Evening star., 1935-01-08

the ladder was in substantially the
same condition as when he found 1t,
noting differences in its appearance
which resulted from technical tests.
The treating of the ladder with
chemical solution to develop amy
fingerprints had given the wood a
darker hue, and . white board had
been fixed to one of the first-section
uprights where the ladder buckled.
Ladder Is Altered.
been removed for analysis and had
been replaced with little metal tags
attached to their heads. White num-
bered thumbtacks were on each Of the
rungs, and a small slot had been cut
in one rung for test.
Associate Defense Counsel Frederick
A. Pope, who makes a hobby of ANA
teur woodworking, oss-examined the
witness and brought out that the lad
der had been taken apart and reas-
sembled during the tests, and that IL
was not in Bornmanns custody con-
tinuously.
1--WE object to the introduction Of
the ladder at this time" he said.
Justice Trenchard ruled:
"It may well be that 1t is desirable
before this ladder Is actually offered
in evidence that it be made to ap-
pear, so far as counsel are able to
make it appear, in whose custody this
ladder has been, and what has been
done with it.
But in order that that may be
done, think the ladder should be
marked for identification, so that 1t
will be subject to the examination of
such witnesses as counsel see fit to
call and call 1t to their attention"
The ladder was marked for identi-
| fication.
Symbol Of Attack Lines.
The three-sectioned ladder became
symbol as the trial entered its
second phase. The witnesses to date
| naping and the identity of its MUIR
dered victim. Now both sides are
slowly building up their cases.
An inside" or an outside" job
it is on this question that the legal
battle lines are sharply drawn. The
State reiterates its contention that
Hauptmann, playing lone hand. kid
| naped and killed the golden-haired
youngster. The defense stamps the
crime as the work of a gang and, by
innuendo, seeks to cast suspicion on
persons connected with the Lindbergh
| household.
The States reconstruction Of the
crime through the testimony OF the
witnesses to date is that the kidnaper
gained admission to the nursery by the
ladder, stepped stealthily across the
nursery leaving muddy clay prints on
the floor. and took the baby down the
ladder and into the night.
To back this theory the State pro-
duces the ladder, found about 20 feet
away from the house, where the kid
naper abandoned it in his flight. It
also points to the mans footprint
found under the nursery window and
to the indentations found in the soft
soil as the marks left by the ladder
uprights.
Flyer Heard Noise.
Llndbergh's story is also marshaled
in support of the theory. He related
how he and his wife we're seated in
the living room chatting that black,
windy night when they heard a crash
Of wood falling on wood"
Another point advanced by the State
is that the ends Of the second or mid
die section Of the ladder were tipped
with white paint. The white painted
gray brick Of the Lindbergh mansion
mad been scraped of at point where
the uprights of the first two sections
of the ladder would rest against the
house wall.
Inside Confederate"
Beyond tireless attack on the one
man theory of the State, the defense
has not indicated whether it will
stake Hauptmann's life on the con.
tention the ladder was a stage prop.
never used by band which spirited
the child down the stairs. or that it
was used by kidnaper who was
handed the child by a confederate
within the house.
Ollie Whately. the mild-mannered
Lindbergh butler who died of peri
tonitis year after the kidnapping. has
figured more and more in Reillys
insinuating cross-examination. The
defense chief laid stress on the fact
the Lindbergh dog. Of which Whately
took care, did not bark that night,
and that the buffers movements
have not been entirely accounted for.