Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1899-11-22
DOM PAUL in HIS HOME
Private Life of the Head Of the
Boer Republic.
HIS FRIENDSHIP FOR AMERICANS

President Kruger Lives In a Modest
House and Is Devoted TO His Fam
lily and to Cofee-An Early Fight
with n Panther-Hatred of the Eng
Iish.
First pray to God for guidance and
inspiration. then fight is the motto OF
President Paul Kruger of the Trans
vaal.
Imagine Il man less than = feet
inches in height, but in build like
giant, his hair white with years, his
features homely and Coarse, wearing
an i'll fitting black doubled breasted
frock coat reaching below the knees
Such a man is Dom Paul. Void of book
learning, apparently not gifted above
the average man, armed OF with his
natural craftiness, he has been thorn
in the side of the greatest diplomatists
and statesmen in England for years.
He was born on Oct. 10, 1926. near
the present town of Graft Reinet, Cape
Colony His parents were South Afri-
can farmers, who left their home in
Holland a few years before Paul was
born, hoping for good fortune in the
new country. But it did not come.
the time Paul was born his parents
owned only two or three slaves, which
meant little. The future president Of
the Transvaal was christened 5. j.
Paul Kruger, but at an early age the
first two initials were dropped. He
uses them now when signing State pa
pers. He was taught early to pray and
to handle & gun. He was fearless
boy. When he was ., his parents re-
scented British regulations and moved
to the northeastern part of Natal, not
far from Ladysmith, the first impor-
tant strategic point in this war. There
We're two other children il the family,
n girl and Il boy. both younger than
Paul. The brother was killed in Il ma
tive fight in the Natal colony, and the
sister lived 10 see her brother made
president of the Transvaal.
When Kruger was about i years OF
age, his father, sister and he went with
Il bullock team some distance into
the Orange Free State. The senior
Kruger was forced TO remain and told
Paul to take the team home and to
look after his sister.
III take care of her, father" was
the reply.
Everything went well until Paul and
his sister were about five miles from
home. Then u panther appeared in
the road. The IL bullocks in the team
took fright and ran away. The jolting
of the wagon threw the sister from the
seat into the roadway, where she was
at the mercy OF the panther. Paul,
though unarmed, ran to her rescue and
tackled the panther. 1t was Il fierce
struggle, and Kruger believed once or
twice that the panther was going to
prove too much for him, but finally
he managed to kill the animal with his
knife.
1t was in the latter part of 1879 that
| first met Kruger, writes John L.
Owens in the New York sun. The
Beers at that time We're on the verge
of n war with the British. When l was
introduced to Kruger, he was suspi-
cious of me. and it was only when as
sured that | was an American that he
became at all laxative. In those days
Kruger would talk English, but since
the visit of Sir Henry Lock to Pretoria
in 1893 he has positively refused to ut
ter one word of English. The Kruger
of 1879 was a poor man. He had diff
Guilty in supplying his family with the
necessities of life, for besides his wife
he had ten children TO care for. He
lived then in n farmhouse. but he left
the farm to care for itself, for he had
a more important matter to attend to
the creation of a revolution against the
English. General L. j. Joubert, COM
mander of the Boer forces and vice
president of the TranSvaal; young Pre-
torius, son of the republics first presi-
IL,
Boer uprising which came the follow
ing year, resulting in the independence
of the Beers i'll 1881. 1t was these
three that managed the campaign
against the English forces at Majuba
Hill.
The next time l met Kruger was in
1891. Although he was now the presi-
dent of Il nation and reputed to be
worth Sj,OOO.oOO. l found him as sim
pie and as democratic as lie was in the
days of 1879, when he was unknown to
fame and had hard work to support his
family. 1t was on this occasion that l
realized the great qualities of this man.
He cordially invited me to become his |
guest during the short time that l was
to remain in Pretoria, an invitation |
which l readily accepted. He would |
not talk English to me on this occa- |
sion, so l had to carry on converse !
ton with him through other members |
of the family. The old president never |
tired of talking about the United |
States, designating this republic as his |
big brother and wishing that he were |
in n position to make 4 treaty with |
America in order that he might favor |
American merchants in trade.
Il can trust Americans" he would !
say, for 1 know that they do not want |
my country"
Eefore l left his residence he said to |
-. through his secretary: When you |
go home to the United States, tell the /
people there for me that there is a !