THE CASE OF KIDNAPPING WHICH IS EXICITING SOCIETY AT THE HAGUE.
BY THE MACEAY-BENNETT COMMERCIAL CABLE TO THE HERALD.
THE H A G U E, J a n. 1 6, 1 8 8 6 .
—A romantic kidnapping case now being tried at Arnheim
has stirred up the sluggish depths of The Hague society.
Mrs. Bulkley - Becking,who, with her friend Miss Schlingemann and
Mynheer Kloppers, figures an defendant in the case, was a few years ago a shining social light at The Hague.
She is the widow of an English professor.
Her wealth and philanthropy had won for her the respect of everybody but her son-in-law.
CAUSES OF THE TROUBLE.
Mary, her daughter,on whom she doted, had married a Dutchman named Hoek, residing
at Apeldoorn,near Utrecht- The match proved unhappy,and in 1882 Mrs. Hoek died
suddenly, under suspicious circumstances,leaving two children—Martinus and Henry William.
The tongues of the Apeldoorn gossips wagged freely, especially when,soon after his wife's death. Hoek engaged a fascinating governess to keep house for him and to educate his children.
THE FIRST PLAN DEFEATED.
Mrs. Becking was devotedly attached to her grandchildren and hated their father,who
heartily returned the hatred.
He had often quarrelled with her during Mrs.Hoek's lifetime,because, he said,she spoiled the boys.
Hoek affected to dislike the coddling system and sent little Henry to a boarding school, while he let young Martinus run wild in the gutter.
Remembering her daughter's fate Mrs. Becking trembled for the children, and one day, yielding to an uncontrollable impulse, fetched Henry from school and carried him off
to England to a clergyman.
But the father discovered the boy's retreat and brought him back to Holland,
hotly pursued by his motherin-law.
A DESPERATE SCHEME HATCHED.
After that wherever the children were sent Mrs.Becking followed, watching for an opportunity to snatch them from the clutches of their dreaded parent.
At last this idea be came so fixed in her mind that she could not rest.
With the assistance of a Miss Scblingemann and one Kloppers she hatched a desperate
scheme for kidnapping the childr en. Miss Schlingemann and Kloppers went to London
and hired a steamyacht,the Cexile,for £ 500 a month. They provisioned the vessel for a cruise of several weeks and laid in a store of toys, books and cakes.
Then they returned to Amsterdam, ordering the yacht to Ymuiden.
THWARTED A SECOND TIME.
In Amsterdam Kloppers engaged eight men, telling them they were wanted to carry off a dangerous maniac, but the police overheard the partydiscussing their plans in the street.
Hoek was warned, and when the conspirators, armed with sticks and knives and guided by Mrs. Becking and Miss Schlingemann, attempted to force their way into his house at Apeldoorn one night,they found the doors barricaded and the police wainting, and after a fierce struggle had to flee.
Mrs.Becking,Miss Schlingemann and Kloppers watched the fight from a carriage,and when they saw the game was up they drove post haste to Arnheim, where they were arrested.
SYMPATHY WITH THE PRISONERS.
The Hague has been in a ferment of excitement ever since the trial began.
Public sympathy is all with the prisoners. Mrs. Bulkley-Becking made no attempt to deny the charge, but pleaded her conduct was only technically criminal.
"Before Heaven ," she exclaimed, "I am innocent."
Witnesses testified to Hoek's brutality, and proved that he once declared he
would rather kill the children than see them with his mother-in-law.
The eloquent addresses of the prisoner s' counsel made a marked impression.
The public prosecutor has adjured the Court not to let the defendants escape
without heavy punishment.
Judgement will be delivered next week
New York Herald January 16 1886
