WHO HE WAS

I met Tavie 3 years after the event on the right.  Everyone I spoke to said he’s really nice and then wait a beat and ask if I was here when the Government building caught fire?  Of course I had to ask him if he had something to do with a fire?  He admitted that he had.  The dispute seemed to be between the Union and GEBE (a government owned company) who Tavie worked for.  I have no idea about demands or anything else.  I do know that they made sure that no-one was in the building.  Whenever we went for government documents they would tell Tavie that they lost it in the fire.

You also need to know that he was 24 years old at the time..  He had enlisted in the Dutch Navy at  15 or 16 for a 5 year enlistment.  Spent time in the brig because he wouldn't participate when the Dutch went to Surinam to quell some type up uprising.

The history of the The history of the August 12th 1974 fire that destroyed the Government Building in a nutshell

August 12, 1974   (A day that will live in infamy)

.This coming Thursday August 12th, 2021 will make it 47 years since the fire that burned down the Government Administration Building and the Lieutenant Governor’s residence on Frontstreet which was located above it. The fire also damaged two adjacent buildings of which the one where Great Bay Store belonging to the Carty family was located and the other one Philipsburg Utilities.

I stated above that it was a day that would live in infamy. Let me explain why I made that statement. I was 10 years old and living in Aruba when this happened, however it still affects me up to this day (on almost a daily basis) although I was not present when it occurred.

Besides the buildings, the fire also destroyed a great deal of the government’s administrative documents including more than half of its historical archive. Those who know me know that I work at the Department of Records and Information Management and have been involved with the archives for almost 35 years. Every time I have to look for something that that was destroyed in the fire I tend to go Grrrrr. 

Let me still try to give you an idea of what we lost: The most of the administration of St. Maarten and the other Windward Islands was lost. This include all basic data, to which a policy must be geared, all figures, all official documents, the complete tax registration,  and written declarations. In short, papers that are irreplaceable and indispensable.

Sooo, I think you get the idea of what I mean when I say it is a day that will live in infamy (for me that is). Ok, with that said let’s get back the alree story.

The fire

It was around 9:45 P.M. on Monday August 12, 1974 when person(s) walking by the Government building noticed that it was on fire. The police and fire department were immediately notified and rushed to the scene, but it did not take long for the fire to wreak havoc to the mostly wooden building. When they arrived the roof was already engulfed in the flames. Both firemen and volunteers from Great Bay and Marigot battled that fire for almost four hours before they could get it under control. By one o’clock in the morning all that was left was the smouldering frame of the building. 

On the night of the fire for a moment there was a moment of panic when the Act. Lt. Governor R.O. van Delden arrived on the scene. When he could not find his then 17 year old son among the spectators it was suspected that he still might be in the burning building. Fortunately he had gone out with some friends and was not in the building. 

For a moment it looked like the fire would spread and possibly threaten most if not the whole street. They started to wet down the other buildings and also started the evacuation of the St. Rose Hospital and the home for the elderly. Fortunately the breeze was light that evening and a potential disaster was avoided.

The investigation begins

It seems like from the onset arson was not ruled out. According to reports in the newspaper, eye witnesses had seen someone running away from the scene shortly after the fire was detected and also that someone had been tampering with the fire hydrants to hamper the flow of water. 

That same day around 1:00 A.M. the police picked up the UFA president Wilhelmus Haize (also known as Willy) for questioning in connection with the fire. After questioning he was freed the following day because of insufficient evidence. You may be asking yourself, buh wait a minute, what does Haize have to do with this? What made them bring in Haize for questioning? I will touch on that briefly to bring you up to speed.

While all this was happening in St. Maarten in Curacao preparations were being made to deploy an anti-riot unit to St. Maarten to keep peace and to prevent any unrest. The charter flight of ALM landed and the fully armed 25 man unit along with several officials were met by the Act Lt. Governor Van Delden at the airport. Fortunately there was no need for them to use any force as they did not encounter any rioting. About a week later they returned back to Curacao as there was no need for their presence. 

Labor tensions leading up to the fire

Willy Haize was the president of the UFA (United Federation of the Windward Antilles, a labor union that represented the workers of the CPC (Curacao Pioneering Company), a cold storage fish company. These two groups were having a dispute over a CLA and on August 10th 1974, this disagreement ended in a strike. 

Two days later on August 12th (the same day of the fire) matters escalated when the CPC got permission to hire strikebreakers to offload a ship with a load of fish intended for their cold storage. To make matters worse, one of the strikebreakers, while crossing the picket line, was pulled from a truck and beaten by some strikers. 

In the course of that day several meetings were held. One of those meetings, this one between the UFA and the Act Lt. Governor ended in a standoff that lead the Act. Lt. Governor to order the police to prohibit the strikers from entering the harbour property in Point Blanche. 

It did not take long before rumours started circulating about what caused the fire. The main rumour had it that the fire was set by people associated with the UFA as an act of rebellion against government authorities. It wasn’t until May 24th the following year that Willy Haize was arrested and later charged as an accomplice in the fire that burned down the government building.

Court proceedings 

On June 26th 1975 Haize appeared in court to face the charges filed against him. The judge ruled that the charges were not legally and convincingly proven and thus Willy Haize was set free. The Public Prosecutor appealed the ruling immediately. On October 14th 1975 the Supreme Court convened in St. Maarten. This time around the prosecutors brought out their star witnesses, Frank Euson, Edmund (Mandola) Cangieter and Gustavus Nisbeth, of which Mandola testified that Willy Haize had given him orders to burn down the government building. The other two also gave damaging testimony against Willy Haize. Haize denied all the accusations.

At the end of the trial on October 14th 1975 Willy Haize was sentenced to 3½ Years in prison, while the other three got sentences of 2½ years.