The Foster Gang - May & Hamilton - 1966 - Heineman - 310pp, index, black and white photographs - Hardcover in good condition - dustcover in very good condition - Internally: ex-library book, tape residue in front ant back -but book itself is rather clean and tightly bound.
The Foster gang, a group of notorious thieves in South African criminal history, was lead by William Robert Foster, and consisted of Foster, John Maxim and Carl Mezar.
After being sentenced for robbing a jewelery store in Cape Town in 1913, Foster was sent to Pretoria Prison, but escaped, and committed several more crimes in the vicinity of Johannesburg with his gang, until they became prominent 'wanted' criminals.
The gang managed to evade arrest until mid-September 1914, after they were up for arrest for a string of robberies between 1912 - 1914, as well as the murders of several people and policemen. The gang had tried to hide in a house in Regents Park, but a neighbour alerted the police to their whereabouts.
After an unsuccessful attempt at arrest by the police, and a fatally injured policeman, the gang escaped to a cave in Kensington, which had been dug by mining prospectors in the 1890s and which Foster had discovered as a child growing up in the area.
On 16 September 1914, dogs lead the police to the cave, which was soon surrounded by a crowd of onlookers. On 18 September 1914*, the gang committed suicide in the cave, after Foster's wife, Peggy, was brought to him at his request. Apparently, the gang had decided to kill themselves instead of offering themselves up for arrest.
Incidentally, the roadblocks set up around the city to catch the fugitive gang also lead to the death of two other people, including Dr. Gerald Grace and General Koos de la Rey, who was on his way to begin the first phase of a government takeover.
Foster and his wife were buried in Braamfontein Cemetery, alongside each other and Mezar, next to the 1922 Miner's Strike graves. Maxim was also buried in the cemetery, in the general section. The infamous cave still exists, and is located on private property.
