George St Leger Lennox (1845 – December 1919) born into a noble Scottish family, popularly known as Scotty Smith, was a South African bandit known as South Africa's Robin Hood. He was well known as a cattle thief, lover (and thief) of horses, dealer in illegal diamonds, smuggler and friend of the poor.
Early life
A book was written by F. C. Metrowich, Scotty Smith, which was published in 1962 and went through at least three editions. By Scotty's own account, according to Metrowich, he was not willing to marry the girl that his father had chosen for him in Scotland, and therefore did not receive his inheritance. George, or Scotty as he was often called, trained as a veterinarian, before being shipped to the colonies. It is thought that he first went to Australia where it is believed he participated in the Kalgoorlie gold rush. Apparently he did not have much success though, because he it also rumored to have ended up first as a prize fighter in New York, and later as Veterinary Officer of an Army regiment in India. Scotty got this post on recommendation of an uncle who was Commander in Chief of the Indian Army. The officer in charge of his cavalry squadron was killed in one of the Hill campaigns, so Scotty is believed to have taken over, ordered to charge and caused heavy casualties for his troops. After a court martial, he was believed to have been discharged.
South Africa
Scotty arrived in South Africa in 1877 to join the Frontier Armed and Mounted Police. He saw action in the Gaika War. It is not known exactly when his military career ended, or when he got his nickname "Scotty Smith", although he claimed that he took the papers of a fallen comrade by that name. Due to lack of more evidence, it is concluded that he may have used stolen papers in the name of "Scotty Smith" to escape military life at some point, but there is no actual proof of this. After his early attempts at a military lifestyle, both in Australia and in South Africa, Scotty's life took a more exciting turn.
Stories
When in South Africa he got involved in gun-running, general theft, elephant hunting and other hunting activities in the then Bechuanaland (Botswana). He was also involved in legal and illegal diamond buying in the diamond fields, horse theft and highway robberies. He was caught and sentenced several times for these crimes, but always managed to escape somehow and claimed that no prison cell could hold him. It appears that a lot of these activities were on behalf of the British government and he was released without blowing his cover.
Scotty Smith was a genius when it came to fooling people into believing that he was someone else by changing his character, as it was never claimed that he actually used a disguise. It is said that one police detective who had arrested Scotty, ended up being the captive, and "Sergeant Scotty" handed him over to the police in Kimberley, claiming that the captive (who was the policeman) was Scotty Smith. After being jailed, the man had a difficult time in convincing the authorities that Scotty Smith had played a trick on them.
Many times, living up to his nickname of Robin Hood of the Kalahari, he robbed the rich to give to the poor. There is a story about a farmer or boer who once met Scotty but did not recognise him. The farmer related to this man (Scotty) that he would like to capture Scotty Smith and claim the large reward at the Kenhard police station. Scotty then immediately identified himself and told the now hesitant farmer to take him to Kenhardt Police station at gunpoint, where the reluctant farmer received the reward. However, the farmer did not have to feel remorse for very long, because early that evening, Scotty broke out of jail and rode off again. It is thought that he would have been released by the authorities
Another story about Scotty Smith claims that he calmly hid the illegal diamonds that he had smuggled, which the police came looking for, in the kettle which was simmering on the camp-fire. He then apparently went ahead and poured coffee for the policemen and himself from the boiling kettle. There is evidence that he acted for the British during the various wars in South Africa s an intelligence field officer providing both information about opposition troop movements in the Kalahari and providing provisions. He arranged horses, fodder and the like to the British troops