PLOT TO KIDNAP GIRL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 286, 4 December 1933, Page 11

PLOT TO KIDNAP GIRL

THREAT ON EVE OF WEDDING WOMAN NEATLY TRAPPED POLICE STRATEGY SUCCEEDS. All the elements of a highly melodramatic film have invested the latest kidnapping threats iu America. The victim was to be a pretty debutante and niece of the partner of Mr. J. P. Morgan, the famous banker. iShe actually received the threat on the eve of her wedding. A hectic time for the police followed. They set innumerable traps for the would-be kidnappers, arranged an impersonation of the gill’s father, made up a dummy packet of banknotes, and then awaited developments in a car loaded with machine-guns. Now the alleged perpetrators of the plot are to stand trial under what has become known as the “Lindberg Law,” by which* people convicted of sending threatening letters to kidnap can be sent to prison for 20 years. Hollowed loaves of biead wherein to hide the ransom money, amazing letters, criminals with cold feet, decoy motor-cars, alarming telephone calls, a secret wedding and a more secret honeymoon, all have a place in this thrilling story of real life. Miss Helen Batchellor is 22 and the niece of Mr. Russell Leffingwell, partner of Mr. J. P. Morgan. She was a social success of the season, and arrangements were fast proceeding fo) her wedding to be one of the great occasions of the year. Nearly all New York’s “'four hundred” were to be present. Eve of the Wedding. On the eve of the wedding, however, there came to the house a letter for the girl’s father, which ran: “This is just a little matter to be taken up between ourselves. It has come to our notice that you have a very attractive daughter, and natu rally you want to keep her. So we just want a little money to ensure her safety. We won’t ask for much; just a sum vou can easily pay. We demand 10,000 dollars (about £2000). If you notify the police it will not be so good for your daughter. If there is one word said, you will be sorry. AAe mean that. If you don’t believe it, just try something, and you will find out. And, another’thing, if any one of our men is in any way harmed, we will still carry out our plans. Do as we say, and keep your mouth shut, and everything will be O.K. It don’t pay to be a wise guy.” There followed instructions to advertise in the personal columns, the message to be addressed to “Ralph” and signed “Father George.” After consultation with his family and lawyers, the bride’s father at once took the letter to the police, and then acted under their instructions. The girl was accorded an armed escort night and day, her home was guarded and detectives even lived in the house among the many servants. Girl Secretly Married. Then came a day when Helen Batchellor actually disappeared, but not to the hiding-place of the kidnappers. She was very secretly married in her own home, with her parents and the detectives as the only witnesses. Then she and her husband were spirited away by the police on a secret honeymoon. For weeks the original threats continued, and time and again traps were laid and evaded.

Exasperated eventually beyond restraint, the anonymous gang finally declared that unless the money they demanded was foithcoming the next day “the home of the bride’s father would bo blown down.” Then the police worked on a grand and clever scale. The menacing letters were always followed by telephone instructions, so special wires were fixed to check up the origin of the calls. By this means a woman who always did the telephoning was caught. She had used a little grocery store not far away from the home of the Batchellors and immediately she got on the line the police sent out patrols to surround the area. Arrest of a Woman. Meanwhile, acting on the “instructions” she had given, a police officer disguised as Mr. Batchellor drove a car to an appointed spot. To all appearances he was alone, but as a matter of fact three other officers were hidden in the back of the car with machineguns. “Mr. Batchellor” bad in his posses sion a package made up of paper for the most part, but with a top and bottom covering of hundred-dollar notes. This bundle was placed behind some boards, as “ordered” in one of the kidnapping letters, and then another detective spotted a woman waiting in a small car near the spot. She answered the description of a woman who had been observed telephoning the “in structions” and she was arrested there and then. After an all-night questioning by detectives the woman, it is stated, gave away the whole story and implicated her partner.