On June 17, 1932, Congress passed the Lindbergh Law making kidnapping across state lines a Federal felony. This act pitted the U. S. Government directly against the virulent "snatch" racket for the first time. Free from the corruption of local politics, superbly trained and equipped with tip-top morale, the Department of Justice's Division of Investigation buckled to its new and difficult work with a will. Up to last week it had acted in 31 kidnapping cases, returned alive all but one kidnappee. Of the 74 "snatchers" whom Federal agents had helped to catch and convict, two had been sentenced to death, 16 had been condemned to life imprisonment and the rest were given an aggregate of 1,186 years in jail. Two kidnappers committed suicide and two were lynched. Last week Department of Justice operatives added fresh laurels to their excellent record with a quick catch in Kidnap Case No. 32 and the safe return of the victim in Case No. 33
Well might the nation feel proud of these Federal men who in their 26-month warfare against abductions set up such major milestones as:
¶ Haskell Bonn, 22, son of a St. Paul refrigerator manufacturer, was snatched in June 1932. He was returned alive within a week after his father paid $12,000 ransom. Last February Federal agents put Gangster Verne Sankey into a South Dakota prison where he killed himself after confessing to kidnapping not only young Bohn but Charles Boettcher II, Denver broker (TIME, Feb. 20, 1933 et seq.).
¶ Federal operatives helped to round up three of the snatchers of Mary McElroy, daughter of Kansas City's city manager, in May 1933. Their assistance in a Missouri Court resulted in a death sentence for one of the abductors.
¶ William Hamm Jr., St. Paul brewer, was abducted in June 1933. Because he could not identify his captors, Gangster Roger Touhy & mob went free. But Federal agents promptly hung the kidnapping of Gambler John ("Jake the Barber") Factor on them and Illinois sent Touhy & gang to the penitentiary for years & years.
¶ August Luer, 77, Alton, Ill. banker kidnapped in July 1933, was returned unharmed. Federal men were on the case early and three criminals got life sentences from the State courts.
¶ The Department of Justice could do nothing for young Brooke Hart, son of a San José, Calif, drygoods merchant. His kidnappers killed him almost as soon as they captured him last November. They were lynched, to the great satisfaction of California's late Governor Rolph.
¶ Federal agents went to work on the case of Charles F. Urschel, Oklahoma City oilman, kidnapped in July 1933. After his release, Urschel recalled hearing a plane flying over his hideaway regularly at certain times of day. Working on that slender clue, the Government men tracked down Harvey Bailey on the Texas farm where Urschel had been held, found Mr. & Mrs. George R. ("Machine Gun") Kelly in Memphis. All three, with two accomplices, were given life sentences by a Federal judge in Oklahoma City. Bailey and Kelly are at Alcatraz Island, Calif.