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Means told the gathering that he had recently met a man with whom he served in Atlanta Penitentiary. The man had suggested that he and Means abduct the Lindbergh baby. This suggestion, Means said, he had indignantly spurned, but he was willing to find out if the man had carried out the project himself. After a short dis appearance Means returned to Washington with the news that, sure enough, his erst while jailmate was the one who had done the job. It would take $50,000 ransom, a $50,000 fee for himself and $6,000 for expenses to effect the child's return. Capt.
Land went to Hopewell, consulted Col.
Lindbergh, returned with word that Col.
Lindbergh welcomed Mrs. McLean's assistance and would repay her if she succeeded in bringing his child back home.
Mrs. McLean delivered, without receipt, the $106,000 into Means's hands in unmarked $10 and $20 bills on March 7.
Means at once began to give Mrs. Mc Lean her money's worth in detective-story melodrama.
First he gave all the principals numbers.
His was No. 27. Mrs. McLean's was No.
11. Means had her go to Aiken, S. C. where she was introduced to a sinister character with a gun. Then she made a trip to El Paso, Tex., where the child was to be delivered. For these fruitless expeditions the ever plausible Means had excuses. He made at least 20 promises to deliver the child within 24 hours. Once he swore he had held the baby in his arms.
At last, on April 1, Mrs. McLean turned the matter over to her attorneys. She was advised to ask Means to return her money. He agreed to get it from where he had hidden it near his old home at Concord, N. C. When he failed to return it, Means had still another yarn to tell. He said that on his way back to Washington with the $100,000 he was accosted at Alexandria, Va. by an unknown who whispered the mystic word "Eleven!" into his ear. Thinking that this must be Mrs. McLean's representative, he turned the money over to the stranger. At this point the credulity of Mrs. McLean snapped. She went to Chief J. Edgar Hoover of the Department of Justice's Investigation Bureau and swore out a warrant to be served the next time Means stepped inside the District of Columbia.
Smiling under arrest, Means had nothing to say to the Press save that he was sure he would be cleared, the inference being that he felt no more criminally implicated than John F. ("Jafsie") Condon, the retired Bronx school teacher who gave $50,000 of Col. Lindbergh's money to someone who failed to surrender the child in return. Means's bail was set at $100,000.
"While we are not trying him for his past crimes," said U. S. Attorney Leo Rover, explaining the size of the bond, "my information regarding his past activities leads me to believe that if the bond is not set he will not be here."
Among the many fantastic reports that came to Mr. Rover concerning Means's fantastic activities was one that a man and a woman had tried in North Carolina to buy a baby resembling the missing Lind bergh.