KIDNAPING OF LINDBERGH
BABY STIRS WHOLE WORLD
|
No Crime in Modern
History Has Aroused
Such Universal Indignation—Tops
Long List of Abductions.
No crime in recent history
aroused the entire American publie
as the kidnaping of the young son
Col. and Mrs, Charles A. Lindbergh.
ttle Charles Augustus, Jr, is the
“hation’s baby. He Is a national char
fcter and has been since the day he
was born. His abduction was a dus-
4ardly crime resented by every red-
Plooded American, grown-ups and chil-
‘dren alike,
Every parent grieved with the
Gieicken father and mother. They
knew the anguish they endured. They
could feel the heart throbs and the
dmmeasurable grief. They could re-
alize what the finding of that empty
crib meant to the grief-stricken par-
ents. They knew the darkness that
settled over Colonel and Mrs. Lind-
dergh as they viewed the dirty foot-
‘tracks left by the villiuns, and the lad-
der on the lawn outside the window,
that told so vividly the fate that had
(befallen their young son. It is one
‘great American heart that grieved
with those grief-stricken parents,
A little delicate child, only twenty
fuonths of age, had been dragged from
ghe affectionate embrace of his par
jents, from the tender care with which
die had been surrounded, and spirited
jaway into the foul hunds of the mos
pdetestible type of criminals. There was
{no ore touchitiz incident of the whole
dastardly affair than the pathetic up
Peal of the mother to the kidnupers to
feed Ler sick baby properly. [1 wus
ddressed by Mrs, Lindbergh to the
kidnapers of her son and broadeast
rough the press of the nation, In
¢ she said:
= “To the Kidnaper of the Lindbergh
dab, :
“Here is a heartbroken appeal di-
iwect from the mother of the child you
stole
“The baby has been sick and its re-
covery may depend on the treatment
lit gets from you. You must be espe-
efally careful about the diet,
“Mrs, Lindbergh issued to the press
today the strict diet she has been fol-
Jowing since the baby fell ill. She did
‘this in the hope you might read this
gtory and that there was some spark
of humanity even iu the heart of a
aby thief,
“Here is the diet, accompanied hy
the fervent prayer of a grieving
wother:
“One quart of wilk during the day.
“Three tablespoons of cooked cereal
morning and night,
“One yolk of egg daily.
“One baked potato or rice once a
day.
“Two
Qaily.
“Half a cup of orange juice on wak-
Sng.
“Half a cup of
“he afternoon nap.
‘And fourteen of medicine
‘«alled viosterol during the day,
“That's all, kidnaper of the Lind-
Wergh baby, That's what the baby's
‘mother wants you to give the boy.
Follow her request and you may in
some small part redeem yourself in
he eyes of a contemptuous world,”
Te fathers of the nation in spirit
éramped with Colonel Lindbergh the
woods about the large estate, search-
ing with him for clews that would
ead to the recovery of the stolen
child. In spirit they repeated his
prayers and hig curses, To the moth-
ers of the nation the abduction was a
real, a personal tragedy. Not one of
them but felt with Anne Morrow Lind-
tablespoons of stewed fruit
prune juice after
rons
bergh the devastating blow that had
been struck American motherhood,
not one of them but suffered the keen-
est of all agonies —feur for the safety
and life of the child she had borne,
and not one of them but said in her
Jheart “What if it had heen MY
Yah"
It is po exaggeration to say that
100,000,000 Americans immediately
formed themselves into a searching
party, in spirit if not in body, with
the sole purpose of restoring the Lind-
berzh baby in safety as soon as possi-
ble to his mother's arms. From the
highest to the most lowly, news of
the Lindbergh kidnaping was the all
Umportant topic.
it is not often that a President of
the United States puts from his mind
even for a little while momentous af-
fairs of state because of concern over
what has happened to some individ-
ual. But that is exactly what hap-
pened in this case. Herbert Hoover,
In fie midst of pondering over the
wolution of pressing national and In-
ternational problems, forgot for the
moment that he was Chief Executive
of a nation and remembered only that
he was an American father. So he
gave orders that he was to be kept
Informed of the latest developments
in the case no matter at what hour
of the night the news should arrive
at the White House,
What was true of the President
was true of other high government of-
ficials, both state and national. The
first activity int : to run to earth
the criminals was, of course, on the
part of local police near the Lind-
Yergh home in New Jersey.
Through the agency of the teletype
ghe alarm reached the police of New
York, Newark, Jersey City, Elizabeth,
Camden, and I"hiladelphia within a
few minutes of the receipt of the first
so ! news at Trenton. All of them quickl:
i dividuals everywhere to the crime.
swung into action, as did the New |
York and Pennsylvania state police. |
Orders were flashed to every pre
cinet by the police telegraph system
to be on the alert for suspicious cars,
while the new
WPEG flashed word to the short wave
station of the patrolling detective car
to Join in the watch,
Similar steps, though on a smaller
scale, were being repeated simultane
ously in every city for many miles
around the Lindbergh home.
of motorcycle and bandit squad police-
men from Philadelphia, Pa., and New
Jersey state troopers, clamped down |
offense If state boundaries are crossed
and still a third bill makes use of
the mails in kidnaping cases a federal
crime punishable by a maximum of
20 years imprisonment. Not only was
legislation to curb this crime the chief
topic in the national legislative hall,
but state legisiatures began taking
measures to increase the state per
alties for abduction.
But more striking than the immed!-
ate action taken by the constituted
authorities of the law for dealing
with
away the Lindbergh baby was the
instantaneous reaction of private in-
It
is doubtful if ever before in the his-
tory of America have so many mil-
lions of her citizens felt the personal
obligation to aid in a gigantic mar
| hunt—in spirit if not in reality.
police radio station |
Aviators, who had been buddies of |
the famous flying colonel, immediately
| placed themselves and their planes
| at his disposal to aid in the search
a heavy guard on every bridge over |
the Delaware river.
But the circle of activity soon wid- |
ened beyond state borders. Within a
few hours the news reached Wash-
ington, the full co-operation of the |
federal government in hunting down
the kidnapers was offered to the New
Jersey stuie authorities. Attorney-
General William D. Mitchell hurried |
to the White House for a conference
with President Hoover and immedi-
ately afterwards the Depariment
Justice announced that every agency
of the department would co-operate
to the utmost with the state author!
ties,
Following a second conference he
tween the President and his attorney
general, it was announced that the
government had placed its prohibition
enforcement officers as well as all of
the other department of justice agents
on the case,
section of the country,
direct orders from the
transmitted through the
"resident,
Justice de-
partment’s bureaus of investigation in |
New York and Philadelphia, were in-
structed to be on the lookout for
suspicious characters. Between these
two offices the states of New York,
Pennsylvania, Delawawe, New
and Connecticut, were
covered with a network of investiga-
tion by the most skillful sleuths i
the service of the United States.
Although kidnaping is a state rath-
er than a federal offense, the United
fication for entering the case because
of the possibility that the Kkidnapers
might have violated some other fed
eral statute. But one immediate re-
sult of this abduction was to causa
a widespread demand for speeding
action on bills then before congres
making kidnaping a federal offense,
One of them by Senator Roscoe C.
Patterson of Missouri makes the
an offense
Another hy
Cochran of
across a state boundary
punishable by death.
Representative John I.
Missouri makes kidnapping a
FAMOUS KIDNAPINGS
1874—Charlie Ross, stolen in
Germantown, Pa., never recov-
ered and supposed to have been
killed,
1900—Edward Cudahy was
kidnaped by Pat Crowe, who
served a prison sentence. Cud-
ahy was returned.
1909—Billy Whitla, Sharon,
Pa., recovered after $10,000 ran.
som was paid. Kidnapers im-
prisoned.
1911—Baby Hencks, Chicago.
Believed slain. Abductors in
Joliet prison,
1911—Lloyd Trezke, Cleve.
land. Found in California after
fifteen years,
1913—Catherine Winters, kid-
naped in Newcastle, Ind.; never
found.
1915—Jimmy Glass, Jersey
City, still missing and believed
slain.
1917 — Baby Lioyd Keet,
Springfield, Mo., slain.
1919—Billy Dansey, kidnaped
in New Jersey. Body found in
swamp months later,
1924-—Roy Borth, kidnaped by
moron in Chicago. Found un-
harmed after a week.
1924—Bobby Franks, kidnaped
and slain in Chicago by Richard
Loeb and Nathan Leopold, who
are serving life sentences in
prison,
1927—Marian Parker, twelve
years old, Los Angeles, kidnaped
and slain by William Hickman,
who was captured and executed.
1927 — Billy Gaffney, four
years old, Brooklyn, kidnaped
for ransom and never found, Be.
lieved to have been slain.
1928—Billy Ranieri, ten years
old, kidnaped but later restored
to parents. Two kidnapers sen.
tenced to 25 years in prison,
1930—Adolphus Busch Orth.
wein, thirteen years old, grand.
son of millionaire brewer, kid-
naped from home near St. Louis
but released 20 hours later. Kid-
naper sentenced to prison,
1931—Marian McLean, six
years old, Cincinnati, kidnaped
and assaulted, and later found
dead in basement. Slayer cap-
tured and confessed,
| defeat
of |
All agents in the eastern
acting under |
Jersey |
immediately |
Posses | catching the
Thousands of amateur detectives were
busily engaged in watching for “clews”
which might aid the authorities in
malefactors. In New
York the clergy of three religious de-
nominations joined in broadcasting a
prayer for the safe and speedy re
turn of the Lindbergh baby-—a prayer
which found an echo in the hearts of
millions,
Nor was the excitement over the
ease confined to the borders of the
United States. In far-off China, the
kidnaping was told in big headlines
alongside the news of the Chinese
on the Chapei-Woosung bat-
tlefront. The French press, to which
Colonel Lindbergh has been a hero
since his conquest of the Atlantic in
1026, was filled with the story of the
crime, Germany forgot for a moment
its heated political atmosphere aris
ing from the presidential election eam-
paizn and was swept by a wave of
sympathy for the parents of the lost
baby. All Berlin newspapers pub-
lished the kidnaping on their front
pages, along with numercuz photo.
graphs, an extraordinary occurrence
in that country, where political is
sues invariably occupy all available
front-page space, even when an elec
tion cumpaign is not in progress,
England's anxiety over the fate o.
che little boy was nearly as keen as
America’s.
tion caused a sensation in Mexico
where the baby's grandfather, the late
Dwight Morrow, had been ambassador |
A stream of |
telegrams was sent to the Lindberghs |
from their many friends in Mexico, |
from the United States.
| President Ortiz Rubio, Foreign Sec-
| Senator Dwight Morrow as ambassa- |
States government officials had justi- | dor. asked to be kept closely informed
| of any developments in the search
i
federa' |
retary Manuel C. Tellez and J. Reu-
ben Clark, who succeeded the late
for the kidnapers.
The abduction
(0 Mexicans all the more viv
cause of the fact that it had occurred
on the third anniversary of Colonel
Lindbergh's arrival in the Mexican
capital on the visit before his last
trip to Mexico, in the days when he
was courting Anne Morrow in the
was brought home
transportation of a kidnaped person | romantic atmosphere of Cuernavaca.
Just as the news of the Kkidnaping
of the Lindbergh baby circled the
globe within a few hours after it had
occurred, so had the news of the birth
| of this baby been an item of world-
wide interest. Charles Augustus Lind-
bergh, Jr, was born June 22, 1930,
which also was the anniversary of the
birth of his mother, the former Anne
Morrow, daughter of the late Senator
Dwight W. Morrow of New Jersey.
She was twenty-four years old the |
day her son was born. The baby was
born in the Morrow home in New Jer-
sey, In which his parents were mar-
ried May 27, 1920.
In the four days interval betwee.
june 22 and the day the birth certili- |
cate was filed members of the Morrow
| and Lindbergh family participated in
| “Junior.”
an aiicable discussion as to what the
infant would be named,
That question was settled when the
oirth certificate disclosed he was to be
And it was understood to
have been Mrs. Lindberg's choice all
along. It was reported, too, that Lind-
bergh had favored calling his son after
his father-in-law,
years before he was turned back from
his goal.
During his first few months of life,
shen his parents were making ocea-
sional short jaunts by airplane it fre-
quently was reported that Charles Jr.
was to accompany them. They did not
take the infant on any of these trips,
however, though the reports were so
persistent that they gave rise to the
impression that Charles Jr. would be
brought up from earliest youth with
the idea of making an aviator out of
him.
So widely was this conviction hel
¢hat his reticent father declared in an
interview, which was printed in Octo
ber, 1030, in the Pictorial Review, that
Charles Jr.'s future was in his own
nands.
“Our son,” Colonel Lindbergh wa.
quoted as saying, “has hardly reached
the age to have his fulure determined
for him, and, in any case, it is a ques:
tion that he can decide for himself
| when the time comes.
“Personally, 1 do not want him
pe anything or do anything that he
| himself has no taste or aptitude for.
world
When word of the birth of Charles
Lindbergh Jr. went around the
and even before it was an-
nounced, gifts began to arrive at the
Morrow home for him in such profu-
sion that they soon became an em-
harrassment. His parents were quoted
A.
| ag saying that the boy would have
to remain an infant for ten years at
least merely to wear out the baby
erlothes which had heen sent to him.
the criminals who had stolen |
The news of the abdue- |
diy be-
but that for the first |
time since he hopped the Atlantic three |
see oh ote ot SIE
Site showing the window and ladder used by the ab-
ductors,
Four Generations of Lindbergh- Morrow Family
troopers re-enacting the Kidnaping of Baby Lindbergh,
Mrs, Dwight Morrow, grandmother; Mrs.
Mrs. Charles Long Cutter (second from left), great-grundmother
Lindijergh a and the kiagaped baby.
THE PARENTS
Characteristic pose of Colonel ar
Photograph of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., made public by the fam
after the kidnaping to assist in the search for the child,
Mrs. Lindbergh taken after one
their long flights,