Starting work the day after he arrived in Krugersdorp in 1897, William Hills was walking down the street when a distinguished, military-looking man in a blue suit with a straw hat and an impressive black moustache waxed to two points came up to him.
“You are Hills, the new Times man, aren’t you?” he asked. “Well, my name is Blackburn, Douglas Blackburn, and I edit and run the Sentinel. Welcome to Krugersdorp and I hope we shall get on well together.”
ALSO READ: Part 12 in our William Hills series: The journey to Krugersdorp
This was a kind gesture to a young reporter by one of the ablest journalists South Africa had ever known, Hills, who established the Benoni City Times 100 years ago. He wrote this in 1940 in the story of his life as a journalist.
The office of the Krugersdorp Times also published the Roodepoort Mail.
The Sentinel’s office and printing works were in Commissioner Street West, and not far away was another newssheet, Die Voortrekker, run by Veld Cornet Ben Viljoen, who later became General Viljoen.
“No journalistic love was lost between Douglas Blackburn and Ben Viljoen, both of whom dearly loved a scrap.”
The Sentinel’s business manager Ramsay MacNab was also “not exactly a dove with an olive branch in his mouth”.
“Another newspaper printed and published in Krugersdorp was Het Volk, edited by an extraordinary erudite linguist and man of letters, the Rev Alpheus Snell, a Church of England clergyman, without pastoral charge, who sometimes assisted the Rector of Krugersdorp, the Venerable Archdeacon Temple.
ALSO READ: #JourneyTo100Years: Part 1 of our series on William Hills, founder of the City Times
“At one point, Viljoen and Snell were together on Het Volk, but they agreed to part.
“No town in South Africa of the size Krugersdorp then had ever had so many newspapers, and it would be interesting to know if the Press made Krugersdorp into the ‘Fighting Dorp’, or if the ‘Fighting Dorp’ was responsible for so many newspapers.
“The whole trouble with Krugersdorp in the exciting days under the Vierkleur was that it had far too many men of ability all aspiring to leadership and desirous of influencing the community through the press.”
Next time: The duel that didn’t come off (Article: Carol Stier).
