BLOODSHED ON THE RAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 3100, 13 August 1913, Page 55

BLOODSHED ON THE RAND.

STRIKERS AXI) VIOLENCE. FIRE, SWORD, AND RIOT. The story of the riots at Johannesburg, riots which began in a miners' strike ami ended in the death of severed men and tire wounding: of nearly 50 more, comes in the South Alrican papers by the Aberdeen S.S Company’s Tliemistocks, which arrived ta Melbourne last week. All the bad features of a foreign strike marked -the outbreak from the very beginning. Sabotage and tinkicking of loyal workmen into unconsciousness. the stoning- of the police, tile looting of shops, the hurried movements of troops to tilt* goldfields, the defiance anti stoning and shooting- of the soldiery, and very io-luet-antly the volley which drove the mob from the streets, and the clatter of mounted men keeping it on the run —those were the stag s of the trouble, and out of all tins, almost miraculousiv, in one day, came peace. The first victim of that universal brotherhood of workers wh.c-h Ins :.1 used so much trouble in the past, and will again. was an amalgamator name;! MlLth. Iho me were out on strike, and angry, inflamed by agit itors, and joined by that largo haltcrimaial and wholly criminal population which one finds in the chief gold centre o! the Rand, MHetli. employed at the Van Ryu mine, remained at work wita the rest cf the reduction men. The mill was not crushing, ami the stall' was merely standing by tending the battery. Mflicih was mounting a bicycle in Market street when one of the striker-- knocked him down. The crowd rushed in, yelling, “ Put the boot in!" ami ch-r victim was badly kicked before htt? escape, winch was effected by a dash into a store, a quick e-eranible over the fence, and a race down .Swan street, with a. foaming mob of "comrades ’ and "brothers” at his heels. He reached the police station, and here his. wounds were dressed, and lie was put to bed. The crowd returned to Market street and, led by two women, destroyed a cartload of furniture on the way to the Van Kyn mine. An auctioneer ‘‘.-old’ a damaged piano for 10s to a man, who presented it forthwith 10 a crowd of boys, who in turn built a ken fire of the fragments in Market sqm o The police were helpless, anu '-clue aid was forthcoming the damage w.-.s done, and trie crowd dispersed, the ashes of the burnt piano (lying from under the mounted constables’ foot as they came across the square. One sente of violence followed another,

and another of the Van Kyn Redaction staff, a man nanu d Donbtfire, was brutally attacked; and Air Cross, the chief engineer of the Kreinfontein group, and two Utters, under escort of the Scots Fusiliers, ventured out into Wilstead street to effect some repahs to some electric standards which had been injured by an explosion (caused by the strikers) the previous night (duly 3). A Inigo crowd of sightseers and sinkers congregated, and road metal was showered .on the workmen and Air Cress. I nder tins lire all three received injuries, and a rush w.;s made, on. l of the Inters being knocked and kicked into unconsciousness. He was half-carried, half-dragged by two soldiers into the mine buddings. During the stonethrowing a soldier was stunned by a stone hitting him on the temple. He was picked up by tie; strikers, who apologised profusely, explaining that the ‘"scabs’ wore the only people they wished to stun. Iho second fitter was also n neh red insensible. The Fusiliers brought their bayonets to the charge and eh’ared their immediate neighlxmrhood, holding the mob back, and under the cover of steel the working parly withdrew—or, rather, was carried away. On

the same clay Iwo strike-breakers were attacked, and 'after the usual course of fut and bool, their clothes wore- stripped from them iiiicl burnt. One of these men, \vh'> bad a revolver, fired a few ineffectual shots at liis pursuers. '1 lien the police arrived, too late again, and saw the last of the clothes go up in smoke in Main street. Other minor acts of lawlessness snecr-edi d throughout that day and the following might. . , 'i l'.e culmination tame on tiio next a.tv (July .5). A inure nieet ng of over 5000 people, strikers and their sympathisers, met hi Market Square and, on the condition tlrit they would “ try and pacify them, the strike leaders were allowed to address this gathering, ihe “ pacification ” was o. that kind which’might he likened to tin; pouring ot oil upon a lire, and as the croud grew hot under the harangues ot its leaders line police and cavalry drove the meeting to tiie sides of tie street and out of the square. Stones and bottles were thrown at the police and the d; ago -ns. and a few ievolver (shops fu el. Th 'n came the attack on (.-oriKT 1 ioit.se,. the \V(*rbrnT. Hoit hraoquartern. The police resisted the attack, and soon the air was alive with bullets. Finding the position becoming intolerance the police, having thrice warned the ciowcl, re died with a volley of idle lire, and the dra ,, oon.s coming up on the flank of tne crowd, drove il with le arhigs from the Hate of tlioir into a w:ld rush fur K-afot.y. One man was knocked down in tne rusn and taken out, dead after the crowd had passed over him. Meanwhile the mob had tak-n the lark Railway Station, and r.-fu-i-d to allow tne trains 'mainly full of ten-died women and children to leave. Another battle with tne police and troops occurred here and in tne smoke «f the burning station buddings, hren lee the rioters, the mob was dispersed alter ■i fudlhde of shots 'J'he Star m wspaper ollicte" was ret afire, and the mob drove ) ru .t. the fire lirigade which came to Rave it. \fter the- tiring of the police opposite Corner lb.me, the mob betook itself to general rioting in Commissioner street. Hie more desperate spirits scattered in sma l bands about the town, and broke windows vahed at thousands of pounds, sna < mny t l, ( . ( xp- se<i goods, iKnamt"- was thrown into the shoo of Messrs <'lmdleudt, and £'.ooo worth of damage done. Ihe gunsmiths’ shops were l- .oP d for weapons. Ihe p-emises of Mr A. T. M alslie, in President street! were* entered., and £IOOO worth of rdh-- revolvers, and ammunition talon by the" mob. Tim shop of Schimniell Pros., at the corner of l.ovoday street and Pixeldent street, was also attacked and broken into, and also that of Mr G. R. Perrins, in Market Creel', and from both those places arms and ammunition were stolon. Galvanised iron defence? had been erected around the prem : sr-6 of Mr Leslie Simpson. .Lgis Buildings, but the crowd pot, (hron-di and stole about £BOO worth of weapons, despite the fact that Mr Store, the manager, blazed away at tie- intruders front th-'* inside of the store. The continual firing paw the crowd the inipn soon that the p'-h": had arrived I v the back way. and tin rioters drr w off with their captured arms

Advantage of the outbreak was also takea to rob the jewellers. W.ith the captured arms, the police wero fired upon in all directions, and the dragoons, split into detachments, kept charging the various centres of unrest in an attempt to keep the rioters on the move. In Market street and President street the tumuli rose to the dignity of battle. Rioters, armed with looted weapons, gained some of the housre, and shot from windows and roofs upon the troops and police, and others, driven by the volleys of the troops from the streets, lurked behind corners, and shot steadily. The worst feature of it was that these persons who were not the f-nli'ererg in the return fire, since they kept hidden, but these who were shot were, it was found later, not often of the type of citizen who would be missed —convicted thieves, crinv’nal half-castes, and chronic loafers being amongst the harvest of the troops’ shoot-, ing. The flames from the burning station and the Star office lit up the city, and, in this fair shooting light it is a matter for surprise that not more were killed and wounded. Four men were shot dead in the attack on Corner House, and two more later on in the night. A number of ethers di*d later from their wounds. Had the troops not exercised almost superhuman restraint, the casualties must have been very much heavier, for volleys at close range must have caused terrific slaughter. But most of the volley fire was d rcctcd over the heads of the rioters. The greatest mortality was that which occurred in the attack on the Rand Club. Hero 10 men were killed outright, and the battle was a deliberate shooting duel, the antagonists taking cover and lying to fire as t hough on a range. Strikers deliberately walked across a lino to pass which it was understood would incur death, and wero shot down by the soldiers, each time after warnings. Throughout the whole riot no less than 20 men were shot dead, and nearly 200 wounded, some of those so badlv that they died during the following day or two. And suddenly, out of all this carnage, came peace. The rifles were hardly cold before the men's leaders, amidst cries of “ You’ve been bought !” " How much did they (lay you?” announced that terms of settlement had been agreed to. and nothing was left but to bury the death