Sunday morning globe., 1901-11-17
VISITS THE BOERS.
An Americans Description Of the
BOer Prisoners.
RESIDENT IN BERMUDA.
Who Some Of tho Prisoners Are and What
TheI Endurs-An English Officers Ignor-
anOe Illustrated and Shown to be Much
0enser than tho Ignorant Beers An Urgent
Appeal for Clothes, ElC.

Darnells Island which at the time was
the largest of them all, the first thing
to attract our attention and to keep it
was the great proportion Of boys on all
sides. The English officer accompany
ing us informed us, in an apologetic
way, even before we asked him, that
these boys were taken with their
fathers in the trenches and had been
substantially taking the places Of men
in the battles. They wound carry shot
as water carriers. They would creep
10 the tops Of kopjes and bring back
information of the whereabouts of the
foe, etc. But from the Beers we after
ward heard that out Of a certain
gathering Of twenty-four such boys on
the islands who were specifically ques
toned on the point, only six or seven
had their fathers with them, and not
all Of those six or seven had even
taken any part at all in the war.
Little Peter Cronie, for instance, the
youngest Of them all (he was only
eight when captured), says his father
was away from home when he was
taken, His mother had just gone to
another farm. Then the Britishers
came along and took him away with
an older brother of sixteen. Mother
and children were thus ruthlessly
snatched from ecah others arms and
the most sacred home ties completely
ignored
John Viljoen is only nine years old
The occasion Of his capture he tells as
follows: The Kafir servants had left
the farm. His father was away to the
war He was out on the yeldt tend.
ing the sheep. The khahs CBritish)
came along and took him as well as
the sheep.
Another boy tells Of his capture in
the following way. He was on his way
with his father to the store to buy
provisions for the Sabbath The
and wagon, himself and his father, and
now they are transported and held as
prisoners of war in Bermuda.
An old Irishman says a Kafir came
out to mis- store one day with a mes.
sage form the British commander re-
questing him to report at once to head
quarters. He went and reported. He
was detained for two or three days.
He then began to inquire as to the
cause of the detention. 1T is because
you did not report in the time-limit
heretofore published" he was inform
ed. And so he is now a prisoner Of
war i'm Bermuda.
The next thing to attract our atten-
ton I'm the lager after the boys was
tDe number of old men in It, One Of
these, a Mr.. Senekel, is seventy-eight
years old. Quite a number range be-
tween siXty-fve and seyenty-fve.
The Beers in Bermuda have so far
been unusually healthy-more so, in
! deed. than their guards Only eight
| ha died out OF the two thousand from
the time Of the first shipment left Cape
| Town, May 29 up to the arrival of the
/ Montrose on September 49, But out
| of the nine hundred and thirty-two
| men brought to Bermuda In the Mon.
! trose, twenty-four died curing the pas.
sage over. The British say that this
was because they brought diseased con.
! stitutiOns wit. them; it was not be-
cause of the unsanitary condition OF
the ship The Beers say, "Yes! The
ship was sanitary enough, and we did
bring diseased constitutions with us
But how did it happen that our health
was thus broken down when we board
ed the ship? Not in the way yor
would have the world infer, but in the
contrary way. We were strong and
lusty enough when we we're captured
We were strong and lusty still wher
we began the journey from the Trans
vaal to Durham. But you loaded us
like hogs into open cattle trucks. II
was the severest weather Of mid
winter. We were packed together like
sheep under such conditions for three
or four days and nights. We had NJ
sort of covering to keep out the fros
or to protect us from the keen winter
blasts. We could not lie down. W.
b could not sleep. Is it a wonder then
that as soon as we reached the cOas
and breathed the damp sea air man!
of us took to horrible coughing ant
succumbed at last to fatal lung affec
tions2'
Among the notable prisoners Of wa
now in Bermuda are eX-Presiden
Reitzs son, Bruin, and several othe
Of President Steyn's staff a brothe
and brother.in-law Of President Steyn
two theological students and a ban
rister. The name Of J, SHUTS appear
on the list. But whether he is any rC
latlon to the SHUTS who was so prom
inent among the Transvaal young me
who forced Mr. Kruger to go to wal
we were not able to ascertain. Fror
a letter ne wrote to a friend Of our
is evident that he is by no mean
an ordinary English scholar
The Beers N Bermuda are devote
to music and very religious. The
have regular singing classes and
strong choir for Sabbath service
There is a school on each Of the island
where some Of the old men as we'll a
2 the boys attend regularly There ar
> over a hundred boys.
y OF the whole number Of Boer pri
4 oners Cabout eight thousand at tn.
a date I'm alb thirty-eigbt are Cape rel
" els between sixty and seventy are &c
mans, quite a number of Scandinay
ans, at least six are French and thrC
Americans We heard Of one Iris
% man and one Scotchman, but Of
g. glishman, although we understan
a there have been such on the Boer sid
Is The proportion of Transvaalers an
IA Free State men we were unable to a
e. certain We were told by a your