Evening star., 1935-02-07
NAIL HOLES BASIS
OFBRUNODEFENSE
Reilly Charges Three Were
Made in Ladder After
kidnapping.
Nv the Associated Press.


and dngerprints on the ladder the
State says was used by the Lindbergh
baby kidnaper.
Edward j. Reilly, chief defense coun-
sel said three extra nail holes were
deliberately placed, more than likely
by some investigating agent" in an
upright of the ladder the State con-
tends was made from floor board
taken from the Hauptmann attic.
He produced a fingerprint expert,
DR.. EraStuS NJ Hudson of New York,
who said he examined the ladder about
10 days after the kidnapping and saw
only one nail hole in it.
Furthermore, DR.. Hudson asserted.
the fingerprintS of the ladders maker
should have shown for six months
after it was made, unless he wore
gloves.
K0ehler May Return.
Attorney General David T. Wilentz
declared he was confident DR. HudSon'S S
story could be broken down under
cross-eXamination today There was a
possibility Arthur j. Koehler, Federal
wood research expert, might be re-
called to help reply to the former naval
physician who developed the use of a
silver nitrate process to bring out
fingerprintS.
Koehler testified for the State that
the nail holes fitted in the beam of the
Hauptmann attic from where the
board alledgedly was taken.
The session was enlivened by the
appearance of Mrs. Gerta Henkel,
blond gum-chewing friend of the
Hauptmanns, and her testimony the
defendant liked the coffee she made
when he stopped by in the mornings
Has More Witnesses.
Reilly said he still had two sur
prise" witnesses as well as one more
handwriting expert, two more alibi
witnesses, and Henry Uhlig, the FRIEND
OF Hauptmann and ISador Fisch, the
late Bronx furrier who the defense
claims got the ransom money.
The defense case should be con-
cluded Friday, Reilly declared
A procession of witnesses were put
on the stand by the defense
GuStave Miller, Bronx plumber
said he investigated a leak at the
Hauptmann home last August and did
not notice a missing floor board in the
attic. He testified, too, on cross
examination. he did not see a radio
or rugs in the attic.
Members of the New Jersey State
police force testified only eight prints
on the ladder were defined by the use
OF Dr. HudSon's process and none OF
them was Hauptmann'S.
Bench Curbs Testimony.
Reillys attempts to develop further
testimony linking Fisch with the
ransom cash we're curbed by bench
ruling his witnesses must know the
bank notes FlSch spent were ransom
money.
The ruling halted testimony OF
Oscar Bruchmann, Bronx taxi
driver.
An admission he thought gold notes
were all yellowbacks caused the
crumpling of testimony by Theron j
Main of Warsaw, N. Y, that a man
resembling Fisch had attempted to
talk to him in 1888 about $40 gold
notes outside a New York restaurant
None of the 500 ransom currency was
in yellowbacks.
Defense Scores Again.
The defense scored another point
when it revealed that a beer stein
which had stood in a recess of the
window sill of the Lindbergh nursery
at the time of the kidnapping was ap-
parently not disturbed by the per-
son who, the State says, went in and
out the window
-Four witnesses had been introduced
by the defense in an effort to show
FiSch was aff1uent after the ransom
money was paid, April 2, 1882, and
that he tried to unload" his money.
Mrs. Henkel was recalled to the
stand to testify that Hauptmann s
conduct toward her never was other
than circumSpect. although he had
coffee at her home when Mrs. Haupt-
mann was in Europe.
He bought her. she said, slip"
for a Christmas present, but both
Mr.. and Mrs. Hauptmann brought it
to her.
Three members of the New Jersey
State police force and DR. Hudson
were recalled to testify to eXamina-
tons CT the ladder for hngerprintS.
The three police officers we're Lieut.
Paul SjoStrom, investigator, and Sergt.
Louis Kubler and Trooper Frank A.
Kelly in the Bureau of Criminal Iden-
tiflcation.
Kelly Quizzed on Ladder.
To Kelly also the defense addressed
queries about the lumber in the lad
der, the upright of which the State
says came from the attic of Haupt-
manns home
Sam Streppone, a Bronz radio re-
palrman, who said he had been in
institutions for mental disorders
about five times" testified Fisch had
left box with him for about six
hours. 1t was, he said, about the size
of a shoe box.
Trooper Kellys testimony regard
ing the upright in the ladder, which
the State says came from Haupt-
mann'S attic. was interrupted fire.
quently by State objections that the
questions of Defense Attorney G.
Lloyd Fisher were repetitious.
Justice Trenchard told Fisher, You
create confusion by these irrelevant
remarks of yours"
Rely Salo ne did not recall ever
having discussed the upright with DR..
Hudson.
When Fisher demanded if Kelly
had not pointed out to DR.. Hudson
there was only one nail hole in the
side of the ladder, Kelly replied,
"That Is absolutely not the fact"
Kelly Discusses Stein.
To another question, Kelly replied
he had not learned ladders similar
to the kidnap ladder were built and
used in South Jersey among Negro
fruit pickers.
The stein, hitherto unmentioned in
the case, was discussed while Kelly
was on the stand.
Wilentz, Fisher and Kelly argued
whether the stein protruded rom
the recess and photographs Of the