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Post by Michael on Apr 26, 2024 14:29:02 GMT -5
Okay, so during one of my 2024 trips to the NJSP Archives, I discovered a new box of material I actually hadn't gone thru because it had been a "recent" donation (recent to me but I cannot say when). This box of material belonged to Major Schoeffel (later Colonel). As I thumbed thru it, I saw various sheets of handwritten vignettes (for lack of a better word). I could tell right away that Schoeffel was considering writing a book or a magazine article not unlike everyone else associated with this case. Exactly "when" he wrote these things I cannot say for certain. However, both my experience and my gut tell me it was after his retirement. So -- there were several interesting things that he wrote, but the one that really caught my eye is attached below. *I am using an outside file host because we've reach our limit on the internal host and I do not want to delete anything to make room. I am slowly working on V5 and although this is something "new" that may qualify as information worthy for the Volume, there is no way I would ever use it. Why? Because if I am right that he wrote this after his retirement, and I believe that I am, he is misremembering this information because there is absolutely nothing in the entire Archive that can back this up. Here is where someone who has less experience with the case might go to the archives, stumble onto a document like this, and declare it a "smoking gun." And if they are picked up by the media we'd all have to hear about how fabulous their research is. Anyway, I cannot do that in good conscience because it defeats the purpose and I post this as a learning experience as well as a challenge to anyone who may believe I'm wrong to find something to prove that I am. I hope you do. But until then, this goes back into the file.
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Joe
Lt. Colonel
Posts: 2,656
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Post by Joe on Apr 27, 2024 6:35:40 GMT -5
An interesting read, but I would agree this account probably has little actual substance and sounds more like a pet theory on the part of Schoeffel. Harry Walsh also believed Violet Sharp knew more than she told and that her suicide was tantamount to an admission of guilt. This has a familiar ring to it, based on what Hauptmann had to say during his conversation with Samuel Leibowitz, when the latter asked him how he would have theoretically gone about planning the crime. Hauptmann’s reply was that he would have become ‘sweet with one of the ladies’ and thus develop an inside connection. Mariah Fredericks in ‘The Lindbergh Nanny’ also speculates in her fact and/or fiction novel that Hauptmann had injected himself for that very purpose, into a roadhouse venue known to be frequented by Morrow and Lindbergh servants.
Based on the fact that Richard Hauptmann lied almost incessantly from the time of his arrest, often stating the opposite to what was true, this might well provide some indication of his actual method.. that there was in fact, no inside connection.
I tend to believe Hauptmann would have viewed any established inside connection source as being far too risky towards the security of his planning within the crime. Inside connections are the first to be suspected and receive maximum investigative scrutiny until proven, or disproven. They effectively become beyond the control of the person who establishes that connection and are sure to unravel quickly when the additional person is suspected. Hauptmann simply would not have risked losing the level of control he felt he needed to maintain, nor would he have even needed this kind of direct assistance, unless handed to him on a platter. Even with his high tolerance for personal risk taking throughout, such a connection would not only have been viewed as self-fatalistic, but would also have gone against the grain of his need to prove to himself, Charles Lindbergh and the rest of the world, his ability to carry out such a ‘great crime,’ essentially on his own.
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Post by Michael on Apr 27, 2024 13:08:38 GMT -5
An interesting read, but I would agree this account probably has little actual substance and sounds more like a pet theory on the part of Schoeffel. Harry Walsh also believed Violet Sharp knew more than she told and that her suicide was tantamount to an admission of guilt. This has a familiar ring to it, based on what Hauptmann had to say during his conversation with Samuel Leibowitz, when the latter asked him how he would have theoretically gone about planning the crime. Hauptmann’s reply was that he would have become ‘sweet with one of the ladies’ and thus develop an inside connection. Mariah Fredericks in ‘The Lindbergh Nanny’ also speculates in her fact and/or fiction novel that Hauptmann had injected himself for that very purpose, into a roadhouse venue known to be frequented by Morrow and Lindbergh servants.
Based on the fact that Richard Hauptmann lied almost incessantly from the time of his arrest, often stating the opposite to what was true, this might well provide some indication of his actual method.. that there was in fact, no inside connection.
I tend to believe Hauptmann would have viewed any established inside connection source as being far too risky towards the security of his planning within the crime. Inside connections are the first to be suspected and receive maximum investigative scrutiny until proven, or disproven. They effectively become beyond the control of the person who establishes that connection and are sure to unravel quickly when the additional person is suspected. Hauptmann simply would not have risked losing the level of control he felt he needed to maintain, nor would he have even needed this kind of direct assistance, unless handed to him on a platter. Even with his high tolerance for personal risk taking throughout, such a connection would not only have been viewed as self-fatalistic, but would also have gone against the grain of his need to prove to himself, Charles Lindbergh and the rest of the world, his ability to carry out such a ‘great crime,’ essentially on his own. Too risky? Is that a joke? Anyway, Schoeffel's assertion here, that Sharp was " connected later as hanging out at a dance hall where Hauptmann played around" is something I think we all could believe because it's a possibility I think most people have considered. The problem is there is nothing to back this up. For me, I can't use it unless I have something else, otherwise, I have to chalk it up to misremembering the facts. What other choice do I have? What is interesting is that Detective Patterson was assigned on November 7, 1934 to take a picture of Sharp and visit all the places Hauptmann was known to hang out at to see if anyone recognized her. I have a ton of Patterson's reports, but unless I missed it (highly unlikely), none state someone claimed Sharp had been at one of Hauptmann's haunts. Of course, that doesn't mean one hadn't existed at one time (1) and some might even argue Schoeffel's recollections prove it not only did but what it contained. However, if such a report existed back in 1935, Hoffman would have gotten his hands on it, and there's nothing in his writings or material that indicates this -- and there would have been. So if something like this existed, it "disappeared" before 1935 and no one ever talked or wrote about it. Possible but unsupported speculation other than to point to something like the Whateley confession to show it can and did occur elsewhere. Regardless, what can anyone do with something like this except file it away? As a side note, I'm not so sure Sharp would have been interested in a German. Gow definitely but I have doubts about Sharp. Any thoughts? 1 As an example, someone donated Koehler's personal papers and among them was a report on the fancy inlaid box Hauptmann built. That is the only place this report now exists (I now have a copy of course) but before that one could only assume it never existed because it is not among the NJSP files.
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Joe
Lt. Colonel
Posts: 2,656
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Post by Joe on Apr 27, 2024 16:08:35 GMT -5
An interesting read, but I would agree this account probably has little actual substance and sounds more like a pet theory on the part of Schoeffel. Harry Walsh also believed Violet Sharp knew more than she told and that her suicide was tantamount to an admission of guilt. This has a familiar ring to it, based on what Hauptmann had to say during his conversation with Samuel Leibowitz, when the latter asked him how he would have theoretically gone about planning the crime. Hauptmann’s reply was that he would have become ‘sweet with one of the ladies’ and thus develop an inside connection. Mariah Fredericks in ‘The Lindbergh Nanny’ also speculates in her fact and/or fiction novel that Hauptmann had injected himself for that very purpose, into a roadhouse venue known to be frequented by Morrow and Lindbergh servants.
Based on the fact that Richard Hauptmann lied almost incessantly from the time of his arrest, often stating the opposite to what was true, this might well provide some indication of his actual method.. that there was in fact, no inside connection.
I tend to believe Hauptmann would have viewed any established inside connection source as being far too risky towards the security of his planning within the crime. Inside connections are the first to be suspected and receive maximum investigative scrutiny until proven, or disproven. They effectively become beyond the control of the person who establishes that connection and are sure to unravel quickly when the additional person is suspected. Hauptmann simply would not have risked losing the level of control he felt he needed to maintain, nor would he have even needed this kind of direct assistance, unless handed to him on a platter. Even with his high tolerance for personal risk taking throughout, such a connection would not only have been viewed as self-fatalistic, but would also have gone against the grain of his need to prove to himself, Charles Lindbergh and the rest of the world, his ability to carry out such a ‘great crime,’ essentially on his own. Too risky? Is that a joke? Anyway, Schoeffel's assertion here, that Sharp was " connected later as hanging out at a dance hall where Hauptmann played around" is something I think we all could believe because it's a possibility I think most people have considered. The problem is there is nothing to back this up. For me, I can't use it unless I have something else, otherwise, I have to chalk it up to misremembering the facts. What other choice do I have? What is interesting is that Detective Patterson was assigned on November 7, 1934 to take a picture of Sharp and visit all the places Hauptmann was known to hang out at to see if anyone recognized her. I have a ton of Patterson's reports, but unless I missed it (highly unlikely), none state someone claimed Sharp had been at one of Hauptmann's haunts. Of course, that doesn't mean one hadn't existed at one time (1) and some might even argue Schoeffel's recollections prove it not only did but what it contained. However, if such a report existed back in 1935, Hoffman would have gotten his hands on it, and there's nothing in his writings or material that indicates this -- and there would have been. So if something like this existed, it "disappeared" before 1935 and no one ever talked or wrote about it. Possible but unsupported speculation other than to point to something like the Whateley confession to show it can and did occur elsewhere. Regardless, what can anyone do with something like this except file it away? As a side note, I'm not so sure Sharp would have been interested in a German. Gow definitely but I have doubts about Sharp. Any thoughts? 1 As an example, someone donated Koehler's personal papers and among them was a report on the fancy inlaid box Hauptmann built. That is the only place this report now exists (I now have a copy of course) but before that one could only assume it never existed because it is not among the NJSP files. Not a joke at all.. Hauptmann simply managed risk according to what was within and beyond his control.
I believe either Betty Gow or Violet Sharp could have found themselves attracted to a German suitor under the right conditions, one of which would have included in large part, the opportunity for each to enhance her respective material position in life in America. Although the Great War still presented a significant cultural barrier between the British and German populations, those same negative passions had probably cooled somewhat by 1932. Why your doubts about Sharp falling for a German less than Gow? Her previous employment, or close family ties in small village England?
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