In the Shadow of DeathKritzinger, P. H. (Pieter Hendrick)
History
In the Shadow of Death
Kritzinger, P. H. (Pieter Hendrick)
South African War, 1899-1902 -- Personal narratives
the only photo they have seen in their lives. It was the same photo
they had seen at Norval's Pont. What would one expect? One would
naturally expect them to pick out that photo, and that is what
occurred. Well, after that, one can understand why Jan Louw
identifies Kritzinger in Court. He has had a photo shown to him in
town, and of course he naturally identifies Kritzinger at once. The
wonder is that Jan Jonkers did not identify Kritzinger. It only
shows what small reliance can be placed on the evidence of natives,
and that is the sole evidence on which the 4th Charge is based.
"Now let us see what Kritzinger's story is. It is a consistent
story, and it seems what probably happened under the circumstances.
He crossed without prisoners, and everyone in his commando bears
him out. He crossed before Wessels, and laagered there, and
afterwards Wessels came up. Jan Louw says that no other commando
was there when he arrived, and no other came afterwards. Jan
Jonkers says there were about one hundred men when he arrived. The
Court will have no doubt that there were two commandoes there.
Kritzinger said that he had seventy or eighty men with him. And
then again we have Jan Jonkers. If Jan Jonkers found a commando
there, all the evidence goes to show that Jan Jonkers must have
been with Wessels, and not with Kritzinger. Wessels captured these
men, and therefore must have done the shooting.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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