Lindbergh baby kiddnapping exhibit

On                     1 March 1932, twenty-month-old Charles A. Lindbergh Jr., son of                     Col. Charles and Anne (Morrow) Lindbergh, was taken from his family's                     home in East Amwell Township, Hunterdon County, NJ. Following instructions                     from the kidnapper, who contacted the family through ransom notes                     and parcels containing the toddler's clothing, $50,000 was                     delivered in April to an unknown man at St. Raymond's Cemetery,                     Bronx, NY. In May, a toddler's remains were found in a grove                     of trees about four miles from the Lindbergh estate, near Hopewell,                     NJ. Col. Lindbergh and New Jersey StatePolice                       identified the body as that of Charles Jr. based on numerous points                       of identification.

After a lengthy, highly publicized investigation, authorities traced                    ransom money to Bruno Richard Hauptmann of the Bronx. He was                    arrested                    and charged with kidnapping and murder on 19 September 1934. Hauptmann's                    sensationalized trial before the Hunterdon County Court of Oyer                    and Terminer took place in Flemington, NJ, during January-February                                        1935. He was convicted of first degree murder on 13 February and                    sentenced to death.

The State's evidence at trial included testimony and physical                     objects linking Hauptman to the scene of the crime, linking his                     handwriting to the ransom notes, and linking the wood used in the                     kidnap ladder to wood found in Hauptmann's home and the lumber                     yard where he was formerly employed. The prosecution further accounted                     for investments and expenditures by the defendant amounting to the                     ransom payment less nearly $15,000 in cash discovered on Hauptmann's                     property identified through serial numbers as ransom money.

This series consists of copies of 24 B&W photographs created                    by the New Jersey State Police depicting evidence used at the                    Hauptmann                     trial. Note that the original photographs and evidence are held                    by the New Jersey State Police Museum and Learning Center in West                                        Trenton, NJ, as part of an extensive archive relating to the Lindbergh                    kidnapping.