110

Date 1912-07-19

From 110

first of The bly placed. in he best of its. rs La Fon- o American utne summer? king shame ing dame. to each comer 1 please. lat ease; at a glance, you must dance, part of the the wind im- iolednbey oi: fete (HE MAN AN) rights rome Wourthent, 1WLL, uy the New Xurk Herald Co. be cugnped Ma the bead with a ZH battle axe god stabbed In a dozen Dinces with au assegal; to wrestle in desperate life-and-death combat with a savage adversary for an hour while the Iat- ter's friends try to get close enough to finis' the fight by striking the mor- tal blow; to leave the say- age for dead only to-have him revive and selze the weapon and renew the fearful struggle; finally, half spent and blinded by the flow from dreadful wounds; to -thrust the spear through the Zulu's body and only by the nar- rowest margin tov escape * runing one s self through at the same stroke for an COLENBRANDE c.B. Phove by Frank P. Scockoridge episode such as that the term adventure seems f gt; mild and entirely Insuftictont title. And to have it bapper to an elghteen-year-old boy would be regarded by many as altogether likely to discourage the adventurous youth from seeking further excitement of a snliar nature. But -when Johan Colendrander tells the tale over the walnuts snd wine it Is apparent, not from what be says but frowi-the way he says it; that-4t-was-but an-Incident, amore or Jess one-of.the commouplaces of everyday life, in Zululand thirty-odd years ago. And one has to read but little way into the history of the B-itish conquest of South Africa to discover that, whatever fe effect of such an encounter might have been on the ordinary youth, it did not deter Joban Colen- brander from winning a name that will ring long in tho annals of the territory-as-a-man of daring, courage and devoted patriotism. z Colonel Johan W. Colenbrander, C. B. that Is bis Tull name and ttle. The Colonel came when he was placed In command of the First regiment of Kitchener's Fighting Scouts, that famous regiment of frontiersmen, soldiers of fortune and fighting ad- venturers, inodelled on the famous Roosevelt Rough Riders, .that bore such a valiant part for Britain in the Boer war. And the C. B. well, few men who do not deserve more than well of their country ever become Companions of the Bath, and few. have ever deserved the honor conferred by royal tunis more than did Johan Colenbrander.. - A native Afrikander, of Dutch parents, who had emigrated to Natal after an unsuccessful venture in Java; the fty-odd years of is Ife have been filled with adventures of a kind that recall Rider Haggard jegendary hero, Allan Quatermain. Indeed, it was trom some of Colenbrander s adventures that the Eng- Ush writer drew the material for certain episodes which every reader of King Solomon's Mines will remember. Alternating fighting with big game hunt- ng-and e-seeking,-be-knows his Africa from the Congo to the Cap as few living men know . It was because he is perhaps the best equipped man In the world to lead an expedition into the heart of the jungle that Mr, John Hays Hammond and Major Frederick R, Burnham; learning a few weeks ago that Colonel Colenbrander was making his first visit to America a trip to Mexico to visit his motherless ttle girl, who lives with her aunt, in Vera Cruz sent for start from the African West Coast to capture wild animals to restock the forests and plains of Western America, meeting in the interlot.of the Dark Cont nent the detachment under Major Bufaham that will go in fromthe East Coast for the same purpose. A day or two hefore he departed for Africa on this quest Colonel C lenbrander consented, after much Urg- ing, to tell the story of the most thrilling of all his adventures, As he sat in a New York caf , calmly reeounting the Incidents of his youth, there was little about bis appearnce to'suggest the frontlersitan or the fighteg, Rather above medium height, broad snow dered nnd gray bearded, Colonel Colenbrander looks the paft of the military man In his beaging, put ms placid bine eyes and somewhat portly Bkysique sug- xestthe, staff rather than the Ine the plitpner rather than the doer, But he is still able to ride over rouga y for days on end and rough it with the young- jem, and should the call come within the next twenty years: ft would be safe Vetting that Colonel Coleubrander would again take the/field against Bng- land's fves, at the head of his Legion of Frontlersmen, organization of ten thousand veterans of the oid: Ihodesian days that fs to South Africa all-and mpre than the Native Sons of the Golden West are to coun est fringe of gray hair around the sides and buck of his tend. gnd when he removes his hat the most notice- ble feature. of bis physiognomy Js a great scar, s ven or cizht Inches. long, that runs from the top. of bis Head down over the left temple and into the cheek in front of the ear. And it was an ingulry as to how he got this tertile story of-his fight with the Zulu. It was a Zulu's bilttle nxe that Have me that Nettle memento enbrander. That was a Jong time ago. ac Was It that Cetewaso, the King of the Zulus, was captured dnd sent to Eng- date, 15 then, resumed Colonel Colen- brander. L was. a boy-of eighteen gr go at the time, Thad been chasiig after Zulus and Selpiug one Zatw f fight auother-for, sometime then. My parents could uot keep me away from the adventurous life. L could ride, could shoot, and J loved the excitement and the hard work of the frontier. After Celewayo was sent Into exile Sir Garnet Wolseley divided his territory yp among thirteen chiefs, and it wax not long before tremendous civalry broke out among them. One was John Dunn, a-white man perhaps you Lave heard of him. He became a Zulu chief and married many Zulu wives. He lad seventy- two to my knowledge at on time. There was a chief named Slbepu, whose tertitory was known as Mandh- lagazi, who was Duno s friend, but between them lay the territories of two other chiefs who were liostile to Doth of them, I knew the native languages a Dunn took possession of his territory ne gave me an exclusive trading coficession, 1 went up there and found that he was having a great deal of trouble in communteatitig with lis friend Sibepn, so ie one supplied th at was the yea ways, and when him to come to New York and placed him at the head a, zif nf the great game trapping expedition that is soon to would that led to, the telitmg-of the Te was a foolhird THAT ZI iq iy In carrying mes+ nitreds of miles elf engaged juris sages between the two, acrons nome of hostile territory Keeping Back Raiders. gibepu became my friend, and 1 undertook to help him to keep buck-the raiding tribes that Iny between him and Jobn Dunn. These fellows 1d organize raiding expeditions, cross the boundiry- lines, kill the old men and old women, capture the younger women and children and all the live stock they could drive soon found my SS. gt; Against Cetewayo, of Whom He Had Slain Seventeen PEA WS Found Himself Surrounded by RS COULD NOT HRILLING Attentive of Golonel Johan W. Colenbrander. C.B.. Who, in the Campaign Savage Tribesmen, eer KI shaft of the assegal and managed to all, nround behind hie bre lege Then foot toward me, the spur sar nto bis backward, with me on top of him. In bold on the assegal was shaken loose. Now ut hin on the ground, the only w apon in my own hands) mm hand 1 seized his windpipe and while with the other I tried to jab the politOt sssecal through bis ribs. But the thick, p tun which he wore was almost spearproot. weapon was onl already been blunt eailing bin alt t while 1 worked cloth to xive him hs ceeded nj Weapon home with all the a eyes rolled up aud 1 ee ae od atsnaed a out, leaving him for dead, re 2 My mare bad been stan one: while Stbepu, with hts title, haa beeen at the other Zulus, keeping them we Bi himself to come any closer to my mount the mare, and hid one foot Mi ont hand on the cantle of the saddle, egal in the other, when the sj Plucked out of my hand from behind: had happened, without having to stop t Mt. My Zulu friend had not been killed. I only his.tunie, not his body, and he had b Phe next thing to expect was a death tween my shoulder blades. 1 got my foot stirrup and as it touched the ground I dive under the mare belly. The ground was ee a death stroke. with loose rocks, but I plunged headfo them like a. swimmer diving into deep wi dived the blow fell, but. I had been a trifle for the Zulu. Instead of catching me in the bae bears struck at the bage of my skull snd pen or four Inches up under my scalp, as I f ward on my face, + L remember writhing and twisting a ut effort to dislodge the weapon, while the Zulu wi Ing to rip my whole sealp-off with It. Then th a blank, for what happened immediately afterwa have yever been able to remember. Sibepu told afterward that the Zulu and I rolied down the together, locked In each other's embrace, up against some large rocks, and there my diatinet: recollection of what occurred begins again. other, but I had the upper hold, pintoning his arma to his.sides, and the assegaf was in my hands. underneath, he on top of me. a3 With my arms stretched to thelr limit I could Just grasp the shaft of the assegai with both hands. point through the back of hix tunic. The point had been bent up about four Inches when it struck my. skull the last time, or I could never hare done ft, T could not have reached far enough to have gota soft tron, at best, and its point bad on my skull. choked him bards insulting names 1 think i point of the semanas n Pially 1 suc+ (rating the thigh tunte, and I drave the ans We brought 994 We were face to face,seach with his arms tghtly around the Linas could move only my wrist, and I tried to force the 1 waalan NN SAN YY and go back to their own territory with the loot, It was contrary to all thelr agreements, and if they had been caught at ctossing the territorial lines ft would ave gone hard with them. Sibepu and his men never crossed their boundary line but once, for they did not want to bring down the punishment of the : English on their heads. I tried to organize a little cavalry squad among the Zulu boys of my own age in Sibepu's territory. It was hard work, for horses die Ifke flies in that country, but I finally got together a fairly efficient little corps, of perhaps twenty-five, and taught them to ride and 0 shoot, . One night word reached us that the adjoining tribe had efossed the boundary and were looting thirty miles inside of our territory. We were fifteen miles from them when he heard it Messens: sent out to ralfy Slbepu s fighting men,-and by three o'clock in the morning we had several hundred wafriors snd seventeen of my-mounted boys. We started after the enemy, who ad learned of our approach and. were retreating as rapidly ax possible: toward their own Hines, driving hundreds of hexd of cattle and guats and a hundred-or more women that they had captured. Our men on foot could travel a little faster than, the enemy, for the latter had to drive the captured stock: Still, We had gained very little on them at daybn and we feared that they would get across the boundary line before we could overthke and engage the: 1 proposed to Sibepu that I take the mounted boys, make a deton and attack the fle eals from in front. bosish proposal, for there, were but seventeen of ns axeinst seme three hundred-or more of the enemy. Sivepir agreed to it, however, and added that he would go. with us. He had a good horse and could ride and shoot well. We were armed with star- tinl-Henry rifles, the best weapon known In South Africa in those days, but-only few of our foot war- rors and very few of the enemy carried ansthing bit the native weapons battle axe, knobkerry and assexal, Taking advantage of the rough country, we rode around the end of the retreating enemy and got into range of hills thatway directly across their pathway. We waited there under cover until we could see our reserves approaching; three miles or more in the rear of the enemy, Then we opened fire. The enemy: was panic stricken at the first volley. They had Imagined themselves sife from a frontal at- tack, and we fired so rupidiy and from such widely scatterod points that they imagined there was a large force ahead of them. They broke and fan, leaving the captured women and stock, while we kept on pumplug lead into them and riding down In the di- rection they were going to bead them off. The. Rascal Had Climbed on the Top of Had Thrown His Battle Axe Down on Me double vdzed pointed -bindes* that will rip you wide open Sf they strike They were so demoralized by the-sadenhess of r that they had uracy left and id Ittle damage no 2 swe rodw them down w ttered to head oft the st I.killed seventeen that 1 know of. and possibly x few more, I discovered that I had become entirely sepitar om the-rest of my boys wanded by the Zulus, who f finishing tabling assegais intention id which they ge like. mind this w uutry, With yo bush for protection, tivo or three axes t whenever Lsiw a head peep out from among the rocks, and Wis zreatly relleved when T saw Sibepu, our ohiet. whb had discovered iny plight, fring at my opponents from.an angle that left many of them withont shelter, Snddenly froin behind a great bowlder close by me a Zulu popped up and threw: his assem). It missed: me, but before could fire he ducked behind the, bowid spurred my horse around the rock, and-he ran-around to the other Ax J-came itround 1 found: steep descent that thi y horse, a game mare that 1 had seq on many shooting expeditions, back on her hyunches. I spurred heron, -intendidg to follow atrouud the rock, when I felt. rather than sayy, some- thing. falling on ame from Above. The riscul- bad climbed on top.of the bowlder and had thrown his bat: tle axe down on me from that helgbt, I threw up iyleft arm Inyoluntarily to ward oft the blow. The bundle of the axe struck my arm and broke, but the blade struck on top of my bead. 1 was wearing a h brimmed felt hat, such as American cowboys weur, with a silk puggaree around the crown, The blow cut the hat in two and drove the silk into the wound i my Head, Tie force of the prow Knocked me frog my suddle, and as I fell on the rocks Pun en ped off short. ot, dazed, with blood streaming and spurting in two bright foun- terlex had been cleft by the stroke. As I did so the Zuiu leaped down from the bowlder, brandishing bis short ussegaly He had broken his battle axe, L my gun, and the onty weapon either of us had, was his stabbing spear. And he had that. Dodging the. Assegai. He leaped from the tock and sprang toward me to tains where It was close quarters in a few minutes, for we tinish me, chanting the death song of the Zulus as he rode right into them, firing as fast ax jd load did so, He raised his assegul and slipped behind me and pull trigger. They were massed so closely to- before L could turn, I do this for my father, as my et often killed two Zulus As we futher did it before me he sans. as he dealt me broke from cover and approwched them they let Ay at territle stroke, aimed at the point behind my left us with thelr knobkerries terribie pons when collarbone through which, If his assegal bad rue, wielded by a Zuly. They are heavy clubs, about le would huve plerwed my heart, But a strvick three feet long, with slender, flexible shafts aud round slipped backward and the weapon struck.the forward heads the size of an orange. A perfect xhower of ge of fhe bone and glanced. It ran duwa my: side, these clubs rained om us as we rode down the bill, but Inside my Clothing cutting a gash along my ribs. I fortunately none of our men was bit One or two seized the shaft age fell, but he pulled ft through ty horses were struck, but that only made hands, the sharp-blade cuxting my fingers badly the faster. We kept on xhooting, not L remember plucking at the remalis of wis silk aim, and they threw their Jong iaxexais, oF spears, which have shatts five ar sly foot owing with, guggnree, which was dangling from the weund In wy head and dapping over my eyes. and cursing the Zulu yy Yi we stood, facing each other, Wy a the Bowlder and from That Height. , yolubly in bis own language as I turned to face him. He raised the assegui again, striking for my chest, but at each blow I turned my bead toward him in- stinetively. struck three or four tlues at my jot penetrate my. skull here are the 1 was frying to rash in and grapple him, pt backing away, Finally, a4 1 closed, he brought tls weapon down again on my head, and the point stfuck into the bone and stuck there He could not withdraw It without an effort, and before he could pull it away I had seized It with both bands, by the Iron shaft. Just above the biade. There overed with my blood, tor td-not recelved a SCEai aT for the possession of the ass point of which was firmfy imbedded in - We had struggled for some the before thought of the only advantage Uhad over him, He wore nothing but a short mill. tary tunie one of those thick, padded uniform coats such as the iritich cavalry wore In those days, which had evidently been taken fiom the body of some ol ler killed Ja (ie Zulu wae a few months before. But Twas and spurred, Tetoscd in aseleseiy ns Ecould, till holding to the ++ sang: COL. J. W COLENBRANDER. C.B, Phow by Frank P Stockbridge 7 to drive the weapon. home had jt still been stra But the hgoked shape into which t had been forme gave me-a tremendous advantage; for by working my) wrists I could manipulate. the aasegal while still hole ing the Zulu s arms safely pinioned. MIE was a desperate struggle, he tryiag-to-free bin self while I tried to get the point through the tougn cloth. assegal toward me with all my remaining force, It entered the soft flesh between two ribs, passed clear through the Zulu s body and bulged the front of the padded tunic. Then I had to thank that padding for. my own life, for had the Zulu been. like his fellows, the assegal would have entered chest and Killed me at the same time. The Zuln gave one groan and rolled off me, * staggered to my feet,found my mare, mounted rode down the'hill. A furlong away I met one of mounted boys., They had been: having a hot mage, but had Succeeded in joining the pursuing and wiping out nearly all of the enemy. You've had a dad fall, baas, be sald. S * es, I've bad a bad fall, I replied. Ride with me till I get my gun... We rode back to w Test.of them out of the rocks. ou didn't finish: him, said gly young frlend, ferring to the Zulu custom of fipping thelr-fallen enemies open, so that thelr spirits will 10 haunt them. I replied that 1 was not In the habit of doing that, so he dismounted and disembowelled the Zulu, who Was still asping. Then I fainted. When I rega of my silk pugguree aro ing, and rode tifteen m: bepu's headguare ters. Dherevwas no surgeon within hundreds of miles, and my home was as far away, in Eastern Natal. Blue- stone ordinary sulphate of cop ag the com monly used disinfectant down there In those days, and had plenty of in my store, 1 bad a little Hottentoy servant, and under my directions he pulverized fot the bhiestone and sprin e er Tito my wounds, after Which we:bound them up. It was four teen days before they were healed, but on the eighth day another ralding party entered pur territory and I insisted. on going out with my boy cavalry corps to repel them. I can t Say that-this incident discouriRed te, Dut It probably mide me a bit more careful than T bad been before that. Uye fought Zulus aud Matabeles and Boers sitice then, and hunted big game and gold all over Africa put Tn ad a closer call, and bope I aever will. Finally I feltthe tunic give, and 1 pulled the ined conscionsness 1 ted the remains head to.stop.she bleed-

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Attribution Image 110 (1912-07-19), from microfilm reel 110, (CU1743793). Courtesy of Early Alberta Newspapers Collection, Libraries and Cultural Resources Digital Collections, University of Calgary.