1775 Jephta van Madagascar
Jephta tried to poison his mistress’s cooking pot by placing a snake head in it.1 This was a specific retaliation since he resented having to fetch ingredients for her from a neighbouring farm on a Sunday, and not a sign of general slave resistance. When the head was found, he tried to transfer the blame onto Carolina, his fellow Malagasy slave cook.2
Footnotes
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For another case of attempted slave poisoning, see 1754 Rachel van de Caab. For the reputation of slaves (especially females) as poisoners, see Penn 1999: 44. ↩
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The case was not sent to the Council of Justice. It is possible that since only Carolina could provide somewhat ambiguous evidence against Jephta, it was dismissed by the Stellenbosch landdrost. ↩
1/STB 3/11 Criminele Verklaringen, 1759-1782, unpaginated.
Statement given, on the requisition of the honourable landdrost, Marthinus Adrianus Bergh, by the slave Carolina van Madagascar, of competent age, belonging to the burgher Pieter de Villiers Abramsz, of the following content:
That during the forenoon on Sunday of the previous week, when her mistress had ordered the slave Jephta van Madagascar to go and collect some cabbages on the farm of the former heemraadheemraadThe origin of this word is uncertain, but is connected to the Dutch words heem (‘homestead’) and raad (‘councillor’). This was the title of a free burgher who served on the Collegie van Heemraden in the rural districts of the Cape, usually for a term of two years., Monsieur Jacobus Conterman, the same said, while turning around and leaving the kitchen: “Your moer,1 can’t 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. go to collect the cabbages! I have to plant my onions”,2 which the testifier, who was at this time alone in that room, heard very clearly. That the said Jephta then departed and again got home at midday with some cabbage in a bag; that in the afternoon the testifier’s mistress herself prepared a pot full of cabbage and handed it over to the testifier to cook and, after having been occupied with this, she went outside to fetch water and, when the testifier came back into the kitchen, she saw the aforesaid Jephta (who in the meantime had come into the house) holding the lid of the pot in his hands and instantly setting it back, and when she asked him what he was doing there by the pot, he answered that the pot of cabbage was boiling rapidly and that he therefore took care of it, after which he again went outside. That thereupon the testifier, while stirring the aforementioned stewing cabbage, saw the head of a snake in the pot, which she immediately made known to her mistress; whereupon her owner and his wife, after they too had looked at this snake-head in the pot, took the said pot with everything that was in it from the kitchen and stowed it away. That the following morning, when Jephta was interrogated by their owner about this in her presence and the testifier reproached him for the above, the same said that he did not place the snake-head in the pot, notwithstanding the testifier’s testimony that on that afternoon nobody but the aforementioned slave Jephta had been in the kitchen.
There being nothing further to relate, the testifier asserts to be convinced of the accuracy of her statement as in the text, being willing, if so required, to subsequently confirm the above.
Thus related at the office of the secretary in Stellenbosch on 6 November 1775 in the presence of the beadle Johannes Jacobus Reiniers and the burgher Johannes Victor, requested as witnesses hereto.
This mark X was set down by the slave Carolina with her own hand.
As witnesses, [signed] J.J. Reiniers, Johs. Victor.
With my cognisance, [signed] A. Faure, secretary.
1/STB 3/11 Criminele Verklaringen, 1759-1782, unpaginated.
Statement given, on the requisition of the honourable landdrost, Marthinus Adrianus Bergh, by the burgher Pieter de Villiers Abramsz, of competent age, which is of the following content, namely:
That during the afternoon of Sunday, the 29th of the just passed month October, when his wife had prepared a pot of cabbage for the evening meal and had let the same be hung over the fire to cook by his slave Carolina van Madagascar, a short while thereafter, at sunset, the said slave came to her mistress and said that, after she had left the kitchen to the outside to fetch water and again came in, she saw that the slave Jephta van Madagascar (who in the meantime had gone in there) had the lid of the aforementioned pot in his hands and then instantly set it on the pot again, whereupon Carolina asked him what he was doing there, and received as answer that he thought that the pot would boil over and therefore lifted the lid, after which he again went outside. That next Carolina, while stirring this food, found the head of a snake in the pot.
Upon which his wife investigated this and informed him thereof, whereupon he took the aforementioned pot from the fire and found in it the head of a snake with a small part [of its body]. That the testifier had the pot with its contents stowed away, without revealing anything of it to the said Jephta that evening, until the following morning when Jephta returned from his work and on his own initiative said to the testifier: “Baas, 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.’ makes it so, is it right that she does so!”, whereupon the testifier tied him up, took him to the aforementioned pot, and asked him if he did not place the aforementioned poison in it himself. This was denied by him, while he again answered little to what the aforementioned Carolina said (who related the above to the testifier in his presence), saying only that he did not do it. Which is why the testifier brought the aforementioned slave Jephta here under arrest for further investigation of this case.
There being nothing further to relate, the testifier asserts to be convinced of the accuracy of his statement as in the text, being willing, if so required, to subsequently confirm the above with solemn oaths.
Thus related at the office of the secretary in Stellenbosch on 6 November 1775 in the presence of the messenger of the court Morits Herman Otto Woeke and the beadle Johannes Jacobus Reiniers, requested as witnesses hereto.
[signed] Petrus de Villiers, the son of A.
As witnesses, [signed] M.H.O. Woeke, J.J. Reiniers.
With my cognisance, [signed] A. Faure, secretary.
Footnotes
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The word moer is a contraction of Dutch moeder and literally means ‘mother’, but was used as a fairly common swearing word at the Cape (Scholtz 1972: 143) and still is today. There seems to be no English equivalent to express the force of this curse. ↩
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Jephta may have meant by this that he wanted to plant onions in his own garden. See 1770 Jephta van de Caab, n. 1 for slave gardens. It may also be significant that this took place on a Sunday, when he might have expected to be given free time: for this, see 1705 Cinna, n. 2. ↩
Relaas gegeven, ter requisitie van den heer landdrost, Marthinus Adrianus Bergh, door de slavinne Carolina van Madagascar, van competenten ouderdom, toebehorende den burger Pieter de Villiers Abramsz, inhoudende als volgt:
Dat op Zondag des voorledene weeks, ’s voormiddags, wanneer des relatantens lijfvrouw den slaaf Jephta van Madagascar had belast wat kool te gaan halen ter plaats van den oud heemraad, monsieur Jacobus Conterman, denselven daarop, in ’t omkeeren en gaan, in de combuijs gesegd had: Jouw moer, kan geen ander jongen gaan om kool te halen! Ik moet mijn uijen planten; ’twelk zij relatante, als zijnde toen alleen in dat vertrek duijdelijk verstaan had. Dat gemelde Jephta vervolgens heengegaan en des middags met wat kool in een sak weder t’huijs gekomen zijnde, der relatantes lijfvrouw in de namiddag een pot vol gemelde kool zelfs klaar gemaakt en de relatante om te koken overgegeven had, waarna zij relatante, daar mede beesig geweest zijnde, naar buijten was gegaan om water te halen, en weder te rug in de combuijs komende, gesien had dat voorseijde Jephta (die intusschen in ’t huijs gekomen was) de deksel van de pot in handen hebbende, deselve ten eersten weder daarop gezet had, en de relatante hem gevraagd hebbende wat hij daar bij de pot deede, gaf denselven ten antwoord, dat de pot kool sterk kookte, hij daarom er na gesien had, begeevende zig voorts wederom naar buijten. Dat de relatante vervolgens, in ’t omroeren der voormelde stovende kool, de kop van een slang in de pot gesien hebbende, sulx aanstonds aan haar lijfvrouw had bekend gemaakt: waarop haar lijfheer en -vrouw, nadat zij die slangekop mede in de pot hadden besien, gemelde pot met all [sic] wat er in was, uit de combuijs genomen en geborgen hadden. Dat wanneer, des volgende morgens, gemelde Jephta in haar presentie door hunne lijfheer daarover ondervraagd wierd, en zij relatante hem het vorensgesegde verweten had, denselven had gezegd dat hij meergemelde slangekop niet in de pot gedaan had, niettegenstaande de relatante egter betuijgde dat ’er dien namiddag niemand anders dan meergemelde slaaf Jephta in de combuijs was geweest.
Anders niet relateerende, geeft de relatante voor reedenen van wetenschap als in de text, bereijd zijnde het vorenstaande, des vereijscht werdende, nader te zullen gestand doen.
Aldus gerelateerd ter secretarije aan Stellenbosch, den 6e November 1775, in ’t bijweesen van den koster Johannes Jacobus Reiniers en den burger Johannes Victor, als getuijgen hiertoe versogt.
Dit merk X is door de slavinne Carolina eigenhandig gesteld.
Als getuijgen, [get.] J.J. Reiniers, Johs. Victor.
In kennisse van mij, [get.] A. Faure, secretaris.
1/STB 3/11 Criminele Verklaringen, 1759-1782, unpaginated.
Relaas gegeven, ter requisitie van den heer landdrost, Marthinus Adrianus Bergh, door den burger Pieter de Villiers Abrahamsz, van competenten ouderdom, zijnde van den volgende inhoud, namentlijk:
Dat op Zondag, den 29e der even afgeweekene maand October, des namiddags, wanneer den relatants huijsvrouw een pot met kool tot het avondeeten had toebereijd en deselve door des relatants slavinne Carolina van Madagascar ter vuurhaard had doen overhangen en koken, gemelde slavinne, een wijle tijds daarna, tegens zonsondergang, bij haar lijfvrouw was gekomen en gesegd had dat, nadat zij uit de combuijs naar buijten gegaan om water te halen en wederom binnengekomen was, gezien had dat den slaaf Jephta van Madagascar (die intusschen aldaar ingekomen was) de deksel van voormelde pot in handen en deselve terstond weder op die pot geset had, waarop zij Carolina hem gevraagd hebbende wat hij daar deede, ten antwoord bequam, dat hij dagte dat de pot overkoken zoude en daarom de deksel opgeligt had, gaande denselven zo voorts wederom naar buijten. Dat zij Carolina vervolgens onder ’t omroeren dier spijse de kop van een slang in de pot gevonden had.
Op ’t welke des relatants huijsvrouw daarna ondersoek gedaan, en hem relatant sulx te kennen gegeven hebbende, hij voorts daarop meergemelde pot van ’t vuur genomen zijnde, in deselven de kop met een klijn gedeelte van een slang bevonden had. Dat den relatant, zonder dien avond iets daarvan aan gerepte Jephta te hebben laten blijken, voormelde pot, met ’tgeen er in was, had doen bergen tot des anderen daags morgens, als wanneer voorseijde Jephta van zijn werk gekomen zijnde, uit zigselfs tegen den relatant quam te zeggen: Baas, de meijd maakt dat zo, is dat mooij dat zij zo doet! Waarop den relatant hem voorts gebonden en bij voormelde pot gebragt, mitsgaders gevraagd had of hij ’t voormelde vergif selfs niet daarin gedaan had, wierd sulx door hem ontkend terwijl denselven wijders op ’t gesegde van voormelde Carolina (dewelke het vorenstaande ter zijner presentie aan den relatant quam te verhalen) wijnig had g’antwoord, zeggende alleenlijk dat hij ’t niet gedaan had. Al waaromme den relatant meergemelde slaaf Jephta, ter verder ondersoek dier saake, alhier in hegtenisse had gebragt.
Anders niet relateerende, geeft den relatant voor reedenen van wetenschap als in den text, bereijd zijnde, het vorenstaande, des vereijschte werdende, met solemneelen eede nader te zullen gestand doen.
Aldus gerelateerd ter secretarije aan Stellenbosch den 6e November 1775 in ’t bijweesen van den bode Morits Herman Otto Woeke en den koster Johannes Jacobus Reiniers, als getuijgen hiertoe versogt.
[get.] Petrus de Villiers A. Soon.
Als getuijgen, [get.] M.H.O.Woeke, J.J. Reiniers.
In kennisse van mij, [get.] A. Faure, secretaris.