Every once in a while, ol’ Fritz Duquesne turns up. The Daily Beast just ran a lengthy article on the Boer partisan, Nazi spy and bullshit artist extraordinaire.
As the piece notes:
“Duquesne’s guerrilla tactics and reputation for silently stalking and killing his British foes (in the Boer War) earned him the nickname “the Black Panther of the Veld.” An American scout employed by the British army, Frederick Russell Burnham, was given the special assignment of tracking down and killing Duquesne. He failed, and in his autobiography wrote, “Much has been written about Duquesne, most of it rubbish. Yet his real accomplishments were so terrible and amazing that they make the yellow journal thrillers about him seem as mild as radio bedtime stories.”
As you may recall, Burnham and Duquesne were near-collaborators on the American Hippo Project.
The piece is worth reading, though the author is a little too credulous for my taste of Duquesne’s claims. Burnham had a soft spot for The Black Panther. Me, I think he was a sociopath of the first water, but a fascinating one…
Keith West says
I’m inclined to agree with your take on Duquesne.
Thanks for the link.
JimC says
You bet.
Black Tyrone says
Claiming to have killed the Sirdar?? Hardly! I do not know much about this “footnote” but for lovable “BS” give me the colorful Maori Brown in double doses any day.
JimC says
The Lost Legion.
Matthew says
That was an interesting read. I have to wonder how much is true.
Breaker Morant says
Remember “River of Teeth” (You posted on that book) comes out soon-In May, I think.
JimC says
Black Tyrone posted this, and for some reason the system keeps kicking it out:
Then a health (we must drink it in whispers),
To our wholly unauthorized hoard-
To the line of our dusty foreloopers,
The gentlemen Rovers abroad-
Yes, a health to ourselves ere we scatter,…….
The Lost Legion 1895 RK
Black Tyrone says
Sorry Jim, when you said Lost Legion my mind went with haste to RK’s Lost Legion poem. Yes, Maori Browne I believe had his memories under “lost Legion” {stories. He as you know, claimed to be a dispatch rider during one of these conflicts in NZ But this turned out to be dubious in terms of actual campaigning done. He was however at Isandlawana in Zulu Land 1879 and survived more by luck posting than anything else, but he was there.
Predicated on your blog I purchased Ash’ s Matabele I have read only the opening as yet but He appears himself to a character. Have the If Man on the shelf. I understand Baden Powell enjoyed Browne’s yarns and company.
ps Kipling’s poem Lost Legion is worth the read.
JimC says
Yeah, Ash is a character, all right. I find his need to take frequent swipes at “liberals,” political correctness and other historians a little tiresome — the work should speak for itself. But Matabele is a very valuable work, and I got a lot out of The If Man. Haven’t picked up his Boer War book yet.
Black Tyrone says
Jim you are correct in expressing concern with Mr Ash. I have not read him but will. One can destroy one’s credibility with continual “attacks” on historians who are at odds with one’s own interpretations. History is not an exact science. One can collect available “facts” but even then interpretation is suspect. Even primary sources can be misleading on the truth. What and where was the author at the time of the incident/happening? Does the author have an agenda? How can an author- participant present an overall truth. Is his or her recollection to late in terms of time past to be accurate and again is that “accuracy” his sole interpretation?
I.E.
David Irving wrote a nice book on Rommel The Trail of the Fox But his incessant denial of the Holocaust detracts from his credibility. Yes we as student of history understand the pitfalls of research and that a “little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Gotta go now waiting for a savage snow storm here in NY state.
Black Tyrone says
I am a two finger “typer” and use a dictionary. Remember that little book? perhaps not in the “spell check” age!
JimC says
You have my sympathies. Sick of winter…
Black Tyrone says
Like your Dad I will pull out My R Service and with the wood stove burning..read of the lady known as Lu.
David Snell says
I just love the term “sociopathic.” It’s so iciseful and contemporary.