Lt. White was riding from Springfontein to Smithfield with dispatches. Along the way he stopped at farm Elpen. In residence were Mrs. du Plessis her young son.

Lt. White demanded money from her. She told him that she had no money except the money in her son's which contained two 'tickeys' (a few cents). Unhappy he insulted her and threw the purse she had given him in her face. She cursed him, saying that the Boers would shoot him.

From Elpen, he took the old road under the ridge of the hills toward Smithfield. Just past the neck at Erfhoek, he was shot and wounded by a Barend Kruger, who was hiding there with his brother and a few other Boers at Smaldeel.

Lt. White fled, but was found dead the in the fields of Erfhoek the next day.