Bruce Bridges was born in Kenya, where his family built a life — and a small fortune — pulling gems from the ground. But when his father was ambushed and his mine seized, he was forced to face a new Kenya — volatile, corrupt, and with no use for its colonial past.
"Campbell Bridges spent the last morning of his life testifying before Kenyan police officials about the death threats he'd been getting. It was August 10, 2009, and his phone had been buzzing with warnings from townspeople that an ambush was in the works. Still, Bridges got into his truck and drove the 45 minutes to his gemstone mine, where an angry mob was waiting.
Bridges was a geologist who'd been prospecting the same corner of Africa for four decades. Lately his life's work had been under siege. For three years a group of pirate miners had been trying to occupy his 1,500-acre leasehold, asserting that, as natives of the region, they had a rightful claim. Recently their efforts to intimidate him had escalated. "It makes no difference if you are legal and have all the documents," one of them had said to Bridges the day before. "We are going to take the mine by force. We are going to kill you all."
So Bridges asked the police commissioner for a protective escort to the mine, but he was refused. He then called a private security detail, but when he stopped by its office, the door was locked and no one answered. A group of German tourists were headed to meet him at the mine for a 3 pm geology lecture, and given the newest round of harassment, Bridges was worried for their safety. So the 71-year-old decided to confront the squatters himself. "He was fed up, frankly," his wife, Judith, said. He brought along four askaris, or bodyguards, including his longtime security chief, Philip Syengo, and Bridges' son, Bruce, who ran the mining company with him. They grabbed what weapons they could — sticks, belt knives, a wooden club, and an antique bayonet that hung in Bruce's childhood bedroom. "We didn't imagine a bloodbath," Bruce said.
As they approached the property line, they found their path blocked by large boulders and felled trees. As soon as they got out of the truck, 10 to 12 men rushed toward them, armed with spears, daggers, and pangas, long machetes used for cutting brush. The men shouted in Swahili, "Toka mzungu" ("Get out, white man") and "Afrika sio ya mzungu" ("Africa is not for white people"). Two of Bridges' askaris ran for the hills.
"We recognized them as the employees of the illegal mining outfit," Bruce said, "and Dad immediately walked closer and tried to calm them down. I noticed one of them had a bow and arrow and was looking for an angle to shoot at us. Suddenly a throng of men, 25 to 40 of them, charged down from a hill. We were surrounded. It was obvious they were there to take all of us out."
One of Bridges' guards, Amos Kiamba, shouted at him to get back in the truck, but Bridges stood his ground. Suddenly one of the gang members shouted, "Kill!" while another swung a blade at Kiamba's neck. One attacker lunged at Syengo, striking him with a club and gashing his forehead with a panga. A spearman ran at Bridges, trying to impale him, but he grabbed the spear, holding off his attacker with an outstretched arm, leaving his chest exposed. In a flash, a bowie knife plunged deep into Bridges' chest, making a wound the coroner would later measure to be eight inches deep.
"Mr. Bridges called out, 'Hey, my sons, someone has done me wrong,' " Syengo recalled. "Bruce and I ran and held him, but it was too late. The man who stabbed him lifted his blade to his mouth to taste his blood, victorious. He said, '**** off. Bridges is dead.' "
Bruce chased the spearman up the hill but lost him in the brush, so he ran back to his father, who was now lying in a wide pool of blood. "I was amped on fear and adrenaline," he said. "Everything was in slow motion." One of the remaining squatters swung a panga at his neck, but Bruce clubbed his arm out of the way — only the dull side of the blade made contact, tearing open his neck nonetheless. Blood poured down, soaking Bruce's shirt, but he kept clubbing.
Syengo heard an attacker scream in Swahili, "We have killed one of them. ... "
There is much more to this story here. Don't miss it:
http://www.mensjournal.com/features/art ... ge-w437780
