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A document that suggests Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scouts movement, illegally killed a prisoner-of-war who had been promised safe passage, fetched twice the expected amount at an auction in London Wednesday. Baden-Powell was a colonel in the British Army during the Second Matabele War in 1896 and ordered the death of Uwini, a chief who had led a rebellion in what later became Zimbabwe. The papers, which sold for £3,750, imply that he knew Uwini was to be given safe passage as part of the terms of his surrender, but was nevertheless killed. Baden-Powell’s commanding officer was too far away to be consulted and the colonel took action to save lives, he said when later investigated.

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