The Kruger Millions is a gold horde said to have been concealed in South Africa or in a different country on behalf of President Paul Kruger to evade capture by the British during the Second Boer War.
Legend has it that around two million pounds of buried gold and diamonds are concealed in the Blyde River province of Mpumalanga. The treasure is reportedly made up of gold bars and coins worth more than $350,000,000.00 in today’s money.
The wealth was allegedly hidden by or for President Paul Kruger during the South African Boer War between 1899 and 1902. No treasure has been discovered despite extensive searches.
Who is Paul Kruger?
Paul Kruger was a prominent political and military figure in nineteenth-century South Africa, serving as President of the South African Republic from 1883 to 1900.
During the Second Boer War which happened between 1899-1902, he rose to international notoriety as the face of the Transvaal and its neighbor, the Orange Free State, against Britain. He has been described as the symbol of Afrikanerdom and remains a controversial character; fans regard him as a tragic folk hero.
What Happened During Boer War
By 1891, a division had formed between Transvaalers and Uitlanders. By 1900, the Second Boer War had turned against the Boer people, forcing Kruger to abandon the Transvaal by rail on September 11, 1900, crossing into Mozambique.
His intention to flee on the first outgoing steamer was thwarted when the Portuguese Governor placed Kruger under house arrest for over a month until he was extricated by the Dutch cruiser HNLMS Gelderland and arrived in Marseille on November 22.
Kruger had gone and lived in the Netherlands by April 1901, and his memoirs were published in 1902. He continued in exile, eventually relocating to Switzerland in 1904, where he died of pneumonia in July 1904.
What Happened to Kruger Millions
When the British seized Pretoria in 1900, the legend began. Lord Alfred Milner, the British ruler of the Cape Colony, established that gold had been withdrawn from the South African Mint and National Bank.
South African journalist Gustav Preller picked up the subject and wrote an account of the gold’s disappearance (now in the Pretorian State Archives). He stated that the train would depart on June 4, the day before the British arrived in Pretoria and took control of the city.
When the government received word of combat at Six Mile Spruit (one day from Pretoria), it instructed mint personnel to begin weighing, recording, and transporting gold to the Pretoria train station. The train sped towards Machadodorp, where Kruger was staying at his temporary apartment, to the sound of oncoming cannon fire. Along with the mint gold, hundreds more gold bars from nearby mines were placed onto the train.
However, the train never arrived in Mozambique. The gold vanished somewhere in the parched grasslands, farmlands, and rocky savannah between Machadodorp and the border with Mozambique.
It may have traveled to Europe with Kruger or been distributed to fuel the war. The most widely held notion is that it was buried on a farm between Sabie and Watervalboven. That was the last of the gold; it was never seen again. Paul Kruger left South Africa in September 1900, and the knowledge of the Kruger millions may have died with those who buried it.
Another Story of the Buried Kruger Millions
A declaration made by John Holtzhausen on September 29, 1905, also contributed to the growth of this fantastic myth. He was in Kimberley prison for stealing a horse and wagon. He was sure that the Transvaal government had told him and two others – Pretorius, a veld cornet, and Swartz – to bury gold and coins.
He was sure that the Transvaal government had told him and two others – Pretorius, a veld cornet, and Swartz – to bury gold and coins.
He said that when he was apprehended for stealing the horse and carriage, he was on his way to find the Kruger Millions treasure, which he claimed was concealed 50 miles north of Blyde River and north of Leydsdorp.
Pretorius had died in the war, and Swartz had been hung for the murder of a man named van Niekerk. As a result, Holtzhausen was the only person who knew the wealth’s location.
In his hurry to go, he is said to have hidden the hoard to protect it from the English. Historians believe he would naturally seize all significant assets and hide them in a safe location or location.
In September 1900, Philip Swartz and a guy named Pretorius joined General Ben Viljoen’s commando. Swartz and Pretorius were those transferred to Komatipoort by train after President Paul Kruger left on a European trip. At the same time, General Viljoen and his cavalry traveled to Leydsdorp through Hectorspruit, where they crossed the Crocodile River.
Several burgers escaped across the Mozambique border to evade the British and were captured by the Portuguese. Some returned across the border to rejoin their commando. Swartz and Pretorius crossed the border on foot, heading towards the Lebombo highlands near Komatipoort and then on to Leydsdorp.
Swartz was injured, taken prisoner, and transferred to Ceylon during the war, while Pretorius was killed in action. Swartz wrote to a girlfriend while imprisoned in Ceylon, informing her that his days of financial insecurity would be over once he returned to South Africa. The British military intercepted his letter and resolved to keep a watch on him when he returned.
He was liberated in 1903 and discovered that his love had married a man named van Dyk upon his arrival in the Netherlands. Her sister was married to a Fanie Van Niekerk, and Swartz concluded she was the person he was looking for.
He told her that he had seen in a vision that she would soon be a widow. He began making arrangements to locate the treasure he and Pretorius had hidden, and the expedition would give him the ideal opportunity to get rid of Fanie Van Niekerk.
The voyage was organized by Swartz, Van Niekerk, James Colville, who funded the journey, and a man named Donovan. Swartz didn’t realize that Donovan was a member of the Transvaal Detective Service and had been sent to keep an eye on Swartz.
On May 4, 1903, they started for Pietersburg, and during the train ride, Donovan discovered Swartz’s true intentions with the gold. Donovan was put on high alert as a result of this. They traveled by mule wagon from Pietersburg to Blyde River, where they arrived on the night of May 16.
They headed off on foot the following day for Brak Spruit, about 32 kilometers away. They arrived in the afternoon, and while setting up camp, Swartz persuaded Van Niekerk to join him to shoot something for the pot. Van Niekerk had been seen alive for the last time.
Two shots were fired from the southwest as those left behind were camping. A few moments later, two more gunfire were heard further east, followed by stillness. The men in the camp assumed the two hunters had killed an animal.
They did not return, and it was assumed that they had lost astray. Swartz, on the other hand, showed up alone later that night. Van Niekerk, he reasoned, must have become lost and climbed up a tree to wait for daybreak. Donovan felt something was wrong and would keep a careful eye on Swartz.
During the night, shots were fired to indicate to Van Niekerk which direction the camp was located, but he was nowhere to be found by daylight. They left a letter for him at the camp and went in pursuit of wealth. A further hill could be seen in the distance from the top of a mountain, and Swartz ordered the group to wait for him while he searched for the markers. After a while, the group pursued him, but he was vanished!
Recent Discovery of Part of the Treasure
The “Kruger Millions” mystery has attracted both intrepid treasure hunters and braai-side theories. It was revealed in 2001 that a family of farm laborers had unearthed some of these Kruger pods as early as 1960 near Ermelo in Mpumalanga. However, the gold has gone undiscovered.
That is, until a Swiss vault was discovered recently.
The sack full of Kruger ponds was shipped from the Netherlands to Switzerland before the outbreak of World War II, according to the South African Mint, a subsidiary of the South African Reserve Bank. The treasure was kept in a vault until it was just auctioned off.
The South African Mint presently owns the Kruger ponds, which have been independently confirmed and graded by the Numismatic Guarantee Corporation in Florida, the United States.
So yet, no gold bars or diamonds have been retrieved.
Conclusion
While history has proven that the Kruger Millions did not exist, many people still believe that this trove of gold and rare coins is buried on South African land.
To fuel the fire, news reports like this persuade historians and treasure hunters to assume that the trove exists and may one day be discovered. A portion of the Kruger ponds was discovered in a Swiss vault. However, it was pretty minor in comparison to the original quantity.
Some believe that if discovered, it could be one of the most meaningful discoveries in history. After all, two million pounds in 1900 is now projected to be worth more than $350,000,000.00.
Although others claim that the original amount looted was vastly inflated, the truth remains that any gold bars and rare South African coins in that hoard would be quite valuable in today’s market, not to mention the significant historical significance associated with them.
References
https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/paul-kruger-timeline-1825-1904
https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/southern-african-history-biographies/paul-kruger
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