Chapter 2 second quarter

The call from the kidnapper came the same day the ad appeared.Dr. Condon thought the other person sounded heavily accented, German or Scandinavian.He also heard Italian in the background.The next night, a taxi driver, Joseph Peron, delivered a note to Dr. Condon.Peron said someone stopped his car and gave him $1 to deliver the note, but he couldn't remember who that person was.The note asked Condon to go to an address to pick up another note. According to the instructions in the second note, Dr. Condon came to the main gate of Linping Cemetery on the night of March 12, but he did not bring any money.During the Great Depression, even a rich man like Charles Limber couldn't raise $70,000 in a day or two. He had to sell nearly one-fifth of his stock.And Dr. Condon believes that the money can only be paid if there is evidence that the child is still alive or that the child is indeed in the hands of the kidnappers.Condon's friend Al Ricky joked as he drove him to Lynpin Cemetery, "If they kill you tonight, it would be easier to bury you." Condon declined to let Ricky stay and wait for him, alone After walking around the gate for a long time, he saw someone waving a white handkerchief towards him from a distance as a signal.The visitor called himself "John" and said he was just one of the kidnappers.He agrees to send Dr. Condon a piece of the child's clothing as proof that little Lindy is safe and sound.Condon later called the man "Graveyard John" to distinguish him from his own name, "John."

On March 16, Dr. Condon received Little Lindy's jumpsuit.Colonel Limber disguised himself to go to Condon's house to verify that it was indeed what Charlie wore when he was sleeping on the night of March 1.There was also a note in the small clothes, instructing Dr. Gafser-Condon to post an advertisement after the ransom was ready: "The goods have been received, and the money is ready." At that time, no one thought that the kidnappers would hold them down Little Lindy's fingerprints are sent to compare with the fingerprints he left on the toy.Later experts thought this was a serious oversight.

It took more than two weeks to prepare the ransom.Colonel Limber initially rejected a police suggestion to record the banknote numbers, but Treasury officials insisted it must be done.The vast majority of the ransom was in gold coupons, a currency that could be exchanged for gold. It looked almost exactly the same as ordinary currencies of the same denomination, except for a yellow circular stamp.At that time, the federal government was gradually recovering gold round coupons from the private sector. After cashiers received the gold round coupons, they handed them over to the bank, and they would not use them as change to replenish customers. Therefore, this kind of currency became increasingly rare in the market.The numbers of all banknotes included in the ransom are not connected to each other.Several Ministry of Finance staff and bank staff spent a full 8 hours recording the numbers of all the banknotes, which were printed in small fonts and totaled 57 pages.A quarter of a million copies of these numbers were then secretly sent to every bank in the United States.

According to "Graveyard John", the ransom was divided into two packages, one package of 50,000 US dollars, and the face value and number of banknotes were exactly the same as the first ransom letter left on the windowsill.Another package of $20,000, because the kidnappers did not make a specific request, so the police put in $50 gold round coupons that are easier to track. During this period, some suspicious "salesmen" came to Condon's house from time to time. They only knocked on Conton's door instead of going to other neighbors' houses. Obviously, members of the kidnappers were monitoring Dr. Gafser-Dr. Condon.Colonel Limber insisted that the police not investigate these "salesmen" so as not to alarm the enemy.

After several exchanges of advertisements and emails, finally, on the evening of April 2, Colonel Limber and Henry Bruegingrich drove Al Ricky's car and took out two packages of ransom money from the bank to Camden. home. At 7:45, a taxi driver delivered a note to Dr. Condon.Condon's daughter happened to be visiting her natal home and went to the door to pick up the note. She didn't know the inside story, so she didn't write down the taxi's license plate and other clues.Condon and Limbow immediately set off with the ransom money. Limbow drove, found a flower shop according to the address on the note, pulled out another note from under a table, and followed the instructions on it to Wetmore Street.

Waitmore Street is a secluded dirt lane just off the southern end of Raymond Cemetery.Lin Bo parked his car at the corner of the street, and Dr. Condon got out of the car according to the kidnapper's note, crossed the road to the opposite side of the street, and walked along the dimly lit path.He walked all the way to the end of the cemetery but didn't see anyone, so he turned back to the place where Lin Bo was parking, and said loudly across the road: "There seems to be no one here." At this time, from the cemetery behind Condon A voice came from inside: "Hey, Doctor, here, here."

Dr. Condon followed the sound into the Raymond Cemetery in the dim night, and vaguely saw a figure walking among the tombstones.He followed the shadow for about 5 minutes, and suddenly heard a "Hello" from the bushes, and it was the "Graveyard John" again.Condon said he didn't have any money with him, that he needed a note saying the child was fine, and that he could only pay $50,000 up front before seeing Lindy Jr.Those words didn't seem to have offended Graveyard John. Fifteen minutes later, he came back with a note.Dr. Condon returned to the car with the note and handed him the money. Before leaving, Graveyard John told Conton that Lindy Jr. was on a boat called the Neely.He also handed Dr. Condon an envelope detailing how to find "Neely."But he warned Condon that it would be six hours before he could read the letter.

Condon delivered the letter from "Graveyard John" to Colonel Limber.Impatiently, Lin Bo opened the letter as soon as the car drove a mile or so.The letter stated that "Neely" was a 28-foot boat moored between Horse Neck Beach and Gayhead on the coast of Elizabeth Island, Massachusetts.The two people on the boat with Lindy are innocent, please don't embarrass them. In the early morning of the next day, with the full assistance of the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard, Limber drove the Navy's seaplane—a plane that can dock on the water—from the Naval Base in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and several people on the water. Together with a Coast Guard ship, they began a two-day search, but in the end they failed to find the small boat "Neely", which may not have existed at all.

Meanwhile, the FBI gets involved for the first time in the Limber toddler kidnapping.While talking to Dr. John Condon, they sent a large force to search Raymond Cemetery, and found only one footprint on one of the headstones.Although the footprint was photographed and a clay model was printed, it was not submitted to the court as physical evidence. Anger and disappointment did not make Charles Limber give up, and he continued to try to contact the kidnappers again through various channels.More people voluntarily ask to act as middlemen for matchmaking, among which there are many respected celebrities, and there are also liars who take advantage of others' dangers.

On May 12, 73 days after the kidnapping, Limber was resting on a search vessel when his aides received an urgent telegram from New Jersey State Police Commissioner Colonel Norman Sivakop.No one had opened the telegram, but everyone had heard the heartbreaking news on the radio.The aides hesitated and none of them wanted to send the telegram into Colonel Limber's cabin. At 3:15 that afternoon, two truck drivers, William Allen and Orville Watson, drove to Hopeville to make a delivery.They parked off the Princeton-Hopewell road about two miles from the Limber estate, and William needed to make it easy.It was drizzling.William walked into the woods on the side of the road, and when he bent down through a low-hanging branch, he saw what looked like a skeleton on the ground.William picked up a stick and pushed aside the leaves covering it. He saw the corpse of a decomposed baby lying face down in a shallow grave. small bug.William was so frightened that he hurried back into the car and rushed to the town of Hopewell with Orville.They found Constable Joss Williamson at a barber shop.

The nanny Betty and Charles Limber successively confirmed the remains of little Lindy.Identifying features include the number of teeth, flaxen hair, two stacked toes, and flannel underwear and diapers.The next day, Colonel Limber, accompanied by the police, sent the little body to Linton Crematorium in New Jersey for cremation.It was less than 24 hours after the two truck drivers found the body. Because the police-appointed coroner was suffering from arthritis, the little body was briefly examined by a funeral director before cremation. He found four cracks and deteriorating blood scabs on the child's skull, and speculated that the cause of Charlie's death should be a skull fracture caused by a severe blow to the head.Judging by the degree of decomposition of the body, the time of death is likely to be the night of the kidnapping.It is estimated that when the kidnapper climbed down from the window sill with Xiao Lindi in his arms, the child fell to the ground because the wooden ladder broke.The police believed that the perpetrators did not intend to harm Xiao Lindi, it was just an accident in their operation. But anyway, for the Limbers, the result was the same.Their hopes were completely dashed.The police no longer have any scruples. They can finally search for the kidnappers in a big way, but it may be too late. On May 23, New Jersey Governor Harry Moore announced a reward of $25,000 for the arrest of the murderer in this case.Copies of the ransom demand letter were also sent to various police stations and prisons for comparison with the handwriting of the detainees.The police also invited psychologist Dr. Dudley Schofield to analyze the criminal's characteristics.Dr. Schofield believes that the kidnapper is a German, about 40 years old, married, about the same size and build as Colonel Limber, has a criminal record, suffers from schizophrenia, and is sexually suspicious.He even speculated that in the last letter that "Graveyard John" gave Dr. Condon, the writer subconsciously wrote down the first few letters of "Ganghe Road", and later changed it to "Gai Hede". "Gunhe Road" was a major street in the Bronx, New York at the time. In the following two months, New Jersey State Police Chief Detective Lieutenant Katen led police officers to intensively investigate the staff in Limber and Morrow Manor. The main suspects were Charlie's nanny Betty and Morrow The maid of the manor, Miolite.Betty was the last person to see little Lindy alive.Her boyfriend had called her at Limber Manor that evening before the child disappeared.After repeated investigations, the police finally determined that they were innocent. Miolet's doubts lie in the inconsistencies in her statements. On June 10, 1932, the police called Morrow Mansion and told her to go to the police station to talk.After hearing about it, Violet immediately yelled hysterically: "I'm not going! I'm not going!" and rushed out of the house.When people saw her again, she had committed suicide by taking potassium cyanide.Later, the police finally found out that the reason for Violet's panic was that she and her boyfriend were involved in the black liquor business, and had nothing to do with the kidnapping.The life lawsuit shocked the public, and newspapers in the United States and Britain published articles calling for the punishment of the murderer who put Violet to death. Dr. John Condon was also listed as a suspect by the police at one point.A police officer who spoke to him insisted that Condon and his accomplices stole the ransom, and then invented the "Graveyard John" story to deceive everyone.In fact, Dr. Condon spent more than 12,000 US dollars in "travel expenses" from his own pocket, and went to various police stations to identify hundreds of suspects and more than 37,000 photos. On August 16, 1932, Anne gave birth to the second son of the Limber family, Joe.While this well-known family received countless blessings, they also received many threatening letters threatening to kidnap Joe. The only positive effect of the Limber Toddler Kidnapping Case was that it prompted Congress to pass the Kidnapping Act, also known as the Limber Act.At the time of Lindy's kidnapping, the FBI had no authority to intervene in the case because there was no evidence that the kidnappers had left New Jersey.According to Lin Bo's law, if the kidnapped hostage has not returned within a week, it can be assumed that the criminal has crossed the state line, and the FBI can come forward to participate in solving the case.A year later, the Limber Amendment further authorized the FBI to intervene after 24 hours, and once the hostage was harmed, the criminal would be sentenced to death. As the case progressed, the regional focus of the investigation gradually shifted from New Jersey to New York, which Colonel Norman Siwakop did not want to see.At the beginning, he even refused to provide the NYPD with samples of ransom demand letters and other information. On April 5, 1932, the first $20 ransom bill turned up at the East River Savings Bank on the west side of Upper Manhattan, three days after the ransom was paid.Unfortunately, the news was disclosed in the newspaper by reporters the next day.By the end of 1932, a total of two $20, four $10, and 21 $5 ransom notes had appeared on the market, but who used these notes has always been a mystery.James Fen, who was in charge of the case at the New York Police Department, hung a large "combat map" on the wall of his office. Whenever a ransom note appeared, he pressed a pushpin on the corresponding position on the map. On April 5, 1933, the newly elected President of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt, issued an executive order as one of the special economic countermeasures to deal with the inflation during the Great Depression, requiring the central bank to recover all the total amount of money on the market before May 1 of the same year. Cash or bonds that can be exchanged for gold, such as gold round coupons and gold coins worth more than US$100.That is to say, after May 1, the total amount of gold coupons used or exchanged at one time shall not exceed US$100.This will force the kidnappers to release the gold coins in the ransom as soon as possible. In the last week before May 1, 50 $10 ransom notes turned up at Chemical Bank in Manhattan, and 50 $10 and 50 $5 bills were recovered by Manufacturing Fund Bank in Manhattan.But as usual, no one knows what kind of people are exchanging these gold coupons.After the redemption procedures were completed, special personnel checked the recovered gold bills with the number book of ransom notes one by one, so the bank staff did not know which gold bills came from the ransom when they handled them. On May 1, the last day of the recovery period, the New York branch of the Central Bank received a ransom note worth $2,980.The name on the exchange form was J. J. Faulkner, but the address was later found to be false.But the bank clerk who handled it still didn't remember the appearance of the money changer. On James's "battle map," the area where the ransom note was used gradually emerged.The densest places are Lexington Road in Upper Manhattan, and Yorkville, a German neighborhood.James personally interviewed every dealer, bank clerk, and store cashier.Most people don't remember what the bearer looked like, but those who do do describe it as pretty much the same: Caucasian, of medium height, with blue eyes, a thin face, high cheekbones, a pointed chin, a dark top, and a felt hat , the brim of the hat is pressed very low.Based on these descriptions and the memory of Dr. John Condon, the famous cartoonist of the time, Janmon Barryman, drew a mock portrait of the suspect. On November 26, 1933, Miss Sissy Ba at the Lois Sheridan Box Office received a $5 ransom note.At that time, movie tickets cost 55 cents a piece, and theaters generally rarely received gold dollar coupons.At the moment when Sissi Ba was hesitating, a strong German accent said: "What's the matter? This is a gold circle coupon." After receiving Sissy Ba's report, James Fen rushed to the Lois Sheridan theater before the opening of the screening, But until the end of the movie, that seat was still empty. No one had seen a $5 ransom note since January 1934.During June, July, and August of the year, there were no reports of any ransom notes.Until September, $10 and $20 bills started popping up again in Manhattan and the Bronx. On Saturday, September 15, 1934, at around 10 p.m., a 1930 dark blue Dodge sedan came to a gas station at the junction of Lexington Road and 127th Road. The owner took out a $10 gold round coupon to pay 5 A gallon of gas costs 98 cents.Walter Lyle, a worker at the gas station, feared that the note, which was not a small face value, was a counterfeit, so he wrote Dodge's license plate number on the side of the note—4U13.41. Cohen Transaction Bank in the Bronx delivered the bill to the NYPD on Sept. 17, along with another $10 ransom note. James Fen immediately found out through the New York City Department of Motor Vehicles that the owner of the dark blue Dodge sedan was named Bruno Richard Heppmann, a 35-year-old male, carpenter, born in Germany, and had no criminal record.Hepman's home address is 1279 East 222nd Avenue in the Bronx, just six blocks from Lynpin Cemetery, where Dr. John Condon first met Graveyard John.The house sits on the corner of 222 Avenue and Nitan Lane, a pedestrian path. Hepman, his wife Anna, and their nine-month-old son rent the second floor, and two other families share the first floor. On September 18, more than 60 plainclothes police detectives wandered around the Hepman home from morning till night.They were going to arrest Bruno Heppmann, that was certain.But before acting, the police want to find out whether Hepman was carrying a gun or other weapon. The next day, Wednesday, September 19, at 8:15 a.m., Hepman emerged from the house.He did look a bit like the suspect drawn by Janmon Barryman, with flaxen hair and a soft felt hat, and he weighed about 180 pounds.Hepman crossed Netan Lane and drove out the dark blue Dodge from the opposite garage, followed by three black sedans immediately.Walking near Dongcuimeng Street, when the dark blue Dodge was driving slowly behind a cumbersome cleaning vehicle, the police detectives jumped out of the black car and surrounded the dark blue Dodge. It is said that Bruno Hepman's reaction at the time was just to stare blankly at the several police detectives, and then, according to their instructions, mechanically drove the Dodge to the side of the road, parked it, and turned off the engine.Detectives did not recover a gun from Hepman's person or vehicle, but found another $20 ransom note in his wallet.Under the repeated questioning of the police detectives, Hepman, who was panicked by this series of unexpected events, spoke incoherently, and could not explain the origin of the banknote, which made the police believe that they had arrested the right person. The author Noel Bain pointed out in his book "The Limber Kidnapping Case" that, in terms of the circumstances at the time, the only suspicious point for Bruno Hepman was that a ransom note was used, but this did not constitute a crime.James Fen and other police investigators later admitted that when Hepman was arrested, "they had already determined that Hepman was guilty of kidnapping and murder," so their next job was not to try to determine whether Hepman was innocent or guilty. But how to prove his guilt. After all, it has been more than two years since this high-profile and highly exposed case, and as the ransom money is spent less and less, the hope of solving the case is getting slimmer, and the pressure on the police can be imagined.However, the concern of many people is, in such a case, may Bruno Hepman be treated fairly and get a fair verdict? Hepman was taken home, where a dozen detectives were rummaging through boxes and boxes.Anna asked her husband what happened with tears, and Hepman comforted her and said it was nothing, probably because of the gambling a few days ago.Investigators didn't find what they wanted at Hepman's home, but they got the rent that Hepman had just paid this month from the landlady -- two $10 ransom bills. In the NYPD's interrogation room, case officers bombarded Hepman, often denying him sleep or even giving him food or water.On one occasion, Hepman was interrogated continuously for 12 hours, and another time for more than 30 hours.When his testimony failed to convince the police, the police began to beat him.They also forced Hepman to write for hours on end.Samples of Hepman's writing were sent to handwriting expert Albert Osper.The first time, Osper said he wasn't sure if it was the same author as the ransom demand letter, so he asked for more samples.Osper called at 4 a.m. to tell Colonel Norman Siwakop that he believed the ransom demand letter had not been written by Hepman.The police responded by sending Osper more samples of Heppman's handwriting. Hepman insisted that he did not extort ransom from Limber, let alone kidnapped and killed Lindy.The police gave him a string of dates and times and asked him to recall his whereabouts at that time.Two-and-a-half years later, many memories have begun to fade, but Hepman can say with certainty that he remembers three days clearly.One is Tuesday, March 1, 1932, the day Charlie was kidnapped. He worked from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The bakery where Anna works.Anna worked the evening shift on Tuesdays and Fridays every week, and Hepman went there to have dinner with his wife before returning home. On the night of March 1, Hepman arrived at the bakery just after 7 o'clock, and the couple left at around 9:30 and went straight home.The next day, when Hepman took the subway to work at Mengasty's apartment, he saw the news of Xiao Lindy's kidnapping from the newspaper.Later, the police found Hepman's work time card that day from Mengasty's apartment, which proved that he was telling the truth. Another date was Saturday, April 2, 1932, the night Dr. John Condon handed over the ransom to Graveyard John.Hepman said he remembered that day because it was his last day of work at the Mengasty Apartments, and he and his friend Hans Krobin always got together to play on the first Saturday of every month musical instrument.That night Hans played at Hepman's until midnight as usual. On the third date, November 26, 1933, a guest with a German accent bought a movie ticket at the Lois Sheridan Movie Theater with a $5 ransom note.It happened to be Hepman's birthday, and he and Anna invited some friends to a party at their house. Investigators questioned Hans and Anna Heppmann simultaneously in two different interrogation rooms, and their statements matched each other. When the police asked Hepman that he was often out of work, but life seemed to be not so tight, Hepman replied that he had been trading stocks and was lucky.This was later confirmed.Moreover, Hepman added, he was involved in the fur business with a friend, Ecedo Fitch, who jointly owned the seal skins that the police found at his home.Ecedo Fitch returned to Germany for Christmas in early December 1933, and died there of tuberculosis on March 29 of the following year. Hepman even admitted to the investigators that he was an illegal immigrant who smuggled into the country, but he lied about two things. One was that he had no criminal record, and the other was that he had more gold coins.