The Washington times., 1936-03-27
CONTINUED from Page II

4AVAAks OONSAA AASASA@A~SAAS "AA~
had warned me against pub
lcity, was already there.
with him were Fulton Ours
'Ier, editOr-in-chief Of . national
weekly magazine; G. Lloyd
Fisher, defense attorney; Arch
LOney, Of the Department Of
the Interior; . man named
HOag, who manages Irish tenOrS
and handles publicity; Prof.
HazeItine, Of the Stevens Insti-
tute Of Technology; George E.
Mains, q publicity manager: sew
eral official aides and . half
dozen private investigators. Re
+pOrters had already arrived.
I'VE went to the attic.
LOney and Hoffman asked
BOardman and KOehler Ques-
tiOns about the ladder, the rail
and other wood evidence. They
asked how the board had lain
ON the floor when they found
1T. Meanwhile, the governor
and L0ney started measuring
things. We all watched.
CHECKS NAIL HOLES
'HOffman took out o batch
of sticks like q doctor uses to
look into your throat, and he
placed these swabbing sticks
into the nail holes Of the board
land jOist. He then asked
BOardman whether the nails
had been hammered down flush
to the jOist when found.
.BOardman said they were.
Hoffman then faced Board
man and pointed out that now
neither these swabbing sticks
nor some thin wire he also had,
went completely through the
holes. This implied that the
board had never been flush to
the jOist. Hoffman said that
this was a serious matter and .
mans life was at stake. He asked
BOardman II he and KOehler
were sure about their testimony.
They said they were.
"Then Hoffman tOOk Board
man into another room. Wilents
also went II Then Hoffman &C
cuSed BOardman Of framing
Hauptmann. came into the
room. Boardman maintained
that he had told only the truth
and some change had taken
place. Vilentz and I then pointed
out that the house had been fire.
quented for months by both in
vestigatOrs and sO-called experts
for Fisher and the governor
since the house had been leased
by the defense.
TAMPERING< DENIED
1--WE suggested that tamper.
ing had taken place and that
some one Of these men might
be responsible. Hoffman denied
that this could be possible and
insisted that since things did
mot fit now the evidence had
been framed. We sent for .
carpenter who arrived in the
care Of Bill Legay. the gov
ernOr'S secretary.
"The carpenter, at HOffman'S
own suggestion, sawed off six
pieces Of the jOist, each bearing
two Of the nail holes. One Of
them had three, the third one
being cracked half Of . hole.
WilentZ voiced his disgust and
left The rest Of US went to see
Dean G.. b. Pegram at Co
lumbia's college Of physics.
1--WE asked him to furnish US
with an expert engineer and 9
laboratory. He sent for Lincoln
r. Work, consulting chemical
engineer and an assistant pro
fessOr at Columbia. He was to
cut the blocks open to see why
the nails, wires and swabbing
sticks had not gone through.
Before he began, LOney again
told me that BOardman had
framed this part Of the evi-
dence.
HOLES PLUGGED
"The blocks were split open
and each one showed q peculiar
situation. Only one differed. be-
cause a crooked nail had been
driven In during the expert
ments at the house. This also
showed the same situation when
this nail was removed. The
entire 1S holes showed that
some Foreign materials had been
embedded into the openings,
thus making 1t impossible to
penetrate and show that the
board had originally lain flush
with the joist.
Each hole showed the Obvl.
GUS blOckage and we are going
to make it our business to
find out who blocked up those
holes. A stenOgraphic record
Of all this was taken. At the
end Of this experiment, the gov.
ernOr turned over the wood
to me. / asked Hoffman whether
he was now satisfied.
"He replied: Yes, I am sat-
isfied that Boar d m n and
KOehIer told the truth about
the board and the jOist.' Then
Fisher and the Governor left
in q hurry. Although no 6irect
apology was made to either
BOardman or KOehler. I regard
this blOCkage as highly Signifi.
can't"
Although Loney has told the
Governor the wood evidence was
framed against Hauptmann, and
Is also reported to have asked