Philip Hersseler (also known as Filip(s) He(r)sseler) (c. 1755, Heerlerheide – 19 July 1773, Heerlen) was the son of a knacker and an alleged Bokkenrijder. Just like his father and his uncle, he was accused by other suspects.
Personal life
Philip Hersseler was born in Heerlen, on the Heerlerheide, and lived there with his parents, Nicolaas Hersseler and Maria Catharina Ponts. He was unmarried. Just like his father Nicolaas and his uncle Dirk, he was a knacker. He had two or possibly seven siblings, born between 1747 and 1765. We know little about him, because he was only 18 years old when he was arrested and received the death penalty. It seems like he was the youngest suspect of the third mass trial, along with Joseph Keyser, who was roughly 18 years old as well. Most convicts were already in their thirties, forties or fifties. (In the earlier mass trials, there were a few very young suspects as well: eighteen-year-old Elisabeth Peters, seventeen-year-old Peter Caspar Muyters, nineteen-year-old Hendrik Potgens, nineteen-year-old Nol Caldenberg and nineteen-year-old Joannes Hennix.)
He wrote his own name as Filips Hesseler. It appears that he could write at least a little bit.
Arrest
On 12 May 1773, the court of Heerlen approved of Philip Hersseler's arrest warrant. That same day he was arrested in Neerbeek, where he was possibly visiting family; his uncle Dirk lived there. He was transferred to Valkenburg and imprisoned in the Landshuis. Only two months later, he received the death penalty. His father Nicolaas had been arrested on May 1st with nine others, so Philip possibly knew what was coming for him; but it's also very probable that he didn't think his father would accuse him. Nicolaas did try to prevent this for a long time, but his interrogators kept persistently asking him about Philip, and after being tortured for several days he gave in. He withdrew that confession as soon as he could, but Philip was arrested and imprisoned in the same building as his father anyway. Nicolaas was also forced to accuse his brother Dirk; that's how the mass trials transferred from Heerlen to Elsloo and Beek.
Confessions
Philip Hersseler was initially interrogated without torture and confronted with Andries Gorné and Joannes Cordewener, who had accused him. He didn't want to confess. On 5 June 1773 it was ruled that he would undergo torture. When this ruling was read aloud to him and he was shown the torture devices, he started to confess. The interrogators used the same list of questions for him as for another suspect, Nicolaas Creuwen, who had been arrested along with Philip's father and who would be hanged along with Philip. It was noted on the question list that the questions about robberies between 1756 and 1763 were only meant for Creuwen, not Philip, but he was asked those questions anyway and he was forced to confess. This meant that Philip Hersseler, eighteen years old at the time, had to confess that he had taken part in a robbery when he was one years old, and in another robbery when he was merely eight. The first confession disappeared from the trial later on, but the second confession stayed in the documents, which meant that Philip was partly sentenced to death because of a robbery he would have committed when he was eight years old. He told the prosecution that his father had beat him with a stick to force him to go to the robbery, even though his mother refused. He denied knowing anything about the Bokkenrijders oath.
Death penalty
On 15 July Philip received his death sentence. On 19 July 1773, Philip Hersseler was hanged along with six others on the Heesberg in Heerlen.
References
1: Van Gehuchten, F. (2014). Bokkenrijders. De schande van Limburg. De derde en grootste bokkenrijdersvervolging, 1770-1778, Heerlen: Leon van Dorp. p. 246
2: Van Gehuchten, F. (2014). Bokkenrijders. De schande van Limburg. De derde en grootste bokkenrijdersvervolging, 1770-1778, Heerlen: Leon van Dorp. p. 99-102
3: Van Eekelen, J. (z.d.). Bokkenrijders en afstammelingen > Hersseler, Philip > Philip Hersseler, vilder in Heerlerheide, gefolterd, galg 1773. johnve.home.xs4all. Viewed on 7 October 2022, from https://johnve.home.xs4all.nl/AFS_2/A226.html#228
4: Van Eekelen, J. (z.d.). Bokkenrijders en afstammelingen > Hersseler, Nicolaas > Nicolaes Hersseler, vilder in Heerlerheide, gefolterd, executie 1773. johnve.home.xs4all. Viewed on 7 October 2022, from https://johnve.home.xs4all.nl/AFS_2/A226.html#227
5: Van Eekelen, J. (z.d.). Documenten Bokkenrijders > Processtukken > Vonnis Philip Hersseler, Heerlen 15 juli 1773 Rijckheyt Heerlen . Schepenbank Heerlen 1168. johnve.home.xs4all. Viewed on 7 October 2022, from https://johnve.home.xs4all.nl/docop/proc8/proc_K57c.html
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