During the 1930's kidnappings were common, especially after 1932. This raise in kidnapping was caused by the disappearance of Charles A. Lindbergh's son, Charles A. Lindbergh Jr. Apparently the kidnapping of the Lindbergh's son had been planned for a long time. The kidnappers wrote in his second ransom letter, "The kidnapping we prepared in years so we are prepared for everyding." The kidnappers also requested $50,000 in ransom money for the safe return of the child. "We are interested to send him back in gut health." This is another part of the same ransom letter, implying that if the ransom is paid, the baby would come back safely, but he didn't. He was found dead six weeks later.
       March 1st, 1932 started out like any ordinary day for the Lindbergh's in their house in Hopewell, New Jersey. Their son was happily sleeping, and had been sleeping since seven thirty. At ten the same morning, the twenty month old child was not in his crib; a panic spread through out the house. A ransom note was found on the windowsill in the baby's room. The note called for $50,000 dollars in ransom. Charles Lindbergh paid the kidnappers the money they wanted in the spot they requested it be put in, however, even after the ransom was paid the baby was not returned. On May 12th, 1932, the child was found by William Allen whose house was two miles away from the site where the child was found. He had died from a fractured skull. His kidnapper, Bruno Richard Hauptmann was an illegal immigrant from Germany. Even though he had $14,000 of the ransom money in his garage, he claimed that he did not kidnap the boy. He was arrested on September 19, 1934, and later executed on April 3rd, 1936.
      After the kidnapping of the Lindbergh's baby, kidnapping crimes rose 300%. Criminals all over that country silently slipped away carrying a family's most prized possession: their child. It seemed that once the Lindbergh baby was kidnapped, it became popular crime for criminals to commit. It is said that one spark can start a huge fire, and this was the exact affect of the Lindbergh baby kidnapping.

Works cited

For

Web Page

Anonymous. Celebrity Morgue. 7 Apr. 2003 <http://www.celebritymorgue.com/lindbergh-baby/>.

Anonymous. Lindbergh's baby. N.d. New Jersey State Police. 17 May 2003         <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/lindbergh/sfeature/crime.html>.

Lindbergh Baby Found. 1932. 17 May 2003 <http://www.celebritymorgue.com/lindbergh-baby/>.

Nishi, Dennis. "Life in the Country." The Way People Live- Life During the Great Depression.         San Diego, California: Lucent Books, Inc., 1998. 38-51.