Evening star., 1934-04-01
NEW KIDNAPPING
OUTBREAK SEEN
St. Paul Officials Guard
Those Expected to Be
Abduction Victims.
BY JERRY VESSELS.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

SScSiaa DAopatSL W / nc GldIs
ST. PAUL, Mimi, March 3l.-The
populace in "the kidnap belt" excit-
edly awaits the outcome of twin
grand jury Investigations as well as
another abduction of the trembling
rich.
The endless round of developments
which daily uncover fresh angles,
keeps officials and the public alike
keenly alert to the inevitable break
in the dogged hunt for abductors of
Edward c. Bremen, whose freedom
after % days of tortuous captivity
cost 100000.
Splicing the suspense is the pro-
longed probe of the Hennepin and
Ramsey County grand juries, which
were catapulted into intense activity
by Federal charges Of crime preva-
lence and official laxity.
And from the way the many st.
Paul kidnapings have been spaced,
the time draws near for another
daring seizure Of a paying prospect.
Public conjecture in this direction
was stimulated because the 100000
kidnapping last Summer of William
Hamm, jr., was forecast, as was also
the sensational snatching of Edward
Bremen.
Expected Victims Guarded.
Nominations as the next victims
range from wealthy young bankers
to retired capitalists with the eligibles
mainly living lives of horror. Armed
guards shadow them constantly and
vigilantes In the nearby lake resi-
dence areas are organized to bar
suspicious persons lacking definite
proof of their qualifications to reside
in what apparently have become
favorite rendezvous of the crime
kings.
Typical of the overcoming re-
minders of the new problems of
lawleSsness hereabouts came in a
single day last week. Calling on
Attorney General Homer Cummings
and j. Edgar Hoover, director of the
Justice Departments division of in
vestigation, were Adolph Bremen and
Otto Bremen, father and uncle of the
last kidnap victim. From Minneapolis
came announcement that Attorney
General Cummings had written two
long letters to the Hennepin County
grand jury. In St. Paul the Ramsey
County grand jury summoned the
assistant chief of police in the ab-
sence of the chief himself. Reports
were published Of a fresh detail OF
Federal agents arriving to assist the
10-man staff already on the job.
Press Weighs Tips.
Newspapers in the two cities, ham,
pered by the silence of the Federal
investigators. on the same day were
apprehensively weighing the value OF
urgent tips about arrest of a suspect
in Northern Nebraska, in the area
presumed to have been designated as
the hideout location because of the
perported identification by Bremen of
church chimes heard during captivity.
One paper rushed reporters and a
photographer Their experiences
paralleled that of fellow newsmen,
dispatched hurriedly and almost
recklessly in response to positive
disclosures" They learned that pur-
chase of a new car by a humble
farmer, freshly enriched by Govern
ment crop allowances and sale of
live stock, had started that wild
chase
Lack Of solution of the Bremen
mystery. apparently does not dim the
realization that just one more kid
naping in this vicinity would cause
a stir probably unprecedented in
American history. The feeling is
that one object in having the massed
Federal men familiarize themselves
with the local situation is to qualify
themselves for readiness to assume
full charge of the next kidnap case.