August 8, 1935-Hauptmann Will Never Be Executed, Flemington Citizens Believe
The Washington Daily News—Thursday—August 8,—1935
Hauptmann Will Never Be Executed, Flemington Citizens Believe
By Ernie Pyle
FLEMINGTON, N. J. – This may startle you as it did me, but here it is:
The people of Flemington think Bruno Hauptmann will never be executed and, in fact, they hope he won't be!
Flemington, you know, is the ancient Jersey town where Hauptmann was tried last spring for the murder of the Lindbergh baby.
It had always been my impression that the people of Flemington had pretty much tried Hauptmann in their own minds before he actually went on trial, and that they had judged him guilty, and that was that.
But apparently not. I have just spent a few hours in Flemington, had breakfast there, and chewed the fat with several people. If these people represent the general feeling of the town, and they say they do, it is this:
That Hauptman was guilty of something, but not of kidnaping (sic) and murder.
That he will undoubtedly get a new trial or retrial, and that the most he will get will be life.
That it was those “dumb farmers” from the hills who convicted him (there was only one actual resident of Flemington on the jury; the rest were from out in the country).
That they feel very sorry for Mrs. Hauptman, and think it's terrible the way throngs of curious people follow her around on the street in Flemington.
One woman in a store said, “I was anxious to see her, too, but when she'd pass here I'd get way back behind something and look at her through the window, so she couldn't see me staring.”
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Mrs. Hauptmann comes back to Flemington once in a while to talk with Hauptmann's lawyer, Lloyd Fisher. Once when she was here, wheeling the baby down the street in a go-cart, such a big crowd of gawkers got around her she couldn't move, and state troopers had to come and get her out. The crowd didn't mean any harm, they just wanted to see her.
They are those dumb farmers, the Flemington people say. When the Flemington people want to look at her, they peek around the corner of a window shade or something!
One woman in a restaurant knows her pretty well. She says Mrs. Hauptmann doesn't know what to do about the baby, young Manfried.
Everywhere she goes people are staring at him, and even if she sent him somewhere and gave him another name, people would still find out. He's just starting to talk a little now, and one of his few words is “Daddy”, and that makes Mrs. Hauptman feel bad.
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Without meaning an insult, Flemington isn't the most up-to-date town in the world. It has a hick look about it.
The Hauptmann trial brought it a lot of prosperity, and still is bringing it, yet the town doesn't know any effects of being newly rich.
The business section is about two blocks long. The sidewalks are up high, a couple of feet above the pavement. The stores are mostly of the small-town, general merchandise aspect, with everything dumped helter-skelter in the windows along with the fly specks. And right in the middle of the business block is the 107 year old courthouse, painted white, where Hauptman was tried.
Flemington it's just a few miles from the Pennsylvania line, not far from Philadelphia. It is only 25 miles from Trenton, we're Hauptman is in jail.
Tourists from all over the world still flock to Flemington. Most of the time there are as many out of State licenses on the cars there as there are New Jersey tags. Tourists get out and look at the courthouse, ask a few questions, send a couple of postcards, maybe eat a meal and then drive on. Before the trial nobody ever came to Flemington.
The people of Flemington are glad it all happened because, as they say, it put them on the map. And they hope Hauptmann will get a retrial, because if he does it will be held in Flemington, too.
That, of course, will be good for business. But the people of Flemington seem sincere in wanting a retrial for Hauptman just for himself, because they don't think he should be executed.
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