1764 Jan Olivier
This is a case of a slave who decided to give up on his escape bid and asked another farmer to put in a good word for him with his owner to avoid punishment. He was returned, but died several days later, according to his owner’s report, because of a throat swelling. Although the circumstances were suspicious, nothing was done at the time. It is not clear why this case was brought up again over two years later, but it was not forwarded to the Council of Justice and no action seems to have been taken against Olivier.1
Note that while the slave Jas was at Pretorius’s farm for only a day, he was made to help with the fieldwork – the presence of additional labour was always welcome.
Footnotes
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There is no record of the case in the regtsrollenregtsrollenLiterally ‘rolls of justice’, the minutes of the proceedings of the Council of Justice. or the volumes of documents in criminal cases of the Council of Justice for 1764, CJ 46 and CJ 381-83. ↩
1/STB 3/11 Criminele Verklaringen, 1759-1782, unpaginated.
Today, 25 January 1764, there appears before me, Abraham Faure, secretary of Stellenbosch and Drakenstein, in the presence of the witnesses named below, the burgher Jan Lodewijk Pretorius, of competent age, who, on the requisition of the honourable landdrost, Meester Jacobus Johannes le Suëur, declares it to be the truth:
That in the year 1761,1 during the months of June or July – while the deponent has forgotten the exact date, he seems, however, to think that it was about this time of the year, and indeed on a Friday evening – there arrived on the deponent’s home farm in the Land van Waveren, a certain slave of his fellow burgher, Jan Gijsbert Olivier, named Jas, who had some days before fled from his owner’s farm and who requested the deponent to put in a good word for him with his owner so that he might not get a beating, which the deponent also promised him and then ordered him to remain there for that night. That on the following day, as the deponent was busy ploughing and therefore could not take the said slave home, he took the same with him to the fields and used him to help spread the manure, while in the meantime the deponent had let the aforesaid Olivier know that the said slave was to be found there, whereupon Olivier then also came to this farm and was requested by the deponent to pardon his said slave, to which the same answered: “Yes”, promising that he would not punish him; further that the aforementioned Olivier had ordered the said slave to go home, who thereupon departed, and who was shortly thereafter followed by the said Olivier.
That, on the deponent’s estimate, on the third day thereafter, when he was ready to ride to the burgher Pieter te Bruin, the aforesaid Olivier, who was coming from his mother-in-law, the widow of Jacques Therond, stopped by and asked the deponent if he would ride with him to his farm, adding that the aforesaid slave Jas, who the previous evening had complained about a sore throat, had suddenly died that morning. Whereupon the deponent rode along and arrived at the farm of Olivier, where there also arrived, shortly thereafter, one Jacob Pietersz, living with the widow Therond. That the deponent then, together with the aforementioned Pietersz, at the request of the said Olivier, inspected the corpse of the aforementioned slave Jas, lying in the wagonhouse, and could not discern that the said slave had received even the least wound, having seen on the dead body nothing but a small swelling on the neck, which appeared to be just like a swollen gland. The deponent declares further to have understood at that time from the wife of said Oliver that on that very same morning she had given the aforesaid slave some brandy with pepper to gurgle, who then went from the house to the aforementioned wagonhouse and shortly thereafter died.
The deponent finally declares as well, that on the same day the aforementioned Jan Gijsbert Olivier gave a proper report of the said death to the then honourable landdrost in a short letter signed by the deponent and the aforesaid Jacob Pietersz.2
There being nothing further to declare, the deponent asserts to be convinced of the accuracy of his deposition as in the text, being willing to subsequently confirm this, his deposition, with solemn oaths, if so required.
Thus recorded at the office of the secretary in Stellenbosch in the presence of the messenger of the court Johan Martin Smalberger and the beadle Coenraad Fick, as witnesses.
[signed] Jan Louis Pretorius.
As witnesses, [signed] J.M. Smalberger, Coenraad Fick.
With my cognisance, [signed] A. Faure, secretary.
1/STB 3/11 Criminele Verklaringen, 1759-1782, unpaginated.
Today, 1 February 1764, there appears before me, Abraham Faure, secretary of Stellenbosch and Drakenstein, in the presence of the witnesses named below, the arquebusier3 Jacob Pietersz, who is on loan to and currently living with the burgher Jacob Mouton, being of competent age, who, on the requisition of the honourable landdrost, Meester Jacobus Johannes le Suëur, declares it to be true:
That during the month of June or July, while the exact date has slipped his mind, of the year 1761, when the deponent was living as schoolteacher4 with the widow of Jacques Therond in the Land van Waveren, there arrived the burgher Jan Gijsbert Olivier who requested the deponent to come to his farm in order to inspect a certain slave of his, by the name of Jas, who had complained about a sore throat and who suddenly died that morning. The deponent then, after the said Olivier had already departed, set out to that place and when he arrived there, he also found there the burgher Jan Lodewijk Pretorius.
That the deponent then, at the request of the aforementioned Olivier, went with the said Pretorius to the wagonhouse where the corpse of the said slave Jas was lying on its back in the front of the room and, having inspected the same, he could not notice the least wound on the head of the dead slave, except for a small swelling showing on the neck.
That at the same time the deponent understood from the wife of the said Olivier that, on that very same morning, she had given the aforementioned slave Jas, who was still complaining over the pain in his throat, some brandy with pepper with which to gurgle, who took it and went to the wagonhouse but died shortly thereupon.
The deponent further declares that, at the request of Olivier, he had written on that very same day a short letter to the then honourable landdrost Van Schoor, serving as a report of the above, which letter was signed by the said Olivier, as well as by the deponent and the aforesaid Jan Lodewijk Pretorius.
There being nothing further to declare, the deponent asserts to be convinced of the accuracy of his deposition as in the text, being willing to subsequently confirm this, his deposition, with solemn oaths, if so required.
Thus recorded at the office of the secretary in Stellenbosch in the presence of the messenger of the court Johan Martin Smalberger and the beadle Coenraad Fick, as witnesses.
[signed] B.J. Pietersz.
As witnesses, [signed] J.M. Smalberger, Coenraad Fick.
With my cognisance, [signed] A. Faure, secretary.
Footnotes
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Note that these testimonies were taken two and half years after the events in question. It may have been that suspicion about Olivier was only then reported to the landdrost, but there is no evidence in the archive of this and the case does not appear to have been taken further. ↩
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For the requirement to give reports of unnatural slave deaths, see 1718 Anthonij van Mallabaar, n. 3. This is explicitly stated here by Pretorius to make clear that there was nothing suspicious about this death. For cases where owners omitted to give such reports, see 1750 David van Bengalen and 1763 Christina Strang. ↩
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The term for a soldier trained to shoot with an arquebus, see 1707 Jan de Thuilot, n. 11. ↩
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Knechten were sometimes used as teachers on farms (Shell 1994: 19-20), although their role was more commonly that of overseer or labourer (see 1761 Johan Spring in ’t Veld, n. 1). ↩
Huijden, den 25e Januarij 1764, compareerde voor mij Abraham Faure, secretaris van Stellenbosch en Drakenstein, present de nagenoemde getuijgen, den burger Jan Lodewijk Pretorius, van competenten ouderdom, dewelke, ter requisitie van den heer landdrost, meester Jacobus Johannes le Suëur, verklaarde de waarheid te zijn:
Dat in den jare 1761, in de maand Junij of Julij, zijnde de comparant den juisten tijd ontschoten, egter, zoo hem voorstaan, omtrend dien tijd des jaars, en wel op een Vrijdag avond, op des comparants woonplaats gelegen in ’t Land van Waveren, is aangekomen zeekeren slaaf van den mede burger Jan Gijsbert Olivier, Jas genaamt, die eenigen dagen bevorens van zijn lijfsheers plaats zig ter vlugt begeven had, denwelken den comparant versogte, om voor hem bij desselfs lijfheer een goed woord te doen, ten einde geen slagen mogte krijgen, hetgeen den comparant hem beloofd hebbende, vervolgens belaste dien nagt aldaar te verblijven. Dat des anderen daags, den comparant met het ploegen beesig zijnde en dus gemelde slaaf niet kunnende thuijs brengen, denselven bij zig op ’t land medegenomen en gebruikt heeft om de mest te helpen strooijen, hebbende den comparant inmiddels voorseijde Olivier laten weten dat gedagte slaaf zig aldaar was bevindende, waarop gemelde Olivier dan ook daar ter plaatse gekomen wesende en, door den comparant versogt geword zijnde om gemelde slaaf te pardonneeren, denselven g’antwoord hebbende van ja, onder belofte dat hem niet zoude straffen, voorts meergemelde Olivier, geseijde slaaf had belast naar huis te gaan, die daarop vertrokken zijnde, door gemelde Olivier kort daarop is gevolgd geworden.
Dat, na des comparants gissing den derden dag daaraanvolgende, wanneer denselven gereed was naar den burger Pieter te Bruin te rijden, voorseijde Olivier, die van zijn schoonmoeder, de weduwe Jaques [sic] Therond, quam, bij hem aangekomen zijnde en den comparant versogt hebbende met hem mede te willen rijden naar sijn plaats, met bijvoeging dat voorseijde slaaf Jas des avonds tevoren geklaagd hebbende over zeere keel, dien morgen schielijk was komen te sterven, waarop den comparant mede gereden en ter plaatse van voormelde Olivier gekomende zijnde, kort daaraan aldaar mede was gekomen eenen Jacob Pietersz, wonende bij voormelde weduwe Therond. Dat den comparant, nevens evengemelde Pietersz, op ’t versoek van meergemelde Olivier, het lijk van veelgemelde slaaf Jas, leggende in ’t wagenhuis, besigtigt hebbende, niet heeft kunnen ontwaren dat geciteerde slaaf eenige de minste quetsuren had ontfangen, hebbende aan het dode lighaam niets anders gesien als een klijn geswel aan den hals, hetgeen zig vertoonde als een uitswellende klier; verklarende den comparant wijders van de huijsvrouw van gedagte Olivier toenmaals verstaan te hebben, dat zij dienzelfden morgen aan voorseijde slaaf wat brandewijn met peper had gegeven om zig daar mede te gorgelen, die zig daarop uit het huis naar voormelde wagenhuis begeven hebbende, kort daarop was komen te sterven.
Gelijk den comparant laatstelijk verklaarde dat voorwaards gemelde Jan Gijsbert Olivier van gemelde sterfgeval ten selven dage aan den toenmaligen heer landdrost met een briefje, onderteekend door den comparant en voorseijde Jacob Pietersz, behoorlijk rapport heeft gedaan.
Voorts niets anders verklarende, geeft den comparant voor reedenen van wetenschap als in den text, bereijd zijnde dit, zijn gedeposeerde, des gerequireerd werdende, met solemnelen eede nader te zullen gestant doen.
Dat aldus passeerde der secretarije aan Stellenbosch, ten bijwesen van den bode Johan Martin Smalberger en den coster Coenraad Fick, als getuijgen.
[get.] Jan Louis Pretorius.
Als getuijgen, [get.] J.M. Smalberger, Coenraad Fick.
In kennisse van mij, [get.] A. Faure, secretaris.
1/STB 3/11 Criminele Verklaringen, 1759-1782, unpaginated.
Huijden, den 1e Februarij 1764, compareerde voor mij, Abraham Faure, secretaris van Stellenbosch en Drakenstein, present de nagenoemde getuijgen, den in leening zijnde bosschieter Jacob Pietersz, thans woonagtig bij den burger Jacob Mouton, zijnde van competenten ouderdom, dewelke ter requisitie van den heer landdrost, meester Jacobus Johannes le Sueur, verklaarde hoe waar is:
Dat in den jare 1761, wanneer den comparant als schoolmeester bij de weduwe Jaques Therond in ’t Land van Waveren was wonende, in de maand Junij of Julij, zijnde denselven den accuraten datum ontschoten, daar ter plaatse gekomen wesende, den burger Jan Gijsbert Olivier, denwelke den comparant versogt hebbende van naar zijn Oliviers paats [sic] te willen komen, ten einde zeekere slaaf van hem, met name Jas, die over zeere keel had geklaagd en dien morgen schielijk was komen te overlijden, te besigtigen. Den comparant vervolgens, na dat gemelde Olivier reeds was vertrokken, zig derwaards begeven heeft en, aldaar komende, mede heeft aangetroffen den burger Jan Lodewijk Pretorius.
Dat den comparant vervolgens, nevens gemelde Pretorius, op ’t versoek van voormelde Olivier naar ’t wagenhuis gegaan, aldaar het lijk van gerepten slaaf Jas, leggende voor in gemelde vertrek, op den rugge neder bevonden en, na hetselve te hebben besigtigt, aan het hoofd van gemelde doden slaaf geen de minste quetsuren heeft ontwaard, dat alleenlijk aan den hals een klijn geswel zig was vertoonende.
Dat den comparant ter selver tijd van de huisvrouw van gedagte Olivier had verstaan, dat zij dienselfden ogtend aan meergemelde slaaf Jas, klagende denselven nog over pijn in de keel, wat brandewijn met peper, om er zig mede te gorgelen, gegeven had die, ’tselve genomen hebbende, naar ’t wagenhuis gegaan, en kort daarop was komen te sterven.
Verklarende den comparant wijders dat denselven, op den eigensten dag, ten versoeke van gerepte Olivier, aan den toenmalige heer landdrost Van Schoor een briefje, dienende tot rapport van ’t vorenstaande, geschreven heeft, welk briefje door geciteerde Olivier, zoo wel als door den comparant en voorseijde Jan Lodewijk Pretorius, is onderteekend geworden.
Voorts niets anders verklarende, geeft den comparant voor reedenen van wetenschap als in den text, bereid zijnde dit, zijn gedeposeerde, des gerequireerd werdende met solemnelen eede nader te zullen gestant doen.
Dat aldus passeerde ter secretarije aan Stellenbosch, ten bijwesen van den bode Johan Martin Smalberger en den costser Coenraad Fick, als getuijgen.
[get.] B.J. Pietersz.
Als getuijgen, [get.] J.M. Smalberger, Coenraad Fick.
In kennisse van mij, [get.] A. Faure, secretaris.