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Jacobus van der Steen

the black sheep of the family

It is just about mid day when Jacobus Daandels van der Steen steps out of City Hall in Den Bosch in his new suit. It is Thursday - market day - the 4th of October 1798. He sees a clear sky and it isn't cold, about 15 degrees centigrade (60F). In front of City Hall a scaffold was erected with gallows. The members of the city council have arranged that there is an armed civil guard of 24 men to keep the mob at a distance. Besides Jacobus also Johannes van Rooij is taken to the scaffold. Moments earlier the court read out the verdict in public. Both have been sentenced 'to be punished by the rope until death follows'. They are about to be hanged.

The gallows on Market square in Den Bosch must have looked like this

The members of the city council stand on the balcony of City Hall to see the sentence carried out. When it is all over two servants take down the bodies of Jacobus and Johannes. About ten years earlier they would have been taken to a nearby heath to be displayed. But now that the changes of the Enlightenment finally became apparent, they are decently put in a coffin. The two servants will take them to the cemetery behind Saint John's Cathedral where there is a special corner for 'criminal burials'.

The old cemetery behind Saint John's Cathedral

Jacobus came from the nearby village of Boekel and he was 44 years old that day. He was survived by his wife and nine children. Johannes was 27 years old, came from the village of Schijndel and was survived by his wife and young child. Robberies, although mainly of food, were the reason they were hanged today. It had all begun fairly harmless but when they started to violently raid people in the middle of the night in their homes it was enough to get the ultimate punishment. As terrifying example for everybody that witnessed it today or would hear about it, they ended up on the gallows now.

Baptismal record of Jacobus van der Steen, Boekel on the 22nd November 1753

It had been turbulent years. The village of Boekel, not even that far from Den Bosch, belonged to an independent Domain of Ravenstein which was not part of the Dutch Republic. In the years 1792 and 1793 Jacobus had stolen 'across the border' after which he could retreat to the Ravenstein Domain in relative safety. He had stolen some barrels of oat, a sack of rye and a single sheep. Once the French invaded the area in September 1794 that border had disappeared. But now Jacobus and his accomplices took advantage of the war and the unclear power situation in the region. They were roaming the area in the middle of the night, stealing and raiding farms.

Siege of Den Bosch by the French troops in September 1794

 A stolen calf

One example took place at the end of May 1795. In the middle of the night Johannes van Rooij had stolen a calf from the stable of a farmer in the village of Boekel, assisted by Piet van den Hoogen and Jacobus van der Steen. Later, when he is imprisoned Jacobus testifies: "that they had cut the throat of the calf on the heath and that they had thrown the intestines in a ditch. They had then gone to his home where they had skinned the calf and cooked and eaten it".

Jacobus' testimony about the stolen calf

The farmer and owner of the calf, Evert Jacobs, testified at the aldermen in the Ravenstein Domain that one morning he arrived at his stables and "found the doors of his stables were open, although he had safely locked them the night before". After closer inspection of his stables he missed a calf. He goes on "that he then looked everywhere for his calf, and found fresh intestines in the meadow of his neighbour under a hedge, he also found blood and because he came to the conclusion that both had to belong to his missing calf he stopped looking for it".

Testimony about the stolen calf by farmer Evert Jacobs

Farmer Evert Jacobs underlines his great loss with the remark that he "would not even have sold the calf for 13 guilders, because he had had the intention to train it as a work ox".

 Brutal violence

Things didn't stop with the relatively harmless theft of a calf. Brutal raids were carried out now. Farmers were bound, hit, threatened and robbed in their own homes in the middle of the night. On one such occasion Jacobus had been on watch with a loaded musket (gun). He states that his friends inside "after breaking in and entering the house, had dragged the man by his hair, thrown him on the bed faced down in a pillow and that they had tightly bound his hands and feet uttering terrible threats, that if he moved or looked up, they would shoot him so terribly that smoke would come from his throat". The loot was in sharp contrast to this kind of violence: flax, bread, 15 pounds of butter and eggs...

Armed with such a musket Jacobus van der Steen had been on watch

A year after the French invasion power is restored and well organised man-hunts take place to apprehend the many thieves and robbers on the loose. During a "General Thug Round-Up" in October 1795 Jacobus is in the village of Erp that is part of the jurisdiction of Den Bosch. He is not able to present a valid pass and is therefore taken in and brought to the city's prison in an old city gate where he is taken into custody on the night of 21 October 1795.

Statement by bailiff Van Hanswijk about the legitimacy of the arrest during the 'General Thug Round-Up' in October 1795

The Den Bosch prison could be found in an even then very old city gate of the first city wall. It was directly on Market Square at the beginning of Hinthamer Street. Since the city was enlarged the building didn't have a function anymore so it could double as a prison.

Example of a gate that looked just like the Prison Gate of Den Bosch

On 5 November 1795 the first interrogation takes place. Unfortunately no minutes survived. But the account from the prison guard did survive. For beer and fire (heating) he charges 16 nickels. They are to be paid by the village of Erp, which has to pay all expenses of the entire detention because it was in that village that Jacobus was apprehended.

The first interrogation on 5 November 1795 on the prison guard's account

At the end of the 18th century things were not very bad in the prisons anymore. The mythical 'bread and water' only existed as an extra severe punishment. The prisoners got relatively good food, their beards were shaven and they got good clothing that was washed weekly. They also had good blankets. Torture during interrogations was abolished in 1790. But on the other hand: one could anticipate extremely severe punishments. So when there was an opportunity to escape Jacobus took it gladly!

 Escape

On 12 february 1796 prison guard Mr. Westerveld made his normal round and while inspecting the cell Jacobus and his cell mate Adriaan Staakenburg (who had stolen some sheets that were out to dry) had overpowered the guard and bound him. Jacobus then went to his wife and children in Boekel as soon as possible, about 30 kilometres down the road.

The shortest route out of the city's prison in the direction of Boekel.

Because Boekel in the Ravenstein Domain was not in a separate country anymore, Jacobus was not safe there from the long arm of the law from Den Bosch. That is why he travels with his wife and nine children another 30 kilometres to the east, just over the river Meuse, to an area that belonged to the German city Cleves (Kleve).

Tower of the courts in Cleves (Kleve) in Germany

It doesn't help Jacobus: there too are the French soldiers and for reasons that are unclear now they arrest him and bring him to Kleve. There too he is imprisoned but also released after a couple of months. He probably thinks the danger has subsided now and he returns to his native grounds where he builds himself and his family a cot to live in between the villages of Boekel and Erp. But this was a grave error of judgement because it is in this cot that he is apprehended again in the night from 9 to 10 April 1797 and he is returned to the Den Bosch prison gate.

New interrogations in 1797

 Voluntarily made confession

In the mean time his accomplice Johannes van Rooij had been arrested and bailiff Van Hanswijk is slowly beginning to see the big picture of their crimes because of all the interrogations. When the bailiff confronts Jacobus with his crimes on the morning of 6 September 1797 he denies them all. But back in his cell he reconsiders. At his own request he is taken back to the bailiff and two aldermen of the Den Bosch city council and then voluntarily confesses in every detail all 12 crimes that he was accused of.

"voluntarily admitted and avowed" the confession of Jacobus van der Steen

Two days later he is given a new shirt in his cell. It is worth 2 guilders and 2 nickels. It almost seems a reward. Jacobus remains in custody in the following months and the prisons administrator carefully keeps track of all expenses made for him. New socks, wooden shoes, a shirt, beard shaving, laundry and emptying the chamber pot, everything is taken into account. In August 1798 Jacobus falls ill and the doctor is brought in on several occasions in the following months. He prescribes a lot of medicines. On 28 September 1798 the last prescription drugs were issued from the nearby City Hospital's pharmacy.

Prison's account

 Verdict

On that 28th September 1798, over a year after his confession, in the court room of city hall sentence was pronounced against both Jacobus and Johannes. They are both sentenced to death by the city council on behalf of the people of the Batavian Republic. This sentence could be pronounced because they met all five requirements. They had stolen:

1. in the night
2. with two or more accomplices
3. by breaking in
4. armed
5. and with (threat of) violence.

The books with verdicts of the Den Bosch judges

Because of their proven crimes the prisoners were to be "brought to the place where in this city justice is done normally, to be punished there by the executioner with the rope until death follows, that subsequently the dead bodies will be taken off the gallows and decently buried in a therefore proper place".

From the verdict of the Den Bosch judges

They receive spiritual assistance for 48 hours after this death sentence and Jacobus even gets a second-hand 'new' suit on 1 October in value of the huge amount of 4 guilders. Apparently he has to look presentable when the execution takes place on 4 October.

 Execution

On 4 October 1798 both prisoners are taken to court again. Now to hear their sentence read out in public. Immediately after the pronunciation both are brought outside where they are hanged in front of city hall. On the prison's balance amounts appear for the coffin, the grave digger and the servants who take the bodies down from the gallows and to the cemetery. All expenses for Jacobus have to be paid by the village of Erp. They have to pay the staggering amount of 658 guilders, 17 nickels and 12 pennies. It is only in 1803 that Erp pays the last amount to the city of Den Bosch!

Court inside Den Bosch City Hall

One of the aldermen watching the execution, and apperantly in charge of everything regarding the prison, was a mr. Van Rijn. He had also been present during the interrogations and confession of Jacobus and he had persuaded the rest of the council members to appoint the civil guard for keeping order during the execution and not the army that was also in the city. Now that everything had taken place in such an orderly manor and because of the good behaviour of the civil guard, he makes sure that the minutes of the council meeting the following day of Friday 5th October make "Honourable mention" of these facts. The council approves unanimously.

From the minutes of the city council in Den Bosch; the armed civil guard is praised unanimously and is 'honourably mentioned'.

This marks the end of the life of Jacobus van der Steen. His wife and children carry the shame for the rest of their lives. Whenever his children have to officially prove their father's death it is stated that there is no document to prove a Christian burial. In stead the official documents all state "father died in Den Bosch" which in those days would have been a word enough to the wise.

The city of Den Bosch has a little surprise almost 200 years after these events for bailiff Van Hanswijk. In the 1990s a square in an urban development area is named after him.

"Bailiff van Hanswijk square"