Kidnapping of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr.

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Kidnapping of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr.

[Source: wikipedia.org]

Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., the son of aviator Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was abducted on the evening of March 1, 1932. The baby had been put to bed by his mother and his nanny, Betty Gow. Gow went to check on the baby a little before 10:00 p.m., but discovered he was not in his bed.

On May 12, 1932, the badly decomposed body of the toddler was found about 4.5 miles from the Lindbergh home by truck driver William Allen, who notified police. The skull was badly fractured, the left leg and both hands were missing, and it was impossible to determine if the body was male or female. Lindbergh and Gow quickly identified the baby as the missing infant, based on the overlapping toes of the right foot, and the shirt that Gow had made for the baby. They surmised that the child had been killed by a blow to the head. The body was cremated soon afterwards.

More than two years after the kidnapping, on September 18, 1934, a gold certificate from the ransom money was referred to New York Police detective James J. Finn and FBI Agent Thomas Sisk. They had been working on the Lindbergh case for thirty months by this point and had been able to track down many bills from the ransom hoard to places throughout New York City. Their maps recording each find showed that the bills were being passed mainly along the route of the Lexington Avenue subway that connected the East Bronx with the east side of Manhattan, including Yorkville, the German-Austrian neighborhood. The bill located in September 1934, however, bore a New York license plate penciled in the margin and its use was traced to a gas station in upper Manhattan. The station attendants wrote down the license plate number after reading a company flier warning about certain bills and feeling that their customer was suspicious, possibly a counterfeiter. The license plate belonged to a blue Dodge sedan owned by Bruno Hauptmann, of 1279 East 222nd Street in The Bronx.
He was arrested a few days later. When police searched his home, they found more than $14,000 of the ransom money hidden away in and under the garage. Hauptmann was arrested by Finn and interrogated through the day and night that followed. The story Hauptmann gave was that the money had been left with him by a friend and former business partner, Isidor Fisch. Fisch had returned to Germany in 1933 and died there and only then, Hauptmann reported, did he learn that the shoe box left with him contained money.
In the search of his apartment by police, additional evidence was found, including a notebook construction sketch of a collapsible ladder similar to that which was found at the Lindbergh home in March 1932.

During the trial held in Hunterdon County, the State introduced evidence showing a striking similarity between Hauptmann's handwriting and the handwriting on the ransom notes, in addition to Hauptmann's possession of the ransom money.

[Picture Source: Library of Congress and wikipedia]

The State also introduced photographic evidence demonstrating that the wood from the ladder left at the crime scene matched a plank from the floor of Hauptmann's attic: the type of wood, the direction of tree growth, the milling pattern at the factory, the inside and outside surface of the wood, and the grain on both sides were identical, and two oddly placed nail holes lined up with a joist splice in Hauptmann's attic.

Bruno Hauptmann was found guilty and electrocuted on April 3, 1936

[Source: Synopsis of data on wikipedia.org]

NEWS EXCERPTS
Here are a few news excerpts from March, April and May 1932 concerning the kidnapping and death of the Lindbergh baby, the arrest and conviction of Bruno Hauptman and the change in laws which made kidnapping a federal offense.
They were transcribed and submitted by Pam Rathbone

"THE CLEVELAND BANNER, THE JOURNAL, AND THE JOURNAL AND BANNER".
MARCH, APRIL, MAY 1932

March 2, 1932
NO CLUES TODAY OF KIDNAPPERS OF "LINDY, JR."
20-Months-old son of noted couple stolen from nursery
ENTERED HOME BY WINDOW; MISSED BY NURSE

Hopewell, N.J.; Charles A. Lindbergh Jr., 20-months-old baby of Col. and Mrs. Lindbergh, was seized from his crib where he lay with a severe cold last night and was taken away by kidnappers of whom no trace had been found today.

It was stated authoritatively that "if the means and occasion for doing so are made know to Col. Lindbergh he would pay the kidnappers for the return of the baby."

The kidnapping created a worldwide sensation with the London press streamering the story and playing it far more prominently than the Sino-Jap was while the federal Department of Justice offered its complete cooperation in the search on the theory advanced by trained detectives that dope addicts were responsible.

Mrs. Lindbergh revealed that the child had been cold and it was feared for the child's safety on this score, fear being that it might develop into something serious.

The child wrapped only in night clothing, a sleeper, was taken evidently by a man who had one or two other confederates, one of them a woman.

Troopers and police search for the kidnappers extended the entire Atlantic coast, the searchers spurred by the knowledge that exposure may add to the child's peril.

Baby Lindbergh had been suffering with a cold. He had been doctored several days.

The police knew only that the intruder had used a ladder, put up in section; had scaled into the nursery; and there left a note-presumably a ransom demand although they would not say- then had scrambled down the ladder, making his way to a point down Featherbed Lane toward the main highway. On his path, according to footprints, the kidnapper was joined by a woman accomplice.

The spot where the kidnapping occurred is remote, situated up a rocky roadway off a main thoroughfare.

STOLEN AUTO FOUND
A stolen auto found abandoned near Hillside, N.J. furnished police a possible clue. The car, a blue Nash sedan, resembled one in which two men early last evening inquired at Princeton, the way to the secluded Lindbergh estate. False scents were followed, but up early forenoon, the police worked up blind alleys.

KIDNAPPING TIMELINE

* Baby Lindbergh, blue-eyed and fair-haired, was tucked into his crib at 7:50 p.m.
*About 10 p.m., Betty Gow, the nuresmaid, entered to see that her charge was sleeping soundly. She found to her horror the crib was empty. She screamed to the Lindberghs and police and state troopers were called.
*Police and troopers find the baby was abducted through a second story window at the Lindbergh estate.
*The Lindbergh's were ready to pay ransom for the return of their son.

HEADLINES FOR SEVERAL DAYS FOLLOWING

*Lindbergh is hopeful baby return today- Definite results expected soon, police report: Inside job now seen in Lindbergh kidnapping; Path cleared for baby Lindy's return; Police checking for past and present home employees to solve crime.
*Indignation is World Wide; Newspaper, residents and officials of many Nations express anxiety for Lindbergh's.
*Letter posted in Boston first real clue had air mail letter being rushed by special plane to Hopewell. Lindbergh negotiating for return of Lindy Jr.


Kidnapping of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr.
[Source: wikipedia.org]	Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., the son of aviator Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was abducted on the evening of March 1, 1932. The baby had been put to bed by his mother and his nanny, Betty Gow. Gow went to check on the baby a little before 10:00 p.m., but discovered he was not in his bed. On May 12, 1932, the badly decomposed body of the toddler was found about 4.5 miles from the Lindbergh home by truck driver William Allen, who notified police. The skull was badly fractured, the left leg and both hands were missing, and it was impossible to determine if the body was male or female. Lindbergh and Gow quickly identified the baby as the missing infant, based on the overlapping toes of the right foot, and the shirt that Gow had made for the baby. They surmised that the child had been killed by a blow to the head. The body was cremated soon afterwards.
More than two years after the kidnapping, on September 18, 1934, a gold certificate from the ransom money was referred to New York Police detective James J. Finn and FBI Agent Thomas Sisk. They had been working on the Lindbergh case for thirty months by this point and had been able to track down many bills from the ransom hoard to places throughout New York City. Their maps recording each find showed that the bills were being passed mainly along the route of the Lexington Avenue subway that connected the East Bronx with the east side of Manhattan, including Yorkville, the German-Austrian neighborhood. The bill located in September 1934, however, bore a New York license plate penciled in the margin and its use was traced to a gas station in upper Manhattan. The station attendants wrote down the license plate number after reading a company flier warning about certain bills and feeling that their customer was suspicious, possibly a counterfeiter. The license plate belonged to a blue Dodge sedan owned by Bruno Hauptmann, of 1279 East 222nd Street in The Bronx. He was arrested a few days later. When police searched his home, they found more than $14,000 of the ransom money hidden away in and under the garage. Hauptmann was arrested by Finn and interrogated through the day and night that followed. The story Hauptmann gave was that the money had been left with him by a friend and former business partner, Isidor Fisch. Fisch had returned to Germany in 1933 and died there and only then, Hauptmann reported, did he learn that the shoe box left with him contained money. In the search of his apartment by police, additional evidence was found, including a notebook construction sketch of a collapsible ladder similar to that which was found at the Lindbergh home in March 1932.
During the trial held in Hunterdon County, the State introduced evidence showing a striking similarity between Hauptmann's handwriting and the handwriting on the ransom notes, in addition to Hauptmann's possession of the ransom money.	[Picture Source: Library of Congress and wikipedia]
The State also introduced photographic evidence demonstrating that the wood from the ladder left at the crime scene matched a plank from the floor of Hauptmann's attic: the type of wood, the direction of tree growth, the milling pattern at the factory, the inside and outside surface of the wood, and the grain on both sides were identical, and two oddly placed nail holes lined up with a joist splice in Hauptmann's attic. Bruno Hauptmann was found guilty and electrocuted on April 3, 1936 [Source: Synopsis of data on wikipedia.org]