1721 Anthonij van Goa
This case reveals the problems that slaves faced in forming permanent emotional and sexual relationships when they could be separated by sale at any time.1 Anthonij’s attempts to get back to the farm from which he had been sold were caused by his separation from Jannetie, the slave whom he refers to as his ‘wife’, although VOC law did not recognise the right of slaves to marry.2 His discovery that she had taken another partner after his permanent and forced departure led to his attack on her and his subsequent attempted suicide – whether from despair at her infidelity, or from fear of punishment for his attack, is unclear.
It is noteworthy that the court imposed a milder sentence than the death penalty recommended in the eijscheijschLiterally ‘claim’ or ‘demand.’ This is strictly speaking the eijsch ende conclusie without the final part about sentencing, but the term is often used as a shorthand for the whole document.,3 presumably having some sympathy for Anthonij’s predicament. Nonetheless, he was still whipped, branded, forced to work in chains and returned to his new owner. Given his attempted suicide, it is questionable which fate he might have preferred. Of Jannetjie we know no more.
Both the sententie and the interrogation of Anthonij van Goa are included in this case. Although there is much repetition, each document has its own character and insights. From the sententie we learn more details of the case as a whole, while the answers Anthonij gives to the questions of the court bring us closer to his own voice and motivations. It is a rare example of a slave’s direct testimony, albeit mediated through the scribe of the court.
Footnotes
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Sales were relatively frequent, since the Dutch laws of inheritance, which often divided up estates amongst a large number of heirs, frequently led to the break-up of slaveholdings, and auctions of household goods (which included slaves) were regular occurrences. Sometimes slaves were bought by relatives, but they were still usually transferred to new locations and separated from the other slaves with whom they had lived, worked and formed relationships, Worden 1985: 49-50 and Shell 1994: 104-21. ↩
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Slave marriage was not made legal until 1823. Only freed slaves were allowed to marry before then, Shell 1994: 320. Nonetheless, some slaves formed permanent partnerships which were often referred to by the authorities as ‘concubinage’. See 1749 Reijnier van Madagascar n. 1 for a discussion of this. ↩
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The eijscheijschLiterally ‘claim’ or ‘demand.’ This is strictly speaking the eijsch ende conclusie without the final part about sentencing, but the term is often used as a shorthand for the whole document. recommended that Anthonij be executed by hanging with a knife displayed over his head, CJ 325, ff. 76-7. There is no record of this case in the regtsrollenregtsrollenLiterally ‘rolls of justice’, the minutes of the proceedings of the Council of Justice., CJ 7 [1721], but it is apparent from the statement at the end of the sententie that the milder sentence here proposed was carried out on 29 March 1721. ↩
CJ 325 Criminele Process Stukken, 1721, ff. 57-64.
Questions, on the requisition of the landdrost Jacob Voet, on which is to be heard and examined the slave Anthonij van Goa, belonging to the burgher Beatrix Verweij.
There appears before the undersigned deputised members from the honourable Council of Justice of this government, the here-named slave Anthonij, who has answered to the questions below as is noted besides each one.
Article 1: The prisoner’s name, place of birth and age.
Answer: Anthonij van Goa, about thirty years old at a guess.
Article 2: Whose bondsman is the defendant currently?
Answer: Belonging to Beatrix Verweij, currently living in the Tijgerbergen.
Article 3: How long ago and by whom he was sold to the same?
Answer: That Oberholster, as his former baasbaasIn seventeenth-century Dutch this was used both in the sense of ‘head’ (e.g. ‘head carpenter’) and ‘master’. In South Africa the second meaning developed further, and thus baas came to be a synonym for meester (‘master’). It was the form that slaves (and Khoikhoi) would use to address male Europeans., had sold him on his auction to the aforementioned Beatrix, without knowing the correct date.
Article 4: How long a time the defendant had served the same before he fled from her for the first time?
Answer: I believe two weeks, but I had a permission letter to go and fetch my things, which were being looked after by the slaves of Jan Jurgen Roos, and from there I went to the farm of Abraham Cloete, which he had bought from my previous baasbaasIn seventeenth-century Dutch this was used both in the sense of ‘head’ (e.g. ‘head carpenter’) and ‘master’. In South Africa the second meaning developed further, and thus baas came to be a synonym for meester (‘master’). It was the form that slaves (and Khoikhoi) would use to address male Europeans..
Article 5: When this was and what goods he took with him?
Answer: As answered to the aforegoing, and to have taken nothing but a blanket.
Article 6: Where he then went to?
Answer: The final time to have stayed at Abraham Cloete.
Article 7: How long he remained there and elsewhere?
Answer: That on that evening, after he had gone from the post1 of his mistress, he slept a night on the post of his former master, the second night on the post of the aforementioned Abraham Cloete and the day thereafter the knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’ of his mistress came to get him from there.
Article 8: Who had provided him with necessities at that time?
Answer: That he was called by the slaves to the house of Oberholster and got food, and also in a similar manner at Cloete’s.
Article 9: Where, as well as by whom the prisoner, was captured?
Answer: By the aforementioned knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’ of his mistress, on the aforementioned post of Abraham Cloete.
Article 10: If, when he arrived home, he received punishment?
Answer: Yes.
Article 11: How long thereafter he again ran away from his mistress?
Answer: Eight days after this.
Article 12: Whence he proceeded to and stayed at?
Answer: Directly to the post of Oberholster, but neither he, nor his wife, saw me, and I stayed in a kloof above the farm of Oberholster, and at night I was with the bondsmen.
Article 13: If, at this time, he was not inter alia on the farm of his said baasbaasIn seventeenth-century Dutch this was used both in the sense of ‘head’ (e.g. ‘head carpenter’) and ‘master’. In South Africa the second meaning developed further, and thus baas came to be a synonym for meester (‘master’). It was the form that slaves (and Khoikhoi) would use to address male Europeans. Oberholster, close to Stellenbosch, and if the same was there on that occasion?
Answer: Yes, but that Oberholster was at the Cape.
Article 14: Who provided the prisoner with food and in what way he maintained himself there?
Answer: To have been provided by the meijdmeijdLiterally ‘girl.’ This word developed among the same lines as jongen, the word coming to mean ‘female slave.’ However, its trajectory diverged from that of jongen in that it eventually was used more widely to refer to indigenous women, so that meid still survives in modern Afrikaans as a pejorative term for women of colour. As with jongen, the word was no longer available to refer to European girls, but instead of the difference between girl and daughter disappearing, the diminutive form, meijsje (Afrikaans, meisie), came to be used for ‘girl.’ and jongensjongensLiterally ‘boy.’ In Dutch it was common to use this word also to refer to male servants, irrespective of age. At the Cape, however, this usage was extended to slaves and then became exclusive, so that jongen (also in the deflected form jong) came to mean ‘male slave’, such that Afrikaans lost the use of the word to mean ‘boy’ and instead uses seun (from Dutch zoon) for both ‘boy’ and ‘son.’ In this primary meaning, the word has become obsolete in modern Afrikaans, except for the archaic terms tuinjong (‘garden boy’) and plaasjong (‘farm boy’), in the sense of male workers of colour. and further to have maintained himself as it says in article 12.
Article 15: If at that time there was also a woman slave at that place, and (if so) how named?
Answer: Yes, and is named Jannetie.
Article 16: To whom she belongs, as also if the prisoner had any acquaintance with the same?
Answer: Oberholster, and she was my own wife when I lived there.
Article 17: If he did not wound the same?
Answer: Yes.
Article 18: In what way he performed this?
Answer: This meijdmeijdLiterally ‘girl.’ This word developed among the same lines as jongen, the word coming to mean ‘female slave.’ However, its trajectory diverged from that of jongen in that it eventually was used more widely to refer to indigenous women, so that meid still survives in modern Afrikaans as a pejorative term for women of colour. As with jongen, the word was no longer available to refer to European girls, but instead of the difference between girl and daughter disappearing, the diminutive form, meijsje (Afrikaans, meisie), came to be used for ‘girl.’ had sworn I will never take another man for as long as you live, yet when he saw that she was lying with another man, then my heart ached, I then pushed away the jongenjongenLiterally ‘boy.’ In Dutch it was common to use this word also to refer to male servants, irrespective of age. At the Cape, however, this usage was extended to slaves and then became exclusive, so that jongen (also in the deflected form jong) came to mean ‘male slave’, such that Afrikaans lost the use of the word to mean ‘boy’ and instead uses seun (from Dutch zoon) for both ‘boy’ and ‘son.’ In this primary meaning, the word has become obsolete in modern Afrikaans, except for the archaic terms tuinjong (‘garden boy’) and plaasjong (‘farm boy’), in the sense of male workers of colour. and I stabbed her with a knife in the abdomen.2
Article 19: Why he had did this?
Answer: Because she had a relationship with another.
Article 20: If it was with the intention to kill her?
Answer: Yes.
Article 21: If the knife now shown to him in court is the same knife with which he had committed the atrocious deed?
Answer: Yes.
Article 22: Where and in what way the prisoner got rid of the same?
Answer: I ran to the thicket with it and when people came to catch me, I wounded myself and then threw the knife away.
Article 23: How the prisoner was apprehended and got into the hands of the eijsscher?
Answer: By Jan and Claas Louw, as well as Jacob Cloete and Jan van Ellewe, after which being handed over to the eijsscher by Jan Louw and Jacob Cloete.
Article 24: If he, the prisoner, had given any resistance to those who wanted to catch him?
Answer: No.
Article 25: In what way did this come to pass?
Answer: I did nothing.
Article 26: If he wounded himself at that time?
Answer: As in article 22.
Article 27: Why he had done this?
Answer: I thought that I could just as well kill myself, to escape the punishment.
Article 28: If it had been with the same knife with which he also afflicted the meijdmeijdLiterally ‘girl.’ This word developed among the same lines as jongen, the word coming to mean ‘female slave.’ However, its trajectory diverged from that of jongen in that it eventually was used more widely to refer to indigenous women, so that meid still survives in modern Afrikaans as a pejorative term for women of colour. As with jongen, the word was no longer available to refer to European girls, but instead of the difference between girl and daughter disappearing, the diminutive form, meijsje (Afrikaans, meisie), came to be used for ‘girl.’?
Answer: Yes.
Article 29: If the prisoner was of the intention to do more mischief there at that house?
Answer: No.
Article 30: If the prisoner realises that he deserves a heavy punishment for this crime?
Answer: Yes.
Thus questioned and answered at the Cape of Good Hope on 7 March 1721.
These XXX marks were drawn by Anthonij van Goa.
As delegates, [signed] Ns. Heijning, M. Bergstedt.
In my presence, [signed] Dl. Thibault, secretary.
Verification
There appears before the undersigned deputised members of the honourable Council of Justice of this government, the here-named slave Anthonij van Goa, who, after the questions put and the answers given to them had been read out word by word, declares to fully persist by them, not desiring that anything more should be added or taken from them.
Thus done and verified in the Dutch language, which the prisoner understands and speaks reasonably, in the Castle of Good Hope on 8 March 1721.
These XXX marks were drawn by Anthonij van Goa.
As delegates, [signed] Ns. Heijning, M. Bergstedt.
In my presence, [signed] Dl. Thibault, secretary.
Footnotes
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In addition to their main, residential farm many Cape farmers, especially in the earlier decades of the eighteenth century, also owned one or more cattle posts in the interior. These farms tended to be loan farms, used exclusively for grazing. ↩
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The original is also in this mixture of the first and third person, direct and indirect speech. ↩
Vraagpointen [sic], omme daerop, ter requisitie van den landdrost Jacob Voet, gehoort en g’examineert te worden, den slaav Anthonij van Goa, toebehoorende de burgeresse Beatrix Verweij.
Compareerde voor de ondergeteekende gecommitteerde leeden uijt den edelagtbare Raad van Justitie deses [sic] gouvernements, den slaaf Anthoni, hier neevens genaamt, dewelke op de onderstaande vrage sodanig heeft g’antwoord als ter zijde van een ieder staat aangeteekent.
Articul 1: Des gevangens naem, geboorteplaats en ouderdom.
Antwoord: Anthoni van Goa, oud naar gissing omtrent de dertig jaaren.
Articul 2: Wiens lijfeijgen hij gedaagde alsnu is?
Antwoord: Beatrix Verweij, thans in de Tijgerbergen woonagtig, toe te behooren.
Articul 3: Hoe lang geleen [sic] en door wien hij aen deselve vercogt is?
Antwoord: Dat Oberholster hem op zijn vendutie, als zijn geweese baas zijnde, aan de voornoemde Beatrix verkogt heeft, sonder den netten tijt te weeten.
Articul 4: Hoe lange teijt hij gedaagde bij deselve heeft dienst gedaen voor dat d’ eerste maal van haer is g’aufugeert?
Antwoord: Ik geloof twee weeken, maar ik heb een permissie briefje gehad om mijn goed te haalen, ’tgeen berustende was onder de slaven van Jan Jurgen Roos, en van daar ben ik gegaan naar de plaats van Abraham Cloete, die hij van mij geweesene baas gekogt had.
Articul 5: Wanneer sulx geweest is en wat goederen meede genoomen heeft?
Antwoord: Als op ’t voorgaande beantwoorde, en niets mede genomen te hebben als een combaars.
Articul 6: Waer alsdoen naer toegegaan is?
Antwoord: Het laast gebleeven te zijn bij Abraham Cloete.
Articul 7: Hoe lange tijd aldaer en elders verbleeven is?
Antwoord: Dat dien avond, wanneer hij van zijn meesteresse post was afgegaan, eenen nagt heeft geslapen op de post van zijn geweesen meester, de tweede nagt op de post van Abraham Cloete, voornoemt, ende dat daags daaraan de knegt van zijn meesteresse hem van daar is komen haalen.
Articul 8: Wie hem alsdoen van nooddruft voorsien heeft?
Antwoord: Dat hij aan ’t huijs van Oberholster, door de slaven geroepen weesende, de cost heeft gekreegen, en insgelijken voegen ook bij Cloete.
Articul 9: Waer, mitsgaders door wien hij gevangen alsdoen gevangen is?
Antwoord: Door de knegt van zijn meesteresse, opgemeld, en op gemelde post van Abraham Cloete.
Articul 10: Ofte hij t’ huijs komende, straf ontfangen heeft?
Antwoord: Ja.
Articul 11: Wat teijd daeraen van zijn meestresse andermael is opgedrossen?
Antwoord: Agt dagen naar dato.
Articul 12: Weswaarts sig alsdoen begevende en opgehouden heeft?
Antwoord: Direck naar de post van Oberholster, maar die, nog zijn vrouw, hebben mij niet gesien, en ik heb mij boven de plaats van Oberholster in een cloof opgehouden, en des nagts ben ik bij de lijfeijgenen geweest.
Articul 13: Ofte ten dien teijd onder andere niet geweest is op de plaats van zijn genoemde baas Oberholster, digt aen Stellenbosch en ofte deselve aldaer doen was?
Antwoord: Ja, maar dat Oberholster aan de Caab was.
Articul 14: Wie hem gevangen van kost versorgt en hoedanig sig aldaer onthouden heeft?
Antwoord: Door de meijt en jongens verzorgt te zijn geweest en vervolgens zig onthouden als op articul 12 staat vermelt.
Articul 15: Ofte alsdoen aldaer meede niet een slavin is geweest, (soo jae) hoe genoemt?
Antwoord: Ja, en is Jannetie genaamt.
Articul 16: Wie die toebehoorde, mitsgaders ofte hij gevangen aen deselve kennis gehad heeft?
Antwoord: Oberholster, en ’t is mijn eijge vrouw geweest doen ik daar woonde.
Articul 17: Of hij deselve niet gekwest [sic] heeft?
Antwoord: Ja.
Articul 18: Op wat wijse sulx verrigt heeft?
Antwoord: Die mijt heeft gesweerd: Ik sal geen andere man neemen soo lang als jij leeft, dog wanneer hij gesien heeft dat se bij een andere lag, doe doen mijn hart seer, doe heb ik de jong [sic] weggestooten, en ik heb haar met een mes in de buijk gestooken.
Articul 19: Waerom sulx gedaen heeft?
Antwoord: Omdat zij bij een andere hield.
Articul 20: Ofte het met intentje is geweest haer dood te maken?
Antwoord: Ja.
Articul 21: Ofte het mes, hem gevangen nu in judicio vertoont, ’tselve mes is waer meede hij de gruweldaat heeft gepleegt?
Antwoord: Ja.
Articul 22: Waar en op wat manier hij gevangen ’tselve kwijt geraakt is?
Antwoord: Ik ben er mede naar de ruijgte toegelopen en, doen ’t volk quam om mijn te vangen, heb ik mijn selfs gequetst en vervolgens ’t mes weggegooijt.
Articul 23: Hoedanig hij gevangen g’apprehendeert en in handen des eijschers geraakt is?
Antwoord: Door Jan en Claas Louw, mitsgaders Jacob Cloete en Jan van Ellewe, vervolgens door Jan Louw en Jacob Cloete aan den eijscher overgelevert te weesen.
Articul 24: Ofte hij gevangen aen die hem wilde vangen geen tegenstand gedaen heeft?
Antwoord: Neen.
Articul 25: Op wat manier sulx sig heeft toe gedraegen?
Antwoord: Ik heb niet [sic] gedaen.
Articul 26: Ofte hij sig selfs aldoen niet gekwest heeft?
Antwoord: Als op articul 22.
Articul 27: Waerom sulx gedaen heeft?
Antwoord: Ik dagt, ik sal mij selfs ook maar dood steeken, om de straf te ontgaan.
Articul 28: Ofte het met ’tselve mes niet is geweest, daer hij gevangen de meijt meede gegrieft had?
Antwoord: Ja.
Articul 29: Ofte hij gevangen niet voorneemens is geweest aldaer te huijse meerder kwaat te verrigten?
Antwoord: Neen.
Articul 30: Ofte hem gevangen niet bewust is over die misdaat een swaare straf te verdienen?
Antwoord: Ja.
Aldus gevraagt ende geantwoord aan Cabo de Goede Hoop, den 7e Maart 1721.
Deese merken XXX zijn door Anthoni van Goa getrek [sic].
Als gecommitteerdens, [get.] Ns. Heijning, M. Bergstedt.
Mij praesent, [get.] Dl. Thibault, secretaris.
Recollement
Compareerde voor de ondergeteekende gecommitteerde leeden uijt den edelagtbare Raad van Justitie deses gouvernements, den slaaf Anthoni van Goa, hiernevens genoemt, denwelken de gedaane vraage met de daarop gegeven antwoorde van woorde tot woorde voorgeleesen zijnde, verklaarde daarbij volkomen te persisteeren, niet begeerende datter iets meer bijgevoegt ofte van gedaan werden sal.
Aldus gedaan, ende in de Nederduijtsche taale, die den gevangen reedelijk verstaat en spreekt, gerecolleert in ’t Casteel de Goede Hoop, den 8e Maart 1721.
Deese merken XXX zijn door Anthoni van Goa getrekt.
Als gecommitteerdens, [get.] Ns. Heijning, M. Bergstedt.
Mij praesent, [get.] Dl. Thibault, secretaris.
CJ 784 Sententiën, 1717-1725, ff. 164-69.
Since Anthonij van Goa, 30 years old at a guess, bondsman of the burgher Beatrix Verweij, currently their honours’ prisoner, has voluntarily confessed, without torture or force of bonds, of irons, or even the least threat of suchlike, and since it has appeared evident and clear to the honourable Council of Justice of this government:
That the prisoner was sold by the burgher Jan Oberholster on his public auction to the aforementioned Beatrix Verweij and, having rendered his services there for a period of about two months, obtained (as he asserts) a permission letter1 from his said owner to collect his things, which were being taken care of by the slaves of the farmer Jan Jurgen Roos, from there, on which occasion he took along a blanket.
That the prisoner then set out from there to his former master’s post, sleeping a night at that place, after which he resorted to the farm of the farmer Abraham Cloete, both situated around Stellenbosch, where he likewise slept a night, and was provided with food by the slaves at that place, that on the third day after he had gone from his mistress, he was fetched by the knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’ of the same from this last post and brought back to the aforementioned farm of his mistress, where he was chastised over this staying away. However, the prisoner neither scrupled nor hesitated to run away from his mistress eight days after this and to betake himself to the farm of his former master, the aforementioned Jan Oberholster, where he stayed, during the following day, in a kloof in the mountains around there, and at night with the bondsmen of the aforementioned Oberholster, who also provided him with food, without Oberholster, who had ridden to the Cape, nor the same’s wife, having any knowledge of all these doings.
That the woman slave of the aforenamed Oberholster, named Jannetie – who was the prisoner’s concubine (as he asserts) when he too was living there as a slave, and who had promised him that she would not take another man for as long as he was alive – was also there at the house. When, however, he noticed that she, Jannetie, was lying with another jongenjongenLiterally ‘boy.’ In Dutch it was common to use this word also to refer to male servants, irrespective of age. At the Cape, however, this usage was extended to slaves and then became exclusive, so that jongen (also in the deflected form jong) came to mean ‘male slave’, such that Afrikaans lost the use of the word to mean ‘boy’ and instead uses seun (from Dutch zoon) for both ‘boy’ and ‘son.’ In this primary meaning, the word has become obsolete in modern Afrikaans, except for the archaic terms tuinjong (‘garden boy’) and plaasjong (‘farm boy’), in the sense of male workers of colour., he pushed him away from her and, with the knife which was shown him in court, inflicted a wound in the abdomen of the aforementioned slave, Jannetie, underneath the stomach, about three fingers above the navel, penetrating internally to a depth of five fingers and externally three fingers in length, so that the omentum2 hung from the wound a quarter of the way and, moreover, that the inner membrane of the tissue was perforated;3 confessing to have done this with the intention to take her life.
That the prisoner after having perpetrated this atrocious wounding, went with the same knife into the nearby thicket and, when people came to take him prisoner, he also wounded himself with that knife, with the intention to also rob himself of his life, in order to escape the public punishment of this monstrous deed in this way. That afterwards the prisoner, after having thrown the knife from him, was taken by the farmers Jan and Claas Louw, as well as Jacob Cloete and Jan van Ellewe, and finally delivered into the hands of justice by the aforementioned Cloete and Jan Louw.
All of which are matters of very great and pernicious consequences which, in a country where justice is practised, may not be tolerated under any circumstances, but must be restrained as an example and a deterrent to other such malicious creatures, and be punished severely.
Thus it is, that the honourable Council of Justice, aforementioned, serving today, having seen and read the written crimineelen eijsch en conclusie, drawn up and delivered for and against the prisoner by the honourable landdrost Jacob Voet, in his official capacity, as well as having noted the prisoner’s own voluntary confession, properly verified in court, which was produced with the eijscheijschLiterally ‘claim’ or ‘demand.’ This is strictly speaking the eijsch ende conclusie without the final part about sentencing, but the term is often used as a shorthand for the whole document. in order to justify it; further having pondered everything which possibly served the case and could have moved their honours, practising justice in the name and on behalf of the high and mighty Lords States General of the free United Netherlands, and having judged the prisoner, is sentencing him with this: to be taken to the place where criminal sentences are usually executed here and there, having been handed over to the executioner, to be exposed with a rope around his neck under the gallows, then to be tied to a stake, to be severely scourged with rods on the bare back, thereupon to be branded, besides being riveted in chains for a period of two years, to be sent home to his mistress, provided the same pays the costs and expenditure of justice.
Thus done and sentenced in the Castle of Good Hope on 27 March 1721.
Pronounced and executed on the 29th thereupon.
[signed] M.P. Chavonnes, K.J. Slotsboo, Jan de la Fontaine, A. v. Kervel, Jn. Aldersz, C. Valk, Ns. Heijning, J.T. Rhenius, V. Kleinveld, Fk. Russouw, M. Bergstedt.
In my presence, [signed] Dl. Thibault, secretary.
Footnotes
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On the meaning and significance of this, see 1786 Augustus van de Caab et al., n. 8. ↩
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The omentum is a double fold of fatty membrane attached to the stomach and hanging over the intestine, just underneath the skin of the abdomen (Solomon 1992: 212-13). ↩
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This medical evidence is taken from the surgeon’s report, CJ 325, document 10. ↩
Alsoo Anthoni [sic] van Goa, oud naar gissing dertig jaren, lijfeijgen van de burgeresse Beatrix Verweij,1 althans ’s heeren gevangen, buijten pijn of dwang van banden, van ijsers, ofte eenige de minste bedrijging van dien, vrijwillig heeft geconfesseert, en den edelagtbare Raad van Justitie deeses gouvernements evident en ten vollen gebleeken is:
Hoe dat hij gevangen door den burger Jan Oberholster op desselfs publicque vendutie aan de voormelde Beatrix Verweij verkogt zijnde, en aldaar den tijt van omtrend twee maanden zijn dienst gepresteert hebbende, van gezegde zijne lijfvrouw (soo voorgeeft) een permissie briefje heeft verkreegen om zijn goed, hetwelke onder de slaven van den landbouwer Jan Jurgen Roos berustende waaren, vandaar te haalen, alsdoen mede neemende een combaars.
Dat hij gevangen sig vervolgens van daar na zijn geweesene meesters post heeft begeeven, aldaar een nagt geslapen, voorts zig vervoegt op de plaats van den landbouwer Abraham Cloete, beijde omtrent Stellenbosch geleegen, alwaar insgelijx een nagt geslapen heeft en door de slaven aldaar van cost besorgt geweest zijnde, den derden dag naar dat van zijn meesteres was afgegaan, door de knegt van dezelve, van dese laaste post is afgehaalt, na de voornoemde zijne meesteresses plaats gebragt, aldaar over dit agterblijven gecorrigeert wesende, den gevangen sig egter niet heeft ontsien nogte geschroomt, agt dagen naar dato van genoemde zijne meesteresse weg te loopen, en hem te begeeven naar de plaats van zijn geweesene meester, Jan Oberholster, meergemeld, alwaar hij sig daags daaraan in een cloof van ’t gebergte daar omtrent en des nagts bij de lijfeijgenen van dikwijls gemelde Oberholster, die hem van spijs bezorgt hebben, heeft opgehouden, sonder dat Oberholster, die Caabwaarts was gereeden, nogte desselfs huijsvrouw van dit gedoente eenige kennisse hebben gehad.
Dat de slavin van voornoemde Oberholster, Jannetie genaamt, en daar ten huijse wesende, zijn gevangens bijzit (soo voorgeeft), wanneer hij als slaaf mede aldaar woonagtig was, zoude zijn geweest, en hem geswooren hebben dat, soo lang hij gevangen leefde, zij geen ander man soude neemen, dog dat hij ontwaart hebbende dat zij Jannetie bij een andere jonge lag, dezelve van haar heeft weggestooten ende voornoemde slavin Jannetie met een mes, hem in judicio vertoont, een wonde, omtrent drie vinger breed boven de navel in de buijk onder de maag, inwendig vijf vinger breed diep penetreerende, en uijtwendig drie vinger breed lang, heeft toegebragt dat ook het net wel een vierendeel uijt de wonde gehangen heeft, mitsgaders dat het binnenste vlies van ’t panniculum door gestooken was, confesseerende sulx gedaan te hebben met intentie haar om ’t leeven te brengen.
Dat hij gevangen, na dese enorme quetzing geperpetreert te hebben, sig met hetselve mes in de daar omstreeks staande ruijgte heeft begeeven, en wanneer er volk quam om hem gevangen te neemen, hij sig selfs met dat mes ook gequest heeft met voorneemen sig ook van ’t leeven te berooven om alsoo de openbaare punitie over dese gruweldaad te ontgaan. Dat hij gevangen vervolgens het mes van sig weggeworpen hebbende, door de landbouwers Jan en Claas Louw, mitsgaders Jacob Cloete en Jan van Ellewe, gevat en, eindelijk, door voornoemde Cloete en Jan Louw in handen van de justitie overgeleevert.
Alle ’twelke zijnde zaaken van seer groote en pernitieuse gevolgen, die in een land daar de justitie wert geoeffent, geensints mogen gedult, maar ten spiegel en afschrik van alsulke boosaardige creatuuren moeten geweert, en seveerlijk gepunieert werden.
Soo is ’t dat den agtbaren Raad van Justitie, opgemelt, ten dage dienende, gezien ende geresumeert hebbende, den schrijftelijken crimineelen eijsch en conclusie bij den edele landdrost Jacob Voet nomine officii teegens den gevangen gedaan ende genoomen, mitgaders gelet op des gevangens eijge libre confessie, in judicio behoorlijk gerecolleert, en tot justificatie van zijnen eijsch daar neevens geproduceert, verder gepondereert alle ’tgeene ter materie eenigsints dienende was en haar edelen Agtbaren deede moveren, doende regt in den naam ende van weegen de hoogmogende Heere Staaten Generaal der vrije Vereenigde Neederlanden, den gevangen hebben gecondemneert, gelijk hem condemneeren bij deeze: omme gebragt te werden ter plaatse daar men alhier gewoon is crimineelen sententie [sic] te executeeren, en aldaar den scherpregter overgeleevert zijnde, met de strop om de hals onder de galg te pronk gesteld, vervolgens aan een paal gebonden, met roeden op de bloote rugge strengelijk gegeesselt en daarop gebrandmerkt te werden, wijders voor den tijt van twee jaaren in de ketting geklonken zijnde, zijn meesteresse thuijs gezonden te werden, mits deselve betalende de costen en mise van justitie.
Aldus gedaan en gesententieert in ’t Casteel de Goede Hoop, den 27e Maart 1721.
Gepronuntieert en geëxecuteert den 29e daar aan volgende.
[get.] M.P. Chavonnes, K.J. Slotsboo, Jan de la Fontaine, A. v. Kervel, Jn. Aldersz, C. Valk, Ns. Heijning, J.T. Rhenius, V. Kleinveld, Fk. Russouw, M. Bergstedt.
Mij present, [get.] Dl. Thibault, secretaris.
Footnotes
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On Beatrix Verweij, an aged widow who lived alone on a frontier farm with her ten slaves, see Schoeman 2004: 232-35. ↩