JOHANNESBURG RIOTS.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 July 1915, Page 12 (Supplement)

JOHANNESBURG RIOTS.

I! EVEN UK FOR LUSITANIA OUTRAGE. SYSTEMATIC WORK. Of DE DESTRUCTIOX. Will Johannesburg ever forget I'ie night of May 12, ID)51 asks the Johannesburg Star of .May lit, in referring to tho anti-German riots which followed upon the sinking of the Lusifania. (What a night of destruction, of desolation, of ruin! 'The riots of July, HH.'l, pale into insignificance from the point of view of the amount of damage sustained in loss of property, of buildings, and of goods of every description. But it, was a work of ruin without the ugly features of the July upheaval, the cla»h of civil and military authority with maddened mobs, which resulted in the deplorable loss of much human life. It was systematic, and to a large extent orderly destruction, if destruction may he classed as orderly, it began with the wrecking aiul closing of bioscopes, which are, or were allowed to he. in the hands of enemy aliens. From thc-e small beginnings grew the graver and more alarming work of sacking and burning. It was one crowd which was afoot yesterday afternoon. Last night there were crowds in every ipiartcr of the, town, and the red glares which one saw in almost every direction were nheaeou fires, which marked the scenes of demolition and ruin. The destructive 'movement seemed to sweep through the town with the fierceness and rapidity of a prairie fire, but though the work of devastation was on a, wholesale scale, it was, not carried out indiscriminately, except in a few deplorable instances.

WORKING OUT A LIST. It was evident that the working parties were methodically exhausting a lot of places which had'been marked out for attack, and were mostly careful in cxe.ciiting their tasks to "avoid as far as possible damage to adjoining premises. Thus one sees in many places the phenomenon of one. store completely sacked, while its neighbors have not' suffered any injury. The fires to buildings in thickly populated quarters represented the gravest anger, and probably the most responsible members of tlie destructive bands would not have sanctioned these, acts, which threatened so much disaster to innocent owners and proprietors. Much better would it have been to be content with wrecking places and setting fire to tlie contents in tlie strees, as seemed to be the gueral plan of operations. Viewed as a whole, however, the control which was cexreised by the leaders of the devastating bodies was marvellous. Even in times of wildest, excitement they exercised a wonderful restraint, and kept the crowds to the mission in hand. It was not the hooligan who was at work. It was the well-dressed man, the man of good social standing, who was determined to wipe something off the slate. Of course, there were hooligan elements abroad. There were persons who were out for loot, and how often did one see such persons dispossessed of articles they had appropriated and these articles consigned to the flames. THE COLORED ASPECT. But it was impossible to repress entirely the looting instincts of some persons, an the temptation, particularly to colored people, to seize the opportunity for enrichment was not to be resisted. The colored aspect presented, indeed, one of the most deplorable features of the night's incidents. It was an unfortunate example for the colored and native, who were well represented in the crowd of sightseers. It is to be feared that many natives gained possesion of liquor last night, particularly when the premises of the Transvaal Imperial Bottle Store in Von Brandis street was cleared out, and at a fairly late hour last night a party of natives, more or less drunk, might have been seen carrying a quarter of beef down President street. The police had far too much to do to attend to such matters. Throughout the thrilling hours of the night the police were completely powerless to arrest tlie work of destruction. To attempt to keep pace with the Working parties was a physical impossibility. These parties carried through their plan' of campaign, and the police were able to do little more than take formal possession of places which had been wiped off the black list. Wonderfully goodtciiipcrcd and tactful, too, were the police, who worked with tireless energy.

CHECK JiY THE POLICE, At only one place, apparently, were they able effectively to prevent the crowd completing its purpose This was at Wehrloy's jewellery establishment, at the corner of I'ritchard and ilissik streets, where, repeated attempts were made, particularly between 1 and i o'clock in the morning, to break in and sack the establishment. The property was protected by a very strong force of police, who lined the pavement, and the most that could be done was to wreck the windows by throwing stones and other missiles. The streets in fie town generally presented a weird spectacle. Everywhere there was the litter of promises which had been wrecked; here and there fires in the roadway, of which the fuel had been, furniture and goods' of all descriptions, burned themselves out. Hither and thither moved the crowds, excited, enraged, but yet withal restrained. -More cigars were probably smoked in Johannesburg that night than during any previous night in its history, and tlm women have probably also never had such a plentiful supply of sweets.

AT'J'KMI'T To BCKN THE UJiKiUW CLUB.

It was just before 0 o'clock that the crowd got to the Herman Club, at the eome'i of Claim and Wain streets, on vehicles of all kinds, outpacing the police who had tried to follow from the centre of the town. The attack on the building developed quickly by the throwing of stones and briokbats through the windows. This preliminary work over, attempts were' made to get into the 'building and set it on lire. Police wore 'arriving quickly, and were in time to prevent the premises being rushed; but some persons managed to get in, and a burning chair exhibited from the upper floor showed that the work of burning was in hand. But the police were also inside, and a minute afterwards a policeman appeared at the same window and waved Ms helmet to the cheers of the crowd. The sun blinds and curtains of the lower windows were fired, but the solid building resisted contagion. The crowd had assumed druse proportions, and tile appearance of the fire brigade was hailed with eriesj of derision. "Mr. Hinde good-bumorcdly waved his helmet to Hie crowd. The engine moon withdrew, but the explanation of this was that the firemen were at work inside the Imilding' with hoses

from interior hydrants. From this time onwards it was a struggle between the crowd's working parties and the firemen ami police within, with an occasional mult for the door, whicsh the police endeavored to prevent. One of the earliest, incidents was the bringing out of a bust of the Kaiser, which was smashed on tie pavement. Though in the early stages the police were able to prevent the 'building being rushed, they could not stop the adventurous and daring spirits, who climbed through the windows and threw out furniture, fittings, pictures, and ornaments of all descriptions to he piled up in flic.streets and burned. IWith this fuel the street fire was fed freely, and' tables and chairs, settees, and other articles of furniture came in a constant stream through (lie windows, what times persistent fires were started within. The fires at the windows burned themselves out. People on the pavements hail narrow escapes from falling articles thrown out of higher windows. This work went on until there was nothing left to destroy, and even a piano was brought to one window and thrown out on to the pavement, to be broken up and torn to pieces. A fierce fire broke out in the basement on the Plain street side, anil threatened the whole building, but tlie flames were eventually subdued by the 'firemen. Though everything inside was biniicd or wrecked or jettisoned the building remained. THE BIGGEST BLAZE

of the night wins that which destroyed Die slock oi Gnndelfinger and (Jo., l'resistreet and left only the walls of the. t : nce-storey building standing. The post oil ice clock had just rung out 11 o'clock, then the cry of •■Guiulelfinger's next'' was heard. A crowd soon gathered. An entrance was forced, anil heavy blows wrought havoc among the wooden fittings, which served to feed the fire. Several members of Gundelfinger's staff endeavored to persuade the people to turn from their purpose, but their efforts were in vain. They protested that the institution was a Jiritish one, and that by its destruction .British inter■ests would suffer. JI may be mentioned in passing that five employees hail tried four times to save the place from attack. They said they were Englishmen, and that not a single German was connected with the firm. They pointed out that Air. Carl Gundelfinger. the head of the concern, was a member of the .Natal Provincial Council, and that not later than last week he had sat on a jury. For a while the crowd, influenced by these considerations, appeared to be inclined to spare the building. They finally .said, in effect: "We will give you till the morning to obliterate the name of Gundelfiugcr and have a Union Jack flying from the lop of the building.'' The employees referred to ga\e their word that that would be done. When the crowd returned for the last time, liawever, they were in a more determined mood, ami would brook no opposition. The pile of fittings and furniture in the street speedily grew, and was soon a mass of flames. At point it seemed as though the people would content themselves with the destruction of the sock and le the building alone, but eventually they showed that they were of a different temper. One man had 'become very much excited and waved a stick in the faces of the crowd in a useless endeavor to prevent further damage. Someone shouted that he was a German himself, and he appeared to :be about to retaliate until several friends removed him from the danger zone. It was a quarter past 11 o'clock when flames broke out at the back of the 'building. They spread with extraordinary rapidity. The fire brigade arrived shortly after receiving a call, but the fire had gained a firm hold, and all they could hope to do was to keep it from spreading to the star offices, whicVi for a while were in great danger, and to the building on the other side, occupied by a produce merchant. At first thev could only bring one jot to bear on the blazing mass, but when a second one was brought into play their work seemed to ! be having some effect. Meanwhile the flames had hurst through the roof, and could be semi from all the suburbs—in fact, for miles around. The crowd must have numbered several thousands, and the street was packed. They anxiously watched the progress of the fire because of the danger to the and relief was expressedd on all sies when it was seen that the brigade, ailed by an efficient water pressure, had made a marked impression on the part; of the premises adjoining the Star offices, At midnight a shower of blue lights proclaimed the presence of fireworks in the doomed building. A plentiful supply of water enabled the brigade to cope more effectively with the flames, and at 12".n all danger of adjoining property being affected was at an end. By 1 o'clock Gundelfinger's buihlinir was'gutted, and a charred mass was nil that was left of the valuable stock. ft is difficult to estimate the damage, but it must amount to many thousands of pounds. Upwards of a hundred firm- suffered considerable damage.