The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-01-22
FLYING WEDGE WON 100000.
HOW sDARBARIAN" BROWN MADE
4 FORTI Ne.

NsbHfDaFfH Is IN American ~ no
knows All About Foot BaIl-At the
Opening OF the Famous WILTON
tein Gold Farm lie Led Flying
Wedge of 500 Armed Men-Batter-
ed and Bloody, lie Won Only to
Find the Entry suspended-A
TranSvaaI Court Has Just Awarded
Him 100000 Damages.
Johannesburg, Dec. barbarian"
Brown. otherwise r. +. Brown. an Ameri-
can. has just been awarded damages
amounting to nearly 100000 by the Trans
vaaf government. It is the sequel of the
widest gold-farm rush Of South Africa, in
which Brown pursued the tactics of the
foot bah field and had himself driven
through an immense mob of Iawless rush
ers by a flying wedge Of 300 armed men.
1t was an exploit of a foot bah captain and
frontier American.
Barbarian" Brown came to South At
RIGA with a reputation for consummate
nerve, gained in the famous Occur de Leon
strikes. where ne took the part of the
mine owners and never receded from his
stand, though daily threatened with death.
He even edited a paper, enunciateing his
opinions. called the Barbarian. This fur
njshed the sobriquet which chung to him
when he reached Johannesburg.
Once here. Brown secured a position with
Lewis 5. Marks one of the most import
ant mining companies on the Rand. He
was an expert consulting engineer, and
soon made himself valuable to the firm
by gobbling up the very richest claims on
che Murchison Range. II was as their rep
resentative also that Brown planned and
carried out the mighty foot bah rush.
Beginning of the Excitement
Twelve thousand miners the very rough
est men in the gold fields, made up from
nearly every nation on the globe, took part
i'm this rush. which occurred on lever
stretch of veldt, in September, 1885, and the
goal was a galvanized iron shanty. six
feet square, wherein stood a government
mining commissioner, whose business il
was 10 sen licenses for claims on theWit-
fonten farm.
This farm lay directly on the gold reef
and belonged TO the government 1t was
one of the last of the ricn farms wherein
The Old Beers had for years been raising
their crops of mealies, all unconscious OF
the hidden wealth.
The exodus began ten days before the
the opening. The whole Rand was in an
uproar. Every mining company there pre-
pared for the occasion. IL was well known
that the Witfonten lay along the richest
part of the reef, and that "A claim there
would yield fortunes.
The Pretorian government knew this,
too, but had not counted on anv such dem
onstration as followed, or the claims
would have been disposed of by lottery,
the plan afterwards adopted. The procla-
nation in the Pretoria Press gave permits
sion TO any one to prospect the farm. so
that all buyers had an opportunity for 10
eating the best claims.
Hired Every johannesburg Vehicle.
But first they must obtain a license at
the little iron shanty three miles from the
farm. Consequently every vehicle in Jo-
hannesburg had been hired or bought 10
transport men TO the spot;
The road from Johannesburg to Klerlls-
dorp, which lies near The Wtfontein look
ed like the route Of an army trausporta-
ton. Tents, cooking outfits, cases of wnis-
ky and roulette tables were all junfbled to-
gether on a wagon.
Ii was estimated that on the day of the
opening 1900 men occupied the camp. an
addition to many Beers who came from all
parts of the Transvaal to witness the
scene
John Hays Hnmmond's Mob.
John Hays Hammond was then consult
ing engineer for the Consolidated Gold
Fields Company. ana he assumed direc-
ton over nearly one thousand men. who
were expected TO tear a hole right through
the mass and smash everything The
whole camp was armed to the teeth Every
man carried al least one revolver and ex-
pected to use it, for IL was fight for
Ia -faIra
protection TO its men. There was prac-
tically no danger of arrest however for
the Zarps, or Boer policemen, trembled
with fear at the armed mob
The plans of each company to effect the
coup were much the same. Barney Bar
nato, j. B. Robinson Belt, the Joels and
every one interested in gold mining in
johannesburg, great or small, took a vital
interest IN the struggle, and put forth every
effort to gain the prize. Each company
hoped 30 push their man up 10 the window
first. purchase the license hand it to an
armed rider and, hurry il off to the farm
where the engineers and peggers were
awaiting to jump in and stake off the rich
est claims
Six firms even went so far as to sink
strong wooden posts just by the window
ana 20 these dashed mon with ropes 81
that they could not be pulled away and
cautions awaited nothing. for when The
struggle began sharp knives severed the
thohgs ana both men and posts landed on
the outskirts of the crowd.
"Barbnrian" Brown, the Man.
Personally, Brown was not formidat3e
Nlth hVe feet eight inches Of hight and
smooth, boyish countenance he was moi
a dangerous looking man. But those v,bo
had seen him glance down the barrel of a
80 Colt without so much as moving an eve
lid knew him as absolutely fearless
Brown, while he associated with The bet
Ter class Of Americans on the Rand was
on speaking terms with the rough element
ana ne utilized these to form avin@
wedge which at that period had lust bec9
ueNeioped by the American foot ban teams,
Seven Most Desperate Men.
To get all these men under one Aae bo
hired the seven most desperate Character
on the Rand-Alec Love, Jim and Tar
Maloney, Nanny Garchel BUTCH W.
son. Jack Hildebrandt and Danger
Ihey We're men who would fight at tho
drop of hat and cut your throat and