South Africa and the Transvaal War, Vol. 6 (of 8): From the Occupation of Pretoria to Mr. Kruger's Departure from South Africa, with a Summarised Account of the Guerilla War to March 1901Creswicke, Louis
History
South Africa and the Transvaal War, Vol. 6 (of 8): From the Occupation of Pretoria to Mr. Kruger's Departure from South Africa, with a Summarised Account of the Guerilla War to March 1901
Creswicke, Louis
South African War, 1899-1902; Transvaal (South Africa) -- History
"There were some special allegations made by certain witnesses which we
ought to refer to before we leave the subject of Bloemfontein. It is said
that on one occasion twenty typhoid patients were improperly removed to
the Portland Hospital. We have inquired into this allegation, and as a
result we have to state that in our own opinion the removal was necessary
in the interests of the patients. A gruesome story of a corpse being
stuffed into a lavatory was mentioned by Mr. Burdett-Coutts, M.P., but he
states that he only spoke of the matter from information given to him.
Inquiry has been made in all quarters to find out whether there is any
foundation for this allegation. No such case can be found to have
occurred, either at Bloemfontein or elsewhere in South Africa, and we are
satisfied that Mr. Burdett-Coutts was misled by his informant. Some
observations have also been made with reference to the dead at
Bloemfontein, as if the corpses, owing to their great number, were dealt
with in a hurried or neglectful way. This is not the fact. In the first
place the numbers of men dying in Bloemfontein have been overstated by
some witnesses. There were not fifty deaths a day, the maximum was forty,
and that only for one day. Each body was buried separately and with every
respect and care, and each grave was numbered, and the number and name of
the dead man registered."
Certain other complaints and statements were not attended to by the
commissioners, who explained their silence as indicating that they
regarded them as not well founded.
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