Tubantia, 9 October 1968
GROENLO — The Groenlo cantonal judge, Mr H. J. Steenbergen, was confronted yesterday afternoon with a modern-day Robin Hood. The youthful J. P. from Bredevoort had turned back the clock centuries and had been hunting in Aalten, armed with a bow and arrow. But since the days of Robin Hood have long since passed and legislation today is entirely different, he came into conflict with the hunting laws.
With this primitive weaponry, P. had terrorised a plot of woodland between the Walvoortweg, the Stationsstraat, and the Bredevoortsestraat. The forest is named Het Zwarte Woud (The Black Forest) — a name that fitted wonderfully with the adventurous atmosphere in which historians have shrouded the gallant followers of King Richard the Lionheart.
The Bredevoort archer had set his sights on creatures walking through life on two or four legs and on anything winged soaring through the air, but he went from hunter to hunted when the police caught him in their sights. It then appeared that P. was no true follower of the great hero from the exciting story. He dropped the bow and made off. However, he lacked the cunning and the speed of Robin Hood, who was always too slippery for his pursuers, and so P. — after handing his arrows to a friend — fell into the trap. His adventure was over.
Sheepish
P. looked at the cantonal judge sheepishly when the latter made him understand that he had made himself guilty of illegal hunting. That his game would have such far-reaching consequences and also financial repercussions took him by surprise. Somewhat crestfallen, he managed to blurt out that it was not hunting he was after, but purely the sport. The sensation that shooting with a bow and arrow provided him pushed the rules and regulations far into the background. “You did shoot at animals with it, though,” asked Mr Steenbergen. “Tried to, but I wasn’t very successful,” P. answered. He had bought the bow in Germany.
The cantonal judge had put the weapon to the test and had come to the conclusion that it was a dangerous piece of equipment. “The heavy arrows, tipped with a metal point, whizzed hard through the air,” he said. Mr Steenbergen also inquired why P. had run away. “Didn’t you feel very well?” he asked. “I don’t know,” P. stammered.
The public prosecutor, Mr J. Punt, was of the opinion that someone roaming the fields with such hunting gear is clearly hunting. He felt this deserved no encouragement, and in order to deter other Wilhelm Tell figures, he demanded a fine of 60 guilders or 6 days’ detention, and the forfeiture of the bow and arrows. The cantonal judge declared that P. would have acted more wisely by joining an archery association, and if such an opportunity had existed in Aalten, he would have been inclined to let P. keep the bow and arrow. However, that possibility does not exist, and therefore Mr Steenbergen deemed it necessary to confiscate the weapon. He sentenced P. to a fine of 30 guilders or 3 days.
