The Indianapolis times. [volume], March 31, 1936, Final Home Edition, Page PAGE 2, Image 2

About The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965

Image provided by: Indiana State Library

                
PAGE 2
‘NOT AFRAID TO DIE,’ WEEPS
BRUNO, CLAIMING INNOCENCE;
CHANCE FOR LIFE HELD SLIM
Killer, Who Might Gain New Reprieve by
Changing His Story Materially, Prays in
Cell for Miracle to Prevent Execution.
(Continued From Page One)
the ransom intermediary in the
Lindbergh kidnaping and a vital
witness in the trial that resulted In
Hauptmann's conviction.
Hauptmann was pale and shaken
as the guards made the Anal prep
arations.
Kimberling said that, in a trem
bling voice, Hauptmann told him:
‘ Although I'm innocent, I'm not
afraid to die and will go to the chair
feeling better than some of the
other men who testified against me.”
The warden also said that recently
Hauptmann told him that Dr. Con
don at Flrmlngton told Hauptmann
that he was unable to identify him
as the receiver of the ransom money.
Dr. Condon identified Hauptmann,
however, at the trial.
Makes No Final Request
Kimberling left Hauptmann stand
ing at the front of his cell, gripping
the bars and leaning heavily
against them, Kimberling asked
Hauptmann if there was anything
he wanted. There was hothing.
Fisher refused to give up hope
for his client but his manner belied
his words.
‘ What are you going to do next?”
he was asked.
"I don't know,” Fisher said. His
eyes were blood shot and he was
nervous. ‘‘There's always a chance
while there’s life.”
He said he was going to talk im
mediately to Frederick A. Pope, co
counsel, ‘‘and then I may know
what we will do.”
Many Rumors Heard
Hauptmann looked ‘‘very bad,”
but he was not weeping when Fish
er visited him.
Hauptmann asked him about his
wife. Fisher said, and if she was
all right. Mrs. Hauptmann will not
be allowed to see her husband
again, Fisher said.
The frantic last hours of Haupt
mann's life, the preparations for
execution and the extraordinary
precautions taken by prison guards
to prevent a suicide attempt were
accompanied by many rumors that
‘‘something would happen.”
One o fthe most persistent ru
mors was that Hauptmann had told
his wife to tell Gov. Hoffman that
he was ready to talk. This was de
nied by Mrs. Hauptman, by Hoff
man. by Kimberling. by Atty. Gen.
David I. Wilentz, and by Fisher.
Whether Hoffman would make a
last-minute visit to the death
house remained uncertain.
It was known that prison officials
believe Hauptmann may talk, and
with that in mind, they put a guard
in front of his cell today with in
structions not to take his eyes off
the doomed man for an instant.
Crowd Begins Forming
Otitside the high brick walls of
state prison, all developments were
rushing Bruno closer and closer to
death. The Court of Pardons had
pronounced its final word of doom.
Gov. Harold G. Hoffman, who
doubts that the Lindbergh mystery
will be solved by Hauptmann’s exe
cution and would like to see his life
prolonged indefinitely, had said
there would be no reprieve.
The area immediately surrounding
the prison was closed off by police.
Only newspaper men and officials
by Kimberling were permitted to
cross their lines.
But soon after dawn a crowd be
gan forming as near as it could get
and this crowd was expected to be
of huge proportions by dusk. Pri
vate automobiles, busses, and trains
were bringing in excursionists from
nearby cities.
The Lindbergh kidnaping—a bru
tal, wanton crime that shocked the
world—rushed forward to its de
nouement on the wings of public
hysteria, rumor and melodrama
that has characterized it from the
night of March 1, 1932, when Col.
Charles A. Lindbergh informed the
village constable of Hopewell, n. J„
by telephone, that his baby had
been stolen from its crib.
Characters Await Denouement
Gov. Hoffman, silent and appar
ently crushed by his failure to clear
up the mystery he maintains was
not cleared by Hauptmann's arrest
and conviction, was in semi-seclu
sion, awaiting a possible summons
from the death house that the
prisoner wanted to see him and
change his story.
In the tiny English village of
Weald. Col. Lindbergh, his wife, and
their son, Jon, lived the quiet life
of country people, apparently un
aware that the life of the man con
victed of killing their first born was
ebbing fast.
In the village of Kamenz, Ger
many, Hauptmann's aged mother
wept and bitterly exclaimed that
her son was being made a victim of
“people over there” who “have no
conscience.”
In his New York City home. Dr.
John F. Condon, who as the melo
dramatic "Jafsie” paid $50,000 to
ransom a baby already dead, was
available to no one. He testified at
Hauptmann’s trial that Hauptmann
was the man who collected the ran
som. Gov. Hillman attacked his
Hiiii'k&l JiLA.I
KgJ*yULl|Vnerrr ,< r| I
* '•’/••?•" I
-■. - l
testimony while he was vacationing
in Panama. Gov. Hoffman has not
questioned him since his return.
In various places, the strange as
sortment of persons sucked in the
vortex of one of the most sensational
of crimes awaited the denouement.
In Trenton, Atty. Gen. David T.
Wilentz, who prosecuted Haupt
mann, and Police Superintendent H.
Norman Schwarzkopf, who gathered
most of the evidence, were calm.
They believed justice was being
served. Betty Gow, the nurse of
the dead baby, was in her native
Glasgow. In California, Haupt
mann's sister went into seclusion,
convinced that her brother was a
martyr to a miscarriage of justice.
—And. near collapse in her Tren
ton hotel room, was Bruno's faithful
Anna, who still believed that some
thing would happen to save him, but
meanwhile planned to beg Warden
KimDe.’ing to let her see him once
more in case today is really his last.
And, finally, in cell No. 9 of the
death house, the Saxony peasant
boy, one of the Kaiser’s machine
gunners during the war. a village
criminal afterward, a runaway to
the United States which he en
tered illegally, an ambitious and
avaricious carpenter, watched the
remainder of his life being ticked
away by the wall clock in the
corridor.
In another cell, Charles Zied, a
gangster and “cop-killer,” waited
with much more calmness for death.
He will precede Brvino into eternity
by a few minutes. But he has
known since he was first brought
in that there was no hope for him,
while Bruno has felt that some
thing would happen to save him.
IDEA OF GOD SHOULD
CHANGE, SPEAKER SAYS
Dean Kirk D. O’Ferrali, Detroit,
Addresses Lent Congregation.
“Each age must have anew idea
of God,” Dean Kirk D. O'Ferrall of
St. Paul's Cathedral, Detroit, said in
a Lenten sermon this noon in Christ
Church.
“As our conception of the universe
expands, /o must our concept of the I
Supreme Being be expanding. Now I
that man has searched for truth and '
God in the external world, we must
search within ourselves for concepts j
of God.”
Hp B
The simple mechanical details of cigarette manufacture are of HI '-'W jl /W *P||
surprising importance. Upon them depend the physical prop- V -"V**'
erties of the cigarette, such as weight, size, firmness, moisture- ,' 'life '-v/Jr * -L*
holding properties, uniformity of fill, uniformity of product—
all of which have a far-reaching effect on the character of its ''fßlll* " ' :>H]A ', *'
combustion and the constituents of its smoke. -•
In the manufacture of Lucky Strike Cigarettes all of these I M __ '
properties have been standardized with care for the perfection |
Luckies or© less cicid
Recent chemical testi show* Excesjof'AcidityofOther Popular Brands Over IwckySlrikt Cigarettes v f -
L , ~. BALANCE • ' ' * L ~" 1 V . '. .' - - t’-'. ~, .. ~'...
I li-cky strike' |
Copi |lti i?.4 ib# A-ffii ricir. lubacce Ccmpany
Anna Hopes for Miracle
After Visiting Bruno for
Last Time in Death House
Mrs. Hauptmann Collapses in Hotel on Return From
Prison Where Husband Ordered That Son Be
Told ‘His Rather Is Not Murderer/
By United Prrat
TRENTON, N. J., March 31. —Anna Hauptmann summoned every
ounce of her strength today to obey—if necessary—the final instructions
of her husband:
“Tell my son that his father is not a murderer. Tell him that I’ll
die brave.”
Anna Hauptman, more colorless,
more sad than since she first cam*
into the public eye—hoped that she
would never have to deliver that
message spoken through the bars
of a death house cell by the man
she married and made a home for
in a neighborly section of the
Bronx.
She hoped that the eternal
“something” of the Lindbergh crime
would happen; that, for instance.
Gov. Harold G. Hoffman would
again visit her husband in the
death house and that the Gov
ernor might yet be persuaded to is
sue a second reprieve.
Seems at End of Road
But she appeared less hopeful
than at any time during the two
years in which she has gone
through almost unbearable grief,
suspense and suffering. She seemed
to be at the end of that road of
hardship today after almost the
first collapse she has permitted to
break her stoicism.
Hauptmann then instructed her
to tell their son that he was not a
murderer; that he would die brave
ly if it were necessary that he die.
It was not until she returned to
her hotel room that she collapsed.
A doctor was" summoned. She had
been suffering from grippe and the
death house visit left her cold and
trembling, but the doctor said her
condition was not serious.
Speaks Optimistically
That last visit to her husband was
fraught with desperate hope that
the Court of Pardons would grant
Hauptmann’s application for elf
ency or at least permit a delay
execution. She spoke optimisticaxl;
to him and he told her* that he was
convinced that he would never walk
through the door to the death
chamber.
Then Hauptmann pressed against
the bars of his cell and asked:
“How is Bubie?” referring to their
son. Mannfried.
She told him briefly about the
child and what he had been doing.
There is a picture of him pasted on
the wall of Hauptmann’s cell.
Screen Bars Kiss
“Anna,” the doomed man said,
“take good care of Bubie.”
Mrs. Hauptmann promised.
She could see him only through
THE IXDTANAPOLIS TIMES
the heavy screen that guards had
moved in front of the cell. She
j could not touch him; she could not
kiss him good-by.
It was a sadder meeting and a
less hopeful one than she made in
j January on the day before he was
first scheduled to die and on the
day a reprieve was granted. On
that day, as she left, Hauptmann
said: “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Mrs. Hauptmann turned slowly
away from the cell yesterday. She
smiled at him but if she believed
that she would never see him again
she gave no sign.
4 HOURS ONLY)
9:30 A. M. to 1:30 P. M.
SPRING M
SUITS fL
A Marvelous Special
Purchase and Sale
Jigger Suits t
Swagger Suits JHA ■ J •
GRAY—TA J V™ m M|7
GREEN—BLUE mEaJ M/W( 1 \
Here’s an oppor- h —*
tunity to buy an Bgg| 9H I
Easter Suit at
worth - while sav- T/Xl
ings. jf V
DOWNSTAIRS STORE - - *
RUMORS SWEEP
JERSEY CAPITAL
Excitement Grips Trenton
as Death Hour Nears
for Hauptmann.
By United Prttt
TRENTON, N. J„ March 31.
Excitement over the Lindbergh kid
naping case was as great in Tren
ton today as on the day, exactly
four years and one month ago,
when Charles A. Lindbergh Jr. was
kidnaped.
Little knots of people clustered
on street corners, in restaurants, in
offices, in bars and in backyards to
discuss the execution tonight of
Bruno Richard Hauptmann. Rumors
of all kinds of spectacular and im
possible developments flew over the
city.
Some of the reports were:
That Hauptmann had offered to
“confess,” denied in every official
quarter.
That Hauptmann had asked to
see the Governor “immediately.”
The Governor denied it.
That the Governor visited Haupt
mann's death cell. Both the Gover
nor and prison authorities denied
that.
That an alien had been arrested
in connection with the investiga
tion of Paul Wendel, who confessed
the Lindbergh baby’s murder and
then repudiated it. Atty. Gen. David
T. Wilentz and state police denied
It.
That the Governor would grant a
reprieve at the eleventh hour, after
ELECTROLUX
The Silent
REFRIGERATOR
NO MOVING PAIITS
Thanks to the utterly different way it
operates—without machinery, without.
noise—only Elcciorlvx can briny you all
these big, long-life advantages:
• No Moving Parts to Wear
• Lasting Efficiency y
• Fullest Food Protection \
• Savings That Pay for It \
• Continued Lew Operating Coit
.—.- _
Other Model, a. Low a, $139-50
ACT NOW! SMALL MONTHLY PAYMENTS
■ ■
lltiiflSMlfaii® fltiaaJ I
** * LINCOLN 5385*
OPEN EVEN INGS
an attempt to break Hauptmann’s
nerve and elicit a confession. The
Governor repeated his dictum that
there will be no reprieve.
FACE LIQUOR CHARGE
Pair Freed on Bond After Hearing
Before U. S. Commissioner.
Robert and Florence Ferrio, ar
rested Sunday morning by Alcohol
.MARCH 31, 1936
Tax Unit officers for alleged posses
sion of 207 gallons of non-tax paid
alcohol, today are free on bond after
a United States commissioner s
hearing yesterday. The man’s bond
was fixed at S2OOO and the woman s
at SSOO.
Arrested at 59th-st and Road 29,
the couple were held in the city jail
on vagrancy charges until yester
day. They gave their address as
Roseland, 111.