Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-12-12
today the most miserable. man In South
Africa. ex-President Steyn not excepted
Outcaats of Society.

Outcaats of Society.
The gentleman to whom am indebted
for this Information says that while recruit
ing at Boer farm house, after a sharp
attack of dust fever. he grew so tired of
his companions that one day. although it
was raining heavily. he went out for a
walk. About five miles from the house"
ne said. met a fellow-countryman
stretched full length on the weld. soaked to
the skin. What are you doing. man.? said
If l. lucky fellow | shall get a stiff
cold. and IL put another one on top of that
| shall perhaps die. l tried hard last year
TO XIII myself in this way and failed Dur
ing my stay" continued our informant Il
scraped the acquaintance OF a very gentle
manly fellow who had once been lawyer.
A very good fellow this and took quite a
fancy 10 MIN. L absconded to avoid arrest
on charge of embezzlement. The doctor
told me. he said, that ,ne only way to
save my Wife was to take her to South At
rlca. l tried to borrow the money. and as /
couion stole 1t. A Johannesburg doctor
recommended this district but / might
nave saved myself the trouble NV poor
glri died two years ago, and the only COM
Tort left me is to visit her grave as often as
my Boer employers can spare me-
And how do You live?' | asked.
teach music. My o.. savage being
ambitious. recently bought a piano When
MS girls education is finished he intends
sending them to Paris
he is not poor, then?
After he was elected to the volksraad
ne must nave made several thousands by
corruption. The young ladies number three
and they consider themselves very prof.
Gent In music. They can play God Save
the Queen, which they like because I tell
them /: is an old Dutch air.
AS rule, however, 1 found the fugi-
yves from justice much more communica-
tive about the Beers than they are about
themselves. One, while dep,oring his fate
in having to teach a family none of whom
although the youngest was twenty-two)
nao Yet mastered the alphabet. said that
the nearest Engishman lived twenty miles
away. We used to be rather chummy'
he went on, till one day. growing COM
municatlve over a bottle of square-face he
told me his story. We have never spoken
since. m not squeamish, but 1 draw the
line a murder
Before L returned to Pretoria 1 heard a
story relative to this villain. which, If true,
should not be forgotten when the queens
writ runs In the late republic. An English
man, married to the daughter of Roer
farmer, became so Disguised with his daily
life that he actually gave this man f2OO, the
sum he had saved while teaching his en-
ployer. who aspired to enter the volksraad,
reading and writing, to kill him. The
widow. 1t Is said. evinced little grief when
her husband was brought home with a
bullet through his brain, as she had grown
quite weary Of being necessarily upbraided
for her incurable dislike for soap and
water"
A gentleman. recently arrived from Jo-
hanneSburg, and who knows the TransvaaI
well. says that some of the outcasts of So
ciety led very enjoyable life till the rim
derpest killed off the game. A hunter who
was once well-known figure in society
told him that one might as well, save for
a few springbok. look for game in Regents
Park as in the Transvaal He had been
compelled of late to exc out a livelihood by
making veldschoen which are homemade
boots of Unframed leather.
During the past few years some of the
Pretoria officials have made quite a good
thing out of the wanted English by
threatening expulsion unless squared. Life
in the Transvaal seems to have developed
qualities which at home the criminal kept
studiously in the background. notorious
swell mobsman. nearly. If not quite, the
most expert hotel thief in the world and
his partner, rascally Frenchman, owned
store in the Transvaal. Their plan of
campaign was to sell Boer farmer all the
goods hey could persuade him to take. and
then ply him with drink, which, having
been drugged. left the dupe at their mercy.
When he recovered his senses later on the
rogues were far away.