Evening star., 1938-12-12

teTlce. he 1DdS SLf1Cken 1Dtth q
heart attack Thursday.
BY the Associated Press.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo-, Dec. 12.-
CASTOR B. Means, So, oft-time con.
vict widely known for his $l04 ,00(
Lindbergh baby hoax, died early to.
day at the United States Medica
Center here.
Undisclosed to the end was hi.
secret of what became of the large
sum Mrs. Evalyn Walsh McLear
OF Washington, D. c., gave him or
his promise that he could return the
kidnapped son Of Col. Charles A
Lindbergh alive.
The big-time swindler offered nc
death-bed statement. He had met
carrier attempts of G-men to obtain
here the inside story of the case with
stony silence.
Means death had been expected
since Thursday when he suffered
a heart attack following an opera
ton for removal of his gall bladder
Wife at Bedside.
At his bedside when he died was
his wife, Mrs. Julie Means of Wash
ington, D. C. Other survivors in
clude son. Billy; three brothers,
Alton and Brandon w. Means of
Concord, N. c.. and Frank Means
of Providence, R. l.; and three sis
ters, Mrs. j. F. Goodman and the
Misses Mary Belle and Kate Means,
all of Concord
DR.. M. r. King, warden, said the
body would be sent to Concord.
The prison at Springfield was one
of series in which the former JUS
tice Department agent had been held
since he was convicted at Wash
ington June 13, 1882, of obtaining
the huge sum from Mrs. Mclean
under the pretext that he could OBJ
tain the return alive of the kidnapped
son of Col. Charles A. Lindbergh.
The once dimpled-cheeked man,
called by his prosecutors modern
Baron Munchausen," first was sent
to Atlanta Penitentiary, then to the
Northwestern Penitentiary at Lewis
burg, Pa, and from there to Leaven-
worth, Kans., in September, 1884
Illness brought his transfer to the
Springfield Prison Hospital in July
1887.
Sensational Career.
Even before the Lindbergh case,
he had a sensational career. It
embraced trial and acquittal on a
charge that he murdered wealthy
widow for whom he had acted as
attorney and financial agent; self
admitted activity before the United
States entered the World War in
behalf of German employers to
check on supplies shipped to the
allies; his work in the Justice De-
partment and subsequent scandalous
charges he voiced before a Senate
committee against high men in the
Harding administration, and con-
eicions at trials during which wit
mssses said he had used his prestige
in inner Washington circles to profit
from illegal activities.
The Lindbergh hoax case began
unfolding when Means was arrest
ed May 5, 1882, as he was driving
from his home in Chevy Chase, Md.
Mrs. Mclean testified she tele-
phoned Means few days after the
kidnapping, inquiring if he thought
he could effect return of the Lind
bergh baby through his underworld
contacts" Means told her he was
certain of it and that, as a matter
Of fact, he had been thinking about
calling her to assist him in getting
in touch with Col Lindbergh. At
Means trial it was brought out that
prior to Mrs. McLean's telephone
call, Means had approached Col. M
Robert Guggenheim with sugges-
ton that the latter arrange with
lCol. Lindbergh for Means to "in-
Vestigate" the case.
Mrs. Mclean, then the estranged
wife of the publisher of the WASH
ington Post, said Means professed
having learned through a one time
climate in the Atlanta Penitentiary
that the baby was alive and held in
Mexico. Means reference to a peni-
tentiary term was to one he served
Tor conviction in 1924 on charges
that he helped the diversion of
? 512, 900 cases and 10000 barrels of
bonded whisky into bootleg chan
nels by boasting he had the Justice
Department in his pocket.
Becomes Suspicious.
Mrs. Mclean said Means told her
Of having met the old cellmate at
a New York speakeasy. She told
Of handing $100, 900 to Means, whom
she also paid $4,000 for expenses
at her Washington home in the