The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-09-10
DOM PAUL KRUGER TELLS HIS own STORY
Interesting Talk
able Men Liyng-AnecdOte
Tells How Beers Have Been Oppressed BY Cecil Rhodes.

StephanuS Johannes PauluS Kruger,
president of the Transvaal, is the most
interesting public character today to
interview. Upon being introduced, you
first conclude that he has been greatly
overestimated. He seems nothing more
than a shrewd old hunter, who, by con-
slant contact with wild animals and
savage Kaffirs, has developed a war;
ness tnat makes him suspicious of
everything and everybody. He does not
have the penetrating eye' usually as
cr1bed to great men. On the contrary,
a puff of flesh underneath his eyes, as
a rule, permits one to see but a narrow
CLEAN, giving one the impression of
stiffness.
His legs are so short and slender that
you wonder how they bear the weight
of a heavy, thick and solid body. His
head is big, with nose ana ears to
match, and his neck concealed by beard,
hair and coat collar, so that you cannot
determine whether or not he INDUCES
in neckwear. AT home he is usually
putting short, briar pipe and as he
handles this you notice that the thumb
of his left hand is missing. There is a
story in connection with this that his
honor will tell you between puffs if he
is in the mood. 1t gives an idea of the
grit which is a characteristic of the old
Beers.
Stories of Physical Courage.
Mr.. Kruger, when a young man, was
out hunting hart beeSte one day with a
rifle which had not been used for a long
time. While tinkering with a charge,
the gun exploded, tearing his left
thumb in shreds. Kruger's companions
wanted to give up the hunt and hurry
to the nearest surgeon, but the intrepid
xrn1 Toll mt h &c,
hunting knife. he placed the lacerated
thumb on the stock of the rifle and am
putated it himself. BY tying about the
stump a piece of rawhide he stopped
the flow of blood and, winding around
it his red handkerchief, he continued
the sport.
Physical robustness and courage have
contributed greatly toward Kruger's
success as the leader of a nation. He
is absolutely fearless. though not reck-
less, and since boyhood has known how
to act quickly in an emergency. Un-
like other famous men, little has been
told of his personal history. None but
the older generation of Beers know
much about it, and they regard it as
a sort of divine narrative that is not
TO be irreverently discussed.
All through his life Kruger has had
narrow escapes from death, and his
career, if detailed fully. would be thrill
ling. When only IA years old he and
little sister strayed away from the laa-
ger down in Cape Colony, where the
elder Kruger had settled on emigrating
from Germany, and, while playing
were suddenly attacked by a leopard
Young Kruger's only weapon was a
jack-knife, but, shielding his sister with
one arm. he met the vicious spring of
the leopard with the other and, after
a bloody struggle, succeeded in stab
bling it to death.
One is hardly warranted, either, in
speaking slightingly of Dom" Pauls
legs, for they once ran a race that made
him famous all through the native
tribes in South Africa. A Kaffir chief
had become celebrated for his running
ability and had never been beaten an
til challenged by a number of young
Beers, who chose Kruger to represent
them. 1t was decided that the two
should run for twelve hours, and the
man leading at the end of that time
was to have some sort Of a prize. At
the end of eleven hours the Kaff1r
dropped in his tracks unconscious,
While Kruger kept on to the finish, and,
according to one of his companions,
was SO fresh then that he took part in
a hunting trip.
it is the appearance of rough hardi-
hood and unkempt personal attire that
first impresses one on meeting "Oom"
Paul, but when the man begins to talk
and unfold gradually his mental power,
YOU forget ALI else but Kruger the
diplomat and careful statesman. He
gave the writer a, short interview re-
Gently for publication, with the under
standing that the Boer side should be
represented from his own viewpoint,
first inquiring if 1 were a spy from
Cecil Rhodes. On being assured to the
contrary by a number of Read mem
beers who were present, he followed 1t
up by another customary question,
turning on me suddenly and asking
What is your religion?"
These two inquiries give an insight
into Krugers life. His first duty, he
believes, is to God, and his second to
Rhodes. whom he detests like a poison
Gus reptile. But for Rhodes Mr.. Nru-
ger says all would be peace and qulet-
ness in the Transvaal. So long as this !
man is in South Africa there is no rest |
for the Beers, and their secret service |
agents may be found on every street !
in Johannesburg on the lookout for |
conspiracies.
From all outward appearances, Dom |
Paul is intensely pious, and though the |
English insist that it is all hypocrisy, |
there is no proof that Kruger does not /
live in strict accordance to his preach
ing. He was confirmed in 1912 by the |
Rev. Daniel Lindlay, an American mis-
and from that day to this has
led a severely Christian life after the
nrecepts laid down by John Calvin. He