The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-02-08
Charles DeBisschop Liked By Hauptmann
Waterbury Man Proved One of Best Witnesses for
 Defense-He Shattered the Testimony of State

expert, testified for the state that one rail of the ladder had been h part of the flooring of the Haupt- mann attic. He said four old nall holes in the ladder precisely matched nail holes in the attic joist, and that the grain matched perfectly with flooring still fin place. Hudson said he examined the lad- der a week after the kidnapping and found only one nail hole. DeBis- schop said the grain did not match at all.
 If the jury should believe Hud- son and DeBisschop fin preference to Koehler, much of the states case would evaporate. Wilehtz de- termined to concentrate everything on supporting Koehler and break ing Hudson and DeBisschop, Perjury Charges Wilentz threatened perjury charges against one defense wit ness, alleging he had positive evil dence the witness in question was involved in an automobile accident five miles from the place he said he was the night of April 2, the night the ransom was paid. He would recommend an indictment after the Hauptmann trial Is over, he said.
 Edward J. Reilly, Hauptmann's chief counsel, promised to conclude the defense by noon today. WiIentZ then will proceed at once with re- buttal. After he has proven to his satisfaction that Hudson and De- Bisschop are wrong, hell account for the whereabouts of Violet Sharpe. suicide Morrow maid, the night of the Kidnapping, and of isldor FIsch, dead furrIer, the night the ransom was paid. IIauptmann Not Impressed Tho array of witnessed that had
 been presented in more than n
 week since tho state rested, was impressive neither to the observers nor HauptmaDn himself.
 He has listened uneasIIy to ono after another of the strange char dctcrs produced by Reilly, make admissions damaging to him. But he had moments of satis-
 faction. One was when Mrs Gcrta JicnkcI, the pert young woman | with whom he was accused of be- ing SO Intimate that his wife re- tuStU LO VIbtt ucT IoIUts WGUt tV tIt witness chair. Shc supported his story of n birthday party" at tho moment he was accused of passing
 ransom money eight miles away; | and of his strange friendship for
 FiBch, the consumptivc little fur
 cutter who, according 10 IIaupt- 1 mann, left with him the ransom
 money that was found in his garage.
 He Liked DcBIsscIiOp Hauptmann liked also the testi-
 mony of the rough lumberman
 from Connecticut. DcBisschop. He
 disputed, in h loud and command | ing voice. the evidence supplied by
 KochIer. He declared, with positive
 convictions. that with his expcri-
 ence of 40 years 0s lumberman taught him 50 much about knots and grains that he could say. be- yond the fear of successful contra
 diction, that the kidnap ladder
 board had no association with the
 board taken from the flooring in
 the defendants attic.
 WilentZ pounded him, with all the sarcasm nt his command, but
 he could not break down his ex- pressed belief Iauptmann liked that witness. far more than he
 had liked Henry Uhlig. former
 friend of Isidor Fisch, whose testi- ] mony did nothing to clear him and very little to condemn Fisch. UhIig Was Failure Uhllg had said. during the past
 three months, that he would
 break the case wide open" by
 showing that Fisch had the ran-
 som money. as early as 1883. When
 he took the stand, he proved no
 such thing, although he did say
 that his friend. who died In Leip-
 zig. Germany. last year. had plenty of money" when he left the United
 States in December 1883.
 | Hauptmnnn was scarcely satis- fed with the assortment of cbarac- tors who paradcd to the stand and
 swore they saw him In the bakery
 of Christian Frederickscn on the night of the Kidnapping.
 "Dat fellow is not so good" he
 remarked to C. Lloyd Fisher bis
 associate counsel. after one of his
 witnesses was proved to have q criminal record.
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