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New Mystery Books Reviewed
THE GHOSTS OF HOPEWELL Setting the Record Straight on the Lindbergh Case, by Jim Fisher. Southern Illinois University Press $24.95.
Review by Gary Swartz
This book was a kick in the teeth to me. I must
confess I'd come to think of myself something of a bush
league expert on the Lindbergh kidnapping. I'd read past
books on the subject, including Anthony Scaduto's Scapegoat,
Ludovic Kennedy's The Airman and the Carpenter and Noel
Behn's Lindbergh, the Crime. I'd enjoyed Max Allan Collins'
fictional take on the case and even seen the HBO film
based on the Kennedy book.
When twenty-month old Charles Lindbergh, Jr. was abducted from the family home in Hopewell, New Jersey, the kidnapper left behind a ransom note and a rickety home-made ladder. Subsequent ransom notes were received by the Lindbergh's and a payment of $50,000 was made to an individual known as "Cemetery John" through a somewhat questionable intermediary named John F. Condon.
A month later the later the child's body was discovered near the Lindbergh estate, killed by a blow to the head. The ransom money was ultimately traced to Bruno Richard Hauptmann, an unemployed carpenter living in the Bronx who had a criminal record in his native Germany. Hauptmann was arrested nearly two and a half years after the abduction and approximately $14,000 of the ransom money was found hidden in his garage.
Hauptmann maintained his innocence to the end, claiming an acquaintance named Isidor Fisch had given him a shoebox for safekeeping. After Fisch died in Germany, Hauptmann supposedly opened the box and discovered the money.
Possession of the ransom money is not, to be sure, sufficient to send one to the electric chair. But other disturbing evidence was discovered. Handwriting experts testified that Hauptmann had written the ransom notes including the one found in the baby's room. A piece of wood found on the ladder was determined to have come from Hauptmann's attic. John F. Condon's name and phone number were found written on woodwork in the Hauptmann home. A few convenient eyewitnesses placing Hauptmann at the crime scene were produced, but even Fisher doesn't seem to put much stock in their testimony.
All of the above, admittedly circumstantial, evidence has been challenged by the revisionist authors. They've trotted forth their own handwriting specialists, accused the wood expert of being a liar, blamed a reporter for the scribbling of Condon's name and number on the wall (even though Hauptmann initially confessed to having written it). They also managed to point out some other disturbing details that could lead one to believe that a frame-up may have occurred, notably John F. Condon's initial reluctance to identify Hauptmann as "Cemetery John".
We mere laymen are at the mercy of the so-called experts, but Fisher provides us with photographs comparing Hauptmann's handwriting with that of the ransom notes which look pretty damn convincing to me. He also cites new evidence of one of Hauptmann's writing quirks, consistent with the ransom notes, which adds icing to the cake. It's difficult to understand why a professional carpenter would need to take a plank of wood from his attic floor to build a ladder but it appears that Hauptmann did in fact do just that and Fisher does offer a possible scenario.
He also produces new evidence placing the ransom money in Hauptmann's hands long before he claimed to have opened that shoebox. One especially disturbing new revelation is that Hauptmann may have been planning a new kidnapping at the time of his arrest. Fisher provides ample documentation to back up his statements and his book is well organized and written in a crisp no-nonsense style that keeps the pages turning at a steady clip.
Hopefully, I've learned something Jim Fisher and won't be as willing to accept unfounded theories from fanciful crime writers in the future. It will be interesting to see if any of Hauptmann's defenders can come up with a rebuttal to THE GHOSTS OF HOPEWELL. The ball is definitely in their court.
Review by Gary R. Swartz
Mr Swartz is an actor and critic