Evening star., 1936-04-05
wendell INQUIRY
PLANSAREPUSHED
Grand Jury Due to Slit Cir
cumstances of Con-
fesSionS."

last ddys in fight to saUe Bruno
Hauptmann ,Dos arrest OF Paul II.
Wendell, jersey man, on basis OF
"confessions" he Uds real ktdndper
OF Ltndbergh baby. Wendell issued
denial claiming he iDas forced into
signing documents.
Held in jail, Wendell tDas inuestt-
gated by Mercer County grand jury.
Controversy ouer his confessions"
mounted, reaching peak Tuesday
night ,ohen grand jury asked elec-
trocution be delayed pending out
come of probe. Thursday grand
fury recessed without taking action,
leaving Ddy open for Hauptmann
execution. The Wendell case pas set
aside, reuiued merit day.
BY the Associated Press.
TRENTON, N. j., April 4.-The
strange case of Paul H. Wendell. held
potential threats tonight of writing q
sensational sequel to the Hauptmann-
Lindbergh chronicle.
The charge of numbering the Lind
bergh baby remained against the one.
him imprisoned in the county jail.
And in adjacent Hunterdon County
was a KIDNAPPING complaint sworn out
against him by Mrs. Anna Hauptmann
Ir her desperate but futile last effort
to save her husband from the electric
chair.
The Hauptmann defense attorney. G.
Lloyd Fisher, said he would not take
any action now in pressing the COM
plant because "it is useless to bring
in any suspect so long as the present
prosecution officials are in power"
81 think" he said. that Hauck
prosecutor Anthony M. Hauck)
should withdraw so the complaint
could have a fair and impartial hear
ing"
Empty Technicalities."
Both complaints were regarded as
empty technicalities, certain to be
dismissed as incredible" by the grand
Jury OF each county.
Further potential sensations in the
Wendell case were disclosed authori-
tatively to lie in the probability that
the Mercer County grand jury would
painstakingly sift the circumstances
surrounding the dramatic introduction
Of Wendell and his confessions" IN
the case.
The grand jury Is interested, 1t was
learned, in whether there was any per-
jury involved in the testimony of those
who appeared before it to give evil
dence on the confession" which Wen
del repudiated. The jurors, likewise,
may seek to ascertain If the whole
Wendell episode was an engineered at
tempt to perpetrate a fraud on the
grand jury and so save Bruno Richard
Hauptmann.
Ask Data on Confession"
Some members of the grand jury, it
was authoritatively learned, want to
Eear more testimony on how Wendell
was kidnapped in New York February
IA, allegedly tortured until a confes-
sion was wrung from him, then deliv.
cred to Ellis H. Parker, chief Of Bur-
lington County detectives and ma
tionally known sleuth, and held in
communicate IN State colony for
the feeble minded until last Saturday
hight.
Parker, with a reputation for solv-
ing the majority of the cases he has
tackled. has bluntiy proclaimed he Is
convinced Wendell is the true Lind
bergh kidnaper He has offered to
stake his reputation Of decades as a
detective on the truth of his belief
and warned "the whole story has not
been told"
1t was understood reliably that the
grand jury was oesirous of getting
more information regarding a pur-
ported copy of tre original Lindbergh
ransom note, which Wendell promised
to surrender to Parker when he was
brought from New York to Burlington
County. The prCmise was contained
in the main Wendell confession"
The news thai the grand jury prob
ably would investigate possible perjury
stirred speculation because of the
prominence of the witnesses who ap-
peared before It. There was comment
that the grand jury apparently con-
fined itself to major witnesses In the
investigation which halted temporarily
Thursday night when a discontinuance
of the inquiry was voted.
Condor Rumors.
With Hauptmann dead, it was re-
vealed that some members of the
grand jury considered at one time the
possibility of having Wendell con-
fronted by DR.. John F. Condor, the
"Jafsie" who paio the Lindbergh kid
nap ransom. These members, aware
that "Jafsie" might be reluctant to
come into New Jersey because of Gov
Harold G. Hoffman's activities, debated
the advisability of having Wendell 60
to New York to sec Condor.
A meeting IF Condon and Wendell
was contingent on what the COM
parison of the Lindbergh ransom
notes and Wendel's handwriting
showed Wendel in his repudiated
confession professeo to have been the
author of the ransom demand left In
the Lindbergh nursery when the child
was taken.
The handwriting testimony and a
study of the ransom notes convinced
the jurors, 1t was reliably said, that
Wendell could not have been the kid
nap note writer, as his confession
claimed. A three and a half hour
examination of Wendell, appearing un-
der waiver of immunity. eliminated
any further doubts that might have
persisted that the 50-year-old dis
barred lawyer had any part in the
kidnapping.
BROOKLYN INVESTIGATES.