February 27, 1902: The Execution of Breaker Morant

February 27, 1902: Harry "Breaker" Morant is executed in Pretoria, South Africa. He was 37 years old. He died bravely, but that's the only good thing that can be said about him.

He was born on December 9, 1864, in Bridgewater, Somerset, in England's West Country, with the name Edwin Henry Murrant. (In New Jersey, there is also a Somerset County, which also has a town named Bridgewater.) He sailed to Australia in 1883, where he gained his nickname "Breaker" by domesticating, or "breaking," horses. He gained a reputation as a boozer, a womanizer, a bush poet, and an expert horseman. In spite of his later reputation, where Australians claimed him as one of their own, he always regarded himself as English.

With the breakout of the Boer War in 1899, he volunteered for the South Australian Volunteer Contingent, and was sent to South Africa the following year. In many respects, the terrain and climate of South Africa are similar to that of outback Australia, so Morant was in his element. His superb horsemanship, expert bush skills and educated manner soon attracted the attention of his superiors. He was recommended as a dispatch rider. This the job reportedly provided Morant with ample opportunity to visit the nearby hospital and pursue dalliances with the nurses.

While serving as a Lieutenant with the Bushveldt Carbineers, Morant was arrested and court-martialled, for committing murder on active service, one of the earliest such prosecutions in British military history.

Morant was accused of the summary execution of Floris Visser, a wounded prisoner of war, and the slaying of four Afrikaners and four Dutch schoolteachers who had surrendered at the Elim Hospital. According to military prosecutors, this was in retaliation for the death in combat of his commanding officer.

Morant's defense attorney, Major James Francis Thomas, demanded the acquittal of his client under what is now called the Nuremberg Defense, alleging that his clients could not be held legally or morally responsible because they only followed orders. It did not work, and Morant and 3 others were convicted. On February 27, 1902, they were executed by a firing squad from the King's Own Cameron Highlanders in Pretoria. He refused a blindfold, and told the squad, "Shoot straight, you bastards! Don't make a mess of it!"

Despite being a vicious cold-blooded murderer, Morant has become a folk hero in modern Australia, representing a turning point for Australians' self-determination and independence from British rule. Their court-martial and death have been the subject of books, a stage play, and an award-winning film by Australian director Bruce Beresford, starring Edward Woodward, later the star of the CBS crime drama The Equalizer.

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February 27, 1902 was a Thursday. Author John Steinbeck and golfer Gene Sarazen were born on this historic day. But there were no scores: Baseball and football were out of season, and basketball and hockey were all-amateur.