Re-Enacting The Trial of the Century

Decades before the O.J. Simpson murder trial, the "Trial of the Century" was the nickname given to the trial of Bruno Richard Hauptmann. Hauptmann was arrested for the kidnapping and killing of the baby of aviator Charles A. Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh in March, 1932. The child was snatched from the Lindbergh home in Hopewell, New Jersey, five years after the pilot’s record-setting first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

The subsequent trial took place in the Hunterdon County Courthouse on Main Street in Flemington, New Jersey, and it was the first modern "media circus" trial. Movie newsreels and photographs show hundreds of reporters gathered at the Union Hotel across the street awaiting the latest trial news, which was then relayed to radio stations and newspapers around the world.

The trial ended with a conviction for Hauptmann, who was then executed in Trenton in April, 1936. Hauptmann proclaimed his innocence until the end. Controversy and conspiracy theories concerning the incident continue today. Hauptmann's wife tried unsuccessfully to have the verdict overturned until her death in 2001 at the age of 94.

Beginning in 1990, a theater group has been re-enacting the Lindbergh trial for several weeks each year, and their staging has a unique twist: It takes place in the now fully-restored courtroom in which the actual trial was conducted. Theater-goers do not sit in an auditorium, but in the gallery seats of the courtroom. For a premium price, audience members are seated in the actual jury seats during the production.

After the play, which ends with the historically accurate guilty verdict, the modern "jurors" are questioned as to what verdict they would have delivered based on the evidence shown.

Before the show, kids dressed in period costumes are out in front of the courthouse selling newspapers – "Extra, Extra, read all about it!" – to create an atmosphere like 1935. This year the production begins this weekend, October 3-4, and continues through October 25. Details are available at http://www.famoustrials.com/ .

The production, which requires a cast of 15 actors and a technical crew of about eight, was named one of New Jersey's Top 100 Things To Do by the state's Division of Travel and Tourism. In particular we can recommend it as a great cross-generational family outing, particularly if your family has elders who were alive at the time of the original trial.

That’s Bull! (Really!)

If you are a police officer in the city of Paterson, you are prepared to encounter any number of difficult and potentially dangerous situations. But you are probably not completely prepared to encounter a bull on the loose.

But a bull on the loose was exactly what Paterson officers had on their hands Monday morning, when a 1,400-pound bull ran along East 7th Street.

The bull was being unloaded from a truck into ENA Meat Packing Inc. on East Fifth Street when he broke loose just before 8:30 AM, according to a report by The Record of Bergen County.

The driver of a cattle truck opened a side door to the truck to push the bull out the back of the vehicle, but the beast instead pushed back and was able to run out the door. He trotted from the slaughterhouse toward River Street with a crowd of meat packing workers chasing behind him.

Freedom has a universal appeal.

Slaughterhouse workers and police then tried to corral the beast cowboy-style, using a rope to lasso the bull, but the animal dragged more than five officers and workers behind him like an extra-large dog on a walk.

Now there’s an image!

Finally, police were able to wrap the rope around a light post and the city’s animal control officer was able to inject the bull with a sedative, which took about three or four minutes to kick in and knock out the animal.

"Police did a fantastic job corralling him," the animal control officer said.

Hang Up, Sit Down, and Watch.

At the moment, Utah has the toughest law in the nation on texting while driving. If you are just caught texting while driving, it can be up to three months in jail and a $750 fine. If you cause injury to someone, the fine and the jail time go up. "And," says Brent Wilhite, program director for Zero Fatalities, the state's public campaign against distracted driving, "if you kill someone, it's up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine."

Why so harsh? Take 15 minutes of your life and sit down and watch the following video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OjQrR_9TA4

If you don’t think that you have 15 minutes to spare, then watch this 5-minute video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0ukd7xTQ9g

It's not easy. Sit down and watch anyway.

Car vs Bicycle

For adults, bicycling has always been a popular, if somewhat fringe, form of exercise and transportation. But bicyclists and motorists have long had a somewhat rocky relationship on the roads they must share.

Last year we blogged about how, if a car and a pedestrian collide, the pedestrian always loses. The same is true of a bicyclist struck by a car. So, while bicyclists must be extra-vigilant to ensure that they are not struck by a car, motorists are obligated to exercise care, too.

Bicycles are generally subject to the same traffic regulations as cars. Similarly, motorists are generally expected to treat bicycles like any other vehicle on the road. The law requires bicyclists to not run red lights, for example, and the law requires motorists entering a roadway from a driveway to yield to vehicles already on the road, including bicycles.

It is perhaps best expressed in this way: There is only one road and it is up to motorists and bicyclists to share it, to treat each other with care and respect. Given the potentially grave consequences of a collision between a bicycle and a car, care and respect is in everyone’s best interests.

High Water

Ten years ago this month, in September, 1999, this photo was taken by an Associated Press photographer in downtown Bound Brook, New Jersey.

The unprecedented flooding was the result of Hurricane Floyd, the remnants of which pounded the state and caused massive property damage and significant loss of life.

Things are dry today in Bound Brook, but among of the legacies of the storm are the extensive flood control efforts that are either in place, under construction, or on the drawing board in Bound Brook and surrounding towns.

Today's Cartoon

By Jimmy Margulies,
as published in The Record of Bergen County.

Behind Every Great Man...

From the Police Blotter:

A man and his girlfriend went shopping at a discount store. Once they walked in the store, the girlfriend went to the restroom and the man began shopping. He picked up cat food, kitty litter, beer and soda, and walked toward the exit without paying.

An employee asked him for his receipt, so he briefly held up a piece of paper and hustled out the door. His girlfriend was outside by this time, and he hurried her to the car. She got in the driver’s seat, but before she could back out, the employee appeared again and asked for a receipt.

The man told his girlfriend to drive, but she asked him if he actually had a receipt and got out of the car. He jumped in the driver’s seat and backed out of the parking spot, bumping the store employee. He drove off, leaving his girlfriend.

She told police where to find him.