MAU MAUS KNIFE TWO BOYS

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27641, 23 April 1955, Page 7

MAU MAUS KNIFE TWO BOYS

Tense Atmosphere In Nairobi m NAIROBI, April 21. The savage Mau Mau killing of two English schoolboys almost within a stone’s throw of a large residential hotel on the outskirts of Nairobi has stunned thousands ofparents. Christopher Robin Twohey, aged 13. and Geoffrey Danby, aged 15, were butchered after leaving at 8 o'clock yesterday morning to spend the day shooting birds. Both had oeen savagely knifed. The atmosphere in Nairobi, which had been more carefree than at any time since the Mau Mau rebellion broke out in October, 1952, became taut as the feeling of security, built up over the last six months, rapidly melted., Husbands and wives did not Unger in the city tonight, but went home to make certain their children were safe and to overhaul their anti-Mau Mau precautions. Many withdrew firearms from the Central Firearms Bureau, where they had been left when the battle against the terrorists receded into the forests of the Aberdares. The killing of the two youngsters was the first Mau Mau atrocity against Europeans this year. More than 1500 troops and police, aided by spotter aeroplanes, scourea the thick bush and woods north of Nai-

robi for the killers. But it will take a long time to restore the confidence of parents in both Nairobi and the colony generally, even if the terrorists responsible ere caught. The chances of this appeared slim tonight as the gang had a lead of up to 18 hours—the estimated time between the murder of the boys and the discovery of their bodies.