THE FALL OF KRUGER.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1361, 12 February 1912, Page 3

THE FALL OF KRUGER.

REVELATIONS BY AX ENGINEER. JAMESON RAID A SIDE ISSUE. Released liv time from an oath not to talk on South Alricau affairs ur reveal ivy nf the "inside" of events lending up to"the Hoar War for three years, .Ur. John Havs llninir.or.il. who was conspicuous in lliat war, broke his silence tor '.lie first time, at a dinner of the (lover Ctuii, iioston, -Mass., U.S., recently. .Air. Hammond said the .Jameson rani was the result 01 the activities of a reform association formed at Johannesburg ami consisting largely of Americans. "J. want, especially," said JFr. Hammond, "io correct a misunderstanding. It lias been said we were acting uniler (lie British Hag. That is false. ".Much sympathy has boon wasted on 'Om I'aul 'Kruger". lb was opposed to progress, believing the world was 11 at, and that the devil had a tail. His impositions wer-3 =iicb as no man oi the Anglo-Saxon race would havr loicva;:*.!. The. Air.ericaus voted to take up amis against him. Thei-3 was a spy m our camp, and for his benefit we voted that if we were commandeered, we would, upon the first order io fire, shoot down our commanding officers. As a result no Americans were made to enlist. "The reform movement against Kruger was not an English movement .Jameson came into the fight against our wishes, and against, the wishes of the British High Commissioner. I sent word to him to go back, and when he persisted, the only thing to do was to bluff Kruger into believing we had more arms than we really had. AVc did so, and Kruger sent over an olive branch to Johannesburg. They agreed to do all but two things, and that was that no contract should bo accepted with a Catholic or a Jew. This we flatly refused.

"Kruger played false with the reform committee after the Jamc-on raid, broke all his promises, and afVr ho had secured the arms in Johannesburg, through Sir Hercules RoWnson, he arrested the entire/ committee. lie gave the men to understand that, if they pleaded guilty thev would be let oft with a fine. Instead, llinv were sentenced to be hnnscd within twenty-four hours. An emphatic dispatch from Secretary Olney caused Kruger and the Bc?r council to hesitate, and af'or an all-night session the council vot.-d to commute the sentences to life imprisonment."