statham left the "witness" in late 1879 for cape town, to edit the new radically liberal newspaper, the "cape post". he was succeeded by alfred aylward, a colourful irishman who openly boasted that as a staunch fenian he had been implicated in the killing of a manchester policeman – a claim which, like many others made by the larger-than-life aylward, has not withstood historical scrutiny.