JIMMY SMITH MEETS PRESIDENT PAUL KRUGER: Pam Beck

Before the lockdown in March 2020, David de Klerk gave me a few very interesting copies of the “Lantern” magazine. These were Journals of Knowledge and Culture published by the then “Foundation for Education, Science and Technology” and it was from an article printed in 1983 in a Special Edition that I came across the following interesting piece of South African history of which, I’m sure, not many people know. The author of the article is unknown.

“There was an exhibition in the Kruger House which told the story of the little-known meeting between President Paul Kruger and the youthful emissary of nearly 30,000 American School boys. It was 29th May 1900, and Paul Kruger was preparing to go into exile when he was notified that a youth in the uniform of the American Telegraph Company was waiting to present a “Message of Sympathy” subscribed to by 29,000 American schoolboys. The President very warmly received Jimmy Smith who had travelled 16,000 km across the world for this occasion. Jimmy presented the silken roll of signatures as well as a leather case containing a war album of press cuttings, photographs and drawings from the American press on the Anglo-Boer War.

Sponsored by the Philadelphia North American newspaper, the testimonial had been canvassed among the youth of America - 10,000 signatures were collected in Philadelphia, 15,000 schoolboys were enrolled in New York and Boston subscribed 4,000 names.

It should be noted that when, in 1854, the Revd D Van Der Hoff established a parish in Pretoria, he called it Pretoria Philadelphia, a name sybolising the path of unity and brotherhood followed by Transvaal’s first president, Martinus Wessel Pretorius, son of the hero of Blood River. For a long time Pretoria was known as Pretoria Philadelphia, and this was probably the reason why so much symapthy for the Boer cause emanated from the city of Philadelphia. How it all happened The Philadelphia North American newspaper generously decided to pay the fares of a lad, James (Jimmy) Francis Smith, and a reporter, Hugh Sutherland; the lad to carry a message to President Kruger. Smith was Messenger No 1534 to the American District Telegraph Company. On the sash which Smith was to wear were the following words:

‘School Boys’ Messenger to President Kruger Sent by The Philadelphia North American’ A leather case and its contents were to be handed to the President. The contents consisted of a book with the superscription:

To his Honour Paul Kruger, President of the South African Republic:

The North American of Philadelphia, the city where the American Declaration of Independence was signed, presents to you, the defender of the republican independence of your country, this volume. It will convey to you some slight evidence of the esteem and admiration in which you are held in this country, as the representative of the same glorious cause for which our forefathers fought, against the same enemy. The North American, Philadelphia

At New York, Jimmy Smith and Hugh Sutherland embarked in the ‘St Louis’, after a heroes’ farewell at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music, and in New York a reception at the Waldorf Astoria.

On 11th April 1900 the St Louis left New York, reaching Southampton on 17th April. From Le

Havre Smith and Sutherland reached Port Said on 19th April, Suez on 30th April, Aden on 5th May, Diego Suarez on 15th May, Mozambique on 17th May, Beira on 19th May and Lourenco Marques (Maputo) on 21st May. On 29th May, after a journey of 11,755 miles, the 2 Americans arrived in Pretoria by train.

RH Davis was an eye-witness when the 2 Americans arrived at the presidential dwelling, and in his book, ‘With Two Armies’ (New York, 1900) he described their arrival 3 hours before Kruger’s departure:

‘At one end of the dark, low ceilinged room stood the man who, as a boy of 10 in the Great Trek of 1836, had fled before the British, and who since had been twice driven to seek a new home in the wilderness. He was now ... once more going forth, again evicted by the British, to hide like a wounded lion among the rocks of his mountains. Opposite him was the frightened, red-haired messenger boy ... squeezing his cap under his elbow, and holding out the leather case containing the roll of signatures in the circular leather case before him.

The leather case was delivered and Sutherland presented the book bound in leather.

After the delivery of the message of 29,000 signatures and the album, Kruger said to FW Reitz, the Secretary of State: “Tell them I thank them ... Tell them I am much obliged for the message and for the history. They must go now”. He held out his hand to Jimmy Smith and Sutherland, the last Americans to shake it before he went to the mountains’.

That afternoon Kruger said farewell to his loved ones.

Jimmy Smith and Sutherland could not leave Pretoria immediately. The British placed them under house arrest. They were freed after intervention by the American Consul-General and left for Cape Town by train. They were back in the USA on 19th August. The 2 envoys had covered 23,736 miles carrying out their assignment.

A correspondent of the New York herald received the following message from President Kruger: ‘Convey to the American people my esteem. We

Jimmy Smith, later Lieutenant Smith, served with distinction in the New York police force. In 1918, as a member of the US Tank Corps, he saw service in WW I, returning after the war to the police. He died on 8th April 1940, at the age of 56. He was survived by his wife, Charlotte Kloester, his son Robert, and a daughter Hedwig O’Loughlin of Refugie, Texas. Robert followed his father with a career with the Police.’

(The facts and illustrations contained were kindly supplied by the National Cultural Historical and Open-air Museum in Pretoria)