It was not until July the 4th that, with the
suppression of a public meeting in the market-place, Johannesburg
itself became the storm centre.
Benham and White were present at this marketplace affair, a confused
crowded occasion, in which a little leaven of active men stirred
through a large uncertain multitude of decently dressed onlookers.
The whole big square was astir, a swaying crowd of men. A
ramshackle platform improvised upon a trolley struggled through the
swarming straw hats to a street corner, and there was some speaking.
At first it seemed as though military men were using this platform,
and then it was manifestly in possession of an excited knot of
labour leaders with red rosettes. The military men had said their
say and got down. They came close by Benham, pushing their way
across the square. "We've warned them," said one. A red flag, like
some misunderstood remark at a tea-party, was fitfully visible and
incomprehensible behind the platform. Somebody was either pitched
or fell off the platform. One could hear nothing from the speakers
except a minute bleating.
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