Ole Høiland
Ole Pedersen Høiland (* 1797 in Bjelland in Agder , today's Fylke Vest-Agder ; † December 20, 1848 in the Akershus fortress in Christiania by suicide ) was a Norwegian thief and bank robber and was already considered in his time, especially in Indre Agder, as Folk hero . Høiland grew up in poor, simple circumstances and developed at a young age the ability to gain sympathy with criminal acts. He is held responsible for a number of break-ins in Norway, including the Norges Bank in January 1835. He was arrested several times and punished with whipping, hard physical labor and long prison terms, but managed to escape again and again. The life story of Ole Høiland was filmed in the Norwegian feature film Balladen om mestertyven Ole Høiland .
biography
Origin and years of youth
Ole Høiland was baptized on February 24, 1797 in the Grindheim church in Bjelland parish in what is now Vest-Agder . He was the child of farmer Peder Olsen Høyland and his wife Gjertrud Gullovsdatter . Ole Høiland was the eldest of four siblings, his sister Åsa was two years younger and his brother Gunvor and four years and his youngest brother Andreas seven years younger.
The Høyland family's hereditary farm was foreclosed in 1802 due to excessive indebtedness and they moved to Kristiansand . His father Peder Høyland then worked there as a day laborer with an inconsistent income. In 1816 the extended family still lived together in their new domicile under poor and poor conditions and was registered in the city's poor fund. At that time there was famine in Norway because of the Napoleonic Wars and the English blockade in the Kattegat / Skagerrak. During this time, food and grain stores in Kristiansand were stormed and plundered by starving people, as there was great poverty, especially in Sørlandet and in the south of Norway.
During this period until 1816, Ole had several odd jobs at the same time, such as tending goats and sheep on surrounding farms in Ugland and Egeland, as well as various other agricultural activities. He was also in the service of the priest Lassen of the Tveit church in the municipality of Tveit in the east of today's Kristiansand for three years .
Period from 1816 to 1822
The first case against Ole Høiland came to court in 1816. At the age of 19 he had committed a total of 13 thefts from various farmers in and around Kristiansund and stole from his employer in the rectory and property in Tveitkirche, for which charges were brought against him. His booty was found in the wooden shed in the house of the Høiland family and it consisted of some silver cutlery, coins, pocket watches, gold and silver jewelry, powder horns, knives and clothing with a total value of 88 speciedalers at the time , which is a larger amount today Money means. He was arrested on August 27, 1816 and eventually admitted his guilt. On November 15, 1816, he was sentenced to two years of forced labor in Kristiansand Prison, which was then the mandatory legal penalty for multiple thefts of that magnitude.
Høiland was transferred from custody to Kristiansund prison on November 20, 1816, but managed to escape on December 18 of the same year. He escaped from prison by climbing a fence behind the outhouse while the guards outside waited for him. While on the run he committed several new thefts and on December 23, 1816 he was arrested again in Vigmostad and taken to a Sorenskriver (judge) for interrogation in Mandal . At Christmas 1816 he was in Mandal prison, but was able to go unnoticed on December 27th when his shackles were removed from him. In an unobserved moment he broke open two doors with a screw and was able to escape. This time he was placed on a farm in Mosby near Oddernes , but when he was transported back to Kristiansand on January 4, 1817 he escaped again for a total of a week. He was back in Kristiansand on January 13th and was interrogated on January 15th. He received an additional four-year sentence from the judge in Mandal for breaking and entering during his escape. He should only begin this sentence after serving the first sentence in Kristiansand. Then Høiland was transferred to Kristiansand prison and spent almost 1½ years until June 1818, when he was able to escape again. He was then released until he was arrested again in Egersund on April 12 the following year . In the course of the proceedings in Egersund, he fled three more times. He was eventually brought back to Kristiansand from custody there.
Period from 1822
Høiland escaped from prison in Stavanger in the spring of 1822 . There is no reliable information about his possible activities about his three-year imprisonment from 1819 until his escape. In July 1822 he was arrested again in Kristiansand and during the interrogation he told in detail about his escape and thefts in Risør , Larvik and Christiania . The interrogation records show that Høiland wanted to reveal where he had hidden all his stolen property, but he escaped again in mid-August. It seemed like he had set up a partnership with the authorities to buy some time. Høiland was thus free for over a year and was not arrested or interrogated, although he was seen several times, most recently on December 10, 1823 in Kragerø , and in Arendal . When he showed himself to Arendal again on December 23, 1823, he was finally arrested. At his arrest, he had an extensive equipment of burglary tools and several utensils with you, many duplicate keys, lock picks , gold chains of two cubits (about 130 cm ), coins and many other items that suspected enough appeared, they all one of burglaries before Week from Arendal. On the weekend of New Year's Eve 1823 he was transferred to the Kristiansand prison.
After 1823
The state investigators wanted to finally put an end to Høiland's trade and to receive precise information from Høiland on all burglaries and forged documents, especially on his passport, which could travel under a hidden identity. The investigation and the process dragged on, also due to the extensive questioning of witnesses. As a result, the whole process was expanded and dragged on until May 1823. After the verdict was pronounced, Høiland managed to escape again. In his cell he was able to loosen the chains with which he was attached to the wall and then use an old bed sheet as a rope to escape from a hatch in the attic. The guards rate the escape from this great height as very "breakneck".
Two days after the verdict and the escape, Høiland was caught again and sentenced to life imprisonment for whipping and subsequent heavy physical detention, which in Norway was called slave labor. After an appeal, the sentence was confirmed in Kristiansand on August 20, 1823 and December 16, 1823 at the Norges Høyesterett (Norwegian Supreme Court).
His parents were also involved in the investigation of the case. Several suspicious items were discovered in her home, such as coffee, brown sugar, silver spoons, money, and a few other items that were believed not to have been obtained through honest work. They were therefore at least suspected of stolen goods. His father, then 60 years old, claimed that he had earned the money from farming and forest work and had owned the silver spoons and other objects for many years. His mother, who was 50 at the time, later claimed that she found the coffee and sugar in the woods, but did not dare tell her husband about it. Neither of them mentioned their son, who was in the woods around Kristiansand at the time, and it was suspected that the coffee and sugar came from a break-in at a farm in Kristiansand. The father was acquitted, while the mother was imprisoned for four days in July, along with the then prominent Norwegian thief Gjest Bårdsen , who was also imprisoned here in the summer of 1823.
At Tredje Stampe in the city forest above Kristiansand there is an approx. 5 meter deep cave which is said to have served as a hiding place for Høiland and which has been called "Høilandshola" (Høiland cave) since then. In his day, the myths about Ole Høiland began, so today it is difficult to determine exactly where he was actually hiding during his escape.
1823 - on the run again
When Høiland was free again, he was seen by a blacksmith at Frolandsverk , who made and sold burglary tools for him. He was also seen in an inn in Porsgrunn . In November 1823 he was finally arrested at Jæren and transferred from Stavanger to Kristiansand. It remains unclear how he had covered the major stretches, including a break-in in a Lensman's house in Bamble to Porsgrunn and Brevik . All in all, everything indicates that he had crossed a very large area by foot in his escape, had little contact with other people and always had to be on guard against his pursuers.
Lashing 1824
According to the judgment of 1823 it was decided that Høiland should also be flogged first. According to a royal decree ( Kongelig resolusjon ) of February 24, 1824 it was confirmed that this punishment must be carried out against Høiland. The city judge ( Byfogd ) asked for military assistance to carry out the sentence. On Saturday, March 20, 1824, the flogging was publicly performed. He was tied to a stake for the punishment by whipping, known in Norway as kakstrykning . The executioner then gave him 27 blows on the bare back.
Imprisoned in Akershus Fortress
On the very same day after the convict was flogged, the city judge wrote to the Lensman in Bamble, who had been stolen from Høiland , that he would now be handed over to the delinquents for lifelong imprisonment and detention in Akershus Fortress . The Lensman was therefore able to interrogate him on the street about the break-in at his house in Bamble. The lensman got the stolen property delivered by a middleman from Høiland. The magistrate stated that Høiland was a very dangerous man who had to be guarded very closely. During a body search, although he was handcuffed, he was found in a secret hiding place in his clothing, a knife, drill and various other instruments, etc., with which he could have freed himself if the opportunity arose.
The Kristiansand magistrate also wrote to the commandant of Akershus Fortress that Høiland, after being flogged, would have to be transferred under strict military guard to begin detention. The head of the guard also reported that Høiland: "has exceptional ability to detach himself from his irons".
Høiland spent seven consecutive years doing heavy slave labor in Akershus Fortress under very primitive conditions. In June 1831 he and several other inmates succeeded in carrying out work in front of the fortress to steal a boat and they rowed as far as the parish of Nesodden , whereby they were able to escape. After six years on the run, Høiland was arrested again and taken back to Akershus Fortress. During his renewed detention in the fortress, he met the prisoner Ole Vidstige , who was later released and, after Høiland was able to flee again for three years, gave shelter and joined him. Vidstige lived in a small living room in a house north of Torshov , while Høiland stayed in the basement and he had access to his partner's apartment through a hidden hatch under the floor of a cupboard. With him in his hiding place, Høiland was already planning his next daring coup, the break-in of a branch of Norges Bank in Christiania (Oslo). During his preparations, he created and manufactured a complete set of burglar equipment as well as duplicate keys, lock picks and other equipment that he needed to get through the seven locked doors of Norges Bank.
Burglary at Norges Bank
Høiland had already explored four evenings before the break-in and observed what the large general key with 14 notches to the entrance gate looked like. He went back to his basement to work with Ole Vidstige on a copy of the keys to the doors of the cash box. He had also made casts of the keyholes in the doors.
As the day for his break, Høiland chose the quiet time on Christmas Day 1838 to get to the bank. He bribed the brothers Hans and Peder Olsen, who were supposed to get 500 special thalers for it and helped him during the Christmas season until the New Year. The brothers were supposed to whistle to signal when the guards should appear in front of the bank and to divert them in another direction so that he could come through the main gate unnoticed. However, he had to make several attempts to get into the bank's vaulted cellar. Each time, Høiland carefully removed the evidence that he had been inside the bank so that no one would notice. However, he struggled to open the last door and had to go home several times to optimize the duplicate keys. Only in the new year could he finally open this last door and enter the corresponding vault of the bank. He stole the amazing sum of 64,100 species thalers, which he took with him in a sack. He then carefully closed all the doors behind him so that the break-in was not discovered for a long time afterwards. He did not always carry out the break-in with his accomplice Ole Vidstige and, after paying off his helpers, hid the loot in several places, including in Grefsenåsen and probably part of it in Ole Høilands hule (Ole Høilands cave) on Storhaug in Lillomarka .
Høiland then wandered around for a while until he found refuge with a family in Lier , where he was arrested on January 21, 1839. A large part of the stolen money could be recovered, but there was no trace of 18,401.5 species thalers.
Again imprisonment, escape and suicide
Høiland were heavily convicted and punished again for his unusual break-in. Again the flogging was carried out first, this time publicly on the market square in Vippetangen . Høiland was around 40 years old at the time and the punishment for him was so severe that he wanted to commit suicide. After the execution, he was held in Kronprinsens Kruttårn (Crown Prince Powder Tower) on Akershus Fortress , which became a symbol of the city. Høiland was guarded by prison guards around the clock in its new dungeon.
He escaped again in November 1837, but was caught in the city and imprisoned again. Almost two years later, in September 1839, he fled again and there was great excitement in the city. He had managed to smuggle tools into the cell so that he could penetrate the floor of his cell through bedrock more than two meters thick. All work had to be done at night and without clothes, so that no dirty laundry could be found on him. The work lasted all summer. After breaking through the foundation wall of the Crown Prince's Powder Tower in the courtyard, he managed to get to the outer fortress wall. There tried to continue climbing, but lost his footing and fell 10 meters and was able to escape. This was his last successful escape.
This time he was at large for three years. Høiland roamed several places and lived most of the time in hunger and cold, for example in Nordmarka and Lillomarka . Finally he was taken back to a family in Konnerud near Drammen and stayed with them for a while. However, the family betrayed him to the authorities because of the high bounty and Høiland was picked up in a subsequent house search. Instead of receiving a reward, the family was punished for hiding Høiland for so long. The family also had to fear that other people would lynch them, as Høiland had become a well-known and popular man. With his 13 prison escapes and a break-in at Norges Bank, he was also a challenge for state institutions.
After his capture, Høiland was sent back to Akershus Fortress for detention and solitary confinement. The now sick and broken 45-year-old convict felt betrayed by the people who he thought were his friends, some of whom also recently wanted more and more money to help him. After a while he asked the new King Oskar I to obtain a pardon or a lighter sentence, but his application was rejected. So he lost the spark of his will to live. On December 20, 1848, he barricaded the door of his cell and managed to hang himself before the guards broke the door.
About Ole Høiland
So far, despite research, no authentic pictures of Høiland have been found. An often reproduced photo allegedly portraying him turned out to be a portrait of another prisoner.
Ole Høiland is mentioned in an officer's report: Protocol on the dishonest slave for life in Akershus Fortress description is as follows; "68 inches (177 cm) tall on bare feet, broad face with a long and right nose, good looks and blue eyes, small eyebrows, light, light brown hair, light skin color, Norwegian language with western pronunciation. Threesomes and wood chopping as an activity here Detection; 1 scar from an injury on the right outside corner of the eye and on the cheek about 2 inches long, 1 small scar from an arrest on the right side of the chest at armpit level, 1 large scar on the right arm, and 3 smaller after an escape; 1 large round scar (circle) on the left shoulder, one scar on each side of the right hand narrow side, and some small scars on the left narrow side after detention. On the right hand, inward, except for the Thumb, scars after a swath on all fingers, 1 large scar on the left hand and the back of his hand from a saber when he was arrested, a long scar and abrasions over the many Years of rubbing on ropes across the back of the hand. 2 scars on the ring and little finger. 1 small scar in the middle of the middle finger. 1 scar on the back of the thumb. Pierced ears in both ears for the earrings.
In Norway today there is still a lot of discussion about the role and importance of Høiland. Through the formation of myths and glorification, a kind of heroic figure was created in wide circles as a man of the common people who, as a folk hero, challenged the state power, judges and public criminal justice of that time. If you follow the historical traces of his escape, you can see that he often hid with women. This supports the widespread legend of a woman hero and an outlaw person who no one could catch and who has led the state by the nose. At the same time, there are no reports that he ever stole from other people except the rich and privileged. This sparked the popular imagination that Ole Høiland would be transformed into a kind of Robin Hood figure. This impression is reinforced in the Norwegian feature film Balladen om mestertyven Ole Høiland from 1970 about the life of the master thief. Here he is sometimes portrayed as a young man when he ended up hanging himself, while in reality he was already over 50 years old.
In summary, one can see that Høiland was very clever and creative, who was ultimately able to outsmart the judicial and state authorities that were still simple in Norway at that time. Modern prosecution and judicial organs would have stopped him relatively early and many break-ins and multiple breakouts would not have been possible under today's conditions.
During his detention in Akershus Fortress, Ole Høiland wrote a kind of autobiography in the form of poems. The Norwegian writer Henrik Wergeland , like so many other contemporaries, was fascinated by Høiland and wrote two longer poems about Høiland under the pseudonym Ola Graagut , one in 1836 and the second in 1839.
See also
- Gjest Bårdsen
- Ole Høilandstøtta , a cliff named after Ole Høiland in the South Atlantic
Web links
- Biography about Ole Høiland on nbl.snl.no in Norsk biografisk leksikon (Norwegian)
- Ole Pedersen Høiland on snl.no in the store norske leksikon (Norwegian)
- 20. Det store bankrøveriet on skoleetaten.oslo.no ( Memento from January 2, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- Ole Høiland in Kristiansand on arkivverket.no at Riksarkivet
- «Mestertyv og utbryterkonge», report by Alf Christian Oddane bok, NRK October 5, 2009
Individual evidence
- ↑ Høiland, Ole Pedersen . In: Arnulv Sudmann (Ed.): Norsk Allkunnebok . tape VI . Fonna Forlag, Oslo 1955 (Norwegian).
- ↑ a b Erling Sandmo: Ole Høiland . In: Knut Helle (Ed.): Norsk biografisk leksikon . Kunnskapsforlaget , Oslo (Norwegian, snl.no [accessed February 15, 2012]).
- ↑ a b Ole Høiland in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ^ Anne Marit Godal: Ole Pedersen Høiland . In: Store norske leksikon . Norsk nettleksikon, Oslo (Norwegian, snl.no [accessed February 15, 2012]).
- ↑ Aftenposten Aften . Supplement Bedre By. October 3, 2012, p. 19.
- ↑ Aftenposten Aften. Supplement Bedre By. 3rd October 2012.
- ↑ NRK.no - Hvem er denne mannen?
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Høiland, Ole |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Pedersen Høiland, Ole (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Norwegian criminal and folk hero |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1797 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bjelland , Christiania |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 20, 1848 |
| Place of death | Akershus Fortress , Christiania |