BOER TREACHERY.

New Zealand Mail, 15 February 1900, Page 49

BOER TREACHERY.

ENEMI’S BLACK RECORD IN it v Y BRk\TO li S STRUGGLE. v, du Vlew ot rile charges against the Briusn troops wmch are being brougnt oy certain Match and Tro-Boer agenefes no doubt as a means of. dispelling the odium caused by tlie grave disregard of the iules of the game shown by mclividuai Boers in the present struggle, it is ot interest, says a London paper to- t-r-------amine Boer conduct on the held’m the sons raideis, with Maiaboch m and with the British in 1881. \ 5 Jameson r aicl there was one So D t S ET ble ( T acMhe murder .of roopei ihack. He was taken prisoner y the Boers while out scouting, carried with t l ed up alid brutany beatS “Shoot hero! D 0„ shoot ? or *- it was g the Jameson raid ill-use and §S U P O \ bumanity ■ to est“L?»t“f „ a S.' V ' tho " t The next incident is chronicled n T the Rev Colin R ae , who acied lw-h, / lam with the Boer forces tf b °ch campaign. His experiences Steh were published lie uhica with a strong Pro are marked 1.0 b as frio” g dly r a h°So “’(“fi. 5 ?. tfcat the sacred white flag. ’w the 9 aves displayed a white flag but. it- was immediately shot down. The general (Joubert) now rescinded his previous order of not regarding a flag of truce, and for the future it was to be respected. A few days

after tliis incident the enemy began sounding their liorns 7 and shortly afterwards one or them made liis appearance at file mouth of the cave with a flag of truce. Scarcely, however,' had lie done so than it was simply riddled with bullets. . . . Not long after another flag (of truce) was displayed at tlie_entrauce to the enemy’s stronghold. . . . The flag was promptly shot away. . . . Incidents such as the foregoing were regrettable.”' < Though men were court-martlaLled for drunkenness or carelessness; on guard, we do not Fear' that anyone was punished for such breaches of faith. At. Potchefstroom in 1880. a Scotch stonemason, an unarmed and 1 defenceless Britisher, was seized by the Boers, They flung him on the ground, placed a table : on him, and jumped on the table. They then kicked him on the face and in the stomach with spurred boots. Finally two Boers named, Smit and Pretorius. shot liiiy dead. No punishment ever was inflated upon the men. ' Amongst the prisoners taken at the surrender of the Potchefstroom Court House were two loyalists named Woite and Van der Linden. It was stipulated iu the- capitulation that all who surrendered were to be spared. In spite of this Woite and Van der Linden were shot. No one was punished -for this. Woite died WITH TRUE -CHRISTIAN COURAGE: on the walls of the cell where he had been confined were found written in his own hand the words of eternal hope and confidence, "I go to the Father. Further, British non-combatants were taken by the Boers and forced to work in the trenches under fire from their own countrymen. An Englishman named Frederick Lindley was killed while engaged thus on February 24, 1881. No satisfaction was ever given for this atrocity. •

- At Leydenburg the Boers, through the notorious Irish ‘renegade, Aylward, who ought to be shot ' as' soon as he is caught, threatened to massacre the British garrison if it did not surrender, and murdered in cold blood an Englishman named-Green: - - - - On December” 29; 1880, Captain El'Hott;' who had' been taken prisoner by >the Boers,' was shot*'when crossing one Vaal drifts. 'He'Had. been released.on ■parole on condition that he left the Transvaal. An escort conducted him to the Vaal River, ana as soon as he began to cross it fired several shots at him. He was killed. Captain Lambert, who was with him. was also repeatedly fired at, and only escaped with the utmost difficulty. The murderers were well known and were nominally tried, but they, escaped scot-free. One of them - used constantly to boast- of having with - his own rifle shot the unfortunate El- - liott. - -- • -

- On February 21, 1881, Dr Barbour went to attend 'the wounded in Jou- ‘ berths eamp. • He itas seized and on the - next day ordered to depart under es--cort. • He had ‘gone only ft few miles' x. when, his escort fired on him from behind and killed him. No one was punished. The outrage was the more ter--rible because Barbour had come on an’ errand of Christian mercy. At the Ingogo; after six hour’s filing, the Boers raised . . the -white- flag. The British ceased firing. Immediately the enemy made a general rush towards the British position, and poured in a tremendous fire, ; which killed and

wounded many about- Sir George Colley, while the British flag of truce* raised in answer, was still , flying. It was the opinion of all on the field that the flag could only have been raised to cover a treacherous assault.