TEN HOURS IN BOX

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 108, 31 January 1935, Page 9

TEN HOURS IN BOX

Hauptmann Cross-examined GUILT STEADILY DENIED (Received January 30, 7 p.m.) New York, January 29. Hauptmann once more spent a difficult day wherein Mr. Wilentz showed again and again that he had lied, breaking down every intimation that the defendant had obtained the ransom money from Fisch, and showing striking similarities between errors in the English in the ransom notes and expressions used by the. witness in answering the prosecutor's questions. Mr. Wilentz alleged that Hauptmann tried to arrange a trip to Germany to escape the consequences of the kidnapping. Hauptmann countered this by saying he had planned the trip “for a year already.” Mr. Wilentz then picked up the ransom notes, cautioned Hauptmann to listen carefully, and read, “This kidnapping was planned for a year already. It was prepared for a year already.” In letters which Hauptmann had written to Fisch, certain words were underlined in red and blue crayon. Similar underlining was found on the ransom notes A later message states ten hours of rigid examination by the prosecutor ended with the German unshaken in his genial of guilt and, although his explanations of the circumstances apparently linking him with the crime were vague and sometimes almost incredible, he failed to “break” under the grilling, and loft the stand calmer than when called. After Mr. Wilentz had finished his questioning, Mr Reilly recalled Hauptmann and started a counter-attack to reindicate the dead Fisch as the kidnapper. The accused declared that some of his letters from Fisch had been suppressed, and Mr. Reilly demanded that the State produce them.