Evening star., 1900-11-27
FOUGHT IN THE BOER WAR
OFFICERS OF LATE REPUBLICS IN
NEW YORK.
Left south Africa Because a Price
Had Been Set on Thier
Heads.

| Heads.
| The New York Times of today says: The
| first Boer fighting men ever seen In this
| country arrived here yesterday on the
steamship Statendam from Rotterdam,
| having less than two months ago crossed
the border of their native land and sailed
| away for the new world to seek new homes
| for their people. They are Samuel Pear
| son. who was commissary general of the
| Boer army throughout the war; Command
ants w. Snyman and A. Leibenberg, Field
Cornet Hercules D. Vijoen and Hardus
Snyman. The last named Is the son of
Commandant Snyman, and although barely
sixteen years old, he has been fighting with
the Boer forces since the beginning of the
war. He taken from school at the age
of fifteen to shoulder a rifle and help fight
the English, and, with his father. has
fought his way through fifteen regular
battles and innumerable skirmishes, and
has the honor among his people of having
killed the first Englishman in the Orange
Free State during the war
General Pearson is Transvaaler who
has never before been out of his native
country. He was at the beginning Of the
war a wealthy merchant burgher of Bar
bertoWn, with branch houses at Durham
and other South African towns He was
Communicated October o, 1899, and made
commlssary general. He served until last
September, when, in connection with Gen
eral Louis BothaS army, he was given the
task of destroying the railroads between
krokodile Poort and Barberton and the
Portuguese frontier. Bothas army was be
ing chased at the time, and Pearson, with
a force of men, tore up the railroad tracks
in the rear. When the main Boer army got
near the border it doubled and escaped
back into the Transvaal. While Pearson
and his little band Of dynamiters decoyed
The English to the border and. knowing
the consequences in case of their capture
Kept right on into Portuguese territory by
Bothas orders and scattered. There is
reward of Il 800 offered by the British for
Pearson, dead or alive.
The other four refugees are Free Staters
born and bred but who, at the beginning
of the war; were living just across the Or
ange river. in the Cape Colony. None o.
the men expect ever again to see their
homes, unless. as they still hope, Provi-
dence will intervene in some manner ia
favor of the Boer cause.
They met IN Delagoa bay September =
and sailed on a German steamer for Ma
plies. thence made their way across Europ
to Holland, ana from there came to Amer
ca. From the peCul ar danger they wer,
in and on account of their services tn,
have been furnished by their respective gov
srrmenrs win funds with which to begn
life anew. Their property has all been los,
they say. None has seen his family with
H.ne months, and none knows just wher
his wife and children are. except that the
they are in the hands of the British an
will some time be delivered to Gen. Botne
The refugees are stalWart black-haired men
all except General Pearson, standing NOR
than six feet. General Pearson is stock
ly built man and determined looking.
General Pearson, as the spokesman Of Tia.
party, gave hurried and necessarily dis
connected account of the operations an.
present situation i'll the Transvaal:
Il served all through the war" he sal,
in excellent English and 1 finally ieI
The country by order of my superior.
handled all the provisions of the Boo
army while we had any of own. A
The provisions we get now are those cap
tured from the British, and this supply /
bCuntiful. AS a side issue, | often ha
the job of blowing up railroads and trains
I've blown up more trains than l can -e
member, and I've lost count of the Skin
mishes was in. 1t was this train-wrecr
ing service that made 1t advisable to finally
leave. l destroyed s7O0.0OO worth of prop
erty during the ten days before l left. FL
not here on diplomatic mission, except Il
GO Whatever l can and wherever / can il.
the interests of my country. We are goini
on to Washington to confer with Mr.. Mon
tagu White, our representative, and if i.
should be decided that visit of Presdcn.
Kruger to this country might help oGl
cause think he will come here OF cou-s
the British have issued proc. .amations am,
annexed the territory of the Trdasvaa1
now, but even yet we hope for intervent on.
we sun nave dDOul 1S,pOU men III lIIt
field, and Gen. Botha told me just before /
left that he would continue to fight if he
only had ten men remaining 1t has been
said that we had millions upon millions OF
pounds sterling and unlimited gold win
which to support the campaign. Well, We
didn't. Counting money, gold and al,
had just IA, ,U00,0 900. We have carried On the
war for fourteen months with that amour,
and what could capture from the Brit
ish trains; and so these stories about kru
ger living on the fat of the land are all
rubbish. Kruger never used any Of the
government money.
why did he leave the country? Well
he had to 60 The situation there now
calls for young men, and he was simply
milestone around the commandants necks
Roberts could not frighten him. Roberts
has never frightened US, although he has
tried to shake determination to fight
on by heaping all sorts of cruelties upon
our women. The women of the world
should protest against the way our women
and children have been treated by the En-
glish, who drove them from the towns
Roberts order. on the ground that the
men would transmit military intelligence
to the enemy. We had no way of prOVid ng
for these women, much as we would
like TO have done. So We simply destroyed
all the railroads leading out of those towns.
cruelties and hardships they endured will
never be known. That their treatment
went further than neglect and wanton
cruelty I cannot say. | don't think it did,
but that was bad enough.
We hadn't much fault to find with the
British before that movement against our
women. We always fought them fair.
Yes, we fought behind cover, certainly.
That was policy against superior num-
bers But, given equal numbers. we never
hesitated to charge. We often did charge
in the open, and they know it. Did We fire
on the ambulances? Well that reminds
me that We captured two British ambu-
lances just before l left. They were filed
with guns. Lord Roberts protested: SAID