Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-03-25

Given an incentive and a proper yes
sell party bent On eoncealing the 40
month-old Lindbergh baby could, with
comparative ease, lose itself in the
waters of the Chesapeake Bay country
for weeks.
Obviously, the incentive for the kid
napers would be escape from the au-
thorities and an aroused civilian pop
ulace, together with a determination to
extort handsome ransom from Col
Charles Lindbergh. A proper vessel
for the affair would be almost any of
the cruising motor yachts or auxiliary
sailing yachts drawing less than feet
of water Better still, however, would
be boat of the traditional Chesapeake
Bay type-a shallow sloop, a bugeye or
skipiack among the sailers, or any
OF the motor powered, light-draft fish
ing boats of the bay variety.
The ease with which any small boat
could be hidden" in the bay country
lies IN the existence Of 1850 miles OF
navigable waterways within the boun-
diaries of Maryland and Virginia alone
These two States have shore line on
Chesapeake Bay and bay tributaries Of
Asia miles!
Many Small Greeks.
Approximately 5000 miles of this
weaving, intricately- laced coast is Mary
land territory. This excludes innumer-
able small creeks. The remaining l,612
shore line miles are in Virginia. These
measurements are the calculations of
Swepson Earle, conservation commits
Sioner for the State of Maryland and
an accepted authority on the Chesa-
peake Bay country.
A casual study of road maps and even
the simplified atlas illustrates how the
waterways of the Middle Atlantic Coast
would lend themselves to the plans of
a group of kidnapers A more particu-
larized study of the United States Coast
Pilot for the Atlantic Coast from Sandy
Hook to Cape Henry, and the Govern
mental charts prepared for mariners, is
more convincing that it would be easy
for the Lindbergh baby kidnapers to
escape with their little victim to vast
and secure nautical hiding grounds.
Hopewell N. j., Is not more than ID
or is miles north of Trenton, N. j.,
and Trenton is On the easterly shore
of the Delaware River. Given the
start which they had on the authori-
ties, 1t would have been quite easy for
the kidnapers to have travelled by auto
mobile from the Lindbergh estate to
HOpewell and then south, by way OF
Glen Moore, to the New Jersey State
! highway No 80, into Trenton. There
they could have boarded waiting boat
previously provisioned for long cruise
and headed downstream to security.
Plenty Of Anchorages.
Their course into the Chesapeake Bay
| country would have led them So miles
| down the Delaware River past Phila-
| delphia and Camden at one point, and
| past Wilmington, Del, at another. A
controlling depth of IL feet would have
been available to the kidnapers' vessel
for this stage of their trip and ample
anchorages would have been available
At Delaware City on the Delaware
River, the kidnapers would have entered
the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal
Goyernment-oWned and of sea-leYei,
this 12-mile connecting link between
the waters OF the Delaware River and
the Chesapeake Bay is without locks
and without toll charges. Hence 1t
lends itself we'll to the passage of a
vessel anxious to avoid attention.
Clear Sailing Then.
Emerging from the canal at Chesa-
peake City, Md, the kidnapers would
have found themselves on Back Greek,
which they would follow for 314 miles
to the Elk River. Turning south on
the Elk River, they would have Travelled
miles to the headwaters Of the
chesapeake Bay. And then there d
be clear sailing for q thousand and
one hiding places.
Five thousand square miles Of navi-
gable waterways would lie before the
kidlaperS as they sailed out on the bay.
Tributaries too Vulnerable to mention
would have afforded haven for the
gang with the little Lindbergh baby.
The main rivers alone, each with its
own tangent streams, would have pro-
Vided safe cruising ground for weeks
These larger streams include the Sus-
qqehanpa River, TIE Patapsco River on
which Baltimore Is built, the Severn
River at Annapolis, the Patuxent River
IN which famed Soiomons Island lies.
the Great Wicomieo River, the Po-
tomse River, the cheptank, Nantieoke
and pneomaks Rivers ever "a the East
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