The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-05-06
100000 Indy
CASE SWINDLE
LAID To MEANS
Mrs. Mclean Tells Jurors
Bizarre Story of Deal
With SIeuth.
Continued From Page II

although Lindbergh was not told of
Means connection with the case.
Mrs. Mclean also solicited the aid
OF Father Francis j. Hurley, promi-
nent Warrington clergyman. as
Means suggested the Catholic
church could be of assistance in the
negotiations.
On March s, Captain Land.
Father Hurney and Means met
with Mrs. Mclean at her home.
Means then expressed certainty
that he could recover the baby.
Il know the very man who did
it." Albert Fox. Mrs. McLean's at
torney, quoted Means as saying. Il
met a man in a New York speak
easy who was in prison when was
and he asked me to stage the kid
mapping. I refused, Of course"
Given 100000 in Bills
The next night Mrs. Mclean gave
Means the 100000 in bills.
About the middle of March,
Means informed Mrs. Mclean that
he would hand the baby over to her
at Aiken. S. c. Mrs. Mclean mo-
tored there. For a week Means had
one alibi after another.
Finally, he said. it had been nee
essary to transfer the negotiations
to FL Paso, Tex, as the baby was
being held in Mexico Mrs. Mclean
met Means in FL PaSo, Again, more
excuses and alibis. Mrs. Mclean
returned to Washington and told
the whole story to her attorneys.
On April II she formally de-
manded that Means return the
100000. Means said he went to
Concord, N. c.. got the money. and
on the way back was stopped in
Alexandria, Va. by a mysterious
stranger who whispered to him:
Eleven"
Gave Away Cash, He Says
Means had been conducting him
self in story book detective fashion.
He had assigned numbers to all the
principals in the case and eleven"
was Mrs. McLean's-secret designa-
ton.
So when the stranger whispered
eleven to him, Fox quoted Means.
Il thought was being approached
by some one directly representing
Mrs. Mclean, so I gave him the
100000"
Mrs. Mclean and her lawyers
then gave Means until last Monday
to return the money. When he
failed to comply, j. Edgar Hoover.
chief of the justice departments
bureau of investigation, ordered him
Means spent the night in the Dis
trict of Columbia Jail, sharing a
cell with a man awaiting trial on a
liquor charge. A few cells away
was Alfred Scott Aldridge, Negro.
who was electrocuted at 10 a. m.
for the murder of a policeman.
Cheerful; Sleeps Some
Means, Jail attendants reported,
was cheerful through the night,
slept little, and lost none of the
cheerful manner he showed when
arrested Thursday. He commended
he was innocent of wrongdoing and
that he would be acquitted.
Father Hurney, the Catholic
priest whom Mrs. Mclean consulted.
and to whom she hoped the child
might be returned, today issued the
following statement on the case:
ON Sunday. March 6, 1882, Mrs.
Evalyn Walsh Mclean told me that
she was endeavoring to obtain the
return of Colonel Lindbergh's baby
and that the intermediary engaged
by her had brought a message from
the alleged kidnapers demanding
that a Catholic priest be brought
into the case, for their protection.
This appeared to me reasonable.
and 1 agreed willingly to associate
myself with Mrs. Mclean in her
laudable effort to secure return of
the infant"
Felt Means Might Have Reformed
She told me that the intermedi-
airy was CASTOR Means. I knew, in
a general way, of the unfavorable
light in which he had appeared in
the public prints, but I felt that per-
haps In this instance he was acting
in earnest, a feeling which was
strengthened when he told me that
If he could accomplish the return
Of the baby it would mean the wip-
ing out largely Of his past and that
be could begin life anew with a very
favorable prospect of succeeding in
business as an investigator.
"All through this case. I worked
with Mrs. Mclean and Captain
Land of the navy department. I
am very sorry at the unhappy con-
clusion Of the affair, but 1 have no
regret that 1 aided, to the best Of
my ability, Mrs. Mclean in her very
worthy endeayor to restore the child