The Transvaal from Within: A Private Record of Public Affairs

by Percy Fitzpatrick

On behalf of the native political prisoners representations were made by the gaol doctor that they were dying in numbers from scurvy and fever, for want of vegetable food. A special effort on his part secured for a few days some allowance of this nature, but the matter having been brought to the notice of General Joubert, the Superintendent-General of natives, peremptory orders were issued to discontinue this; and this although the wretched creatures might have been sufficiently supplied from the gardens attached to the gaol which are cultivated by the prisoners, and the product of which was used by the gaoler to feed his pigs. For a little while longer the doctor continued the vegetable diet at his own expense, but being unable to afford this it was discontinued and the former death-rate was resumed.

Floggings are quite common. In many instances white men have been flogged there. It is not intended to suggest that this should not have been done, but cases occurred in the Pretoria Gaol which are surely difficult to justify. Du Plessis stated to the Reform prisoners that he had with the sanction of the Landdrost inflicted upon one prisoner named Thompson, who was undoubtedly refractory and disobedient, upwards of eighty lashes within three weeks. He added that this was as good as a death-sentence, because neither white nor black could stand two inflictions of twenty-five lashes, as they were given in Pretoria Gaol, without permanent injury to the constitution. The effect, he observed, of this severe punishment upon the back was to cause the blood to rush and settle on the lungs, and in every case it resulted in fatal lung mischief.

During the period of imprisonment the Reformers witnessed a considerable number of floggings. These when inflicted by the assistant-gaoler or warders were usually marked by some kind of moderation and consideration for the prisoner's physical condition, and some regard for official decencies. The same cannot be said of those in which Du Plessis himself took a prominent part. Upon one occasion when a native had been released from the triangle, after twenty strokes from the cat had been borne without a murmur, Du Plessis suddenly became infuriated at the stoicism of his victim, and stepping towards him knocked the released man down with his fist and spurned him with his foot. Upon another occasion a boy of ten or twelve years of age (under what circumstances is not known) was taken by Du Plessis into the open yard, stretched in mid air by two warders gripping his wrists and ankles, and flogged with a cane by Du Plessis himself. The screams of the child were heart-rending and the sight caused one lady who happened to be visiting in the gaol to faint. When the wretched urchin was released by the two warders and stood cowering before Du Plessis the latter repeated his former performance of knocking his victim down with his closed fist.

Mr. Du Plessis it should be remembered is a sample of a certain class only of the Boers—not by any means of all. He is a man with a treacherous and vindictive temper, distinctly unpleasant in appearance, being coarsely and powerfully built, and enjoying an expression of countenance which varies between cunning and insincerity on one hand and undisguised malevolence on the other. Some idea of the general kindliness of his disposition may be gathered from his actions. On one occasion, when special relaxation of the rules was authorized by the Landdrost of Pretoria in order to enable a number of the Johannesburg friends of the prisoners to see them, and when about one hundred permits had been issued by that official to men travelling over from Johannesburg specially for the purpose, Du Plessis devised means to defeat this act of consideration, and issued orders to his guards to admit only three visitors at a time to the gaol. As a consequence, more than half failed to gain admittance. Nor was he satisfied with this; he informed the prisoners themselves that he wished the Landdrost had issued two hundred passes instead of one hundred, so that he might let those Johannesburg people know who was 'baas' there. Possibly the fact that on the previous day he had been severely rebuffed in his petition campaign may have provoked this act of retaliation.

Another instance of Mr. Du Plessis' system was afforded by the case of an old schoolmaster, an Englishman named Grant. He had been a teacher upon the farm of a Boer near Pretoria. Through some difference with his employer he was dismissed; and his own version of the affair indicates that he suffered considerable injustice. From the evidence given in the case in which he subsequently figured it appeared that in order to urge his grievance he returned to the Boer's farm and even re-entered the house which he had formerly occupied. He was arrested and charged with trespass, or threatening to molest his late employer and members of his family, and was bound over to keep the peace for six months and to find £50 surety for the same, failing which he should go to gaol for that period. This seemed to be rather a harsh sentence to pass upon a man who was over fifty years of age, entirely destitute of means, of very inferior physique, and who had been charged at the instance of an individual who could certainly have protected himself against five such men as Grant. No doubt the accused was an eccentric man, and probably a nuisance, and it is even possible that his conduct left the magistrate no alternative but to pass the sentence which he did: it is not intended to question the justice of this part of the affair. Having been sent to gaol, however, because he could not deposit £50, Grant was treated as the commonest malefactor in all respects but one—he was allowed to retain his own clothing. The unfortunate old man made a pathetic picture with his seedy clothes, tail coat, tall white hat, and worn gloves, which he punctiliously wore whenever called upon to face the authorities—and it happened rather frequently. He objected to being classed and herded with the thieves and murderers and others whose crimes were even more repulsive. He protested against the class of food that was served to him. For these remonstrances he at first received solitary confinement and even poorer diet; and later with a brutality which one can surely only find in a Du Plessis the unfortunate old man was placed in the Kaffir stocks, thrown out in the middle of the yard that he might be humiliated in the sight of all, and kept there in the fierce heat of a tropical sun for half a day. The sole excuse for this was that he had been unruly in protesting against the treatment which he was receiving. The spectacle excited the pity of the Reform prisoners to such an extent that even with the certainty of an insulting rebuff from the gaoler they endeavoured to represent the man's case so as to have him released, but without success. It need only be added that the unfortunate man did not serve his entire term, the first act of the first released Reformers being to pay up the surety required and provide him with funds to leave the country. Grant may have been as guilty and offensive as eccentricity can make a man, but nothing can justify the manner in which he was treated.

The stocks in the hands of Du Plessis were not the mild corrective instrument which they are sometimes considered to be. According to this authority the stocks can be made to inflict various degrees of punishment. Du Plessis states that when he took over the gaol he found that the custom was to place men in the stocks within a cell and to trust to the irksomeness of the position and the solitary confinement to bring about a better frame of mind; but he soon found that this system was capable of improvement. His first act was to place the prisoners white or black in the stocks in the middle of the yard, so that they should be exposed to the observation and remarks of all the officials and visitors and their fellow-prisoners. In explaining the reasons for this change, he said that he found that in a cool cell a man could be tolerably comfortable and that even the most hardened of them preferred not to be seen in the stocks by others; whereas in the yard they were obliged to sit on the uneven gravel and to endure the heat of the sun as well as being 'the cynosure of every eye.' But this did not satisfy the ingenious Du Plessis. The yard of the Pretoria gaol inclines from south to north about one foot in four, and Du Plessis' observant eye detected that the prisoners invariably sat facing down the slope—for of course they were not allowed to lie down while in the stocks, this being too comfortable a position. Upon studying the question he found that in this way much more ease was experienced owing to the more obtuse angle thus formed by the body and the legs. This did not suit him and he issued further orders that in future all prisoners in the stocks should be obliged to sit facing uphill, and that they should not be allowed to hold on to the stocks in order to maintain themselves in this position but should have to preserve the upright posture of the body by means of the exertion of the muscles of the back alone. Needless to say the maintenance of such a position for hours at a time caused an agony of aches which many prisoners were quite unable to endure, and frequently the men were seen to throw themselves back and lie down at the risk of being kicked up by the vigilant Du Plessis and confined in the stocks for a longer period than was originally intended. Nor did this complete the list of Mr. Du Plessis' ingenuities. The stocks had been built to accommodate several persons at the same time, and he found that by inserting the legs in the alternate holes, instead of in the pair as designed by the architect of the stocks, the increased spread of the legs caused still greater strain upon his victim. This was reserved for special cases—say one in every four or five.

The incidents here given illustrating the methods of this delectable individual were all witnessed by the Reformers. The account of Du Plessis may serve the purpose of showing the methods practised under a Government whose officials are appointed whenever possible from the family circle and not because of fitness. It is more especially designed to show the character of the man in whose hands the prisoners were placed with almost absolute discretion; the man who enjoys the privilege of discussing with his relative President Kruger, at any hour at which he may choose to visit the Presidency, the treatment to be accorded to his victims; the man who is retained in his position in spite of repeated exposures by his superiors, and who is credited with exercising very considerable influence with Mr. Kruger; but, above all, the man in whose charge remain up to the present time[{37}] the two Reformers, Messrs. Sampson and Davies, who declined to sign any petition, and concerning whom Du Plessis stated openly: 'Wait until the others have gone, and if the Government leave them in my hands, I'll make them ready to sign anything.' Sufficient has been said concerning this individual to warrant the description publicly given of him by Colonel Rhodes[{38}]—'A brutal and inhuman wretch!' Like most bullies the man is also a coward. When he witnessed the outburst of feeling among the prisoners in consequence of the death of their comrade, he would not venture into the precincts of the gaol for two days, until assured that the men had again become capable of self-control.

So much for the details of gaol life.

In the meantime sympathy with the prisoners began to take practical form, and the unanimity of feeling on their behalf throughout South Africa, which was quite unexpected and which greatly embarrassed the Boer Government, tended to bring matters to a head. Mr. Rose Innes, who had so generously and constantly exerted himself in Pretoria in order to obtain some amelioration of the condition of the prisoners, and who had in his official capacity as watching the case for the Imperial Government made a very strong report to the Colonial Office, did not content himself with these exertions. Upon his return to Capetown he suggested and organized the getting up of a monster petition to the President and Executive, urging upon them in the interests of the peace of South Africa to release the imprisoned men. The petitions were to represent the views of every town and village in South Africa, and were to be presented by the mayors or municipal heads of the communities. In this movement Mr. Rose Innes was most ably seconded by Mr. Edmund Garrett, the editor of the Cape Times, and other prominent men. A movement of this nature naturally excited considerable attention in Pretoria; but the success of it was wholly unexpected. The President and his party had played to the South African gallery, and they had not yet realized that they had in any way overdone the theatrical part. They had no suspicion of the real feeling with which the sentences were regarded, nor of the extent to which they had alienated sympathy by that and the subsequent 'magnanimous' action. 'Magnanimity by inches' had been placarded throughout South Africa, and the whole game was characterized as one of cat and mouse, in which the President was playing with his victims with indifference to the demands of justice and humanity, partly with a view to wringing concessions from the British Government, and partly from a mistaken idea that by such a course he would obtain credit at each step afresh for dealing generously with those who were at his mercy.

The movement had been well organized. The resolution had been passed in every town in South Africa, even including the towns of the Free State. The mayors (over 200 in number) were on their way to Pretoria, when the President, with his back against the wall, realized for the first time that he had overshot the mark and that unless he released the men before the arrival of the deputies he would either have to do so apparently at their instance, or refuse to do so and risk rousing a dangerous feeling. He chose the former course; he released all the imprisoned men with the exception of the four who had been sentenced to death and the two who had refused to appeal. Pretoria and Johannesburg were already full of deputies and visitors from Cape Colony, Natal, and the Free State, all bound on the same errand of mercy. The feelings of these men, brought many hundreds of miles from their homes, sacrificing their own business and personal convenience in order to approach the President and to support a measure which they felt to be imperatively necessary to the allaying of feeling in South Africa may be imagined, but were not expressed, when they heard that they had been allowed to undertake this journey as part of the President's game, only to receive a slap in the face from His Honour by the carrying out of the measure before they were permitted to interview him. This at least was what was felt to be the case upon the release of the majority. Absolute proof of it was forthcoming within the week, when the President refused to receive the deputations and kept them waiting in Pretoria until he had released the four leaders as well, without allowing the delegates the satisfaction of a courteous recognition of their mission. He admitted them it is true to an informal interview, in the course of which he managed to insult and outrage the feelings of a good many by lecturing them and giving vent to very candid opinions as to their personal action and duties; but he would not receive their representatives officially.