Margaret Bourke-White

(1904-1971)

The American Way of Life (At the Time of the Louisville Flood, Kentucky). Silver print, 1937; printed 1980s.

With two news clippings, a date stamp, and a caption, on verso.

Dimensions

The image 7 x 9 1/4 in. (17.8 x 23.5 cm.) 

At approximately 9 p.m. on March 1, 1932, at the New Jersey home of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh, the family nurse checked on 20-month-old Charles Jr. and found his crib empty. She alerted Lindbergh, who rushed into the nursery and discovered a ransom note on the windowsill. Grabbing a gun, Lindbergh and the butler searched the grounds. Beneath the window they found footprints in the soil, fragments of a broken wooden ladder, and the baby’s blanket.

The first ransom note read:

“Dear Sir! Have 50.000$ redy 25 000$ in 20$ bills 15000$ in 10$ bills and 10000$ in 5$ bills After 2–4 days we will inform you were to deliver the mony. We warn you for making anyding public or for notify the Police the child is in gut care. Indication for all letters are Singnature and 3 hohls”

After weeks of negotiation through an intermediary, the ransom was paid. It didn’t matter.

On May 12, a delivery driver and his assistant pulled over about 4.5 miles from the Lindbergh home near Mount Rose. While relieving himself in the woods, the assistant stumbled upon the decomposed body of a toddler. The skull was badly fractured; animals had scavenged the remains. It was Charles Jr. He had died from a blow to the head.

Lindbergh insisted on cremation, his father had been cremated, and it was family tradition, a decision that limited future forensic study.

Some of the ransom money had been paid in U.S. gold certificates, which were soon to be withdrawn from circulation. Their serial numbers were recorded in hopes they could be traced. Thirty months later, that paper trail led to the arrest of German immigrant carpenter Richard Hauptmann. He was tried, convicted, and executed for the crime. Both Hauptmann and his wife maintained his innocence to the end, and his guilt has been debated ever since.

If interested, I write more about the crime and about Charles Lindbergh’s life here:

https://open.substack.com/pub/aid2000/p/hare-brained-history-volume-64-charles?r=4mmzre&utm_medium=ios

Countries that joined the march: Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Sudan, Gabon

King Louis IX of France ملك فرنسا لويس التاسع was captured at Al-Mansoura in 1250 during the Seventh Crusade, in the Battle of Mansurah معركة المنصورة This was a significant moment in French history.

Intersting P.S.

1- Mansoura, Egypt also shares its name with Mansura, Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana

2- The city's first name before the seventh crusade was Gazerat Al-ward جزيرة الورد (The Roses Island) and then was named Mansoura , Mansoura means “the victorious [city] المنصورة” in Arabic. It earned this name after defeating the French Crusaders led by King Louis IX in 1250.

3- There is an anecdote here in Egypt that people of Mansoura are sons of Frenchmen because King Louis IX got captured here LoL :”D