The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-01-23


 tween them. (rhe exhibits were
 part of the ladder and Q board
 from the Hauptmanf attic). A. As @ result of careful study of
 the two I have come to the con-
 clusion that the pieces were at one
 time one, but were cut. v o. Have you some photographs taken by yourself to show this re- lationship?
 A. Yes.
 The witness. using a pointer,
 walked to an easel where several large photographs rested, and tak-
 ing the ladder, demonstrated how
 he fitted nail holes from both piec-
 es together.
 0. You mean you took the nails
 out of part of the floor and put
 them in the ladder?
 | A. Yes, they fitted perfectly: T Koehler explained that he had
 placed the ladder rail on the floor
 and that the nails fitted into holes
 in the flooring.
 ''There were nail holes in these ioists, he said, "and placed the
 nails in them. Again they fitted per- lfectly. My opinion Is that those
 nails had at one time been placed in those poists on the floor. "A 0lCLuTes VI LIE dkbiS AAOvt VHSN : the ladder board was laid down was shown.
 Q. Does that adequately portray , the situation when the board was placed down?
 ]. 1t was offered in evidence. The
 defense objected. Pope said his objection to the photograph was because 1t pictured , condition that resulted from ex- pertinent, and didn't depict nat r tural conditions"
 Justice Trenchard admitted the [ photograph in evidence. c. Why have you stated that , the two boards, the ladder rail ana . the floor board were at one time : 'he objeetion sumi ''ve, by Pope on the |. grounds the question called for , guess work was overruled. A, We found a little cut in the . end of one board which matched , | a cut in the ladder piece. Further
 more. there was sawdust on the , lath and plaster indicating 1t had
 been cut. Furthermore by matching
 up the grains of the two find they mestch perfectly considering the gap between the two. Koehler then showed magnifed : photographs of the grain Of the . ladder rall and the floor board } which, he said showed again how
 they matched. :. the end of the board" said .$oehl-
 CT. Ut shows the grain with the convex rings down. The other pie ture is of the ladder \rail, and the grain Ia similar
 "There are the same number of . rings in the ladder rail as in the floor board" he added. c. Does that indicate the two boards are of the same age? A. It indicates the same age and fur thermore the same rate of growth.
 Koehler pointed to "one appar- ert discrepancy in the grain, but : said that waA due to a knot in the
 wood.
 "Knot distort the grain of wood
 and the closer you get to the knot !, the greater the distortion" Koehler said.
 The witness cut up another pho n tograph, as though he were saw : ing up the ladder rail, and super
 imposed it over the picture of the , floor board. It was almost IL per-
 feet match.
 That is why believe" he said, those two pieces were once joined."
 l Pope objected to attempts to join : the two pieces of wood through
 their graining unless Koehler could l say he had seen the missing sec-
 tion-the inch or so of wood. e c. Inotice the ladder rail Is not
 as wide as the attic board? A. In Q my examination, noticed that the = ladder board was planed on each
 end. There are ridges of different ;. sizes in the plane marks, made by , an imperfect carpenters plane. Q. show this exhibit (Haupt-
 mahn's plane) and ask you if it is
 the one that was Led to plane this
 ladder board? A. It is. II Wilentz asked the witness to use ' the plane on a piece of board and demonstrate the plane marks
 found on the ladder board.
 Pope objected but was Overruled. = Koehler was ready to conduct his 2, experiment when Pope asked: f "Is that wood North Carolina !. pine?"
 No. 1t is Ponderosa pine" . Pope insisted that piece of e North Carolina pine, the same as 4 used in the ladder, be employed in the experiment..
 The rungs of the ladder the = witness said, "were made of Pon- ', derosa pine, and the same plane | marks--from Hauptmann's plane . were found on them His announcement had stun l ming effect upon the court room. The witness put piece of pine = on the judges bench and clamped t 1t down. Then he took Haupt- t mann's big carpenter plane and 5, scraped at the side of the board. !. Hauptmann watched the experi-
 ment with deep interest. He wal
 blinking rapidly again.
 Koehler then showed the jury
 the impressions made on the wood
 oy the plane, and compared them
 with impressions on the rungs oi Y the ladder.
 Following the making of the lad. ! der rung impression, Koehler said: ! You can see g number of diagonal
 lines on the ladder board impres. . sion which correspond exactly with '. that impression made on the wood ,i planed here in court. a .hragpu ffthrc'j 'jaAd
 V Koehleh introduced photograph
 which showed the lines made by U the blade of the plane on the ' ladder and on another piece oi m Ponderosa pine matched almost ? perfectly when placed end to end e' A fine minute recess was declared i. at 3:15.
 ee The witness also declared q U piece of wood found in Haupt. ' mann's garage bore the same e mark sas those on the ladder ' rungs, made by the "nicks' os a Hauptmann's plane. 2 Wilentz handed the witness | '- chiseI, the one in evidence.
 c. Can you tell if this chise
 was used in the construction oi
 the ladder
 Pope objected because ths E chjsel was found on the Lindbergt nk Ia. Ia m a 2ala