HEERDEN Cornelius Johannes Petrus, van -1931
Information obtained from the photographer Cornelius Johannes Petrus van Heerden. No information is visible on the gravestone; but the history of the young man is well known & appears in newspaper articles e.g. ‘Maluti’ 15 & 22 April 1998. ‘On 25 November 1931 Cornelius Johannes Petrus van Heerden; a young man of 22; shot 11 people in and around Bethlehem; before taking his own life. Five of his victims were mortally wounded and the other six were seriously injured. Among the dead was the highly respected Anglo Boer War veteran; Commandant Michael Prinsloo; who at the time of his death was planting trees for the Bethlehem Municipality. The Town Council adamantly refused to permit the murderer to be buried in the same cemetery as Prinsloo; so van Heerden's parents obtained permission from the railway authorities to bury their son alongside the Bethlehem - Reitz railway track. As was the custom in those years; the murderer was buried in a grave which fronts west.
contributed by: Koos and Janet Lourens
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