Transvaal (South Africa) -- History; Transvaal (South Africa) -- Politics and government
The police of Johannesburg, a town almost entirely inhabited by English,
do not speak English--an excellent method of ensuring order! They are
chosen from among the worst types of Boers, some of whom are the
descendants of English deserters and Kaffir women; whence comes the fact
that some bear English names. The policeman Jones, who killed Edgar, is
a case in point.
The murder of Edgar was a small matter in the same way as the Dreyfus
case was a small matter; only when a case of this nature arises, it
reveals a condition of things so grave that it excites widespread
feeling at once.
Edgar was an English workman, a boilermaker, who had been a long time in
Johannesburg; a well-conducted man and generally respected. He was going
home, one Sunday night in 1898, when three drunken men insulted and set
upon him. He knocked one of them down. The other two called the police.
Edgar, meanwhile, entered his own house. Four policemen broke open his
door, and the instant Edgar came out into the passage, Policeman Jones
shot him dead with a revolver. "A mere police row," says Dr. Kuyper.
Jones was arrested next morning, but straightway released upon a bail of
L200. The money was not even paid in, but carried over to be deducted
monthly from the future salaries of other members of the Johannesburg
police force.
Feeling was strong among the other English workmen, many of whom knew
Edgar; and this feeling was intensified by the subsequent parody of
justice.
3.--_An Ingenious Collusion._
The State Attorney, Mr. Smuts, informed the Acting British Agent, Mr.
Fraser, that it would be better to bring a charge against Policeman
Jones, for "culpable homicide" than for murder, but that he considered
the chance of his conviction by a Boer jury to be very small. The word
"culpable," says Webster (English Dictionary) is "applied to acts which
have not the gravity of crime." In this instance, it made Jones' action
excusable on the grounds that Edgar struck him with a stick, at the
moment of his entering the house.
A journalist, Mr. J.S. Dunn, Editor of _The Critic_, commented upon the
action of Dr. Krause, the First Public Prosecutor. Dr. Krause took
criminal action against Mr. Dunn for libel, and, before proceeding with
the murder trial, appeared as witness in his own case, and swore that he
did not consider that Jones had been guilty of murder; he not only made
this statement on oath, but called the Second Public Prosecutor who gave
similar evidence. Nor was this all. He brought forward the accused
himself, as witness to state that the First Public Prosecutor was right
in not committing him for murder!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account