The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-11-07
CECIL RHODES
THE UNCROWNED KING
liza Record.

From the Philadelphia Record.
A Record correspondent, who lately re-
turned from South Africa, writes as fol-
lows: The miners of South Africa tell
many stories about Cecil Rhodes, whom
they term the uncrowned king of Southern
Africa. Many of them are, of course, mere
fabrications, but everything concerning
Rhodes is listened to with interest in At
RIGA. The two following anecdotes will give
the reader some idea of the character OF
this great diamond king, whose life Is
threatened by the Boer forces which sur
round Kimberly:
In October, 1894, Cecil Rhodes, accom-
panied by his brother, John Hays Ham
mond, the American mining engineer, and
DR.. Jameson, had returned from tour of
Matabeeland and Mashonaland. The party
left the east coast at Beira and landed at
Delagoa Bay. At that time the railroad
connecting Delagoa Bay with Pretoria was
not completed, but to accommodate Rhodes
and his party the Transvaal government
had some temporary switches laid, so that
the distinguished coterie could reach johann
nesburg via Pretoria The private car or
Rhodes was sent from Cape Town to Della
goa Bay. The party went from their steam
CINE, repair car and Mr.. Rhodes private
car. While this party was being whirled
northward toward Pretoria well-known
wealthy Boer woman, residing at Bronx
horst Spruit, which is forty miles from the
Transvaal capital, received word about
o'clock of the afternoon that Rhodes
special arrived there, that her husband had
met with an accident at Pretoria and was
not expected to live through the night.
The distressed wife was heartbroken. 1t
would be impossible for her to reach Pre-
toria until the next day. When she heard
that the great Cecil Rhodes would arrive at
Bronkhorst Spruit at 4:30 p. M, she got
herself ready and hurried to the station,
with the hopes that Mr.. Rhodes would let
her go on his train to her dying husband.
When Rhodes special arrived, one of the
Boer railroad officials laid the matter be-
fore Rhodes, and asked if he would take
the unfortunate wife on his train to Pre-
toria. II can do nothing of the kind" was
the reply of Rhodes. The decision of the
diamond king was communicated to the
woman, who Immediately went to Mr..
Rhodes, and on her knees begged him to
let her go on his train so that she might
see her husband before he died After she
had pleaded with him for several minutes,
HE finally turned round and in a gruff way
said:
"Well, If you must get to Pretoria you
may ride on Indt IOOl car, nave pusiHcSS
to attend to, and l cannot accommodate
you in the private car" The poor woman
was only too glad to ride to her husband
in that way. She arrived at Pretoria COW
cred with dirt and cinders. When the story
of Rhodes chivalric conduct became known
there was great indignation at Pretoria,
and many Englishman at johannesburg
considered that ne had been most brutal.
The Beers, of course, felt that he had lily
repaid the courtesies that they had extend
ed to him. Many said that he had simply
acted in that manner to show his hatred
for the Beers, but others said that his ha-
tired of all women is so strong that he
could not bear to have one, especially
Boeress, ride In his special car.
During the early Kimberley days, when
Rhodes and Barney Barnato were laying
the foundation of their great fortunes, the
two were competitors in large diamond
trade. Barnato was as slick and as sly
as a fox, and no one was known to have
got the better of him in a trade. Rhodes
was aware of this, and was more than anx-
ious to get the best of Barney, who had
over $3.50, 900 worth of diamonds in the rough
sorted ready for the deal. Rhodes went to
him and said: my! what a fine layout you
have, Barney. / would like to see those
diamonds all In one heap" Before the as
tonished Barney could object Rhodes had
swept the whole pile of diamonds into
large wooden bucket. 1t took Barney Bar
nato three days to resort his gems, and in
the meantime Rhodes had a corner on the
market, and sold his diamonds before Bar
ney got through re-sorting his lot. Rhodes
made about $4,000 by that transaction. At
ter that incident Barnato took care that
the willy Rhodes had no opportunity to play
the same trick on him.
Outside of Paul Kruger the Ri. Hon.
Cecil j. Rhodes is the greatest character
in Africa. His achievements have been
wonderful When young man the physi-
clans told his father, who was an Episcopal
clergyman, that Cecil had better go to
Madeira as he was dying of consumption,
one lung being entirely gone. 1t was at
this stage that the boy asserted himself,
SAYING that If he had ito die he would SOON
err go to his brother in Natal. Before
young Rhodes had reached Capetown his
consumption was better, and two years
with his brother entirely cured him. He
returned to England and entered college
at Oxford, but did not graduate, as his old
consumptive complaint began to return He
again returned to South Africa, landing at
Capetown, and went with the diamond seek
ers to the Kimberley fields. When he ar
rived there he had only $50 in his possession
but this sum proved the foundation OF his
great fortune and great power. He under
took to keep the various claims of the
miners clear of water for given sum
monthly He soon had 1000 Kaffirs working
for him. When the miners were unable to
pay him he got them to deed him their
claims. Within two years Rhodes found
that he possessed the majority of the dia-
mond claims, with no capital to work them;
but he was equal to the occasion, ana he
managed to interest English capitalists,
and formed the great De Beers company,
with himself as the president. In 1892 he