The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-01-03
LINDBERGH MURDERED BY
HAUPTMANN ATTIME OF KIDNAPPING,
STATE CLAIMS; Filler TO TESTIFY
Crushed Infants Skull as
He Fled From Estate,
Prosecutor Says.
FOUR WOMEN ON JURY
Colonel to Identify Suspect
as Ransom Taker,
Is Report.

By United Press
FLEMINGTON, n. j., Jan.
3.-The state of New Jersey
today branded Bruno Haupt-
mann as 'the man who dealt
Charles A. Lindbergh Jr. a
murderous blow, crushing his
skull, and who later stripped
from the dead child's body the
tell-tale sleeping garment to
use for his evil purposes"
In his opening statement to the
jury of eight men and four women.
Atty. Gen. David r. Wilentz de-
clared that the kidnap plot and the
murder were conceived and executed
by n man-'The prisoner who sits
before you, behind his distinguished
counsel"
Mr.. Wilentz softly carried to the
jury a picture of the peaceful Lind
bergh manor in the SouriandS on
the night of March l, 1882. He gave
a pathetically drawn picture of a
merry child, romping on the Lind
bergh estate, loved by the family
and the servants. Then his voice
rose.
His description of the commission
Of the crime produced cold chills.
His words we're not measured. He
told how the state will prove" that
the crime had been plotted for a
long time-and that the former
German machine gunner was its
plotter.
He described how the abductor of
the Lindbergh baby fled down the
ladder from the nursery he had
robbed, and how he dealt a Crush
ing blow" to the small head.
Then" he shouted, this mar
fleeing with his bundle-the dead
child, the child deliberately killed
found part Of his burden too
heavy. He discarded the ladder and
stripped and yanked the sleep
ing garment from the child's body.
Half an hour later he hastily
scraped and dug a shallow grave
and placed the body, face down.
ward, in it,"
Hauptmann Not Disturbed
THE man who did this" he said.
is in this courtroom"
He turned and for 10 seconds
gazed steadily at H~auptmann.
Hauptmann, stolid, impassive, re-
turned the gaze unflinchingly.
Mr.. Wiltnez's outline of the CASE
provided the first tremendously dra-
matte cen in the crowded court
house. AS he spoke. not a sound
could be heard beyond the rustic of
paper and racing pencils.
Mr.. Wilentz' story to the jury was
a complete, chronological picture, as
the state sees it, of the drama that
began in Hopewell 30 months ago,
and that yesterday entered its last
chapter with the trial of Bruno
Hauptmann.
He related the finding of the first
ransom note in the empty nursery,
and the negotiations between the
elderly Bronx educator. DR.. John z.
Condor, in the darkness of st. Ray
mond's Cemetery. He described the
passage of the $4,000 ransom
money. from the hands of the doc
tOr-"Jafsie'-to those of the eX-
t%ortioner.
His voice again dropped and ap-
peared almost to be breaking as he
told the jurors how Col. Lindbergh.
believing he was or the way to find
his lost child, made his futile, hope
less flights to Vineyard Haven LITER
he had paid the ransom.
Again his voice rose when he re-
lated the discovery of the baby's
battered body. near a lonely road in
the hills above the Lindbergh es-
tate.
Exposes States Theories
Mr.. Wilentz's complete exposure of
the theories upon which the state of
New Jersey seeks to send the Bronx
carpenter to the electric chair dis
posed Of many fantastic rumors. 1t
showed that the prosecution will
stake everything on a direct murder
charge. and that it will attempt to
show when, where and by what
method Hauptmann killed the in
FAINT.
1t developed several points which
had been previously closely guarded
secrets of the State Police and
prosecution.
The first was that Baby Lindbergh
was killed instantly and with mall
ice aforethought," and that tie
child was dead before the fleeing
kidnaper left the Lindbergh estate.
The second was that the kidnaper
never had any intention Of keeLing
the child alive and of returning him
to the family upon payment Of the
ransom.
The third was that. with planned
detail, the abductor took the gar
ment from the child's body, deliber-
ately purposing to use it in the fol-
lowing negotiations.
Walter Roberts. former Hunterdon
County engineer was the first Wit
ness. He brought with him a stack
of maps showing the location and
architecture of the Lindbergh home
in the foothills of the Sourlands.
Three of them we're entered as state
exhibits before the luncheon recess.
These maps were designed to prove
that the crime took place IN Hun
terdon County.
The trial swung into rapid action
: today with the prospect that befors
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