Evening star., 1901-10-12
LOTTERPUTTODEATH
Boer Commandant Executed on Charge
of Treason.
Two OTHER PRISONERS HANGED
Lord Kitchener Reports the Cap
ture of Commandant Scheefsr.
GENERAL BULLER'S CASE

MIDDELBURG, Cape Colony, October n
Two young farmers who had twice Joined
the Beers have been hanged at Nryburg.
The death sentences of a number Of other
condemned men have been commuted TO
penal servitude.
Commandant Lotter, the Cape rebel,
whose commando, consisting almost wholly
Of rebels. was captured south of Peters,
burg in September. and who was sentenced
to death, was executed yesterday morning.
Commandant Lotter had been tried and
found guilty on eight counts, including Sc
dition. the murder OF colored. unnamed
scouts. the murder OF troopers in action,
the blowing up of railroads and the cow
hiding of British subjects and Europeans.
Lotter pleaded that he was a citizen of the
Orange Free State, but this was disproved.
Capture of Commandant scheeper.
LONDON. October 12-Lord Kitchener
reports to the war Office from Pretoria, un-
der today's date, that Gen. Frenchs coll
umn have captured Commandant Scheeper.
Lord Kitchener does not state whether
Scheepers commando, which has been so
active in Cape Colony, was captured or not.
The British have been in pursuit for cou-
pie of weeks. Scheeper himself was so i'll
that lie was obliged to travel in a buggy.
An Aged General to Marry.
The South African campaign has a curl
Gus effect on British generals. Public at
tention is centered on General Buffers ex-
traordinary exhibition, while society is gos-
siping about the remarkable action OF an
other general This one is knight COM
mander of the Bath, holding a high COM
mand in South Africa. He is over sixty
years of age, has been a widower for two
years and has engaged himself by letter to
marry a woman Of fifty whom he has not
seen for twenty years. The brtde-elect, who
is an Irishwoman, is preparing to go out to
South Africa
AS for General Butler, he seems to have
forever shattered every vestige OF his repu-
tation.
representative of the Associated Press
learns that previous to General Buffers
speech of Thursday he had received several
plain hints from the war office expressing
the hope that he would not accept Invita-
tions to make speeches. His appointments
to the command Of an army corps was
made in a spirit Of generosity. 1t was
thought that General Butler could not do
fore he retired. Failure to appoint him
would have signihed public disgrace,
which the war office was not willing to in
fiict on him, believing that General Butler
had done to the best of his ability.
One of the highest officials connected
with the administration of the army said
to a representative of the Associated Press:
No sinecure for Butler.
The utilitarian spirit of the age has
taken away those sinecures such as gov
ernor of Tilbury and commander-in-chief
of Berwick, with which a hundred years
ago, Butler might be shelved and at the
same time rewarded We had no alterna-
tive but to reward General Buffers long
and conscientious period Of service by
kicking him out or giving him a command
which his rank demands. OF the two evils
We chose what we thought was the least.
fEaa. ge
timental, but no army can be run without
a certain amount Of sentiment
LAS for the public dissatisfaction with
our progress in South Africa, / fear that
Lord Roberts and other optimistic prophets
are unintentionally more to blame than
any else No one got up and said the
Burmah war was over or that 1T would be
over In a foolishly short space of time. IL
lasted nearly four years and the British
public took il matter Of course. The
South african war has probably got an
other two years to run, developing, like
the Burmah affair, into a subaltern's cam.
paign. Continual local disturbances are be.
ing put down by the small garrisons. To
supervise such work we know of no one
better than Lord Kitchener. His chief diff
ficulty, which seems to have missed the at
tention of the critics, is that, having nom
combatant natives populating the war
area, he is prohibited from destroying sup
plies to any degree of military thorough
ness. II We could concentrate or deport the
natives I think an effective devastation
Woulu quickly emu tne campaign
Cecil Rhodes . Sick Man.
Cecil Rhodes, whose part in politics ana
empire-making is vividly recalled by the
Schnadhorst letters, is living almost abso.
lutely alone at a quiet hotel on a diet and
with the attentions OF a man who is seri-
ously I'll. There is no doubt that he is suf-
fering from heart disease and is no longer
the robust man of former times; yet he
never missed a day this week at the office
Of the British Chartered South African
Company. burying himself in details ana
conducting long tedious meetings, without
complaint mention of his I'll health. After
these duties, however, in the quiet of his
hotel. he seems to become almost a wreck,
like man liable to go off at any mo-
ment," one of his few visitors said on
coming out from his room.
Usually Mr.. Rhodes is supremely indifrer-
ent to public sentiment, seeming to prefer
rough riding over criticism, but in the mat
ter of the Schnadhorst letters he has ex-
hibited the keenest desire to head off ad-
verse comment. His efforts however, have
met with slight success.