28 Facts About Richard Hauptmann

Bruno Richard Hauptmann was born in Kamenz, a town near Dresden in the Kingdom of Saxony, which was a state of the German Empire.

Richard Hauptmann attended public school during the day while attending trade school at night, studying carpentry for the first year, then switching to machine building for the next two years.

Shortly thereafter, Richard Hauptmann was conscripted into the German Army and assigned to an artillery battery.

In 1918, Richard Hauptmann was assigned to the 12th Machine Gun Company at Konigsbruck.

Richard Hauptmann later claimed he was deployed to western France with the 177th Regiment of Machine Gunners in either August or September 1918, then fought in the Battle of Saint-Mihiel; that he was gassed in September or October 1918; and that he was struck in the helmet by shrapnel from shelling, knocking him out so that he was left for dead.

Richard Hauptmann illegally entered the United States by stowing away on an ocean liner.

Landing in New York City in November 1923, the 24-year-old Richard Hauptmann was protected by a member of the established German community and worked as a carpenter.

Richard Hauptmann married a German waitress, Anna Schoeffler, in 1925 and became a father eight years later.

Richard Hauptmann was known to be very secretive; his wife did not know his first name was Bruno until his arrest.

Richard Hauptmann was placed under surveillance by the New York City Police Department, New Jersey State Police, and the FBI.

Richard Hauptmann was arrested by Finn after finding himself blocked by a truck on Park Avenue just north of Tremont Avenue in the Bronx.

Richard Hauptmann's trial was dubbed the "Trial of the Century", while Hauptmann was named "The Most Hated Man in the World".

Richard Hauptmann had been absent from work on the day of the ransom payment and had quit his job two days later.

Hauptmann's attorney, Edward J Reilly, argued that the evidence against Hauptmann was entirely circumstantial, as no reliable witness had placed Hauptmann at the scene of the crime, nor were his fingerprints found on the ladder, the ransom notes, or anywhere in the nursery.

Richard Hauptmann's appeals failed, though his execution was stayed twice while New Jersey Governor Harold G Hoffman reviewed the case.

However, Richard Hauptmann stated in court that he had written it but could not remember why.

Richard Hauptmann further stated that Hauptmann looked different, and that "John" was actually dead because he had been murdered by his confederates.

Richard Hauptmann's widow campaigned until the end of her life to have her husband's conviction reversed.

Richard Hauptmann found that Hauptmann's fingerprints were not on the wood, even in places that the man who made the ladder must have touched.

In 1974, Anthony Scaduto wrote Scapegoat, which took the position that Richard Hauptmann was framed and that the police both withheld and fabricated evidence.

Richard Hauptmann provides an interpretation discussing both the pros and cons of that evidence.

Notwithstanding all of the books, TV programs, and legal suits, Richard Hauptmann is as guilty today as he was in 1932 when he kidnapped and killed the son of Mr and Mrs Charles Lindbergh.

For more than 50 years, Richard Hauptmann's widow fought with the New Jersey courts without success to get the case re-opened.

In 1982, the then 82-year-old Anna Hauptmann sued the State of New Jersey, various former police officers, the Hearst newspapers that had published pre-trial articles insisting on Hauptmann's guilt, and former prosecutor David T Wilentz for over $100 million in wrongful-death damages.

Richard Hauptmann claimed that the newly discovered documents proved misconduct by the prosecution and the manufacture of evidence by government agents, all of whom were biased against Hauptmann because he happened to be of German ethnicity.

Richard Hauptmann suggested that the rail of the ladder taken from the attic, where they used to live in 1935, was planted by the police, and that the ransom money was left behind by Isidor Fisch, who was possibly the real kidnapper.

On December 9,1933, he sailed for Germany, taking with him "$600 to buy Reichsmarks", although Richard Hauptmann testified during the trial that he had in fact given this exact amount to Fisch.

Lindbergh, for his part, believed that Richard Hauptmann must have been involved in the kidnapping and murder of his son.