Evening star., 1935-12-24
A Flight for Refuge.

Whether Colonel Charles Lindbergh
left America with his wife and son TO
make his home in England permanently
or only for a short period, his going at
this particular time is most serious
reflection upon the processes OF justice
in this country. While no statement
has been made by him, it is known that
he is seeking refuge from the pressure
of the morbid SentimentaliSm that has
been evoked in behalf of the man who
has been tried and convicted OF the
crime of kidnapping and killing his son
and who, unless the highest Judicial
power in the State of New Jersey inter-
yenes with commutation, will pay the
penalty of death within five weeks. 1t
is furthermore stated that he goes to
England, where the crime OF Kldnaplng
is virtually unknown, to seek refuge from
the peril of the stealing of his second
son. born since the tragedy Of March
], 1882.
It is the saddest possible commentary
that an American citizen, highly re-
spected and honored and beloved, should
be thus forced by his fears for the life OF
his only child, born six and half months
after the crime that shocked the world,
to flee virtually in secret, to find shelter
in a land where such outrages do not
occur because of a higher respect for the
sanctity of human life and more eff
cient system of law and its enforcement.
Certain recent happenings in New
Jersey have undoubtedly served to bring
about this action The activity OF the
Governor of the State in conducting
private investigation in the face of the
findings of the trial jury and the con-
firmation of its verdict by the highest
court of the State, in advance of con-
sideration of plea for mercy to court
of which he is eX-offlcio member, has
evoked an outburst of feeling that has
reacted upon the father and mother OF
the murdered child. The relentless enter
prise of sensation seekers stimulated by
vicious rivalry for priority of announce
ment has rendered his position in this
the land of his birth and the scene OF
his great honors intolerable.
1t may be, as intimated, that Colonel
Lindbergh has business interests in Eng
land in connection with the establish
ment of trans Atlantic air services that
require his presence there for the present.
That, however, is not to be regarded as
the cause of his departure now. The
manner of his going is characteristic.
The reason for it is easily deductible.
There is cause enough for his action in
the wretched manner in which he has
been subjected to humiliating Supervi-
sion over all of his movements. 1t can
not possibly be construed as indicating
any doubt of the justice of the verdict
and the sentence under which Haupt-
mann is to die within the week of
January 13 unless the Court of Pardons
commutes his sentence to life imprison-
ment. He, with an overwhelming ma
jority of the American people, believes
that the man who now awaits the penalty
of the law is guilty of the crime one of
the most dastardly ever committed in
this land of frequent outrage and vio-
lence and of slow and uncertain punish
ment.
The Hauptmann case has been made
The focus of a demoralizing outburst of
sensationalism that springs from various
causes, distrust of the law, self f-seeking
enterprise of partisanship and even po-
litical scheming. No sadder chapter has
ever been written in American history,
and this latest development, the flight
of the chief sufferers from the crime
from their homeland for a haven of
security and peace, makes it poignant
rebuke which, it may be hoped, will be
helpful to evoke more wholesome psy-
chology in respect to crime and its pun
ishment in America.