was
second in command and was placed in charge of the Town Guard. Major
Peak-man, an officer of the local volunteer force, who had had a
considerable amount of experience in the Kafir wars, was appointed
Staff Officer. On the 4th of October the local volunteers, five
hundred strong, were called out by the Governor, and went into camp.
On the 5th of October the first serious disturbance of the
work at the mines occurred. An alarm was sounded at one
o'clock in the morning of that day, and all the forces in town,
including the men working in
the mines, were called out to do
military duty, as it was rumored
that an attack was contemplated
by the Boers, who were massing
commandoes in the Orange Free
State, only a few miles distant.
It had been arranged that the
whistles (sirens), commonly called
" hooters," at the various engine
houses of De Beers Company,
should be blown in case an
alarm had to be given. The
first alarm caused great consternation throughout the whole
town. Men were running, helter-skelter, in the dark, seeking their various redoubts, the moving
guns and ammunition wagons rattled through the streets, and
