1 00:00:01,880 --> 00:00:05,840 Speaker 1: Greetings everyone, Welcome to this day in History class, where 2 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:10,600 Speaker 1: we learn a smidgen of history every day. Today is 3 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:25,240 Speaker 1: March one. The day was March one two, and Limburgh, 4 00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:29,560 Speaker 1: the wife of famed aviator Charles Limburgh, was at home 5 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:33,520 Speaker 1: with twenty month old Charles Limburgh Jr. And the baby's nurse, 6 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:38,560 Speaker 1: Betty Gal. Charles Limburgh Senior was in New York away 7 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:42,919 Speaker 1: on business. Normally, the family would spend weekends at their 8 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:46,720 Speaker 1: country home near Hopewell, New Jersey, and week days at 9 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:51,520 Speaker 1: Anne's parents home in Inglewood, New Jersey, but Anne did 10 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:54,160 Speaker 1: not want to have to travel with little Charles, who 11 00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:59,000 Speaker 1: was sick. So on this Tuesday, Charles Jr. Was at 12 00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:02,800 Speaker 1: home being nursed back to health and the baby was 13 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:06,959 Speaker 1: getting better. But by the end of the night things 14 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:10,959 Speaker 1: had taken a turn for the worse and and Betty 15 00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:15,480 Speaker 1: put Charles Jr. To sleep, But when Betty went to 16 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:20,400 Speaker 1: check on him after dinner, he wasn't there. Charles Jr. 17 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:25,720 Speaker 1: Had been kidnapped. The events that followed would make for 18 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:29,720 Speaker 1: a tragic story that captivated the public for years to come. 19 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:35,840 Speaker 1: Charles Lindbergh became famous for making the first solo NonStop 20 00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:39,319 Speaker 1: flight across the Atlantic when he flew from New York 21 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:42,679 Speaker 1: to Paris on a plane called the Spirit of St. Louis. 22 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:47,080 Speaker 1: The flight took thirty three and a half hours from 23 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:53,120 Speaker 1: May one nine, but once he landed, he was quite 24 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 1: literally an overnight celebrity. Before the trip, Lindbergh had been 25 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 1: a US airmail pilot. It he had just wanted the 26 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:06,720 Speaker 1: twenty five thousand dollar prize that was offered to anybody 27 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:12,040 Speaker 1: who could make the transatlantic flight. But after that famous trip, Lindbergh, 28 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:17,880 Speaker 1: just five years old, was in the international spotlight. He 29 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:22,440 Speaker 1: wasn't completely comfortable with the newfound attention, but his life 30 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:27,560 Speaker 1: was changing regardless. He started getting endorsements and traveling for 31 00:02:27,639 --> 00:02:32,280 Speaker 1: speaking engagements, and eventually he met his future wife and 32 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:36,240 Speaker 1: morrow in Mexico, where her father was serving as the 33 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:42,800 Speaker 1: US ambassador. Anne and Charles married in nineteen nine, and 34 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:47,720 Speaker 1: Anne gave birth to their first child, Charles Augustus Lindberg Jr. 35 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:53,040 Speaker 1: On June nineteen thirty, but the media still didn't give 36 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:57,520 Speaker 1: the family a break. The couple valued their privacy and 37 00:02:57,600 --> 00:02:59,720 Speaker 1: they built a big house on a nice chunk of 38 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: land end and Hopewell, New Jersey. They raised the child 39 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:07,320 Speaker 1: New Jersey, spending time at their rural home in Hopewell 40 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:11,320 Speaker 1: on the weekends and Anne's parents house in Inglewood during 41 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:15,960 Speaker 1: the week but when that fateful day came, the family 42 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:19,280 Speaker 1: had decided to switch up their routine to make sure 43 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:24,120 Speaker 1: baby Charles was taken care of. Charles Jr. Was recovering 44 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:28,720 Speaker 1: from his sickness on March first, ninety two, but nurse 45 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:33,080 Speaker 1: Betty and Anne were still tending to him. Around seven 46 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:35,800 Speaker 1: thirty pm, the two women rubbed a lotion on the 47 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:40,160 Speaker 1: baby's chest, then tucked him into bed, and when Betty 48 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:42,880 Speaker 1: came back to check on him around thirty minutes later, 49 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:47,680 Speaker 1: nothing was wrong. Charles Sr. Came back home around eight 50 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:51,520 Speaker 1: twenty and soon after eight dinner with his wife, but 51 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:54,560 Speaker 1: when Betty went to check on the baby again around 52 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:58,640 Speaker 1: ten pm, little Charles was not in his crib and 53 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:02,720 Speaker 1: nowhere to be seen. Betty checked to make sure neither 54 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:07,920 Speaker 1: Charles Sor nor Anne had him, but they didn't, so 55 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:12,200 Speaker 1: they went into panic mode. Charles Sor rushed to the 56 00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:15,880 Speaker 1: child's room, where he found a ransom note demanding fifty 57 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:20,400 Speaker 1: tho dollars on the window sill. He then went outside 58 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:23,480 Speaker 1: with his gun and found a broken ladder beneath the 59 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:27,400 Speaker 1: child's window, as well as a baby blanket. So they 60 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:31,120 Speaker 1: called the police, and when the police came, they found 61 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:34,599 Speaker 1: evidence of the kidnappers presence. There was mud on the 62 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:38,839 Speaker 1: nursery floor, footprints beneath the window, a chisel that was 63 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:42,880 Speaker 1: probably used to open the window, and then the ransom note. 64 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:47,720 Speaker 1: Because of the way the note was written, including the 65 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:51,120 Speaker 1: fact that the dollar signs were after the monetary amounts, 66 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:54,240 Speaker 1: police thought the note had to have been written by 67 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:58,480 Speaker 1: somebody European, but there was no blood our fingerprints at 68 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:00,880 Speaker 1: the scene of the crime, and the hunt for a 69 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:06,120 Speaker 1: perpetrator had a long way to go. The public already 70 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:09,440 Speaker 1: had its eye on the Lenberg's, but the kidnapping just 71 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:12,880 Speaker 1: took that to the next level. The search for baby 72 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:16,160 Speaker 1: Charles was on and the family was getting a ton 73 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:19,840 Speaker 1: of press. They were getting so much attention that the 74 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:23,760 Speaker 1: kidnappers sent two more ransom notes, one of which raised 75 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:29,200 Speaker 1: the stakes to seventy thousand dollars. Communicating and negotiating with 76 00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:34,000 Speaker 1: the kidnapper proved difficult, but in a lucky break, a 77 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:38,040 Speaker 1: Bronx resident named doctor John Condon stepped up to say 78 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:41,360 Speaker 1: he would act as an intermediary between the kidnapper and 79 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:46,799 Speaker 1: the Lenburg's protecting identities. In the process, the two parties agreed, 80 00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:50,680 Speaker 1: and Condon met with the kidnapper twice, both times at 81 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:55,080 Speaker 1: a cemetery. After getting the baby's pajamas in the mail 82 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:59,080 Speaker 1: on March sixteenth, he believed he had sufficient proof that 83 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:01,440 Speaker 1: the baby was a low five to hand over the 84 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:06,120 Speaker 1: rents of money, and on April two, Condent handed fifty 85 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:09,400 Speaker 1: thou dollars over to the kidnapper, though a lot of 86 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:14,640 Speaker 1: that money was goal certificates. In return, the kidnapper gave 87 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:17,479 Speaker 1: Condon a note that said the baby was on a 88 00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:23,000 Speaker 1: boat off the coast of Massachusetts, but baby Charles wasn't 89 00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:27,800 Speaker 1: found on a boat. On May twelve, a man found 90 00:06:27,839 --> 00:06:31,240 Speaker 1: the body of a child about four miles away from 91 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:36,120 Speaker 1: the Lindbergh House. The skull was fractured and the body 92 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:41,680 Speaker 1: was decomposed. That child was Charles Jr. Who had likely 93 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:47,640 Speaker 1: died the night he was kidnapped. In June, Congress passed 94 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:51,920 Speaker 1: the Federal Kidnapping Act, which made kidnapping across state boarders 95 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:57,000 Speaker 1: a federal crime punishable by death, and in September nineteen 96 00:06:57,080 --> 00:07:02,119 Speaker 1: thirty four, police arrested an undocked, humented German carpenter named 97 00:07:02,240 --> 00:07:06,039 Speaker 1: Bruno Helptman, who had thousands of dollars worth of the 98 00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 1: gold ransom certificates among other incriminating items. His child lasted 99 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:15,960 Speaker 1: for more than five weeks in early nineteen and he 100 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:21,560 Speaker 1: was found guilty, sentenced to death, and later executed, but 101 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:26,040 Speaker 1: he never confessed to the kidnapping. Some people have claimed 102 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:29,960 Speaker 1: that it was a conspiracy. Others have said that Heltman 103 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:34,800 Speaker 1: was innocent and that someone else, maybe even Charles Lindbergh himself, 104 00:07:35,400 --> 00:07:40,200 Speaker 1: was the true culprit. I'm Eves Jeff Cote, and hopefully 105 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:42,880 Speaker 1: you know a little more about history today than you 106 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:47,000 Speaker 1: did yesterday. If you'd like to know more about the kidnapping, 107 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:50,080 Speaker 1: listened to the episode of Stuff you missed in history 108 00:07:50,080 --> 00:07:55,400 Speaker 1: class called the Disappearance of the Lindbergh Baby. We started 109 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:58,520 Speaker 1: this month off with a pretty sad story, but the 110 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:02,280 Speaker 1: whole month won't be that way. Throughout the month of March, 111 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:06,800 Speaker 1: on Sundays, we'll be recognizing Women's History Month by bringing 112 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:10,120 Speaker 1: on special guests to talk about women in history and 113 00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:14,600 Speaker 1: the contributions that they've made to society. If there's something 114 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:16,920 Speaker 1: that I missed in an episode. You can share it 115 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:20,680 Speaker 1: with everybody else on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook at t 116 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:26,760 Speaker 1: d i h C Podcast. Come back tomorrow for another 117 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:29,160 Speaker 1: TIDBT from History.