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Archive of letters and personal papers from the collection of Morris ‘Mickey’ Rosner, a small-time New York bootlegger hired by Charles and Anne Lindbergh to leverage his underworld connections to gather intelligence on the kidnapping of their infant son, Charles Lindbergh, Jr., who was taken from the couple’s home on March 1, 1932; his lifeless body was found two months later on May 12, 1932. The archive is contained in a large scrapbook album, 12.75 x 15, and is highlighted by sundry letters and telegrams sent to Rosner and the Lindberghs offering clues and support on the case, many of which were mailed by anonymous sources. Examples include (grammar and spelling retained):
Letter to Anne Morrow Lindbergh, postmarked March 8, 1932: “I am a very good friend of yours the one that was about the kidnaping and was where it is is your maid and your Butler they no where the baby is held they no all about it that it was going to be kidnaped they got money for the job.”
Letter from “The White Wolf” to Charles Lindbergh, postmarked March 15, 1932: “Please do not call this a tip off. If you will let Morris Rosnor have his way you will find your baby for he is the brains of this great crime. He is seeking money and praise and a big job.”
Telegram from Captain Don Wilkie, former US Secret Service, to the Lindberghs, March 5, 1932: “To date I have maintained silence due to conviction that speedy return of your son would be affected and because I understand the strain under which you both are attempting to do some straight thinking. But now on behalf of my father, Honorable John E. Wilkie, former chief for sixteen years of the United States Secret Service, and myself, I offer our experience, personal interest, and farflung connections if by the slightest chance your intimate knowledge of the exact situation there indicates we might possibly be of aid.”
Letter from “Mrs H,” sent to Rosner, postmarked March 11, 1932: “Of all the Germans in my house 3 were bad in some ways. But two are in Germany again. The enclosed is from one who mixes in the so-called underworld also with residents of Harlem. Believe he came in through Canada on questionable basis through that lawyer Goldsmith.”
Lengthy anonymous typed letter, no date, which reads: “A year ago this coming May Gleason and I were over in the Hudson County Penitentiary at Snake Hill. Gleason suggested that it might be a good idea to kidnap the Lindbergh baby. On July 30, 1931, I was released from the Hudson County Penitentiary, and after my release from there, I made arrangements to go and see a woman that Gleason and I had talked about…She was the one we had agreed upon to take care of the Lindbergh baby…At that time it was agreed that we would keep the child in one of two places, either Newark or Greenville, a suburb of Jersey City. We picked out the house we were going to use at either one of these places, and I could quite easily take you to either one of them.”
The archive also contains handwritten copies of the ransom notes, several more telegrams related to the Lindberghs' efforts to contact the kidnappers, various newspaper clippings, and a TLS from New Jersey Governor Harold G. Hoffman, sent to Rosner on April 6, 1936: “I am sure you realize just what I have been ‘up against’ in an attempt to see that the full justice was done in the Lindbergh matter. Instead of cooperating, the police have thrown every possible obstacle in the way of a fair investigation.”
Also of note are several letters unrelated to the Lindbergh but sent to Rosner by notable figures of the day, including a TLS from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, three TLSs from MGM co-founder Louis B. Mayer, and a TLS from Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, dated November 13, 1963, nine days before JFK’s assassination; includes two other RFK letters signed in autopen or by a secretary. All of the archival material is adhered to scrapbook sheets. In overall fine condition.
