The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1900-01-25
FAULTS OF THE BOERS
Miss Caroline Kirkland, Recently Re-
turned From johannesburg,
Tells Of African War.
MUST WIN IN THE END

Is Just Returned From johannesburg,
where Her Brother J. w. kirkland, of
chicago, Is Engaged in Business.-Was
in Sympathy With the Transvaalers
Until she knew Tnem Better Instances
of Their Conduct Toward outlanders.
Miss Caroline Kirkland, who, with
her brother, J. w. Kirkland, of Chicago,
went to Johannesburg last spring, ar
rived on the White Star liner Oceanic
JAN II. Miss Kirkland is the daughter
of the late Major Kirkland.
Her brother, J. w. Kirkland, is gen
era1 manager of the South African
General Electric company, a branch
of the American firm. Mr.. Kirkland's
headquarters were at johannesburg,
where the brother and sister arrived
last April.
When seen at s West Thirty second
street Miss kirkland talked unreserved-
~ on thesBoer question.
s'When I first went to The Trans
vaa1, = said she, 81 sympathised with
the Beers. One could not help sympa-
thising with a people fighting for their
country. = After / had become acquaint- |
ed with the cruelty, oppression and in
justice practised by the Beers, how
ever, I became Convinced that English
rule for that country would be great
deal better than the Beers govern
ment.
cit is Impossible for an English
speaking person to secure justice from
the Beers. A friend, whose name L
will give you with a request that it be
not published, was summoned as a
witness in aEcivi1 case in Johannes
burg. He was kept waiting two days
and then he said that he had business
to attend to, and would be within ten
minutes call of the court. He request
ed that the court dispatch a messenger
for him when wanted The court did
not send for him but fined him $3.50
for being late, punishment that
stood.
''This is only slight instance of
oppression out of many that happened
while I was in Johannesburg.
Kafirs Practically Slaves
''Of Boer cruelty there are many
cases I have in memory. The Kaffirs
are held by the Beers practically as
slaves. A Kaffir may not go anywhere
without a pass; he must be indoors by
9 O'Clock at night, and if he cannot get
employment in a few days he is thrown
into jail.
envy friend, the wife of DR.. Matthews
had Kaffir who had been in her en-
p1oy five years. The boy was hurrying
within her gate before 9 O'Clock one
night when he was seized by two Boer
policemen, thrown down, kicked, beat
en- and one eye was almost gouged out.
GA friend told Mrs. Matthews that
her boy was being abused and she went
to the police station, accompanied by
a neighbor With the greatest diff
Guilty the desk sergeant was persuaded
to let the boy go. Mrs. Matthews
friend suggested that they learn the
names of the policemen in order to
make a complaint against them. The
policemen overheard the suggestion
and they arrested the boy again.
"After a lot of trouble the boy was
let go the second time, but nothing
could be done against the policemen.
The authorities refused to accept aft
davits offered by Mrs. Matthews that
the boy was not outside the gate at 9
O'Clock.
Tells of Negro Blacksmith case.
"Last August an American negro, a
blacksmith in mine, was caught out
side johannesburg by two Boer cava1-
rymeu. You can't touch me-, said the
co1ored man. I am an American
knocked the man down and kicked him
scoring his back with their spurs.
Louis Seymour, an American en-
gineer, took the American citizen into
the market place and made an exhibit
ton of his back. Mr.. Seymour has
since gone down to Cape Town to raise
an engineer corps to build railroads for
the British army in it's campaign.
''The predominating characteristic
in the Boer mentality is ignorance.
The Boer reads nothing but the Bible.
He believes in nothing but the Old
Testament. This ignorance is due to
many causes, but the two principal
causes are probably his sequestration
from the world and the fact of his hav-
ing held slaves, which is always bru-
ta1izing. The Kafirs are virtually
slaves of the Beers to this day.
yet must say that the Beers know
how to treat the Kaffr better than do
the English. A Kaf6r in his natural
state has strong sense of justice.
never want to hire any more Christian
Kaffirs for servants. The minute a
Kafir becomes d Christian he will lie,
swear and steal. don't mean that
the Christian Kaffirs are not safe to
live with, but they are untrustworthy
The heather Kafirs may be depended
upon. Now the British have used
kindness with the Kaff1rs and therein
have made mistake. You don't have
to treat Kafir kindly but only justly.
AS long as you treat him Justly he is