|
Post by Sue on Nov 18, 2022 15:07:34 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Michael on Nov 19, 2022 14:22:07 GMT -5
Is Hauptmann's card in the police archives in Trenton, NJ or elsewhere? While it's entirely possible I missed it, I'm 99% sure it not at the NJSP archives. If you shoot him an email, the author of this book most likely will tell you where it is.
|
|
|
Post by Sue on Nov 19, 2022 18:16:00 GMT -5
Thank you. I will try to get in touch with the author.
Do you think that Hauptmann signed that card? It looks like his writing, but maybe a clerk at the Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America signed it?
Also, the Hauptmann named has only one "n" in the spelling!
|
|
|
Post by Guest on Nov 19, 2022 18:50:42 GMT -5
Thank you. I will try to get in touch with the author. Do you think that Hauptmann signed that card? It looks like his writing, but maybe a clerk at the Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America signed it? Also, the Hauptmann named has only one "n" in the spelling! Great find as always, Sue! The writing on the form is definitely not Hauptmann's. He always spelled his name correctly. The signature, if visible, would be his own, no doubt.
|
|
|
Post by Sue on Nov 19, 2022 19:26:07 GMT -5
Hi, Guest!
Do you think this card is authentic, and that it was at one time in Hauptmann's possession? Maybe in his wallet?
Did union representatives print or sign the cards of members back in the 1930s?
|
|
|
Post by Michael on Nov 22, 2022 14:05:10 GMT -5
Do you think this card is authentic, and that it was at one time in Hauptmann's possession? Maybe in his wallet? It's real. Hauptmann was a member of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners Local 2090. I have a copy of a postcard dated 2/13/33 from that Local to Hauptmann about a Special Meeting which carried a fine of $1 for nonattendance. I also believe I have a report in my files centering around the type of money he paid his dues with but so far I cannot find it.
|
|
|
Post by Sue on Nov 22, 2022 20:11:27 GMT -5
Thanks for looking into this and verifying!
Wow! There was a fine for not showing up to a union meeting?!
Do you think Hauptmann signed the card? Maybe there was another carpenter in the New York area with the same name minus one letter "n" in Hauptmann?
Other information on the card may be useful.
The picture of the card in the Henry Holden book shows a "Ledger Page" number 134. (the next number looks like it could be a 9)
|
|
|
Post by Michael on Nov 23, 2022 13:47:35 GMT -5
Do you think Hauptmann signed the card? Maybe there was another carpenter in the New York area with the same name minus one letter "n" in Hauptmann? I'm with Guest on this one. Doesn't look like his handwriting so I'm guessing someone else penned it out. Perhaps they mailed these cards out as well? Here is the postcard: imgur.com/VEytgKvimgur.com/Wr59Z4W
|
|
|
Post by Sue on Nov 24, 2022 14:51:25 GMT -5
Thank you for putting up the invitation and envelope!
Well, at least the union consistently spelled Hauptmann's name wrong!
1349 must have been Hauptmann's designated union member number. I see that that number is on the envelope.
Was this correspondence from 1933 taken from the house after his arrest in 1934, or did the police get it from elsewhere?
I wonder if representatives from the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America were interviewed?
|
|
|
Post by bernardt on Nov 24, 2022 18:40:20 GMT -5
The dates on the card list March, April, and May of 1932. The Lindbergh baby was kidnapped on March 1 of 1932. Perhaps Hauptmann needed the union card to work for the Majestic apartments, or needed to the present the card to the employment agency which got him the job. It may have been to support his alibi about working for the Majestic apartments. He was arrested in September of 1934 and therefore could not pay for a new card.
Hauptmann spelled his name with two "n's" at the end. He would have spelled his name correctly, I would think.
|
|
|
Post by Sue on Nov 25, 2022 13:30:19 GMT -5
Hi, bernardt. I wonder how much time members had to wait before they were issued/received a card? Did members get their cards immediately after they paid their union dues? Apparently, they cancelled a person's membership if it wasn't paid on time. Did a member pick up their card at the Labor Temple at 247 East 84th Street in New York City or was it mailed to the person? It looks like cards were issued quarterly. Since it was only good for 3 months, if the card expired was it useless? Also, I've read that members could be given special "traveling cards" to work as a carpenter outside of the jurisdiction of their local. These traveling cards would allow the carpenter to work in another county. In Hauptmann's case, outside of Local No. 2090. (At the bottom of Hauptmann's card shown in the Henry Holden book tells what counties he was limited to working in.) The Carpenter was the name of the journal published by the Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America. Many of the questions about Hauptmann's membership probably could be answered by looking through volumes of The Carpenter. The name of the publication was changed to Carpenter Magazine in the recent past. The 1990s? Many of the volumes of The Carpenter can be viewed online courtesy of the University of Maryland. www.lib.umd.edu/collections/special/labor/carpenter-magazineBeing a union member, did Hauptmann periodically receive a copy of The Carpenter through the United States mail service? Monthly? That was one way he could have kept abreast of the latest happenings in his union.
|
|
|
Post by bernardt on Nov 26, 2022 4:14:29 GMT -5
There are a couple of possibilities for this scenario.
1. Hauptmann may have needed to go to work. Fisch had been borrowing money from many of his friends at this time, ostensibly for his pie company that no longer existed.. Hauptmann told his wife while in jail that he "had given Fisch everything." He could not pay for his utilities at the end of March, which suggests that he was indeed out of money. He did obtain work at the Majestic apartments in March, and he may have obtained the union card to do the work. He was able to pay the utilities at the beginning of April though he quit the job at Majestic shortly before that.
2. Hauptmann may have planned an alibi for himself at the time of the kidnapping through his employment at the Majestic and acquired the union card to be able to work there and support his alibi.
The card was issued for three months in 1932, March--the month the child was kidnapped, April, and May. The union membership was discontinued after Sept. of 1934, the month Hauptmann was arrested in connection with the kidnapping. Obviously, he did not work after that and had no need for union membership.
|
|
|
Post by Michael on Nov 26, 2022 10:21:11 GMT -5
Thank you for putting up the invitation and envelope! Well, at least the union consistently spelled Hauptmann's name wrong! 1349 must have been Hauptmann's designated union member number. I see that that number is on the envelope. Was this correspondence from 1933 taken from the house after his arrest in 1934, or did the police get it from elsewhere? I wonder if representatives from the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America were interviewed? I am still searching for that report I mentioned unfortunately. I believe the answers will probably be included, however, without having it in hand its hard to say for sure. In my collections there are four possibilities concerning where I may have filed it: Hauptmann main collection, Hauptmann financial collection, Majestic Apartments Investigations, and the Wood files. I'm going to start on the wood today, but its also possible I missed it in one of the other collections. It can get frustrating but when or if I find it, I will definitely upload it.
|
|
|
Post by Sue on Nov 27, 2022 22:31:17 GMT -5
Thank you for the replies, guys!
Anything you find will be appreciated!
Did Hauptmann's union card arrive in the mail every 3 months, like clockwork, as long as Hauptmann continued to pay his dues?
Hauptmann may have been a union member since...1926?!
|
|
|
Post by Michael on Dec 9, 2022 21:12:25 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Sue on Dec 10, 2022 15:26:49 GMT -5
Michael,
Thanks for finding this document! It may take time, but sooner or later they turn up!
Hauptmann kept paying his union dues through the first half of 1932.
That could either support that he was involved in the kidnapping, had nothing to do with it, or some answer in-between!
Who is Eugene Rosner? Did Hauptmann know him?
Sue
|
|
|
Post by Michael on Dec 11, 2022 10:50:25 GMT -5
Who is Eugene Rosner? Did Hauptmann know him? That's the only place in the files I believe I've ever seen this name. As you can see by this report, there was an earlier investigation into this. I do think I searched for that at the archives but must not have found it because I have no memory of it. That means, in all likelihood, that its not down there.
|
|
|
Post by Sue on Dec 12, 2022 11:25:19 GMT -5
Thank you, Michael, for looking into this character, Eugene Rosner. I wonder if there is a strong Hungarian connection to this case? It's been said that Hauptmann's friends were strictly German, but was this so? Syracuse University holds the papers of Emil Kemeny, a Hungarian who became a US citizen. The website says that Kemeny was Hauptmann's interpreter. Was he the best one to speak for Hauptmann? Why someone from Hungary? Wouldn't another German have been the ideal choice? Biographical History (from the Syracuse University website): Emil Kemeny was an Essex County courthouse interpreter who assisted in processing the voluminous correspondence generated by the kidnapping of the infant son of noted aviator Charles Lindbergh in March, 1932, and the discovery of the baby's body two months later. A Hungarian who became a naturalized U.S. citizen, Kemeny also served as the interpreter for Bruno Hauptmann, who was convicted of the crime in [1935]. library.syracuse.edu/digital/guides/k/kemeny_em.htm
|
|