t a dead member of the flock. Dr. Scholtz,
keen-eyed and watchful, stood on guard in the doorway. Platinum would
have melted under the courteous warmth of his manner to the officials.
Our train at last under way, I found some one had thrust a bunch of
fresh grapes into my little boy's hand.
Nearing Johannesburg Dr. Scholtz came to me: 'Your husband is
exhausted. I think it best for him to pass the night at his home,
going to Pretoria on the mid-day train to-morrow.'
It was well we did this, for between Johannesburg and Pretoria this
train met with one of the collisions so frequent on the Netherlands
Railway. Only the engineer and a brakeman were killed, but the shock
would certainly have been most disastrous to us.
SUNDAY, NOON, APRIL 26.--My husband with Dr. Scholtz started for
Pretoria. I was unable to leave my bed, but it was agreed that Betty
and I should follow on the early train of the morrow.
The Reform trial which was begun on Friday, April 24, was resumed on
Monday.
Repeated wires from Mr. Hammond and Dr. Scholtz prevailed upon me to
remain at my home to rest another day. 'It would probably be a long
trial.'
X
My husband reached Pretoria Sunday evening, April 26. The information
that we had received en route, regarding the pleas of guilty entered
by the imprisoned Reformers, was confirmed by his associates: the
other three leaders, Messrs. Rhodes, Farrar, and Phillips, had entered
a plea of guilty under count one of the indictment for high treason,
the fifty-nine Reformers entering a like plea of guilty under the
count of lese-majeste. As conjectured by us when we heard of this
action of the Reformers, the prisoners had received certain assurances
before making such pleas:
_First_.--That they should not be tried under the comparatively
obsolete Roman Dutch Law, which punished the crime of treason with
death; but they would be tried and punished under, and in accordance
with, the code laws of the Transvaal Republic, which imposed penalties
of fine and imprisonment for the crime charged in the indictment.
_Second_.--The leaders were further assured that this action on their
part would measurably mitigate the sentences of the other fifty-nine
Reformers.
On Monday, the 27th, the Court reconvened in the market hall, the
_imported_ Judge Gregorowsky occupying the bench.
Mr. Hammond took his place with the three leaders, attended by his
physician, Dr. Scholtz, who remained at his si
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