Feb. 28, 1962 - Thirty years ago tonight, Charles A. Lindbergh Jr., 19 months old, was abducted from his crib on the second floor of his parents’ home at Hopewell, N.J. A warped shutter had permitted the kidnapper to gain entry through a window. The baby’s father, Charles A. Lindbergh, paid a ransom of $50,000 through an intermediary, Dr. John F. Condon of the Bronx, but his son was not returned. The baby’s body was found on May 12 only five miles from his home. An international search went on for two-and-a-half years. On Sept. 21, 1934, Bruno Richard Hauptmann, a Bronx carpenter, was arrested and charged with the kidnapping. At the dramatic trial that followed, he was found guilty of murder in the first degree. After many appeals to higher courts, Hauptmann was executed in the electric chair at Trenton, on April 3, 1936. Reporters present said he made no statement. His spiritual advisor said that Hauptmann told him, before being taken from his cell: "Ich bin absolut unschuldig an den Verbrechen, die man mir zur Last legt" ("I am absolutely innocent of the crimes with which I am charged”).
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