Evening star., 1932-05-13
4JAFS|E' IS CLEARED
OF ANY SUSPICION
John H. Curtis Has Not Been
Questioned-Body Identi-
fled Definitely.
tcontinued From First Page

-
Col. Charles A. Lindbergh and his
wife, soon to become a mother for a
second time, were secluded in their
home today, their unfaltering hope
brought to an end at last by the sad
certainty of death.
Pending completion of funeral plans
the BODY of the baby remained at the
urdertakers premises in Trenton,
where the autopsy was performed
which made Identification doubly sure
AS President Hoover in Washington
was ordering the Federal law enforce
ment agencies to begin relentless and
unending pursuit of the slayers, State
and County odicials gathered in
Trenton to plan concerted action to
bring the criminals to justice.
No One Under Suspicion.
Among those at the conference were
the attorney general of New Jersey,
prosecuting officials of two counties in
which the Lindbergh estate lies, and
Col. H Norman Schwarzkopf, super
intendent Of State police, who has had
general charge of the investigation ever
since the baby was kidnapped.
District Attorney Erwin Marshall,
who will have Jurisdiction because the
body was found in Merger County, al
though the kidnapping occurred in Hunt
erdon County, indicated that an arrest
might be expected though it might not
be for several days.
He said that no one was under sus-
picion at the present time and that
DR.. John F. Condor, who paid the
useless $4,000 ransom, and John
Hughes Curtis, one of the Norfolk ne
gotiators for return of the baby, were
not under arrest. Curtis and DR.. Con-
don made statements last night and
were examined verbally at length today.
Marshall would not say what theory
was favored by police as to the motive
for the brutal crime, but it was known
authorities had under consideration one
fact that would indicate that DR.. Con-
don and Curtis had been in actual
contact with the kidnapers.
The baby's sleeping suit was missing
when the body was found.
Was Wearing Sleeping Suit.
A description sent out Immediately
after the kidnapping said the child was
wearing a white flannel sleeping suit
a garment that would cover him from
neck to feet. Under it he wore a little
flannel shirt his nurse had made and
put on him late that afternoon to pro-
tect his chest and keep him from catch
ing more cold.
On the body yesterday there was no
sleeping suit; only the soiled and tat
tered remnants of the little shirt and
flannel band around the waist.
1t has been reported several times
that both DR.. Condor and the Norfolk
arata n q vi 1a@ 70 "a
berghS an article of clothing or a piece
of cloth that convinced them contact
had been established with the actual
kidnapers.
And so the theory had to be consid-
cred that the kidnapers, believed by
many officials to have been crazed,
killed their tiny victim almost imnedi-
ately, stripped off the sleeping suit, and
after the body had been cast aside in
the hidden hollow where it was found.
set about obtaining ransom for a child
they knew could never be returned to
its parents alive.
The body was found late yesterday.
A colored truckman, pushing his way
through thick brush Of the Sourlands
not five miles from the Lindbergh
estate-nade the discovery.
Discovery Of the child's skeleton was
made by William Allen, colored truck
man. His truck. driving the Hopewell-
Mount Rose Highway, had halted, and
Allen had left 1t to enter the woods.
Path Blocked by Underground.
Brush and undergrowth blocked his
path. He stopped and pushed 1t aside.
Beneath the brush, underneath a
layer of rotting leaves, lay the body.
A compound fracture of the skull
caused death. The murder evidently
was done very soon after the kidnapping,
probably within an hour A madman
apparently, prompted either by an in
struck the child dead. Physicians de-
scribed it as a terrific" blow.
No weapon has been found. There
was added possibility the baby had been
hurled violently from motor car.
Nurse Sure of Identity.
State police of New Jersey, who have
been in direct charge of the search for
the baby since the night, 73 days ago,
when the voice of Col Lindbergh over
a telephone said, MY baby has been
kidnapped" made the identification of
the body. A physician added confrma-
ton. Later Miss Betty Cow, the baby's
nurse, said she was quite certain" the
The parents themselves remained
completely in the background while
their greatest tragedy was being written
in black headlines around the world.
One of the strange, weird jests of the
horror that for 70 days had turned the
Sourland estate Of the Lindberghs into
a tragic heartbreak house was the dis
covery Of the body virtually at its
doorstep.
Were Strung Hurriedly.
Running through the brush-grown
land and passing within rs feet of the
baby's burial place Is a telephone wire.
1t was strung hurriedly, to carry to the
world news of the baby hunt-and its
excited messages of hope, of new clues,
of imminent discoveries passed hardly
more than whisper distance from the
object of the hunt.
The spot where the body was found
is thick-grown scrub. The brush now
is heavy-leafed, infilled with a heavy
grass. The dead leaves of a happier
Autumn form patch carpet over the
ground.
Shortly after o'clock yesterday
afternoon truck hauling timbers to
be used in a moving job stopped beside
the road. Allen left the truck and went
into the brush.
Horrified at what he saw, Allen ran
back TO the road and called Orville
Wilson. When Wilson viewed the body
he said:
What are you going to do2"
Allen said:
Il am going to notify the State
police"
The police found the shallow grave
on slight slope. The body had been
concealed with leaves, dirt and brush.
The child's form lay face down and the
depression in which it rested was SO
slight as to indicate that efforts to con-
ceal 1t had been very hurried.
Struck Fearful Blow.
County Physician Charles Mitchell
examined the body.
The baby was struck fearful blow
on the head" he said. THE skull was
fractured clnaP oprncn fha to.1 rrvl. go