El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-06-21
President Paul Kruger
The Fascinating One Of the Most Remarkable Men
Age.
Written for the HERALD.


ATT years of age Paul Kruger was
shooting big game; at II he killed his
first lion: hen Is years old he was
fighting with his father against the
blacks, and at II he held his first pub
lie Office as magistrate.
He was born in 1925, and his grand
father, the first settler of the family In
South Africa, came not from Holland,
but from Germany. The name In the
| Transvasl is pronounced Kreeger, and
is written Kruger, and not with the
umlaut, as American newspapers write
it, His youth was spent in herd1ng
oxen and sheep, moving from one pas
turage to another in search OF grass
and water and to escape maraud1ng or
openly hostile natives. Everyone mas
read of the stories of the long warfare OF
the Dutch in South Africa:they contain
pages as black as those of any history
It was a daily warfare, even in Kruger's
youth, comparable to what the early
settlers of this continent would have
met had they started for the Pacific
Coast with women, children, oxen and
wagons in 15OO.
The tales told of Kruger's youth are
well-nigh past belief. He himself
vouches for his ability when boy to
stand on his head on the back of gal
Looping horse and the stories OF his skill
on a par with his feats OF horseman-
ship. Anyone who has seen Kruger,
however, can believe him capable OF
almost any feat of strength. He stands
six feet high, weighs 225 pounds. and
his depth of chest and breadth of shout
ders are those of Colossus. He has
the rude brute strength OF an OK, and q
yarn current and universally belleveo
in the Transvaal has it that he once
killed a wild buffalo by holding its
head in pool of water until the beast
was strang1ed. This was years ago but
the story is told in Pretoria today.
His fame as q runner eclipses, ii eclipse
is possible, his repute as dead shot, a
modern Samson and q master horse
man. AS boy he won cattle from the
Kaffirs in the races and more than once
outran the horses that were wagered
against him. These stories cannot be
vouched for absolutely, but there are
men who will solemnly assure you OF
their truth. The burghers love to tell
of the proves of their president, now
over TO- slow-mOving, pOnderous and
not in any way the figure of hero.
His early life laid the foundation OF
vigorous and active old age, but the
president has long been an immoder-
ate consumer of coffee and tobacco, ana
these habits are plainly undermining
his health. His face now shows the
result of disorders that can most rea-
sonably be traced to these indulgen-
ces. Even a Boer cannot, without in
jury, drink coffee by the quart and
smoke Boer tobacco in huge Do~I
suchsOas Kruger uses. But for the
coffee and his enormous pipe, which
he smokes constantly, Kruger might
have lived to be 100. He is not yet to
be spoken of in the past tense. how
ever.
Kruger has no thumb on his left
hand, and how he lost it is another
story that throws light on the
quality of the man. The explosion OF
his gun tore the thumb, and the wound
was neglected till it suppurated. Only
then did he think it necessary to seek
the services of a surgeon. The sur
geon promptly told him that the am
putation of the hand was necessary to
save the arm. Kruger would not listen
to this advice, and, as the surgeon
would have nothing to do with the case
unless amputation was permitted,
Kruger became his own physician.
Carefully sharpening his sheath knife,
he laid the thumb on q board and cut
length Still the wound refused to
heal, and he then repeated the opera
ton, hacking off the thumb below the
second Joint. so that one side of his
hand is hardly distinguish able from
the other. But he saved his hand, and
using his first finger as a thumb he
now finds his left hand quite as useful
as one of five digits. At another time
be displayed the same power of with
standing physical pain by literally dig
ging out an aching tooth with his
knife. These may be taken merely as
illustrations of brute characteristics,
and yet they show the mans complete
mastery of himself, q mastery that ex-
tends beyond physical suffering and
covers every action. 1t is variation
of the same masterful quality that has
present position.
OReportipg an interview with Kruger,
Poultney Bigelow once said that his