Joseph Kirchhoffs

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Joseph Kirchhoffs (born October 24, 1724 in Herzogenrath ; † May 11, 1772 ibid) was a surgeon in the Herzogenrath Land and a presumed robber captain of the buck riders .

Life

Kirchhoffs trained as a surgeon and later served in the Austrian army in Brussels . When the position of city surgeon was advertised in his hometown of Herzogenrath, which at that time belonged to the Habsburg Land of Overmaas , he successfully applied for it. In 1759 he married Anna Elisabeth Mans, with whom he would have six children.

Kirchhoffs before the judiciary

In August 1771 Kirchhoffs was arrested on charges of being a leader of the so-called Bockreiter, a band of robbers that had been active since the 1730s in the area around Herzogenrath, in the Limburg and Schinnen area . The allegation resulted from the confessions of other defendants who gave his name under torture . Nine charges were formulated against the Kirchhoffs, including burglary, gagging, theft and robbery. Kirchhoffs himself denied his guilt even after repeated torture. Nevertheless, after a nine-month trial, the death sentence was pronounced against him. It was carried out on May 11, 1772: Kirchhoffs died on the gallows in his hometown . The year before, Kirchhoff's brother Baltus had also been arrested as an alleged member of the Bockreiter. He died from torture without a confession. In addition, there were further Bockreiter trials, as a result of which a total of 326 men and women were executed by 1780.

The riddle of Kirchhoff

To this day it is debated whether Kirchhoffs, who is said to have had a good repute as a surgeon in his home country, was guilty or innocent. The fact remains that in the court proceedings against him, even according to the then valid case law, not everything went properly and the Kirchhoffs was executed without admitting guilt.

literature

  • Friedrich Christian Avé-Lallemant : The Mersener buck riders of the 18th and 19th centuries. Supplementary contribution to the history of the German crook Brockhaus, Leipzig 1880.
  • Hartmut Friesen: gangs of robbers. Thieves, crooks and buck riders . Mercator-Verlag, Duisburg 1992, ISBN 3-87463-194-X .
  • Oswald Willems: The buck riders. Correction of a legend; based on historical documents . ALRAC-Verlag, Düren 1991, ISBN 3-9801651-1-6 .
  • José (phus) Speetjens: Limburg, Land van de Bokkerrijders. myth, history, fiction. Edition Stichting Bokkeryder, Groot-Genhout 2000, ISBN 99904-0-591-3 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Bockreiter in Roder and Jülich Land. Anthology, Kerkrade 2014
  2. ↑ Hartmut Friesen: Band of robbers. Thieves, crooks and buck riders.
  3. ↑ The Bockreiter in Roder and Jülich Land. Anthology, Kerkrade 2014
  4. ↑ The Bockreiter in Roder and Jülich Land. Anthology, Kerkrade 2014
personal data
SURNAME Kirchhoffs, Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION suspected German robber
DATE OF BIRTH October 24, 1724
PLACE OF BIRTH Herzogenrath
DATE OF DEATH May 11, 1772
Place of death Herzogenrath