Sex, Gender, Becoming - PULP

tini’s testimony 163
to keep up the façade for at least two years and that it took his
mystery disappearance as well as a whole district gossiping, for the
missionaries to start making enquiries within their own ranks.
Beuster’s apparent approval of Tini’s condemnation and his tardiness
to make contact with her while still under the impression that Stech’s
story of her immorality was true, are also quite unsettling. It is also
significant to contrast the concepts used at the time with the ones
that would probably have featured strongly in a case of this nature in
our own time. References made about Tini range from her having had
a child with Stech, to Stech using Tini, to seduction, to intercourse
and to adultery, 37 but not to misuse, abuse, or rape. The only persons
using the word ‘abortion’, were Stech himself and his wife. 38 No one
dared speculating about infanticide in writing. However, a feeling of
shame, of an injustice having been committed, of Stech no longer
worthy of their company, did indeed prevail amongst all the
missionaries who commented on the incident. 39
The one person who was not given an opportunity to speak for herself
or to be released of her burden until very late in the inquest, was Mrs
Emilie Stech. The contrasting portrayals of Mrs Stech in her husband’s
and Tini’s respective accounts of the unhappy events during their last
years at Blauberg, are remarkable. According to Beuster, Tini was
entrusted to the Stechs in order for her to assist the wife of the
missionary. 40 This is one of the few points on which Tini and Mr Stech
concur. It is curious that Stech remarked on the deterioration of his
wife’s strength and health, particularly over the three years preceding
their departure from the Transvaal — the time during which he
had intercourse with Tini. 41 It is not clear what ailments Mrs Stech
suffered from. Malaria cannot be excluded, but any of the myriad
nervous conditions ascribed to being female or being white in Africa
during the late nineteenth century (or coming to terms with her
husband’s adulterous behaviour) should be considered. 42
37 EA BMG Gegen Stech: BMW 1/4225 5: A Herbst – O Krause, Superintendent, 10
Dezember 1891; 11: O Krause – HT Wangemann, 4 Februar 1892; 56-58: Beilage A,
27 Juli 1892; EA BMG Gegen Stech: BMW 1/4302: BMS – Stech, 13 Mai 1893.
38 EA, BMG Gegen Stech: BMW 1/4225 23-24: C. Stech – HT Wangemann, 15 Februar
1892: ‘Ein Bastardmädchen die an die 4 Jahre in unserem Hause war, und sich
schlecht betragen, ist bei uns entbunden von einem zu früh geborenen – ob man
Abortus oder Frühgeburt nennen soll, ist wohl gleich – Kinde.’ [ ... an early born
child – whether one should call it abortion of premature birth, is all the same ...
]. Also see EA BMG Gegen Stech: BMW 1/4225 64-66: Emilie Stech, Berlin, 25
Oktober 1892.
39
EA BMG Gegen Stech: BMW 1/4225 6-7: O Krause – HT Wangemann, 30 Dezember
1892.
40 EA BMG Gegen Stech: BMW 1/4225 12-15, C Beuster – HT Wangemann, 18 Februar
1892.
41 EA BMG Gegen Stech: BMW 1/4225 3: C Stech – HT Wangemann, s a, ca September
– Dezember 1891.
42
This aspect requires further investigation. See J Oppenheim Shattered nerves.
Doctors, patients and depression in Victorian England (1991).