The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1902-03-20

apNiA1 VI llDin Di4Ainh
should not be ascribed so much 10 lack
of inclination as TO lack OF time. A
change OF clothing. especially OF boots,
was sometimes secured by stripping a
dead man. and, according TO one who
knows. a dead mans boots are a great
deal better than no boots at ALL
II is the opinion OF Christian De Vets
nephew that this man who has done so
much TO weary Lord Kitchener and his
armies win never surrender. His wife
died OF a broken heart, one of his sons
is dead. his house has been burned and
his farm destroyed. and IL is very likely
that he does not see much i'm the future
worth living for. even though there may
be only forlorn hope in persistent
fighting.
AT the opening OF the war Christian
De Wet had a beautiful home three
miles out OF Bloemfontein and roamed
the country as a stock buyer. which ac-
counts for his intimate knowledge of
the region he has so persistentIy raw
aged and the facility with which he has
escaped from his pursuers. The burn
ing of the farmhouses has naturally in
censed all the burghers i'm the field as
well as those in captivity and their
sympathizers i'm Cape Colony. After
the house burning proclamation was is
sued (Which in effect was that every
house should show its full quota or il
would be burned TO the ground, all the
stock confiscated and the women and
children placed in compounds or con-
centration camps) the Beers saw no
other course open than TO pursue the
guerrilla warfare which they have con-
Quoted of late. They felt they would
rather perish fighting than of slow star
vation. The alleged treatment OF the
women and children by the British SOL
diery. both at their homes and in the
concentration camps. has greatly in
censed the fighting Beers, who declare
that there will be many individual
scores to settle after the war is over.
whether Beers or British prevail.
Young DE Vets home was burned TO
the ground, and early i'm January. last
year. after a brief furlough, he started
out again TO rejoin his uncle. The Brit
sh We're by this time so numerous that
he had TO abandon his horse in order to
escape observation. and on the second
morning out. while marching on foot
toward the town of Lindley. he and his
companions were surprised by patrol
of cavalry. the Derbyshire grays. He
started up a small kopje, but was pur-
sued. and just as he reached the crest
bullet struck him in the right foot.
inflicting such a wound that he was
crippled and captured. Taken TO
Bloemfontein, he was placed aboard a
train with some thirty comrades and
sent to Cape Town. He received no
medical attention until he reached the
hospital at the fort, where he remained
for nine weeks. and then was placed on
board a transport bound for st. Helena
That island was taxed TO it's utmost ca
pacity by Cronje and his men captured
the year before); so after two months
detention the later arrivals were again
placed on board ship and sent TO the
Bermudas. where they arrived about
the middle OF April
According 10 young De Wet, he and
his comrades were treated worse i'm the
Bermudas than at St Helena Food. he
says. was not only scarce, but poor In
quality. Distributed among the prison
camps on several islands i'm Hamilton
bay the Beers were given tents and
blankets (without either cots, mat
tresses or hammocks) and turned loose
within barbed wire barricades. Their
life in the open air was agreeable, for
they had become used to IL on the veldt
but the food was worse. they say. than
any they had while serving with De
Wet, consisting of a scant ration of
"burgoo" i'm the morning an apology
for stew at noon and the same sort of
stew. with tea, at night. Fresh water
is always scarce In the Bermudas. so
their supply was distilled from sea wa
ter. and sparingly supplied at that.
Cleanliness. he says was impossible.
as not only had the great majority Of
the prisoners the same clothing on their
backs which they wore when campaign
ing i'm South Africa. but they were COM
PEELED TO do their washing in salt water
without SOAP. They were taken out to
bathe in the sea at intervals. Each
prison camp was inclosed within an en-
tanglement OF barbcd wire, which the
prisoners called the dead line" as
while De Wet was there at least one
man was shot for touching IL.