IN SOUTH AFRICA

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2343, 28 December 1914, Page 8

IN SOUTH AFRICA

'A REBEL LEADER CAPTURED. An account of the capture; of . the Boer rebel, General Chris. : Muller,, in the Eastern Transvaal, on November LI, is given in a recent issup of the "Volkstem," the Dutch paper published at Pretoria: ■.'■"• •.-•..' General Muller had sent out outposts,' and had also posted sentinels aro'und his. camp_on the hills. 'But when night set. in his outposts went home, and Colonel Mentz'.'surrounded him next morning. He' was taken quite 'unawares. In the course of a skirmish jvhich ensued. General Muller was seriously, though not mortally, A Lee-Metfprd bullet;-, went straight through his left knee, without smashing the kneecap, arid pierced the right leg below the'knee. In a v few the'-wound became so painful that he was unable to stand. He.had either to Heeor'-fall-into i; the hands A of the Union forces. -iHis iollowers. scattered. after a short and confused. resistance, and he also managed to : get out of the firing line into, a kopje, where he hid until the troops left: , By this time his leg was so: stiff ;and painful-that he could not : . ' ■ ;..>'■ ■-.'■ '', ■

He was alone: during 'Saiurday night "and He crept;'on..all fours,' arid in: this*way managed; to. reach -tlie, top of a kopje, when ;he. espied a, hollow ito which he proceeded to creep jnsearch: of .water. - ; He'Vwas ■ tormented by a terrible thirst, buthe didsnot succeed in getting any water ;'iurfcil : Sunday evening,..when he again ;came in oontact with a few of,.his. ! people,; who conveyed' him to the farmhouse ■ whereirihe .was ultimately captured mandant Piet Moller ; on the night' of the llth!: :-.:';■ ;■>■:;■■-: - * - -

It appeairs -that after the skirmish, Colonel Mentz's. officers 'remained untiringly on , the alert in order, to find out General Muller's : whereabouts; On the afternoon of the llth Piet.Moller kiiew everything. He was instructed to proceed with a substantial escort but, as the .official communique has it, ho eventually found/himself alone in the dark. Accompanied only.by his chauffeur, he proceeded on. the enterprise, and at some distance from the.house, where, according to information he expected to find General Muller, and a tew others, he extinguished the lights of his motor-car, and, jumping down, proceeded on , foot to reconnoitre the house from every side. Having satis-fied-himself thait there were seven, male adults in, the house, he loudly, summoned the inmates to.' . Inside there was a moment of confusion. .The lights went out, and there was sonie i-unriing to .and' fro. : .Moller thought thait'he had' to:prepare himself for a struggle, but. after the people inside had: conferred for a few moments, negotiations opened resulting in 'the unconditional surrender of the people in the-house. One of the spokesmen inside (a certain .Nelmapius) wished to know what conditions Commandant Moller .was prepared to offer, but, the latter demanded unconditional surrender. ;"/■■"

At the actual surrendering there was a surprise in store for both parties. From the inside only three men came forward, including General Muller, whereas the commandant thought there had been seven, but they_ assured him that the others'wore natives. On ; the other hand they did not know that Mol-ler-was single-handed until he had .putthem into the, motor-car and was well on his way towards Colonel. Mentz's commando. On Thursday morning they arrived at Pretoria. General Muller is inithe Pretoria Hospital.