Claes van Malabar1
M, #15164, b. circa 1662, d. after 21 March 1692
(Murderer) Death | Grietje Gerrits died on 7 March 1692 de Caep de Goede Hoop, she was axed to death by her slave, Claes van Malabar, who took offense when she reprimanded him for being late in chopping firewood. Incensed when she rejected his excuse that he had been searching for stray cattle, he called her an old dog. Infuriated, she grabbed a fallen branch to beat him, but he preempted her, and struck her in the face with the axe he had been using to chop the wood. After she collapsed, he continued the assault, and attempted to sever her head. The household was alerted by the screams of the female slave, Maria van Negapatnam, who yelled repeatedly, moeder is dood, moeder is dood.4 |
Citations
- [S205] Mansell G. Upham 'Keeping the gate of Hell… 'subliminal racism' & early Cape carnal conversations between black men & white women', First Fifty Years, Uprooted Lives Unfurling the Cape of Good Hope's Earliest Colonial Inhabitants (1652-1713), (http://e-family.co.za/ffy/ui66.htm), 18 October 2012.
- [S414] H.F. Heese, Reg en Onreg (Kaapse Regspraak in die Agtiende Eeu) (Belville, South Africa: Instituut vir Historiese Navorsing, Universiteit van Wes-Kaapland, 1994), ISBN 1-86808-195-8, CLAAS Slaaf van Jan Coenraad Visser, c 30, Bengale
Hy skel sy "patronesse" van 82 jaar; sy slaan hom met
'n "takje" waarop hy haar met 'n byl doodkap
Geradbraak
CJ 780, 230 21.3.1692. Hereinafter cited as Reg en Onreg.
- [S205] Mansell G. Upham 'UL06 Keeping the gate of Hell…', Uprooted Lives Unfurling the Cape of Good Hope's Earliest Colonial Inhabitants (1652-1713), "Duly broken on the wheel on a day of a raging south-east wind, he was found dead by 1 o'clock that afternoon."
- [S205] Mansell G. Upham 'UL06 Keeping the gate of Hell…', Uprooted Lives Unfurling the Cape of Good Hope's Earliest Colonial Inhabitants (1652-1713), "Page 12. Outraged by his insolence, Grietje grabbed a broken tree branch to beat him. Before she could do so, Claes struck her in her face with the axe."