Article 6 on William Hills: Hills meets Cecil John Rhodes after the Jameson Raid
Reaching the deck, he found himself in a group of Rhodesians, but Rhodes was not among them.
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William Hills was determined to see Cecil John Rhodes ‘before any other reporter had turned out of his bed’, he wrote in a 1940 article on his life as a journalist.
Meeting Rhodes’s small steamer, the Pongola, that morning necessitated rising early ‘and at that time I was not good at early rising’.
Rhodes’s return to the Cape Colony on December 24, 1896, after the Jameson Raid was one of the most historic events in South Africa, said the Benoni City Times founder.
“Making my way to the North Jetty I was able to get on board a bumpy little steamboat which carried the port officials out. We bobbed up and down and, on reaching the ship I climbed the gangway in the wake of the great ones trying to look very important and official.”
No one stopped him. Reaching the deck, he found himself in a group of Rhodesians, but Rhodes was not among them.
“Like the Canadian Mounties, however, the motto of every journalist is ‘Get Your Man’, and I was determined to have first word with him if it was in any way possible.”
Hills approached a soldier-looking passenger and told him what he wanted.
“After that, everything went smoothly and with, I fear, a disregard for privacy, which is most reprehensible, but still is an important part of a reporter’s equipment, I was ushered into the cabin.”
At the time, he wrote in a London newspaper that it was difficult to see anything in the poky little cabin at first, half-obscured as it was with tobacco smoke.
“But by the time my eyes became accustomed to the light, I saw a plain, homely figure seated at the table before a glass of what appeared to be whiskey and water.”
Wearing a worn and shabby tweed suit, Rhodes was reminiscent of a country farmer.
“There is nothing impressive in his appearance, and it is only when one catches the glitter of his eyes or notices the square and resolute chin that the secret of his power becomes apparent.”
Next time: Rhodes asks Hills what kind of reception he is likely to get.
(Article: Carol Stier).
