The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-01-19
4 BOBR OFFICER TALKS
COmmandant krige Still Has Hopes
of Victory.
Praise fer Lord Roberts From One
OF His Oppouents-Stringe Rules
Devised by Cham observation-disclosures
Thousand Fcderalists in the Field.

BALTIMORE. Jan. 19 - Commandment
! Jan krige. of the Boer Army. delivered
| an interesting address last night at the
! Contra. Y. vi. c. A. on the Beers and
! the war they are now carrying on. Mayor
| Hayes introduced the speaker with few
! remarks commendatory of the patriots
ard their efforts to preserve their free
dom. He also complimented Baltimore
for raising a sum of $4,100, which has
been sent to South Africa to aid the wild
! ows and orphans of Boer soldiers. After
the lecture a collection was taken for
! the same cause.
/ Commandant Krige looked the soldier
! in every respect He is about six feet
/ tall. broad shouldered, large boned, and
/ Of pleasing appearance. His English was
easily understood, except when he became
! carried away with enthusiasm for his
/ subject, al which times his enunciation
/ was somewhat confused. He pronounced
| the BOeT names Of towns, cities. and bat
! tlefelds in the native manner. and sew
/ eraI of them were unrecognizable be-
| cause Americans have conceived pronun-
! Citations Of these according to English
! rules Much of the talk was of what has
/ already appeared in the newspapers. but
! he cited a number of new cases of British
efforts 10 subdue the country by forcing
/ out the women and children.
All the kilograms and newspaper de-
spatches received by the public come
from English sources he said. but even
they ind cate that our situation today is
better than IL has ever been before Lord
Roberts went back to England 10 see
about rectifying this criminal war l
heard him speak to a party of my coun-
/ trymen when I was a prisoner in the
hands Of the English for thirteen days.
and I must say that l believe him TO be
| a thorough gentleman. but some TO whom
I have made this remark viii not believe
that he is.
All these stringent rules about the
treatment Of our people were cabled to
him by Chamberlain, .,Id all he had 10
do with them was 10 sign his name. On
one occasion Roberts ordered a widows
cattle which had been seized 10 be re-
turned TO her, and when ne found that
they had already been killed he gave her
the market price. A friend of mine was
arrested on TIE charge of sedition for
praying for the success of the Free
State and President Steyn, but Lord Rob
erts released him with the remark that
man had the right to pray for his
country.
Lord Roberts announced some time
ago that a party OF about 600 Beers had
crossed the Orange River and invaded
eleven or twelve sections of the country.
From that time there has been no infor-
nation Sbout the number OF the Beers
in the field I estimate them now at
about 1900 men. and think that they
viii soon reach SO. 900.
Great trouble is being experienced by
the British with their colonial troops.
The Canadians are dissatisfied, because
they claim that the Australians are be-
ing paid higher than themselves We
captured some Of these Australians and
found that they were of a regiment com
posed Of the sons of gentlemen farmers
They have since returned home. a num-
Der Of them were offered commissions in
the regular army, but only four OF them
would accept These Australians were
set to watch the great South African
Congress which assembled recently to see
what could be done in the way of getting
the British to stop the war, and they said
aftvrward that they were disguised with
the work Of overawing body met for
such q noble purpose.
Two Of the London regiments practi-
Caly mu-lnied against Kitchener and
went to Lord Roberts with their com
plants. but he tried to hush the matter
UP. Roberts is now in England to tell
The people that their soldiers are not
lighting with the same spirit they dis
played at The beginning of the war. We
once captured 2,gGG and determined to let
them all 90 except the officers, but they
refused to be released. They said that
we had taken and would have TO keep
them We were Obliged 10 force them
70 their own camp
Some people ask me If I am not sur
prised that America does not step in and
take hand in favor Of the Beers. ! am
not an envoy but If America wants recog-
milton IN the future from the South Afri-
can Republic she has only to hold up her
hand and say that this inhiIman war must
step. If we make the same progress in
the next three or four months that we
have made in the past it VIII be the Re
publics who viii say hands of and that
no one shall interfere TO help England
General De Wet is a man about forty
two years old, while General Botha is
about thirty nine, but they are as Teli-
gious as the older men. Religious services
are held ia the camps each night and the
generals constantly remind their soldiers
Of the IsraeItes Of old Statements have
recently appeared which It is claimed
came from General Botha and which were
dana ging to Il cause but they were
written BY his son Charles. who married
rich English woman and IS not recog-
nized by the Beers a ALL
Mr. Krige then went into the charges
that the English had attempted TO raise
the blacks against the Beers, and cited a
case where one tribe had been provided
with arms and killed several people be-
fore driven of by the Beers In regard 10
the charge that the Beers had abused the
blacks. he said that the fact that while
the men were away in the army not sin
gle woman had been assaulted was proof
enough that the natives had no hard feel
ings for their masters. He said that the
great example Of what IS claimed 10 Le
Boer harshness toward the natives Is the
rule in Pretoria and Johannesburg pro-
hibiting them from walking on the pave
ments with the whites. This was explain
ed by the fact that the natives dress IN
the scantiest attire. and as they walk
along coming from work can be scented
at a distance Of from twenty TO thirty
yards. He says that the foreigners in
these cities are the principal supporters
Of the rule
At the close Of the lecture Mr. Krige