The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1935-01-19
.HAUPTMANN TO
TESTIFY, SAID
To Take Stand Early Next
Week; Prosecution to
End Soon
RY HARRY FERGUSON

scboeffler Hauptmann flung thrt
a steaming courtroom roc. mhHys JS,dI
shrill defense of her nuspan I che
They were the first words sn ny:
has uttered above a whisper IRON
her seat two chairs away IRON
bruno Richard Hauptmann as the
, State piled accusation on accuse.
. tion that he was the murderer o.
the Lindbergh baby.
It sounded like a quarrel De-
tween two Bronx housewives over
a clothesline or a mop.
On the witness stand was Mrs
Fila Achenbach, an ample matror
who makes good pies at hel
Bronx bakery. Anna Hauptmanr
once worked for her as waitress
No one expected Mrs. Achen'
bach to come waddling out of the
crowd and say what she said: For
before she got off the witness
stand. she had hurled another
damning piece of evidence al
Hauptmann.
Back in 1882 the Hauptmanns
and the Achenbachs lived five
doors from each other in the
Bronx The two German women
ran into each others back door
twice or three times a day to bor-
row sugar and salt, to trade the
neiphborhood gossip.
Mrs. Achenbach was not sur
prised, then, when Mrs. Haupt-
mann came over on either March
2 or 8, 1932-she wasn't sure of
the date, but she knows it was
less than two days after the Lind
bergh baby was kidnapped. -,
"And what happened then
asked Attorney General David T.
Wilentz.
"The witness replied in thick
German accent:
Gamma Hauptmann told me they
had just got back from a trip"
The thought sped through every
mind in the courtroom that here
was important testimony. Here
was refutation of Hauptmann's
! contention that he was in the
Bronx the night the Lindbergh
baby was kidnapped. Here was ref
utation of Mrs. Hauptmann's story
that her husband had escorted her
home from the bakery (not Mrs.
Achenbach's bakery where she
worked on the night of Mardh 1.
The Hauptmanns had been on
a trip, Mrs. Achenbach said, and
that meant that Mrs. Hauptmann,
too, was away from the Bronx on
the night of March 1.
Mrs. Hauptmann, too, must
have known how damning such
testimony was, because abruptly
she was out of her chair and shrill-
ing at the witness:
"Mrs. Achenbach, you are ~
ing"
For five seconds she stood there
in her shapeless blue dress and
her blue hat with the little veil
falling over her nose. Then she
sat down. Nobody had to pull her
back into her chair as Hauptmann
was pulled back Thursday after
he, too, had called witness
"liarp' Mrs. Hauptmann had a
pleased smile on her lips and the
Encouragement was the first to
notice it. He. whirled and address
ed the court:
eff Your Honor please, the
State is getting a little tired OF
this play acting in the courtroom,
Three times this has happened
now. The defendant, Hauptmann,
called a witness a liar some time
ago, and called one a liar Thurs
day. Now the defendants wife
calls witness a liar. Are the de-
lightful Mr.. and Mrs. Hauptmann
conducting this trial or is Your
Honor conducting it?"
That was what lot of people
wanted to know-whether these
outbursts of the Hauptmanns came
from careful coaching or from
emotional tension. Justice Thomas
w. Trenchard made no attempt to
find out. Instead, he turned to
Mrs Hauptmann and said:
MADAM, don't you realize the
/ improperly of making such an
outburst in court?"
eyes, Your Honor, l do" she
said, rising.
"And you will promise to keep
quiet from now on?"
eyes, Your Honor, | will"
Edward j. Reilly, chief of de-
tense counsel, made a formal apol-
ogy to the court for Mrs. Haupt-
mann's outburst and for Haupt.
mann's action of Thursday. 1t was
accepted.
Then it occurred to everybody
that sitting over in the witness
chair was Mrs. Achenbach glaring
through her spectacles at Anna
Hauptmann. Mrs. Achenbach was
not through yet. She had bigger
blow to deliver against the Haupt-
MAINS.
"Now, Mrs. Achenbach,' Will.
entz said, what else happened
that day Mrs. Hauptmann came to
your house?'
"She was there a WHILE" Mrs,
Achenbach replied, "and then
Richard came over. He was walk
ing with a limp. He said he had
sprained his ankle and he sat in
my parlor and massaged his leg"
With those words Mrs. Achen-
bach built another brick wall of
circumstantial evidence against
Hauptmann. For it is the States
contention that the Lindbergh
baby was killed when the ladder,
down which the kidnaper was car
| 4 l.