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N0KFQ > TODAY 12.05.15 16:42l 68 Lines 2817 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 55603_N0KFQ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - May 12
Path: IW8PGT<CX2SA<VK2DOT<VE3UIL<N0KFQ
Sent: 150512/1437Z 55603@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.63
1932
Body of Lindbergh baby found
The body of aviation hero Charles Lindbergh's baby is found on
this day in 1932, more than two months after he was kidnapped
from his family's Hopewell, New Jersey, mansion.
Lindbergh, who became the first worldwide celebrity five years
earlier when he flew The Spirit of St. Louis across the Atlantic,
and his wife Anne discovered a ransom note in their 20-month-old
child's empty room on March 1. The kidnapper had used a ladder to
climb up to the open second-floor window and had left muddy
footprints in the room. The ransom note demanded $50,000 in
barely literate English.
The crime captured the attention of the entire nation. The
Lindbergh family was inundated by offers of assistance and false
clues. Even Al Capone offered his help from prison, though it of
course was conditioned on his release. For three days,
investigators had found nothing and there was no further word
from the kidnappers. Then, a new letter showed up, this time
demanding $70,000.
It wasn't until April 2 that the kidnappers gave instructions for
dropping off the money. When the money was finally delivered, the
kidnappers indicated that little baby Charles was on a boat
called Nelly off the coast of Massachusetts. However, after an
exhaustive search of every port, there was no sign of either the
boat or the child.
On May 12, a renewed search of the area near the Lindbergh
mansion turned up the baby's body. He had been killed the night
of the kidnapping and was found less than a mile from the home.
The heartbroken Lindberghs ended up donating the home to charity
and moved away.
The kidnapping looked like it would go unsolved until September
1934, when a marked bill from the ransom turned up. Suspicious of
the driver who had given it to him, the gas station attendant who
had accepted the bill wrote down his license plate number. It was
tracked back to a German immigrant, Bruno Hauptmann. When his
home was searched, detectives found $13,000 of Lindbergh ransom
money.
Hauptmann claimed that a friend had given him the money to hold
and that he had no connection to the crime. The resulting trial
again was a national sensation. Famous writers Damon Runyan and
Walter Winchell covered the trial. The prosecution's case was not
particularly strong. The main evidence, apart from the money, was
testimony from handwriting experts that the ransom note had been
written by Hauptmann and his connection with the type of wood
that was used to make the ladder.
Still, the evidence and intense public pressure was enough to
convict Hauptmann. In April 1935 he was executed in the electric
chair.
Kidnapping was made a federal crime in the aftermath of this
high-profile crime.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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