Remarkable and historically significant ALS in pencil, signed “Charles A. Lindbergh,” one page, 8.25 x 6, dated March 2, 1932 in the lower left. Handwritten letter by Lindbergh, penned just hours after the kidnapping of his son from his home in East Amwell, New Jersey. In full: "Due to the fact that our roads are blocked and communication made extremely difficult under present circumstances I am asking that everyone leave our farm. I am requesting your cooperation in the situation as it is of extreme importance to us." In very good to fine condition, with light creasing and toning from prior display. Encapsulated in a PSA/DNA authentication holder.
Accompanied by a copy of the original letter of provenance from Karl Bickel ("KAB"), which states: "Personally given to me early (8 a.m.appasx) on morning after kidnapping in order to get large body reporters off lawn so that possible conversation with kidnappers could be made. Request agreed too." Bickel was president of United Press from 1923 to 1935 and a personal friend of Charles Lindbergh; at the time Lindbergh's baby was kidnapped, Bickel counseled him on how to handle the press. Lindbergh later went to the United Press office several times in disguise to talk to Bickel about the case.
Lindbergh desperately wrote this letter just 12 hours after his twenty-month old son, Charles Jr., had been taken from the second floor nursery of the aviator's New Jersey home; a ransom note was left on the window sill of the nursery demanding $50,000 for the child's safe return. Bombarded by the press and curious onlookers, the distraught father handed this plea to Bickel, hoping to clear the property in an attempt to establish communication with the kidnapper. This hastily scribbled note harkens from the darkest time of Lindbergh's life, direct from the scene of the most horrendous crime.
