AN OVERSEER MURDERED.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12506, 19 May 1906, Page 9

AN OVERSEER MURDERED.

MOVEMENTS OF REBEL CHIEFS

(Received May 19th, 12.10 a.m.) PIETERMARITZBURG, May 18

An overseer tamed Walter, at Mbitze, Zululand, has been murdered.

Mr Saunders, Native Commissioner, is caring for tlie feeding of Banibaatas women folk and children.

Kalo's rebels are advancing towards Nkandhla, and Bambaata, with an impi, has started to join Sigamundi in the Nkand'Ma bush.

I A good deal of indignation has been I expressed in Natal at the action of ocr- ! tain employers in tilling the places of j men who wore called away on active service. Last month Colonel Sparks, of the Natal Mounted Rifles, issued an order asking for the names of men of ! his corps who lost their berths owing to being called out on active service. The "Natal' Mercury" commends Colonel Sparks on his action, and says: — "Tho men who act so mea-nly as to punish their employee's for being called out are just the men who would howl the loudest for compensation if their property suffered damage by acts of the enemy, or the riotous acts of rebels." < Tho witch-doctor who accompanied ! Bambaata in his recent hurried excursion from Greytown to Nkandhla (says tho "Mercury") seems to bo an individual of some little note among the natives. From a private letter which has bean received by a Durban resi- { dent, it appears that he is a pe.rton equally learned in the knowledge of human nature as in tho practices of heathen sorcery, for he prevailed, so it .is said, upon the renegade ex-chief to spare thio life of his successor, Magwababa, whom he had kidnapped, by assuring him that tho latter would be a kind of mascot to the party, and that his presence among the band of fugij tive outlaws would ensure their good : luck. Although, as evemte have proved, tho good luck was mainly upon Magwabaoa's side ("Magrvababa escaped], tho wizard's next nttenipt to impose upon the superetitious oredulity of Bambaata and his followers seems to have been inoro successful. Tlie letter goes on to relate that, after the fugitives' arrival in the neighbourhood of : Nkandhla, the witch-doctor, perceiving at once tho signs of a storm, and an opportunity for further impressing his doubting patron, proceeded to invoke the heavens for a sign, which should take tho form of a discharge of light- : ninrc. The storm-clouds rapidly gathereH, and at length there were two brilliant flashes, both of which descended upon the ground. The simple Kaffirs, or course, regarded this as a wonder of the first magnitude; but Bambnata's familiar also applies a knowledge of science to the exercise of hie calling, and 'ho had evidently on many previous occasions seen the lightning playing about , the metallic outcrops with which the I Nkandhla district is studdecL For once, his anticipations wero justified, and his resourceful ennninpe reinstated the reputation which Magwababa'e escape considerably damaged. One statememt interesting to townliving white men (says the "Mercury's" special correspondent with one of the columns) is that the natives of the district arc all talkiris: of the marvellous effect of tho witch doctor's working upon Bambaata's men. It is known by now that two or three natives were hit by the police. Tlie were, however, only slight, being practically graze*, amd tho argument among the ■natives now is that magic turns the enemy's bullets. Tho suffgestion is one demanding serious consideration in view of the possibility of it inducing others of the exceedingly credulous natives I to join.