Late in the 18th century (circa 1790 - 1800), ANTONIJ JACOBI WILLEM
GIJBEN (born March 10, 1775 @ Groesbeek, Holland; son of Johannes
Arnoldus Gijben ("schout" of region, murdered approx 1787 and Marie
Bloem) became involved in some kind of "serious" criminal activity and
fled across the nearby border to Germany, assuming a false identity
before later enlisting as a mercenary in Napoleon's Grande Armee and
afterward emigrating to North America. "Early in 1802 the superior
court in his native province (@ Arnhem in Gelderland) complained that
repeated attempts to arrest him had failed and ordered that a
determined effort be made to obtain his extradition to the
Netherlands" (three extradition-procedure papers in Inv. No. 5018, 8
January 1802 @ Rijksarchief in Gelderland).
What was Gijben's crime?
If specifics of his crime are lost in time, what is a narrower
definition of "serious", ie. for what type/range (criminal?
political?) of crime would a superior court in Gelderland at the time
have sought extradition?

Dear elusiveblackone,

I don't have a real answer so far, but some thoughts concerning the
nature of Gijben's crime: It is quite sure that he was not a political
criminal. Since early 1798, the Netherlands were a so-called "Sister
Republic" of revolutionary France, a satellite state named Bataafse
Republiek, under strong French influence. Had Gijben committed any
crime against the state, enlistment in the French army would not have
saved him since he would have been regarded anti-French by acting
against the Bataafse Republiek.
Had he committed a political crime before the founding of the new
republic, no one would have been interested in it later; he even might
have been regarded a revolutionary hero in that case. So I suspect,
his crime was of a different kind.

Regards,
Scriptor