Imperial Valley press., 1940-09-22
Officers, Papers
Withdraw While
Contact Sought
Continued From Page u

nections to the French nobility. He,
son, Count Christian ne Guigne
also married into the wealthy Chris.
tenson family. his wife being a sis.
ter of Countess Jane de Tristan.
The ransom money was hastily
collected by Gates in SIS, $40 and s2C
bills as the kidnaper directed ano
was piled on a table in the De
Tristan mansion where the dis
traught parents, Gates, Mrs. Gates
and other close relatives waited
for some word from the kidnaper
Lights burned in the house all
night, and outside the street and
sidewalks were deserted. Blocks away
police were stationed to keep idle
curiosity seekers from jeopardizing
the chances of the parents OBJ
tanning contact with the kidnaper.
Kidnaper Bungles
They were dealing with no or
dinary criminal His 600-word ran
som note had made that clear
And he had bungled the job from
the start. This caused authorities
some anxiety-lest he bungle ire
vocably in the delicate business of
collecting the ransom and feel HIM
self under the compulsion of killing
his baby victim to escape detection
The note was obviously written by
well educated person who un.
derstood the subtleties of English
tense and mode, despite the clumsy
attempts of the writer to throw in
vestigators off by misspelling SIM
pie words. 1t was replets with the
phrases of the dilitante -"most
charming "unsocial matter 'our
little captive. quest, rather)"
Studying his long ransom note,
authorities realized that they were
not dealing with criminal of the
type of Machine Gun Kelley, Harvey
Bailey, and the others who ter
rorized the country before G-Men
stepped in and killed them or put
them in Alcatraz prison for life
The tone and content of the note
led some detectives to suspect that
the kidnaper might even have
Travelled in the same social circles
as the victims parents.
Hiding Place Suspected
Authorities suspected that the
kidnaper may have fled to the
coastal hills west of Hillsborough
country so wild that recently severa,
escaped convicts hid out in them
for months. But they were powerles;
to search fer him, because, though
he had promised to treat 'our lit
tie captive. quest. rather, mos
charmingly. they feared for the
baby's safety if the hunt got close
The kidnaper's bungling gave his
crime the full light of publicity al
most before the parents were aware
of the tragedy He parked his four
year-old Ford sedan near the dc
Tristan estate at noon yesterday
waited until Nurse Mary Foley, As
came along. pushing young Marc ir
his buggy.
He asked her if the baby was the
de Tristan child. she said he was
whereupon he snatched him up ano
leaped into his car, Miss Foley
clinging TO him, screaming.
He kicked her off, but not be-
fore she had grabbed his hat and
her screams had attracted Albert
Williams. a chauffeur. employed or
the j. w. Rogers estate nearby.
He saw the sedan speed away. the
II page ransom note, in its enve-
lope, fluttered TO the ground. He
leaped into his employers station
wagon and gave chase. After a few
blocks. the kidnaper stopped his
car. got out and threatened his
pursuer with a As automatic pistol
and sped away again. this time with
out being pursued.
williams picked up the ransom
note and turned it over To Hills
borough police who made it public
at about the time Miss Foley was
returning TO the de Tristan home,
weeping and screaming, TO inform
the parents of the tragedy which
had befallen them. Thus the par
enis never had chance to follow
the primary injunction of the ram
som note-to remain calm, and
donr act on the impulse Of the mo-
mcnt" and not 10 notify nuLhori-
49, fef4sral NJ l0ral