THE DEVIL CAPTAIN.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 401, 28 February 1880, Page 2

THE DEVIL CAPTAIN.

The late General Donovan, known to almost everyone some years, in the city of Cape Town, &c, as the man with the lion's voice, for many years commanded' that famous corps the Cape Mounted Rifles, As an evidence of the strength of his lungs, it is stated he could drill his/ regiment with perfect ease a quarter of a mile off. He was at the time of the first Kaffir war a captain commanding a troop in the above-named regiment. He was over six feet in height, perfectly proportioned, and possessed of muscular strength rarely given to man. Scarce knowing what fear meant, a consummate horseman, well skilled with his weapons, he invariably defeated the enemy whenever they had an encounter, himself coming off scatheless, so that he got to be regarded by the natives as bearing a charmed life. The Kaffirs then, as now, fought with ad-

...dress and determination, and were, and : 'are,|peouliarly oruel to their, captured. If not .immediately and humanely slain by innumerable atabs of the deadly assegai, they were usually reserved for the fearful torture of being flayed alive after suffering ■naifieless indignities. The Kaffirs, pirtiouUrly the Zulus, made a vow that if ever the" devil captain/' as they aklled Dono : van, or what to the equivalent in their 1 guttirrals,'fell;in'tp"'{.h'eir hands',' Tils fate would he worse 'than' any -that'preceded him, and he knew.,they.wqre mgn of their word, '■•lH'oheoftharighl^tliit'tiokplace iii4he - up-xovritry,..ft'6t;faffrojn,w^ere ! 'tii'e recent tragedies were enacted',''the capi tain's luck seemed to. have-.deserted him, / and he fcnd his/comnjand'fell into an amina gulfe betweenjtwo.rifts;pf hills, country.. His men were almost -ail either kiiled-op-wounded-,- hia horse shot from.under him, sabre .broken, and pistols empty. He apparently was at the enemy'smerey. -Donovan knew that small mercy would be accorded him, and as the two-Zulu-chiefs, famed for' their strength and bravery, advanced to capture I him-alive,-he seized one literally in each I hand, and with his enormous strength, doubled by his despair of the moment, brought their heads together with a deadly crash. One of the wounded men, afterwards said that it was like the sound of broken bottles, One chief was killed and the other so maimed that he lived but a day or two. The rest of the band fled with terror, now thoroughly convinced that he was not a man, but a demon. The servivors and the dead chiefs were shortly after brought in by reinforcements of the regiment, Donovan was hardly ever again opposed during the continuance of the war. ■ •