TCNJ

42 The College of New Jersey Magazine [11] The serial numbers of the ransom bills, which included $40,000 in gold certificates, were distributed to banks and businesses across New York. [12] In 2008, the license plate surfaced on eBay — then disappeared. Weeks later, Falzini walked into his office to find it lying on his desk. Says the archivist: "I asked no questions." [13] Hauptmann's five-week trial in the Flemington County Courthouse returned a verdict of guilty, with a sentence of death. He was executed on April 3, 1936, at 8:47 p.m. THE TELLTALE PLATE e numbers start to add up. "The license plate is what broke the case. In September of 1934, a man drove into a Manhattan gas station and bought 5 gallons of gas, which came to 98 cents, and paid for it with a $10 gold certificate. [11] The station manager was concerned that the bank wouldn't accept it — the country had gone off the gold standard the year before — so he copied the license plate number — 4U13 41 [12] — onto the bill. A bank teller later noticed that the bill was part of the ransom money and alerted the police, who traced the number to the car owned by Hauptmann, who became the prime suspect." THE ELECTRIC CHAIR e story doesn't end here. "Charles Mitchell, a doctor who was one of four witnesses to the execution — and was my mother's neighbor growing up — described Hauptmann's mental state as being 'dead' before he even got to the chair. " [13]

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