Hi All,
With this article, I altered the format to save space. I have been unable to confirm any particulars regarding Mr. Hayward.
If anyone has that information, I would appreciate a copy.
Best Regards,
Robert
Advertiser (Adelaide, South Africa, Thursday 24 August 1933, Page 10
Out Among the People by Rufus
Morant And Handcock
TOM Hayward, who represents the Broken Hill Proprietary Coy. At Port Victoria, came to see me yesterday morning, and we talked on many subjects, bridge, cricket, the fate of the Sir John Franklin expedition, and so on. He said: - "l was going to write to you about the shooting of Morant and Handcock. I did not know the former, but I knew the latter well. I was taken prisoner by the Boers, and Handcock, disregarding instructions, and at great risk to his own life, spent the night looking for me. It was not then known that I was a prisoner, and it was thought that something had happened to my horse. Previously I had slept for three weeks under the same blanket as Handcock, and although he was not an educated man, he was a good fellow and would not harm a fly. Kitchener, in reply to an urgent request from Australia for information, reported to the Governor General that Morant, Handcock, and Witton were charged with 20 separate murders, including one of a German missionary who bad witnessed other murders. He said there were in his opinion no extenuating circumstances, and he confirmed the verdict of the court, notwithstanding the recommendation to mercy made by the court. I hated Kitchener for the part he played in that sad incident of the Boer War."
The Official Report
'THERE is no doubt that the Australian public gathered a wrong impression at the time from Kitchener's report. I nave the official records in front of me. Kitchener says: - "In one case when eight Boer prisoners were murdered It was alleged in defence to have been done in a spirit of revenge for the ill-treatment of one of their officers, Lieutenant Hunt, who was killed in action. No such ill-treatment was proved." Turning to the finding of the court. I read that one of the grounds for the recommendation to mercy in the case of Morant was "Extreme provocation by the mutilation of the body of Captain Hunt, who was his intimate personal friend." Handcock and Witton were recommended to mercy on the following grounds:- "(1) The court considers both were influenced by Morant's orders, and thought they were doing their duty in obeying them. (2) Their complete ignorance of military law and custom. (3) Their good services throughout the war." Kitchener confirmed the finding and sentence of death in the case of Morant and Handcock: and in the case of Witton he commuted the sentence to one of penal servitude for life. The court-martial, after an exhaustive trial, acquitted Morant and Handcock on the charge of shooting the German missionary.
Source:
trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/46996283
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Whitington
"Rufus"
Ernest Whitington (c. 1873 – 13 April 1934), known to his friends as "Ern", was a journalist in South Australia, who as "Rufus" wrote the popular Out among the People column in the Register then The Advertiser when those two newspapers were amalgamated.
