The Ladder
THE BURLINGTON FREE PRESS, Burlington, Vermont, September 22, 1934
Homemade Extension Ladder
One of the key pieces of evidence in the trial was a ladder that was found outside the Lindbergh home. Wood expert, Arthur Koehler, testified that the ladder was made of wood from a lumberyard in the Bronx, New York, not far from Hautpmann's home, and that one of the boards probably came from the attic in Hauptmann's house.
The Trial
by Jen Bryant
The Trial
by Jen Bryant
Attic Board and Rail 16 Compared
The key evidence tying Hauptmann to the actual kidnapping was a section of attic floor board taken from Hauptmann's Bronx apartment that precisely matched the grain of wood used for "rail 16" of the ladder found left at the kidnap scene. Moreover, rail 16 had four rare square nail holes that matched the nails used in Hauptmann's attic. Several jurors said after the trial that wood evidence was the most significant in proving Hauptmann's guilt.
by Douglas Linder
by Douglas Linder
The half board in the defendants attic that rail 16 supposedly came from had seven knots in it whereas rail 16 had only three knots. Moreover, the planed rail 16 was actually one-sixteenth of an inch THICKER than the unplaned attic board, making a match between the two extremely unlikely.
Arguments from the LKH Public Forum
Wood plane belonging to Hauptmann; comparison of plane markings in ladder rails and rungs
Hauptmann attic, Bronx - space from which ladder rail #16 was shown to have been removed
Hauptmann attic, Bronx - ladder rail #16 in place on attic floor
Comparison of wood grain in ladder rail #16 with attic floorboard, face and end grain
Hauptmann attic, Bronx - close up of ladder rail #16 in place on attic floor
Comparison of wood grain in ladder rail #16 and attic floorboard, with overlay showing artisti's rendering of missing piece
Comparison of wood grain in ladder rail #16 with attic floorboard
Click the links below to view images of the ladder.
Comparison of wood from Hauptmann's home to ladder
Broken ladder rung with dowell
Hauptmann's attic floorboard is to the left of the ladder
Ladder exhibit at Trenton Police Museum
Comparison of wood from Hauptmann's home to ladder
Broken ladder rung with dowell
Hauptmann's attic floorboard is to the left of the ladder
Ladder exhibit at Trenton Police Museum
The ladder
Insp. Lewis J. Bornmann of the New Jersey State Police discovered a missing rafter in Hauptmann's attic that corresponded to one of the uprights of the kidnap ladder. Koehler confirmed that the missing length of lumber matched, even to nail holes, the bottom section.
Arthur Koehler
Eventually, the ladder became a crucial item of evidence. Schwarzkopf enlisted the aid of wood experts, the most enterprising of whom was Arthur Koehler, of the U.S. Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin. He had written Lindbergh and volunteered his services. From slivers sent to him, he was able to determine that the ladder was constructed from pine from North Carolina, Douglas fir from the West, birch, and Ponderosa pine. Remarkably, Koehler was able to trace some of the ladder lumber from a mill in South Carolina to a lumber dealer in the Bronx.
The ladder was both crudely and professionally constructed. Some of the joints and connections showed the work of a carpenter, while the pieces of wood that made up the ladder seemed to have been gathered from a variety of sources.
by Russell Aiudo
The ladder was both crudely and professionally constructed. Some of the joints and connections showed the work of a carpenter, while the pieces of wood that made up the ladder seemed to have been gathered from a variety of sources.
by Russell Aiudo
Lieutenant Lewis Bornmann, identified a ladder in the courtroom as the one he had discovered on the night of the kidnapping lying seventy-five feet from the Lindbergh home.
by Douglas Linder
