Masked Raiders

by Van Onselen, Charles

• ISBN13: 9781770220805
• ISBN10: 1770220801
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-09-01
• Publisher: Random House Struik

Summary

For two decades before a railway system linked southern Africa's principal cities in the mid-1890s, the world's richest supplies of diamonds and gold were transported by coach and horses to distant ports for export. For Irish soldiers based at Fort Napier, Pietermaritzburg, the temptation of this fabulous wealth proved irresistible: they deserted by the score and, as members of the criminal 'Irish Brigade', embarked on a spree of bank, safe and highway robberies. Masked Raiders follows the wild exploits of legendary brigands like the McKeone brothers and 'One-Armed Jack' McLaughlin, who ravaged the subcontinent, from the mining towns of Barberton, Kimberley and Johannesburg to the borders of Basotholand, Bechuanaland, Mozambique and Rhodesia. With tales of heists, safe-cracking, illegal gold dealings, prison breaks and hidden roadside treasure, the book reveals the potency of the Highveld's 'criminal heroes', a force'”until now'”largely hidden from history. With inimitable storytelling flair, Charles van Onselen illuminates the intrigue and influence of a secretive, oath-bound brotherhood.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
From Agrarian Ireland and Industrial Lancashire to Natal's College of Banditry	p. 11
Deserters and Navvies: Birth of an 'Irish Brigade'	p. 27
Bank Robbers in the Kingdom of the Imagination	p. 45
Coach Robbers and Highwaymen in the Pre-Rail Era	p. 71
Safe-Robbers and Blasters of the Witwatersrand	p. 93
The Parameters of Popular Support: Criminal Heroes, Outlaw Legends and Social Bandits	p. 139
The Birth and Death of 'Outlaw Legends': Social Banditry in a Racially Divided Setting	p. 163
Illicit Gold Buying, the Arrival of the Advanced Irish Nationalists and the Loss of the Dorothea	p. 179
Conclusion: The Irish Brigade and Anti-Imperialist Struggles in Retrospect	p. 219
Note on Sources	p. 235
Select Bibliography	p. 239
Acknowledgements	p. 243
Notes	p. 245
Index	p. 281
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