Evening star., 1935-01-29
BRUNO SUBJECTED
TO W|THER|NGF| FIRE
Relentless Cross-Quiz by
WiIentz Centers on RAN
som Money.
tcopyrisht. 1895. by the Associated Press,

(Copyright. 1895. by the Associated Press.)
FLEMINGTON, N. j., January 90
As Bruno Richard Hauptmann took
the stand yesterday on the third day
Of his own defense against the charge
Of murder In the kidnapping Of the
Lindbergh baby. pounding cross-ex-
animation by Attorney General David
T. Wilentz focused on the rain-sodden
shoe box Of ransom money which
Hauptmann asserts he found in the
kitchen closet of his own home.
His claim. declared the State, was
a myth, and Wilentz relentlessly
probed the white-faced defendant on
his dealings with the late Isador
Fisch. said by Hauptmann to be the
owner of the ransom bills.
The Bronx carpenter was more
composed as he entered q new ses-
sion of his cross-examination, an ex-
perience which drew from him yes
terday tortured cries Of stop that.
stop that"
appear Is Hlnted.
Frederick A. Pope, one Of Haupt-
mann's lawyers. said that "if neces-
sary the defense will cite to the
higher courts the attitude of the at
torney general and the conduct of
the trial"
Pope was believed to refer par
ticularly to Wilentz's shout at Haupt-
mann: Don't you ever tell the
truth?"
The reference to the conduct of
the trial" was directed at occasional
laughter or disturbances among the
spectators.
The defense also announced Mrs.
Hauptmann would follow her husband
to the stand.
The prosecutions new attack was
aimed toward obtaining q commit
ment from Hauptmann on the kitch-
en- closet story Of the ransom money,
II was Hauptmann's assertion that
he took the shoe box from his busi-
ness partner, Fisch, when the latter
sailed for Germany in December, 1888
placing it In the closet and forgetting
about it until, soaked by rain water
1t burst open a month before his
arrest. Fisch, he said, asked him to
take custody of the money.
House Drenched With Water.
The Associated Press was informed
that last December police authorities
checking his stories that rain water
from a leaking roof soaked the box
drenched the Hauptmann house with
water, but found no leaks into the
closet.
The prosecutions explanation of the
wet condition Of the ransom bills is
that shortly before Hauptmann's ar
rest he dug them up from the floor
OF his garage when rain water leaked
into the earthen pot in which they
were buried. He transferred them to
the house, the State declared.
Wilentz drew from Hauptmann the
admission that he didn't count the
more than $4,000 in ransom bills
when. he claims, he found them in a
shoe box left in his keeping by Isador
Fisch, now dead
They were not all counted for two
weeks, the prisoner said. because they
were wet" And he didn't tell his
wife Anna about the find" ne ad-
mitted.
Attorney General Wilentz had ready
also. letters written by Hauptmann tc
Pincus Fisch, brother of Isador.
Another target of the prosecution:
attack was Hauptmann's account Of
his financial dealings with F.sch.
U. S. Agents Keep Notes.
William E. Frank, United States
Treasury Department accountant, who
has testified to tracing the more thar
SAC, 200 Of Hauptmann's money after
the kidnapping, possessed voluminous
notes on the defendants financial
testimony.
Wilentz proposed to use them In
trying to trip Hauptmann on his ex-
PLANTATION that Fisch poured the un-
explained funds into the Hauptmanr
brokerage account.
A margin call on Hauptmann from
a Wall Street broker for STA provided
the State with the makings of another
attack on the defendants testimony.
The call, from Hauptmann's owr
testimony and documentary evidence
came about a year before the kidnap-
ing, when Hauptmann professed tc
have $4,000 cached in a trunk in his
house.
1t was brought out, however, that
Hauptmann was hard pressed to meet
fN
check and finally paying s25 from his
bank account.
Hauptmann haltingly said he never
made it a practice to use the trunk
money. The attorney generals in.
ference was that the trunk money was
mythical and that to obtain needed
resources Hauptmann perpetrated the
kidnapping.
The State smashed into defense sug-
gestions that Fisch wrote the ransom
notes by initiating Hauptmann's hand
writing in disguised manner.
Met Fisch After Crime.
Under questioning, Hauptmann &C.
knowledged he had not met Fisch un-
til a couple of weeks subsequent to
the kidnapping, and that prior tc
March l no correspondence had
passed between them which might
give Fisch specimens Of his hand
writing.
Wilentz also drew from Hauptmann
an account Of how he wrote Fisch's
relatives for $500 he said was due
him FROM the dead man, but that he
did not notify the heirs of his dis
covery Of the ransom money which
Fisch allegedly left with him.
Hauptmann said he had meant to
give out the information when they
came to the United States.
Wilentz used Hauptmann's own &C.
count books at great length, halting
his cross-examination from time to
time to allow the jury to examine
them, pointing out apparent simiIari-
ties in the handwriting therein and
that of the ransom notes.
Some of these peculiarities were
the spelling of Wright" as
"w-r-i-h-g-t"- compared with the
ransom note spelling of "r-i-h-g-t"
and "s-e-n-v-e-t-y" for seventy,
which was compared with the ran
som spelling of signature" As
asinUnatllre