Frank's Commentary: This piece of newspaper is truly one of the most astonishing reports I have ever read. To hear about your own death is not a common occurrence, nor one that I would wish anyone else to go through. When I returned home and found this had been sent out, I was left amazed. Lucy told me that when she took this out of Gertrude’s hands, the worst fear shot through her body and she felt as if she had passed out. How terrible I feel for giving her a scare like that! The ambush was one of the most horrifying scenes I have ever witnessed, and I was lucky to be marked as a reporter so I did not join the rest of the troop. When the attack started, they led me away and kept me safe, but I was still stuck with a hostile group of fighters. Little to my knowledge, when I was taken we were nearing the end of the war, and soon after, a search party came searching for me. Mr. Steele was there with me the whole time and I am sure he is experiencing a similar range of emotions as I am reading this article. It is baffling to me, to see how different things are, I feel as if I am seeing my home in a new way. Speaking of home, I am soon to return to Cornwall, now that I am back from my journey abroad. I will take Lucy with me and she will see my family again, but this time we will be together and full of joy, not the sorrow that clouded them the last time she visited. My mother wrote me a letter about Lucy after she heard about my fortunate survival, expressing her pride and her excitement that Lucy was the woman I am to spend the rest of my life with. Although their last meeting was in worsened spirits, Lucy still brought a light to my home and my parents loved meeting her. I think I will bring this article with me when I return, and frame it there, as a memory of the experience I had.
Editorial Commentary: It is likely that this news article comes as a result of ambushes in the early stages of the Boer war, which took place in the late 1890s. This conflict, which had been taking place since the beginning of British colonization more than a century earlier, was the second major war between the British and the Boer’s, preceded by the First Boer War a few years before (National Archives). While the British did come out victorious, it was not without many casualties and changes of tactics (NAM 1). After a failed attempt at an uprising against the Boers, the British Army was humiliated and felt it necessary to make a point on their military power (NAM 2). Eventually, the fighting led to guerrilla style warfare, in which parties would be ambushed, as was the case with Mr. Frank (National Archives). The Second Boer War began to wind down at the start of the 20th century, but by this point the damage had already been done. An estimated 150,000 military casualties had occurred between both sides, and thousands more civilian deaths (National Archives). Frank must have been lucky to survive after the ambush, because, based on the facts about the war, there was not a high chance to return once you had engaged in the fighting. Mr. Frank, however, being a non-combatant and a reporter, must have been seen as harmless and therefore given the chance to live. To see such a letter about his own death must have intrigued Mr. Frank, and I would not blame him in the slightest for keeping such an interesting piece.
References
Kershner. (2020, February 17). [Photograph]. https://media.spokesman.com/photos/2019/10/13/Kershner101319.jpg
The National Archives. (2021, December 13). The South African war. https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/the-south-african-war-how-did-the-british-conduct-war-in-1899-1902/
National Army Museum. (2014). Boer war. https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/boer-war