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Show i 1 ffi"3! b A West Point Heroff rafeslX' ' 'ffi I with the Boers. iHjhft Kw B r By CAPTAIN FRITZ "DUQUESNE." lS i?P 1 '.WiM JjtMMrikmWMiffst W MAGINE a man a little over six feet I in height, straight as an arrow, broad shouldered, athletic, with the steady step of a trained soldier, a pair of keen ! ' blue eyes, a splendid head covered )y a black felt hat, from under which jhowed black curls streaked with grey, If i blue military cut suit, and a right , arm that hung helplessly at his side Every inch a soldier. He looked it. find he was. for he was Colonel John I Franklin Bljkc. a guatc of West Point, an officer of the Sixth United ! States Cavalry, one time commander l of the Navajo Indian Scouts, and a if man with a record for fighting u amongst the fighter? in the Southwest 11 1 and along the Rio Grande t After making aft heroic record in If the United States Army he took up ; railroading for a few yc.irs in Michi- gan. Although successful he longed I ; for the life in which he had spent his : youth, and which wa fast dying in ! die Southwest, the life, of fascinating It danger in a virgin country. jl '' Just after the ,Matabele war. when t all South Africa was in a tjirmoil, the 'lure of peril took Colonel Blake into II J Rhodesia, -which he was led to believe j i was -fabulously rich in gold, and which , j was being used to inflate Kaffir stocks ' and South African values generally by j stock jobbers in the world's ex- I , changes. The Rhodesia boom had 1 1 just commenced, ami the international S schemers who made South Africa their 2 headquarter; were jut starling to l count the money they were gelling I under false pretense, when ihc lcl- R I ters of Colonel Franklin Bakc to the j. American and British Press exposed i the rottenness of the whqlc plot to I ' rob the confiding public of two na- I tions. He showed the barrenness of the Charter Company's territory, as far I as gold and diamonds stfc re concerned, 3 and put a stop to their illegal profits. I It was while Blake was doing this S that agents of the Rhodcstan interests offered him bribe after bribe, each 81 time increasing the amount, until it Hi reached the tidy sum of twenty thou- B I sand pounds, to cease exposing them I and their scheme. Blake would not listen to them and when they found that he was incorruptible, attempts S were made on his life upon two oc- S casions. I Friendless Among Crooks. About this time, and at all times, In fact, most of the Americans who were found in South Africa were there because be-cause it was a long way from the hand of the American law. Crooks, ichemcrs, fakers, smugglers, defaulters, swarmed the land, and Blake, on account ac-count of his splendid honesty, had no friends amongst them. No ope had ever heard of this fine specimen of American soldier telling a lie. lie was recognized b3' all as a true and honest gentleman. Naturally the men pirked out to "settle" Blake and his articles in the press were some of his'own countrymen, who were willjng to perform per-form any service as long as there was a prospect of , making money Accordingly Accord-ingly a scheme to murder Blake was hatched and nearly carried out. Had it not been for his extraordinary courage cour-age and active mentality Colonel John Franklin Blake would never have commanded com-manded the Irish Brigade in the Boer war, and the best part of this story could not be written. One day Blake received in his mail a letter from what appeared to be a ' reliable firm, saying that his articles in the press had excited their attention, atten-tion, and that two of their mining Tjjt engineers, were about to examine a K property in Rhodesia, and that they iE I would give him any reasonable fee I, : for making a report, which of course, P ': ; had to be strictly correct according TO ti Iiis views. The arrangements were j() Tuadc by letter, and Blake met the M ', two engineers in Johannesburg. They I ' started for the property that was said ibS' to be situated at the north of Rhode's- Cjjt-: Drift, which was on the northern boundary of the Transvaal, and crossed the Limpopo River into British Brit-ish territory, Blake informed the engineers that he had been over the territory in question, ques-tion, and in his opinion it contained neither gold nor diamonds. A thing which struck him forcibly was the lack of realfmining knowledge on the part of the engineers, who pretended to be experts, and who alleged that they had once been employed on the Comstock Lode in the States. Tins Lode was very familiar to Blake, and from their conversation, was evidently not familiar to ihc engineers. This excited the Colonel's suspicions, but why these melr were to'ing to fool him was bevond his conception, until they crossed the drift into Rhodesia. It, is necessary here to tell of one of the mosr nefarious practices thai ever disgraced humanity, so that the reader will understand something about the I D. B (illicit diamond buying) business of South Africa, and what it meant to the liberties of the ordinary individual When Cecil Rhodes was made the dictator of Cape Colony and the shaper of South Africa's desnnicj, by the clique of international ireeboot. crs, who were capable of 'Jamison literary hirelings, pressagented Great Britain into the last Boer wai. he saw that laws were passed that made it a crime for a nun to have an uncut diamond in his possesion outside the Kimberly mine, and all diamonds inside in-side the Kimberly mines were the property of his company. Naturally ihi5 put a slop to cflorts on the part of individuals to discover diamonds anywhere in the British Territory, wlmh was in control of the Charter Company, for that companv dictated all the mining laws of Cape Colony. If a man was found with an uncut diamond in his possession and he could prove bv a number of disinterested) disinter-ested) persons, or persons whom he did noi know, that he was seen to find the stone, and he had not previously previ-ously placed it where he found it, then the stone -was declared his propcily. Am prospector cannot afford to take a half-dozen disinterested or unknown persons with him to prove he legitimately legiti-mately found a diamond, he was forced to smuggle his find out of the country, even if he discovered it on his own farm. Such laws naturally were broken brok-en andill over the country 1 D. B. men, who would take the chance, bought the uncut stones and smuggled them out. Barney Barnato, whose real name was Hams, and who was known by half a dozen other names in different dif-ferent places, laid the foundation to his fortune in the I. D. B. business To prevent the I. D. B. there was a well organized 'secret service maintained, main-tained, like the Pinkcrlons, apart from the state police, by the diamond interests. inter-ests. This led the way to horrible and unjust abuses. The diamond detectives, de-tectives, who were recruited from every nationality, kept their jobs by making arrests, and they saw that any man whose activities opposed the diamond dia-mond interests, politically or otherwise, other-wise, was found with an uncut diamond dia-mond in his possession. How the Frameup was Arranged. The objectionable individual was arrested ar-rested by a couple of detectives who searched his clothing, and of course, found prima facie evidence in the shape of the fatal uncut stone, even if the arrested party had never seen one in his life. He was tried by a jury of his peers, selected by the interests, in-terests, the detectives supplied the evidence, evi-dence, and the unfortunate victim was invariably sentenced to work on the Breakwater at Cape Town for fifteen years, an effective elimination, and an ideal way to prevent competition I never heard or a man proving that he had found a diamond, to the satisfaction satisfac-tion of the court, although the precious pre-cious carbons exist in many parts of South Africa. s ' w&r flilp ' - ' Each man lepew it was a struggle for life. ty "" ft? . It was the gentlemen who made this system who engineered the Boer war in Ihc "interests of justice," and dividends, divi-dends, and it was the same system that tried to eliminate Colonel Blake and his attack on their slock jobbing schemes. h Rhodesia the engineers examined maps and dawdled away their time. Blake knew that he was with thcirrfor no real purpose, and he was mystified at their actions, but he decided to sec it through for the fun of it, and he kept a keen eye on the anions of his companions. One morning when he was shaving before a mirror that was hanging on a tree trunk, he saw reflected re-flected in the glass the suspicious actions ac-tions of F.nguiecr Max Lclistcmc who was fumbling with Blake's hunting coat, which was hanging on a bush at the rear of its owner. Distinctly he saw the engineer thrust something through the lining of the garment. He said nothing, and when he finished shaving, he put on the coat and went behind some bushes where he examined it At first he found nothing, but on a further search he found a ucd cartridge cart-ridge with a cork at one end, in the lining of his coat. When he opened it he was dumbfounded dumb-founded to find half a dozen uncut diamonds. dia-monds. In a second he saw through the whole thing, and he knew he was in for trouble, and alo that he was far from the Transvaal border He threw the diamonds away and returned to the camp, keeping still but ready to fight on the slightest indication of danger. Wherever he went he kept his eye on the engineers. He was sitting at the compfirc boiling coffee with the two men. who were examining maps before him, when a moving shadow of a head and upraised arm from the rear fell across thc ashes lie whipped out his Lugcr and springing forward turned to defend himself, Too late, for the native policeman who was behind be-hind him felled him with a rifle butt. When he regained consciousness he was a prisoner, handcuffed to a tree. Before him there was a prospect of fifteen years on the Breakwater, for he knew that his captors would go to Ui 'amdm- ll f ' wmmm'mtfd ---- -v; any extreme to secure Iu conviction. It would do linn no good lu protest to I ho Amencan Consuls in South Africa, for they were the supine tools of iIiq financial clique, and a complaint frorrf a citi?en of the United Stales was never heeded when it happened to be against the financial rulers of thc country. There was one way out of it and that was escape. The engineers had left whilst he was unconscious, and he was guarded by the Kaffir policemen police-men and a trooper who had arrived in the meantime to lake him to the nearest near-est prison. The blood tfiat had flowed from the wound in his head made by the Kaffir rifle, had dried on his face, and flics were swarming around him to feed on it lie called 'the attention at-tention of the troopers to this a.nd asked to be allowed to wash. The trooper loosened one of his handcuffs, cnlled the Kaffir policeman and told him to take the prisoner to the river and allow him to wash his wound. BlaLc walked to the stream with the black man behind him. One handcuff was still on his wrist, the other dangling dang-ling from the end of a connecting chain. This was a splendid weapon if he could only get near enough to use jt on the guard. At the river bank the guard stood within two yards of him as he washed his face wound. A crocodile watched him through the clear water. In apparent fear he pointed lo it and cried for the guard to shoot. The guard only drew closer to him. He was within arm's length. Blake watched his chance, and swinging swing-ing his handcuffs he struck the Kaffir Kaf-fir a terrible blow across ihc head. The rifle fell from the black's hand as he was momentarily stunned. In an instant he recovered and seized Blake around the body. Blake fearing he would cry out and "alarm the trooper, troop-er, caught his antagonist by the throat. Each man knew it was a -struggle for life and each dqtcrmincd on the death of the other. Below them in the river the crocodiles waited to pounce on any living thing that came within their reach Both the antagonists antagon-ists feared ihc river cd,;c, and as they fought back and forth each tried to throw his enemy into the fatal water. At last Blake got the hand free that I had the swinging metal cuff and he brought it down on the head of the Kaffir time after time in rapid succession. suc-cession. They were on the brink of the river bank; blood flowed from the wounds in the black's head but he showed no signs of weakening. Blake had almost expended his strength when the edge of the bank they were struggling on crumbled, and down they both went into the river. For a moment they struggled. A tail splashed through the water, a huge pair of jaws opened beside them, and tlic struggling Kaffir was tugged out of his antagonist's grip by a man-eating crocodile. Blake made for the bank as fast as his exhausted condition would allow. The black was dead but the trooper remained. Now to Ret his horse and escape over the border. By this time the trooper became impatient im-patient at the delay of his prisoner and the guard and he whistled. Blake could not answer him for his mouth had been terribly battered in the fight and some of his teeth were missing. He heard the trooper coming towardlhc river through the bush. He seized the rifle the Kaffir had dropped and wailed. A little later the leaves opened and the trooper stood in full view, a splendid mark .at the top of the bank. "Hands up!" cried Blake. The trooper troop-er kiuw he was at the cid of a gun that stood for no arguments and he obeyed the command. Blake marched him back to the camp, made him tic his own legs and throw the handcuff keys behind him. Blake was now able to remove the chain fetters from his hand. This done he placed them on the trooper, whose arms he took and threw into the river. Then mouhting his horse rode towards the Transvaal border. He had recovered his Remington Rem-ington repeater and Luger pistol, and so was well prepared for trouble, although al-though he did not expect it He was within sight of the Kopjes, Soulh of the Limpopo, and within an hour's ride of the frontier when the, thunder of hoofs behind him told that he was being pursued. He listened, there were more hoofs than he could count, .beating the ground, probably ten. He put his heels into his horse's sides and set off at a gallop across the veld winch was becoming more open as he rode south. It was no use making' a stand, numbers "were against him, so there was nothing to do but ride and get inside the Boer territory before he could be overtaken. Once in ihc open country he was seen by his pursuers, who redoubled their elTorts to overtake him, and were gaining on him for his horse was commencing com-mencing to show fatigue. He could sec that the horsemen were B. S A. police, two of whom rode exceptionally good mounts which were leaving the others behind and reducing the distance that separated them with disquieting rapidity. Blake's poor mount frothed all over as he urged its wild gallop. On, on, he went but slowly and surely the two horsemen behind closed in on him. He was one thousand 3'ards ahead of them when a bullet whistled past him and lountaincd the dust ahead, followed fol-lowed by the crack of a rifle. He turned in his saddle in time to hear a second bullet pass him. His horse staggered and he turned in time to see the blood pouring out of a wound in its neck. This was seriously close, and halting he sprang from the saddle and took a kneeling shot at the troopers. troop-ers. A horse staggered and fell, throwing its rider. A second shot emptied a .saddle. This halted them and Blake emptied the magazine of Jils RejningtQuinto the ranks of the. moil behind, as they, .returned his fire The bullets shot around him and not caring to nk being outflanked he mounted, and" once more urged his horse toward the border and safety, t was a wild ride on a bleeding horse, as shot nfier shot followed him lrDm the trooper's rifles The river showed before him. What luclc Half a doen heavily jrmed Boer police were crimped on the opposite bank. He djshed through the water at the drift and was 111 the Transvaal. The troopers galloped into the stieam and wcic ncjrly across when ihc stern voice of a Boer commandant cried "Hjlt!" and as hi.s command "was supported by six threatening rifles, they dropped the pursuit. . Organizes the Irish Brigade. When war broke out. between the Kocrs and ihc Bnlish, Blake volunteered volun-teered to fight for the African cause He hoisted a green flag and called for all the able-bodied Irish in Soulh Africa to stand in J me with the pcrt-c culedjitllc republics which he likcjied' to Ireland in their struggles again.-! Great Britain. Before a week passed he had raided the famous Irish Bri g.ide, which was destined to fight shoulder to shoulder with the Boer and inflict many a bloody defeat on the British. These would fill a vol umc, and as I am not writing the his tory of the Irish Brigade, it is impossible impos-sible to tell of all Blake's extraordinary extraor-dinary deeds. Wc were before Ladysmith. the British had been defeated in a num bcr of fights, and were making a lasl stand before they were to fall bat.k and allow themselves to be besciged by a sixth of lhcir number. The lighting light-ing was furious On every side before be-fore us the British dead were lying in heaps mixed with the carcasses uf their horses. Shells screeched through ihc air and sent their whistling frag ments burning into the quivering flesh of the opposing forces. Rifle bullets thudded and splashed against the rocks, sending up clouds of smoke like dust, that blinded and choked the fighters. The bugles of the British blared orders, and the mouths of the Boer officers roared commands above the thunder of the cannons. Men were hacked to fragments by the invisible messengers of death and the smell of blood mixed with the chemical effluvia ef-fluvia from thclvdditc shells. There was a lull around the Boer "Long Tom." The amunition was expended ex-pended and the way to the fresh supply sup-ply was raked by the British shells and ranged by their infantry. They llrought that the big gun was silenced and prepared to charge.' "Take the gun out of range!" cried General Lukas Meyer. "Leave her1" cried Colonel BJakc. "WVI1 get the shells." and acting on his word he rode through a storm of bullets and bursting shells followed by some of his brigade and the Boer comnundo he was attached to. A-l A-l he biavc fellows rushed across the danger zone, one-half their number fell hut the gun was served and the charginp British were driven back in a panic bclund the defenses of Ladysmith Blake would have been rewarded with a medal for bravery had the j Boers such a thing, but as they were IH if expected to be brave under all cir- H cumstanccs, and generally were, the H jfe crystahzed but conspicuous boast ot JH a sartorial medal never appealed to jjH If them and was left out of their civil- jH W ization. Blake got his reward m jH the confidence of the Boer leaders M m for there was never a desperate Ven- jH S. fure decided on that his advice was jH not asked. The most picturcsqua jH act he took part in during the war IH was a duel with an English officer H The siege of Ladysmith dragged on jH days went into weeks and weeks weni into months. The monotonous fight jH iug went on with the exception at jH Sundays, when the Boers prayed ant JH the British strengthened their dc- H fenscs or made a sortie which wa jH unmolested until their shots fen, H amongst the praying burghers. H The British got so used to this Sun H day inactivity of their enemies that H they pulled themselves together on, jH Saturday night, had a good feed cf H horse flesh and prepared for their H Sunday recreation" shooting at the H praying Africanders. jH Early one Sunday morning Blakff H and some of his Irish Brigade witl( H a dozen or so of the sacriligiouS H burghers decided to give the "Tom- H mics" a lesson, so they sneaked out H of the laager and made their wa7 H toward the- besieged town. H As they expected, a body of colonial H sharpshooters marched stcathily out H of the protection of their trenches j into th& road that led to the nearest H Boer position. Fj-om the different H Boer camps around Ladysmith camef JH the soft chant of the morning prayers H Silently the British crept on under the vigilant eyes of Blake's men, who M were positioned on each side of the M road. As soon as they passed, some H of the waiting burghers slipped into M the road, cutting off all possible re- M treat. A tinge of crimson lit the M eastern sky, a hymn rose high in H praise of God The British sneaked JH on. Blake raised his hand, and a needle of flame and a report from H his Lugcr pistol signalled the doom jH of the British sortie. jfl The British Surrender. H A shower of Mauser bullets sped. M across the veldt, spreading suddeff H death amongst the British The shoot- M ing was splendid and the enemies were almost wiped out before they recovered from the panic of the first fatal shot. Resistance was hopeless f A few shots came in reply from the, British", and then they lay waiting for H the revealing light of day to tell the M story. The soft hymns still came M .from the BocrsMaagcr as the morning M shot fts long beams through the kopjes. The hiding British did not H move. A sword on which was tied H a white handkerchief was poked above a rock. Blake walked dowru to H it and then signalled to some of his M men to coinc. The British surren- H dcrcd and gave up their arms. Thd colonel of the surrendered men gave J over his sword. jfl Blake refused to take it, saying: JH "Give it to one of the burghers as H a souvenir, we've no use for it." This enraged the British officer. M "No, you Yankee flog; you can shoot M at men from a mile, but cold steel. isn't in your line. It's too heroic." J Blake looked at him. "That you are H a prisoner protects you," he said, H "and you know it." H "1 don't 1 I'd give my life to run JH you through. Take a sword, if you have it m you, and we'll settle it now " jH Bl.tkc walked away, seeing his cap- H tivc was in a very volcanic state of 1 H mind and inclined to be insulting. jH "You turn your back, you son of H ,2 " IH "Stop!' said Blake, quickly but ' IH calmly. IH "I wish I could fight you with this1" M said the Englishman, holding up hi3 ; H ?word. "You dare not'" H "Give him his wish, Colonel!" cried , M cne of the Irish Brigade H "Yes, give him his wish," cried the H rest. ''Give him his wish!" H "I haven't a sword, boys, or I H would!" answered Blake (The Boers . H did not carry swords or bayonets.) H A Boer who had been taking the H identification cards from the dead IH gave the information that a lieutenant H who was carrying a sword had been H killed He ran off, and in a moment H returned with a brass-handled sabre H and handed it to Blake, who smiled. H "Fight! Show your pluck!" cried H the British Colonel. H "Yes," said Blake, smiling. "I'll H fight and show my pluck, on these H conditions, that, if I lose, the prison- H crs shall be allowed to return to H Ladysmith free men, so that you, Mr IH Ltiglisliman, will be fighting for more IH than your personal vanity." jH Their prisoners were drawn up on I jH one side of the road and their captors H ju the other. IH Prayers still came from the Boer j IH laager. "Ready!" cried Blake. H Facing each other on the dusty road . H hey measured swords. For two minutes IH ihc men fenced and tested each other's ' H ability and then opened the fight in earn- , jH :st, each calmly determined on the jH Hher's destruction The swords flashed 1 JH .11 the morning sun as they chopped and ' jH guarded and hacked jH Backward and forward they worked IH cry went up from the Irish when ' jH 1 quick blow from the Englishman's jH wo'rd brought blood from Blake's A smile swept over the English- nan's face. "I win!" he cried. J "Like hell'" said Blake, and with a 'ightning stroke his weapon came down on his enemy's head. With a jroau ihc Englishman fell dead. H "They're your prisoners, boys," said IH Blake, and the hymns rose higher in JH he Boer laager. Copyright, 1910, by Metropolitan News- H paper Syndicate. M |