“HIMPERIAL " SCAPEGOATS.

NZ Truth, Issue 114, 24 August 1907, Page 8

“HIMPERIAL " SCAPEGOATS.

CEORGE WITTON'S SCATHING BOOK.

by Military Means."

Mftrant's Funeral Dirge.

BFfee ifets ibßsn jpubldskeS recently ■fttoe Story of the Buskveldt Carbineers, by Lieutenaot George R. Witton, under the title of "Scapegoats of the Empire." The book affords melancholy reading, and the reader cannot come to any other conclusion ithan the officers, Morant and Handcock, were murdered by military means, and actually made scapegoats of other men's deeds simply to cover up the prestige of the British flag. Witton, who, •by the way, dwells m Lancefield, Vie, had a narrow escape from the death penalty himself, but the sentence of 4eath was commuted to penal servitude for life. It will be within the recollection of our readers of the •Australian efforts made to secure Witton's release, and Witton bears witness to that m his dedication of )the book to "The Commonwealth of 'Australia, m grateful recognition of rthe continuous and successful efforts towards my release from an English prison." Witton, m conclusion, trusts that this record of an eventful experience will not have pecn written m vain. The book is worthy of perusal m every way, the incidents being told m a straightforward manner, as becomes a soldier The work sheds light on many incidents that were' imperfectjv or incorrectly understood. The narrative of Lieutenant ' Witton's experience m English prisons is very interesting. What, for instance, could fee- better than the plain and unvarnished tale of the execution of Morant and Handcock. ■ " THE MILITARY MURDER. ■ Lieutenant Witton writes ■:— After the conclusion of the trials, we waited three days to hear our fate ; at times Morant appeared much worried, and gloomy forebodings would sometimes depress him. He would often say to me : "What do you think they will do with us? I)o you think they will shoot us ?' On one of these days I was spending the afternoon with Morant, Handcock, and Picton at the prison. We whiled away the time m the garden at the back, where grew several peach trees laden with green fruit. When anyone passed with whom we were 'intimately acquainted, lie would be saluted with a shower of hard peaches. Presently there came along m an old rickcttv buggy a deposed Kaffir chief, Maga;to* who was. in the employ of the •Intelligence Department as a spy, and who had iust before TRIED TO SWINDLE MORANT out of a kaross, or rug of skins ; he ,was greeted with a volley of the Lard fruit. Appearing to take no notice, he drove straight away, and lodged a, complaint with the garrison adjutant. Half an hour later, Major Lenehan received an N official letter from the adjutant to the effect that complaints had been made about the conduct of his officers 'at ithe garrison prison, and requested ithat he should cause the same to Jse discontinued. The correspondence was passed on to Lieutenant Morant, and on the back of it he dashed off his reply : ?'An Intelligent Nigger named Magato Has been singing a sad obligato, And he begs to complain He suffered much pain ■ Being struck with a squashy, tomato. "P.S— For 'tomato' read 'peach'— exigency of verse." This was returned to the adjutant ; that night at dinner, m the officers' mess, it Was handed round the table ,to the great amusement of all.' . On the night of the 20th the last remnant of the Carbineers met at a dinner at Morant's quarters m the garrison prison. Majors Thomas and Lenehan, Captain Taylor, Lieutenants Mprant, Handcock, Picton and myself were there. The evening passed very pleasantly ; the wearisome trials were forgotten, and it seemed like old times again. As if !to fill our cup to joy to the very

brim, an orderly* from ttic "brigade office camo and informed Morant that a staff-officer had said, m his hear•ing, that the result of the courtmartial was that he and his subordinates were exonerated. This bit of news greatly elated us, and m high spirits at the THOUGHT OF FREEDOM on the morrow I returned to my quarters, near the cow-gun, about 10 o'clock, where I was met by the officer m charge, who informed me that he had orders for me to move to the -garrison prison there and then. After protesting against moving at such an unseemly hour, I had my bedding packed up and returned-, to the scene "of our festival at the orison." I made a shakedown m Handcock's room, and turned m, fully expecting that this would be the last night of my imprisonment. The morning brought with it a rude awakening. At six o'clock Captain Brown, 2nd Wiltshire Regiment, came to the prison and informed us that we were to entrain for Pretoria at seven o'clock. We hastily got our kits together and had breakfast, when the provost-sergeant came to us carrying four pairs of hancufis. After apoligising for the unpleasant duty he was compelled to perform, he handcuffed us separately. When Morant held out his hands, he remarked, "This COMES OF EMPIRE BUILDING;." His position then seamed to strike him very forcibly, for. he broke down completely and wept. We were then escorted under a guard with fixed bayonets to the station, and confined. in two closed, armored trucks, Major Lenehan, who was not handcuffed, Lieutenant Morant and myself m cue, and Lieutenants Handcock and Picton m the other. An officer and six men m each truck acted as guard. While waiting on the platform to entrain, Major Bolton came up to us, as though to gloat over the successful consummation of his labors. Picton turned to him, and, exposing the exposing the, irons on his hands, called out, "I have to thank you for these, Major Bolton." Major Thomas had not been informed of our departure, and, consequently, did not •travel with us. This was probably done to prevent any interference on his part ; he followed on, however, shortly after. Quite a crowd had gathered at the station, many LAUGHING AND JOKING as though it were a picnic excursion, others bewildered and wondering what was to be our fate. It appeared to me to be an insult to the British uniform we wore that we should undergo this indignity of being placed m irons before we were sentenced or deprived of our badge of rank. I could not think that our position called for such precautions, and held there must be some mistake, perhaps the result of ofliciousness on the part of the provostmarshal. Leaving Pictersburg on the morning of February 21, we arrived at Pretoria the following day, and were met by an escort of military police. Here we were placed m a van with armed men on either side of us, a-nd with mounted police armed with r-evolvers and swords riding m front and rear, and on both flanks. There were quite enough to form a bodyguard for the .Commander-in-Chief himself. With the EXCEPTION OF MAJOR LENEHAN, who was sent on to Capetown, we were driven to the old Pretoria. Gaol. This was the first time . I had . ever been inside a civil prison. My first impressions were anything but encouraging ; the warders appeared most uncivil. ? The first one we met told us, m a domineering manner to "face the wall," then commenced to order us about. Morant resented this treatment ;■ turning to him he said, "Look here, warder, recollect although I am a pris-

onor I am still a British officer, ! and will be treated as such."

On being taken to the receptionroom, we were stripped and our clothing carefully searched ; we were then examined, and a complete description for identification purposes taken. Our own clothes were returned to us, and we were then taken to separate cells and locked up— m the quarters where Dr. Jameson and his followers had been confined after his disastrous and abortive raid on the Boer Republic a few years previous. When the cell door closed behind me the thought came into my mind that for some underhand motive my position from the beginning had been FALSELY REPRESENTED TO ME. I had treated it too lightly ;'• gloomy forebodings as to the future then struck into my heart. Even then I could not believe that capital punishment would be meted out to any of us. The following morning we were removed to another part of the prison, and occupied a row of cells on the west side of the yard, which I afterwards learned were known as the "condemned cells." During the day Captain Purland, Inspector of Prisons, visited us ; he was- an old acquaintance of Morant's, and at the request of this officer he relaxed much of the prison discipline. Instead of being kept locked m our cells all day, they were thrown open at 5.30 m the morning until .7 p.m. During the 'day we were allowed to associate with each other; tobacco, cigars, and cigarettes were sent to us, and \ye were permitted to smoke. We had been at Pretoria nearly a week before the findings of the Court were made known. We arrived there on Saturday, February 21, and it was not until Thursday, February 2(5, that we' were called' into the Governor's office and informed of our fate. We were walking about the yard as usual at eight o'clock, Morant asking me the same question that he had asked me before, "What are they going to do with us ? Do you THINK THEY WILL SHOOT US?" I scouted the idea of it, and tried to reassure him by stating that if they shot us they would require to go on shooting officers every day. A. warder then came to Morant and informed him that he was required at the governor's office. He walked over, and m a few minutes returned. His face was deathly pale; lie looked as thought his heart had already ceased to beat. I exclaimed, "GOOD GOD, MORANT, what is the matter ?" "Shot tomorrow morning !" was the reply. Handcock v/as called next ; when he returned, he appeared quite unconcerned. "Well, what is it ?" I asiied. "Oh, same as Morant !" lie replied, as though he were tired of •it all, and felt relieved that the end had came at last. I was next called, and walked across the yard quite pre]\arod for, and fully expecting, the same fato as the others. On being ushered into the governor's office, I was taken boforfore Captain Hutson, ProvostMarshal of Pretoria. Glancing, at me, he said, "George Ramsdalc Witton, you have been FOUND GUILTY OF MURDER and sentenced to death." He paused for a time, as if to give me the full grasp of that sentence. He then continued, "Lord Kitchener has been pleased to commute your sentence to, penal servitude for life." I was then marched out, feeling quite resentful because my sentence had been commuted, as I felt that death a thousand times would be preferable to the degradation of a felon's life; I had already suffered a 'dozen times over pangs worse than death. Lieutenant Picton was the next called. He soon returned. "Well, What luck ?" I asked. "Found guilty of manslaughter, and cashiered !" was the reply. The appalling injustice of the sentence was a terrible blow to us. Marant by this time had pulled himself together, and was his old self again. He requested to he -provided with writing material, and immediately petitioned to Lord Kitchener for reprieve. Handcock at the same lime also wrote ASKING NEITHER MERCY NOR ANYTHING ELSE for himself, but begged that the Australian Government ; would be asked to do something for his three children. To Morant's petition there came a brief reply from Colonel

Kelly, second m command at Pretoria, stating that Lord Kitchener was away on trek. He could hold out no hope of reprieve ; the sentence was irrevocable, and he must prepare to bear it like a man. Handcock's letter was returned to him without acknowledgment. At the same time I sent out two telegrams—one to Mr Rail at Capetown,* -another to my brother m Australia. I was officially informed that they had been sent, via Durban, but I learned later that BOTH HAD BEEN SUPPRESSED. During the day Major Thomas visited us ; the terrible news had almost driven him crazy. He rusbsd away to find .Lord Kitchener, but was also informed by Colonel Kelly that the Commander-in-Chief was away, and not expected to return for several .days. He then begged Colonel Kelly to have the execution delayed for a few days until he could appeal to the King ; the reply was that the sentences had already been referred to England, and approved by the authorities there. There was not the slightest hope, MORANT AND HANDCOCK MUST DIE. After the sentences had been passed upon Morant, the provost-mar-shal asked him if he wished to see a clergyman. "No !" he replied, m his usual fierce and curt style , tl Vm a Pagan !" Handcock, hearing of this, ' ■inquired, "What is a Pagan ?" Upon being enlightened, -he said.. "l'm a Pagan, too !" Thus these two went out of this life believinr? there was no God. Little wonder, either! During the afternoon two warders were busily engaged m the workshop not a chain away from our cells, making two rough coffins ; we could hear them quite distinctly all the afternoon, and knew what they were doing. In the evening they could be seen m the prison yard where they had been placed, just outside the workshop door. At four o'clock I was informed that I would leave for England at five the following morning. At six a hamper was sent m containing A NICELY GOT-UP DINNER for four. We laid it out m my cell, but it was scarcely touched. After the awful events of the clay we had no relish for a feast. It was the lar.fc meal that two of the company would partake 'm 11ns world. Moron fc remarked, "Not to be blasphemous, lads ; but this is 'The Last Supper.' " At seven the warders came to lock up for the night. At the request of Morant, he and Handcock were allowed to pass the last night on earth together. At the last moment I bade Morant bood-bye. He said, "It's hard lines and a sideways ending, thus being sacrificed as an • ATONEMENT FOR PRO-BOETL SENTIMENTS. Good-bye Witton ; tell the 'Bulletin' people 'The Breaker' will write no more verse for them ; I'm going into 'laager' m the morning." Morant spent most of the nisht writing, and then wrote : his last verso : — "In prison cell I cadly sit, A d d crestfallen chapnv. And own to you I feel a bit— A little bit— unhappy r _ It really ain't the place nor time. To reel off rhyming diction ; But yet we'll find a final rhyme While waiting crucifixion. No matter what 'end' they decide— Quick-lime ? or 'b'iling ile ?' sir— We'll do our best when crucified To finish off m style, sir. But we bequeath a parting tip For sound advice to such men Who come across m transport ship To polish off the Dutchmen.; If you encounter any Boers You really must not loot 'em. And, if you wish to leave these scores, For pity's sake, don't shoot 'em. And if you'd earn a D.5.0., Why every British sinner Should know the proper way to go Is : Ask the Boer to dinner. Let's toss a bumper down our throat Before we pass to heaven, And toast : 'The trim-set petticoat i We leave behind m Devon.' " At five next morning, February 27, I was roused by a warder, who informed' me that an escort was waiting; for me as soon as I was ready. I asked nermission to say goodbye" to Morant and Handcock. I was allowed to see them only

through the small trap-door. I clasped their hands through this for the last time, and could scarcely stammer a good-bye., I was more unnerved at the THOUGHT OF THEIR HATEFUL DEATHthan they were themselves. They were calmly prepared to meet their death, as they often had been before at times during the war. I was then taken away to the chief warder's office, handcuffed, and handed over to an escort of Cameron Highlanders, who took me to the railway station, thence to Capetown. At the prison gate 1 passed a squad of Cameron Highlanders waiting to be admitted. It was unnecessary to ask why or what they were there for. It was a heart-breaking sight. I was told that at six o'clock the warders threw open the doors of THE DOOMED MEN'S CELL, and asked, "Are you ready ?" "Yes !" replied Morant, "where is your firing party ?" Hand m hand m the grey light of the dawn they walked out to their death. To Lieutenant Edwards, Morant said, "Remember 4 the Boers mutilated my friend Hunt. I shot those who did it. We had our orders ; I only obeyed them when Hunt was murdered. I did it. Witton and Picton had nothing to do with it ; I toLI them so at. the court-martial." They faced the firing party unflinchingly. While waiting at the Pretoria railway station I distinctly heard m the clear, morning air the report of the volley of the firing party, and the death knell of my late comrades, and I knew they had gone to the bourne from whence no traveller returns. So went out two BRAVE AND FEARLESS SOLDIERS, men that the Empire could ill afford to lose. "Some heels may spurn 'The Breaker's' grave, Some mouths thereon may spit : But some have owned to hands that gave A* wreath to even it.And right or, wrong, or weak" or strong, I can't keep back a tear For that Other-heart, that Brotherheart, That ceased its beating here." "Mousquetaire," Sydney. It was Morant's last wish that he should be buried decently, and outside the precincts of the prison. Some comrades claimed the bodies, and interred them m the Pretoria Cemetery ; there Morant and Handcock went into their last long "lnafrer " I shudder now as I writr this, and recall those awful days, j so vividly impressed on my memory.