THE LINDBERGH CRIME

. By Sidney B. Whipple '10. The Blue Ribbon Books. New York. 1935.

In Dickens' Little Dorrit there is a chapter called "Closing In," in which the Blackmailer-Assassin Riguard together with Flintwinch and the faithful servant Affery are piercing together the mystery of the old Clennam house, while Mrs. Clennam having paid the blackmailer's price is, against her will, filling in the blanks of the story. All this while Arthur Clennam lies a prisoner in the Marshalsea, the Dorrit fortunes are evaporating, and the impending tragedy is close at hand. Mr. Whipple's book might be called "Closing In." It is the clear story of a reporter dealing with the whole Lindbergh tragedy, begun with the actual kidnaping of the child and ending with the shadow of death over Bruno Richard Hauptmann. The whole story, if so it may be called from the viewpoint of a newspaperman, is continually closing in, detail by detail until the prisoner is unable to move in any direction without encountering the walls of circumstance.

One is perhaps repulsed at the idea o£ prying again into the sadness brought by the kidnaping of the Lindbergh baby and the ultimate death. One feels perhaps that much of the "Flemington circus" which went on outside the dignified court room of able Judge Trenchard is better banished quickly from the mind. Yet curiously enough this book brings up no such feeling. Its method is really scientific, its compression of details without losing a single item is remarkable. And the book has an enormous fascination for the mind of an educated person; it is absolutely true to fact, to the progress of the unfolding drama, and even though one has since read of the multiple methods by which the condemned man was brought to justice, this book has much in the way of illumination of familiar scenes. It is a complete, eye-witness account of the happenings which followed the crime which had no eye witness, and through all these details one reconstructs the actions of the criminal, be he Hauptmann or someone else, and then sees the application of known facts to the captured man.

There is no prejudice in the book either. At no point does the author commit himself directly. But for those who wish to view the case as impersonally as possible and see the way the circumstances fitted into evidence this book will be a fascinating agent. It is a clear account, interesting in every word, faithful to fact, and convincing at all points. Incidentally those who like detective stories will find this book no less readable than their favorite Philo Vance or Sherlock Holmes romance.