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The Negotiations Continue | 59 | The negotiations Continue on sunday, march 13, 1932, while dr. Condon was waiting for further word from the kidnapper, the police were bringing dr. erastus mead hudson, a fingerprint expert and physician, to the lindbergh estate. hudson was hoping to obtain fingerprints from the kidnapper’s ladder. hudson was trained in the use of fingerprints by scotland yard. he was now using a new method that involved spraying silver nitrate on the object to be tested. The salt traces from fingerprints mixed with the chemical, forming a new chemical called silver chloride. Then, when exposed to sunlight, the silver chloride turned a brownish red color in the form of the fingerprints. since the police had nothing to lose, they allowed hudson to perform his tests. With Corporal Kelly observing, hudson first processed several of the baby’s toys. he was able to discover the fingerprints of the missing baby on some of his remaining toys. Kelly used a special camera to photograph these prints. as a result, police had a method to identify the child in the future.1 The following morning, hudson was allowed to take the ladder outside into the sunlight and examine it. he lifted nearly five hundred fingerprints from the kidnapper’s ladder. This really demonstrated the inefficiency of the methods used by the state police. They had not obtained anywhere near that many. unfortunately, most of the prints were only partial prints or smudges and unusable. additionally, it was impossible to know if any of these prints were from the kidnapper or one of the numerous people who had handled the ladder. hudson realized that finding the kidnapper’s prints was a long shot. in all probability, any prints left by the builder were covered by those of the police and other handlers. in the end, eight usable prints were recovered. one was identified as belonging to lieutenant Bornmann. The remaining seven have never been identified. many writers and historians argue that the seven unidentified prints on the ladder prove that Bruno richard hauptmann, the man ultimately arrested and convicted for the crime, was innocent. his prints were not among the seven. however, this is not a fair statement to make. The ladder was handled by hundreds of people| 59 || 7 | | 60 | hauptmann’s ladder between march 1 and march 13, including, but not limited to, the police, the press, wood experts, and others. any prints left by the kidnapper were probably covered, smudged, and obliterated by all of the others. While hudson was examining the ladder, John Condon was looking through his morning mail, hoping for another letter from the kidnapper, but there was nothing. about an hour later, Condon received a phone call. he recognized John’s voice immediately . “doctor Condon?” “yes, John,” Condon replied. “What is wrong? i have been waiting—” “There has been delay sending the slipping-suit,” John interrupted. “it will come. you will have it soon.” he hung up the phone.2 Condon would not hear from the kidnapper again for two days. on Wednesday, around 10:30 a.m., he received a large soft package wrapped in brown paper. recognizing the writing on the label, Condon called Colonel Breckinridge at his office. Breckinridge contacted lindbergh, who promised to come to Condon’s home as soon as he could get away from the reporters. Forty minutes later, Breckinridge arrived at decatur street. Though Condon wanted to wait for lindbergh, Breckinridge insisted upon opening the package. he carefully untied the cords holding the bundle together. inside were a note and a gray one-piece sleeping suit buttoned in the rear with two buttons on the lower flap and four above. There was a small pocket on the chest and the label indicated it was a dr. denton brand. Breckinridge could not positively identify the garment, but knew that the child had worn similar clothing. only lindbergh could identify it. around 1:30 a.m., a visitor arrived. Condon opened the door and saw a tall slim man wearing a cap pulled over his brow and large sunglasses without an overcoat . Condon was shocked when the disguised man revealed himself to be Charles lindbergh. lindbergh’s estate was swarming with media and police. it had taken a disguise and the cover of night for lindbergh to slip away. First, lindbergh examined the gray garment. he looked at both sides and the label inside the neck. he counted the buttons and probed the sleeves with his fingers. after...

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