Lindbergh Case: A Story of Two Lives

"The Lindbergh Case", Jim Fisher, Rutgers Univ. Press, NJ, 1987 ISBN: 0-8135-1233-6, HC 430 pages plus 30 pages of Notes, Sources & Index plus 22 B & W photographs. 10 1/4" x 7 1/4". Jim Fisher, lawyer, previous FBI agent and teacher of Criminal Justice, has chronicaled, rather tersely, the A to Z of the Lindbergh case using records not previously released until 1981, the NJSP records and the Hoffman papers, etc. The author's writing style blends factual or verbatim quotations with a thoughtfully reconstructured conversational dialogue that admittedly departs from the purest journalism, but garners acceptance by utilizing adequate notes, etc. to effect a pleasant conversational style prose that makes reading almost effortless and ought not alter veridicality. A lot of "loose ends" are tied or concluded, and many factoids are included so that much detail prevails that appeared lacking in previous books I've read on this case, some of them via Notes but others spelled out in great details, i.e. the details and results of the jury's many votings, the verdicts and setting & re-setting of execution dates, last minute appeals, etc. However, in the end, the reader like the author will find the evidence given to the jurors is compelling beyond a reasonable doubt. It is a long book and the print is small, but the intent, the evidence, and its presentation provides a cerebrally ambitious journey for the reader.

When I was a teenager I read several Kennedy Conspiracy theory books. The problem with them is that there was always someone new who did it. One time the mafia and the next Castro and the next time the CIA and the next all did it together. That is the way with conspiracy theories. And we the public believe it because we don't realize that so many of these conspiracy cases are based on manufactured effidence and hearsay. Jim Fisher gets it right with this book because he sticks with the effidence from the scene of the crime. The letter was written by Hauptmann. You don't have to be a hand writing expert to figure that out. He also had quite a bit of the ransom money in his garage. One Critic said Fisher didn't address issues like the defense experts claiming the wood wasn't from Hauptmann's attic. Anyone knows that you can find an expert to agree with you no matter what the facts happen to be.

Author Jim Fisher is a criminology professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey, and is a former FBI agent. He has produced what I think is the most thorough and comprehensive overview of all aspects of the Lindbergh case record. The result is a readable (not sensational) chronicle of virtually all the facets and personalities of this complex and still-baffling case. "The Lindbergh Case" covers every aspect of the sensational 1932 kidnap/murder case and its aftermath, drawing extensively from public and non-public sources. I thought that Fisher evenhandedly examined all credible evidence remaining in the records. He says up front, however, that his conclusion is that Hauptman acted alone, planning the kidnap and cold-bloodedly killing Lindbergh's infant son for the ransom money. I appreciated Fisher's candor. But just as much, any thoughtful reader will appreciate Fisher's inclusion of much evidence that flatly contradicts his conclusion, or at least points to reasonable doubts about Hauptman's sole guilt.Fisher's evenhanded and thorough approach destroys today's most scurillous theory about the Lindbergh baby's death -- that Charles Lindbergh killed the baby himself. If the idea was ever seriously credible, the weight of the evidence for Hauptman and other conspirator(s) snatching the baby is overwhelming ... in fact, Fisher dutifully includes the account of a Jersey State trooper, who saw 2 sets of footprints leading away from the house in the mud before the yard was trampled. As I say, Mr. Fisher is thorough and honest in his reporting -- he concludes Hauptmann acted alone but includes ample data that render his conclusion inexplicable, or at least questionable.Fisher also documents and details the strange and disquieting cast of characters swirling around Richard Hauptman in the Bronx, New York, from 1932 to 1935. Isidore Fisch -- who eyewitnesses linked to the ransom money and the Bronx cemetery where the ransom drop was made. Numerous witnesses testified that Fisch went around with a shoebox full of traceable gold notes from the ransom -- he kept leaving the box where people could steal it (to spend the money and get caught). But people kept giving the box back to Fisch without stealing a dime, comically vexing the conspirator's ideas about human nature and leaving him with a fortune he knew he couldn't spend. Fisch fled the U.S. for Leipzig Germany (he applied for his trip the day after the Lindberg baby's body was found) -- his family reported he died shortly afterward. Hauptmann claimed that Fisch left the shoebox with him -- a Brother in crime?Then there's John Condon, who attached himself to Lindbergh after developing inside information about the crime. Fisher details how this teacher and youth leader, a "pillar of the community", somehow disturbed parents enough that they pulled their boys and girls from Condon's athletic and scouting groups in the Bronx. Condon behaved erratically and weirdly when he first confronted Hauptmann in a

Having been taught by Jim Fisher in all aspects of crime investigation during college, I can honestly say this man is a genious. He leaves no stone unturned when it comes to investigating any crime. I wish I was still in school to hear his opinions on the Ramsey murder investigation. Awaiting his next publication.

Jim Fisher's book is outstanding. You don't have to believe that Lindbergh killed is son. You don't have to believe the Fich story. No theories here, just the facts. Courageous, fascinating, and totally convincing.