The Petticoat Commando: Boer Women in Secret ServiceBrandt, Johanna
History
The Petticoat Commando: Boer Women in Secret Service
Brandt, Johanna
South African War, 1899-1902; Women in war -- South Africa
Suffering, not to be described by words, was the daily portion of this
man.
His fellow-prisoners shared the same fate, with one exception.
Mr. Hattingh in his prison cell, who had been taken in his deacon's
frock-coat that Sunday night, reaped the rewards of the sagacity he
had displayed on the occasion of the visit to his house of the
Judas-Boer.
There was a marked difference in the treatment he received at the hands
of his jailers. He was not once condemned to death, and he was hardly
cross-questioned during the entire term of his imprisonment--better
food, kinder treatment being accorded him than to any of his fellows,
as he found on comparing notes with them afterwards.
It was quite evident that he was the only man about whose guilt the
enemy was in a certain amount of doubt.
His family, too, was privileged, his wife being allowed a few days'
grace to sell her household goods before she was conveyed to a camp
with her children, while the families of the other men were instantly
removed and their homes taken into possession by the English.
If the enemy had only known it, Mr. Hattingh, who was known for his
uprightness and moral integrity, had no intention of perjuring himself
in the witness-box, but had fully made up his mind to confess his
complicity and to face his death like a man and a patriot.
There is no doubt that this brave man would have been endowed with the
required courage to uphold his word when the hour came, but it is
equally certain that no word of accusation in evidence against his
fellow-conspirators would have been wrung from his lips.
When at the end of the sixteen days no proof of their guilt had been
found, their captors, recognising and appreciating their staunch
fidelity and unswerving loyalty, removed them from their cells in the
dreary jail to the Rest Camp, where they were able to enjoy the
privileges of the ordinary prisoners of war, and refreshing
intercourse with their brothers from the field.
But before they were admitted to the Rest Camp they were brought one
by one into the presence of a British officer, who pompously read
their sentence to them.
How the other men passed through their interview with him I do not
know, but Mr. Hattingh's story, told in his own words, runs thus:
After a few questions had been put, the British officer said to him:
"You have been found guilty of high treason, but Lord Kitchener has
been kind enough to commute your sentence to banishment as prisoner of
war."
"But how could you find me guilty?" Mr. Hattingh asked. "I have never
been tried."
"Be silent," the officer commanded sternly. "You have nothing to say."
Mr. Hattingh says he was only too glad to "be silent," and betook
himself to the Rest Camp with alacrity.
During the weeks of their imprisonment in the jail those at Harmony
were not living in a bed of roses.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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