The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-10-19
DON Paul 5 AMBITION
Has Ever Been to Lead an
Army to Battle
AGAINST THE ENGLISH
Wonder-Storie of His Prov
eSS in His Youth.


Tuesday, Oct. 10, was Dom Paul Krug
ers birthday. He was seventy-four years
Z old that day, an age which few men live
to see and which means for nine-tenths
of those who do see it the dull, stagnant
Indian summer haze which is the begin
ing of the end. Dom Paul celebrated the
event by stripping for life-and-death
fight with an enemy which encircles the
globe
With a sharp, singing, insulting slap
| Of his glove full and fair in her naughty
face, this old South African lion chal-
lenged Great Britain to mortal combat.
What neither Russia, nor France, nor
Germany, for all the millions of bristling
! bayonets and the powerful armored fleet
which each Of these mighty powers has
at her beck and call, has not dared to
| do-just that thing Dom Paul did.
| The theory that the Beers of the Trans
vaal got beyond his control, that he was
dragged into the war against his will and
| his sound tudgefent is one that is not be-
| lieved In by those who know the man best
| and know the tremendous influence he
| Yields over his people They bHeve that
! the ultimatum which fairly made Eng
! land gasp for breath with its stern, ring
| ing imperiousness was the deliberate act
of this aged president of the Transvaal
that 1t was Dom Paul who dehed the
British Empire; that it is Dom PauPs
war
This queer, shaggy-headed old man
with his face like a coarsened composite
picture Of Horace Greeley and Peter Coop
er; his frowsy, limiting suit Of clerical
black; his ancient high hat and his cot
ton umbrella-the very type of a stage
colporter-that is the man who with per-
haps $4,000 numbering half farmers at his
back is defying the Colossus of the world
to trial by combat.
Three things Dom Paul learned in his
infancy. He learned to pray, to fight and
to hate the English. From his very in
fancy his very soul has been absorbed
in an undying relentless loathing of the
race with which he is now at war. It
was his boast-and he was never given
to boasting-that one day he would be at
the head of an army that would fight the
English. The day was long in its full re-
alization. The struggles that have been
between the Beers and the English in the
pastwere but tentative, indfnite graph
ing compared with the deadly fight for
life that is now on. If Dom Paul ever
was to realize the warlike dream of his
youth 1t must have been plain to him that
it was now or never. With the Orange
Free Stats back of him, with his own bur
ghers armed and equipped and wrought
to a fury of passion, they had never been
before, now was the acceptd time TO strike
SO he scattered to tn winds the reams of
diplomatic documents that were burying
the issue out of sight. Peace was in
sight, apparently. But Dom Paul did not
want peace. He knew a short cut to war.
and straight along that line he travelled.
II will be at the head of an army of
Beers some day." he had said again and
again in his youth, (which viii sweep
those English into the sea-"
With his octogenarian decade close at
hand there was scant time in which to
make good his words. and to Dom Pauls
masteTful Mathematical mind his words
spoken were as dispensations.
Those who have seen this strange fig
ure which is now overwhelming the
world with it's ruggid heroism, say that
he has aged a good deal within the past
ten years. At sixty four his colossal
form was as full of restless vigor as it
was in the very prime of manhood. But
at seventy-fOur his shoulders are stoop-
ed, his face is fabbier and there is age
in his tread. But the fire of youth still
burns in his eye and his words when he
is aroused come with their old swift i'm
petuosity. He is a master OF the English
language, reads 1t as well as Joseph Cham
berlain, and can speak it f1uently and
with precision II he will. But he won't.
It is an instance of how an overmaster-
ing passion will betray even the great to
a weakness. Dom PauTs hatred of every
thing English goes to the very language
itself He will speak it only when dire
stres of circumstances compel him to.
In his conferences with English emisaries
he always speaks his own tongue. He
does not quite admit the weakness of
loathing tn language. He says by speak
ing in Dutch and through interpreters,
he has better opportunity to weigh his
thoughts and the words in which he will
either clothe or conceal them
And no man is more adept than this
stolid, heavy-faced Dutchman at using
language to conceal thought. The most
polished diplomats of Europe cannot beat
the wary. shrewd old man 1T :tat
With the young burghers Of the Trans
vaal the stories of Dom Paul's feats Of
strength and courage in his earlier days
are related as were the exploits Of the
gods of ancient Greece. As a runner no
body could equal him. On one occasion
he ran a foot race against the pick Of
Katfir chiefs. The course was an all-day's
run. passing many wellknown landmarks
among others his fathers house. Paul
WAS so far ahead Of his competitors that
he went in and had dinner and took
| light rife with him when he set out again
| Soon ne encountered lion in his path.
| II tried 10 shoot and his gun missed fire
I Man and savage beast were face to face.
4 glaring into each others eyes. The calm
| courage Of the mans gaze won. The
! lion skuked away. Paul went on and
won the race.
! With his rife he was an unerTiug shot
/ Riding a horse at full gal1op, he turned
! in his saddle and shot pursuing buffalo
] Sair between the horns.
! His bodily strength was pr0diEious. He