The Washington times., 1935-01-16
F|SCH'S STORY.
MISSING LINK
IN MYSTERY
By ADELA ROGERS ST. JOHNS
Copyright. 1885. by International
News Seryice)

News service)
PENNINGTON, N. j., Jan. 16.
The ghost of a little Jewish gentle
man named DR.. ISador FiSch is in
the Pennington courtroom today.
1t is too bad for the sake Of the
great Lindbergh kidnapping mys-
terry that Mr.. Fisch is dead. Be-
cause Mr.. FiSch is the man Bruno
Hauptmann says gave him the
ransom money found in Haupt-
mann's garage. How we would
like to hear Mr.. Fisch's own story
about that!
But dead men cannot testify in
court. 1t may be that Bruno
Hauptmann realized that when he
draped the ransom money around
Mr.. Fisch's neck. 1t is so very
convenient, to say that a dead
man gave you box and you didn't
know what was in it and then it
turned out to be fortune in blood
money, the price of a child's life.
Unable To Defend
Alive, Mr.. FiSch might have
been somebody to reckon with.
Dead, he is unable to defend
himself or to explain actions at.
tributed to him. At this moment,
when the courtroom aches for his
presence and aches to hear his
story, he is under a good many
feet Of German soil and his lips
are closed forever.
Probably none of Hauptmann's
acquaintance could so ADVANTAGE.
ously have been accused by him
OF having handed him the money
found in his possession. It didn't
take any giant intellect to figure
that out.
If only the ghost of Isador
Flsch could rise, like the ghost Of
Hamlet'S father, in this court
room! If only it could speak and
tell what really happened, could
admit or deny that ransom
money! Because it couldn't, now,
matter very much to ISador Fisch
what we in the Flemington
courtroom think of him. He is be-
yond the reach of this jury's yer.
dict, Of this judges decision. The
death penalty would have no
meaning for him and he might
tell us the truth.
Alibi for Prisoner
But the name of Isador Fisch
Is cherished by his relatives and
soon we shall at least hear what
they have to say about Haupt-
mann's accusation.
Mr.. Reilly brings up Isador
Fisch on many occasions. When
ever he is slightly in doubt as
to what to ask q witness, he
asks if they knew Isador Fisch,
or If they once went on a house
boat with 1sador FiSch. or if they
met Isador Fisch in New Ro-
chelle in some year or another,
The dead man has been &C
cepted as the alibi for Haupt-
mann.
One Bruno Hauptmann, a car
penter, was found in possession
Of a large amount of the gold
certificates given by Colonel
Lindbergh as ransom for his son.
u. s. InSistent
President Roosevelt helped out
a lot when he called in all gold
certificates. in 1888. That made
the ransom notes even more no.
ticeable. Somebody passed one.
And quietly but efficiently, the
United States Government moved
in.
They discovered that a man
named Bruno Hauptmann had
passed the notes. They further
discovered that he had, hidden in
his garage, almost $4,000 more
OF the ransom.
Hauptmann was in no wise dis.
commoded by the finding Of the
money nor by the Governments
patient insistence that he explain
about it. He said:
"1sadOr Fisch gave 1t to me-"
WHO GAVE 1T TO FIsCH?
And they were still insistent,
They wanted to know how come
Hauptmann accepted it and
Hauptmann said he didn't know
what 1t was. He thought maybe it
was winter gloves or old dance
programs or something that Fisch
wanted to keep for future refer.
ence. The government asked:
"Where is Mr.. Fisch?"
And then it turned out that Mr..
Fisch was dead.
There is, I believe, friend Of
Bruno Hauptmann's who will
testify that he saw Mr.. Fisch give
Bruno Hauptmann a shoe box.
But said friend doesn't know
whether the shoe box contained
ransom notes or pink and white
bonbons. He doesn't know whether
Bruno Hauptmann knew Whas
was in the shoe box.
He doesn't even know whether
Isador FiSch knew what was in
the shoe box. Maybe somebody
slipped it to him in this merry.
go.round, the same way poor
Bruno Hauptmann got it. Maybe
if Isador Fisch were alive he could
think up a friend Of his who was
dead who gave him the shoe box.