Sex, Gender, Becoming - PULP

166 lize kriel
pension would be providing for her old age. On 25 October she
testified, upon invitation, to the representatives of the Mission
Society in Berlin. What follows is a discussion of that testimony. 52
Emilie Stech attested overwhelmingly to the innocence of her
husband. In many respects, her testimony of Tini’s residence in their
household resembled that of her husband; but in several respects the
way she represented the events filled some gaps in the account of her
husband, Tini and apparently also the Beusters. Her references to
Tini’s immoral behaviour, laziness, unreliability and cheekiness; her
claim that she repeatedly complained about this to Mrs Beuster and
that Mrs Beuster replied that they were all too familiar with these
manners, do raise the question whether Tini, an adolescent with a
stormy childhood, may perhaps not have been a little more
challenging to her guardians than her own testimony unveils. While
Mrs Stech probably mentions these characteristics to imply the
likelihood of such a girl getting herself into trouble, she may
unintentionally also be explaining why her husband felt so attracted
to Tini. Anyway, not even a girl with the nastiest personality and
lowliest morals ought to have ended up in the impossible position Tini
found herself in with the missionary’s child growing inside her.
Ironically, such wilfulness, as described by Mrs Stech, adds some
credibility to Tini’s gutsy refusal to be silenced after having been
mistreated, not allowing her spirit to be broken — telling Mrs Stech ‘to
her face’ that her husband was the father of her child.
From Mrs Stech’s testimony, Tini’s crafty concealment of her
pregnancy to the missionary’s wife is more reliable than from her
husband’s. Mrs Stech had indeed checked Tini’s washing for menstrual
blood; and after the birth of the baby, she confronted Tini with her
betrayal, upon which Tini, according to Mrs Stech, even indicated the
kind of animal blood she used. If it was indeed the case that Tini was
trying her utmost to conceal her pregnancy, (one reminds oneself of
the stealthy way in which she, also according to her own testimony,
had tried to dispose of the body during the night), the question of
attempted abortion surfaces again. In her own testimony Tini was
very vague about when during her pregnancy she had informed Stech
that she was pregnant and when, and how frequently, Stech had tied
her up with the horse girdle. Without having been prompted, Mrs
Stech now revealed in her testimony that she had found the girdle in
Tini’s room after the birth of the baby. When confronting Tini, the girl
admitted that she was wearing it to conceal her condition from Mrs
Stech. Depending on how ignorant Tini really was, one can
contemplate the likelihood that she was hoping to induce a
miscarriage. If missionary Stech had indeed provided (and applied)
52 EA BMG Gegen Stech: BMW 1/4225 64-66: Emilie Stech, Berlin, 25 Oktober 1892.