A HERO OF THE WAR

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8291, 21 September 1903, Page 4

A HERO OF THE WAR

Heroes of the Boer war on both the British side and among the gallant defenders of the Transvaal are as • plentiful as the engagements during that disastrous cam paign, says an exchange. Already they have begun to pass away, leaving only the unstable glory of a fleeting name in modern history as a tribute to their prowess and their bravery. The latest to cross the shadowy borderland is Colonel Schiel, whose death is reported Germany! The passing of this gallant soldier recalls vividly the early days of the war, and, more especially, the victory of our arms ao Elandslaagte, so soon to be dimmed by a series of reverses which culminated in the humiliating surrender at Nicholson's 3fek, and the imprisonment of General Wlute in Ladysmith. Colonel Schiel was born m Frankfurt, in 1858, and after serving as a- lieutenant of Hussars in the Prussian Army, he emigrated when twenty years of age to South. Africa. For some time he was employed by a German colonist to look after travelling ox-wagons, and in this capacity he became acquainted with a great part of South Africa. This experience was naturally of the utmost use to him during the campaign in which he was fated to I play so prominent a part.- After leaving his German friend, he became the chief Induna of Dinizulu, the eldest son of Ce,tewayo, who at Schiel's advice called in some Boers tp help him to subdue other Zulu chiefs. Schiel, Lucas Meyer, and John Pretorius obtained from Dinizulu concessions of. land reaching down to Santa Lucia Bay. and in 1885, Dinizulu sent Schiel to Berlin, to treat, with Prince Bismarck as to the annexation of Zulu territory by Germany. Ae, however, the British, and the Boers proved prior claims, Bismarck preferred not to interfere. The Transvaal Gor venunent later appointed the Colonel captain of artillery, and sent him to Prussia in order that .he might educate himself as an artillerist. After the Jameson raid, the fort at Johannesburg was constructed according' to his designs. At the outbreak of ; the warhe: .-was put' In. command of'th» German Tolunteere;" biffc;.heing' wounded aiid captured'at Elandslaagte Ke: was :sent as a prisoner to St.'Helena. He was released at the conclusion of peace, but was not allowed to return to Africa. He "went ; instead to Germany, where he delivered a ; series of lectures upon the war. He -recently fell ill, and his death occurred in Beiohenhall EospitaK 1