General Chat

Mrs. Cameron Recalls the Campaign at Potchefstroom (1880-1881). ....................................................................................................... For three months the Camerons waited for their goods. It was during this time that they heard of the murder of Mr. Bell, the manager of the Settlements established by Mc.Corkindale on the large tract of land, New Scotland, which had been conceded to him by President Pretorius. On one occasion Bell spent a night at a Durban hotel and there he dreamt that he was being murdered by kaffirs. Just as this nightmare reached its climax and he thought his last moment had come, he was awakened by the boy with the early morning coffee. His dreadful dream came true. Some ten or twelve years later, when Sir Theophilus Shepstone sent him, accompanied by several policemen, to collect taxes from the natives, the whole party was murdered with the exception of one of the policemen, who, though badly wounded, managed to escape and on his return recounted how Bell and the others had been done to death. A number of men were sent out to fetch the dead bodies. Twice the sailing-vessel, carrying as part of its cargo the goods the Camerons were waiting for, came into sight, but the weather was so stormy that each time it was driven out to sea again. At the third attempt it succeeded in entering the harbour and dropping anchor. As soon as their belongings had been packed on three wagons which were drawn by horses, they started off up country. When they reached Heidelberg Mrs. Cameron and little Annie stayed there, while Mr. Cameron went about looking for a suitable place in which to set up his mill. It was in this dorp, some time later, that Roderick, their eldest son was born. He was christened by the Rev. van Warmelo, the father of Mrs. Johanna Brandt, an author whose several books are well-known in South Africa. Mrs. Cameron was very much interested in the old Dutch custom of members of the congregation bringing presents to their parson. So many gifts of sheep, butter, vegetables, meal and so forth were given to the Rev. van Warmelo that his stipend was certainly very materially augmented by them. This practice has gradually fallen into disuse. Dutch ministers now-a-days do not receive a quarter of the gifts that their forerunners did. The meal given to Rev. van Warmelo was mostly ground by hand, and beautiful meal it was too. When visiting her Dutch friends, Mrs. Cameron would often stand by watching the process of grinding. On a gebreide skin spread out on the ground, a round, flat stone was placed and on top of this a smaller stone, which had a hole through the centre of it, was fixed in such a way that it could be freely moved by the handle attached to it. Into the hole one native boy dropped the wheat slowly, while another worked the handle and ground the grain into fine meal between the two stones. Mr. Cameron decided to start business at Potchefstroom, the oldest town in the Transvaal, and when he had had his mill built his wife and two children joined him. The mill was one of several which stood on the banks of the Mooi River and which were water-driven. It was close to the bridge so all vehicles going along the main road had to pass it. From the start it prospered as much wheat was grown in the district and farmers came from far and near to have their grain ground in the dorp. The Camerons' home was near that of Ex-president Pretorius and his wife and, in spite of the great disparity in their ages, the two women became intimate friends. Two or three years after the Camerons had taken up their residence at Potchefstroom, President Burgers' rule became a much-discussed topic of conversation. Besides having seen him at her wedding, Mrs. Cameron once attended a public meeting addressed by him. She recalls vividly his very attractive personality and great gift of oratory which gained him such unbounded popularity at the beginning of his presidency. In her opinion the one time that the Boers really stood united was, when he, having first brought the Transvaal almost to ruin by his rule, aided and abetted Sir Theophilus Shepstone in the annexation of the Republic. When they realized how they had been duped by their President, in whom most of them had already lost confidence, they seethed with indignation and held meetings from one end of the Transvaal to the other. Mrs. Cameron, whose sympathies were entirely with them, received much inside information, especially from her great friend, Mrs. Pretorius. When the British entered the country, the Boers decided to raise the price of their stock and produce, with the idea of making the troops turn back for lack of food. Fox and James undertook a contract to supply the troops with meat and produce. They soon found, however, that they could not continue at the prices they had quoted as the Boers raised the price of everything and would sell for cash only. There was nothing to be done but give them the prices they demanded, and in a short while Fox and James went bankrupt. The money the Boers made thus they spent in buying arms and ammunition, with the idea of retaking their country as soon as they had a sufficient supply of these. The British authorities sent a number of summonses to those who had failed to pay their taxes since the Transvaal had been annexed. They had not paid these because they reckoned if they did so it would be acknowledging that they had become reconciled to the annexation of their country. Between three and four hundred of them, mounted and armed, came into Potchefstroom from their farms to see the landdrost about the matter. They agreed to pay the taxes demanded of them provided it was stated on the receipts that they did so under protest. The landdrost, however, assured them that it was not in his power to comply with this request, so they refused to pay and returned to their homes. Shortly after this, Scheepers, a well-educated man originally from the Cape Colony, came into the village with an armed band of men, and, going to Hollands and Holder's, a general store which like all the other shops sold ammunition, he ordered the clerks to bring forth all the gun-powder, lead and caps they had in stock. He was asked to produce his permit for the buying of these goods but he did not have one so the owners of the store, who had come on the scene by then, refused to serve him, whereupon he immediately commanded his followers to haul out all the ammunition they could find and place it on the counter. When this had been done he paid Hollands and Holder's full value for the goods, all of which he took with him. The owners of the store had in the meantime sent to the landdrost to ask for assistance. He, however, replied that he had no force, only a small number of policemen, so he could not prevent Scheepers from carrying out his plan. A few days later the British authorities sent out some men to attach Veldcornet Bezuidenhout's furniture. The wagon, piled high with household goods, passed Mrs. Cameron's home, and upon enquiry she elicited the information from the kaffir driver that Mr. Bezuidennout had not paid his taxes so the English were going to sell his furniture. The wagon came to a halt at the market-place and the sheriff, having climbed up on to it to sell the goods by auction, was just about to begin when a number of armed, mounted Boers appeared from seemingly nowhere. One of these snatched the wagon-whip from the astonished native driver, gave his horse into this boy's care, jumped on to the wagon and drove off with the furniture and the sheriff. The rest of the burghers formed an armed escort. After proceeding thus for a few hundred yards they allowed the sheriff to get down and return on foot. They took the wagon with its load back to the Veldcornet's house. The British ordered the arrest of the leader of these burghers and also that of Bezuidenhout. This order, however, was no

Thanks again Lindy What a treat, am all up to date and later on today will print them out and have a good old read. NOrah x