APPEAL REJECTED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22315, 13 January 1936, Page 9

APPEAL REJECTED

HAUPTMANN'S CASE POSSIBILITY OF REPRIEVE (Received January 32. 6.35 p.m.) NEW YORK, Jan. 11 The Court of Pardons at Trenton, New Jersey, has rejected the appeal for clemency of Bruno Hauptmann, sentenced to death for the kidnapping and murder of Colonel Charles Lindbergh's infant son. The position now is that unless the Governor, Mr. Harold G. Hoffman, grants a reprieve, Hauptmann will die in the electric chair at 8 p.m. next Friday. For five hours, at a secret session, the Court reviewed the evidence, including an inspection of the ladder alleged to have been used by the kidnapper. Finally it rejected the accused's petition that the death sentence be commuted to imprisonment for • life. In spite of this apparent end of Hauptmann's long legal battle, the case continues to have its fantastic angles. Mr.' Hoffman, who has repeatedly intimated that he is not fully confident of Hauptmann's guilt, to-day ordered Dr. Condon, who paid over the ransom money, to be detained for further questioning. This action followed a revelation that Dr. Condon had sailed secretly for South America yesterday, apparently, like Colonel and Mrs. Lindbergh, wishing to be out of the country when Hauptmann is executed. As he will not touch land until the boat arrives at Panama, namely, on the very day fixed for the execution, it appears as if Mr. Hoffman proposes to reprieve the accused. On the other hand State prosecuting officials say there is no way of forcing Dr. Condon to return, and they will not attempt "to do so. When Hauptmann's attorneys informed him that his appeal had been rejected, they urged him that now was the time to confess if he had anything to say or wished to name his accomplices. Hauptmann replied: "I am innocent. I have never changed my story and I never will."