Mary Ware — Mrs. Mary Ware, an American touriste — was making eene reis om de wereld (a journey round the world) in October 1913 when she arrived at Sigli and graag wat wou zien van het typische volksleven in Atjeh (wished to see something of the typical folk-life in Atjeh). Kolonel Scheepens, who held both the divisiecommando and the civiel gezag at Sigli, had arranged everything for her. She is the only outside witness of the moord op Scheepens whose own book-record survives.
Witness of the Scheepens stabbing, 10 October 1913
On 10 October 1913 — dien dag — Scheepens came home only towards midday and had still to go to the moesapat for the Titeuë case. He had said to his wife as he went: „Dit muisje zal wel een staartje hebben” — This little mouse will have a tail. The oeléëbalang of Titeuë, denied his revenge, greep zijn rentjong en stak hem Scheepens in de zijde — seized his rentjong and stabbed Scheepens in the side. Mrs. Ware, snelde op het eerste gerucht, nog vóór de operatie, naar de ziekenzaal om Scheepens te zien — sped at the first rumour, before the operation, to the hospital to see Scheepens.
Quotation from “The Old World through old Eyes”
In her book The Old World through old Eyes, published in New York, Mary Ware wrote of her visit to the hospital at Sigli:
„I ran off to the hospital without the slightest preparation, bareheaded, without even a handkerchief. In the enclosure I met some officers who were so deeply moved they could scarcely speak. The colonel (Scheepens) was within. His wound was very deep in the abdomen under the liver. I heard one of the assistants telephone to Governor Swart to come as soon as possible with the Koeta-Rajah surgeon and his staff. They started on special train and arrived in less than three hours. While I stood waiting for tiding of the colonel, the captain came to say that he wished me to come in and speak to him. I found him lying on the operating table covered with a sheet, his neck and arms bare, a fine head and superb eyes. He began by saying, how sorry he was that he could be of no further service to me, that he must still leave me to the captain’s care. I was deeply touched by the wonderful courage of the man who could think of others at such a time. I could not control my emotion, and had to turn away my head to hide my tears. He told me it was the fifth time he had been wounded.”
De vijfde… en de laatste maal — The fifth… and the last time. After his death on the third day Mary Ware wrote further:
„His life and character were singularly noble, and he devoted himself to the task of civilizing this backward people. Though I only saw him on the operating table, he made a deep impression on me which can never be effaced — nobly formed head, the expression of the eyes most beautiful, a look of strength and gentleness combined, and he was killing because he was right, and the other man wrong. He was one of the best-loved men among the Dutch in Atjeh. Well, it was strange to find myself weeping over the death of this stranger.”
Correspondence and return visit
Can never be effaced — en dit waren geen leege woorden — and these were no empty words. Vrouwen voelen zulke dingen zoo fijn en zoo diep — women feel such things so finely and so deeply. Vanuit Amerika bleef mrs. Ware correspondeeren met mevr. Scheepens in Den Haag, en later stak zij den oceaan nog eens over om met haar te praten over al deze oude zaken — From America Mrs. Ware kept up a correspondence with Mrs. Scheepens at The Hague, and later crossed the ocean once more to talk with her about all these old matters.
Significance
Mary Ware’s is the outsider’s testimony to Scheepens’s character — „the wonderful courage of the man who could think of others at such a time” — and the only book-length American account of the colonial Atjeh regime in its last years. Her book, The Old World through old Eyes (New York), is one of the documents Zentgraff cites at length in his chapter on Scheepens; the chapter itself closes with her return voyage across the ocean to visit the widow.
See Also
- Scheepens
- Scheepens murder (1913)
- Sigli
- Swart
- Peutjoet
- Moesapat
- Uleebalang
- Rentjong
- Atjehtram
- The Old World through old Eyes
- 1913
- 20th-century
- Aceh War
Source
Atjeh, door H.C. Zentgraff. Gedrukt bij Drukkerij “De Unie”, 1938, Batavia. OCR-filename: 20260709_002148_DLP-81-Atjeh_OCR.txt.