The Washington herald., 1911-01-29

few of US understood the language.
was too i'll to be present.
Guarded by Thirteen Men.
Mrs. Hammond had refused to leave
Johannesburg during the excitement. She
came to Pretoria. and obtained permis.
sion to remove me to a cottage. My bono
was $4,000 and thirteen men guarded my
bedroom and the yard outside. | paid
them s. a day. hauled them back and
forth in cabs, and boarded them besides
AS ! was very i'll. Mrs. Hammond had
me taken out of the heat and humidity OF
Pretoria to our home in johannesburg
\ lieutenant and nine guards accom-
panied US, also at s. a day and travelling
expenses. But ] got no better and SC
l gave bond Of 100000 and was taken
10 Cape Town. on the ocean. by Mrs.
Hammond.
"Returnins TO Pretoria in April, ] went
into court attended by physician. A
judge had been brought from the Orange
Free State to hear the case. The leaders
of the reform committee were convicted
and sentenced to he hanged. One re-
former had gone insane and committed
suicide. The remaining ffty-nine were
fined $1,000 each and sentenced to serve
in Jail for two years.
The news closed all the stores and
the stock exchange in Johannesburg
Flags were placed at half-staff. In 4
few days the mayors of 10 towns and
thousands of burghers signed petitions in
our behalf The night of the day on
which sentence was passed we spent In
the cell OF the condemned. II had a dirt
floor and was full of vermin. We were
to be hanged at the same time and the
gallowS was ready. Kruger and his
council met that evening.
"'These men are worth more to us
alive Kruger shrcwdly said, than dead.
We can trade with them
Lives Spared by One Vote.
BY one vote our lives were spared but
we didn't know of our escape until the
next day. and even then We were kept in
doubt concerning our fate ultimately.
Days came and went and We were still
in Jail Mark Twain visited us one dreary
morning. j knew him well. and intro
duced him to my companions. He stood
on a box and made a characteristic
speech. telling us he was glad to see so
many lawyers present and only one news
paper man among the prisoners. Being
in Jail had its cOmpensations- he thought,
because there. at least. one was free from
''AIl of the refornerS. save the four
leaders and two others. were released on
May 80 by paying $4,000 each and taking
oath to keep out of Boer politics. On
June II the four leaders took similar
oath. Incidentally. each of us paid
fine of sl25.0O0. Not long after that
sailed for England
Tell me-" / said, about the mines of
oil in RhnlaSia SnIlfh-
eastern Af-ica-the land of Ophir. as it
is called in the Bible. I went into the
with a small number of men.
finding the ruins of forts and temples and
thousands of excavations made upon veins
of Gold-bearing quartz. In my opinion.
as much as SEQ. .0c0 in gold was taken
out of that region by the ancientS. Fires
were built against the face of the rocks.
which, when heated, would split when
,old water was thrown upon them Pieces
thus split off were pounded on the surface
Of hard stones. the gold was washed and
then smelted in furnaces built in the
solid rock.
THE tsetse fly is very troublesome in
Rhodesa It's sting is sure death to do
nestle animals. but is not injurious to
nan or the game found in that country.
We lost all of our horses and had to
walk. Meanwhile the natives tried stead
ly to murder US. All together, our eX-
,erience was rather stirring, but We
ound the mines. About s.O00.O00 in gold
$ now coming from that region an
lually.
Mines Worked by Phoenicinns.
1.-The Phoenicians and Israelites worked
he mines under Hiram and Solomon,
heir kings. From the Bible We learn
hat the first Phoenician expedition to the
and of Ophir occurred during the reign
# Solomon in Jerusalem. Hiram and
solomon entered into a commercial
reaty. Hiram supplying gold and slave
rorkmen for the temple and Solomon
ngaging to give Hiram wheat and oil |
or his houschold-'thus gave Solomon to |
Iiram year by year, as it is stated in |
he Book of Kings. |
THE Portuguese once worked the
mines Adam Renders. an American ex- |
Iorer and big game huneer. rediscovered |
he mines and ruins in 1865 Now. under |
he initiative of Cecil Rhodes. there are |
lmost 1000 miles of railroad in the ter |
itory. He recovered the region from bar |
arism, and it has been given his name, |
,caIly.
In his famous story. Rider Haggard
,cated King Solomon's mines within
nirty miles of where l found them. 1
,oked for the most inaccessible spot in
ne world he told me, and put the mines
here, although | had never seen the
ountry.
copyright 1911. by James B. Morrow