The Washington times., 1935-02-02
AL|B| WITNESS
FASC|NATES
REILLY
By ADELA ROGERS ST. JOHNS
Copyright. 1885. by International
News Servics)

Copyright, 1885. by International
News servics)
FLEMINGTON, N. j., Feb. 2.
We sort Of got into "Alice in Won
derland" yesterday in the Fleming
ton courthouse and a great re-
lief it was just for a little while,
after the weeks of torture and
tragedy and excitement.
You probably remember about
Alice, and he trial of the Knave
of Hearts, and the King who
said, Lets begin at the begin.
ming and go on from there"
A gentleman by the name of
Peter A. Sommer was on the
witness stand most Of the after.
noon. I shall always love Peter
H. Sommer, because I had sort
OF given up believing in ferry
boats until he came along. Mr..
Sommer was, .. he will forgive
me for saying so, straight out of
Gilbert and Sullivan, and Mr..
Trendley, our handwriting expert
Of the morning, was out of Dick.
ems.
Here's How It Was
Well, now, here's how it was
with Mr.. Sommer.
Upon night in March, along
about the first, so he says, he
was coming back from Princeton.
N. j., where he had been giving a
lesson in the science of finger.
printing.
Now. not having an automobile,
Mr.. Sommer returned to New
York city by trolley car and ferry.
when whom should he see aboard
the trolley but Isador Fisch and
violet Sharpe and the Lindbergh
baby. This was around one in
the morning of the night on which
the baby was kidnapped.
Already, for over an hour, a
desperate alarm had been spread
for the missing Lindbergh heir.
already every policeman and de.
tective within miles of the Hope
well house was frantically search.
Ing for a little baby with blonde
curlS.
Not Very Clear
But, Of course, the kidnapers
wouldn't worry about that. Just
how they got together wasn't
very clear in Mr.. Sommer's story,
but then, what was? Only there
were two trolleys, and two little
short men who looked like Isador
Fisch or maybe only one of them
did, but whether he was the
little man five feet four on the
trolley before the ferry or after,
I couldn't make out and neither
could Mr.. Sommer. So let's be-
gin all over again at the begin
ming and go on from there.
Anyway, there were two men,
a little man and a big man,
and they were on the trolley and
the ferry, but they didn't have
any baby with them, so maybe
they had only been holding the
ladder, but when they got to
Forty-second Street, where it was
nice and crowded, they met the
lady with the baby, who was
just exactly like the pictures Of
Violet Sharpe, or maybe it was
the Red Queen, and they helped
her onto the car with the baby
and Mr.. Sommer got on, too.
Then the two men vanished
and left the Duchess and the
baby, which eventually turned
into a pig-oh, I'm sorry, I'm
getting all mixed up.
Shoots Whole Works
Just why Mr.. Reilly picked him
out Of the vast number of people
who thought they saw the Lind
bergh baby during those hectic
and desperate days I do not know,
unless it was that Mr.. Sommer is
a guy who shoots the whole works,
and HE not only saw the Lind.
bergh baby, he saw Violet Sharpe
as we'll; he not only saw the
Lindbergh baby and violet
Sharpe, he saw ISador FiSch help
ing Violet Sharpe onto a trolley
on Forty-Second Street with the
Lindbergh baby in her arms, at /
in the morning, three hours after
the kidnapping.
Now, I am Irish myself, and I
can understand how such story
fascinated Mr.. Edward j. Reilly,
and how the more he thought
about it the more it fascinated
him, until he decided that one
Mad Halter more or less always
made Alice In Wonderland q bet
ter book.