Imperial Valley press., 1935-12-24
CHARLES LTNDBERGH
FLEES ORGANIZED CRIME

There may be some criticism of Col.
Charles A. Lindbergh, who has taken his
wife and child to England because he
feels the baby, Jon, will not be safe from
kidnapers in the United States. Any
parent who has followed the Lindbergh
kidnapping case, as who has not, can
find only sympathy for the flying COL
onel and his family. The murder of
their first born made the Lindberghs
know that kidnapping is not crime to
be taken lightly. The hours of anxiety
before they knew the fate of their child,
the days of grief after they did know,
sufficed for a lifetime. One cannot
blame them if they do not want to risk
it again.
Organized crime has not been stamp
ed out in America. 1t has not been
many days since Caleb Milne, Fourth,
was tossed into a roadside ditch, bound
and gagged, after ransom was paid by
his family. The kidnapers are still at
large. Other crimes go unpublished.
Known criminals remain out of Jail.
England, on the other hand, has
crime record lower than that of almost
any other great nation. kidnapping is
virtually unknown there. Gang war
fare is something the English read about,
but do not know. English criminals,
when they are known to be criminals,
are not given a chance to prey on socl-
ETY..
Whether the difference is occasioned
by laXity of American law enforcement,
the more heterogeneous population of
American metropolitan centers, or the
difference in area is a question for eX-
I'll hut tho Iiffaranap
does exist Recognizing its existence,
Col. Lindbergh has taken his family to
a country where he can feel free from
worry over the safety of his tiny son.
There is another reason, perhaps,
why Col. Lindbergh will feel safer in
England. 1t has to do with the recent
outburst of sob sister propaganda in the
Hauptmann case. Bruno Richard Haupt-
mann, Col. Lindbergh believes, is the man
who kidnapped and murdered his first
son. Hauptmann was tried and convict
ed before court of justice, and sent
enced to die for his crime. Between the
passing of sentence and its execution
were the usual legal delays. The
white heat of public anger against
Hauptmann died down, and the publicl-
ty seekers and sob sisters went to work.
The governor of New Jersey Is fore
most among those stirring up new inter-
est in the Hauptmann case, but reports
indicate that the governor is moving
heaven and earth to find some excuse to
commute Hauptmann's sentence, if not
to pardon him. 1t has been openly
charged that the governor is making po-
litical use of the Hauptmann case. What
ever the reason for his actions, he has
succeeded in opening the case to the
point where not day passes without
bringing to the Lindberghs new threats
and other crank letters which only open
up the old wounds. Each letter might
be harmless-but, too, each letter might
be the forerunner of another attempt TO
kidnap a member of the Lindbergh fam
lily.
Col. Lindbergh knows, at the hands
of the greatest teacher of all, that any
criminal with temerity enough to steal
away a member of the Lindbergh family
is desperate enough to go the full way
to escape detection. He knows, too, that
death is the only escape for the GRIM
inal, and the death would be not too
surely that of the criminal.
There is little blame for Col. Lind
bergh in his decision.
-O-