THE CASE OF SPOELSTRA
There were so many events of importance during the month of July 1901
that there is great difficulty in choosing the right material from
Hansie's diary.
No wonder that that period seems to have been in a state of chaos, for
the things to which we attached the greatest importance "ended in
smoke," and seemingly small incidents assumed gigantic proportions
before the glorious spring broke over the country.
Hansie was busy preparing for her tour of inspection through the
Camps, though to tell the truth she rather dreaded it, because she was
far from strong, but she realised that this was an opportunity not to
be despised.
General Maxwell frequently impressed it on her that she was the only
exception, that no one else who had applied for leave to visit the
Camps had been granted permits--it was against the regulations, and he
was only sending her because he knew he could depend upon her. He
wanted to know _the truth_, and she, with her knowledge of the country
and people, would be better able to draw up reports than any one else
he knew.
Very flattering, but Hansie's heart sank when she thought of Irene.
What awaited her on this tour?
On July 27th, when she paid him her last visit in connection with her
passports, he asked her, as she was on the point of leaving him,
whether she did not think the Boers ought to surrender now.
Now, Hansie had firmly made up her mind not to be drawn into argument
with him again, but this question took her so much by surprise that
she flared out with:
"Don't you think the English ought to give in? Why should the Boers
give in? We are fighting for our own, and England is fighting for what
belongs to another. Why should England not give in?"
With some asperity he answered:
"I suppose it is a question of 'Eendracht maakt Macht,' or whatever
you call it."
"Eendracht maakt Macht?" she exclaimed. "I really fail to see the
connection."
"Well," he answered, "isn't Might _Right_ all the world over?"
"No, indeed!" she cried vehemently. "Might is right in England, and
your motto is an apt one, but in South Africa might is _not_ right.
_Our_ motto, 'Eendracht maakt Macht,' means 'Unity is Strength.'"
The General seemed much surprised and did not look pleased at her
assurance that he had been misinformed as to the correct
translation--he had been told on "good authority" that the Boer motto
was the same as the English.
"If might had been right," she continued, "the war would have been
over long ago--our poor little forces would have been crushed--but
unity is glorious strength, an _inspired_ strength."
Alas, alas, that she was so soon to find out how a want of unity can
bring disaster and defeat!
"It is very stupid to argue with him. Surely he cannot expect to find
my views changing on account of the duration of the war!"
Now, whether this unfortunate conversation had anything to do with the
next developments I do not know. I do not _think_ so, for the Governor
was a broadminded and just man, not to be deterred from his purpose by
any small consideration, but the fact remains that Hansie received a
curt note from him four days later, informing her that he had changed
his mind about allowing her to inspect the Camps, and that all her
permits had been cancelled. No word of apology or regret, but a curt
request to return to him the passports and letters of introduction she
had received from him.
"Serves you right," her mother said, "for showing your enemy your
hand."
"Oh no," Hansie said, "I am positive that has nothing to do with it;
in fact, I don't believe General Maxwell is responsible for this at
all. He is acting under orders, and if I am not mistaken Lord
Kitchener is at the bottom of it. _He_ has put down that awful foot of
his, mother, and there is nothing more to be done."
"Perhaps"--Mrs. van Warmelo looked grave--"perhaps they have found out
something. I have often wondered at finding myself still at large
after the commotion made about the petitions and the report of the
Consuls. I can't forget how critical things seemed to me when three
Consuls came to Harmony late at night, while you were at Irene, to
warn me that the whole detective force was on the track of the
petitioners. Poor Mr. Cinatti was frightfully excited and said that it
was his duty to see that his petitioners' names did not become known.
He warned me that everything would be done to find us out, traps would
be set for us, and he advised me, if ever any one came to Harmony and
said that my name had been revealed, I was to say No! No!! No!!! and
he danced about the room, striking his left hand with his clenched
right fist at every 'No!'"
Hansie laughed and said, "There is no fear of your being found out.
The petitioners won't talk of that, you may be quite sure, and all the
Consuls are to be trusted."
"What are you going to do about this?" her mother asked, touching the
General's note.
"Oh, I am going to wait a few days to make him 'feel bad' and then, I
suppose, I must return my passports to him."
She waited three days, and then the General's behaviour strengthened
her in her belief that he was not to blame for the shabby way in which
he had treated her.
He was most penitent, begged her to forgive him for having caused her
so much inconvenience, and said he had been "very weak" in
entertaining the idea of her visiting the Camps.
They talked about certain improvements which Hansie had suggested, and
on which she had intended to lay much stress in her reports.
He promised that everything in his power would be done to arrest the
high mortality, and, encouraged by his sympathetic attitude, she
pleaded for "poor Middelburg."
"I have just been told that there were 503 deaths in that Camp during
last month [July]. Can that be possible?"
"I am afraid it is only too true," he answered, sighing heavily. "The
people on the High Veld are very badly off during this bitter
weather."
"Will you allow me to send the warm clothing and blankets which I
intended to distribute in the Camps?" she asked.
"Certainly, the more the better. Every facility will be afforded you
in this."
Hansie felt happier after this conversation with the Governor, more
convinced that something would be done to alleviate the sufferings in
the Camps.
* * * * *
Now, if our heroine had been allowed to carry out her tour of
inspection, she would have been out of "mischief's way" for many
months, and much of what I am about to relate would not have taken
place at all.
"Fair play is bonny play," and a breach of faith is bound, at some
time or other, to be followed by undesirable consequences.
Hansie made up her mind to serve her country in another, perhaps
better way, and in this she was assisted by the resistless hand of
Fate, as we shall see in the following chapters.
That she was never "caught" is a marvel indeed, for she was most
reckless of danger.
There were a number of intimate and trusted friends with whom she came
into frequent contact, but who had no idea of the work which was being
carried on at Harmony.
To these friends, however, she went with her "reliable war news" (more
especially news brought into town by the spies, of the Boer victories)
when anything of importance became known, and in time her friends
found out that her news could always be depended upon as reliable
indeed, although they had no inkling of the source whence it had been
derived. There was danger of her becoming altogether too "cocksure,"
when she was one day pulled up sharply by the following occurrence:
Captain Naudé was in town again, was, if I remember rightly, under her
very roof, when she visited a man for whom she entertained feelings of
great affection and esteem, with the object of gladdening his heart
with news of a particularly gratifying nature from the front.
He listened attentively, he asked a number of questions, nodding with
the greatest satisfaction at her direct and definite replies.
"I must go," Hansie exclaimed suddenly, "I only came in for a few
moments. We have to see some friends off to-night."
"Ah! Just wait a minute, please, will you?"
He hastened from the room, returning shortly with a parcel which he
placed in her hands without a word.
"What is this?" she asked curiously.
"Five pounds of the best Boer tobacco."
"For me?" in amazement.
He approached her and whispered in her ear:
"For the spy!"
Hansie fled from that house, laughing as she went, and patting her
parcel of tobacco rapturously.
"Oh, mother, wasn't it funny of him?"
"Yes, but when will you learn to be more careful? Hansie, you are
frightfully reckless. You will not listen to reason, I suppose, until
we find ourselves across the border and Harmony confiscated!"
The Captain was delighted with the present and willingly added the
extra five pounds weight to his cumbrous and heavy burdens.
* * * * *
Somebody, leaving the country for Holland, offered to take documents
and letters from the van Warmelos to the President on condition that
they could guarantee that he would not be "found out."
This offer came at a most opportune moment, for there was information
of the greatest importance to be sent to Mr. W.T. Stead.
For some weeks past Mrs. van Warmelo had been anxious to smuggle
through to him copies of the two petitions to the Consuls and a copy
of their report on the Concentration Camps. For this the White
Envelope was not considered satisfactory enough--the documents were
too bulky and the post during those days not to be depended upon.
The information, therefore, was written on tissue paper (the usual
method) and packed in a small bottle of Dr. Williams's Pink Pills, to
be handed to a relative of Mrs. van Warmelo's in Holland, with
instructions that he should read the contents and forward them without
delay to Mr. Stead for publication in the _Review of Reviews_.
The "medicine" was faithfully delivered in Holland, but alas! the
recipient, with unheard-of presumption, after having read the
documents, decided in his own mind that they were not of sufficient
importance to be published in London and quietly kept them to himself!
Kept them to himself, at a time when their publication to the world
would have been of inestimable value to the Boers and would perhaps
have saved thousands of lives!
Of course this breach of trust was not known at Harmony for many
months--not, in fact, until so long after it took place that the war
was drawing to a close, and it was too late to repeat the attempt.
When one thinks that but for one man's indifference to duty the report
of the Consuls would have been published in London at a time when all
England was shaken with the revelations made by Miss Hobhouse and the
agitation of the pro-Boers was at its height, then one cannot help
realising the futility of fighting against Fate.
Not yet had the time of salvation arrived for the victims of the
Concentration Camps--not yet--not until the toll of life had been paid
to the uttermost.
Other schemes for supplying that section of the British public,
desirous of being acquainted with _the truth_, with trustworthy
information from South Africa, met with greater success, and I relate
the following instance for the sake of the interesting circumstances
connected with it, not for its own sake, for obvious reasons.
Many of my readers will remember the case of Mr. Spoelstra, a
Hollander, which caused such a commotion in the Transvaal during the
war.
He wrote a long letter for publication in Holland on the hardships and
ill-treatment to which the Boer women were subjected in transit from
their farms to the Concentration Camps, by the soldiers (chiefly, I
may mention here, the Canadian Scouts and Australian Bushrangers, who
were, however, all regarded as British soldiers, these distinctions
not being sufficiently clear to the average South African).
This lengthy document Spoelstra confided to the care of a man who was
about to leave for Holland.
On the borders of Natal, the man, on being cross-questioned by the
inspector of goods, became so confused and agitated that he brought
suspicion on himself, with the result that he was detained while his
luggage was thoroughly overhauled.
The unfortunate letter was found, Spoelstra was arrested and
immediately imprisoned in the Pretoria Jail.
The Dutch Consul, Mr. Domela Nieuwenhuis, on being appealed to,
insisted on a public trial, which was granted after some delay,
Spoelstra being allowed three days in which to procure his witnesses,
_in Pretoria_ and in the small Camp in one of the suburbs, _not_ in
Irene.
Notwithstanding the shortness of the time and the restrictions placed
upon him, he succeeded in getting nearly thirty women to give evidence
on his behalf, and at his trial, which was publicly held, revelations
of a very startling nature were made.
The greatest indignation was felt and freely expressed by the Dutch
community when, in spite of having proved his accusations beyond a
doubt, Spoelstra was fined £100 and sentenced to one year's
imprisonment.
The fine was immediately paid by his friends.
Now, there was a brave Englishwoman, Mrs. Bodde, married to a
Hollander, who was shortly leaving for England, who offered her
services to Mrs. van Warmelo if the latter wished to make the
circumstances of the case known to Mr. Stead. This was an exceedingly
plucky thing to do, for the examinations on the frontier were much
more severe than usual, after the discovery of Spoelstra's letter.
Mrs. van Warmelo therefore promised to take extra precautions in
concealing the articles she wished to send. After a great deal of
trouble she succeeded in getting a full report of the Spoelstra trial,
sixty large pages of closely typed evidence on tissue paper, and with
this valuable material to dispose of Mrs. van Warmelo realised that it
would be necessary to exert the utmost ingenuity.
She asked her friend Mrs. Bodde whether she would be taking a
lunch-basket.
Certainly she would.
"Well," Mrs. van Warmelo said, "I will give you something for your
lunch-basket, if you will promise not to open it until you get to
London."
She promised, and Mrs. van Warmelo bought a tin of cocoa, a one-pound
tin, unfastened the paper wrapper carefully, then damped the paper
round the lid until it could be folded back without being damaged,
removed the lid and pulled out the paper bag containing the cocoa.
This bag she unfastened _at the bottom_, shook out fully two-thirds of
the cocoa and filled up the empty space with the tightly rolled packet
containing the documents, replacing the whole in the tin, cocoa side
up, of course, and pasting down the paper wrapper over the lid to make
it look like new.
Although there was very little cocoa in the tin, it was found to weigh
exactly one pound as before.
Arrangements were then made with Mrs. Bodde for her future
correspondence on the subject with Mrs. van Warmelo, and in due time
the latter received a note from Mrs. Bodde announcing her safe arrival
in London and saying that her friend Mrs. Brown (Mr. Stead) had
received her (the documents) with open arms. She was not going to live
in Mrs. Brown's house as she had intended (the documents would not be
published in the _Review of Reviews_), but she was going into a house
of her own (they would appear in pamphlet form).
This was good news indeed, and now my readers know how it came about
that the sensational Spoelstra case was published in London in
pamphlet form (in three successive pamphlets, for the evidence was
found to be too bulky for one) during the war. The first pamphlet
reached Harmony in safety through the post, the second and third,
though duly dispatched, failed to reach their destination, but nobody
at Harmony minded. The great object had been achieved.
Hansie, going to the post one day, took out of her letter-box a small
flat book, addressed to "Mrs. Wentworth, Box 56."
She was about to throw it back into the Post Office, with "_not_ 56"
scribbled on it, when her eyes fell on the English postmark, Tunbridge
Wells, and she stayed her hand in time.
Tunbridge Wells was the address of the brave Englishwoman, the great
pro-Boer, and the package when opened was found to contain a copy of
Methuen's _Peace or War in South Africa_, which was first "devoured"
at Harmony and by other people in Pretoria and was then sent out to
the commandos by the spies, to be read and reread by the burghers
until there was nothing left of it except a few tattered pages.
Soon after the publication of the Spoelstra case there was some
excitement in Pretoria about the appearance in the _Westminster
Gazette_ of a long article on the Irene Concentration Camp. The
writer, who gave each detail with great accuracy, seemed to have
personal knowledge and experience of the Camp, and it was not
surprising that Hansie should have been taxed with it on every side.
The Consuls spoke to her direct, advising her to be more careful of
her facts, and Mr. Cinatti, when she assured him of her innocence (?),
said with huge delight, in his funny, broken English:
"Never mind, my dear little sing, you need not confess to _us_--but
are you good at guessing riddles?"
"Not particularly."
"Well, dis one won't trouble you much. What is dis? It is small and
oblong and white, and it was laid by a hen?"
"An egg," Hansie answered innocently.
He shouted with laughter.
"Are you sure?"
"Of course."
"Well, we are just as sure dat Miss van Warmelo wrote dat article. And
if you want to see your work in print I'll bring it round dis very
afternoon."
"I should like very much to see it," she replied.
That afternoon, just before Mr. Cinatti was expected, Gentleman Jim
killed a big snake in his room, and Hansie, thinking to give her
funny friend a fright for misdoubting her word, "arranged" the corpse
on the steps of the front verandah, hiding the mutilated head under
the leaves of the violet plants.
But the Consul came late, and other visitors before him heralded their
arrival by shrieks and jumps, to the great delight of the mischievous
girl.
"You are a very pranky little sing," Mr. Cinatti said, flourishing the
_Westminster Gazette_ before her eyes, "and den you want us not to
believe dat you wrote dis."
And indeed, when Hansie glanced through the article, she found it
difficult to maintain that she had not written it, for there were all
her "pet" cases of overcrowding and underfeeding, her statistics, and
the very terms she was in the habit of using when speaking of the
volunteer nurses. She called them a "set of agitators," in sarcastic
imitation of the Commandant's favourite expression.
The only explanation to the affair could be that Mr. Stead, or perhaps
Mrs. Bodde, had made use of the facts contained in one of Hansie's
smuggled letters, and in that case she could naturally be held
responsible. She was advised by loving friends to keep her boxes ready
packed for a speedy departure, "for when the warning comes you will
not be allowed much time to pack."
But she disregarded all warnings, except to take extra precautions for
the safety of her diary.
[Illustration: GENTLEMAN JIM'S ROOM.]