r Egerton, with a
sergeant, was allowed to walk into Pretoria to obtain medical
assistance, the Boers refusing to give him a horse, or even allow
him to use his own.... I may mention that a Zulu driver, who was
with the rear-guard, and escaped into Natal, stated that the Boers
shot all the wounded men who formed that body. His statement was to
a certain extent borne out by the evidence of one of the survivors,
who stated that all the bodies found in that part of the field,
nearly three-quarters of a mile away from the head of the column,
had a bullet-hole through the head or breast, in addition to their
other wounds." The Administrator of the Transvaal in Council thus
comments on the occurrence in an official minute: "The surrounding
and gradual hemming in under a flag of truce of a force, and the
selection of spots from which to direct their fire, as in the case
of the unprovoked attack of the rebels upon Colonel Anstruther's
force, is a proceeding of which very few like incidents can be
mentioned in the annals of civilised warfare."

Sir Owen Lanyon, writing from the scene of action in Pretoria,
says--"The Boers were very clever in being kind to our wounded
soldiers, for they well knew that such action would obtain sympathy
at home. But where it was impossible for their deeds to become known
their conduct was far from creditable to them. Poor Clarke and Raaf
were kept for two months in a dark room, and were only allowed out
twice for exercise. Barlow was robbed of everything, and only left
the clothes he stood in. A Hollander, who is secretary to Cronje at
Potchefstrom, is still wearing the rings of poor Captain Falls, who
was shot. Englishmen have been murdered, flogged, and robbed of
everything. The Boers at Potchefstrom forced the prisoners of war to
dig their trenches, and some were shot from the Fort while so
employed. Woite and Van der Linden were shot as spies, because they
had been in the Boer camp and left it some days before they
proclaimed the Republic. Carolus, a Cape boy, was shot by Boer
court-martial because he left the Fort when food became scarce. A
white man and nine natives were similarly shot without any trial.
Explosive bullets were used, notwithstanding that Colonel Winsloe
pointed out to the Boer leader in a letter that such was against the
rules of war."

There is ample evidence that acts of treachery and barbarity similar
to and worse than those mentioned by Colonel Lanyon were perpetrated