The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-09-10

worry and bowed with care that gives
/ mis- face look of world WEAKNESS.
Mr.. Kruger related to me graphically
and briefly the history of the Beers
from the time they settled in Cape
! Colony, from whence they were driven
out by the English, until they settled
| IN the Transvaal On this great trek
they killed 5000 lions, out of which
number Kruger himself killed $50. They
I Fought their way step by step until
/ they finally reached the long ridge
known as the Witwatersrand, where
they settled, all unconscious of the hid
/ den wealth. 1T seemed so DOOR, said
Mr.. Kruger, that even the English
dld not begrudge it. So we established
a government, developed a constitution
ana laid the foundation for a nation.
| We built towns, cultivated the SOIL and
were making great progress and living
peacefully when gold was discov-
ered Then new and perplexing
questions arose, and England imme-
dlately became avaricious, but we were
not willing to give up the country
which we had developed by the sweat
OF our brow, and so there was Majuba
Hill. You know about .that?" Here
Mr.. Kruger blinked slyly, and a laugh
went around among the Beers. $50,
now" continued Dom Paul, taking up
his pipe and dropping into parallels,
! the gold fields are like a beautiful
rich young woman. Everybody wants
her, and when they cannot get her,
they do not want anyone else to possess
her.
Can the English starve you out?" L
then asked Dom Paul.
If the Lord wills it, yes he replied
If not, the English can build a wall
around us as high as Jericho, and we
Will live and prosper" BY cutting off
in- h. IL,
poets and hopes to speedily bring the
Beers to terms in event of war. Against
this Kruger has provided by building
storehouses and granarieS, where meat
and grain are kept in great quanti-
ties.
The great drawback to the Trans
Vaal is that she lacks a sea port The
most convenient one is Delagoa Bay,
owned by the Portuguese AS Portu-
gal is mortgaged, to England, the latter
country controls it. l asked Mr. Kru-
ger If he intended taking. this port, but
he only replied: Cursed be he who
removes his neighbor's landmarks
towering over Johannesburg is a big
fort, and working in subterranean pas
sages the Beers, it is said, have under
mined the whole town, even to Commits
sioner street where the pride of johann
neSburg's buildings are located. The
Beers can muster $4,000 men, all we'll
armed and good marksmen. They have
warehouses full of ammunition, and
could undoubtedly, with their present
defenses and power to wreck Johannes
burg and the mines, afford sufficient
menace to Great Britain to make her
hesitate.
Mr.. Kruger is now rs years old and
has been elected to the presidency four
times. His salary is S35, 900 year.
with ST. 500 for coffee. This he drinks
black, and so hot that the burghers
say it will scald the hair off dog
His life has certainly been a remark
able one, and at different stages he
has been a farmer, herdsman, hunter,
soldier, clergyman. ambassador, tri-
umvir, financier, head of the army, and
is now serving his fourth term as pres
ident. In recent years he has bought
and sold land good deal, and is re
puted to be very wealthy. His habits
and method of living are SO simple,
however, that he could have saved
nearly all his salary in these years,
which would give him tidy fortune.
AS he closed our interview, Mr.. Kru
ger went across the hall into low
ceilinged whitewashed room and leaned
for a moment over placid-faced,
motherly little woman who was seated
on a rocking chair darning stockings.
This was Mrs. Kruger, Who though enc
never hears Of her. interested me might
lily, because she seemed so utterly OBJ
livious of the turmoils that are beset-
ting ner husbands nation. She got Mr..
Kruger's hat, escorted him to the door
and then went back to her knitting. 1t
was difficult to think of her as the first
lady of the lard. Yet she has been Mr..
Kruger's constant helpmeet through all
the years of his public life, and their af-
lection for each other seems to have
grown with each succeeding year. She
is Mr. Kruger's second wife, and was
a Miss du Plessis. a name of promi
nence in South Africa. Kruger's first
wife was an aunt of Miss du Plessis,
and bore him one son, who died. Six
teen children were the fruit of this
second marriage, and of those seven
are living. The girls are comfortably
married to bUrghers in and about Pre-
toria, and the boys take an active in
terest in the army. One son-in-law,
Captain Eloff, has made himself famous
by building the most expensive man
sion in South Africa. He has accrued
q fortune in real estate operations, and
is supposed to be worth $2,000,000 One 1
of Kruger's sons acts as his secretary, j
and another is captain of an infantry |
company. Mr.. and Mrs. Kruger live in
a little two-story cottage, painted |
white and covered in front with morn |
ing glory vines. Their mutual ambi- |
ton is to see their nation independent !
of Great Britain. and then spend their !
last days peacefully and quietly in this |
little home.