Reitz

On the road from Reitz to Bethlehem (R26) in the Free State one crosses over the railway line about 10km out of Bethlehem. Inspecting the area under the bridge one finds a grave next to the rails a few meters from the bridge. It is marked by some upright railway sleepers, totally overgrown and with a largely illegible gravestone. I could just make out... ‘Nov 1931’. 

Who is buried here? And why next to the rails, not in a cemetery?

The person laid to rest here is Cornelius van Heerden, aged 22 at the time of his death. He was what we nowadays would call a troubled youth. At the beginning of November 1931 he had been in court charged by his father for theft by conversion. He received a suspended sentence due to his age and being a first offender. Earlier in the month he was fired from his job with the railways for absenteeism and the day before the incident he was in court on a charge of negligent driving.

He lived with his parents at Bethlehemspoort, about 7km out of town. On the morning of the 26 November he went into town and bought ammunition. On his return he announced to his brother that he was going out to do some shooting.

First, as reported by various sources, he went around the neighbourhood asking for Dawie Viljoen who was farming nearby. It is speculated that he wanted to kill him because he laughed during an incident when van Heerden fell off a...

Most photographers at the turn of the last century were upstanding and hard-working citizens, however, there is always the exception. This article is about one such exception, namely the photographer Maximillian Alfred Daubert who was based in towns such as Wakkerstroom, Reitz and Pietermaritzburg. Daubert who often clashed with the law, spent many months in local jails, due to various criminal transgressions.

Maximillian Alfred Daubert, was born in Braunschweig, Germany on 24 August 1865. His father was Heinrich Wilhelm Daubert and his mother Doretta Daubert (Nee Haacke). Alfred left Germany at the age of 23 and arrived in South Africa some time during 1888.

Photograph of Daubert, wife Alette (Nee Smit) and eldest son Heinrich (Circa 1912) taken by the photographer Jennings based in Vrede. Jennings was also active in Reitz where Daubert resided for a while.

Alfred Daubert initially moved around South Africa at regular intervals. It is possible that he was an assistant photographer at the studios of some more established photographers in the towns he visited before he finally settled in Wakkerstroom.

His movements were as follows:

• Kimberley between 1888 and 1889
• Johannesburg (Kerk & Harrison Street) between 1889...