MURDER OF A BRITISH OFFICER.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 5 December 1901, Page 4

MURDER OF A BRITISH OFFICER.

The murder of Captain Myers by Boers while ha wa? under tho protection of a flag of truce, was one of the mo3t cowardly crimes of this sort that has yet been perpetrated by the enemy. It to.>k place at the end of S.iptemHer close to Heidelburgin the Transvaal Colony, then occupied by a British garrison. Three Boers ono day made their appearance on a hill about a mile away, and as they bore a white flag it was believed they wished to surrender. They would, however, have nothing to do with tho corporal sent out them, saying that they would treat only with the officer in charge, so Captain Myres went out. He stayed conversing with,the men for about half an hour, and then those who were watching the incident from the post noticed that he mado hurriedly for his horse. He fell almost at once, and the Boers then tried to catch his pon}, but it escaped them. ar.d galloped back to the blockhouse. Captain Myers's servant, who went with his master h-df way up the hill, heard , three shots, andwlnn he and the men from the post reached the spot they found the unfortunate office stone doad, and stripped of everything but his singlet, an attempt having even been made to tear that from the body. Kaffir report gave the murderers as a man named Piet Lombard and his two sons, and the rumour was tho more readily believed because a crime so foul was jast the sort of thing Lombard would do. He had already been the principal in a simal atrocity, as far back as the former war with tho Boors, the victim then being a Captain Elliott, who had been captured by the enemy, and subsequently released on parole, a condition being that he quitted the Transvaal. As he and a fellow officer were crossing a swollen ford over the Vaal the escort who had accompanied them to the Transvaal bank of the river fired at them repeatedly, and Captain Elliott was killed. Lombard is said to have bragged that he "potted" the defenceless officer in the back. Nothing came of the incident, The murderers were nominally tried, but, of course, escaped without punishment. It is possible, however, that Lombard is innocent of this latest outrage. The cable, indeed, informs U 3 that tho actual murderer was one Schimpers, and that he has been sent by Commandant Buys to Louis Botha for punishment, which should be short and sharp. But one would not be surprised to hear that Lombard had had a share in the affair, even if he was not in the hand that guided the fatal shot.