TODAY IN KIMBERLEY’S HISTORY 15 JANUARY Murderer William Danster executed in Kimberley, 1877 Catholic Bishop Anthony Gaughren OMI dies, 1901 Springbok rugby player AFW Marsberg (pictured) dies, 1942 Andy Moles scores 230* for GW against NT “B” in Pretoria, 1989 DID YOU KNOW Christian Vermaak, a black convict known as Bismarck, acted as executioner when Willem Danster was hanged on the scaffolds in the Kimberley gaol on Monday 15 January 1877. Danster, a Griqua (also called a Koranna in some reports), had been sentenced to death at the previous criminal session held in Kimberley for the murder of a young Koranna boy, Hans Hoogstander, on 1 September 1876. The actual hanging was an absolute catastrophe, with Danster being strangled to death rather than by hanging. These grisly details will come a little later in the story, for first it must be realized that Danster is the criminal, the poor murdered boy the victim, and the executioner but an amateur forced into the position. Young Hoogstander, in the employ of D.F. Stofberg, a farmer at Sanddrift near Barkly West was told on 31 August 1876 to go and look for some horses that had gone missing on the river frontage. Stofberg himself then left for Barkly West on business, returning late the following day only to find that Hans had not yet returned with the horses. This surprised the farmer immensely, as Hans was a conscientious worker who had never absented himself before. Stofberg was so concerned that the following morning he went to Hans’ father to see if he was not perhaps there. He was not, so Hoogstander senior, together with three or four friends, started to search for his son in the vicinity where Stofberg had said he must search for the horses. The tracks of the youngster were soon found and followed to a place some three kilometers from the farmhouse where the boy’s body was discovered concealed in a bush. A “riem” – a long piece of leather – had been tied around his neck and he had died from strangulation. There were signs of a struggle and a man’s spoor was followed to where it entered the Vaal River at Sanddrift itself. At the crossing were a seemingly innocent rag cloth and an empty bottle. Hans’ father crossed to advise the police as to what had happened, and queried at a nearby store if anyone had noticed anything untoward. The owner of the store, a Mr Olivier, said that yes, the boy had been in his store and had bought a few shillings worth of brandy, no doubt to drink later that evening in the knowledge that Stofberg was away on business. A notorious character well known in the region, Willem Danster, had noticed the transaction and had been observed following the young Hoogstander. Police arrested Danster who admitted to the crime. He said that he had followed Hans across the river for the sole purpose of robbing him of the brandy, and had indeed killed the boy. The rag at the drift was his trouser belt and the bottle was the bottle sold by Olivier at his shop to the youngster. Evidence was conclusive and with no extenuating circumstances, His Honour the Recorder found Danster guilty of murder and sentenced to die on the gallows. The Judge went so far as to say there would be no reprieve considered and so it was. Danster showed no remorse whatsoever, and certainly appeared quite callous about the crime he had committed. Certainly, the crime warranted the death sentence, but what happened on the day of reckoning for Danster is just as heartless. Danster had been visited often during his last few days on this earth by the Reverend Mr Laing for counseling, but still showed indifference to his and Hoogstander’s fate. Danster awoke at sunrise in the cell for the condemned at the Transvaal Road police barracks gaol, and partook of a hearty breakfast, even asking for some brandy, which he was given. Reverend Laing then visited him, but to no avail as he refused to listen to the minister’s words, and a few minutes before eight o’clock with the sun already high in the Kimberley sky, Danster having being pinioned shortly before the melancholy procession started its march to the gallows. Leading the procession was the executioner; a fellow convict nicknamed Bismarck, who would receive a reprieve and some payment for acting in the position. Behind him were the prisoner, the local Sheriff, Mr Maxwell, the Inspector of Prisons, Doctors Grimmer and Matthews, as well as Reverend Laing, a representative of the Daily Independent newspaper and various prison officials. A large crowd was already in their position on the debris heaps to the west of the gaol, and when the procession was spotted, they fell eerily quiet. Danster was the first to ascend the scaffold, and took his place on the drop without displaying any fear. Perhaps he should have because the next few minutes were to become a nightmare for all who witnessed the hanging, and naturally, for Danster himself. The hangman, Christian Vermaak, pulled a white cloth over Danster’s head, adjusted the rope around the prisoner’s neck, and then pulled the bolt. The drop was some five foot, which, if the executioner had tied the rope properly, meant the prisoner would have his neck snapped almost instantaneously. In his haste, however, the hangman had rushed and bungled the job, not adjusting the rope correctly, and it took all of seven minutes for Danster to stop struggling, and “…the convulsive struggles of the wretched man were horrible to witness.” Not only did Danster’s sufferings then end, but so too must have the witnesses’ sufferings. If there had been any hanging that should have brought a speedy conclusion to capital punishment, it was Danster’s. But it was a century too soon, and convicts would continue to suffer many more executions.
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 03:48:34 +0000
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