orded by the case
of an old schoolmaster, an Englishman named Grant. He had been a
teacher upon the farm of a Boer near Pretoria. Through some
difference with his employer he was dismissed; and his own version of
the affair indicates that he suffered considerable injustice. From
the evidence given in the case in which he subsequently figured it
appeared that in order to urge his grievance he returned to the
Boer's farm and even re-entered the house which he had formerly
occupied. He was arrested and charged with trespass, or threatening
to molest his late employer and members of his family, and was bound
over to keep the peace for six months and to find L50 surety for the
same, failing which he should go to gaol for that period. This seemed
to be rather a harsh sentence to pass upon a man who was over fifty
years of age, entirely destitute of means, of very inferior physique,
and who had been charged at the instance of an individual who could
certainly have protected himself against five such men as Grant. No
doubt the accused was an eccentric man, and probably a nuisance,
and it is even possible that his conduct left the magistrate no
alternative but to pass the sentence which he did: it is not intended
to question the justice of this part of the affair. Having been
sent to gaol, however, because he could not deposit L50, Grant was
treated as the commonest malefactor in all respects but one--he was
allowed to retain his own clothing. The unfortunate old man made a
pathetic picture with his seedy clothes, tail coat, tall white hat,
and worn gloves, which he punctiliously wore whenever called upon to
face the authorities--and it happened rather frequently. He objected
to being classed and herded with the thieves and murderers and others
whose crimes were even more repulsive. He protested against the class
of food that was served to him. For these remonstrances he at first
received solitary confinement and even poorer diet; and later with a
brutality which one can surely only find in a Du Plessis the
unfortunate old man was placed in the Kaffir stocks, thrown out in
the middle of the yard that he might be humiliated in the sight of
all, and kept there in the fierce heat of a tropical sun for half a
day. The sole excuse for this was that he had been unruly in
protesting against the treatment which he was receiving. The
spectacle excited the pity of the Reform prisoners to such an extent
that even with the certainty of an i