Two lawsuits filed by Hauptmann's wife against the state of New Jersey, arguing his innocence (both dismissed)
On March 1, 1932, Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. (born June 22, 1930), the 20-month-old son of colonel Charles Lindbergh and his wife, aviatrix and author Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was murdered after being abducted from his crib in the upper floor of the Lindberghs' home, Highfields, in East Amwell, New Jersey, United States.[1] On May 12, the child's corpse was discovered by a truck driver by the side of a nearby road.[2][3]
In September 1934, a German immigrant carpenter named Bruno Richard Hauptmann was arrested for the crime. After a trial that lasted from January 2 to February 13, 1935, he was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Despite his conviction, he continued to profess his innocence, but all appeals failed and he was executed in the electric chair at the New Jersey State Prison on April 3, 1936.[4] Hauptmann's guilt or lack thereof continues to be debated in the modern day. Newspaper writer H. L. Mencken called the kidnapping and trial "the biggest story since the Resurrection".[5][6] Legal scholars have referred to the trial as one of the "trials of the century".[7] The crime spurred the U.S. Congress to pass the Federal Kidnapping Act (commonly referred to as the "Little Lindbergh Law"), which made transporting a kidnapping victim across state lines a federal crime.[8]
Kidnapping
At approximately 9 p.m. on March 1, 1932, the Lindberghs' nurse, Betty Gow, found that 20-month-old Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. was not with his mother, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, who had just come out of the bath. Gow then alerted Charles Lindbergh who immediately went to the child's room, where he found a ransom note, containing poor handwriting and grammar, in an envelope on the windowsill. Taking a gun, Lindbergh went around the house and grounds with the family butler, Olly Whateley;[9] they found impressions in the ground under the window of the baby's room, pieces of a wooden ladder, and a baby's blanket.[10] Whateley telephoned the Hopewell police department while Lindbergh contacted his attorney and friend, Henry Breckinridge, and the New Jersey state police.[10]
Investigation
An extensive search of the home and its surrounding area was conducted by police from nearby Hopewell Borough in coordination with the New Jersey State Police.
The ransom note
After midnight, a fingerprint expert examined the ransom note and ladder; no usable fingerprints or footprints were found, leading experts to conclude that the kidnapper(s) wore gloves and had some type of cloth on the soles of their shoes.[11] No adult fingerprints were found in the baby's room, including in areas witnesses admitted to touching, such as the window, but the baby's fingerprints were found.
The brief, handwritten ransom note had many spelling and grammar irregularities:
Dear Sir! Have 50.000$ redy 25 000$ in 20$ bills 15000$ in 10$ bills and 10000$ in 5$ bills After 2–4 days we will inform you were to deliver the mony. We warn you for making anyding public or for notify the Police the child is in gut care. Indication for all letters are Singnature and 3 hohls.[12]
At the bottom of the note were two interconnected blue circles surrounding a red circle, with a hole punched through the red circle and two more holes to the left and right.
Re-creation of the ransom note's "signature", with black dots representing punctures in the paper
On further examination of the ransom note by professionals, they found that it was all written by the same person. They determined that due to the odd English, the writer must have been foreign and had spent some, but little, time in the United States. The FBI then found a sketch artist to make a portrait of the man that they believed to be the kidnapper.[13]
Another attempt at identifying the kidnapper was made by examining the ladder that was used in the crime to abduct the child. Police realized that while the ladder was built incorrectly, it was built by someone who knew how to construct with wood and had prior building experience. No fingerprints were found on the ladder. Slivers of the wood were examined, as the police believed that this evidence would lead to the kidnapper. They had a professional see how many different types of wood were used, what pattern was made by the nail holes and if it had been made indoors or outdoors. This was later a key element in the trial of the man who was accused of the kidnapping.
On March 2, 1932, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover contacted the Trenton New Jersey Police Department. He told the New Jersey police that they could contact the FBI for any resources and would provide any assistance if needed. The FBI did not have federal jurisdiction until May 13, 1932 when the President declared that the FBI was at the disposal of the New Jersey Police Department and that the FBI should coordinate and conduct the investigation.
The New Jersey State police offered a $25,000 reward, equivalent to $558,000in 2023, for anyone who could provide information pertaining to the case.
On March 4, 1932 a man by the name of Gaston B. Means had a discussion with Evalyn Walsh McLean and told her that he would be of great importance in retrieving the Lindbergh baby. Means told McLean that he could find these kidnappers because he was approached weeks before the abduction about participating in a "big kidnapping" and he claimed that his friend was the kidnapper of the Lindbergh child. The following day, Means told McLean that he had made contact with the person who had the Lindbergh child. He then convinced Mrs. McLean to give him $100,000 to obtain the child because the ransom money had doubled. McLean obliged, believing that Means really knew where the child was. She waited for the child's return every day until she finally asked Means for her money back. When he refused, Mrs. McLean reported him to the police and he was sentenced to fifteen years in prison on embezzlement charges.[14]
Violet Sharpe,[lower-alpha 1] who was suspected as a conspirator, died by suicide on June 10,[15][16] before she was scheduled to be questioned for the fourth time.[17] Her involvement was later ruled out due to her having an alibi for the night of March 1, 1932.
Word of the kidnapping spread quickly. Hundreds of people converged on the estate, destroying any footprint evidence.[18] Along with police, well-connected and well-intentioned people arrived at the Lindbergh estate. Military colonels offered their aid, although only one had law enforcement expertise–Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf, superintendent of the New Jersey State Police. The other colonels were Henry Skillman Breckinridge, a Wall Street lawyer; and William J. Donovan, a hero of the First World War who later headed the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of the CIA. Lindbergh and these men speculated that the kidnapping was perpetrated by organized crime figures. They thought that the letter was written by someone who spoke German as his native language. At this time, Charles Lindbergh used his influence to control the direction of the investigation.[19]
They contacted Mickey Rosner, a Broadway hanger-on rumored to know mobsters. Rosner turned to two speakeasy owners, Salvatore "Salvy" Spitale and Irving Bitz, for aid. Lindbergh quickly endorsed the duo and appointed them his intermediaries to deal with the mob. Several organized crime figures – notably Al Capone, Willie Moretti, Joe Adonis, and Abner Zwillman – spoke from prison, offering to help return the baby in exchange for money or for legal favors. Specifically, Capone offered assistance in return for being released from prison under the pretense that his assistance would be more effective. This was quickly denied by the authorities.[citation needed]
The morning after the kidnapping, authorities notified President Herbert Hoover of the crime. At that time, kidnapping was classified as a state crime and the case did not seem to have any grounds for federal involvement. Attorney General William D. Mitchell met with Hoover and announced that the whole machinery of the Department of Justice would be set in motion to cooperate with the New Jersey authorities.[20]
On March 6, a new ransom letter arrived by mail at the Lindbergh home. The letter was postmarked March 4 in Brooklyn, and it carried the perforated red and blue marks. The ransom had been raised to $70,000. A third ransom note postmarked from Brooklyn, and also including the secret marks, arrived in Breckinridge's mail. The note told the Lindberghs that John Condon should be the intermediary between the Lindberghs and the kidnapper(s), and requested notification in a newspaper that the third note had been received. Instructions specified the size of the box the money should come in, and warned the family not to contact the police.
John Condon
During this time, John F. Condon–a well-known Bronx personality and retired school teacher–offered $1,000 if the kidnapper would turn the child over to a Catholic priest. Condon received a letter reportedly written by the kidnappers; it authorized Condon to be their intermediary with Lindbergh.[21] Lindbergh accepted the letter as genuine.
Following the kidnapper's latest instructions, Condon placed a classified ad in the New York American reading: "Money is Ready. Jafsie."[lower-alpha 2] Condon then waited for further instructions from the culprits.[22]
A meeting between "Jafsie" and a representative of the group that claimed to be the kidnappers was eventually scheduled for late one evening at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. According to Condon, the man sounded foreign but stayed in the shadows during the conversation, and Condon was thus unable to get a close look at his face. The man said his name was John, and he related his story: He was a "Scandinavian" sailor, part of a gang of three men and two women. The baby was being held on a boat, unharmed, but would be returned only for ransom. When Condon expressed doubt that "John" actually had the baby, he promised some proof: the kidnapper would soon return the baby's sleeping suit. The stranger asked Condon, "...would I burn if the package were dead?" When questioned further, he assured Condon that the baby was alive.
On March 16, Condon received a toddler's sleeping suit by mail, and a seventh ransom note.[23] After Lindbergh identified the sleeping suit, Condon placed a new ad in the Home News: "Money is ready. No cops. No secret service. I come alone, like last time." On April 1 Condon received a letter saying it was time for the ransom to be delivered.
Ransom payment
The ransom was packaged in a wooden box that was custom-made in the hope that it could later be identified. The ransom money included a number of gold certificates; since gold certificates were about to be withdrawn from circulation,[23] it was hoped greater attention would be drawn to anyone spending them.[4][24] The bills were not marked but their serial numbers were recorded. Some sources credit this idea to Frank J. Wilson,[25] others to Elmer Lincoln Irey.[26][27]
On April 2, Condon was given a note by an intermediary, an unknown cab driver. Condon met "John" and told him that they had been able to raise only $50,000. The man accepted the money and gave Condon a note saying that the child was in the care of two innocent women.
Discovery of the body
An illustration of Charles Jr. on the cover of Time magazine on May 2, 1932
On May 12, delivery truck driver Orville Wilson and his assistant William Allen pulled to the side of a road about 4.5 miles (7.2km) south of the Lindbergh home near the hamlet of Mount Rose in neighboring Hopewell Township.[3] When Allen went into a grove of trees to urinate, he discovered the body of a toddler.[28] The skull was badly fractured and the body decomposed, with evidence of scavenging by animals; there were indications of an attempt at a hasty burial.[2][28] Gow identified the baby as the missing infant from the overlapping toes of the right foot and a shirt that she had made. It appeared the child had been killed by a blow to the head. Lindbergh insisted on cremation.[29]
In June1932, officials began to suspect that the crime had been perpetrated by someone the Lindberghs knew. Suspicion fell upon Violet Sharpe, a British household servant at the Morrow home who had given contradictory information regarding her whereabouts on the night of the kidnapping. It was reported that she appeared nervous and suspicious when questioned. She died by suicide on June 10, 1932, by ingesting a silver polish that contained cyanide just before being questioned for the fourth time.[17] Her alibi was later confirmed, and police were criticized for heavy-handedness.[30]
Condon was also questioned by police and his home searched, but nothing incriminating was found. Charles Lindbergh stood by Condon during this time.[31]
John Condon's unofficial investigation
After the discovery of the body, Condon remained unofficially involved in the case. To the public, he had become a suspect and in some circles was vilified.[32] For the next two years, he visited police departments and pledged to find "Cemetery John".
Condon's actions regarding the case were increasingly flamboyant. On one occasion, while riding a city bus, Condon claimed that he saw a suspect on the street and, announcing his secret identity, ordered the bus to stop. The startled driver complied and Condon darted from the bus, although his target eluded him. Condon's actions were also criticized as exploitive when he agreed to appear in a vaudeville act regarding the kidnapping.[33]Liberty magazine published a serialized account of Condon's involvement in the Lindbergh kidnapping under the title "Jafsie Tells All".[34]
Tracking the ransom money
A 1928 series $10 gold certificate
The investigators who were working on the case were soon at a standstill. There were no developments and little evidence of any sort, so police turned their attention to tracking the ransom payments. A pamphlet was prepared with the serial numbers on the ransom bills, and 250,000copies were distributed to businesses, mainly in New York City.[23][24] A few of the ransom bills appeared in scattered locations, some as far away as Chicago and Minneapolis, but those spending the bills were never found.
By a presidential order, all gold certificates were to be exchanged for other bills by May 1, 1933.[35] A few days before the deadline, a man brought $2,980 to a Manhattan bank for exchange; it was later realized the bills were from the ransom. He had given his name as J.J. Faulkner of 537West 149thStreet.[24] No one named Faulkner lived at that address, and a Jane Faulkner who had lived there 20years earlier denied involvement.[24]
During a thirty-month period, a number of the ransom bills were spent throughout New York City. Detectives realized that many of the bills were being spent along the route of the Lexington Avenue subway, which connected the Bronx with the east side of Manhattan, including the German-Austrian neighborhood of Yorkville.[4]
On September 18, 1934, a Manhattan bank teller noticed a gold certificate from the ransom;[23] a New York license plate number (4U-13-41-N.Y) penciled in the bill's margin allowed it to be traced to a nearby gas station. The station manager had written down the license number because his customer was acting "suspicious" and was "possibly a counterfeiter".[23][4][24][36] The license plate belonged to a sedan owned by Richard Hauptmann of 1279 East 222nd Street in the Bronx,[4] an immigrant with a criminal record in Germany. When Hauptmann was arrested, he was carrying a single 20-dollar gold certificate[23][4] and over $14,000 of the ransom money was found in his garage.[37]
Hauptmann was arrested, interrogated, and beaten at least once throughout the following day and night.[24] Hauptmann stated that the money and other items had been left with him by his friend and former business partner Isidor Fisch. Fisch had died on March 29, 1934, shortly after returning to Germany.[4] Hauptmann stated he learned only after Fisch's death that the shoebox that was left with him contained a considerable sum of money. He kept the money because he claimed that it was owed to him from a business deal that he and Fisch had made.[4] Hauptmann consistently denied any connection to the crime or knowledge that the money in his house was from the ransom.
When the police searched Hauptmann's home, they found a considerable amount of additional evidence that linked him to the crime. One item was a notebook that contained a sketch of the construction of a ladder similar to that which was found at the Lindbergh home in March 1932. John Condon's telephone number, along with his address, were discovered written on a closet wall in the house. A key piece of evidence, a section of wood, was discovered in the attic of the home. After being examined by an expert, it was determined to be an exact match to the wood used in the construction of the ladder found at the scene of the crime.[38]
Hauptmann was indicted in the Bronx on September 24, 1934, for extorting the $50,000 ransom from Charles Lindbergh.[4] Two weeks later, on October 8, Hauptmann was indicted in New Jersey for the murder of Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr.[23] Two days later, he was surrendered to New Jersey authorities by New York Governor Herbert H. Lehman to face charges directly related to the kidnapping and murder of the child. Hauptmann was moved to the Hunterdon County Jail in Flemington, New Jersey, on October 19.[23]
Trial and execution
Trial
Lindbergh testifying at Hauptmann's trial. Hauptmann is in half-profile at right.
Evidence against Hauptmann included $20,000 of the ransom money found in his garage and testimony alleging that his handwriting and spelling were similar to those of the ransom notes. Eight handwriting experts, including Albert S. Osborn,[41] pointed out similarities between the ransom notes and Hauptmann's writing specimens. The defense called an expert to rebut this evidence, while two others declined to testify;[41] the latter two demanded $500 before looking at the notes and were dismissed when Lloyd Fisher, a member of Hauptmann's legal team,[42] declined.[43] Other experts retained by the defense were never called to testify.[44]
On the basis of the work of Arthur Koehler at the Forest Products Laboratory, the State introduced photographs demonstrating that part of the wood from the ladder matched a plank from the floor of Hauptmann's attic: the type of wood, the direction of tree growth, the milling pattern, the inside and outside surface of the wood, and the grain on both sides were identical, and four oddly placed nail holes lined up with nail holes in joists in Hauptmann's attic.[45][46] Condon's address and telephone number were written in pencil on a closet door in Hauptmann's home, and Hauptmann told police that he had written Condon's address:
I must have read it in the paper about the story. I was a little bit interested and keep a little bit record of it, and maybe I was just on the closet, and was reading the paper and put it down the address ... I can't give you any explanation about the telephone number.
A sketch that Wilentz suggested represented a ladder was found in one of Hauptmann's notebooks. Hauptmann said this picture and other sketches therein were the work of a child.[47]
Despite not having an obvious source of earned income, Hauptmann had bought a $400 radio (approximately equivalent to $9,110in 2023) and sent his wife on a trip to Germany.
Hauptmann was identified as the man to whom the ransom money was delivered. Other witnesses testified that it was Hauptmann who had spent some of the Lindbergh gold certificates; that he had been seen in the area of the estate, in East Amwell, New Jersey, near Hopewell, on the day of the kidnapping; and that he had been absent from work on the day of the ransom payment and had quit his job two days later. Hauptmann never sought another job afterward, yet continued to live comfortably.[48]
When the prosecution rested its case, the defense opened with a lengthy examination of Hauptmann. In his testimony, Hauptmann denied being guilty, insisting that the box of gold certificates had been left in his garage by a friend, Isidor Fisch, who had returned to Germany in December 1933 and died there in March 1934. Hauptmann said that he had one day found a shoe box left behind by Fisch, which Hauptmann had stored on the top shelf of his kitchen broom closet, later discovering the money, which he later found to be almost $40,000 (approximately equivalent to $713,000in 2023). Hauptmann said that, because Fisch had owed him about $7,500 in business funds, Hauptmann had kept the money for himself and had lived on it since January1934.
The defense called Hauptmann's wife, Anna, to corroborate the Fisch story. On cross-examination, she admitted that while she hung her apron every day on a hook higher than the top shelf, she could not remember seeing any shoe box there. Later, rebuttal witnesses testified that Fisch could not have been at the scene of the crime, and that he had no money for medical treatments when he died of tuberculosis. Fisch's landlady testified that he could barely afford the $3.50 weekly rent of his room.
In his closing summation, Reilly argued that the evidence against Hauptmann was entirely circumstantial, because no reliable witness had placed Hauptmann at the scene of the crime, nor were his fingerprints found on the ladder, on the ransom notes, or anywhere in the nursery.[49]
Appeals
Hauptmann was convicted on February 13, 1935, and immediately sentenced to death. His attorneys appealed to the New Jersey Court of Errors and Appeals, which at the time was the state's highest court; the appeal was argued on June 29, 1935.[50]
New Jersey Governor Harold G. Hoffman secretly visited Hauptmann in his cell on the evening of October 16, accompanied by a stenographer who spoke German fluently. Hoffman urged members of the Court of Errors and Appeals to visit Hauptmann.
In late January 1936, while declaring that he held no position on the guilt or innocence of Hauptmann, Hoffman cited evidence that the crime was not a "one person" job and directed Schwarzkopf to continue a thorough and impartial investigation in an effort to bring all parties involved to justice.[51]
It became known among the press that on March 27, Hoffman was considering a second reprieve of Hauptmann's death sentence and was seeking opinions about whether the governor had the right to issue a second reprieve.[52]
On March 30, 1936, Hauptmann's second and final appeal asking for clemency from the New Jersey Board of Pardons was denied.[53] Hoffman later announced that this decision would be the final legal action in the case, and that he would not grant another reprieve.[54] Nonetheless, there was a postponement, when the Mercer County grand jury, investigating the confession and arrest of Trenton attorney, Paul Wendel, requested a delay from Warden Mark Kimberling.[55] This, the final stay, ended when the Mercer County prosecutor informed Kimberling that the grand jury had adjourned after voting to end its investigation without charging Wendel.[56]
Execution
Hauptmann turned down a large offer from a Hearst newspaper for a confession and refused a last-minute offer to commute his sentence from the death penalty to life without parole in exchange for a confession. He was executed by the electric chair on April 3, 1936.
After his death, some reporters and independent investigators came up with numerous questions about the way in which the investigation had been run and the fairness of the trial, including witness tampering and planted evidence. Twice in the 1980s, Anna Hauptmann sued the state of New Jersey for the unjust execution of her husband. The suits were dismissed due to prosecutorial immunity and because the statute of limitations had run out.[57] She continued fighting to clear his name until her death, at age 95, in 1994.[58]
Alternative theories
A number of books have asserted Hauptmann's innocence, generally highlighting inadequate police work at the crime scene, Lindbergh's interference in the investigation, the ineffectiveness of Hauptmann's counsel, and weaknesses in the witnesses and physical evidence. Ludovic Kennedy, in particular, questioned much of the evidence, such as the origin of the ladder and the testimony of many of the witnesses.
According to author Lloyd Gardner, a fingerprint expert, Erastus Mead Hudson, applied the then-rare silver nitrate fingerprint process to the ladder and did not find Hauptmann's fingerprints, even in places that the maker of the ladder must have touched. According to Gardner, officials refused to consider this expert's findings, and the ladder was then washed of all fingerprints.[59]
Jim Fisher, a former FBI agent and professor at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania,[60] has written two books, The Lindbergh Case (1987)[61] and The Ghosts of Hopewell (1999),[62] addressing what he calls a "revision movement" regarding the case.[63] He summarizes:
Today, the Lindbergh phenomena[sic] is a giant hoax perpetrated by people who are taking advantage of an uninformed and cynical public. Notwithstanding all of the books, TV programs, and legal suits, Hauptmann is as guilty today as he was in 1932 when he kidnapped and killed the son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Lindbergh.[64]
Another book, Hauptmann's Ladder: A step-by-step analysis of the Lindbergh kidnapping by Richard T. Cahill Jr., concludes that Hauptmann was guilty but questions whether he should have been executed.
According to John Reisinger in Master Detective,[citation needed] New Jersey detective Ellis Parker conducted an independent investigation in 1936 and obtained a signed confession from former Trenton attorney Paul Wendel, creating a sensation and resulting in a temporary stay of execution for Hauptmann. The case against Wendel collapsed, however, when he insisted his confession had been coerced.[65]
Robert Zorn's 2012 book Cemetery John proposes that Hauptmann was part of a conspiracy with two other German-born men, John and Walter Knoll. Zorn's father, economist Eugene Zorn, believed that as a teenager he had witnessed the conspiracy being discussed.[66]
In popular culture
Record label of "Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr." by Bob Ferguson
1991: Max Allan Collins's novel Stolen Away, fifth in his Nathan Heller series, in which the fictional private eye gets involved in real historical mysteries and meets historical figures, Heller gets involved in investigating the Lindbergh kidnapping, interviews psychic Edgar Cayce, and decades later meets a man whom they both believe to be the kidnapped and never returned Charles Lindbergh, Jr., having been raised and lived his whole life under another name. It won the 1992 Shamus Award for best hardcover private eye novel.[69]
2013: The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin is a work of historical fiction told from the perspective of Anne Morrow Lindbergh.[72]
2022: The Lindbergh Nanny by Mariah Fredericks is a work of historical fiction told from the perspective of Betty Gow.[73]
In music
May 1932: Just one day after the Lindbergh baby was discovered murdered, the prolific country recording artist Bob Miller (under the pseudonym Bob Ferguson) recorded two songs for Columbia on May 13, 1932, commemorating the event. The songs were released on Columbia 15759-D with the titles "Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr." and "There's a New Star Up in Heaven (Baby Lindy Is Up There)".[74]
In film
1991: In the film My Girl. Vada Sultenfuss (played by Anna Chlumsky) mentions that in a social studies class about the Lindbergh baby being stolen from his house.[incomprehensible]
1990: In the opening episode to Season Two of Twin Peaks, after being shot Dale Cooper says that he "wishes he could have cracked the Lindbergh kidnapping case".
1995: In The SimpsonsSeason 7, Episode 8, as the FBI raids the Simpson family's home to capture Homer's mother, Mona, Abraham Simpson attempts to stall the FBI by claiming to be the Lindbergh baby.
2024: In A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, Season 1, Episode 1, Pippa cites the 200 people who confessed to the murder, stating that at least 199 must have been fake.
Cook, William A. (2014). The Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping. Sunbury Press. ISBN978-1-6200-6339-2.
Doherty, Thomas (2020). Little Lindy Is Kidnapped: How the Media Covered the Crime of the Century. Columbia University Press. ISBN978-0-2311-9848-6.
Fisher, Jim (1994) [1987]. The Lindbergh Case. Rutgers University Press. ISBN0-8135-2147-5.
Fisher, Jim (2006). The Ghosts of Hopewell: Setting the Record Straight in the Lindbergh Case. Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN978-0-8093-2717-1.
Gardner, Lloyd C. (2004). The Case That Never Dies: The Lindbergh Kidnapping. Rutgers University Press. ISBN0-813-53385-6.
↑ Gill, Barbara (1981). "Lindbergh kidnapping rocked the world 50 years ago". The Hunterdon County Democrat. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2008. So while the world's attention was focused on Hopewell, from which the first press dispatches emanated about the kidnapping, the Democrat made sure its readers knew that the new home of Col. Charles A. Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh was in East Amwell Township, Hunterdon County.
↑ The State of New Jersey vs. Bruno Richard Hauptmann. Hunterdon County Court of Oyer and Termner. Vol.5. New Jersey State Law Library. 1935. p.2606.
↑ James, Bill (2011). "[no title cited]". Popular Crime. pp.147–161.
↑ The State of New Jersey vs. Bruno Richard Hauptmann. Hunterdon County Court of Oyer and Termner. Vol.11. New Jersey State Law Library. 1935. pp.4687–4788.
↑ Lutz, William (c. 1937). Plain Facts about the Hauptmann Case. New Jersey State Police Museum and Learning Center Archives.
↑ Hoffman, Harold Giles (26 January 1936). Letter from Governor Hoffman to Colonel H. Norman Schwarzkopf. New Jersey State Police Museum and Learning Center Archives.
↑ "Hoffman seeks reprieve advice". The Daily Princetonian. Princeton University Library. March 28, 1936.
↑ Herman, Albert B., Clerk of the Board of Pardons (March 30, 1936). "Board of Pardons Press Release". New Jersey State Police Museum and Learning Center Archives.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
↑ Blackman, Samuel G. (31 March 1936). "Pardons court again denies Hauptmann plea and governor declares "No reprieve"". The Titusville Herald.
↑ Porter, Russell B. (1 April 1936). "Hauptmann gets a stay for at least 48hours at grand jury request". The New York Times.
↑ Marshall, Erwin E., Prosecutor of the Pleas (3 April 1936). Letter from Erwin Marshall to Colonel Mark O. Kimberling. New Jersey State Police Museum and Learning Center Archives.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
↑ Fisher, Jim. "The Lindbergh Case: A Look Back to the Future". p.3. Archived from the original on 3 October 2011. Retrieved 29 April 2011. For the Lindbergh case, the revisionist movement began in 1976 with the publication of a book by a tabloid reporter named Anthony Scaduto. In Scapegoat, Scaduto asserts that the Lindbergh baby was not murdered and that Hauptmann was the victim of a mass conspiracy of prosecution, perjury and fabricated physical evidence.
Anne Spencer Morrow Lindbergh was an American writer and aviatrix. She was the wife of decorated pioneer aviator Charles Lindbergh, with whom she made many exploratory flights.
Bruno Richard Hauptmann was a German-born carpenter who was convicted of the abduction and murder of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., the 20-month-old son of aviator Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The Lindbergh kidnapping became known as "The Crime of the Century". Both Hauptmann and his wife, Anna Hauptmann, proclaimed his innocence to his death, when he was executed in 1936 by electric chair at the Trenton State Prison. Anna later sued the State of New Jersey, various former police officers, the Hearst newspapers that had published pre-trial articles insisting on Hauptmann's guilt, and former prosecutor David T. Wilentz.
Adolph Coors III was the grandson of Adolph Coors and heir to the Coors Brewing Company empire.
Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf was the first superintendent of the New Jersey State Police. He is best known for his involvement in the Lindbergh kidnapping case. He was the father of General Norman Schwarzkopf Jr., the commander of all Coalition forces during the Gulf War in 1991.
George Kelly Barnes, better known by his nickname "Machine Gun Kelly", was an American gangster from Memphis, Tennessee, active during the Prohibition era. His nickname came from his favorite weapon, a Thompson submachine gun. He is best known for the kidnapping of oil tycoon and businessman Charles F. Urschel in July 1933, from which he and his gang collected a $200,000 ransom. Urschel had collected and left considerable evidence that assisted the subsequent FBI investigation, which eventually led to Kelly's arrest in Memphis on September 26, 1933. His crimes also included bootlegging and armed robbery.
Arthur Koehler (1885–1967) was a chief wood technologist at the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin, and was important in the development of wood forensics in the 1930s through his role in the investigation of the Lindbergh kidnapping. Koehler's particular research interest in the identification, cellular structure and growth of wood gave him the specific training and abilities necessary for the careful examination of the ladder which had been used by the abductor of Charles Lindbergh Jr., aged twenty months, and the tracing of the ladder to a company in McCormick, South Carolina. Koehler, from there, traced the wood of the ladder to a Bronx lumber yard.
New Jersey in the twentieth century underwent many changes. New Jersey's position along the Atlantic Ocean made it a prominent part of both of the World Wars. Despite rising in the Roaring Twenties, New Jersey's economy slowed with the start of the Great Depression. It also became a site for Nike missile batteries during the Cold War. In the 1960s, several race riots occurred following the start of urban decay. Through the 1970s, urbanization increased again, and these problems slowed.
The kidnapping of nine-year-old George Weyerhaeuser occurred in 1935 in Tacoma, Washington, United States. The son of prominent lumberman J. P. Weyerhaeuser, George was successfully released for ransom and eventually succeeded his father as the chairman of the Weyerhaeuser company. The four participants in the kidnapping were apprehended and sentenced to prison terms totaling 135 years.
David Theodore Wilentz was the Attorney General of New Jersey from 1934 to 1944. In 1935 he successfully prosecuted Bruno Hauptmann in the Lindbergh kidnapping trial. He was the father of Robert Wilentz, Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court from 1979 to 1996, as well as Norma Hess, wife of Leon Hess, founder of Hess Corporation and Warren Wilentz
Crime of the Century is a 1996 HBO television film directed by Mark Rydell. It presents a dramatization of the Lindbergh kidnapping of 1932. The film stars Stephen Rea as Bruno Hauptmann and Isabella Rossellini as his wife Anna.
The Hunterdon County Courthouse is an historic site located in Flemington, the county seat of Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States, that is best known as the site of the 1935 "Trial of the Century" of Bruno Hauptmann and his conviction and sentence of death for his role in the Lindbergh kidnapping.
J. Edgar is a 2011 American biographical drama film based on the career of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, directed, produced and scored by Clint Eastwood. Written by Dustin Lance Black, the film focuses on Hoover's life from the 1919 Palmer Raids onward. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role along with Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts, Josh Lucas, and Judi Dench, and features Adam Driver in his film debut.
Cemetery John: The Undiscovered Mastermind of the Lindbergh Kidnapping is a non-fiction book written by American author Robert Zorn. The books investigate the potential identity of the person who became known as Cemetery John through testimony provided by the author's father.
The following events occurred in March 1932:
Highfields is a historic house in East Amwell Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey that served as the home of Charles and Anne Lindbergh, the famous aviators. It was the location of the Lindbergh kidnapping, after which it was turned into a rehabilitation center. The home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.
The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case is a 1976 American television film dramatization of the Lindbergh kidnapping, directed by Buzz Kulik and starring Cliff DeYoung, Anthony Hopkins, Martin Balsam, Joseph Cotten, and Walter Pidgeon. It first aired on the NBC network on February 26, 1976.
James Bailey "Skeegie" Cash Jr. was a five-year-old child from Princeton, Florida who was kidnapped and murdered by 22-year-old Franklin Pierce McCall Jr. in 1938.
Charles A. Appel, Jr., known as the founder of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Laboratory, was an FBI Special Agent from 1924 through 1948. Assigned in 1929 by then-Bureau of Investigation Director J. Edgar Hoover to coordinate outside experts for forensic examinations, Appel became the Bureau’s one-man forensic laboratory in 1931. In November 1932, the FBI’s Technical Laboratory was formally established. In August 1933, he began processing evidence and testifying on handwriting, typewriting, fingerprints, ballistics, and chemicals submitted by U.S. police agencies. Appel was joined in late 1933 by Special Agent Samuel F. Pickering, a chemist, and in 1934, by Special Agents Ivan W. Conrad and Donald J. Parsons, also scientists. In September 1934, the FBI Laboratory came to widespread attention due to Appel’s identification of Bruno Hauptmann as the kidnapper of Charles Lindbergh Jr., from hand-written ransom demand notes.
Peter Weinberger was a one-month-old infant who was kidnapped for ransom on July 4, 1956, in New York state. The case gained national notoriety due to the circumstances of the kidnapping and the victim's family, as unlike many ransom victims, Weinberger was not from a wealthy and prominent family, but from a suburban middle class family.
The kidnapping of Howard Woolverton, which began in South Bend, Indiana, the evening of January 26, 1932, and concluded when Woolverton returned to his home unharmed about 24 hours later, received extensive contemporary newspaper coverage, impacted the way the press covered kidnapping in the following weeks, and played a leading role in passage of the Federal Kidnapping Act later that year.
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