an assegai, and Kruger, rising at
the moment, received the weapon in his
hat. He coolly removed the assegai and
stuck it, head upward, in his belt. But
his quick eye had noted the man who
threw it, and he kept watch upon that
man through the remainder of the fight.
When the Matabele broke ground Kruger
was first after them. We pursued to the
banks of the Limpopo, the enemy jump
ing in and swimming across. All this
time Kruger had never lost sight of the
assegai thrower, and as that unlucky
warriors head bobbed up above the water
Dom Paul seized his weapon, launched it
cleverly, and sent the poor fellow to the
bottom with his skull pierced. sAh,' he
remarked, coolly, it seems that have
the better aim
"Kruger has remarkable power over
animals of all kinds, wild and tame.
There is we'll authenticated story of his
putting lion to rout by sheer GOODNESS
while unarmed save for an unloaded rifle.