Page 175 - The Diary of A. H. W. Behrens

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1896
There was much digging in Johannesburg that grew bigger and bigger. The English demanded a right of vote which Oom Paul Kruger was not willing to give them. The so-called reformers had the money and became rebellious and this resulted in the “Jameson Raid” from Rhodesia that had been well prepared but still failed. And so it was called, “Burgers! Opsaal! Opsaal!” and just before Johannesburg the burgers managed to stop Jameson’s troops just before Johannesburg and shot down everything that did not want to surrender. The reformers were accused of treason and they were sentenced to death but were eventually pardoned against payment of ₤ 20 000 per person. The whole world was in uproar because of this unexpected coup.
After the Jameson Raid – the start of all evil – came the horrible rinderpest from central Africa and destroyed
all livestock in Transvaal. When the plague was still in Bechuanaland a brother (Niebuhr or Fitschen?) wrote to me from Linokane, “Sell all your livestock quickly, nothing can stop the plague.” I believed him, my father and the Bethanians did not. I drove my cattle, about 40 head, to the house of the Kaptein and said, “I offer you my cattle, come buy it, but the plague will come and destroy everything.” Nobody believed me and they bought my cattle. I just kept a few oxen, heifers and cows on Klipkop, about eight, and dared to save them, bought salpetre etc. to cleanse their blood and waited. Father and Cousin