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| Chapter 2- The Game is
Afoot |
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| Now that I knew who I wanted to write about, I had to decide what type of book it would be. The Lindbergh angle was, of course, the aspect of Ellis Parker`s life that would hold the most interest for the public, but I believed it would be necessary to tell Parker`s whole life to put the Lindbergh episode in its proper context. After all, Ellis Parker did not spring from nowhere to become involved in the Lindbergh case. He had a lifetime of crime detection behind him, and in those 40 years of chasing criminals must lie the answers. |
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| I also knew what type of book I didn`t want to write. Many of the books written about the Lindbergh kidnapping, at least the more recent ones, have set out to "prove" who was guilty of the crime. Some are firmly on the side of the official investigation in which Bruno Hauptmann was tried, convicted and executed. Others point to problems and inconsistencies with the evidence to claim Hauptmann was framed. |
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| Some books take this view a step further and try to make the case for some other specific perpetrator. These books reminded me of what has been written about the Kennedy assassination, or Jack the Ripper. There is such a wealth if information from various sources about the Lindbergh kidnapping that it is possible to make a case for almost any scenario by simply emphasizing those parts of the record that point your way. |
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| Ellis Parker looked like a worthy subject for a biography even if he had never been involved in the Lindbergh case; his life was interesting enough. I was determined I would not get mired down in a tedious and ultimately doomed quest to rewrite history by looking for a smoking gun from 70 years ago that would definitely "solve" the Lindbergh case once and for all. There were enough people doing that already. |
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| Now that I knew the basic facts about Ellis Parker, it was time to go to the best source of all things Ellis; the detective`s grandson. I e-mailed him telling of my project and asking for what help he could provide. He replied that he would be glad to help and to share his resources and family recollections. He recommended the Mt. Holly Prison Museum and the New Jersey State Police Museum in Trenton. |
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| On his website, he had mentioned a book about Ellis Parker`s cases called The Cunning Mulatto, by Fletcher Pratt. This book was written in 1935 and has long been out of print. Considering its title it was lucky the thing hadn`t been burned for political incorrectness. The Cunning Mulatto is a collection of 12 of Parker`s cases; it is not a biography and has nothing about the Lindbergh kidnapping. I made a note to somehow find a copy of this book. |
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| Already it was becoming obvious that there was a lot of conflicting information about what had happened with Ellis Parker and the Lindbergh kidnapping. Since a homemade ladder was found on the scene, it is generally accepted that the kidnapper had entered the second-floor nursery window of the Lindbergh house and made his escape with the baby the same way. But Ellis Parker apparently believed his suspect actually took the baby down the stairs and out the front door. The baby`s body was found several weeks later only a few miles away, but Parker believed it was not the Lindbergh baby at all. In fact, he stated the baby was still alive. From what I had learned so far, it became obvious a trip to New Jersey was in order. (I live in Maryland) |
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| Burlington County, New Jersey covers an area from the north of Camden all the way to the Atlantic coast. Its county seat is Mt. Holly, an old Quaker town that was Ellis Parker`s home and headquarters. In the center of town is the Mt. Holly Prison Museum. I contacted the Museum Director and made arrangements to see their files. He said they also had an old safe that had some transcripts of Parker`s interrogations inside. |
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| "Great," I said. "I`d really like to see it." |
| "Well," he said, "unfortunately the safe is locked and we don`t have the combination." |
| "Oh." |
| "But I`ll see if the Burlington County Executive can open it." |
| "Does he have the combination?" I asked. |
| "No, but he used to be a jeweler. He can pick the lock. He did it once before." |
| "So I can see the papers if the county executive can crack the safe?" |
| "Right." |
| "Fair enough." |
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| To the north of Mt. Holly is Trenton, the state capitol and home of the New Jersey State Police Museum and Archives. The archives contain the evidence and case files of the Lindbergh kidnapping. They are not open to the public, but are available on request to researchers. Hey, that`s me! Through the Internet I contacted the museum archivist, who said they had a whole section of their records on Ellis Parker and would be glad to help out. He was obviously an old hand at dealing with Lindbergh researchers. Unfortunately, he would be away the day I would be there. Maybe I could get the county executive to pick the lock to the archive room while he was at it, I thought. |
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| Further north from Trenton is Hopewell, the town closest to the Lindbergh estate from which Charles Lindbergh Jr. was kidnapped in 1932. I did another web search and found the place was still intact and was now the Albert Elias facility, a sort of juvenile rehabilitation center run by the state of New Jersey. They are not open to the public either, but will conduct tours upon written request if given enough notice. I contacted the administration and arranged to drop by. They were courteous but I couldn`t help wondering if they sometimes didn`t get tired of rubbernecked Lindbergh enthusiasts constantly trampling through the place and disturbing the delinquents. |
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| Finally, I contacted the Burlington County Public Library to arrange a look at their files, and then the offices of the Camden Courier Journal newspaper to see what they had. The Courier Journal had been the source for many of the Articles on the grandson`s website, so it looked like they might have some good stuff. It turned out they only had material from the time of Parker`s trial in 1937, but it was worth a look. |
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| So my wife and I prepared for our expedition to the wilds of New Jersey to try to pry loose its secrets. |
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| What strange secrets does New Jersey hold? |
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| Will our hero crack the case? |
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| Will the County Executive crack the safe? |
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| Don't miss Chapter 3- |
| Safari to the Garden State- Part 1 |
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