Part 20 in our William Hills series: Krugersdorp looked its best on a Saturday
Hills said no black people were allowed on the paths; they all had to walk on the roads.
It was when the farmers and the miners came to make their purchases on a Saturday that Krugersdorp looked its best.
“The streets and marketplace were filled with ox-wagons and their teams,” William Hills of his life as a journalist in 1897, many years before he established the Benoni City Times.
“Cape carts drawn by a pair of horses brought in the wealthier farmers and their wives and young farmers delighted to display their spirited horsemanship on horses with long tails, on which much loving care had been lavished to bring them to the pink of condition.
“When the young ladies on the sidewalks had been sufficiently impressed by lively curvetting, the equestrian would leap from his mount and tie it up at the horse rails, which at that time could be found almost everywhere in the chief streets.”
Hills said no black people were allowed on the paths; they all had to walk on the roads.
“Looking back, I am astonished at the rapidity with which I was assimilated, especially as I could not speak the taal.
“Despite the Jameson Raid, which had only occurred about a year-and-a-half before, when I reached Krugersdorp no racial bitterness came to my notice.”
ALSO READ: #bct100: Taking a walk back in time with William Hills
The Jameson Raid over New Year 1896 was a failed attempt to spur “Uitlanders” (British expatriates) to rise against Paul Kruger’s government. Raiders marched from Pitsani, in Zimbabwe, to Krugersdorp, where they were stopped by the Krugersdorp Commando.
“A striking example of the cordial relations prevailing was the marriage of Miss Papenfus and Major Erasmus of the Staats Artillerie. All Krugersdorp society was present at the wedding and weddings were weddings in those days.”
Their “triumphal” drive in a brougham drawn by a team of white horses, with a mounted escort, through streets lined by well-wishers, ended in a ceremony at the Dutch Reformed Church.
“A little thought, as with much applause and laughter, the toasts were honoured that events in a comparatively short time would bring me into such close and personal touch with the officers of the Transvaal’s leading fighting unit.” (Article: Carol Stier)
Next time: How “Coffee Jacobs” drove South Africa’s first motor car.
ALSO READ: Part 18 in our series on William Hills: Krugersdorp was a legal paradise
