Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-01-01
THE LIVELY EXPERIENCES
OF HOWARD J. ROTHSCHILD, AN
AMERICAN CITIZEN, IN THE
TRANsvAAL.
Given Twenty-Four Hours to join
the Boer Army or skip-The
Burghcrs Seized Gold. Horses,
Etc, Right and Left.

| NEW YORK, December 31.-HoWard
J. Rcthschild, an American citizen,
+! who was employed on the Standard
and Digger, a mining paper puDllshed
in johannesburg, has just got DacK 10
New York from the Transvaal.
| Mr.. Rothschild was at Pilgrims Rest
little mining camp 100 miles north
east of Johannesburg, when the Boers
declared war, October IL.
There were 500 whites. mostly
American and Englishmen, in Pilgrim
Rest" said Mr.. Rothschild, when the
war was declared. The gold mine there
is owned by the Ecksteins, who own
other mines in the Transyaal.
1--WE all asked permission to stay,
and the Beers at. first gave us permits
sion to do SO. on the understanding
that we would form a home guard to
protect the place from the British or
any one else. We accepted on those
conditions, but the next day we were
told by the Burghers that We had
twentyfour hours to either enlist IN
the Boer army or get out of the place.
Most of us decided to get out.
"There was $4,000 in gold which had
been taken from the mine and the
Burghers seized this, first giving Mr..
+. B. Thompson, a Scotchman, and Sec
rotary of the mining company, re-
ceipt and a note promising that the
Transvaal government would repay the
money upon the conclusion of the war.
Of course, if the Transvaal is beaten by
England, no return will be made. This
same proceeding took place at all the
mines not shut I'D in the besleged
towns.
Mr. Thompson and | went to the sta
bles to get horses to ride out to inspect
mine some miles in the country,
when we were approached by an Amer
lean named Blake, uniformed as a Sec
ond lieutenant in the Boer army. :;
Blake, who had recruited 200 Amer
leans for the Boer army, showed us a
proclamation which had just been is
sued by the Transvaal government con-
fscating all horses, fodder, gold and
stores to carry on war against Eng
land, and promising to pay for them on
the conclusion of the war.
Then Mr. Thompson and | returned
to his house and there we found that
the Boer commissioner had taken pos
session of his residence, worth $4,000.
In it was the finest collection Of gold
nuggets in South Africa, worth at
least $4,000 Mr.. Thompson also had
S45,000 in gold Of his own, all of which
went to the Transvaal.
Thousands of Englishmen were
treated in the same way
when the Beers took possession OF
the gold mine in Pilgrims Rest, they
turned out all the Kaffir laborers, broke
the pumping machinery and flooded. the
mine They also flooded the Bonanza
and the Robinson deep mines near Jo-
hanLesburg, two of the richest gold
| mines in South Africa.
"The Beers furnished us with horses
and an armed escort for the long ride
to johannesburg. No man in the party
was allowed to take away with him
more than $50 Being unable to prove
| that | was an American citizen. l was
| treated the same as the British sub
jects.
The government has taken all the
| most fertile sell for the raising of crops
| for the Boer army The Boer women,
the young boys and the old men have
left their own farms and are working
i these government farms, aided by KAT
| frs. In this way they can keep their
armies we'll provisioned. At all of these
government farms we saw the Boer
women ploughing and doing the hard
| est Kind of mammal Iah0r -