Evening star., 1932-03-02

lated Lindbergh estate last night to
snatch the sleeping child, who had
been sick for several days with a bad
cold, detectives sought to determine
exactly how the kidnapping was accom-
plished
Though they made no statement OF
their purpose 1t was believed the in
yestigators by reconstructing the actual
crime as nearly as they could, hoped
they might come upon some clue to
lead them through the maze of con-
lecture and despair surrounding the
WI ole case
Last night while Col Lindbergh
tramped the fields and surrounding
wooaS in tireless search for his miss
ing boy, and Mrs. Lindbergh sobbed in
the house, refusing to rest, police made
thorough search of house and
grounds.
Mud Found on Sill.
They raised a ladder of their own
to tie second floor nursery window and
studied minutely the sill muddied by
Stealthy boots and the warped shutter
which would rot Close when the baby
was put to bed and so left an avenue
of easy entrance to the kidnapers.
This morning. however. while scores
of police and private citizens carried
detectives changed their methods of
examining the scene of the crime and
began following the course of the Grim
| inals as exactly as possible.
Taking the rough improvised ladder
found this morning about 100 yards
| from the house, they raised it to the
nursery window and cautiously climbed
its uneven steps. Standing on rick
ETY. upper crosspiece, just as the lurk-
4vnrp 4p-tv. fv1Al r4@ @>I 1nC
night before he slid into the dark room
Inspector Francis Kelly made a micro
scopic examination of sill and shutter.
Study Believed Futile.
Kelly is fingerprint expert attached
to the Morristown police force, and
was especially interested in determin-
ing whether any identifying marks had
been left by the kidnaper. After de-
scending he declined to tell reporters
II he had found anything of value, but
shake Of his head to a superior OFF,
Ger was interpreted as indicating that
his hunt had been fruitless.
The ladder was left leaning against
the window, like a crooked finger
pointing at the scene Of the shameful
crime. Occasionally one detective or
another. moving slowly as though in
concentrated thought, would climb
laboriously to the top, pause for
momentary scrutiny, and then climb
carefully into the nursery.
The search for the flyers son was
extended into the air today. Authorities
| asked the Ludington Air Lines for a
plane and big tri-motored ship was
Immediately dispatched from Newark
Airport with Fred Davis, veteran pilot,
at the controls.
Comrades Lend Aid.
Col. Lindbergh's comrades Of the air
| also found 1t impossible to stand idle
while tragedy hung over him. The Quiet
Birdmen, secret flying organization of
which Col. Lindbergh is member, or
! ganized search party, with headquar-
ters at Newark, the New York City Mu-
nicipal Airport, and the Aviation Coun-
try Club at Hicksville, Long Island
Plans were made to send score of
planes, some Of them under control of
world-famous airmen, over the dense
woodland Of Sourland Mountain in an
effort to ferret out the hideaway of
the kidnapers.
| There were no important results from
the search this morning and so far as
could be learned no real clues were
uncovered.
A delivery wagon driver who reported
seeing q bundle which looked to him
like "a doll baby" lying in the ditch
more than a mile from the Lindbergh
home was questioned. But he could
| give no added information and search
failed to reveal any bundle.
Farmer Tells of Strangers.
Luther H. Harding, a farmer, who
said party in green car stopped him
| on the road last night and asked the
way to the Lindbergh estate, was ques-
| toned at length this morning, but the
results Of his examination were not
made public.
| The investigators were completely
baff1ed at the way in which all the
forces OF nature and coincidence seemed
to have combined to aid the kidnapers.
| In the first place it was a bluStery
March night. the wind singing around
the house and banging shutters to af-
1ord ample protection to the figures
stealing into the room of the sleeping
baby
Also it was a dark night with overcast
sky. SO that even had Col. Lindbergh
looked out the window at the very mo-
ment he probably would not have real
| lzed the lurking danger threatening
their baby
| Shutter Could Not Close.
| And most amazing of all was the
coincidence Of the warped shutter. 1t
hao Deen the Lindbergh's custom to
open the nursery windows at night, but
TO close the wooden shutters. But
last night Mrs. Lindbergh found one
OF the shutters so warped it would not
close.
| And through that unprotected window
the hand OF tragic crime reached in
10 steal the sleeping baby while the
parents, unSuspecting any harm, en-
Joyed a late supper on the floor below.
Capt. John Lamb of the State police
left the Lindbergh home early today
headed, 1t was understood. for the Still
man Home Tor Epileptics, a State in
Stltutlon, 4 miles east, to check in
mates with the authorities.
| Inc lean colonel, who dared death
along the uncharted New York-Paris
airway with silent calm, appeared
numoed by the catastrophe that reached
into the lonely hills to strike at him.
Dressed IN leather jacket, an old cap
ana worn pair Of trousers, his shoes
caked with the sour mud which gives
name TO the region, he tramped most of
the night, seeking some clue to his lost
| namesake.
| Mrs. Lndbergh, the attractive daugh-
ter OF the late Senator Dwight w. Nor
row, who expects another child with the
| late Spring, remained indoors, secluded
from all callers.
Mrs. Morrow in EngIeyood.
Mrs Dwight Morrow, the babvs
granomother, remained at her home in
| Englewood after first news of the kid
naping came to her over the telephone
N