Evening star., 1935-02-04
PO|GNANCy IS GONE
FROM BRUNO TRIAL
Witnesses in Early Stages
Lent Case Atmosphere
of High Purpose.
BY KATHLEEN NORRIS.

PALO ALTO, Calf. February 4
N.ANA).-When one looks back
upon all these days in the Pennington
Court House, as the great trial goes
into still another week, one sees a
great change in atmosphere.
The vital beginnings OF this tre-
mendouS case seem dim and far away.
It has lost the poignancy and the
purity of the effect produced py those
first witnesses for the State whose
testimony opened it-Lindbergh, Anne
Lindbergh and their child's young
Scottish nurse. They gave to it an
atmosphere breathing of high pur-
pose magnifcently sustained-sus-
tanned above their own personal feel
ings of grief, their own desire for
privacy.
1t has lost that element now. In
the beginning we called it "the Lind
bergh case" because the tall, stopped
figure of our great airman dominated
it. Now We call it "the Hauptmann
case" and when we think of it we
see only that supple figure with the
waxen, expressionless face and the
loosely-crossed hands; we hear again
that cultural low voice in noncom-
initial reply.
Just Another Murder Trial.
When the suspected man took the
stand as chief witness in his own
defense we seemed strangely to lose
dignity-to lose direction. 1t was no
longer the Nation uniting with the
single purpose Of placing responsibility
for an unprecedented crime. 1t was
just another murder trial, with the
usual game Of battledore and shuttle
cock going on between the district
attorney and the defendant. We in
the crowded court room could lose
sight of the main facts while we
watched a Scoreboard; now point
for Hauptmann, now a point for
Wilentz.
The world outside is inclined to
share this view. The world is inclined
to say, why, but he hasn't a chance!
They have evidence enough. Why not
end this farce of fencing and parry
ing, why not refuse him any further
opportunity to exhibit his adroitness?
He isn't getting anywhere. He isn't
clearing himself of one charge brought
against him. What he is doing is to
create an impression Of being defen-
sible, of scoring this point or that"
But we aren't the jury. The jury
isn't seeing the newspapers; the jury
isn't getting the benefit of the inces-
SAINT and universal discussion that is
going on about this case. What the
Jurors get they get in the court room,
no more and no less. And II this man,
SO heavily clouded with suspicion, can
make them feel that there is even the
ghost of chance of his being inno-
cent, his verbal duelling with Wilentz
won't be thrown away.
20 Days Unforgetable.
write this in California. My 20
days in Pennington at the history
making kidnapping trial are already q
part of the never to-be- forgotten past.
The hot trains, the heaped SHOWS OF
Pennington, the crowds, the sitting air
Of the court room, Reilly at his table,
Wilentz glancing triumphantly about
the court room as. he poses an un-
answerable question, Hauptmann
erect, wide-shouldered, well-groomed
in his chair-an these are memory
now. But how they live in ones
very soul!
The tragedy of a young father, q
young loving mother Is scared into
our national consciousness forever
more. We will never forget Anne
Lndbergh, quiet, low-voiced, self-con-
trolled, with her hands on the little