General French, whose headquarters were at Middelburg, by his vigorous measures to check the invasion, had so far swept the central districts of the Colony that a large number of troops were freed to hunt the south-western and north-eastern areas. On the 11th Lotter was executed, and curiously enough on the same date the arrant raider and desperate rebel Scheepers was captured by a patrol of the 10th Hussars under Captain Shearman, at Koppie's Kraal, where he had been left too ill to proceed. On his recovery he was tried on various charges, and sentenced to death. As his case aroused considerable interest, a short report of the trial is appended. The Court sat at Graaff Reinet on December 18, 1901, and there were sixteen charges brought against the prisoner--seven of murder, one of attempted murder, one of placing prisoners in firing line, one of ill-treating prisoners, three of flogging (one being a British subject and two natives), one of destroying railways, one of train-wrecking, and one including fifteen charges of arson. The one charge on which the finding of "Not guilty" was returned was the fifth, which related to the case of two scouts named John Jackspan and Johannes Rooji, who were shot in September at Wildepaardefontein, Montagu district. These men were shot, but the evidence went to show that it was by the order of Commandant Van der Merwe, Scheepers being on the farm at the time lying ill in a cart. The first charge of murder on which a verdict of guilty was returned was that of shooting two natives named Jacob Fillis and Kiedo, captured when scouting in September at Secretaris Kraal; the second was a charge of shooting a Kaffir policeman named Moycwka at Brakwater in January 1901; the third was that of shooting a native, name unknown, at Uitkomot, in March; the fourth was that of shooting a native scout named James at Brighton in August; the sixth was the shooting of a native named John Kennedy in the Worcester district in September; and the seventh the shooting of Zederas, a native, at Kruis River, the victim being first sjamboked. This was also in September. The other charges were fully proved. In all fifty-two witnesses were called for the prosecution. Apart from two witnesses whom he called, Commandant Scheepers gave evidence himself. He said his name was Gideon Jacobus Scheepers, that he was a Free State Burgher, and head of the Heliographic Department at Bloemfontein.