In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

The Kidnapper makes second Contact By the time the sun rose, news of the kidnapping had reached all four corners of the world, displacing other major news stories of the day. as well, the New York Times received more than three thousand phone calls seeking more information. reporters were doing their best to get as much information as possible. The sourland estate was swarming with reporters, and the state troopers could barely control them. The best the police could do was to prevent the press from entering lindbergh ’s house, since keeping them off the grounds was a near impossibility. eventually , the reporters set up base at the hopewell railroad station, where news was radioed to the world. The new Jersey state police were busy setting up their central headquarters in lindbergh’s garage. They promptly installed a switchboard with twenty separate lines. The hopewell phone exchange had to be modified to handle the tremendous increase in usage. additionally, police from several counties were called in to help guard the lindbergh estate. to accommodate them, the lindberghs converted the ground floor of the house into a police hotel. Bedding was brought down for the men, and the Colonel’s study became a conference room. lindbergh was doing his best to avoid the media. While he had been a source of public attention after his flight across the atlantic, the level of interest had not been this intense. The first wave of reporters pressed him for a comment. Just before dawn, he briefly addressed them, saying, “i hope you boys will excuse me, but i would rather the state police answered all questions. i am sure you understand how i feel.”1 despite his request, the media would not leave him alone until he eventually left the country in frustration some time later. The politicians of the day were getting organized as well. president hoover announced that the FBi, the Cia, and all federal agencies would offer their full cooperation . new Jersey Gov. a. harry moore sent telegrams to every governor in the country, as well as to the president, seeking cooperation in the investigation. Congress immediately began debating making kidnapping a federal crime. ultimately, they would pass the lindbergh law, which did exactly that. numerous letters arrived| 17 || 3 | | 18 | hauptmann’s ladder from heads of state around the world. moreover, every police agency in the country received a description of the child and was constantly searching. Couples with blondhaired children were stopped continually and questioned. it was clear that the entire world was now focused on the tiny town of hopewell. While all this was going on, lt. John sweeney was experimenting with the kidnapper ’s ladder. he placed it in the two impressions under the southeast window and found that they fit perfectly. When fully assembled, the ladder stretched well above the window. But if only the first two sections were used, the ladder was just two-and-a-half feet below the window. additionally, sweeney noticed that the whitewash on the wall was scuffed where the top of the ladder had rested against it. Further examination of the scuffing revealed splinters of wood consistent with the ladder’s wood. This demonstrated that the kidnapper had likely used just the first two sections of the ladder during the kidnapping. it also seemed to indicate that the kidnapper was either long-legged or rather athletic. it has been suggested that the kidnapper built the third piece of the ladder because he intended to snatch the child from the englewood estate.2 The basis of this theory is that if all three pieces of the ladder were used, it would reach the englewood nursery. This is pure speculation at best. Without solid or compelling proof, the fact that the ladder, with all three sections in place, would have been sufficient for the job at the englewood estate must be considered coincidental. to assist in the investigation, police carpenters built a second ladder nearly identical to the first. since the kidnapper’s ladder was broken, very few experiments could be performed with it. using this replica ladder, lieutenant sweeney climbed up and into the nursery window. some had thought that the kidnapper’s ladder was too rickety to be used. sweeney proved that a 170-pound man could climb it with little difficulty. When they had completed their initial examination of the original ladder, members of the state police took it to various carpenters and hardware stores in the immediate vicinity...

Share