News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1899-12-27
A DANGEI .oE
MISS SHELDON TELLS TIE SECRET
OF BOERS' POWER.


Character and Customs Majuba INNS
sad Memory-How com Taul Cot Re
Ggion.
Why is the English nation massing
its armies at the gateway of he Beers
country Is it ito defend the women
and children of johannesburg" as DR..
Jameson asserted ate. his unsucc-
cessful raid, or for philanthropic rea-
sons to bring civilization 10 half
civilized race l hardly think it is for
either of these reasons.
There lies upon the great plateau,
three thousand feet above the sea, n
the country called the Transvaal. the
Eldorado of the world. It's riches in
neral and farm land are not half
known, except to a few spectators,
who have nothing to lose and all to
gain in creating war. The smaller
gold fields beyond johannesburg at
/ arberton are seldom mentioned, yet
they yield over $350000 monthly. The
PO.d-bearing quartz reef occurs in
slate formation.
4ying in a semi-tropical belt, where
the thermometer ranges from eighty
three degrees in Summer to fifty-sev-
en- in Winter, the climate is perfect.
The water, coming directly from the
L ountains. as it does is delicious. and
sickness among the children is very
rare. 1t is the garden of South At
RIGA, where pineapples grow all the
year round. and strawberries are to
he had from December to August.
Apples and figs grow side by side.
while sugar cane. rice and tobacco
farms pay richly.
With the johannesburg mines yield
ing over two million dollars a month.
and the Kimberley diamond mines IN
Griqua Land West producing over
million and a half dollars a month the
reason of the present cause of restless
ness in the minds of the Uitlander in
SOuah Africa is obvious
With Dom Paul Kruger in command
of one side of the gateway, and the
brave English army on the other size.
why should there not be carnage The
sUlkes are high and we'll worth play
ing for, says the Uitlander. But Dom
L
not guard my country and people and
its wealth from the invading foreign
err who never intends to live here only
long enough to secure his booty and
carry it away with him to some fore
ign land"
The English have coveted the coun-
try inch by inch ever since the Com7
mlssary Sluysken of the Dutch East
India Company, just century ago,
decided the Castle and City of Cape
Town to His Majesty, the King Of
Great Britain. From the time the
English landed. about 1887. the Dutcn
farmer born in Africa and called
"Boer" because he was an Afrikander
born and so distinct from the forelgn-s
er, has been compelled to move on
fur her. up the country. So he trepped
on and UP and over the great ORA
chensberg Pass, 1000 feet above the
sea. into Natal. where the Zulu race
in all its Spartan strength lived.
The Boer was not willy until af-
ter he met the Zulu There. in that
veritable paradise, lived the greaE ace
of warriors WI ose chief. Dingeswayo.
was considered he Napoleon of Zulu
land. 1t was he who eXterminated the
native tribes. numbering hundreds OF
thousands Of souls, leaving only rem"
nant to live in caves and holes in the
ground Dingeswayo was the ancestor
of King Cetewayo. who led his army
against the English forces in the last
Zulu war.
The Beers finally met the Zulus and
were friendly in their relations. trust
ing to the latter to treat them fairlN
and arrange to meet them in council
and deed them portion of land
which they and their families were TO
settle upon.
The hour appointed arrived. and.
leaving their wives and children in
their wagons on the surrounding hills.
they entered the enclosure pointed out
to them, leaving their guns behind.
to show their implicit confidence In
their dealings with the natives.
Without an instant's warning at CIV
en- moment the Zulu chief gave the
sign, and with but one or two eXcep-
lions every Boer was massacred. and
a few days later the wives and child
rem. who were waiting for their hus-
bands and fathers. were also murd-
cred
News travelled slowly in those days.
but when finally it reached the ears of
the Beers living on the border of the
country they vowed vengence and
they got it, In a moment when the
Zulus least expected it a horde of
Beers burst upon them like maddened
wolves and annihilated them without
mercy and in a wallet of dead Zulu
secured the deed of conveyance.
So the Beers fought for the country
and made themselves a'power to he
feared by the surviving native tribes.
But they had no sooner settled on
their farms than an English ship
came sailing into the harbor at Dur
ban, Natal, and, hosting the Union
Jack. proclaimed it British territory.
The Beers could scarcely believe 1t,
but when they realized their weak
ness to try to cope with the British
forces, they took all their belongings
and turned their faces northward and
again trepped through the great
| Drachensberg Pass, over those awful
mountains. through the Vaal River TO
| the Transvaal country, and there be-
| gan life anew.
We all know how they we're again
pursued by the British. until. hiding
fheir time thew turned and faced their