Imperial Valley press., 1934-12-15
BY SIDNEY b. WHIPPLE
United Press staff Correspondent

/ United Press Staff correspondent
Copyright. 1884, BY United Press)
Broken by the ''silent treat
ment" given him by the police dur
ing the five days after the finding
of the Lindbergh baby, John
Hughes Curtis of Norfolk, confess
ed his story of contracting the kid
napers had been false from begin
ming to end, gigantic fabrication
of lies. Six weeks later he was
convicted of obstructing justice and
sentenced to spend year in Jail
and pay a fine of 1000.
Curtis never served the Jail ser1.
tence. Perhaps his protests that he
had grown "insane'' on the sub
ject brought some amelioration, for
on November the Imprisonment
clause was suspended, and he went
back to Norfolk, free man.
But running parallel with the
Norfolk hoax, and rivaling it in
many of its more sensational as
poets. was the amazing case of
CASTOR B. Means, former depart
ment of justice operative, who
swindled Mrs. Evalyn Mclean out
of S104,000 on the strength of stor-
les as wild as any told by Curtis.
CASTOR B. Means round and
dimpled face, his bland personality,
his geniality always had been ef-
fective weapons in dealing with
women.
In 1917, he had been acquitted of
the murder of Mrs. Maude Robin
son King, a woman whose $2.000,00
estate he managed so success
fully that it was alleged only few
Thousand dollans remained in II
after his operations.
Approached Woman
Shortly after the kidnapping in
Hopewell, Means approached Mrs
Mclean, estranged wife of Edward
Mclean, the former Washington
publisher, with a melodramatic
story of a contact" with the kid
napers. Mrs. Mclean agreed to give
Means 100000, of which $4,000
was to go for ransom and the re-
mainder was to be his commission
for returning the child to the Lind
berghs. She also advanced him
$4,000 "for expenses, and Means
pretended to set to work.
In story-book style, Means as
signed numbers to each of the
principals and established thrill
ing atmosphere of secret intrigue
Mrs. Mclean became Number IL"
Miss Elizabeth Nelson, a nurse, be-
came Number 49," Means himself
was Number 81"
The kidnapers, Means said, had
discovered they could not use the
ransom money given them by Jaf-
sic. They wanted the bills, whose
special numbers had been noted
replaced by others which should be
unmarked.
The chief of the kidnap gang
he told Mrs. Mclean, was known
as "the Fox, and the baby was
being held at Aiken, S. c.
''I have seen the child" he said
and have persuaded the gang to
have motion pictures taken of him
as proof of his identity"
Mrs. Mclean and the nurse, en-
gagged to care for the baby when
he should be turned over to them,
made trips at Means request to
Aiken, s. c., and as far as Ell Paso
Tex, where the 100000 deal was
/ to be consummated.
With the return of the baby only
"a matter of hours" Mrs. Mclean
turned over the money to the suave
operator and impatiently awaited
the result. She was doomed to dis
appointment. Means said the con-
tact with the kidnapers had been
broken.
Asks For Money
Feeling she was being deluded,
Mrs. Mclean finally asked for the
return of her money. Means was
very astonishedl"
"I sent the money back to you.
Didn't you get it?" he exclaimed
A man he had never seen before,
he explained. met him near Aiken
and whispered the secret symbol
Number IL sent me"-into his
ear. Thinking this was an emissary
from Mrs. Mclean, he gave the
man the entire 100000
Menas' trial was short. Found
guilty of obtaining money under
false pretenses, he was sentenced