DOMESTIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

9 January 1897

BIRTHS

SONS

CONCAR, Mrs. A., Cradock, November 29.
DE KOK, Mrs. J. J. P., Carnarvon, Nov. 25 (twins).
LIEFELDT, Mrs. M. W., Willowvale, Transkei, Dec. 3.
TITTERTON, Mrs. L. J. C., Umzimkulu, Nov. 23.

DAUGHTER

VOSPER, Mrs. G., Pretoria, November 29.

MARRIAGES

COATON, A. J.—CHAMBERLIN, A. M., Wellington, December 2.
PICK, F. W.—WATSON, O. J., Uitenhage, Dec. 7.
ROSS, G.—GRAHAM, J., Woodstock, December 9.

DEATHS

BAIN—On December 5, at Johannesburg, of typhoid fever, Walter George Stewart Bain.
COBB—On December 13, at Kalk Bay, Cape Town, Herbert Charles, aged 33, son of Thomas Cobb, of Finchley Road and Baker Street, Portman Square, W.
MACASKILL, Miss A. M., Kimberley, Dec. 1, aged 22.
MAIN, J., Cradock, November 28, aged 73.
PENDERIS, J. H. A., Johannesburg, Dec. 3, aged 50.
PEARSON, Mrs. F., Port Elizabeth, Dec. 3, aged 53.
TAIT, G., Beaconsfield, December 4, aged 54.
VISSER, Mr. G. P., Lockshoek, Jagersfontein, Dec. 9.
WEBB, Mrs., Cape Town, December 9, aged 73.

Miscellaneous articles on the same page:

MORE TROUBLE IN BECHUANALAND

A WHITE TRADER MURDERED

HIS WIFE AND FAMILY CAPTURED BY NATIVES

Cape Town was alarmed on Tuesday morning by the receipt of telegraphic despatches from Vryburg, announcing another outbreak among the Bechuanas. According to Commandant Hassforther, M.L.C., a trader named Robinson, on the Mashowing River, had been murdered by natives, and his wife and children were prisoners in their hands. The murderers belong to Totwi’s people, and it was feared that the whole of the Batlaros tribe would rise in revolt. The police-station at Takoon, occupied by four men, with 160 rounds of ammunition, had been abandoned. The murder was committed at a spot some 45 miles west of Takoon, and about 75 miles south-west of Vryburg. There are a few families settled on the Mashowing, but on the Vryburg side nearly all the farms are occupied. Volunteers were preparing to leave Vryburg for the scene of the murder.

Later news on Tuesday stated that mounted volunteers under Captain Dennison had started for the scene of the native revolt. Molalla Kungs, a loyal chief, was bringing in fourteen Pokwani rebels whom he had arrested.

The Batlaros are a small and usually peaceful tribe, and have occasioned no trouble since the conquest of Bechuanaland. Their chief town is close to Kuruman, the well-known mission-station founded by Dr. Moffat. The distance from Vryburg to the scene of the disturbance is only about 75 miles, there are good roads with weekly postal communication, and it was felt that with prompt action the Vryburg volunteers would be able soon to restore order.

The trader Robinson was a Smethwick man, son of the chief-accountant of Oldbury Alkali Works, and well-known in the Birmingham district. He went out three years ago for the benefit of his health. Recently he assisted the police to capture a native criminal, and it is supposed that this led to bitter feeling against him, and his ultimate murder.

Wednesday’s telegrams again brought serious news. It was stated that a Mr. Fletcher, on arriving at Vryburg, reported having been fired upon by native servants who had cleared from Cullinan’s farm. Mr. Cullinan himself was absent at the time. Natives were travelling through the country with red flags, and fears were entertained that the rising would prove much more serious than that in the Pokwani district. The farmers around Vryburg were hopeful of being able to rescue Mrs. Robinson, the wife of the murdered trader.

Yesterday morning, we were advised from Cape Town that the latest news from Bechuanaland was even more serious, and that in consequence thereof, the magistrate and farmers of Kuruman had deemed it advisable to go into laager. The telegram stated that several hundred disaffected natives had raided Mr. Cullinan’s cattle and that Mr. Combrinck’s farm was threatened. Assistance, however, had been sent. Mr. Barber, a trader on the Mashowing River, was also, we learn, attacked, but, fortunately he escaped, with the aid of a chief. A number of armed natives of the Kleinchwaing Reserve, who are subject to the loyal chief Molalla, have left for the Mashowing River. The Vryburg volunteers have reached Hass Fort, and will proceed to the disturbed region on the arrival of further reinforcements. A telegram from Hass Fort, received last  night, stated that the patrol sent to Combrinck’s farm had returned there, and reported all safe. The wife and child of Mr. Robertson (?Robinson), who was murdered on the Mashowing River, had been rescued.

Sir David Tennant, the Agent-General for Cape Colony, stated, in the course of an interview, that he had received no official intimation of the rising on the Mashowing River. He was unable to say what was the origin of the fresh trouble, but he was convinced that there was no ground for the belief that it was connected in any way with the recent revolt of Galishwe. It was probably a mere revolt against the police and the regulations necessary under the present conditions of the country. It was to be born in mind that the natives were now destitute and starving. All their cattle—the only riches that they recognized—had been slaughtered, and their country was desolate.

“MATABELE” THOMPSON ON THE RISING

Mr. F. R. Thompson, M.L.A., in the course of an interview, attributed the revolt in the first place to the shooting of cattle infected with rinderpest, and, in the second place, to what he called the undue interference of the Imperial Government in the domestic native policy of Cape Colony, inasmuch as the former insisted at the time of the annexation of Bechuanaland that the natives should be left upon their own reserves while they were denuded of their native leaders and chiefs, or else were placed under the rule of chiefs in whom they had no confidence. He added that, in his opinion, the policy of the Home Government had driven all the bad characters from the mines into the reserves, and those had now assisted Galishwe, as they did in 1878. The Imperial Government had already spent three-quarters of a million sterling in expeditions against Galishwe or his father, and there would be no peace in the Taungs Reserve until the former was captured. He did not believe that the Transvaal Boers would harbor Galishwe.

Mr. Thompson, in the course of a letter to the press, expressed the opinion that the Government ought on no account to take the volunteers from Kimberley or the Eastern Province, as the removal of the former would give Molalla a chance to rebel, and the latter must remain with the Cape Mounted Rifles to preserve the peace of the Colony. He added that the time had come when Mr. Chamberlain ought to send two or three more regiments to Natal and Cape Town

KURUMAN IN DANGER

Mr. A. J. Gould, who has recently returned from the L.M.S. station at Kuruman, after fourteen years’ residence in Southern Bechuanaland, regards the situation as very serious, because it shows that the whole of the natives in Bechuanaland are eagerly watching an opportunity for revolt. The paramount chief Totwi had been very troublesome for several years, and at the beginning of last year it had been rumoured that the tribes meant to rise with the Matabele, and wipe out the Europeans. Mr. Gould did not think the Batlaros had any real hope of success, but he uttered a warning against weakness or vacillation on the part of the Colonial Government, which might lead to a general outbreak, for which all the South Bechuana natives were ripe. He doubted whether there was sufficient ammunition at Kuruman to enable the 40 white residents to defend themselves till help arrived. Outside Kuruman there would be grave danger to scattered whites. In conclusion, he expressed the opinion that although the situation was serious, there was no reason to suppose that order would not be restored if prompt measures were taken.

MR WARDLAY THOMPSON’S VIEW

The Rev. J. Wardlaw Thompson, Foreign Secretary of the London Missionary Society, informed an interviewer that no news of the rising had been received from the Society’s Mission Station at Kuruman. He found it difficult to understand how an outbreak could occur in the district in question, which is exceedingly scattered. He did not believe that their mission station was in danger.

At Lorenco Marques the other morning the authorities summarily closed all the distilleries, which were afterwards guarded by armed soldiers. The cause of this proceeding was that the Portuguese Government were not satisfied with the construction of the local refuse-channel.

At a crowded meeting of Boers held at Nylstroom the other day, great indignation was expressed regarding the unnecessary delay with the Pietersburg line. It was resolved that a memorial be drawn up to be signed all through the district, in support of Mr. De Beer, the local representative in the Volksraad, and inquiring the cause of the delay.

THE LATE MR. MYLCHREEST

The Isle of Man Times, in the course of a sympathetic article on the death of Mr. Joseph Mylchreest, says the deed drawn up between Mr. Rhodes and Mr. Mylchreest for the sale of the latter’s claims to the De Beers Consolidated Company was written on half a sheet of notepaper, and Mr. Mylchreest had it framed and hanging in his house in the Isle of Man. It runs to this effect: “Joseph Mylchreest agrees to sell and Cecil Rhodes agrees to buy” certain mines,” in extent about 111 claims, with all the gear, rolling-stock, horses, engines, and plant appertaining thereto.” In the same issue of the paper, Mr. Hall Caine pays an enthusiastic tribute to the late Mr. Mylchreest, declaring that “his life was an inspiration to strong endeavour, and to honest, and faithful, and upright effort.”

A serious occurrence happened the other day between two sailing vessels lying at anchor in Algoa Bay. It appears that during a heavy westerly gale, the brig MARGARETHA, which had just arrived with a cargo of coffee, parted her cable and drifted towards the brig Sylvia, which lay at some distance on the starboard of the brig, eventually colliding with her. Immediately the occurrence was noticed the launches Countess of Carnarron, Germania, and Garth went out to render assistance. For nearly an hour the tugs tried to separate the vessels, but they had become so entangled that it proved a very difficult task. The Countess of Carnarvon first had the Margaretha in tow, but the tow-line parted. However, eventually the two tugs were fastened to the brig, and she was taken out clear of the shipping towards the bight. The vessels were not damaged as much as might have been expected.

16 January 1897

BIRTHS

SONS

STRECKER, Mrs. F. G., Johannesburg, December 10.

DAUGHTERS

LOFTUS, Mrs. W., Johannesburg, December 7.
POSTMA, Mrs. S., Burghersdorp, December 4.
SNELL, Mrs. J. J., Johannesburg, December 6.
WIMBLE, Mrs. S. F., Port Elizabeth, December 10.

MARRIAGES

KELLY, W. E.—MARRIOTT, L. B., Kimberley, Dec. 9.
MILNE, W. G.—BALLANTYNE, A. A. F., Johannesburg, December 10.
MUNDELL, G. A.—BROTHERTON, L., Port Alfred, December 10.
SMITH, P. E.—JUBBER, C. M., Queenstown, Dec. 8.
WILSON, J.—JOUBERT, A. M., Potchefstroom, Dec. 9.

DEATHS

BACKMANN, Mrs. A. J., Kimberley, December 12, aged 46.
BROPHY, Mrs. E. B., Kimberley, Dec. 13, aged 29.
BROWN, Mrs. F. M., Johannesburg, Dec. 13, aged 36.
COUSENS—On December 15, at Roodepoort, from the result of an accident, William Ingelow, second son of John Schott and Mary S. Cousens, of Wanstead, Essex, aged 33. Deeply beloved by all who knew him.
HANAU, Alfred, Carnarvon, December 10, aged 15.
HARDING, J. W., Johannesburg, Dec. 11, aged 58.
NICKELAUS, F., Grahamstown, December 11, aged 82.
PARKER, A. B., Queenstown, December 8, aged 47.
SPENGLER, Mrs. E. G., Cape Town, December 13, aged 57.
SMITH—On January 2, at Cape Town, the Rev. Reginald Smith, Precentor and Curate of St. George’s Cathedral, son on the late Rev. Charles Smith, Rector of Tarrington, Herefordshire, aged 30.
TURNOR—On January 9, at Derwent Lodge, Dartmouth, after a short illness, Agnes (Tottie), the beloved wife of Harry Marsh Turnor.

IN MEMORIAM

In ever loving memory of our dear son, David John Davis, who died at Cradock, South Africa, 1890.

Miscellaneous articles on the same page:

At a banquet given to President Steyn at Thaba Nchu the other day, the local postmaster, Mr. J. A. Herbert, dropped down dead.

At Port Elizabeth the other evening a European woman named Littlewood went for a walk on the South Jetty with her little son, six years old, when suddenly a splash was heard, and on Mrs. Littlewood looking round she found the boy had fallen into the sea. Several men rushed to the scene on hearing the cry of alarm, but the boy sank and did not appear again.

A telegram from Johannesburg states that Mr. B. I. Barnato contemplates building his new house in Barnato Park, Berea Estate, without delay, and that tenders will be called for at once.