The Washington times., 1935-02-08
NERVOUS MANIA
GRIPS ALL BUT
PROSECUTOR
By ADELA ROGERS ST. JOHNS
Copyright, 1888, by international
News Service

NOpyrl8nSp 1900 " AhOoA"@SA"A
News Service
PENNINGTON, N. j., Feb. 8.
Hysteria is still sweeping the court
room at Remington.
Yesterd afternoon it was like
the hot black hours Of an electric
storm. Colonel Lindbergh was
laughing wildly, Colonel Brecken-
ridge had his dignified silver.white
head buried under the table while
tears rolled down his cheeks, the
fudge alternated between whip
lash decisions and laughter that
made him look more than ever
like Rembrandt, and defense wit
nesses came and went in sort OF
nightmare.
1 have seen q good many court
rooms and have seen great many
trials. I never saw anything like
the state of nervous mania that
seems to prevade this room now
WlACukZ ku NUulII1dALN
The only person left completely
In charge of everything seems to
be David T. Wilentz, attorney
general for the State Of New Jer-
Sey, who remains swift and cool
and stands between us and COM
plete diSintegration. There is an
amazing quality to the attorney
generals continued command Of
the situation, as though he clung
by sheer will power to one ulalter-
able fact-that he believes Bruno
Hauptmann to be guilty and that
nothing shall Swerve him from his
duty to prove that fact to the
Jurors.
We have now before us an in
tereSting problem in human pSy-
chology and one which may have
an important part in the verdict
Of the jury.
We have to decide between two
"wood experts"
Until the Hauptmann trial no
such thing as wood expert had
appeared in any major role upon
the horizon.
Then came the great problem
Of the Hauptmann kidnap ladder,
which with the ransom notes was
unquestionably the most impor-
tant clue to the identity of the
Lindbergh kidnaper. The ladder
made of wood which, we assume,
was left behind by the man who
stole the Lindbergh baby.
Defense's Wood Expert
We had first the States wood
expert, Mr.. Arthur Koehler.
We have today upon the wit
ness stand the wood expert for
the defense, Mr.. Charles DebiS-
choff.
Mr.. Koehler says emphatically
that Bruno Hauptmann built the
kidnap ladder.
Mr.. Debischoff says that the
two pieces Of wood never were one
piece, couldn't by any conceivable
method of putting them together,
ever be matched, that the whole
idea is entirely ridiculous.
Which of these men will the
Hauptmann jury, which listened
with intense attention to both OF
them, which leaned forward to
get better views as both men DEM
onStrated their reasons for their
testimony, which of these two men
will the Hauptmann jury believe?
Mr.. Charles de BiSchoff is a
gentleman from Connecticut,
whose business card says that he
Is a contractor, wrecker Of houses
and nurseryman, who also keeps
COWS and chickens.
Not A Reader
He admitted quite frankly that
he hadn't read any books, hadn't
used any laboratories, but that
he had spent his life cutting up
trees to see what was inside
them. He had grown his own
trees, raised his own knots,
sawed up his own boards and
spent every night and Sundays
matching up pieces of wood,
either for his own amusement or
to meet the requirements of
some client. He had not only
grown trees and been intimate
with them in person, but he had
torn down many and many a
house constructed Of wood and
found out just what it was
made Of.
Yesterday we went through
considerable time and trouble as
to Mr.. De Bischoff's actual quail
fications as an expert. After all,
he himself admitted that trees
were just something he sort of
messed around with and grew
and that in the meantime he
was often mighty busy with
excavating and other details of
that description. And Wilentz,
fine-drawn and keen as the final
days near, insisted that he
hadn't the very faintest SEM
blance Of a right to testify as
an expert.
Qualities AS Lumberman
Finally, he was qualified, not
Is an expert exactly, but
as a practical 1umberman who
through a lifelong experience
did know a lot about wood.
And from there he proceeded
to testify that the famous third
rail of the ladder and the attic
board of Hauptmann's had