Bruno Hauptmann

Bruno Richard Hauptmann (November 26th, 1899 - April 3rd, 1936) was a carpenter German and a former criminal, condemned to died and carried out for the removal and the murder of Charles Augustus Lindbergh II, the 20 month old son of the famous pilot Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The kidnapping of the Lindbergh son caused international indignation, and remained known like " the Crime of Siècle" with the the United States.

Youths

Born with Kamenz, Hauptmann was soldier in the German Armée during the First World War, combatant like being used as Mitrailleuse. It was wounded with the combat and was asphyxiated during an attack with the gaz.
After the war, incompetent to find work as a carpenter, it became criminal. With another veteran, it dévalisa three houses and stole two women during an hold-up. It was took and condemned to five years of reclusion, it carried out of them four with the prison of Bautzen. Little time after its release, it was shown of another crime, but escaped from prison while leaving quite simply by a door which was not gardée.
It tried to emigrate with the the United States twice while embarking clandestinely on a ship, but it was discovered and renewed each time in Germany. For its third attempt in November 1923, it used a disguise and of false paper and succeeds in entering the pays.
In 1925, he married Anna Schoeffler, Immigrant allemande whom he had met with the the United States. The couple moved into a house of the Bronx and had a son. Hauptmann worked as carpenter and had apparently left his past of criminal behind him.

The Lindbergh business

The investigation

The removal of Charles Lindbergh Junior proceeded in the evening of March 1st, 1932. A ransom of 50 000 $ were poured, but the newborn was not returned to his parents. An identified body as being that of the young boy was discovered in wood on May 12th, 1932, with two miles of the house of Lindbergh. The cause of death was allotted to a very violent blow with the tête.
More than two years after, on September 18th, 1934, a " Certificate or" belonging to the ransom was discovered; a number of number plate was noted with the back. These certificates had been withdrawn quickly from circulation, to see one of them was unusual, and in this case, the attention had attracted. The number plate belonged to a Dodge blue Sedan bed belonging to Hauptmann. Hauptmann was stopped the day next and shown murder.

The lawsuit

The lawsuit caused a broad press coverage and was called the " Lawsuit of the century ". It was held with in the New Jersey from January 2nd to February 13rd, 1935. The colonel Henry S. Breckinridge was the lawyer of Lindbergh throughout the lawsuit and had been used as intermediary for the negotiations related to the ransom, assisted of Robert H. Thayer. (By discovering the disappearance of his/her child Lindbergh had called Breckinridge before informing the Police.)
The evidence provides against Hauptmann made up of more than 14 000 $ coming from the ransom, an artisanal scale supposed to be used during removal (with wood samples and the equipment of carpenter found in its residence), and from an expertise concluding that the writing and the orthography of Hauptmann were similar to those of the ransom demand. Hauptmann was recognized as being the man to whom it ransom was given. Other witnesses certified that it was Hauptmann which had spent part of the " Certificates or"
On as claimed as the witnesses who indicated to have seen Hauptmann close to the property of Lindbergh were reliable, and that, neither Lindbergh, nor the intermediary having given the ransom, did not identify Hauptmann continuation like the man having it reçu.
It is told that the Police beat Hauptmann and intimidated other witnesses, and some claim that it manufactured or falsified evidence such as the scale. There is also the proof that the Police falsified the attendance sheets of Hauptmann and did not take account of the testimony of colleagues certifying that Hauptamnn had worked during the day of the enlèvement.
During years after the execution of Hauptmann, of the tickets coming from the ransom continued to reappear with New York and in the New Jersey. It all were gathered and destroyed. This and others discovered, led J. Edgar Hoover, the director of FBI, has to wonder about the control of the investigation and the course of the lawsuit (what was for him a behavior more than unusual). The widow of Hauptmann made countryside until the end of her life for the rehabilitation of her husband.

The emission ( legal files, NdT ), on the American chain, required of modern medico-legal experts to re-examine the two evidence principal reserves against Hauptmann. Kelvin Keraga concluded that the scale used for removal was made wood coming from the attic of Hauptmann. Three experts in graphology, Grant Sperry, Gideon Epstein and Doctor Peter E. Baier, while working separately, have all three concluded that Hauptmann had written the ransom demand. These results tend to confirm the thesis of the investigating first.

Hauptmann in the fictions

Anthony Hopkins incarnated Hauptmann in 1976 in the Lindberg Business (The Lindbergh Kidnapping Puts) , an American telefilm of Buzz Kulik based on the procès.
Stephen Rea also incarnated Hauptmann in a telefilm of Mark Rydell produces by HBO in 1996 and entitled the Crime of the Century (Crime off the Century) .
The Armstrong Business in the Crime of the East-Express train ( of Agatha Christie is inspired by this tragedy.

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