FOUND GUILTY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 107, 15 February 1935, Page 5

FOUND GUILTY.

HAUPTMANN TO DIE. VERDICT CHEERED BY MOB. (United Press Association — Copyright) NEW YORK, February 13. Bruno Richard Hauptmann was convicted of murder of the Lindbeigh baby during its kidnapping. This means death in the electric chair. A jury of eirdit men and four women deliberated for more than 11 hours. They polled separately and all answered “guilty of murder ,in the first degree.” Judge Trenchard set the week starting on March 18 for the execution. The courtroohi at Flemington (New Jersey), which had been cleared of all spectators, leaving only officials, newspapermen, the prisoner and his wife, witnessed the strange spectacle of the breakdown of the iron will of Hauptmann. , Although the prisoner stood up straight and listened to the verdict with a firm countenance, lie was unable to maintain his pose when t e State police led' him toward his cell. He collapsed and had to be lifted to his cot, where he wept, moaned and muttered in German ittcdheiently. His wife left the courtroom without assistance. : ■■. Outside a mob cheered the jury After lunching on sandwiches the jurors retired to deliberate over Hauptmann’s fate. Throughout the morning they had listened to the Judge s charge. He directed that the jury could return one of three verdicts (1) Guilty as charged, which means death by the electric chair; (2) guilty with a recommendation to mercy, can ymg life imprisonment; (3) acquittal. . the Judge intimated that the ladder was built bv defendant; that the evidence of Dr. Condon (“Jafsie”) was reliable, that there was no evidence to bolstei the contentions by the defence that Fi S ch left the kidnapping money with Hauptmann, and that Hauptmann wrote the ransom letteis. After the jurors had! been out for eight- hours there was a rumour current that they had voted ten to two for guilty, and later the voting was eleven to one, but there was no way of determining the truth of this. Late in the day the jury sent out for a magnifying glass to examine a closet panel from Hauptmann’s home on which Dr. Condon’s address and telephone number were written. Mrs Hauptmann, a daily attendant at the trial, waited in a boardinghouse hear the Court for the tolling of .the courthouse hell, which signified that a verdict had been reached. Hauptmann himself lay in his cell, listless and showing little nervousness.