Hendrik Ponts (May 23rd 1718, Hoensbroek - unknown) was a skinner and suspected Bokkenrijder, son of suspected gangleader Mathijs Ponts, who was a skinner as well. Hendrik managed to escape.
Personal life
On May 23rd 1718 Hendrik was baptised as Hendricus Ponts in the small Sint-Janschurch in Hoensbroek. He was the third son of Mathijs Ponts and Barbara Bemelmans. With his brother and sisters (Ida, Johannes, Peter, Gertrudis, Maria, Margaretha, Matthias and Reinerus) he grew up at the Akerstraat in Hoensbroek. From his father he learned the skill of skinning. Around his 25th he gets described as "Quite tall, stout faced and quite pale, black straight hair, blue eyes, big and point nose, firm arms and legs, in his late twenties." by his brother-in-law Johannes Honoffs. In May 1741 around Hendriks 23rd birthday, he and his brother Peter, together with a stranger, caused a fight in the inn of Christiaan La Haye, located next to their home. The stranger got arrested and banned from Hoensbroek; Hendriks father Mathijs had to pay up for the trial costs, but other than that it looks like Peter and Hendrik didn't get any other troubles in this situation.
Accusations
Well before the Bokkenrijders trials started, on March 9th or 10th 1742, Hendrik got arrested once in Aldenhoven, where he was imprisoned for a few weeks in the duchy Jülich. Afterwards he returns to his childhood home in Hoensbroek. Other suspects of the Bokkenrijdersgang often name him in the beginning of 1743 as complicit; he would, together with his father and his brothers Johannes and Peter, have been part of several robberies. There is a possibility those allegations are the reason that he fled Hoensbroek in January, again. It's likely he roamed around through the area, like his brother Johannes who escaped prison. When Mathijs, Peter and Maria get arrested in their own home at the Akerstraat on April 10th, Hendrik is nowhere to be to be found; he's never found back ever again for the remaining time of his life and manages to escape a trial this way.
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