On March 1, 1932, Charles and Anne Murrow Lindbergh’s nineteen-month-old baby boy Charles, Jr. was taken from his second story bedroom in Hopewell, New Jersey. The kidnapper left a note with a symbol on it. The note demanded $50,000. It had a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes. “Dear Sir! Have 50.000$ 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.” There were muddy footprints in the nursery and a ladder was found outside. No finger prints were found.
The crime was sensationalized by the newspapers. A few days later, a ransom note arrived with the same symbol demanding $70,000. Lindbergh made the money exchange at a cemetery and was told the baby could be found on a boat off the coast of Massachusetts. Sadly, the baby was not on the boat and May 12 his body was found crudely buried under leaves by a truck driver looking for a spot to relieve himself. The evidence pointed to the baby being killed the same night as the abduction. Possibly hitting its head on the window sill when the kidnapper climbed back on the ladder to escape. In Sept., 1934, some of the ransom money was used at a gas station. The money was traced to a Bruno Hauptmann. Hauptmann was a German immigrant carpenter. Evidence included a hidden box full of the ransom money and wood matching the kidnapper’s ladder. Hauptmann claimed the money had been given to him by a friend, who had left the country. The trial mesmerized the country. The “crime of the century” became the “trial of the century”. Handwriting experts testified that the notes matched Hauptmann’s handwriting to the writing on the notes. Lindbergh testified that Hauptmann’s voice was the same as the man in the cemetery. Hauptmann was executed by electric chair in 1936.
– Whitcomb p. 237
– https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lindbergh-baby-kidnapped
– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindbergh_kidnapping
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