New lead on Hendrik de Jong: USA newspaper, October 1898

[Bart Droog]

Discovery by Dutch researcher Jurgen Eissink, after the release of the Hendrik de Jong article in Ripperologist # 159:



'Preddy advertised for a wife', The Sun, New York, October 11 1898.
Similar articles appeared in other US newspapers.
Source: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/l...11/ed-1/seq-1/

[Howard Brown]

Thanks Bart !
The article you and Jan put together hopefully will lead to even more information.

[Anna Morris]

That is really something, Bart! I am surprised he actually ended up in the U.S. By this time he was already getting in trouble in the east and midwest. Maybe he headed all the way west and there will be some information from this side of the country.

[Anna Morris]

I found an odd story, coincidentally in the New York 'Sun' from 1911. I can no longer make Clipular clip so I'll summarize in case anyone wants to run it down. I assume this would not be Hendrik de Jong but there are some odd things in the report.

1/22/1911

"In Straits he Stole"=> Joseph de Jong claiming to be a "trained nurse", was arrested and held on $1,000 bond for robbing a Baptist minister who lived in the same rooming house as de Jong and his wife.

De Jong said his wife had been in hospital and he had been ill and they had tried to exist on bread and coffee but they needed better food.

BUT, the items stolen included jewellery, a revolver and other items. It seemed like a big theft and the bail was high. Altogether it sounded like more than a theft from desperation.

I could find no follow up nor could I find any Joseph de Jong acouple years before or after.

[Anna Morris]

Bart: Here is a translation from Polish publication, 'Dziennik Chicagoski', (Chicago, Illinois), 10/4/1898:

"Dangerous Criminal" (Niebezpieczny Zbrodniarz)

Charles Hemotin, local consul of Belgium received an order from his government to ask the local police for help in Chicago. Henri de Jong who committed numerous abominations ans which they seek in Ghent (Gandawie). (This is one long sentence and the translator had some problems but this seems to be what it says.)

It was learned that Jong had recently been to Philadelphia and was going to Chicago. They accuse him of murdering and robbing (the women's names) of Ghent. Both women were hit in the head with a pounding tool. (Yes, that's how it translates. Pounding tool must = hammer in Polish. Or exactly what pounding tool was used is unknown.?)

But he has similar crimes on his conscience and it is supposed he murdered at least 10 women in a similar manner.

He knew how to gain the trust of his victims, pretending he wanted to marry with them, and then he sought the opportunity to rob them and murder them.

(Paragraphs are mine. That is the way I worked out the translation.)

~~~~~~~~~~

There was a "Hotel Arrival" of a J. S. W. de Jong from Chicago, at a hotel in Provo, Utah in 1899. 'Utah County Democrat' Provo City 8/5/1899.

This last may mean nothing but he had used W.S. Preddy. Maybe J. S. W. isn't that far off.

J.S.W. travelled all over the wesat, including Las Vegas, Nevada when that was not much of anything. I took notes of all the hotels I found where he stayed. This may not be Hendrik/Henri de Jong but it might be worth keeping in mind. I never saw any indication of why this man was travelling so much, like a specific business or something.

[Anna Morris]

The first line of the sentence in the translation below came out a bit crude. I had to split a very long sentence to get meaning. Without a Polish keyboard with the stroke and a few other things the translation went into Czech and came back to Polish.

"To understand" is part of the translation and I am wondering if that means to look for or find, Henri de Jong. I think in English or Polish, this long sentence with a comma in the middle should have been two sentences. There is a comma between Chicago and Henri but the subject matter best makes two sentences.

[Bart Droog]

Thank you Anna,

Intrigueing material you dug up.

For: 'J. S. W. de Jong' - the family name 'de Jong' is one of the most common names in the Netherlands. Something like 'Smith' or 'Jones' in the English speaking parts of the world.

I guess a man on the run like Hendrik de Jong, would not have used his real name, after his condemnation to death in Belgium.

[Bart Droog]

This must be the source of the Polish version:

Wanted For Murder And Robbery In Belgium
Belgian Criminal Being Sought by Chicago Police
The Quincy Morning Whig, October 14, 1898, Page 5

Said to Have Slain at Least Ten - He Would Ingratiate Himself in Their Affections, Even to the Extent of Marrying Them, and Then Murder Them - Aside from This He Swindled Many Men in His Native Country and Holland.

Chicago, Oct. 13. - Belgium's consul in this city, Charles Henrotin, has received instructions from that government to request the Chicago Police to assist in finding Henri De Jong. This man is wanted by the authorities of Ghent, Belgium, for a series of crimes. It is said he may be in or near Chicago. The specific charge against De Jong is the brutal murder and robbery at Ghent, on the night of July 18 last, of Philomene Waters and Jane Panwels. Examination of the injuries which caused the death of the women showed that they were killed by blows either with a hammer or steel knuckles. The skulls were mashed so as to be almost unrecognizable. The victims were prominent in the middle class of society. The murderer's identity was disclosed a few weeks later, but De Jong had fled to America. An investigation of his record showed that he had been the perpetrator of a series of crimes, and had frequently served sentences of imprisonment.

Latest Victims Were Women.

The alleged victims of his later career as a criminal have all been women. His method was to ingratiate himself into their affections even to the extent of marrying them, and then to murder them. He selected only women who possessed money, for his ultimate purpose was robbery. De Jong first came into prominence in European police circles about the year 1890, when he was on two occasions sentenced for serious crimes in Holland, where he assumed the aliases of Dolf Panwels, Auguste Filds, Smulders, Jean Staal, etc. In 1893 he was arrested in Amsterdam on suspicion of murdering his second wife, Sarah Ann Juett, and his mistress Marie Sybille Schmetz, who disappeared July 7 and August 31, respectively. There was every reason for believing he had killed them, but the juries before whom he was tried could not agree. He almost immediately took a third wife, and a few months later he was arrested on the charge of swindling her out of a large sum of money.

Convicted and Sentenced.

He was convicted and sentenced to prison for three years. Liberated on August 18, 1897, he was rearrested a month afterward charged with having swindled a citizen of Arnheim out of $3,000. He remained in prison until March 4, 1898, when he was acquitted in the court of appeals. After this he resided successively in Antwerp, Ghent, Brussels, Courtral, and Ostend, under a series of aliases such as Tom Washington, Louis Veerman, Goldons, Goldinthing, Max Kraus, Kendrie Jungs, Willy Willitonsh, W.S. Fordon, J. Nelboem, and F. Jamar. At various time he represented himself as physician, cook, broker, steward, land surveyor, engineer, landscape painter, circus rider, jeweler, retired business man, and sergeant of the Dutch Indies army. In thus representing himself he carried out the character he assumed with remarkable accuracy, deceiving men of prominence in all these vocations. As a matter of fact, however, he was registered as being by trade a mason.

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Traced this on: http://victorianripper.niceboard.org...ery-in-belgium

[Howard Brown]

Good stuff Bart & Anna !

[Anna Morris]

Yes, Bart, that must be the original article! The Polish version is a rewrite and that is why it is a bit confusing. It is what I thought but the re-write put too much information into one sentence. "Pounding tool" must = bludgeon since this article gives two possible tools. Maybe there was not a Polish word for steel knuckles. (Sorry for digging into language. It is a bad habit I have. I am thrilled to know how accurate are the online translators.)

I did not know de Jong was common. Glad to know. There were quite a few of them in the U.S. with a lot of them near Ottumwa, Iowa.

It is so fortunate that first 'Sun' article was found because it is hard to know where to start when a person uses aliases. It is hard to pick up a trail using Preddy as there was a prominent citizen, a harness maker, J.C. Preddy in Ardmore, Oklahoma, who was named in the local paper or paid for advertising, multiple times per publication. (I use chroniclingamerica.loc.gov .)

The first article said de Jong got in trouble in the West so I wonder if he had any dealings with the Preddies of Oklahoma? Just a trail to consider. Someone in the East might call Oklahoma or even Chicago the West.

San Francisco would have been the best destination for de Jong and his schemes, IMO.

[Bart Droog]

Hello Anna,

Hendrik de Jong was using aliases in the Netherlands already, but when he choose new hunting grounds in Belgium in 1898 he operated under at least six different aliases.

If indeed he then went to the United States (we still have no solid evidence for this; even though the Sun article seems quite convincing), I think we should not focus on the names 'Hendrik de Jong', 'Henri de Jong' or 'W.S. Preddy', but on the behaviour.

This 'W.S. Preddy' behaved in exactly the same way as De Jong did in 1889: attracting female victims via advertisements.

But the question is: was De Jong unique in this, or were other contemporary con men operating in the same way?

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www.bartfmdroog.com

[Anna Morris]

Hello Anna,

Hendrik de Jong was using aliases in the Netherlands already, but when he choose new hunting grounds in Belgium in 1898 he operated under at least six different aliases.

If indeed he then went to the United States (we still have no solid evidence for this; even though the Sun article seems quite convincing), I think we should not focus on the names 'Hendrik de Jong', 'Henri de Jong' or 'W.S. Preddy', but on the behaviour.

This 'W.S. Preddy' behaved in exactly the same way as De Jong did in 1889: attracting female victims via advertisements.

But the question is: was De Jong unique in this, or were other contemporary con men operating in the same way?

-----------
www.bartfmdroog.com

De Jong's scams were classic scams. In reading the article I wondered if he invented these schemes but of course he did not. They have been around for a long time.

There were lots of con men operating all over. I agree about tracking behaviour but that will be difficult because there were others doing similar things. Some search terms we would like to use like "women" and "matrimony" will give--at least me at chroniclingamerica--more than we want.

If he did venture to the far West, other schemes he could have hatched could have centered around livestock, cows and horses, and mining interests.

We have a joke here about the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. "If you believe that, I'll sell you the Brooklyn Bridge." I would have to look it up again but I think con men--or one con man--sold the bridge or shares in it and gullible people bought. Anyway, when I read about de Jong I keep thinking he would be one to sell the Brooklyn Bridge to the gullible--and get away with it!

[Bart Droog]

There were lots of con men operating all over. I agree about tracking behaviour but that will be difficult because there were others doing similar things. Some search terms we would like to use like "women" and "matrimony" will give--at least me at chroniclingamerica--more than we want.

I agree - I looked into this via Trove, the Australian digitalized newspaper archive. Got too many hits.