I can prove that ground glass was used on the Island of St. Helena to kill the prisoners—and I would like the opportunity of doing it. The English will fight shy, for they know that I know what I am talking about. Here were confined officers as well as men, and when they saw that some of their people were beginning to run down, and continued to run down until they were put in the grave, they began to think, and recall the fact that the English were supplying the food. Vegetables they suspected, but they did not come often and plentifully. Finally they decided when they did come they would not eat them, but put them to the test, and find out if there were any contamination. Nearly every one found ground and broken glass in the vegetables, but not at every inspection. Sometimes several vegetable days would pass by without any glass being found, but then a day would come when all or nearly all were rewarded.
ONE OF CHAMBERLAIN'S VICTIMS
A Boer child that has just died from starvation or poison in an English prison-camp. Taken by a young Boer spy in the English prison-camp at Irene, near Pretoria.
This is a terrible charge to make, and I would not dare make it, did I not know that it can be proven to the complete satisfaction of any judge and jury. Many of the prisoners kept what they found as a souvenir, and every time they think of it they congratulate themselves for having sense enough to mistrust the English and the food they furnished.
To return to the concentration camps, the tents were sometimes 16 × 16 square, and in that tent there might be a family of four, or six, or a dozen. If there was a Kaffir girl servant, she must sleep in the tent, too, but was not allowed to draw rations. No visitors were allowed, because they might tell tales out of school. After peace was made, the mother of any family wishing to be released to return home, had to sign a declaration to the effect that she had at least $500 in cash, that she would not apply to the Government for help in any form, and that she would relinquish all claims for damages to her home and property. In addition to this she had to take an oath that she did not know of any arms or ammunition being concealed about her place, or in any other place. Those who could not or would not sign the above declaration, and take the oath, were held as prisoners of war in the camp.
After all the farms had been burnt, all property destroyed and there was no food to be had, and after more than 15,000 women and children had been buried, Lord Kitchener made a very generous and English-like offer to General Louis Botha. He said that he would return all the Boer women and children to their farms and give them three months' rations if Botha wished to have them. General Botha replied that he would be pleased to receive them, but six months' ration must be furnished so that they would have time to grow a crop, as he had no food for them. Lord Kitchener declined to accept General Botha's amendment, for it plainly meant that the women and children would not starve to death and that the Boers would not have to surrender to save them.
A PERFECT SPY SYSTEM—CAPTAIN NAUDE AND HIS FEMALE SPIES OF GREAT SERVICE—THE ATTITUDE OF THE AMERICAN CONSULS.
During the last two years of the war, the Boers had a perfect system of communication with Pretoria and Johannesburg. Captain J.J. Naude, a young Boer about twenty-three years old, was chief spy, and it was he who organized the force that did the work. In Pretoria he had seven Boer ladies, all smart and daring, and all prominent in Pretoria society. Their duty was to collect all information, official and otherwise, about what the English were doing in Pretoria, and what their intentions might be, have it typewritten and ready for delivery every Wednesday evening. Every Monday, dressed in an English officer's uniform, Captain Naude would work his way through wire fences, forts, blockhouses and three lines of guards, into the town and stop at the home of a Mrs. Van W——. Sometimes he would stop with one of his other spies, at the home of a Mrs. M——. Another one of his spies, a Mrs. H——, often drove with him in a carriage through the streets during the day, and visited certain important places. The English soldiers invariably saluted Captain Naude as he passed by them. In the evening, at the house where he was staying, Miss M——, known as "Little Megs," Mrs. A——, possibly Mrs. J——, Mrs. M——, and Mrs. H——, would assemble to talk over the situation, put everything in proper form for Captain Naude, and then quietly return to their homes. These ladies would in person deliver all letters brought in by Captain Naude from the burghers in the field, and he would take back the answers. He conducted his affairs in Johannesburg in the same way, but here his assistants brought out a typewritten paper every week, telling the people what had happened in the field, which the English tried to keep concealed. These typewritten papers would be posted up early in the morning, and before the English authorities could find and tear them down, hundreds of people had read them.