The History of Oss by Master Henk, The murder of Guardsman Gerard Hoekman – Advertising Oss | Weekly magazine Region Oss

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Oss was shocked in the night of March 26 to 27, 1893 by the murder of military police guard Gerard Hoekman. The murder was carried out by Janus van Gelder, from Alem, an old KNIL soldier who had fought in the East Indies, but ended up in Oss after his service. He was rejected by Jurgens for a job as a cooper. Van Gelder had previously been charged with illegal poaching and assault and was suspected of an attack on Jurgens’ supervisor De Bruin. Together with Antoon van Berkum and Piet and Cis de Bie, he waited for Gerard Hoekman at the Eikenboomgaard, armed with a double-barreled shotgun. Twice he fired buckshot at Hoekman, who was able to fire back after the first shot and slightly injured Van Gelder in the leg. Van Gelder was sentenced to life in prison, but was pardoned by Queen Wilhelmina in 1923.

Why was Hoekman murdered? In Oss you had constables and military police. The constables were often from Brabant and Catholic. The military police, on the other hand, were Protestant and often came from Zeeland or Holland, which did not make them very popular in Oss. When Hoekman was appointed watch commander of the military police in Oss, he wanted to put an end to the series of thefts in Oss. He also wanted to solve a ‘cold case’: the murder of Jan van den Heuvel in 1880. According to persistent rumors in Oss, Martinus van Berkum, nicknamed ‘the Baron’, was guilty of this. Hoekman once again questioned van Berkum about this. Hoekman also continued to harass this family during the prosecution of abuse by Van Berkum and his sons Frans, Jo and Toon. Van Berkum was feared in Oss for his violence, but Hoekman was not intimidated by this. For example, he and his brigade raided Van Berkum’s beer house several times with loaded guns to arrest suspects. The Baron must have seen him as a threat and that must have been the reason for the murder plot.

After the murder of Gerard Hoekman, his wife was left behind with five small children. Queen Regent Emma gave her a grant of 100 guilders and his colleagues and other supporters raised 1,617.64 guilders. His colleagues erected a memorial for him at the Protestant cemetery with the following text: ‘GEERARD HOEKMAN, born in Goes, September 6, 1848, was basely murdered on March 26, 1893 in Oss, as Guardmaster on Horse of the Royal Military Police. He was a faithful Servant and fell a victim of his duty. His comrades gave him this Resting Place.