1755 Patiente van Manacabo and December van Boegies
This is a case of two Cape Town slaves who stole guns and ammunition from their owners and ran away.1 They survived in the False Bay area with the aid of a slave shepherd who brought them food. They were seen by a Company soldier, who was subdued by their brandishing their guns at him, but were eventually caught when one of them decided to sell his coat for food in Cape Town, while the other was apprehended by the Company slaves of the False Bay outpost at Simon’s Bay. The case again demonstrates the difficulties of survival for runaway slaves in the (relatively) settled regions of the colony and graphically illustrates the obsessive fear Cape society had of armed and uncontrolled slaves.2
Footnotes
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Slaves were prohibited from carrying guns, see 1742 Jan Hendrik Hop, n. 1. ↩
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Other documentation for the case included 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. and testimonies of Patientie van Mannacabo [sic], December van Boegies, Barend Janssen van Steenderen and April van Palembang, CJ 365, ff. 694-719. ↩
CJ 788 Sententiën, 1750-1755, ff. 212-19.
Since Patientie van Manacabo,1 bondsman of the burgher Jan Brouwer, 30 [years] old at a guess, and December van Bougies, slave of the burgher Frederick Simon Plaagman, about 26 years old, currently their honours’ prisoners, voluntarily confessed, without torture or coercion of bonds, of irons, or even the least threat of suchlike, and since it has also appeared evident to the honourable Council of Justice of this government:
That about three months ago now, when the prisoners agreed with each other to desert from their masters, the second prisoner stole from his owner a crooked sabre from the attic and, at about nine o’clock at night, went with it to the house of the first prisoner’s owner, Jan Brouwer, where he joined the first prisoner in the kitchen, where the second prisoner remained until Brouwer and his 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.’ went to sleep, which is when the first prisoner stole from the room in which his 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. and 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.’ were lying asleep and of which the door stood open, a musket, two pistols, and five shot cartridges, and likewise from the kitchen a cartridge case; with which the prisoners, after they each had first loaded a pistol with loose gunpowder, undertook their flight during the night; the first prisoner carrying the musket, one pistol and the cartridge case, and the second prisoner the other pistol and the broadsword, marching thus through the night, reaching Baas Harmens Craal2 by daylight and, during the following night, arrived at Baaij Fals.3 At which place they stayed for about a month in the mountains, sustaining themselves, according to them, with food which the shepherd of the burgher Hendrik Feerssen, named April, and who was known to the first prisoner, would occasionally give them from his knapsack, and who also later, after they had chopped a bullet of one of the spent cartridges they had with them into four parts, loaded the musket with it, discharged it, while each of the prisoners was likewise loading a pistol with cartridges, and then loaded it once more.
That after some time, on a certain evening at nightfall, in fact at the beginning of the past month October, when the prisoners were on the slopes of the mountain, they were discovered by the soldier assigned to Baaij Fals, Barent Janssen,4 who was looking for horses, and who, thinking that they were the slaves of the burgher Jan Munnick, called out to them when he got within about five or six paces of them, and asked them if they had seen any horses; at which they suddenly turned around, and simultaneously each taking from his side a pistol, and at once, with stretched-out arms and cocked triggers, aimed these pistols at Janssen, while saying to him: “No, we have not seen any horses”. And so Barend Janssen, because of this unexpected and dangerous display, and because he was not equipped with any gun and, moreover, noticed that one of the prisoners had a musket as well, and the other one also something else on his shoulder, which he could not see properly because of the darkness, got very frightened. He then said to the prisoners: “Paaij,5 do not harm me, I am not looking for you, because I have lost horses”, to which the prisoners then, after having told Janssen: “If you are looking for horses, it is fine, don’t come closer, but go backwards and let us not see you going to the Baaij” and, after having exchanged some words among themselves which Janssen did not understand; they dropped to their sides the pistols aimed at him. Upon this Janssen went backwards a couple of paces from them; however, when the prisoners, who were continuing on their way to the Baaij, were out of sight, he too set out to Baaij Fals where he gave a report of this to the postholder, while the prisoners were meanwhile also on their way to Baaij Fals.
That later, after about four days, the first prisoner, since he thought it fit to set out to the Cape in order to sell his duffeltje6 and bring back food for it, handed over to the second prisoner the musket, one pistol and the cartridge case and went to the Cape. However, along the way he repented and did not return again, but proceeded to his owner, by whom he was delivered into the hands of justice.
That on Saturday the 8th of the past month November, the shepherd of the aforesaid Feerssen, named April, came to the foot of the mountains and found the second prisoner asleep there with a pistol in his left arm, and also under the stones in a hole next to him, a musket, a pistol, a ramrod and a cartridge case, which April, thinking that he was a deserter, silently took it all away, which the second prisoner, who had woken up in the meantime, also allowed, on condition that he would give him some food as he was very hungry. April then told the second prisoner that he did not have any food with him, but that he should come in the evening to his master’s house in Baaij Fals, that he would then give him something to eat. Upon this, the second prisoner, armed with the one pistol, appeared there that very same evening, which is when April also gave him something in the kitchen. Yet, shortly hereafter, two slaves of the postholder of the Baaij came there, because of the warning given by the said April, and the second prisoner was captured by them and with the help of the aforementioned April, and thus also came into the hands of justice.
And since such a highly perilous escape and perpetrated public violence cannot be, nor should be, tolerated in a country where justice is practised but, on the contrary, must be punished most rigorously as an example and deterrent to other similarly inclined malefactors.
Thus it is, that the honourable Council of Justice, aforementioned, serving today, having read and considered with attention the written crimineelen eijsch ende conclusiecrimineelen eijsch ende conclusieLiterally ‘criminal demand and conclusion.’ The document drawn up by the prosecutor based on the evidence he collected and delivered in court against an accused. The conclusie is the final part of the document in which the prosecutor suggested an appropriate punishment for the crime. drawn up and delivered for and against the prisoners by the honourable independent fiscal, Pieter Reede van Oudshoorn, by reason of his office, and having noted their voluntarily given confessions and the other evidence added to it, everything properly verified in court, and further everything else which could serve the case and could have moved their honours in any way, practising justice in the name and on behalf of the high and mighty Lords States General of the United Netherlands, as well as his most serene highness, the Lord Prince of Orange and Nassau, as heretidary Stadtholder, Captain and Admiral General of the Republic, and having judged both the prisoners Patientie van Manacabo and December van Boegies, their honours are sentencing them with this: to be taken to the place where criminal sentences are usually executed here, there to be handed over to the executioner, to be tied to a stake, to be severely scourged with rods on their bare backs, thereupon to be branded, further each to be riveted in chains for a period of ten consecutive years, thus to be sent back home to their owners, provided they pay the costs and expenditure of justice; with the Council denying the further or differently drawn up 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 the honourable Officer.7
Thus done and sentenced in the Castle of Good Hope on 4 December 1755, as also pronounced and executed on the 6th thereupon.
Let the execution be done, [signed] R. Tulbagh.
[signed] S. Swellengrebel, R.S. Allemann, Ns. Heijning, Cl. Brand, Corns. Eelders, D. d’Aillij, Jn. Raeck, P. Artoijs, Hk. vn. dr. Heijde.
In my presence, [signed] Jn. Fr. Tiemmendorf, secretary.
Footnotes
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An alternative spelling for Menengkabo (now Menangkabu) in Sumatra (Bradlow and Cairns 1978: 128). ↩
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A well-known landmark at the Cape, this Company outpost was close to Sandvlei, not far from the farm Zwaanswijk (Koeman 1955: 263; Sleigh 1993: 264-65). ↩
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This seems to refer not to the region of False Bay, but more narrowly to Simon’s Bay, where the VOC had had an outpost since 1743 (Sleigh 1993: 302-3). ↩
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Recorded in the scheepsoldijboek of the vessel Nieuwvijvervreugd as Bernhard [sic] Janssen van Steenderen. He had arrived in 1754 and was one of the 38 soldiers based ‘agter de Steenbergen in de bhaaij fals’ (behind the Steenbergen at Baaij Fals), VOC 5203, f. 208. He stayed at the Cape until 1759 when he went to Colombo, where he worked for the VOC until his death in 1765, VOC 13071, f. 183. ↩
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An interesting word whose origins are disputed. Both paai and maai appear regularly in eighteenth-century Cape texts, derived from the Portuguese for ‘father’ and ‘mother’, used as a respectful form of address to an older person, but at the Cape specifically older slaves (and sometimes for Khoi). Scholtz, however, argues that at least paai is not a loan from Portuguese, claiming it ultimately derived from Dutch (Scholtz 1965: 183-84 and, for further examples from contemporary Cape texts, Scholtz 1972: 153). ↩
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A thick, woollen coat, also called a buffeltje (Gawronski 1996: 202). ↩
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Patientie van Manacabo and December van Boegies were charged with running away, theft of guns and ‘publicq geweld’ (public violence). They claimed that they had not meant to cause mischief by their possession of guns but had only shot wildlife from time to time for subsistence. The sentence followed 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., CJ 37, ff. 104-6. See also Heese 1994: 79-80 for a discussion of this case as an example of the Council of Justice taking mitigating circumstances into account: if these slaves had used their weapons or had not willingly surrendered, they would have received the death penalty. ↩
Also Patientie van Manacabo, lijfeijgen van den burger Jan Brouwer, oud naar gissing 30, en December van Boegies, slaaf van den burger Frederick Simon Plaagman, oud omtrent 26 jaaren, thans ’s heeren gevangens, buijten pijn ofte dwang van banden, van ijsers, dan wel de minste bedreijging van dien, vrijwillig hebben beleeden, ende het den edeleagtbaare Raad van Justitie deeses gouvernements ook volkoomen is gebleeken:
Dat nu omtrent drie maanden geleeden, de gevangens met malkander afspraak genoomen hebbende omme van hunne meesters te gaan op drossen, den tweeden gevangen van sijn lijfheer een kromme sabel van de solder gestoolen en sig daarmeede des avonds, omtrent neegen uuren, naar ’t huijs van des eerste gevangens lijfheer, Jan Brouwer, en aldaar bij den eersten gevangen in de combuijs vervoegt heeft, alwaar den 2e gevangen so lange is verbleeven totdat hij Brouwer en sijn knegt waaren gaan slaapen, als wanneer den 1e gevangen uijt de kamer, waarin sijn baas neevens de knegt te slaapen lag, en waarvan de deur open stond, heeft gestoolen: een snaphaan, twee pistoolen, en vijf scherpe pattroonen, mitsgaders uijt de combuijs een pattroontas, waarmeede sij gevangens, naar dat alvoorens in de combuijs jder een pistool met los kruijt geladen hadden, des nagts hunne vlugt ondernoomen hebben, dragende den 1e gevangen den snaphaan, d’ eene pistool en de pattroontas, mitsgaders den 2e gevangen de andere pistool en den houwer, en dus die nagt door gemarcheert zijnde, sijn sij met den dag omtrent Baas Harmens Craal, en ’s nagts daaraanvolgende in de Baaij Fals gekoomen, alwaar sig omtrent een maand lang aan ’t gebergte opgehouden hebben, hun, volgens haar voorgeeven, erneerende met kost, die den schapewagter van de burger Hendrik Feerssen, April genaamt, en aan wien den 1e gevangen kennis had, hun uijt sijn knapsack nu en dan soude hebben gegeeven, en denwelken vervolgens ook, naar dat een kogel van een der bij sig hebbende scherpe pattroonen aan vier stucken gekapt en den snaphaan daarmeede geladen hadde, denselven, terwijl door de gevangens insgelijx jder een pistool met scherp geladen wierd, ondertusschen afgeschooten en weederom soude geladen hebben.
Dat naar verloop van eenigen tijd, dan wel in ’t begin der gepasseerden maand October, de gevangens sig op seekeren avond met den donker aan ’t hangen van ’t gebergte bevonden, hebbende deselve door den, in de Baaij Fals bescheijdenen, soldaat Barent Janssen, die naar de paarden was gaan sien, ontdeckt sijn geworden, denwelken, als sustineerende dat sij slaven van den burger Jan Munnick waaren, aan deselve, wanneer hun op een tree, vijf à ses, genadert was, toegeroepen en gevraagt heeft of sij geen paarden gesien hadden, waarop sig gevangens, die hem Janssen als nog niet gesien hadden, op dat toeroepen hun schielijk omgekeert en teffens van hunne sijde jder een pistool afgehaalt, mitsgaders opstonts, met uijtgestreckte armen en overgehaalde haanen, dier pistoolen op hem Janssen, onder ’t seggen teegens denselven: Neen, wij hebben geen paarden gesien, aangelegt hebben, ende hij Barend Janssen, die van geen geweer versien was en voorts gewaar wierd dat een der gevangens nog een snaphaan, en den anderen ook nog iets, hetgeen hij, vermits de donkerheijd, niet wel verkennen konde, op sijn schouder had, door die onverwagte en gevaarlijke vertooning, seer verschrickt werdende, sijde hij alsdoen teegens de gevangens: Paaij, doet mij geen quaad, ik soek jouw niet, want ik heb paarden verlooren, waarop de gevangens dan ook, naar aan hem Janssen geantwoord te hebben: Als gij paarden soekt, so is het goet, komt dan niet nader, maar gaat na agter en laat ons niet sien dat gij naar de Baaij gaat, de op hem aangelegde pistoolen, naar eenige onderlinge, en hem Janssen onverstaanbaare, woordewisseling, langs hunne sijden hebben laaten sacken, waarop hij Janssen so voorts eenige wijnige treeden van hun af naar agteren is gegaan, begeevende sig egter, wanneer de gevangens, die hun weg naar de Baaij vervolgden, uijt het gesigt was, insgelijx naar de Baaij Fals, als wanneer hiervan aan den posthouder verslag heeft gedaan, terwijl de gevangens inmiddels hun weg meede naar de Baaij Fals hebben genoomen.
Dat den 1e gevangen daarop, naar verloop van een dag of vier, te raade geworden sijnde sig Caabwarts [sic] te begeeven om sijn duffeltje te verkoopen en daarvoor kost meede te brengen, aan den 2e gevangen den snaphaan, de eene pistool en de pattroontas heeft overgegeeven, en van denselven af en naar de Caab is gegaan, dog onderweegs inkeer krijgende, is denselven niet weeder terug gekeert, maar sig naar sijn lijfheer begeeven, door denwelken hij in handen der justitie is overgeleevert geworden.
Dat den schapewagter van voormelde Feerssen, April genaamt, op Saturdag den 8e der afgeweekenen maand November ’s agtermiddags aan den voet van ’t gebergte gekomen sijnde, den 2e gevangen aldaar slaapende heeft gevonden met een pistool in zijn linker arm, mitsgaders ter sijde van hem in een gat onder de klippen een snaphaan, een pistool, een plamper en een pattroontas, welk een en ander hij April, als denkende dat het een drosser was, stilletjes heeft weggenoomen, hetgeen den 2e gevangen, die ondertusschen wacker wierd, ook heeft toegelaten met beding dat hem wat kost geeven soude, vermits grooten honger had, en dat hij April hem 2e gevangen daarop gesegt hebbende, dat geen kost bij sig hadde, maar dat hij ’s avonds aan sijn meesters huijs in de Baaij Fals moeste koomen, dat hij hem dan wat eeten zoude geeven, is den 2e gevangen hierop, met de eene pistool gewaapent, dien eijgensten avond aldaar verscheenen, als wanneer hij April hem 2e gevangen in de combuijs ook wat heeft gegeeven, dog kort daaraan twee slaven van den posthouder dier Baaij, op de gedaane waarschouwing van geciteerde April, aldaar gekoomen sijnde, is den 2e gevangen door deselve, met behulp van eevengemelde April, gevangen genoomen en dus meede in handen der justitie geraakt.
Ende gemerkt sulk eene ten hoogsten gevaarlijke aufugie en gepleegd publicq geweld, in een land daar de justitie geoeffent werd, niet kan nog mag gedult, maar in teegendeel, ten spiegel en afschrik van andere diergelijke booswigten, op het rigoreuste moet gestraft werden.
So is ’t, dat den edelagtbaaren Raad van Justitie, voornoemd, ten dage dienende, met nadruk geleesen en overwogen hebbende den schriftelijken crimineelen eijsch ende conclusie door den heer Independent Fiscaal, Pieter Reede van Oudshoorn, ratione officii, op ende jeegens de gevangens gedaan en genoomen, en wijders geleth op derselver vrijwillige confessiën en andere stucken daarneevens gevoegt, alle in judicio behoorlijk gerecolleert, voorts op alle hetgeene ter saake dienende was en haar edelagtbaarens eenigsints konde doen moveeren, regt doende uijt naame ende van weegens de hoogmoogende heeren Staaten Generaal der Vereenigde Neederlanden, mitsgaders van sijne doorlugtigste hoogheijd, den heere Prince van Oranjen en Nassouw, als Erfstadhouder, Capitain, en Admiraal Generaal van de Republicq, beijde de gevangens, Patientie van Manacabo en December van Boegies, hebben gecondemneert, gelijk haar edelagtbaarens deselve condemneeren mits deesen: om gebragt te werden ter plaatse alwaar men alhier gewoon is crimineele sententiën te executeeren, aldaar den scherpregter overgeleevert en aan een paal gebonden sijnde, met roeden op de bloote rugge strengelijk gegeesselt, en daarop gebrandmerkt te werden, voorts jder voor den tijd van thien agtereenvolgende jaaren in de ketting geklonken weesende, dus haar lijfheeren weederom te huijs gesonden te werden, mits deselve betaalende de kosten en misen van justitie, ontseggende den Raad den verderen ofte anders gedaanen eijsch van den heer Officier.
Aldus gedaan en gesententieert in ’t Casteel de Goede Hoop, den 4e December 1755, mitsgaders gepronuncieert ende g’executeert den 6e daaraanvolgende.
Fiat Executie, [get.] R. Tulbagh.
[get.] S. Swellengrebel, R.S. Allemann, Ns. Heijning, Cl. Brand, Corns. Eelders, D. d’Aillij, Jn. Raeck, P. Artoijs, Hk. vn. dr. Heijde.
Mij present, [get.] Jn. Fr. Tiemmendorf, secretaris.