Evening Star Newspaper, February 8, 1935, Page 5

ATTACK ON LADDER IS DEFENSE HOPE Bruno Hears Witness Deny His Wood Matched Kidnap Rails. By the Assoclated Press FLEMINGTON, N. J., February 8.— Bruno Richard Hauptmann's defense, in the eleventh hour of its case, bat- tled hard in yesterday's session to trump the State’s ace testimony that | all but put the Lindbergh kidnap lad- der in the accused man’s hands. Charles A. De Bisschop, a Water- bury, Conn., contractor, house builder and road builder, came to the stand near the end of the session to assert | that the rail in the kidnap ladder was a board entirely different from that in Hauptmann’s attic. “I would say they are an entirely different board,” De Bisschop told the jury trying Hauptmann for the Lind- bergh baby’s murder. He was allowed to testify after prosecutors had leveled a sharp attack on his qualifications, based largely upon his experience in New England lumber mills Attorney General David T. Wilentz drew from the witness that his en-! tire study of the ladder and connected exhibits took only about three hours. Koehler Is Present. The witness said also he had looked only at the one rail and that he didn't krow what the ladder rungs were made of. When court adjourned De Bisschop { still was on the stand undergoing cross-examination. Sitting at the State’s counsel table listening to the Bisschop testimony was Arthur Koehler, the Federal wood technologist, who had testified for the prosecution that the ladder rail| was sawed from the floor in the Hauptmann attic. Thus the defense closed a session | approaching the end of the case with | a renewal of its attack on the expert testimony of Koehler. Dr. Erastus M. Hudson, New York criminologist by hobby, opened the THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. €., FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1935. Value for Bruno Defense Seen In Testimony Jury Is Believed Impressed by Convic- tion With Which De Bisschop Clung to His Statement. BY ANNE GORDON SUYDAM. FELMINGTON, N. J., February 8.— If it be, indeed, true that the mur- ders of today and tomorrow are to be solved under the microscope, then it is probably correspondingl: true that they are to be judged under the microscope, which brings us to an in- teresting speculation about the effects of expert testimony upon the jurors in this trial. If the jurors in this case are plain, common-sense folk, which they seem to be, they are more apt to be im- pressed by chartea facts than by high-flown thearies, and, I believe, least of all by histrionics. But even the most conscientious, discriminating man likes to have explanations couched in his own lay terms, and I therefore am inclined to believe that the testimony of a man like Charles de Bisschop, road builder and nursery- man, whom Wilentz badgered un- mercifully, and whom the court re- proved several times for failure to give badly direct answers, may have had more value than would seem ap- parent to a sophisticated audience. Wide Range in Jury. Between the extremely opposite camps of stupid or naive credulity, and so-called sophisticated skeuclsm,i there is fortunately a middle ground. or cross section, from which our| juries are presumably picked. It is hard to pass judgment or 12 people who come and go in this court room like automatons, but I think that I may say without unwarranted stretch of the imagination. that these 12 who differ one from the other and from the rest of us in education, tempera- ment and degrees of intelligence, are probably united in a comcxentloqsl determination to decide this man's fate in all solemnity and ,without udice. prge Bisschop was more heckled than | any previous defense witness by the prosecution, the court, and even the ady stenographer, who, catching the session with his insistence he saw only | spirit of the thing, demanded in iras- one nail hole in the kidnap ladder | eible tones that he speak up. but the when he first examined it after the kidnaping. He refused to alter his beliefs in the face of photographs Wilentz said were taken after the ladder was found and which showed four nail holes Koehler testified matched those in the broken beam of Hauptmann’s attic Reilly had stated unqualifiedly that the extra holes had been placed there “deliberately.” Painter Offers Alibi. The day’s parade of witnesses in- cluded: Walter Manley, a Bronx C. W. A painter, who said he came from a sick bed to testify he saw Hauptmann drinking coffee in the Fredericksen Bakery in the Bronx the night of the kidnaping. Karl Henkel. husband of the sprightly blond Gerta, who said he never saw anything improper between his wife and Hauptmann, who drank coffee together. Mrs. Augusta Hile, Mrs. Henkel's mother-in-law, who said Fisch bor- rowed $4,350 from her and did not pay it back. Henry Uhlig, who said he was 10 days | fact remains that he stuck to his story, | apparently more through conviction than stubbornness, and this, I think, must have impressed the jury. For, along with most unpretentious but rea- soning human beings, I believe that while respecting learning, they appre- {ciate its colloquial _interpretations. | And incidentally it was apparent to the least devious mind that a man unworthy of notice, such as many of the foregoing witnesses, would not | have called forth the pronounced bait- | ing which fell to this man’s lot. Opinion Only Enhanced. When Attorney General Wilentz, at- than a wood expert, questioned him as to his chicken-raising proclivities, and the judge mildly ruled out the ques- tion as irrelevant, you couldn't help ! but feel that the jury’s respect for his | opinion concerning wood was not be- littled, but rather enhanced by his {elemental and familiar interest in chicken-raising. After all, in small | communities where often a man is notary public, and furniture dealer, and undertaker all in one, versatility Pisch’s best friend, had helped him in | is not disparaged. his “pie business,” and accompanied him back to Germany in December, 1933. He swore Fisch had not loaned him money. Stanley Seal, a Flemington pattern maker, who exhibited a device he said would show a nicked plane oper- ated at various angles would cause grooves of varied width. He then operated Hauptmann's plane over a board. Three Sourland Mountain region residents testified variously that Millard Whited's reputation for hon- esty was not good. Whited had tes- tified for the State that he saw a man resembling Hauptmann near the Lindbergh estate the afternoon be- fore the kidnaping. The witnesses In this age of intense and fre- quently absurd specialization, it is re- freshing to find a doctor who will lance boils as readily as he will deliver babies, and a nurseryman who raises chickens along with trees. The hitherto mysterious Dr. Hudson, whose testimony was probably the most valuable to the defense so far, is another example of the man with di- vided, or rather, diversified interests. He is both a surgeon and a physician of good standing, and corresponding earning capacity, but while dabbling in his laboratories, his exploring mind seems to have come upon and conse- quently developed a process for clarify- ing and identifying finger prints on wood through the medium of nitrate were William Whitehead, a relative | Of silver. of Millard; George E. Lenz and Wil- liam Diehl. Fails to Qualify. Hugh Orr of Brockton, ifass.. who was presented as a “physicist” and | who agreed with Wilentz when his qualifications were under question he was not qualified to testify on wood. Edward J. Reilly, chief defense counsel, called other witnesses. in- cluding the beauteous Hildegarde Olga Alexander, Park avenue pajama model, who had identified Hauptmann as the man she saw shadowing Dr. John F. “Jafsic” Condon. was not present, nor was a Friedlander” for whom Reilly called in vain. H The testimony of De Bisschop, Orr, Seal and Dr. Hudson all was aimed at clearing Hauptmann as the maker of the kidnap ladder by casting doubt | on the State’s identification of the! lumber in it, the absence of Haupt- | mann’s fingerprints and the difference in the plane marks when the plane was used in different manners. FREE TRANSCRIPT TO AID BRUNO IN DEATH APPEAL Possible Recommendation Mercy by Jury to Throw Cost for on Defense, However. By the Associated Press. FLEMINGTON, N. J, February 8. ~—Egbert Rosecrans, one 'of Bruno Hauptmann's attorneys, disclosed to- day that should the jury decree death for Hauptmann the defense will re- ceive “at the expense of the State” the trial transcript and the number of copies required for appeal. “We have little doubt but that Hauptmann will be acquitted.” Rose- crans said, “but if the worst comes to the worst we shall be helped by the State in this extent at least.” The attorney said that if Haupt- mann should be convicted with a rec- ommendation for mercy, making man- datory a life sentence, the defense counsel will be compelled to pay the costs hoth of the transcript and of printing the required number of copies. TOLD BY EXPERIENCE Bridgeport .City Attorney Knows “Adage” Among Lawyers. HARTFORD, Conn., February 8 (#).—The Judiciary Committee of the Connecticut General Assembly has a sense of humor. Harry Schwartz, Bridgeport city at- torney, appearing before the commit- tee to criticize the unnecessary con- tinuances of court cases, said: “There is an adage among lawyérs never to try a case while the plaintiff is still wearing his bandages.” Representative F. B. Hickey, House chairman of the committee, wanted to know the name of the book in which Schwartz had read this “adage.” “In the book of bitter experience, M. Hickey.” » Maintains Aloofness. His manner in testifying was de- tached but not remote, and in spite of rather violent cross-examination, he maintained his aloofness to the end. His insistence that he observed but one cquare nail hole in the rail which borne four ‘nail holes, strengthened the case of the defense, but his subse- quent statement that because of that very nail hole and familiar knotholes, he believes the rail to be the same one which he had examined two weeks after the kidnaping, served to mitigate his first impression and to leave us all in some doubt, not as to his verac- ity, but as to the value of his testi- mony to State or defense. In his ab- sorption in fingerprints, he may have observed but one nail hole, while four- were there, which possibility would well substantiate the State’s case and which possibility they expect to dem- onstrate as an actual fact by pro- ducing in court photographs of the Bruno Would File Charges of Theft Against Somebody Says Car Caps Stolen. Suggests He’d Gladly | Hauptmann’s favor than any which tempting to sell the idea that De | Bisschop was a simple farmer rather | of Nurseryman same rail taken shortly after the kid- naping, wherein the four nail holes are plainly visible. On the other hand, which is the cefense’s, that very con- centration upon fingerprints may have clouded his judgment as to the quality and color of the wood, the knot holes. and so forth, by which he identified this rail as of the original kidnap lad- der. It is rather difficult to accept the theory of police deliberately driving nails into the special rail with the| idea of hooking it up to the sawed-off board in Hauptmann’s attic, which contained four corresponding nail- holes, when we know that these photo- graphs were taken long before the police were aware that there was such a person as Hauptmann, or such a lumberman’s heaven as Hauptmann’s attic, Nevertheless, I believe that if Dr. Hudson's words have any weight at all, thev will have more weight in have been uttered from that stand. Testimony Carries Weight. DEFENSE RESTS CASE WITH ALIBI Bruno Was Not Man Seen With Ladder, Witness Says. (Continued From First Page.) mann, Charles J. de Bisschop leaving the stand after giving several rea- sons for his opinion that “Rail 16” of the ladder was nof sawed from a floor board of Hauptmann's attic as charged by the State. Defendant Assists. Hauptmann's attorneys heightened the drama of their surprise by calling upon the defendant to assist. “Stand up, Mr. Hauptmann,” cried Frederick A. Pope of defense counsel. Hauptman came to his feet. “Is that the man?" Pope swept his hand toward the waiting defendant. “Positively not!” said Bolmer. A carpenter and millwright, Ewald Mielke of Lindenhurst, N. Y., came | next and added his opinion to that | of De Bisschop that the ladder rail | and the attic board were not of one and the same piece. Both were No. the car. He said he saw only a part of the woman’s face, “Now, while the car was there with the ladder, did you actually, physically touch the ladder yourself?” he was asked. “I did, three times,” he said. “Did you have a good chance to look at it?” “Yes, sir. Attorney General David A. Wilentz asked only one cross-examining question. “Did you ever report the matter to the State police?” i “I did not,” he said. Hauptmann's attorneys then brought | out that the reason he had not re- ported the matter was because the pictures of the ladder he saw in the | newspapers depicted it as extended and he could not be sure. He added that he did not want “to make a| fool of myself.” f He described the man in the auto | this way: “His hair was dark. He had a smooth face, no mustache or beard.” | Thought Had Seen Photo. He later added the man weighed | 130 or 140 pounds, and was about 5! feet 10 or 11 inches tall and thin- | fraced. | He said he thought he had seen a| picture of the man somewhere. He couldn't recall where. | De Bisschop, contractor, of Water- | | bury, Conn., who gave his opinion late yesterday that the famed ‘“rail | 16" of the ladder and a floor board | from the attic had no relation—an opinion that dissented with one given by a State expert—produced a yellow His failure to notice naii-holes when | 2 North Carolina pine, he said. but | PIn€ sapling in court today to show, he was intent on finding fingerprints | the attic board was a “top” piece | he said, that such trees have more is understandable, but his conviction | and the ladder rail was a “butt” kncts near the base than above. that by his process he would have | plece. He said he determined this | It was his contention that the attic | discovered Hauptmann’s fingerprints | by the number and character of the |floor board, from which the State upon the ladder, had Hauptmann’s | fingerprints been there, went far to- | ward influencing the least credulous mind, in spite of the State's insistence that the hand of the criminal was gloved. In any case, Mr. Pope of defense | counsel, who is a proud amateur car- | car, he said. Also, he testified, the | nailed if it had been a piece of floor- | penter, and who positively purrs at |same car had visited his station sev- img as the State charged. Moreover, he said, the sight of a plane, thoroughly en- joyed the afternoon. Even that other | carpenter, Bruno Richard Haupt- mann, seemed to forget his desperate | status, and having \istened to the knot holes in each board Bolmer's answer to a request to de- scribe the ladder was a gesture to- ward the kidnap ladder in court. “Why describe it,” he asked, “I saw i that ladder there.” A man and a woman were in the eral times before. His station is near Hopewell. Fails to Name Fisch. Bolmer, a middle-aged, red-faced | charged rail 16 had been sawed, had fewer knots than the rail. The rail was used as an upright in one of the three sections of the ladder. De Bisschop testified further that the ladder rail showed no “shadows” of joists to which it would have been it showed no hammer or | chisel marks which he believed would have been present if it had been | ripped from the attic floor. 1 testimony with smiling interest, left man. could not identify a picture of ' the rail “might have been” nailed to the court room apparently still cheerful. | the dead Isador Fisch as the man in joists. /.\ the State contends to have always | Move Machine. By the Associated “ress. NEW YORK, February 8—The Daily News says that Bruno Haupt- mann, on trial for the kidnap-killing of the Lindbergh baby at Fleming- ton, N. J., told Sheriff John H. Cur- tiss yesterday: “I want to put a charge of stealing against some one.” “Why?” asked Curtiss. “Somebody stole my radiator cap and gasoline tank cap from my auto- mobile while you got it parked here.” Souvenir hunters had taken them, but the sheriff told Hauptmann that he was lucky the car was kept in the jail enclosure rent-free, that the warden complained he was unable to park his own car with Hauptmann's there. “Well, Mr. Curtiss,” said Haupt- mann, “just g've me a chance and I will move it for you. WANTS TOMB GUARDED A report that the Tomb of the Un- known Soldier is not guarded all the time has aroused Representative Pet- tengill, Democrat, of Indiana. 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