The age-herald., 1900-06-17
CRONJE COTTAGE PRISON
Captured General Spends Most of His
 Time on the Veranda

| London Letter to the New York Sun.
 A correspondent who has visited the | Boers in St. Helena reports their lot to be
 very comfortable. Cronje and his wife and
 three members of his staff are in Kent 1 cottage, perched on top of hill "just
 such a cottage may be seen on the out | skirts of many an English village. 1mag- l inc an unpretentious two-storied dwelling, | with slate roof and yellow-washed walls | standing out clearly from a background | of green hillside. The window frames and
 shutters are pained the same shade of 1 green that you may see any day at a Dutch 1 farmhouse in the Paarl district of the Cape 1 colony In front is yeranda, and there is | a slightly raised 'stoep.' There is also some 1 pretense at flower garden but it is sadly 1 neglected. The garden Is inclosed by a l black wooden paling, and still farther in l front Is little more cultivated land with | bananas and few other trees. The scene | is simplicity itself but for the bell tent in | the righthand front corner of the garden l and the steady tramp of khaki-clad sen-
 tries, east, west north and south.
 1 On the stoop and beneath the yeranda
 for the best part of the day sits General 1 Cronje, dark of visage, somewhat long
 beared and with hair turning gray. His
 eyes are deep-set, dark and ferret-like, and ms demeanor is one of extreme reserve.
 P1et Cronje can speak English almost as | well as any Transvaaler of Dutch eXtrac- l tion, but you may ply him in vain with questions in English. He positively refuses 1 to speak anything but his native taal, and l even then his replies are little more than monosyllables. He has little to say about anything, and is difficult to draw. Of course he feels his position. You may see that written large upon his face; but, contrary to what so many people think. he appears to be very grateful for any kindness that Is shown him, and fully appreciates the efforts that are made to secure his com fort. Beyond this he is as the Sphinx.
 Quite different man is Commandant
 Schiel Here you have one who has re-
 ceived training in European military
 schools There is much of the soldier of
 fortune about him; but there is much that
 is superficial and insincere. When l last
 saw Commandant Sehiel he was a prisoner
 on board her majesty's ship Penelope at
 Simon's Town. Today he has recovered
 from his wound and occupies a tent stand
 ing alone and within sight of the house in
 which Napoleon lived and died. But it is
 the same Schiel. At Simon's Town the
 sight of ladies in a boat approaching the
 prison ship sent him into an ecstasy of
 delight, and he would chatter away with
 fervor about the dear ladies' Almost as
 soon I stepped ashore at St. Helena
 there was placed in my hands a photo-
 graph of Schiel being driven along the
 main street on his way to Deadwooc
 camp. HIS eyes were ra1Seu ana you IOliOW
 their direction to an open window an upper floor at which sat two girls. Yes, I thought, it is the same Schiel Talk to
 him at Deadwood and there is the same assumption--it is real-of the old devil may-care spirit.
 "The Boer prisoners are being well treat ed. This l know as a fact, and as the re- suit of personal inquiries and observation on the spit. But of course there will be some objectors Schiel, for example, de- clares that the British prisoners at Pretor- ia are permitted to go out picknicking, etc., and then he will make comparisons. But of this statement we nave no confirmation. Other prisoners, however, speak well of their treatment, and I do know as a fact that all of them are better fed and get more fresh meat than their guards.
 Unfortunately, sickness had broken out among the Boer prisoners before tney left the cape. The sick, however, are extremely well cared for. As I write there are twen- ty in the hospital out of the 800 on shore, and two have died These were accorded military honors and were buried over the hlils just beyond Cronje's new home."