The Crime Book

182 THE LINDBERGH BABY KIDNAPPING

The Lindbergh’s dog is pictured here

in a stroller with Charlie. One especially

curious feature of the case was that the

dog, who usually barked at strangers,

did not bark during the kidnapping.

Medical examiners determined

that the child had been killed with

a blow to the head. Decomposition,

however, made it impossible to

officially determine even the body’s

gender. Staff at a nearby orphanage

said the body was not one of their

children. A discrepancy in the

height of the remains raised further

questions about the dead child’s

identity – Charlie Lindbergh was

74 cm (29 inches) long, but the body

found was 84 cm (33 inches). His

father and nursemaid, however,

positively identified the body based

on his hand-sewn flannel nightshirt

and a deformed overlapping toe.

The Lindbergh Law

In the midst of the investigation,

public outrage prompted Congress

to swiftly enact the so-called

Lindbergh Law in 1932: the Federal

Kidnapping Act made kidnapping

a federal crime punishable by

death. It intended to allow federal

authorities to step in and pursue

kidnappers as soon as they crossed

state lines with their victims.

In September 1934, money from

the ransom turned up at a gas

station on Lexington Avenue in

upper Manhattan. The attendant

became suspicious when the driver

of a dark blue Dodge sedan pulled

out a $10 gold certificate – a form of

paper currency issued by the US

Treasury that had been withdrawn

from circulation in 1933, when

President Franklin D. Roosevelt

removed the gold standard due to

hoarding during the Depression.

Thinking that the gold

certificate might be counterfeit,

the gas station attendant jotted

down the Dodge sedan’s New York

licence plate number on the margin

of the certificate.

When it reached the bank, a

teller checked the note’s serial

number and discovered that it was

part of the $50,000 (£730,000)

ransom paid out to the kidnapper

of toddler Charles Lindbergh Jr.

How the events unfolded

Charles Augustus

Lindbergh Jr

disappears.

The family finds

a ransom note

demanding $50,000.

Police question

household and

estate employees.

Go-between

Dr Condon meets

with the kidnapper.

The $50,000 ransom is

handed over. There is

no sign of the baby.

A truck driver finds an infant’s

remains buried near the Lindbergh

estate and summons the police.

The kidnapper sends

a second, third, and

fourth ransom note

demanding $70,000.

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KIDNAPPING AND EXTORTION 183

The bank notified the FBI, which

traced the licence plate back to a

German immigrant named Bruno

Hauptmann. He was a carpenter

living in a quiet neighbourhood in

the Bronx, New York.

Hauptmann arrested

Police arrested Hauptmann on

19 September 1934, as he left his

home. Inside his wallet was a $20

gold certificate, also from the

Lindbergh ransom.

A search of Hauptmann’s home

turned up nearly $14,000 (£180,000)

of the ransom money in an oil can,

inside a package stuffed behind

boards in his garage. Hauptmann,

however, insisted that he was

innocent. He was holding the

money, he claimed, for Isidor Fisch,

a friend who had since died. Fisch,

also from Germany, had applied for

a passport on 12 May 1932, the

same day that Charlie Lindbergh’s

body was found. By December the

same year, Fisch had sailed for

Leipzig, Germany, to visit family.

His friend, Hauptmann told

police, had left a shoebox with

some of his belongings inside.

Recreating the crime, officers stand

outside the Hopewell mansion in an

attempt to find clues. A long ladder, like

the broken one found near the house,

leads up to the open nursery window.

Hauptmann only learned that it

contained money when he had a

leaky roof and emptied the

dampened box. Hauptmann said

that he had kept the money,

hoarding the gold certificates due

to his fears about inflation.

According to news reports, the

police did not believe him, referring

to Hauptmann’s claims as “the

Fischy story.” Fisch, who died of

tuberculosis in Germany in 1934,

never returned to America.

In Hauptmann’s attic,

investigators discovered a piece of

yellow pinewood that matched the

ladder used in the kidnapping.

Handwriting experts were called

in, and declared Hauptmann’s

script a match for the writing in

the ransom notes.

The court proceedings attracted

thousands of spectators and

writers, who crammed into the tiny

town of Flemington, New Jersey. ❯❯

Charles Lindbergh III

Lindbergh was born in Detroit,

Michigan, in 1902, but grew

up in Minnesota. His father,

Charles August Lindbergh,

was a member of Congress for

Minnesota from 1907 to 1917.

Lindbergh studied mechanical

engineering in college for two

years, but dropped out to

begin flight training.

On 20 May 1927, he made

history by flying solo from

New York to Paris on his

monoplane The Spirit of

St Louis. After 34 hours of

nonstop flying, he landed at

Le Bourget Aerodrome, Paris,

to win the $25,000 Orteig

Prize. At only 25, the

transatlantic feat changed his

life completely, bringing with

it fame and fortune.

On a goodwill flight to

Mexico City, Lindbergh met

Anne Morrow, whose father

was ambassador to Mexico.

The couple soon married and,

in 1930, had their first of six

children, Charles Jr.

After the Pearl Harbor

attack in 1941, Lindbergh

applied to join the Air Force,

but was refused by President

Roosevelt after a long-running

spat between the two men.

Lindbergh later helped the

war effort by training pilots.

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