The Airman And The Carpenter

Cover Type: Softcover
Book Condition: Very Good
Jacket Condition: None Issued
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publisher Place: Australia
Publisher Year: 1985
Edition: First Edition

Description: 380 pages. Book is in Very Good condition throughout.

Publishers Description: The flaws in this rehash of the 1932 kidnapping of aviator Charles Lindberghs infant son and the resulting murder conviction of Richard Hauptmann, the immigrant German carpenter in whose garage a chunk of the ransom money turned up, begin with the subtitle: "framing" is the deliberately orchestrated conviction of a defendant known by his accusers to be innocent; but British journalist Kennedy (The Trial of Stephen Ward, The Death of the Tirpitz) offers not an iota of proof that a frame, as such, occurred. Unfortunately, such overstatement, not to mention ad hominem attack and petty name-calling (particularly against the dead), characterizes Kennedys style. We are told at the outset that "a whole mass of evidence which would have cleared Hauptmann [was] ruthlessly destroyed or suppressed," but this allegation is largely unsupported (except for the disappearance of certain of Hauptmanns payroll records); various prosecution witnesses are contemptuously dismissed ("a deeply corrupt source," "thoroughly dishonest and a congenital liar," "two jokers," "the old creep"); and even Lindbergh himself is accused of having given "false testimony" in identifying Hauptmanns voice as that of the pick-up man for the kidnap ransom. Offputting though such table-thumping may be, Kennedys generally workmanlike review of the case (which echoes Anthony Scadutos 1976 Scapegoat) should convince readers that there was more than enough room for "reasonable doubt" on the murder count (the evidence linking Hauptmann to the scene was flimsy, to say the least), or even on a charge of extortion (the states top handwriting analysts first said Hauptmann didnt write the ransom notes, and reversed themselves only when told of the discovery of the ransom money). But, even giving Hauptmann the benefit of the doubt on the issue of direct involvement in the crime, how did he end up with part of the ransom money Hauptmann claimed his erstwhile business partner (and, it seems, freelance con man) Isidore Fisch gave him a sealed-up shoebox for safekeeping, and Hauptmann never looked inside until after Fischs death, when he took some of the money because Fisch was in debt to him. Perhaps. Given the mood of the times (anti-Hauptmann feeling fueled by the press, crowds outside the courtroom chanting "Kill Hauptmann"), few believed him. Kennedy accepts Hauptmanns story about the money completely - it is pivotal for belief in his complete innocence - though some readers (even those who agree that the murder conviction was unjust) may reserve judgment about Hauptmanns lack of complicity. What Kennedy needs, but lacks, is an I-name-the-murderer bombshell - absent which his shrill finger-pointing adds little to a sad story already well documented. (It is scheduled for PBS re-airing, however, as a BBC-documentary this spring.) (Kirkus Reviews)

ISBN: 9780002170604