On the night of October 28, 1799, the lifeless body of 47-year-old Gesina te Winkel was found on the heath, near the border between the Aalten rural district of Haart and the German town of Barlo. She lay only a few minutes from her home and had multiple stab wounds. What had happened to her?
Gesina te Winkel werd op 30 april 1752 in Aalten gedoopt als dochter van Barent te Winkel en Enneken Dierkink.1 Op 20 april 1777 trouwde ze met Adolphus (Alof) Lensing2, die later ook te Winkel werd genoemd. Het echtpaar woonde op Gesina’s ouderlijk huis, boerderij ‘t Winkel op de Haart, slechts 800 meter verwijderd van de grens met het toenmalige bisdom Münster, dat tegenwoordig deel uitmaakt van de Duitse deelstaat Nordrhein-Westfalen.
The disappearance
On Sunday, October 27, 1799, around four o’clock in the afternoon, Gesina left home alone with a sandwich in her hand. She was on her way to the Möllers family to pick up some items of clothing. The Möllers lived just across the border in the Münsterland, about a fifteen-minute walk from ‘t Winkel.
When it began to get dark and Gesina had not yet returned, her husband Alof and their children began to worry. Where was she? Alof decided to go to the Möllers family’s house. He found three women there by the fire, who told him they had not seen Gesina that day.
Returning home, Alof wondered if his wife had encountered someone on the way or perhaps visited a neighbor. Upon arriving home, it turned out she was still not back. He then went out to search again, this time on the heath. When he could not find her there, he went to the Möllers’ house once more. The residents were already in bed, and when Alof knocked and asked about his wife again, the man and woman called out to him from bed that they had heard nothing of Gesina and that she had not been there that day.
Alof betrok zijn naaste buurman Hendrik te Kolste en de knecht van zijn broer aan Drenthel Schoppe, Harmen Swietink, bij de zoektocht. Samen gingen zij nogmaals de heide op om Gesina te zoeken.
The discovery
By then it was pitch dark on the heath and they could see very little. Around midnight, one of them suddenly discovered something white. It turned out to be Gesina’s cap, with her lifeless body beside it. She was lying on her side; her feet were still warm, but the rest of her body was cold. She was found only five to ten minutes from her home. Alof had a cart brought and took her body home on it. He thought she had probably become unwell on the way and died as a result.
The judicial investigation
De volgende ochtend, maandag 28 oktober, meldde Garrit Rensink, wonende op boerderij Beestmans Huisje op de Haart, bij het gerecht van de Heerlijkheid Bredevoort dat de vrouw van zijn buurman Alof te Winkel in de voorgaande nacht dood was gevonden op de heide.
Thereupon the court, accompanied by surgeon Steven Schaars, proceeded to ‘t Winkel. Upon examination of the body, it was determined that the woman had multiple stab wounds – three on her left side and two on her right side, presumably inflicted with a bayonet or a triangular object.
Apparently, they were not yet entirely convinced of the cause of death, because two days later the court went to ‘t Winkel again with Schaars for further investigation. During this, the deceased, who had already been placed in a coffin, was removed from the coffin and examined, whereby Schaars determined that the lower ribs on the right side were broken and that the wounds inflicted upon her had caused her death.
During interrogation, Alof, Hendrik, and Harmen stated that they initially thought they had found Gesina’s body on Dutch territory, but also that they had not been able to determine this properly due to the darkness. Upon further recollection, however, they were almost certain it must have been on Münster territory.
Hendrik and Harmen further stated that, as far as they knew, Alof te Winkel and his wife had a good relationship and that there was no question of disagreement or quarreling. They also stated that Gesina never quarreled with anyone, and that she “despite her years, looked very well.”
Arnoldus Obrink, kuiper in de Hoekstraat te Aalten, verklaarde dat hij Gesina die bewuste zondagmiddag rond vier uur nog had gezien. Hij liep op de weg van Hunink naar Aalten en Gesina ging de weg naar ’t Münsterland op, omtrent 300 trad van haar huis. Hij had zelfs nog kort met haar gesproken, terwijl zij een boterham at. Verder had hij niemand in de buurt gezien.
An unconfirmed rumor
A rumor soon spread that Gesina had indeed been at the Möllers’ house that Sunday. According to the stories, a 13-year-old son of the family had been playing carelessly with a loaded gun, after which it accidentally went off and hit Gesina. It was even claimed that traces of the shot could still be seen in the chimney or near the hearth. However, there was no evidence for this rumor.
File to Bocholt
Because there was a strong suspicion that Gesina’s violent death had occurred on Münster territory, the drost of Bredevoort, Willem Paschen, sent a copy of the file to the court of Bocholt so that they could investigate this case further.4 Unfortunately, it is not known to us how this case ended. The tragic murder of Gesina te Winkel remains a mystery.
Funeral
In the Burial Register of the Dutch Reformed Congregation in Aalten, it is noted under October 1799: “deceased the 28th – Alof te Winkel his wife – buried the 31st” 5
Footnotes
- Baptismal Register of the Dutch Reformed Congregation of Aalten (1735-1761) ↩︎
- Marriage Register of the Dutch Reformed Congregation of Aalten (1773-1811) ↩︎
- Topotijdreis ↩︎
- Judicial Archive of the Seigniory of Bredevoort – Access Number 3017 – Inventory Number 32 Contentious Jurisdiction – Visitations and statements regarding accidental deaths Period 1737 – 1807 (scans 1816-1823) ↩︎
- Burial Register of the Dutch Reformed Congregation of Aalten (1762-1811) ↩︎