This week (February 23 – March 1) in crime history –
Abraham Lincoln avoided assassination attempt (February 23, 1861); Jean Harris
was convicted of murdering Dr. Herman Tarnower (February 24, 1981); Actor
Robert Mitchum was released from jail after serving sentence for drug
possession (February 25, 1949); World Trade Center in New York City was bombed
for first time (February 26, 1993); Trayvon Martin was shot and killed
(February 26, 2012); Federal agents raided the Branch Davidian compound in Waco
(February 28, 1993); Baby Lindbergh kidnapping (March 1, 1932); Salem Witch
hunt began (March 1, 1692)
Highlighted Crime
Story of the Week -
On March 1, 1932, the young son of famed aviator Charles
Lindbergh was kidnapped from the family's home in Hopewell, New Jersey. Anne Lindbergh
discovered a ransom note in their child's empty room. 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 written in poor English, demanded
$50,000. The crime captured the attention of the entire nation and the Lindbergh
family was inundated by offers of assistance and false clues. For three days,
investigators found nothing and there was no further word from the kidnappers.
Then, a new letter arrived which demanded $70,000.
Dr. Condon, a retired teacher and coach from the Bronx
who had volunteered, acted as the go-between. After Condon and Lindbergh
delivered the ransom money on April 2, the kidnappers indicated that the child was
on a boat off the coast of Massachusetts. However, after an exhaustive search
of every port, there was no sign of either the boat or the child. Soon after, a
renewed search of the area near the Lindbergh home turned up the baby's body.
He had been killed the night of the kidnapping. The heartbroken Lindbergh’s eventually
donated 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. The gas station
attendant who had accepted the bill wrote down the license plate number of the
car. It was tracked back to a German immigrant, Bruno Hauptmann. When his home
was searched, detectives found $14,000 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 was a national sensation. The
prosecution's case was not particularly strong and the main evidence, apart
from the money, was handwriting experts and Hauptmann’s 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 1936 he was executed
in the electric chair. In the aftermath of the case kidnapping was made a
federal offense.
Check back every
Monday for a new installment of “This Week in Crime History.”
Michael Thomas Barry is a columnist for www.crimemagazine.com and is the author
of six nonfiction books that includes the award winning Murder and Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California. Visit
Michael’s website www.michaelthomasbarry.com
for more information. His book can be purchased from Amazon through the
following link:
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