MASKED RAIDERS. Irish Banditry in South Africa 1880-1899

By Charles van Onselen.

Protea Book House, 2020.

Firm softcover, 254 pages. Very good condition; as new. 

For two decades before a railway system linked southern Africas principal cities in the mid-1890s, the worlds 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 Highvelds criminal heroes, a forceuntil nowlargely hidden from history. With inimitable storytelling flair, Charles van Onselen illuminates the intrigue and influence of a secretive, oath-bound brotherhood.