“FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH"

Hokitika Guardian, 12 February 1927, Page 4

“FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH"

(By Thomas W. Ward in the “British Empire Review.”)

To find a parallel to the follow ing display of cool nerve and wifely devotion would surely not prove an easy task. The writer can vouch for the facts, and was an eye-witness of the scene at the fall or the final curtain. In February, 1914, a, young man, Foster, escaped from Pretoria convict prison. He and lii.s younger brother were serving a long term of imprisonment for jewel robbery at Capetown. The sentence was regarded by many as excessive, and i.s believed to have soured Foster’s outlook on life and humanity.

Foster reached Johannesburg by motor cycle in ordinary garb before the prison authorities were aware of his absence. After his arrival in the “Golden City” fie attracted to his side three or four of the most notorious criminals of the sub-continent,, all of them crack gunmen and desperate.

Among other liokT-ups and robberies | they got away with some two or three thousand pounds worth of postal orders from Roodepoort Post Office ; and on one occasion when robbing a bank at Boksburg North, shot and killed a bank clerk who tried to stop them in carving out their plans. Stolen motor cars helped them to get away. The polirjp were almost powerless, and eventually a sum of £SOO was placed on Fosters head. An over-confident detective, Mynott. wished to secure the entire reward for himself. Hearing that Foster was at- a certain house in Ixt Rochelle, a suburb some three miles south' of Johannesburg, he attempted an arrest without any assistance. Foster was adjusting the engine of a motor car in the yard when the “tec” suddenly covered him with his revolver to the words “Hands up!” Foster as suddenly whipped round and simultaneously shot Mynott dead with his automatic. Before the report had

attracted attention lie cleared off in the ear.

The pace became fast and furious. Hunted from pillar to post by tbc whole of the available police force, the position of tho outlaws was precarious. At last, faint from want of 'l'Ood and rest, they sought shelter in a cave in tho range of low hills near Kensington, a northern suburb. Here they were located by the police. It meant certain death to any official entering the mouth of the cave, and plans wore laid to effect the arrest. of the criminals without the sacrifice of a policeman. The crack shot of the Transvaal Police was installed behind a small heap of stones some fifteen paces ironi tho month of the cave, with his rillo covering the entrance. At a distance of seme 200 yards were policemen with loaded rifles at. regular distances from one another in a circle which was kept clear of onlookers. Johannesburg by tliis time was on fete. The cave became tbc show-place of the city. Tramcars were crowded, the tea-shops in the neighbourhood did a thriving trade, for thousands thronged around the scene.

Meanwhile negotiations bad been carried out between besieged and besiegers by means of notes passed through the stones at the mouth. Soup and cigarettes were also passed through to the gunmen. The law officers who were present refused to guarantee their lives if they surrendered. Foster eventually asked that his wife might be sent for. and a police ear was sent to Oermiston for this purpose, and brought back Mrs Foster, her young babv and her mother. She entered the cave with her baby —the first person to do so since the arrival of the outlaws. The crowd, with bated breath, awaited developments. Alter a. few minutes Mrs Foster emerged from the cave and banded over the child to her mother. She then riOniforiM lb-' cave, and’ shortly after shots wi re distinctly beard by the crowd. tSmokr erme trickling slowly from the mouth o r the cave. Minutes followed in an .almost deathless silence; speculation ran riot, in the minds of everyone present. tVlmt luul happened " Vn officer then approached the entrance and called out, but received no answer. Very cautiously tho police entered and found the three gunmen, Mrs Fester and her husband, dead, all presumably shot by the latter.

This is, of course, only the hypothesis based on tho position of the bodies, empty cartridge shells, Foster s automatic and other indications. A\ hat actually happened in the cave at the last can never be known definitely. Those who alone were in a position to know bad already passed out to the great silence. It was obvious the wife preferred dying with her husband to living without him. and came out of the cave after discussing the matter ol leaving the child with her mother, returning with unfaltering footsteps to death at her husband's bands.