Posted on 05/19/2024 8:21:32 AM PDT by CheshireTheCat
On this date in 1732, the deposed Dutch governor of Ceylon was executed by throat-slashing in Batavia (present-day Jakarta, Indonesia) for abuse of power.
Petrus Vuyst (English Wikipedia entry | Dutch) was a Batavia-born son of a Dutch mercantile empire already well upon its decline phase.
Following a loop back to the mother country for espousing and legal training, Vuyst returned to the East Indies and soon advanced in the colonial bureaucracy — governing Dutch Bengal before being appointed the Low Countries’ proconsul in Dutch Ceylon.
The scant information about Vuyst is mostly in Dutch; this public domain document details the proceeding slating him with corruption and wholesale cruelty.
Simple and effective, I guess.
When I was about six, my parents took me to a movie that happened to be playing at Radio City Music Hall at Christmastime. The Rockets did their thing. This wasn’t the first time we went to a move this time of year there for that.
Anyway, I forget what this movie was called or what it really was about it. As best I can recall, it was set early in the 20th century is some Muslim country and some American, for some reason I think he was a mercenary, was a key character.
In one scene, a criminal was executed by being tied down on the ground and a large knife was shown. I am not sure how much they showed of what went on because I closed my eyes. My mother exclaimed something about how they had slashed his throat.
Over the years, for some reason or another, I’ve thought about this. I guess it was slightly traumatic for me at the time. I never got around to asking my father if he remembered this incident and what movie it was. Now my parents are gone.
I wonder why the movie was playing at Christmastime where it was playing. I don’t recall it having been even remotely tied to Christmas in any way. But I was only six, so I could have easily missed picking up on something older people had no trouble with.
Strange what sticks in your mind. I can recall scenes from movies that I saw when I was 5 or 6, but have no idea what the movies were, or what they were about. Just flashes usually, but they must have impressed me for some reason.
Every leader who abuses his people NEVER thinks he will suffer consequences. That goes for the Biden Regime as well..
Possibly mazzolata, cf The Count of Monte Cristo chapter35.
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