Evening star., 1946-12-27
Edward J. Reilly, "a,
Hauptmann Counsel in
Lindbergh Case, Dies
BY the Assoeiotsd Press

NEW YORK, Dec. 27.-Edward j.
Reilly. "a, chief of defense counsel
at Bruno Richard Hauptmann's
trial for the kidnap-murder OF the
Lindbergh baby, died Wednesday at
Kings County Hospital.
Mr.. Reilly had handled about
1000 homicide cases and after Mrs.
Hauptmann retained him he stated
he would not take a million dol
lars for the privilege of defending
Hauptmann.
However, he lost the famous case
when Hauptmann was convicted by
a jury at Flemington, N. j., and
before the death sentence was car
ried out at Trenton State Prison
March 4, 1896, Mrs. Hauptmann dis
missed him because. she said, he
demanded a $25, 900 defense fee.
Early in 1897 he was committed to
the Brooklyn State Hospital for the
insane after his mother, Mrs. Helen
Reilly, signed an emergency petl-
ton. His personal friend and ply
sician, DR.. Mortimer Sherman, said
the lawyer had suffered a nervous
breakdown caused partly by worry
over his failure to save Hauptmann
and partly over marital difficulties.
Mr.. Reilly was released from the
State hospital in March, 1888, and
lived with his mother in Brooklyn.
Ill since the Hauptmann case IN
1885, Mr.. Reilly continued his law
practice, but his old virtuoSity was
gone. He was a tired man, glad to
get cases given him by jurists IN
Felony Court and Kings County
Court, and his Office was in his vest
pocket. It was in those courts that
he had made his name, but murder
was his dish.
AS an example of his tactics, one
client was charged with fatally stab
bing another man. The prosecution
brought out fact after fact and Mr..
Reilly sat tight. Then the assistant
medical examiner was called. Going
into the description of the fatal
wound he said it was four inches
wide and one inch deep.
Defendant was Acquitted.
Mr.. Reilly jumped to his feet and
demanded a tape measure. The
weapon which was an exhibit in the
case was measured. Four inches
from the point it was more than two
inches wide. The defendant was
acquitted.
If there were any loopholes in the
case against Hauptmann, Mr.. Reilly
did not find them. The trial started
January 2, 1885, and ended February
10, five weeks later. The jury
brought in a verdict of guilty in the
first degree and Hauptmann was
Immediately sentenced to die in the
electric chair later in the month.
The New Jersey Court of Error
and Appeals upheld the verdict the
following october 9. After delays
caused by the then Governor, Harold
G. Hoffman, delaying execution OF
sentence for special inquiry,
Hauptmann was electrocuted on
April 8, 1896, for the murder of the
20-month- Lindbergh baby.
Called 10 Witnesses.
Mr.. Reilly called 70 witnesses for
the defense. The prosecution, headed
by Attorney General David T.
Wilentz, knocked. the testimony OF
many of them to bits. The Reilly
case banked heavily on the dead
Isidor Fiseh, a Hauptmann friend,
whom he painted as being suddenly
rich, possibly with the $4,000 ram
som paid by the aviator for the
return Of his son.
In the last days of the trial Mr..
Wilentz produced Hanna Ffsch,
who came straight from Leipzig,
Germany, to testify fully that her
brother was all but penniless when
he returned home in the early
1930s and never had the family re-
ceived more than $1,000 from her
brother while he was in America.
Damaging Admission.
At one unfortunate point Mr..
Reilly called the names of five wit
nesses. None answered the call.
Once witness was called in an
attempt to prove that Fisch was a
man of sudden means. Mr.. Wilentz
readily drew from the man that he
was admitted to mental hospitals
on at least five OCCASIONS as a psy-
chotic.
Again four witnesses were guf-
fawed out of the stand. They in
cluded an admitted ex-convict, a
speakeasy operator with two aliases,
a tattooed bootlegger and a Brook
lyn man who admitted to having
done something discriminating. !"
What was to have been one OF MIR.
Reilly's strong points, a man named
Henry Uhlig, who was also to impute
great wealth to Fisch, was called by
Mr.. Reilly at the end OF the day a
hostile" witness.
The trial over, Mr.. Reilly said in
a speech that John the Baptist
could not have aided the defense
Charles A. Lindbergh, ST., sitting at
the trial daily, he said, worked on
the jury,s sympathieS.