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Violet and Curtis: two Bogus stories Begin While Colonel Breckinridge was placing the first ad in the New York American, a very dubious character was about to join the circus. John hughes Curtis had a conversation with rev. h. dobson-peacock at a church in norfolk, Virginia. Curtis claimed that he had been approached the prior evening by a man named sam. sam was a very large man whom Curtis knew as a rumrunner. according to Curtis , sam approached him and asked for his help in contacting Charles lindbergh. sam said he represented a gang that had kidnapped lindbergh’s son. The gang wanted a prominent person from Virginia to act as a go-between, and Curtis was that person. after considering sam’s request, Curtis decided he would help. he claimed that he would agree to have money sent to the gang only after the child was returned. sam supposedly agreed to these terms. obviously, no gang involved in a kidnapping would agree to turn the child over without getting the money first. The fact that this mysterious sam would agree to such terms should have tipped off anyone listening that the story was phony, yet dobson-peacock was convinced. Curtis had a solid reputation in his community, and that seemed to be enough for the reverend. John Curtis was the owner of Curtis Boat Building Corporation, a large shipbuilding company. he was a popular man known for his active social life and was married with two children. rev. dobson-peacock called the lindbergh estate with this vital information. he was not permitted to speak to Colonel lindbergh and had to settle for morris rosner. he told rosner about Curtis and his wild story, but rosner simply did not believe him. Frustrated, the reverend hung up. since dobson-peacock was unable to get past rosner, Curtis, at the suggestion of his wife, went to see adm. Guy hamilton Burrage. admiral Burrage knew Charles lindbergh as he was in command of the ship that had returned lindbergh to the united states after his historic flight across the atlantic. admiral Burrage listened to Curtis and dobson-peacock and, surprisingly, believed their story. he called the sourland estate and was able, after some delay,| 43 || 5 | | 44 | hauptmann’s ladder to speak with lindbergh himself. lindbergh then spoke with Curtis. The Colonel did not seem to believe Curtis and told Burrage to have the men write him a letter requesting a meeting. it would seem that lindbergh did not want to dismiss Curtis entirely, but was not thrilled by the story either.1 eventually, after writing a letter requesting a meeting, Curtis, Burrage, and dobson-peacock met personally with Charles lindbergh on march 22, 1932. Curtis maintained that he had had additional contact with sam between the date of Burrage ’s phone call and the meeting with Colonel lindbergh. on march 17, Curtis reported that sam had contacted him again. The kidnap gang was becoming anxious to receive the ransom money. sam assured Curtis that the baby was being treated well. The gang hired a nurse and was following the diet provided to the public by anne lindbergh. The child was being kept on a boat somewhere off the norfolk coast. Curtis did not provide specifics on how sam had contacted him. Curtis received word from sam the very next day. as a sign of good faith, the gang wanted lindbergh to deposit $25,000 into an account under the names of Burrage, dobson-peacock, and Curtis. Curtis claimed to have told sam that no money would change hands until the baby was returned. on march 22, the day of the meeting in new Jersey, the three men were met by Colonel lindbergh and Colonel schwartzkopf. The group went to the library to talk, and Curtis went over his entire fantastic story again. When he finished, he asked lindbergh how much he would pay for his son’s return. lindbergh, to his credit, did not answer the question directly. instead, he told Curtis he would need more proof before he would commit himself. he also told Curtis that he thought they were being deceived, although he did not reveal why he thought so.2 lindbergh had a suggestion that he thought would provide the proof Curtis required from sam. Curtis was to ask sam to provide a picture of the child taken after march 1, 1932, or a letter from the gang with an identifying symbol that lindbergh did not specify. if...

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