Evening star., 1949-01-16
RaceRiotsWane
In South Africa;
HundredsDead
Durbon Damage More
Than S1,000,0 900 in
ZuIu-indiun Strife
By the Associated Press

i DURHAM, South Africa, Jan.
l5.-Bloody race rioting appeared
tonight to be dying down, but it
was believed casualties will far
exceed police estimates of 100
killed and 1000 injured.
Damage runs more than 81 900, 900
in the three days of fighting between
Zulu and Indian inhabitants. Of
ficials at Johannesburg estimated
300 we're killed, and Durham mem
Der of Parliament said the figure
was nearer 500.
One white European was killed
and II were wounded, the police
said, but generally the fighting was
not directed against the white popu-
lation.
Police Use BayOnets.
Fighting covered such wide areas
that the estimates at best were
guesses. The bodies of riot victims
Uttered the ground at Cato Manor
on the fringe of the city. Long
trails of bloodstains marked every
street leading to the non European
hospital where Is doctors worked to
exhaustion caring for the wounded
The fate of hundreds who fled
from Durham was not yet known.
Police, charging with fixed bay
onets, sought to break up the rioting
but the trouble still spread and
heavy military reinforcements were
ordered.
A group of Indians, attacked by a
Zulu mob chanting savage battle
cries, leaped from a 50O-foot cliff.
Entire families, both Indian and
Zulu, were burned alive in their
houses. Others were dragged into
the streets and slain. or run down
as they fled from mobs or resisted.
Citizen Force Called Up.
The government called all trained
members of the Royal Durham Light
Infantry Brigade to duty, and said
the Natal Mounted Rifles would join
them tomorrow. Governor General
G. Brand van Zyl prepared an order
calling the active citizen defense
force into action.
Cyprian, king of the Zulns, pleaded
with his native subjects to stop the
fighting with the Indians which
has wiped out whole families.
1T is my earnest wish" he said
that the trouble should be settled
in a peaceful way"
At the time the South African
ministers of justice and defense ar
rived from Capetown and conferred
with police and local defense officers
on means of stopping the bloodshed.
Troops, Police Flown In.
Fifteen Dakotas of the air force
were carrying nearly 400 armed po-
lice and 160 troops of the regular
army to Durham from johannesburg
in day and night shuttle to aid
police, military and naval units in
stamping out the fighting Two
territorial battalions were modified
here.
Six Spitfires stood by at Johannes
burg in case the disorders spread
to the European areas of Durham.
Some police reinforcements also
were sent to Maritzburg where trou-
BILE was expected to spread, and eight
Dakotas were ordered to stand by
at johannesburg over the week end
ready to fly reinforcements to any
part of the union. Two emergency
hospitals were opened.
Armed police units went afield
trying to head off Zulu bands intent
on raiding camps where Indians
have taken refuge. 1t was at one
OF these camps that panicky Indians
jumped from a cliff where Zulus
had trapped them.
Police strategy was to gather the
Indians in easily defended camps.
Mobs were seeking to intercept them
or get at them in the camps them
selves. Hundreds of Indians fed
from Durham into the forests.
Indian Injured Zulu Boy.
Cause of it all was fight Thurs
day in which an Indian peddler
injured a Zulu boy. Incident fol-
lowed Incident, swelling into the
worst race rioting the country has
seen.
=. Whole streets were reduced to
ruins by mobs swarming through
them killing and pillaging. Entire
sections were set aflame by torch
bearers and the people burned, or
killed when they tried to escape or
resist.
Many casualties were caused by
heavy stones, clubs and knives.
One Indian family, trapped in a
flaming building, shot it out with
the mob, killing five attackers be-
fore dying in the flames.
Conditions had seemed quieter
this morning after a night of ter
ror BY daylight, soldiers, sailors
and police with bayonets fixed had
restored a semblance of quiet 1t
proved to be just breathing SPELL
tSee SOUTH AFRICA, Page A-10)