Evening star., 1935-02-02
F|SCH AND SHARPE
GIRL ARE LINKED
Defense Attempts to Place
KIDNAPPING Blame on
Two Deceased.
~ the Associated Press.

3y the Associated RreSS.
PENNINGTON, N. j., February q
Bruno Richard Haurtmann's counse
attempted yesterday to transfer the
dreadful burden of the Lindbergh kid.
naping suspicion to two dead persons
Violet Sharpe and Isador Fisch.
Violet Sharpe was the maid in the
household of Mrs. Dwight w. Morrow
mother of Mrs. Anne Lindbergh. Miss
Sharpe committed suicide as police
prepared to question her a fourth
time after the kidnapping of the Lind
bergh baby March /, 1882.
Isador Fisch was the stock market
and fur trade partner of Hauptmann
He died last year in Germany of tu-
berculosis. Hauptmann claims Fisch
left with him the ransom cash which
was found in the Hauptmann garage
Two Seen Aiding Woman.
Peter H. Sommer, New York fin
gerprint expert, testified toward the
end of the twenty-third days session
that he saw two men assist woman
with a blond baby board street car
In New York the night of the kid
naping.
He Identified photographs displayed
to him by Edward j. Reilly, chief OF
the defense counsel, which Reilly said
were those of Miss Sharpe and Fisch
Reilly said afterward he hoped to
produce three witnesses to testify they
saw Fisch in Montreal with baby
after the kidnapping.
Attorney General David ]. Wilentz
professed to be unimpressed by Son.
mer's testimony.
He said the prosecution had "abso-
lutte proof" Violet Sharpe was some
where else that night. Previously he
had said any suspicion of Fisch's COM
tives and nurse, brought from Ger
many.
Uncertainty Displayed.
Wilentz also showed Sommer a pho
tograph of Violet Sharpe and the wit
ness displayed uncertainty as to
whether she was the woman he saw
with the baby.
II wouldn't swear it was her." Som
mers said
The attorney general then displayed
photograph of man and Sommers
was uncertain whether he was the
man Sommers said he saw. Later
Wilentz said the photograph was that
of convict whose name he did not
know.
ATnfhnr wit TOD -
tell similar story, that she saw Vio-
let Sharpe the night of the kidnapping
at Yonkers Ferry with two men. The
witness was Mrs. Anna Bonesteel, mid
dle-aged lunch room proprietor of
Yonkers, N. Y.
The sudden turn in the trial was
taken just before a week end recess
and after dull day of chirography
testimony, which Assistant ATTORNEY
General Joseph A. Lanigan battered
at in REORGANIZATION Sommers was
still on the stand when court ad-
journed.
Volunteer Is Examined.
Most of the day was given over to
the examination of John M. Trendley
OF East st. Louis, Ill, a volunteer
witness, who said he was an expert
copylst and student of handwriting.
He clung to his assertions Haupt-
mann's handwriting and that of the
ransom notes were not the same and
asserted the ace of the States eight
experts, Albert S. Osborn, had based
his conclusion on only one word, "is." :"
In a whip-lash cross-examination
by Joseph Lanigan, Trendley admitted
his study of the kidnap case writings
was short and highly cursory."
Reilly said during a recess earlier
In the day that the defense would
not attempt to prove the handwriting
IN the ransom notes was that of
Ffsch, from whom Hauptmann said
ne received the ransom money and
who died in Germany.
We are not here to say who wrote
the ransom notes, but we are here
to say Hauptmann did not" Reilly
said.
Court was recessed tonight until
Monday morning on Reilly's plea he
must bring witnesses to Flemington.
despite Wllentz' objections.
36 More Witnesses.
Reilly said he would have some SO
more witnesses and counsel on both
sides agreed that the latter part of
next week should see the end of the
trial.
Sommer said he was employed in
the public welfare department of the
City OF New York and had been in
Falrview, N. j., giving fingerprint in
struction the night of the KIDNAPPING
He was still on the stand when court
adjourned.
Reilly questioned him.
Q. DID you notice any people on the
ferry boat? A. Yes.
Q. Describe them? A. There were
tWo men, one 5-foot-9 and the other