THE FATE OF “FIGHTING MAC”

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 18431, 15 March 1922, Page 6

THE FATE OF “FIGHTING MAC”

MYSTERY SURROUNDING THE DEATH OF A GALLANT SOLDIER. The son of a Scottish labourer. Hector MacDonald commenced his eventful life as a Barefoot ploughboy. Then be got a job as assistant in a small country hop. This didn’t please him, however. He had always wanted to be a soldier and, as soon as he was old enough, he enlisted as a private in the Gordon Highlanders. He made a spendid soldier, and during the Afghan campaign of 18 79 came opportunity—which he grasped. With a small body of men, MacDonald found himself surrounded by some two thousand natives. The officers had been shot, and MacDonald took command of the little detachment and led them in a dashing bayonet charge, cutting a lane through which the English marched to safety. THE V.C. OR A COMMISSION. As a reward for his bravery, Lord Roberts offered MacDonald his choice of the Victoria Cross or an officer’s commission and, without a moment’s hesitation, the Scotsman chose the latter. From then onwards MacDonald's career was one oi almost continual success. During the Sudan campaign he was raised to the rank of Colonel for a smart piece of work against the Dervishes, and during the Boer War he did so well that he was knighted and made a Brigadier-General. During the intervening years, however. he had been constantly waging another war—one against the pettiness of certain officers, who were jealous of the former private’s success, and who tried to belittle and humiliate him. NERVES FRAYED BY THE STRAIN

The honours which General MacDonald received at the hands of the Queen wiped out some of these scores, but only increased others and, after his appointment to an important military post at Ceylon, certain grave charges were made against him. They were undoubtedly without the slightest foundation. “Fighting Mac," as he was affectionately known throughout the British Army, left London again for the East, but he only proceeded as far as Paris, where he stayed at a quiet hotel and kept strictly to himself. WHAT DAME RUMOUR SAID. Not long afterwards all England was amazed by the news of the suicide of the general. He was reportad to have sent a bullet through his aead after reading an account of the charges against him. But this by no means ended the matter. Although the gallant solder was supposed to be a bachelor, his family was informed that the general’s widow had taken the body back to Scotland, and that the interment had taken place quietly, with no military honours. Little by little a rumour went round that “Fighting Mac” was not dead, but that he had returned to the East under an assumed name, and had offered his services to'the Mikado. It was even believed that the famous Geneial Kuroki, who attained such prominence during the Russo-Japanese War, was none other than the Scottish general. But the British War Office ignored these reports and kept to its original statement about General MacDonold's death in Paris. The cofmission of inquiry into the charges against him in Ceylon returned a report completely absolving him from all blame, but no inquiry, official or otherwise, has evei swept away the veil of mystery which surrounds the fate of one of the most gallant officers who ever fought under the British flag.