KENYA: The Ladies & the Pangas

In a lonely Kenya ranch house some 60 miles north of Nairobi, Mrs. Dorothy Raynes-Simson, a cattle rancher, sat chatting with her partner, Kitty Hesselburger. There was a noise at the door, a shout, and a gang of Mau Mau thugs, led by the ranch's male cook, burst into the living room, brandishing panga knives. One man seized Mrs. Hesselburger by the throat, bent her across a chair; the rest set upon Mrs. Raynes-Simson, who grabbed her revolver, a handbag necessity for most Kenya white women these days, and blazed away. She...

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