A BOER RAIDER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 282, 2 December 1935, Page 6

A BOER RAIDER

CAREER OF SCHEEPERS FOR MLRDER TERROR OF THE CAPE. • omuiauuant Seheeper.-, ii>>- Boer header about whose execution lheie has be>*i much discussion recently, '•;> a raider who was prominent in •' ' guerrilla warfare which existed at the beginning of 1901, says Scipio he Evening Post. The final phase the South Africa War, indeed, was the most vexatious vf all to Britain. The Boers were carrying on a faction warfare. working in their fields when the English troops were at a distance, e it eating with rille - and ammunition as soon as invading forces were sighted. Isolated units were attacked, supply • onvoys raptured, and railway line-si blown up. Large as were the forces , mployed by th** Home Governmeu’. the' were insufficient for the territory to be"covered, and while there were onlv a few thousands of Boers under aims the effort.- to subdue them wa? ostin<* £2.IHH’.VOO a week. Of the leaders «»f the Boer cum- | n an doe? Scheepers was one of the mu.-t ' daring. Early in 1901 he was at the ' head of a portion of the force com- I wanded by Kritzinger, who wa? comlulled to divide his men into two bands I and was operating round Graaff Jiemet. The territory at the lime. -a. - a contemporary historian, was must ‘xU settled, “small parlies of Boers roam* in« at will over the mountains ano i from time to time combining to attack British patrols, to plunder farms ami to intimidate loyalists. The land was infested with these troublesome freebooters whose method? were neither more nor less than those ot brigands, and who. had they been faced by any t ther armv than that ot the British, would have ben treated with the mu>t ielentl» k ss severity.” A- the British Aimv leader.- were then embarking *jQ a campaign which meant the concentration of the Boers in prison camp* where men. women and children were herded together and the death-rate w.i--16 per hundred while their farms and Far. eats were burnt to cut off supplies, f|,e gentleness of British methods may, fcerhab?. be overstated.

In Cape Colony. At ’ »e moment ih: 1 these new tai in ■ were being adopted Kritzinger and Scheepers were south uf the Orange River, forming part of (he Boer fore which had invaded Cape Colony, ant . untinuiug their serie? of small, indeci give -kirmishe-. Their tactics were V R'oid pitched battles lor which without artillery, they tell themselves hopelessly unequal, but to harass the Briitsh and kep them in a state • 1 i erv«»u.- tension. They had nu supp!j t ain. food the*- •■oiumandeered. am munition thev i>wk from the bandolier: v’’ dead or raptured British soldiernnd their mobility was thus very great In command of the operations against Kritzinger al thi? time wa? Lieutei • nt-Colonel Dougla- Haig, whose nam will be readily recogni.-ed by student: «»f modern warfare. Scheepers. opera’ jug with a fellow-leader of the famou: name of Fouche, " t- at thi- time be Arming to be h-cd a? a leader equal t* Kritzinger. and British t-ffurt- to cap i.ire him wore themselves out with greater result than the gain uf te »orse- from the dispersing BueriA ruling elaborate preparation? to ?ji • oiind hi? rea-.-embled forces. Scheeper attacked Aberdeen, a small village hek by a detachment of the Derbyshir .'’’’ilia, a .-mall fore of the Sixil Dragoon? and the Town Guard. Th Boers, who were 300 strong and out • umbered the defenders three to on • actually penetrated the town, fro.i '. hi«-h they retired only when rein fo-.ements arrived, but could not dis lodge the defender- from key positium about the place. Fuur forces wer. operating agianst t?ehepers by now and after a brush with one of them ht united his men with the (-unimandoe- «-.* Malan and Fuuche. and had a nar row escape of being trapped by »n circling British forces. escapinr. Through a gap at the ro.-t of fourteer dead and four prisoners. ?cheeper ‘hen foiled another attemnt. aided |«\

mist, io st*iround him. and destroyed > the large farm of Dr. Moolman. anYld neighbour of pre-war days. Wanted for Murder. On April 2_\ 1901. Lord Kit.henui issued a proclamation that all British subjects residing in rhe districts under n artial law who took up arms against Britain or incited others to do j. i or cornmitt |. any act endangering the safety of British troops would be courtmartialled and .subject to severe penalties. On May 2 two young Dutch farmers in the Aberden district were sentenced to death (a sentence later commuted to five years' imprisonment) for .aiding Scheepers. The Boer was now U’wanted for murder in the Cradouk district. ’’ and a reward of £250 was | offered for his . apturc. His life, from • this moment, became < specialh vigur- • He was attacked by the force of ‘ .done! Henniker ju-t after he had iuc railway at Mortimer, he was threatened by the Town Guard at Be<lAord and na- assaulted at Gannashock. |i‘hi«h is close Mortimer, in an engagement in which two Tasmanianfought 23 Boers until both were "oanded. After this <’olonel Gcr’•uge .- i orps attacked Seheepers on two successive day?, and then, for a da\ or two, he evaded the threatening Briti-h columns until he was picked up I again and chased to the Camdeboo * country, his fofee being much reduced. ■He recruited up to about 700 men I re and then attacked Willowmore, ' branch line of railway about 70 pniles from the Camdeboo Mountains, lighting for 12 hours bcfc-re being !*•- j.-.. i

Panic in the Colony. Attei this the irregular leader van -ned once again and reappeared to loot Mur rays burg, a hundred miles away, on June 13, 1901. Three weeks later he returned to the township and. carrying out a threat he had made, burned the public buildings to the ground and destroyed the houses of ?everal citizens who had sided with Britain. When the manager of the • standard Bunk refused to hand over 'the Go\ c. nment balance Scheepers had > him Hogged. These acts caused panic throughout the ('ape Colony, and the Boer commander retired to the Cam-debc-v Mountains again to rest his men. He had placed his laager iu a iung narrow valley in the innermost iece.-se.? uf the range, and when the Briti.-h forces stopped this valley previously, it appeared that he had been trapped. Yet the Boers had vanished. Eying their horses head to tail, they i had encouraged the animals to I scramble up almost perpendicular rock : along a dizzy track which few English- i men would have attempted on foot. ; Ranging across the country, Scheepers i boa.-ted that he would stay at Camdeouo permanently, and that he had impregnable fortifications there. His • raidings and burning? galvanised the ißiitish iriiu further action, and four columns cun'urged against him. his favourite line of retreat from his Liding-piar.e being guarded. But once ■more the Boer.- c"caped,.this time up a ' kloof which appeared too steep to be J • limbed and thus had been left un- ‘ 'guarded. The rearguard was captured land 56 horses were taken, but aided, by ’the presence of a wire fence in the ißiitish line of advance. Scheepers dis • a c>eared to raid in two opposite direc- , [tions. -boot a native policeman, ent the ‘ i railway at Willowmore. and comin't I more damage.

Fatal Illness. ! IlvAt-'. •.. u - end was approaching. ' I' luselv pursued, hi* touched the sea at Mo-.-••! Bay. was discouraged from an •attack by the presence of the gun- ’ l>oat Bramble, and then entered and •>. .-uj.it*.! I.adismith i .not to be confused with Ladysmith i. Reassured by ■ the sailing off in the pursuit due to the inadequate of the British remount ser- \ ice. he then moved west towards ( ape ' Town, anti then began a campaign of ' doing as much damage as possible. 1 Early in September he captured a Briti.-h officer, tried to make him • divulge information, and when he re- ' fused, sentenced the man to death, though the prisoner wa.- lucky enough to escape. Un October I news reached die British Intelligence Department that the Boer was ill with appendicitis •ind unable to sit his horse. On October 3 he even sent to Ladismith f or a doctor and was given one. but a? ; he could not effectively d rect his coth ’

mando it melted away, and after twice being attacked and roughly handled, Scheepers was eventually found in a farmhouse lying ill and unable to move. Just before capture he caught two native scouts, and though they were in uniform, executed one of the men. cruelly ill-using the other. Scheepers ws placed in hospital until he recovered, was tried by a military court on seven charges of murder (Kritzinger had ordered the execution of all Kaffirs found aiding the British, and the British Government had threatened the dire pnalties for all Boers who obeyed this order > as well us on counts of arson, train-wrecking, and the ill-treatement of wounded and prisoner?. He bore himself with the greatest nonchalance, protesting that he had nothing to do with six of the murders, and that he was a Free State •subject, which was denied. Finally, after a long hearing, he was found guilty, sentenced to death, and. despite . iolent Press protests in England, was led out and executed, according to the official record, on January 18, 1902.