Did the Sharp sisters pull a switch?
Nov 23, 2011 9:43:21 GMT -5
Miss dockendorf and denadenise1963 like this
Post by bookrefuge on Nov 23, 2011 9:43:21 GMT -5
Here is a picture of Violet and Emily (Edna) Sharp together. They do look rather alike—almost ringers in this shot. violetsharp.wordpress.com/violet-sharp-pictures/
I saw a post about the Sharps by Rita Witt on another board. I found it thought-provoking. I haven’t come anywhere close to reading all the threads here on lindberghkidnap.proboards.com, so I don’t know if it’s already been thrashed around here and refuted. But I thought—to borrow a phrase from the adman juror in Twelve Angry Men-- I’d “put it out on the stoop and see if the cat licks it up.“
Having a “ringer” can be very helpful in committing a crime. I recall a case in the newspapers some four decades ago. A young man had committed a murder. But he had a twin brother. Neither was talking. The frustrated jury could not determine which of the brothers actually did the crime, so they both ended up walking.
For those new to the LKC, I should probably summarize the story of Violet Sharp, the Morrow maid who committed suicide. On her first questioning by police, Violet said that on the evening of the kidnapping she had gone out with a young man. (He was a man she had only met once before when out walking—the young man had asked her if she’d like to go out for a movie sometime.) On the night of the date, another couple was in the car—a “double date.” Violet said they went to the movies—but she couldn’t remember the name of the movie or anything about it, or even her date’s name, nor the names of the other couple. She immediately fell under police suspicion.
On her second questioning, Violet remembered her date’s name—Ernie. But now she said they went dancing at a roadhouse instead of going to the movies. And she had no idea where Ernie lived or how to reach him.
Michael, as you have pointed out, people usually remember where they were at significant moments—like the 9-11 attack, or (for us older folks) the moment we heard of President Kennedy’s assassination. For Americans in 1932, the Lindbergh kidnapping was big news—how much more so for those in the Morrow household. Hard to believe Violet couldn’t remember what she doing the night of the kidnapping.
In Violet’s room, the police had found a business card for a taxi company run by an Ernie Brinkert. On still another questioning, Violet was shown a picture of Brinkert and she affirmed that had been her date. The police told her, very well, they would track down Brinkert and make her face him for confirmation. (They eventually did find Brinkert, and it turned out he had not dated Violet.)
Entirely dissatisfied with Violet’s story, police returned to pick her up. But rather than face further questioning, she committed suicide by taking cyanide—though a few suspect she was murdered.
To everyone’s surprise, after Violet’s death, the young man who had gone dancing with Violet at the roadhouse turned up and confirmed her story. His name was Ernest Miller. The story was further corroborated by the couple they had driven with—Katherine Minners and Elmer Johnson.
Now for the theory. I’m sure those more familiar with the LKC than I can poke more holes in this theory than Swiss cheese—and I’ll poke a few myself in this post--but here goes. Rita Witt suggested that, in the first interrogation, Violet was so foggy about her date’s name and where they had gone because she hadn’t been on that date. It was her lookalike sister Emily, posing as Violet, creating an alibi for Violet.
Let me pick up this ball and run with it. I’m going to offer the thesis that Violet was directly involved with the LKC, a possibility suggested by the Manckes’ depositions that Violet had been repeatedly in the company of Isidor Fisch at the Manckes’ ice cream parlor during the month before the kidnapping.
According to Emily Sharp (who returned to England well before Violet’s suicide), she and Violet had met Miller when out walking, but it was essentially Violet who initiated the contact, waving to the man because she said she mistook him for a Morrow workman. The young man gave the girls a ride, and the outcome was a request by him that he might take Violet to the movies.
Per the information we have, the date was specifically arranged on the afternoon of March 1st—the day of the kidnapping, and after Violet had received the call from Hopewell requesting that Betty Gow go to assist Anne Lindbergh with the baby.
Beyond possibly being a tipster, what was Violet’s involvement in the kidnapping? Presumably it did not include being near Highfields, but perhaps she acted as part of a relay team that moved the baby along. Remember, when bank robbers pull a heist, it is not unusual that they ditch the getaway car, and switch to another vehicle. In this case, the kidnappers may have anticipated that their auto and its license plate might have been seen leaving Hopewell; perhaps they wanted to offload the baby to confederates so if they were later halted by police, they wouldn’t have the baby on them.
If Violet is involved, she will need an alibi for that night—and that is provided by her lookalike sister Emily, who goes on the date posing as Violet. In other words, it is Emily who Miller picks up at the Morrow estate, while Violet watches from the window and notices another couple in the back seat. And perhaps Emily suggests to Miller that, instead of the movies, they go to a roadhouse—where it would be easier for witnesses to see “Violet” and confirm the alibi.
When the police first question Violet, however, she has not yet verified details of the date with Emily. She thinks they went to the movies, because that is what Ernie had originally proposed. And she really doesn’t remember Ernie’s name. She saw there was another couple in the car, but doesn’t know their names either. So all she can do with the police is provide a vague response—went to a movie she can’t remember, with a man and another couple whose names she can’t remember.
Realizing she’s in trouble after the first police questioning, Violet gets the precise information from Emily. Thus in her second interview she can now verify that the man ‘s name was Ernie and they went to a roadhouse. The alibi has become verifiable, but by changing her story she has become high on the suspect list.
Little sister Emily quickly heads back to England before she can be identified as the real “Roadhouse Violet.” As has been noted on this discussion board, she applied for a visa on the day of the kidnapping and sailed for England four days after the ransom was paid—dates that may just be a little too coincidental.
It is possible that the final trigger for Violet’s suicide was anticipation that the police would force her to meet face-to-face with one or both of the Ernies—neither of whom is going to confirm her alibi. Violet has sent the police on a wild goose chase looking for Ernie Brinkert, but he was not on that date. And when the police finally get ahold of Ernie Miller, he spent enough time with Emily to say that “Violet is not the woman I went with to the Peanut Grille.”
It is commonly assumed that when Ernie Miller and his two companions confirmed the Peanut Grille story, Violet was exonerated. And this is when we begin diving into other explanations for Violet’s suicide—that she was afraid police questioning would uncover an affair or abortion, that she was afraid she’d lose her job, that police methods were too heavy-handed and pushed her over the edge, etc. But when Ernie Miller corroborated the roadhouse story, Violet was already dead. Miller never saw her to confirm she was the woman on the date. In fact, there is an interesting post on this board, under the “Violet Sharp’s suicide” thread, that when Miller was shown Violet’s picture by police, he had some uncertainty as to whether this was the woman he took to the Peanut Grille. Couldn’t this uncertainty be because it was Emily on that date—looks quite similar, but isn’t Violet?
I like to “play the percentages,” and if Violet Sharp killed herself rather than face more questioning about the kidnap, I believe the high-percentage reason for the suicide is that Violet was involved with the kidnapping. Violet was losing weight. The last police interview with her took place on May 21—nine days after the baby’s body was found. Walsh said that during that interview, “Her entire body shook and she could not talk coherently.” Gardner says police physicians found Violet’s pulse had gone to 120, and recommended calling off the interview.
Weight loss, body shakes, incoherency, and fast pulses—some people try to explain Violet’s symptoms as illness. But these are also signs of overwhelming guilt and fear. It has been suggested that the kidnappers told Violet not to worry—that the baby would be returned safe and sound. When he is found dead, Violet realizes she is a party to murder. Also, Violet knows that as soon as Miller and his two friends turn up, her alibi is going to explode. She is going to go down as an accessory to murder of the son of America’s hero, and her sister is going to be extradited back to America and go down with her. THIS I can accept as pushing Violet to the point of suicide.
OK, now let’s examine defects in the above scenario. I’m going to play my own “devil’s advocate” and poke a few holes in it, and others can add their own.
Nice try, BR. You get a “B” for “basic effort.” But it doesn’t make sense that Ernie Miller would have mistaken Emily for Violet. He’d already talked to the girls and given them a ride, remember? So he should have known who was who. Also, the first police interview of Violet didn’t occur until March 10—nine days after the kidnapping. That’s plenty of time for the sisters to get their story straight about the Peanut Grille. And as far as Emily creating an alibi for Violet—hey, who’s gonna create EMILY’S alibi? Doesn’t she need one, too?
I would think Ernie Miller could have distinguished Violet from Emily. But he’s only seen the girls once—“two or three weeks” earlier according to Emily Sharp’s statement given in the UK. Since he met them outdoors in mid-February, the girls must have been pretty well bundled up, including headwear. And they did look very similar. If Emily emerged from the estate in the dark of that March 1st evening, and identified herself as Violet, I can see how Ernie might have been faked out.
(Another possibility—extremely unlikely—is that the girls tricked Miller during their very first encounter, with Emily telling him her name was “Violet.” But that’s just too convoluted and I’m not going to go there.)
As far as getting their stories straight, I was first put off by a statement in the FBI Files (page 131) that Emily “resided with Violet at the Morrow home at Englewood for several weeks prior to April 6, 1932 on which date she returned to England.” If Emily was living with Violet, they would have had plenty of opportunities to get their stories straight. But that FBI file is wrong. Emily Sharp clarified in her UK statement that she stayed at “a small flat in 54th street” and “for the purpose of my re-entry permit I gave the Morrow’s address” and that she continued to live at 54th street until she went to England. So the FBI guy just looked at a written record, he didn’t check to see if Emily physically lived at the Morrow estate (and I doubt that the Morrows were in the habit of giving free room space to siblings of their servants anyway).
So—it’s just possible Violet didn’t see Emily during the nine-day period between the kidnapping and her first interrogation. (This doesn’t preclude a phone call, but maybe phone calls were hard for servants to make in total privacy at the Morrow estate.) Maybe the estate is sort of in lockdown mode—things must have been tense after the kidnapping—and perhaps Violet had forewarned Emily to stay away to keep out of suspicion. Perhaps Violet doesn’t even think the police will get around to her—maybe she’s banking on some reassurance from the kidnappers that the baby will be returned very quickly, or banking on Charles Lindbergh’s reluctance to have household staff questioned.
Regarding the question of “why doesn’t Emily herself need an alibi?” Interestingly enough, in her UK statement, Emily said “I was not interrogated by police.” Apparently, because she did not live at the Morrow estate, she was never considered a suspect. Personally, though, I’m surprised the American police didn’t interview Emily. They’re highly suspicious of Violet’s self-contradiction, and who better to ask about Violet’s movements than her sister? Yet for some reason it didn’t happen(!).
It is interesting that two witnesses—Peter Sommer and Anna Bonesteel—each testified that they saw a nervous woman resembling Violet Sharpe, with a blanket, interacting with two men who had a baby, near New Jersey-New York ferries on the night of the kidnapping. I’m not that familiar with New York geography, but I think they were referring to two separate ferries and two separate incidents. Nonetheless, I wonder if one them might have actually seen Violet. These witnesses have been written off largely because “Violet Sharp was at the Peanut Grille.” But if it was Emily at the Peanut Grille, perhaps these witnesses should be reconsidered. I see that Mrs. Bonesteel received threats warning her not to testify:
fultonhistory.com/newspaper%2010/Yonkers%20NY%20Herald%20Statesman/Yonkers%20NY%20Herald%20Statesman%201935%20Grayscale/Yonkers%20NY%20Herald%20Statesman%201935%20Grayscale%20-%200235.pdf
Like some others on this board, I am troubled by all the people “riding around” during the evening of the kidnapping. Red Johnson called Betty Gow at Hopewell about 90 minutes before the baby was discovered missing. Then he goes out “riding” with Morrow servant Marguerite Junge (Jantzen) and her husband. The Junges are from Hamburg according to the FBI files, and let’s remember that the Mersman table confession begins, for what it’s worth, with the words “In Hambug I wore velvet and silk…” Then you have Violet—who, from her sister’s statement, was not the sort to go out with strange men—going out for a date on a Tuesday evening with a man she barely knows, during the same time frame as the kidnapping/escape.
Maybe it’s all about alibis. I’m sure some of this board’s readers are familiar with the classic crime film Double Indemnity, which is viewable in full on Youtube and still holds up well after 67 years. In this film, Fred MacMurray played an insurance salesman who conspires with a beautiful woman (Barbara Stanywyck) to murder her husband by staging an “accident” so they can collect a huge payout on accident insurance--which the husband has bought from the tricky MacMurray without even knowing it!
If you watch the film, it’s interesting how MacMurray carefully establishes his alibi for the night of the murder. After work, he drives home to his apartment building, and asks the garage attendant to wash his car. He goes up to his apartment and calls another salesman from his insurance company about some figures—he makes sure it’s a toll call so there will be a record of it. Having established that he’s “home,” he sneaks out the back and walks to the victim’s house in the dark (can’t risk someone remembering him on a bus). After the deed is done, he returns home, converses with the garage attendant some more, then walks over to the local drugstore for a bite to eat. He now has plenty of witnesses to back up his alibi.
Yes, this was Hollywood, but art often borrows from reality, and the screenplay was co-written by Raymond Chandler, the legendary crime novelist.
Now watch Red Johnson. He calls Betty Gow at Hopedale at 8:30, shortly before the crime. This establishes an alibi for Red. Isn’t calling his girlfriend on the Lindbergh’s phone rather bold? Furthermore, for some reason he declined to use the Junges’ phone—instead he called from a drugstore. Offhand, I can’t see a good reason for this; if he wanted to save the Junges money on their phone bill, why not just pay them the same amount he’s going to use at the drugstore? Perhaps he wanted some privacy when calling his girl—but how intimate can he get while tying up the Lindbergh’s phone line? Does he go to the drugstore because it adds outside witnesses to his alibi?
Red took the Junges to an ice cream shop (another verifiable alibi); then they went “out riding along the Hudson” (not verifiable except by themselves); until Red dropped off Marguerite at the Morrow estate at about 11:30 PM (final verifiable alibi). I am curious about that vague “out riding” part. A dark March 1st night is not a time that, personally, I’d choose to go riding—though I realize urban areas can be scenic at night. I am curious if, between the ice cream shop and the Morrow residence, Red and the Junges acted as a relay point for the baby, and if their ride “along the Hudson” included a stop at a ferry. Their part in the crime would have been committed during the time between their established alibis—exactly as MacMurray’s was in Double Indemnity.
In this theory, Violet also has an alibi for the same time frame—her sister is posing as her at a roadhouse, which is doable because the man on the date barely knows Violet. According to Miller, he dropped off “Violet” at the Morrow estate at 11PM. Red Johnson dropped Margeurite Junge at the estate at 11:30. Perhaps when Margeurite exited the car, Emily slipped into it, because she still had to get out of there.
I realize this theory raises still more questions—such as how could Violet Sharp “arrange” a date with Ernie Miller on short notice. He’s supposedly the one who called up about a date, and appears to be innocent in all this.
Thoughts, anyone?
I saw a post about the Sharps by Rita Witt on another board. I found it thought-provoking. I haven’t come anywhere close to reading all the threads here on lindberghkidnap.proboards.com, so I don’t know if it’s already been thrashed around here and refuted. But I thought—to borrow a phrase from the adman juror in Twelve Angry Men-- I’d “put it out on the stoop and see if the cat licks it up.“
Having a “ringer” can be very helpful in committing a crime. I recall a case in the newspapers some four decades ago. A young man had committed a murder. But he had a twin brother. Neither was talking. The frustrated jury could not determine which of the brothers actually did the crime, so they both ended up walking.
For those new to the LKC, I should probably summarize the story of Violet Sharp, the Morrow maid who committed suicide. On her first questioning by police, Violet said that on the evening of the kidnapping she had gone out with a young man. (He was a man she had only met once before when out walking—the young man had asked her if she’d like to go out for a movie sometime.) On the night of the date, another couple was in the car—a “double date.” Violet said they went to the movies—but she couldn’t remember the name of the movie or anything about it, or even her date’s name, nor the names of the other couple. She immediately fell under police suspicion.
On her second questioning, Violet remembered her date’s name—Ernie. But now she said they went dancing at a roadhouse instead of going to the movies. And she had no idea where Ernie lived or how to reach him.
Michael, as you have pointed out, people usually remember where they were at significant moments—like the 9-11 attack, or (for us older folks) the moment we heard of President Kennedy’s assassination. For Americans in 1932, the Lindbergh kidnapping was big news—how much more so for those in the Morrow household. Hard to believe Violet couldn’t remember what she doing the night of the kidnapping.
In Violet’s room, the police had found a business card for a taxi company run by an Ernie Brinkert. On still another questioning, Violet was shown a picture of Brinkert and she affirmed that had been her date. The police told her, very well, they would track down Brinkert and make her face him for confirmation. (They eventually did find Brinkert, and it turned out he had not dated Violet.)
Entirely dissatisfied with Violet’s story, police returned to pick her up. But rather than face further questioning, she committed suicide by taking cyanide—though a few suspect she was murdered.
To everyone’s surprise, after Violet’s death, the young man who had gone dancing with Violet at the roadhouse turned up and confirmed her story. His name was Ernest Miller. The story was further corroborated by the couple they had driven with—Katherine Minners and Elmer Johnson.
Now for the theory. I’m sure those more familiar with the LKC than I can poke more holes in this theory than Swiss cheese—and I’ll poke a few myself in this post--but here goes. Rita Witt suggested that, in the first interrogation, Violet was so foggy about her date’s name and where they had gone because she hadn’t been on that date. It was her lookalike sister Emily, posing as Violet, creating an alibi for Violet.
Let me pick up this ball and run with it. I’m going to offer the thesis that Violet was directly involved with the LKC, a possibility suggested by the Manckes’ depositions that Violet had been repeatedly in the company of Isidor Fisch at the Manckes’ ice cream parlor during the month before the kidnapping.
According to Emily Sharp (who returned to England well before Violet’s suicide), she and Violet had met Miller when out walking, but it was essentially Violet who initiated the contact, waving to the man because she said she mistook him for a Morrow workman. The young man gave the girls a ride, and the outcome was a request by him that he might take Violet to the movies.
Per the information we have, the date was specifically arranged on the afternoon of March 1st—the day of the kidnapping, and after Violet had received the call from Hopewell requesting that Betty Gow go to assist Anne Lindbergh with the baby.
Beyond possibly being a tipster, what was Violet’s involvement in the kidnapping? Presumably it did not include being near Highfields, but perhaps she acted as part of a relay team that moved the baby along. Remember, when bank robbers pull a heist, it is not unusual that they ditch the getaway car, and switch to another vehicle. In this case, the kidnappers may have anticipated that their auto and its license plate might have been seen leaving Hopewell; perhaps they wanted to offload the baby to confederates so if they were later halted by police, they wouldn’t have the baby on them.
If Violet is involved, she will need an alibi for that night—and that is provided by her lookalike sister Emily, who goes on the date posing as Violet. In other words, it is Emily who Miller picks up at the Morrow estate, while Violet watches from the window and notices another couple in the back seat. And perhaps Emily suggests to Miller that, instead of the movies, they go to a roadhouse—where it would be easier for witnesses to see “Violet” and confirm the alibi.
When the police first question Violet, however, she has not yet verified details of the date with Emily. She thinks they went to the movies, because that is what Ernie had originally proposed. And she really doesn’t remember Ernie’s name. She saw there was another couple in the car, but doesn’t know their names either. So all she can do with the police is provide a vague response—went to a movie she can’t remember, with a man and another couple whose names she can’t remember.
Realizing she’s in trouble after the first police questioning, Violet gets the precise information from Emily. Thus in her second interview she can now verify that the man ‘s name was Ernie and they went to a roadhouse. The alibi has become verifiable, but by changing her story she has become high on the suspect list.
Little sister Emily quickly heads back to England before she can be identified as the real “Roadhouse Violet.” As has been noted on this discussion board, she applied for a visa on the day of the kidnapping and sailed for England four days after the ransom was paid—dates that may just be a little too coincidental.
It is possible that the final trigger for Violet’s suicide was anticipation that the police would force her to meet face-to-face with one or both of the Ernies—neither of whom is going to confirm her alibi. Violet has sent the police on a wild goose chase looking for Ernie Brinkert, but he was not on that date. And when the police finally get ahold of Ernie Miller, he spent enough time with Emily to say that “Violet is not the woman I went with to the Peanut Grille.”
It is commonly assumed that when Ernie Miller and his two companions confirmed the Peanut Grille story, Violet was exonerated. And this is when we begin diving into other explanations for Violet’s suicide—that she was afraid police questioning would uncover an affair or abortion, that she was afraid she’d lose her job, that police methods were too heavy-handed and pushed her over the edge, etc. But when Ernie Miller corroborated the roadhouse story, Violet was already dead. Miller never saw her to confirm she was the woman on the date. In fact, there is an interesting post on this board, under the “Violet Sharp’s suicide” thread, that when Miller was shown Violet’s picture by police, he had some uncertainty as to whether this was the woman he took to the Peanut Grille. Couldn’t this uncertainty be because it was Emily on that date—looks quite similar, but isn’t Violet?
I like to “play the percentages,” and if Violet Sharp killed herself rather than face more questioning about the kidnap, I believe the high-percentage reason for the suicide is that Violet was involved with the kidnapping. Violet was losing weight. The last police interview with her took place on May 21—nine days after the baby’s body was found. Walsh said that during that interview, “Her entire body shook and she could not talk coherently.” Gardner says police physicians found Violet’s pulse had gone to 120, and recommended calling off the interview.
Weight loss, body shakes, incoherency, and fast pulses—some people try to explain Violet’s symptoms as illness. But these are also signs of overwhelming guilt and fear. It has been suggested that the kidnappers told Violet not to worry—that the baby would be returned safe and sound. When he is found dead, Violet realizes she is a party to murder. Also, Violet knows that as soon as Miller and his two friends turn up, her alibi is going to explode. She is going to go down as an accessory to murder of the son of America’s hero, and her sister is going to be extradited back to America and go down with her. THIS I can accept as pushing Violet to the point of suicide.
OK, now let’s examine defects in the above scenario. I’m going to play my own “devil’s advocate” and poke a few holes in it, and others can add their own.
Nice try, BR. You get a “B” for “basic effort.” But it doesn’t make sense that Ernie Miller would have mistaken Emily for Violet. He’d already talked to the girls and given them a ride, remember? So he should have known who was who. Also, the first police interview of Violet didn’t occur until March 10—nine days after the kidnapping. That’s plenty of time for the sisters to get their story straight about the Peanut Grille. And as far as Emily creating an alibi for Violet—hey, who’s gonna create EMILY’S alibi? Doesn’t she need one, too?
I would think Ernie Miller could have distinguished Violet from Emily. But he’s only seen the girls once—“two or three weeks” earlier according to Emily Sharp’s statement given in the UK. Since he met them outdoors in mid-February, the girls must have been pretty well bundled up, including headwear. And they did look very similar. If Emily emerged from the estate in the dark of that March 1st evening, and identified herself as Violet, I can see how Ernie might have been faked out.
(Another possibility—extremely unlikely—is that the girls tricked Miller during their very first encounter, with Emily telling him her name was “Violet.” But that’s just too convoluted and I’m not going to go there.)
As far as getting their stories straight, I was first put off by a statement in the FBI Files (page 131) that Emily “resided with Violet at the Morrow home at Englewood for several weeks prior to April 6, 1932 on which date she returned to England.” If Emily was living with Violet, they would have had plenty of opportunities to get their stories straight. But that FBI file is wrong. Emily Sharp clarified in her UK statement that she stayed at “a small flat in 54th street” and “for the purpose of my re-entry permit I gave the Morrow’s address” and that she continued to live at 54th street until she went to England. So the FBI guy just looked at a written record, he didn’t check to see if Emily physically lived at the Morrow estate (and I doubt that the Morrows were in the habit of giving free room space to siblings of their servants anyway).
So—it’s just possible Violet didn’t see Emily during the nine-day period between the kidnapping and her first interrogation. (This doesn’t preclude a phone call, but maybe phone calls were hard for servants to make in total privacy at the Morrow estate.) Maybe the estate is sort of in lockdown mode—things must have been tense after the kidnapping—and perhaps Violet had forewarned Emily to stay away to keep out of suspicion. Perhaps Violet doesn’t even think the police will get around to her—maybe she’s banking on some reassurance from the kidnappers that the baby will be returned very quickly, or banking on Charles Lindbergh’s reluctance to have household staff questioned.
Regarding the question of “why doesn’t Emily herself need an alibi?” Interestingly enough, in her UK statement, Emily said “I was not interrogated by police.” Apparently, because she did not live at the Morrow estate, she was never considered a suspect. Personally, though, I’m surprised the American police didn’t interview Emily. They’re highly suspicious of Violet’s self-contradiction, and who better to ask about Violet’s movements than her sister? Yet for some reason it didn’t happen(!).
It is interesting that two witnesses—Peter Sommer and Anna Bonesteel—each testified that they saw a nervous woman resembling Violet Sharpe, with a blanket, interacting with two men who had a baby, near New Jersey-New York ferries on the night of the kidnapping. I’m not that familiar with New York geography, but I think they were referring to two separate ferries and two separate incidents. Nonetheless, I wonder if one them might have actually seen Violet. These witnesses have been written off largely because “Violet Sharp was at the Peanut Grille.” But if it was Emily at the Peanut Grille, perhaps these witnesses should be reconsidered. I see that Mrs. Bonesteel received threats warning her not to testify:
fultonhistory.com/newspaper%2010/Yonkers%20NY%20Herald%20Statesman/Yonkers%20NY%20Herald%20Statesman%201935%20Grayscale/Yonkers%20NY%20Herald%20Statesman%201935%20Grayscale%20-%200235.pdf
Like some others on this board, I am troubled by all the people “riding around” during the evening of the kidnapping. Red Johnson called Betty Gow at Hopewell about 90 minutes before the baby was discovered missing. Then he goes out “riding” with Morrow servant Marguerite Junge (Jantzen) and her husband. The Junges are from Hamburg according to the FBI files, and let’s remember that the Mersman table confession begins, for what it’s worth, with the words “In Hambug I wore velvet and silk…” Then you have Violet—who, from her sister’s statement, was not the sort to go out with strange men—going out for a date on a Tuesday evening with a man she barely knows, during the same time frame as the kidnapping/escape.
Maybe it’s all about alibis. I’m sure some of this board’s readers are familiar with the classic crime film Double Indemnity, which is viewable in full on Youtube and still holds up well after 67 years. In this film, Fred MacMurray played an insurance salesman who conspires with a beautiful woman (Barbara Stanywyck) to murder her husband by staging an “accident” so they can collect a huge payout on accident insurance--which the husband has bought from the tricky MacMurray without even knowing it!
If you watch the film, it’s interesting how MacMurray carefully establishes his alibi for the night of the murder. After work, he drives home to his apartment building, and asks the garage attendant to wash his car. He goes up to his apartment and calls another salesman from his insurance company about some figures—he makes sure it’s a toll call so there will be a record of it. Having established that he’s “home,” he sneaks out the back and walks to the victim’s house in the dark (can’t risk someone remembering him on a bus). After the deed is done, he returns home, converses with the garage attendant some more, then walks over to the local drugstore for a bite to eat. He now has plenty of witnesses to back up his alibi.
Yes, this was Hollywood, but art often borrows from reality, and the screenplay was co-written by Raymond Chandler, the legendary crime novelist.
Now watch Red Johnson. He calls Betty Gow at Hopedale at 8:30, shortly before the crime. This establishes an alibi for Red. Isn’t calling his girlfriend on the Lindbergh’s phone rather bold? Furthermore, for some reason he declined to use the Junges’ phone—instead he called from a drugstore. Offhand, I can’t see a good reason for this; if he wanted to save the Junges money on their phone bill, why not just pay them the same amount he’s going to use at the drugstore? Perhaps he wanted some privacy when calling his girl—but how intimate can he get while tying up the Lindbergh’s phone line? Does he go to the drugstore because it adds outside witnesses to his alibi?
Red took the Junges to an ice cream shop (another verifiable alibi); then they went “out riding along the Hudson” (not verifiable except by themselves); until Red dropped off Marguerite at the Morrow estate at about 11:30 PM (final verifiable alibi). I am curious about that vague “out riding” part. A dark March 1st night is not a time that, personally, I’d choose to go riding—though I realize urban areas can be scenic at night. I am curious if, between the ice cream shop and the Morrow residence, Red and the Junges acted as a relay point for the baby, and if their ride “along the Hudson” included a stop at a ferry. Their part in the crime would have been committed during the time between their established alibis—exactly as MacMurray’s was in Double Indemnity.
In this theory, Violet also has an alibi for the same time frame—her sister is posing as her at a roadhouse, which is doable because the man on the date barely knows Violet. According to Miller, he dropped off “Violet” at the Morrow estate at 11PM. Red Johnson dropped Margeurite Junge at the estate at 11:30. Perhaps when Margeurite exited the car, Emily slipped into it, because she still had to get out of there.
I realize this theory raises still more questions—such as how could Violet Sharp “arrange” a date with Ernie Miller on short notice. He’s supposedly the one who called up about a date, and appears to be innocent in all this.
Thoughts, anyone?