The recent death of Mr. Justice Gregorowski, of the Supreme
Court of South Africa, while entering a train, brings back memories of a dark page of history. It was Judge Gregorowski who presided at the trial of the leaders of the Reformers in the Transvaal in 1896 after the disastrous Jameson Raid. President Kruger stated at the time that his reason for selecting Reinhold Gregorowski was that he desired the services of a judge not in any way prejudiced against the Reformers. In this matter Sir Percy FitzPatrick did not see eye to eye with " Oom Paul," for in his book The Transvaal from Within he stated that Gregorowski was noted "for the peculiar severity of his sentences on all except Boers." It was Judge Gregorowski who sentenced to death Frank Rhodes, Lionel Phillips, Hays Hammond and George Farrar—a sentence, of course, which was not carried out.
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