The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-04-16
FLARE LIKELY
Indy SIGNAL
TO K|DNAPERS
Light Visible for Miles Set
OFF at Top of Souriand
Mountain.
SIGNIFICANCE is DENIED
Unusual Activity Marks
Night on FIier'S Estate
at HopewelI.
BY A T RANEY
United Press STAFF Correspondent


HOPEWELL, N. j., April 16.-A
magnesium flare lighted early today
at the home of Colonel Charles A.
Lindbergh atop Sourland mountain,
illuminated the countryside 0
miles, and led observers to believe
it was a signal having a significant
bearing on efforts to retprn the
hier's kidnapped son.
State police at Trenton said that
a state trooper stationed at the
Lindbergh home had found the flare
Friday. 1t was described as being
an old one, a 'dud." The trooper
decided to test it, so shortly after
midnight he took it into the yard
and lighted it, police said.
An aviation expert at Hopewell
said the flare was of the type de-
signed for parachute landing at
night, costing from $50 to $75 each.
He estimated it could have been
seen from the air sixty miles dis
tant and from the ground for twen-
ty miles.
The flare burned for five minutes,
throwing out an intense white light
which was made more conspicuous
by the elevation of the Lindbergh
home,
Speculate on Signal
Newspaper men watching beyond
the deadline set UP by the New Jer-
sey state police reported no planes
could be heard overhead, but one
could have been beyond hearing
and still within sight of the flare.
Speculation also centered on
whether some motor car might have
been waiting in a nearby road for
a signal.
Finally, Colonel H. Norman
Schwartzkopf issued a statement to
answer the hundreds of calls from
farmers around Hopewell.
1.-The flare" Schwartzkopf'S bull
letin said, twas an old magnesium
light which it was thought would
not burn any more. It burned,
however, but there is no sig
nificance."
An airplane bearing the number
NV-9746 was seen flying low over
Hopewell early Friday night.
The lighted flare climaxed a night
of more than usual activity at the
Lindbergh home. Several visitors
were admitted.
Night of Much Activity
Among the late arrivals was q
small coupe carrying two men. The
License plates on the car were COW
cred with cloths. One of the occu-
pants resembled DR.. John F. Con-
don, "Jafsie" negotiator.
Shortly before the coupe appeared,
a girl who identified herself as
Grace Gray, %, of Minneapolis,
Mimi, a friend of the colonel'S
mother, was stopped by troopers
who telephoned the home. Miss
Gray was permitted to enter imme-
diately. Her visit vas said to have
no connection with the KIDNAPPING
search. The flare was set off five
minutes after she departed.
Earlier in the night Samuel
Krashow and Martin Bernstein,
operatives of the Central Detective
bureau of Brooklyn, drove up to the
estate. They said they had an ap-
pointment with Lindbergh, but
when asked about their connections
with the case, Bernstein remarked
graphically:
Our activities are of such a
delicate nature that to discuss them
might cause serious injury or death
of the child"
In the metropolitan area Con-
don'S activity continued. Colonel
Henry Breckenridge, Lindbergh's
legal advisor, was at Condon'S
Bronx home throughout Friday
afternoon. During some OF this
time Condor was absent, in one in
stance to deliver one of his lectures.
New York. police kept up their ef-
forts to trace one of the $40 bank
notes, which was in the $50, 900 ran
som money paid by Condor to the
supposed kidnapers in a fake deal
on April 2.
In Norfolk, the three negotiatorS
maintained their optimism. Rear
Admiral Guy H. Burrage and John
Hughes Curtis, who returned from
a four-day trip early Friday. re-
ported they were continuing their
efforts to restore the baby. The Rev.
H. DobSon-Peacock, the other
n~egotiator. gave new assurances of
the infants safety.