Lindbergh: Lawyers confer on deal for kidnapper

Nick J. Digiovanni By Nick J. Digiovanni Hunterdon County Democrat
on April 19, 2007 at 12:42 PM, updated August 22, 2007 at 11:19 AM

Ninth in a series

By Curtis Leeds

In the wake of the Lindbergh kidnapping 75 years ago, the world watched and waited. People were, if anything, even more captivated by the crime than they had been already by Charles and Anne Lindbergh, superstars of their age.

Col. Lindbergh won world-wide glory in 1927 for being the first to solo the Atlantic. Later his wife joined in his adventures. The daughter of Dwight and Elizabeth Morrow, hers was a prominent family. Her father served as Ambassador to Mexico; New Jersey elected him as U.S. Senator in 1930. Her mother was a poet and was active in women's education. She founded a school in Englewood, now called the Elisabeth Morrow School. She was on the board at Smith College, from which she had graduated in 1896 and Anne in 1928.

Upon graduation, Anne won awards for her writing. Throughout her life, she'd repeat her literary success with a string of awards for fiction, nonfiction, diaries and letters. After marrying in 1929, she'd become inspired to become the first woman in the country to earn a glider pilot's license. In 1931, she earned a private pilot's license.

The Lindberghs were adventurers. They were elite. They were glamorous and sophisticated and seemed to enjoy life in the limelight. That all changed at the time of the kidnapping. The famous couple ducked the press that sought to satiate the public's taste for news about the crime. Reporters kept a close eye on the couple's East Amwell home and reported every detail of Col. Lindbergh's mysterious movements. That he was in touch with purported kidnappers was no secret -- the press reported that ransom money had been paid.

At the time, it was widely believed that immunity could be granted to the kidnappers in exchange for the safe return of the child. After all, kidnapping was not even a federal offense. And who was in charge of the investigation? Many claimed the title, including Gov. A. Harry Moore, State Attorney General William A. Stevens and State Police Superintendent Col. H. Norman Schwarzkopf. But Col. Schwarzkopf would later admit that at least in the early going, he never made a move without consulting Col. Lindbergh, whom he considered a friend. Surely, the Colonel would promise immunity in exchange for the child the press called "The Eaglet."

But promising immunity would be "unlawful," reported the Democrat 75 years ago today. "Mediation is the only method," said its headline. "Any promise of immunity in connection with a deal for the kidnapped namesake of Col. Charles A. Lindbergh would prove illegal," the article said. That wasn't the Democrat's opinion, but the collective opinion of local lawyers after a conference in the law library of what is now Hunterdon's old courthouse. Any "gentleman's agreement" would be a "direct contravention of the law."

Still, the lawyers agreed that such agreements could be made as "strategic moves," said the article. Prohibiting "criminal action against the kidnappers might only be a gesture, but that gesture would have to be made."

They said the law left some wiggle room. For example, the prosecutor, trial judge and "injured parties" could agree to "save a criminal" from being sentenced. The prosecutor could keep back enough damning evidence that a jury might not be convinced to convict. Indictments could be shelved.

But what if the child had been killed by his abductors, as was being speculated, and the killers then caught?

"They must stand trial for murder," reported the Democrat. "There can be no plea to allegation for murder. All alleged murderers must stand trial by jury."