De Clapper der Calkoens

A few months after the publication of Eene Drentsche veenkolonie by Steenbergen, a small book by Drenthe state archivist Jan Joosting (1866-1944) appears. In it he proves that the transcribed diary is a fabrication. He builds this up in three parts: first, he explains that the Calkoens never existed and therefore could never have written the diary. Then he explains that Steenbergen must have known about it. Finally, he concludes that Steenbergen made up the story himself: 

'After this brief sketch be it permitted me to point out some peculiar things, communicated to us in the diary. Doubts about the reliability of what Petrus tells us are raised when we read that in 1693 “an extra lord's dues” were levied. This is simply untrue. On March 13 of that year, the Knights and Estates decided to issue a loan of 100,000 guilders over and above any taxes, including the hairstyle dues, as usual. [...]  

We also know Mr. Petrus Calkoen from 1685 to 1706 as sexton and schoolmaster Arnoldus van Xanten. We can check whether a person of that name held those positions at that time. That is why I did it. But it grieves me very much to have to testify again, that the continuator of the Clapper did not stick to the truth in this too. [...] The reader of what I note here will be weary at hearing all these inaccuracies. And one will involuntarily exclaim: that both of them tell such falsehoods, seems impossible; did they indeed exist; is not perhaps the Clapper a mystification, committed by someone, who was not sufficiently informed? [...]  

In the first place, suspicion naturally falls on the person who published the quasi-17th century manuscript, Mr. Albert Steenbergen. Let us examine whether we are justified in suspecting him. [...] We have already seen that the Clapper is a mystification, for the simple reason that the writers did not exist. Mr. Steenbergen, who could and should have known this, does not draw our attention to it. [...]  

Already for some years there were whispers: would the case be reliable? And immediately a volunteer offered himself for investigation. This was known to me, and thus a reason for me not to go out myself. And now, with the Clapper before me, Mr. Albert Steenbergen has already passed away. How I would have liked to have seen and spoken to the man who, with unquestionable talent, prepared himself to sell the experts carrots for lemons. [...]  

In any case, we can testify that Steenbergen enjoyed what he did and that he died in the blissful conviction that the experts had fallen into the trap. Resquiescat in pace!