11 Januarij van Boegies

Details
Name on Document:
Januarij van Boegies
Date:
11-02-1755
Document Type:
Statement
Primary Charge:
assault
Secondary Charge:
runaway
Tag(s):
Table Mountain escape (5)relationship jealously (1)gendered violence (5)emotional insight (1)specialized cook (1)parrang (1)Chiense resident (1)
Summary

Here a Cape Town slave attacked his partner (also a slave), with whom he had had several children, because he saw another slave in the house rocking the cradle of their child and became jealous. He ran away but, without proper clothing and food, was forced to give himself up.1

Apart from the nature of the relationships and jealousies between slaves in an urban household, the case contains a number of details of interest. Owners and burghers were entirely absent from the account of the events2 and there is some rare insight into the emotional feelings of a slave.3 The household also had a specialised slave cook (Schindelaar was a lieutenant-captain and clearly upheld a relatively prosperous lifestyle).4 The weapon used in the attack was a parrang, a Southeast Asian term for a short machete. Januarij could not exist on his own on the mountain without prior preparation, and was able to regain access to the house via a Chinese resident who lived in the outbuildings.

Footnotes

  1. These two statements are the only ones that were taken. There is unfortunately no statement from Augustus. A sententie is available in CJ 788, ff. 220-24. ↩

  2. The slaves appear to have been left alone in the house. Both their owner and his wife had recently died, so they may have been looking after the house and child while Schindelaar’s estate was being finalised. It is likely that their owners were victims of the 1755 smallpox epidemic which ravaged Cape Town (see Viljoen 1995: 28-35). ↩

  3. Notably in Januarij’s words to Clara: ‘Jij hebt een ziel en ik heb een ziel’ (you have a soul and I have a soul). ↩

  4. Schindelaar arrived at the Cape in 1731 as a soldier, but worked himself up through the ranks until he became lieutenant-captain in 1750. He then married Johanna Delitzsch, who was the widow of the previous incumbent of that post (Hoge 1946: 361-2). An inventory of his large and prosperous house on the Heerengracht was taken in August 1755 when Johanna Delitzsch died (MOOC 8/8, document 34½). ↩

CJ 365 Criminele Process Stukken, Deel 2, 1755, ff. 730-31v.
Translation Dutch

Statement given, on the requisition of the honourable independent fiscal, Pieter Reede van Oudshoorn, by Clara van Macassar, slave of the late captain lieutenant of the military, Godfried Gerhard Schindelaar, going as follows:

That today in the afternoon, the time two or half past two o’clock at a guess, when the testifier was busy dressing the youngest son of her late owner, she, because her youngest child,1 who was lying in the back room in a cradle, was crying loudly, at that time requested the cook of her former owner, by the name of Augustus, to rock the same. In the meantime, while he was doing this, her fellow slave, named Januarij, with whom she has a relationship, came home; who, when seeing that the said Augustus was rocking her child, asked what the aforementioned Augustus was doing at the cradle, to which she answered that he was rocking her child since it had been crying, adding that she did not know that there was anything wrong with that. The said Januarij then went mumbling and grumbling to the kitchen at the back, saying: “You have a soul, and I have a soul”. However, since, shortly thereafter, this slave came back from the kitchen and went to the front door, locked the same and took the key from the door, the testifier became frightened; for which reason she immediately, with her child on the arm, took the child of her late owner by its hand, and fled with them into the back room, besides closing the door after her. But, as she could not find the key in the door, the testifier could not lock it, because of which she at once jumped through the window into the street, but while she was busy lifting the said child of her owner through the window to her in the street, she was leaped upon by the aforementioned Januarij who, from inside the room, hit her on the outside with a parrang which he held in his hand, so that she instantly received a blow straight on her head, which, however, was largely thwarted by a silver hair pin in her hair, after which he dealt her another blow on the right shoulder, but without being hit deeper than through the clothes; however, as she wanted to prevent further blows with her right hand, she then also received three cuts and wounds on it. In the meantime, the aforementioned little child of her owner had run from the room, while Januarij also jumped through the window and got away by fleeing, taking with him the parrang and the key of the front door.

Thus related at the Cape of Good Hope on 2 November 1755 in the presence of the clerks Otto Wilhelm Rotenburg and Jochem Hendrick Borgwedel, as witnesses, who have properly signed the original of this, together with the testifier and me, the honourable sworn clerk.

Which I declare, C.L. Neethling, the honourable sworn clerk who, because of the absence of the secretary of justice, held this sitting.

Verification

There appears before us, the undersigned delegates from the aforementioned honourable Council of Justice of the Castle of Good Hope, Clara van Macassar, who, after this, her given statement, was read out word by word, clearly and plainly, declares to fully persist with it, therefore not desiring that anything more should be added or taken from it; and declares in the presence of the slave Januarij van Boegies all of the above to be the whole truth.

Thus verified at the Cape of Good Hope on 13 November 1755 before the honourables Cl. Brand and Js. Hs. Blankenberg, members of the honourable Council of Justice, aforementioned, who have properly signed the original of this, together with the confessant2 and me, the secretary.

Which I declare, [signed] Jn. Fr. Tiemmendorf, secretary.

CJ 365 Criminele Process Stukken, Deel 2, 1755, ff. 727-29.

There appears before us, the undersigned delegates from the honourable Council of Justice of the Castle of Good Hope, Januarij van Boegies, bondsman of the heirs of the late captain lieutenant of the military, Godfried Gerhard Schindelaar, 45 years old at a guess, who, on the requisition of the honourable independent fiscal, Pieter Reede van Oudshoorn, confesses it to be true:

That coming home during the afternoon on Sunday, which was the 2nd of this month November, the confessant found his fellow slave, Clara van Macassar, with whom he has a relationship and with whom he has several children, together with the cook, named Augustus, on their own in the galderijgalderijNot a ‘gallery,’ but usually a family room behind the public front rooms of a house where families ate together or where domestic chores were performed. In some earlier Cape houses it referred to a passageway or linking area between the front room and the kitchen area., of which the last named, upon sighting the confessant, walked into the back room to a cradle standing there and rocked the confessant’s child who was lying in it. Wherefore the confessant, driven by the jealousy of love, asked the said Clara, what this 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., against whom he for a considerable time had conceived a certain jealousy, had to do with her, who answered to this: “Nothing at all”. The aforementioned Augustus, when hearing this, came from the back room and then fobade the confessant to speak to 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.’, whereupon the confessant, feeling provoked, went to the back yard with the intention to get there a piece of firewood with which to beat the said 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.’ Clara, yet, becoming senseless and mindless because of anger, he got into his hand in the slave house a parrang, instead of a piece of firewood, with which the confessant proceeded to the front and, after locking the front door and pulling the key from it, went to the back room in which was the aforementioned Clara, as also the aforesaid Augustus and the youngest child of his late juffrouwjuffrouwStrictly speaking this contraction of jonkvrouw was the form of address for a noble lady (as with jonker, the contraction of jonkheer, ‘lord’), but at the Cape it was more generally used by settlers for women with some social status. Moreover, in the eighteenth century this was also the term slaves used to address their female owners, alongside nonje., which is when the confessant jumped after the said Clara who, together with the aforesaid Augustus, had already fled through the window to the outside of the house, and then, with the aforementioned parrang, gave her a cut or three, without being able to say where or whether he had hit her. And upon seeing 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.’ bleeding, the confessant fled with the parrang to Table Mountain.3 From here, on the second night, he, with the help of the drainpipe of the back flat-roofed house,4 in which a Chinese lives, first climbed onto that flat roof and then into the back yard of his owner’s, in order to obtain his oilskin coat, since he was wearing nothing but a shirt. Yet, as this was not successful, the confessant again progressed to the mountain, where he remained till the day before yesterday when, forced by hunger, he went during the evening to the garden of the widow of the late former burgher councillor, sieursieurThe form sieur is derived from sinjeur, but it is uncertain whether the latter came into colonial Dutch from French seigneur or Creole Portuguese sinjoor (both from Latin, senior, ‘older’). The word was commonly used by slaves at the Cape to address European males, but it was also the official title for lower-ranking VOC officials. The word lived on in Afrikaans in the form of seur until the early twentieth century but is now extinct. Jan de Wit, where he, after having thrown the parrang into the kitchen, gave himself up as prisoner to 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.’, who then brought him to the prison.

The confessant declares finally that he had not been of the intention to murder either the said 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.’ Clara, nor the slave Augustus, but only to beat 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.’ Clara; as also that he does not know what happened to the key of the front door, which he had taken from it when he was besides himself and did not know what he was doing, since he had lost the key from his pocket.

Thus confessed, through interpretation from Portuguese, in the Castle of Good Hope on 12 November 1755, before the honourables Cl. Brand and Js. Hs. Blanckenberg, members of the aforementioned honourable Council of Justice, who have properly signed the original of this, together with the confessant and me, the secretary.

Verification

There appears before us, the undersigned delegates from the honourable Council of Justice of the Castle of Good Hope, aforementioned, Januarij van Boegies, who, after this, his given confession, had been read out word by word, clearly and plainly, declares to persist fully with it, therefore not desiring that anything more be added to or taken from it.

Thus verified at the Cape of Good Hope on 13 November 1755 before the honourables Cl. Brand and Js. Hs. Blankenberg, members of the aforementioned honourable Council of Justice, who have properly signed the original of this, together with the confessant and me, the secretary.5

Which I declare, [signed] Jn. Fr. Tiemmendorf, secretary.

Footnotes

  1. This was probably Roosje van de Caab, who was listed in the inventory of 1755 (MOOC 8/8, document 34½ ). She was born after a previous inventory dating from 1752 (MOOC 8/8, document 34). ↩

  2. Sic. Clara van Macassar is not the confessant in this case, but a testifier. ↩

  3. For Table Mountain as a popular hideaway for slave runaways, see 1735 Company slaves, n. 1. ↩

  4. Literally ‘flat house’. The 1755 inventory describes these as ‘drie aparte huur huijsjes’ (three small separate houses for rent), MOOC 8/8, document 34½ . They were clearly hired out, one to a Chinese tenant. This detail provides rare evidence of the mixed nature of property in one of the most properous streets in the town, with a wealthy household on the outside of the block and poorer rented buildings at the rear. We are grateful to Antonia Malan for this information. ↩

  5. Januarij van Boegies was found guilty on 4 December of ‘opset gepleegde moordadige quetsing’ (deliberately committed murderous wounding). Clara was examined by surgeons who declared that the wounds inflicted by Januarij on her head were potentially fatal, CJ 365, f. 732. Januarij admitted guilt and asked forgiveness, CJ 37, ff. 106-7. The death sentence by hanging was more lenient than that 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. of breaking on the cross with the coup de grâce, CJ 365, ff. 725v-26. ↩

Relaas gegeeven, ter requisitie van den heer Independent Fiscaal Pieter Reede van Oudshoorn, door Clara van Maccasser, slavinne van wijlen den capitain lieutenant militair, Godfried Gerhard Schindelaar, luijdende als volgt:

Dat den relatante heeden in de naardemiddag, de klocke nae gissing twee ofte half drie uuren, beesig zijnde omme het klijnste soontje van wijlen haaren lijfheer aan te kleeden, sij alsdoen, vermits haar relatante kleijnste kind, ’twelk in de agtercaamer in eene wiege [sic] lag, sterk schreuwde, den kok van haar geweesene lijfheer, in naame Augustus, versogt heeft om hetselve wat te wiegen, hetwelke door denselven gedaan wordende, is intusschen haar relatantes meede slaaf, genaamt Januarij, bij denwelken sij relatante is houdende, te huijs gekomen, denwelken, siende dat gedagte Augustus haar relatantes kind wiegde, vroeg wat dat voormelde Augustus bij de wieg te doen had, op ’twelke bij haar geantwoord weesende dat hij haar kind, dewijl hetselve huijlde, was wiegende, met bijvoeging dat niet wiste daar iets quaads in te steeken; is gedagte Januarij, al pruttende en knorrende, naar agter in de combuijs gegaan, onder het seggen: Gij hebt eene ziel, en ik heb eene ziel; dog dewijl dien slaaf, kort daarop de combuijs weeder uijtquam, en naar de voordeur ging, deselve toesloot, en de sleutel uijt die deur haalde, wierd sij relatante bevreest; weshalven sij opstonds, haar kind op de arm, en ’t kind van wijlen haar lijfvrouw aen de hand nam, en daar meede in de agterkaamer vlugte, teffens de deur agter haar toemaakende; dan dewijl sij geen sleutel in de deur vond, konde sij relatante deselve niet sluijten, alwaaromme de relatante opstonds uijt het venster op straat sprong; maar inmiddels dat sij doende was om gemelde kind van haare lijfvrouwe insgelijx buijten het venster bij haar op straat te willen tillen, door voormelde Januarij besprongen zijnde, kapte denselven met een in de hand hebbende parrang van binnen uijt de kaamer na haar, invoegen sij opstonds een kap vlak oover haar hoofd ontfing, dewelke egter op de, in ’t hair hebbende, silvere haairpen, grootendeels is gestuijt, waarna denselven nog een kap op haar regterschouder deed, sonder egter verder als door de kleederen geraakt te hebben, weshalven sij relatante de verdere kappen met haar regter hand willende afweeren, alsdoen nog drie kappen en quetsuuren in deselve gekreegen heeft; middelerwijl dat voormelde klijne kind haarer lijfvrouwe uijt de kaamer weggeloopen, en vervolgens voormelde Januarij insgelijx door het venster gesprongen en ’t met der vlugt ontkomen is, de parrang en sleutel der voordeur meede genoomen hebbende.

Aldus gerelateerd aen Cabo de Goede Hoop, den 2e November 1755, ten bijweese der clercquen Otto Wilhelm Rotenburg en Jochem Hendrick Borgwedel, als getuijgen, die de minute deeses, beneevens de relatante ende mij, eerste geswore clercq, meede behoorlijk hebben onderteekent.

’Twelk ik getuijge, C.L. Neethling, eerste geswore clercq, als hiertoe, vermits de absentie van den secretaris van justitie, gevaceerd hebbende.

Recollement

Compareerde voor ons, ondergetekende gecommitteerdens uijt den edelagtbaare Raad van Justitie, des Casteels de Goede Hoop, voormeld, Clara van Maccasser, dewelken dit, haar gegeeven relaas, van woorde tot woorde klaar en duijdelijk voorgeleesen weesende, verclaarde daarbij ten vollen te persisteeren, oversulx niet begeerende dat er iets meer bijgevoegt ofte van gedaan werden zal, en betuijgde in ’t bijweesen van den slaaf Januarij van Boegies alle ’t voorenstaande de suijvere waarheijd te weesen.

Aldus gerecolleert aan Cabo de Goede Hoop, den 13e November 1755, voor d’ edele Cl. Brand en Js. Hs. Blankenberg, leeden uijt welgemelde edelagtbaare Raad van Justitie, die de minute deeses, beneevens den confessant1 ende mij, secretaris, meede behoorlijk hebben onderteekent.

’Twelk ik getuijge, [get.] Jn. Fr. Tiemmendorf, secretaris.

CJ 365 Criminele Process Stukken, Deel 2, 1755, ff. 727-29.

Compareerde voor ons, ondergeteekende gecommitteerdens uijt den edelagtbaare Raad van Justitie des Casteels de Goede Hoop, Januarij van Boegies, lijfeijgen der erfgenaamen van wijlen den capitain lieutenant militair, Godfried Gerhard Schindelaar, oud naar gissing 45 jaaren, denwelken, ter requisitie van den heer Independent Fiscaal Pieter Reede van Oudshoorn, confesseerde hoe waar is:

Dat hij confessant op Sondag, zijnde geweest den 2e deeser maand November, des agtermiddags te huijs gekomen zijnde, sijn meede slavin Clara van Maccassar, bij dewelke den confessant het is houdende, en waarbij hij verscheijde kinderen heeft, neevens den kok, Augustus genaamt, tesaamen alleen in de galderij heeft gevonden, welken laatstgemelde op het gesigt van den confessant in de agterkamer bij een aldaar staande wieg liep, en des confessants kind, dat in deselve lag, wiegde; weshalven hij confessant door minneneijd aangedreeven, aan gemelde Clara vroeg, wat of die jongen, op den welken hij al een geruijmen tijd herwaards eenige jalousie had opgevat, bij haar te doen hadde, dewelke hierop geantwoord hebbende: Niemendal, quam voormelde Augustus, die sulx hoorde, de agterkamer uijt, den confessant alsdoen verbiedende om teegens die meijd te spreeken, waarop hij confessant, bij sigselfs moeijelijk werdende, naar de agterplaats is gegaan, van meening weesende van daar een stuck brandhout te haalen om geciteerde meijd Clara daarmeede te slaan, dog, door quaatheijd buijten sijn kennis en verstand raakende, heeft hij confessant in plaats van een stuck brandhoud in ’t slaavenhuijs een parrang in de hand gekreegen, waarmeede hij naar vooren is gekomen en, naar de voordeur toegeslooten en den sleutel daaruijt getrokken te hebben, is den confessant naar de agterkamer, waarin voormelde Clara, mitsgaders voorseijde Augustus en het kleijnste kind van wijlen sijn juffrouw, sig waaren bevindende, gegaan; als wanneer hij confessant eevengemelde Clara, die neevens voorseijde Augustus reets uijt ’t venster buijtenshuijs was gevlugt, naargesprongen, en deselve alsdoen met voormelde parrang een cap of drie heeft gegeeven, sonder te kunnen seggen waar of deselve geraakt heeft, ende hij confessant hierop die meijd siende bloeden, heeft hij zig soo voort met voormelde parrang op de vlugt naar ’t Tafelgebergte begeeven, vanwaar de tweede nagt met behulp van de goot van ’t agterste plathuijs, waarin een Chinees woont, eerst op dat plat, en vervolgens op de agter plaats van sijn lijfvrouw is geklommen, ten eijnde zijn waakrok, vermits niets anders als een hembdrok aanhadde, magtig te worden, dog, sulks niet willende lukken, is den confessant weeder naar het gebergte gemarcheert, alwaar sig tot eergisteren opgehouden hebbende, is denselven, door honger geperst, des avonds naar de thuijn van de weeduwe wijlen den oud burgerraad, sieur Jan de Wit gegaan, alwaar, naar de parrang in de combuijs van sig geworpen te hebben, sig aan den knegt gevangen heeft overgegeeven, denwelken hem vervolgens naar de tronk gebragt heeft.

Betuijgende den confessant laatstelijk nog niet van meening geweest te sijn om geciteerde meijd Clara, nogte den slaaf Augustus, te vermoorden, maar eenelijk de meijd Clara te slaan, mitsgaders dat hij confessant niet weet waar de sleutel van de voordeur, die hij uijt deselve heeft getrokken ten tijde dat buijten sig selfs is geweest en niet heeft geweeten wat of gedaan heeft, is beland, vermits hij die sleutel uijt zijn sak heeft verlooren.

Aldus geconfesseert bij vertolking uijt het Portugees, in ’t Casteel de Goede Hoop, den 12e November 1755, voor d’ edele Cl. Brand en Js. Hs. Blanckenberg, leeden uijt den edelagtbaare Raad van Justitie, voormeld, die de minute deeses, beneevens den confessant ende mij, secretaris, meede behoorlijk hebben onderteekent.

Recollement

Compareerde voor ons, ondergeteekende gecommitteerdens uijt den edeleagtbaare Raad van Justitie des Casteels de Goede Hoop, voormeld, Januarij van Boegies, denwelken deese, sijne gegeevene confessie, van woorde tot woorde klaar en duijdelijk voorgeleesen zijnde, betuijgde daarbij ten vollen te persisteeren, niet begeerende oversulx dat er iets meer bijgevoegt ofte van gedaan werden zal.

Aldus gerecolleert aan Cabo de Goede Hoop, den 13e November 1755, voor d’ edele Cl. Brand en Js. Hs. Blankenberg, leeden uijt den edeleagtbaare Raad van Justitie, voormeld, die de minute deeses, beneevens den confessant ende mij, secretaris, meede behoorlijk hebben onderteekent.

’Twelk ik getuijge, [get.] Jn. Fr. Tiemmendorf, secretaris.

Footnotes

  1. Sic. Clara van Macassar is not a confessant, but a relatant in this document. ↩

Places
Table Mountain Where Januarij ran to after beating another slave