THE FRONT PAGE April, 1956

We have another magazine with a different twist to the story we worked on last week. I emailed my friend in Arizona and told her I was going to send it to her when I had all the information together. I warned her the magazine smelled like an old man. :)

As you can see by the cover, the issue is April and cost 25 cents. The time stamp says LIBRARY COPY DO NOT REMOVE Feb 10, 1956. This means this article about Kenneth Lindberg was published before the one in the True Detective magazine.

Some of the titles are:

Gloomy Gus and the Big Knife

Those Four Incredible Days

Thou Shalt Not

Blind Man's Bluff

A Stranger on the Plane

This Lady was for Burning

One of the seven features was Strictly Stag.

Strictly stag is a two page spread. It includes a safe electrical outlet box, ($6.95 and perfect for electric trains), much like a power strip; a box to kill ants, 69 cents for three; a paint color selector with 700 colors, no price listed; a fishing kit, $ 4.95; an indoor clothes line, $3.95; a two temperature insulated carrier, $12.95; a screw driver with a flash light, $1.98; a carry table which unfolds to 27 x 60, $19.95; a key ring, $1.00; a grass seeder, $6.40; a utensil to pry caps off jars and bottles,25 cents; and a tiny radio which you assemble in one evening. Turner covers full broadcast band. Gets good reception from stations up to 100 mile away. Radio kit without batteries is $4.98. Battery set is $1.25.

Can you tell me just why these items are STRICTLY STAG? Oh good grief!!!

Let's move on to a quiz:

This is called Headquarters Lineup

The question is: State prisons employ psychologists to help inmates gain insight into their behavior, so that they may not repeat their offenses. How does the run of the mill felon respond to this opportunity?

a. He has sense enough to take advantage of anything that will keep him from ever having to go back to prison

b. He shies away from it--suspecting that the nut doctors are sorting out transfers to the mental hospital.

B is the answer.

Another question:

What do you think the proportion of drug addicts to alcohol addicts among offenders convicted in New York City in 1956?

Answer: 1 in 4 is a drug addict, 1-16 is an alcoholic

Let's take a look at the back:

Imagine $5,000 for a serious illness! Imagine cash payments to your doctor for a total of UP TO $150!!! And this was considered not to bad a policy then. Private room rates in Thief River Falls in 1959 were $15 a day. Tell me, what are rates NOW?

The name of the article we are going to explore starting tomorrow is called "The Stranger on the Plane". If you read the four articles from the True Detective magazine, then you will see this story has an totally different twist to it.

I am thinking about my writer daughter. I am thinking about all the variables she could list to present this same story from a different side.

I am thinking about the numerous articles I have gleaned from the local paper and am still not finished. I am thinking about the incredible amount of digging Shirley did to find another way of looking at this tragedy. I am thinking about a book written by the slayer of Kenneth Lindberg and how he looks at it in the book. I plugged the name of the book at the library I love and they don't have it. Guess I am going to have to order it. Oh good grief!

Stay tuned tomorrow for Front Page Detective, part one.

e

THE SCENT OF BREAD

When I was a little girl, my mother went to the sanatorium with a diagnosis of tuberculosis; she would heal and be discharged in 23 months. My grand parents were hired to run the house and take care of Greg and me. It was 1949, Greg was just 9 and I had turned 5 in August.

This essay is about a person in your life that holds you inside of their inner most circle and you hold them in the same place. It is about an opportunity that happened, perhaps only because of the circumstances.

To understand inner sanctuary, visualize a target with a bulls eye in the center and circles of greater quality as you move in toward the circle. This will give you an idea of what it means to have people placed throughout your circle of friendships and the place most cherished being the center.


I became grandmother's shadow. When she was baking, I was in the kitchen, when she was drinking her morning coffee in bed, I was there, dipping my sugar lumps in her cup and when she was knitting and nodding, I was in her lap. The cloak of her being surrounded me.

From those years until Tom came back into my life in 1998, when ever I was afraid, sad, or needed nurturing, I went back to those times in her lap and waited for my soul to feel her body, hear her humming, and smell the aroma of fresh bread. That was my safe zone. There I could think, relax, take a breathe and they emerge as a roaring lion with a flicking tail and shake my mane; laying aside that starving kitten who didn't have the sense to come in out of the rain. It is the inner most circle; the perfect bulls eye.

Perhaps Tom tiptoed into the perfect center when the two of use played Scrabble on the patio table or went for long walks in the evening and hugged under the water tower. Perhaps the song, Falling into You, sung by Celine Dion, was really written in the early sixties and manifested itself about the time we reconnected in the winter of '98. I had no idea that anyone else could ever get that far inside of me reserved only for a few, not mindfully selected--rather are predetermined to be there; you know the place--it is the one where there are no words.

Today, I am thinking about Julia and how, still, when I am not willing or ready to talk or resolve something, I still go there. I am hopeful all of you have such a place of safety, regardless of who you are and how they are.

It is a universal rule.

THE MISSING BANKER PART FOUR OF FOUR

The FBI, asking questions in the Connor Hotel, found out that Charles Kenwell was known to Miss Southwell. The agents were even more pleasantly surprised when Miss Southwell announced that he was, at the moment, staying in their home. On December 8, G-Men surrounded the Southwell house. Two of the men mounted the steps and rang the doorbell. Kenwell surrendered without resistance. The officers searched his room.


They found, among other things, a 30.06 automatic rifle and a .22 caliber snub nosed revolver in his possession. In addition, he had over $1000 in cash and several of the stolen traveler's checks. In his pockets were two bank pass books. One showed he had deposited $3500 in a Detroit bank of Detroit , Michigan in a savings account. The other revealed $2610 in a checking account. It developed later that both these accounts had been opened with stolen Bank of America travelers checks. In Kenwell's wallet there were several documents which identified him as Charles Kenwell. There were even more documents which stated he was James P. Taylor.


He was immediately taken before United States Commissioner E. R. Crocker and held on a charge of transporting stolen traveler's checks from Detroit to San Francisco. The legal reason for this was that Taylor had cashed the checks in Detroit and routine banking procedure had sent them to a Bank of America in San Francisco where they had originally been issued.


Commissioner Crocker held the prisoner in $10,000 bail, which he could not raise. He waivered removal proceedings to Detroit and was held overnight in the Newton County Jail in Neosho, Missouri.


The FBI fingerprinted him and sent the prints to Washington. The result was most illuminating. The prisoner's name was James P. Taylor. He had a record as long as the congressman's speech. In 1950 he was jailed in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was held in Lynchburg, Virginia in 1951 on worthless check charges. For that he served eight months and paid a fine of $250. A few weeks after his release he was picked up in Norfork, Virginia, charged with impersonating a federal officer. For this he was sent to a federal penitentiary in Petersburg.


In 1954, he was convicted of transporting a stolen car in interstate commerce. He was sentenced to two years at the Milan, Michigan. Later, he was transferred to the reformatory at Terre Haute, Indiana where he finished his sentence.


He had been married several times. He was the adopted son of Mr. and Mrs. James W. Taylor, who lived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Informed of the arrest of his son, James Taylor said, "I've spent $10,000 in the past 10 years trying to give that boy in education and trying to get him to go straight."


The elder Taylor stated that the prisoner had visited here in Fort Lauderdale on November 26, two weeks after the slaying of Kenneth Lindberg. "He came down here to pick up some clothes he'd ship down after his last conviction."


On December 10, Taylor was scheduled to be taken from Missouri to Detroit by United States Marshall. On the same day the FBI announced that his fingerprints had been found on one of the forged checks which had been returned to the San Francisco office of the Bank of America.


At the last moment a court order directed that Taylor be taken to St. Paul, Minnesota, instead of to Detroit. He was transported to the Hennepin County Jail. There he waivered a preliminary hearing at was held for the grand jury.


A federal grand jury convened on January 30. United States Attorney George MacKinnon issued more than a score of subpoenas for various witnesses who had see the mysterious stranger and Thief River Falls on the day that Kenneth Lindberg was kidnapped. The court appointed Irving Nemerov as Taylor's attorney.


On February 2, 1956, a grand jury after hearing some 50 witnesses, indicted James Taylor on four counts, chief of which charge, was the murder of Kenneth Lindberg. The indictment was handed to judge Dennis F. Donovan in the St. Paul federal court. A grand jury had recommended that no bail be granted.


Although the exact testimony taken at the time of the indictment is being held secret, it has been established that Taylor was identified by employees of the Nicolet Hotel in Minneapolis, and the hotel in Thief River Falls and the Greystone Hotel in Detroit Lakes. Werstlien and several airline employees were also witnesses.


On Monday, February 6, Taylor was arrayed before Judge Gunner H. Nordbye in Minneapolis federal court. Taylor was brought from the jail under heavy guard. He pleaded not guilty to all charges. He was held without bail.


His attorney announced that he would attack the indictment on the grounds that the jurors were improperly chosen, or on constitutional grounds. He was given 10 days in which to make the necessary motions. Subsequent to that, Taylor's trial date would be set by the court.


The evidence against Taylor is strong but there remains an element of mystery in the case. What precisely was Taylor's motive? Certainly, he couldn't have planned merely to steal silver, which he discarded, and travelers checks? Perhaps he intended to rob the bank but was unaware of the time lock on the vault. And why did he kidnap Lindberg? Perhaps again, he intended to hold the cashier until Monday morning when the timelock would open the vault and commit the robbery then. But if this was so, why did he take Lindberg to Detroit Lakes? And why did he murder him at Clear Lake? And if, as stated, Lindbergh was in the phone booth alone when he called his wife on that fateful night, why didn't he ask her to notify the police?


Thus far, the answers to these questions seem locked in Taylor said. And Taylor will admit nothing.

*The name, Irma Southwell, was used in the foregoing story, is not the real name of the person concerned. This person has been given a fictitious name to protect her identity.

THE MISSING BANKER PART 3 OF 4

Now the Michigan office of the FBI learned that on November 15 and man identifying himself as Charles Kenwell of Philadelphia, had attempted to open an account in a Detroit bank, offering for deposit $6,000 in Bank of America travelers checks. When pressed for details regarding himself and his business, the man became nervous and left the bank. He said he would return later but he never did. The description of Charles Kenwell tallied with that of the stranger who had left the bank with Lindberg. The Philadelphia address he had given proved to be nonexistent.

On Wednesday, November 16, three of the stolen traveler's checks were cashed at the Morrison Hotel in Chicago. On the same day two more were cashed at the counter of Capital Airlines in the same city. A check of the plane flights from Chicago on that day revealed no further trace of the fugitive.


On November 30 more than 1000 persons crowded into the Trinity Lutheran Church in Thief River Falls to attend the burial service for Kenneth Lindberg. Mrs. Violet Lindberg bore up bravely. "The damage is done," she said, " we can't understand how such a thing could happen in our community. My husband was killed by a crook who exchanged his soul for a few dollars."


The first arrest made in the case occurred on November 26 in Monroe, Michigan. A state trooper stopped a car for speeding. The man at the wheel identified himself as Miles La Rose. The girl with him gave her name as Sallie Jean LeClair. The couple seemed nervous and the officer became suspicious. He searched the car. In the glove compartment he found two cashiers checks and the amount of $300 each made out on a St. Paul, Minnesota bank.


There were also a number of keys to the safety deposit boxes, 50 automobile keys, $265 in cash, along with the Mexican and Canadian currency and several pornographic photographs. The trooper also found a small quantity of narcotics. He arrested the pair took them to the Monroe County Jail. A quick investigation revealed that Miles La Rose often used the alias of Frank Rinaldo and the description that was sent out from Thief River Falls in the Lindberg murder case.


The FBI was immediately notify. They interviewed LaRose, checked his alibi that he was at the Olds Hotel in Detroit at the time of the kidnapping. It held up. However the county authorities detained the pair on the narcotics in pornographic charges.


That left the FBI and the Minnesota police precisely where they had been ever since the day when Lindberg had so mysteriously disappeared from the Northern State Bank. More than 50 FBI man were now working on the case in several states. Every remote clue, every crackpot tip, was tracked down. But invariably it finished at a dead end.


Early in December the FBI learned that one of the stolen traveler's checks had been cashed at the Connor Hotel in Joplin, Missouri. The check had been cashed on December 3, by a man who called himself Charles Kenwell. That, apparently was the same name that the suspect had used when arranging to open an account in Detroit. The FBI agents called the immediately at the hotel, asking for Charles Kenwell.


"He's not checked in here," the desk clerk told them. "He stayed here for a while in November. He checked out on November 8. He dropped in on December 3 and asked to cash a traveler's check and he told me he was staying with friends. Since I knew him, I cashed the check."
The FBI began a block by block search of Joplin. It took them five days before they arrived at the home of Mrs. Irma Southwell, Mrs. Southwell lived with her daughter, who with a sister-in-law, operated a travel agency. The Southwell family was socially prominent and long-established in Joplin.

On November 5, a full week before the mysterious disappearance of Kenneth Lindberg, Mr. Charles Kenwell appeared at the counter of the Southwell Travel Agency. He was extremely well-dressed and well groomed. He was glib and personable. He picked up an illustrated folder which extolled the exotic virtues of Spain and asked several questions.


"I'm thinking of spending a year in Spain," he said. "I needed a year in some quiet town to finish my novel."


Ms. Southwell was interested. "Are you a writer?"


Charles Kenwell not only was it a writer, he wasn't even Charles Kenwell. However, he thoroughly convinced her that he was both. She was quite impressed with Kenwell. So much so, that she took him home and introduced him to her mother, who was equally impressed.


Kenwell spoke of the various books and magazine articles he had written. Mrs. Southwell remarked that it was odd she had read nothing of his, since she was a constant reader. Kenwell countered this by announcing that, as a general rule, he wrote under pseudonyms.
"Mine is a mainline Philadelphia family," he said. "Perhaps a little on the stuffy side. They disapprove of my choice of career. They wanted me to work in the family bank. I use various names to spare my mother's feelings."


This is Southwell thought this was most considerate of Kenwell.


On November 9, Kenwell checked out of his hotel. He told the Southwell's that it was necessary for him to go to New York to consult his publishers. However, he would return to Joplin within a few weeks. He was writing a story about the early days of Missouri. There was certain research he must do it Joplin. This is Southwell was so taken with her new friend that she offered him the hospitality of her own home.


"When you return, she said," you mustn't stay at the hotel. You come here and stay with us. We have plenty of room." Kenwell accepted graciously. A few days later he left Joplin. However, he did not go to New York. Later it became clear that he had covered a circuitous route. He traveled to Chicago, Minneapolis, Thief River Falls, Detroit Lakes, Clear Lake, Detroit, then back to Chicago. December 3 he arrived back at Joplin, bag and baggage into the unsuspecting household of the Southwell's.

The part four tomorrow

e

THE MISSING BANKER PART TWO OF FOUR

The stranger had flown from Minneapolis to Thief River Falls on a North Central Airlines flight. Again he used the name of J. O'Malley when making the plane reservation. He registered under the name of Johnson at the hotel in Thief River Falls and informed the room clerk that his secretary, Miss Hadley, would arrive on Sunday or Monday. He did not go to his room. He went, presumably, directly to the bank where he was admitted by Lindberg.


A further check at the Greystone Hotel in Detroit Lakes, whence Lindberg had telephoned his wife, revealed that two hotel employees distinctively recalls seeing Lindbergh and the stranger in the lobby that Saturday evening. The desk clerk said that Lindbergh had entered the telephone booth alone. The other man had waited in the lobby.

"He was about 30 years old," said the clerk, "and well dressed. He had a mean look and appeared rather nervous. He scowled at me when I asked him if there was anything I could do for him."


Now it is 197 miles from Detroit Lakes to Minneapolis. Nevertheless Johnson -- O'Malley, or whatever his name was, arrived back at the Nicolet Hotel at 3:30 in the morning. Apparently he had driven the distance in less than four hours. He went to his room and called room service. He ordered ice, which was brought to him by Arthur Leeds, a bellboy. An hour later he called room service again. This time he requested a large container of coffee. Leeds brought it to him. A few minutes later, Leeds, standing in the lobby, saw the stranger walked out of the hotel.


He returned a half hour later, went to his room, picked up his suitcase, and came back to the lobby and asked for his bill. He paid it with a Bank of America travelers check. For identification he produced a sheaf of credit cards from all over the country, all made out to Herbert F. Johnson.


The FBI, up to this point, had done a brilliant job in tracing the fugitives movements. Unfortunately the trail is it on the pavement outside the Nicolet Hotel, in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday, November 13. No witnesses who had seen Johnson could be found after he checked out.


A quick audit at the Northern State Bank revealed that $1850 in coins and $14,000 in negotiable travelers checks were missing. The serial numbers of the travelers checks were on file. All other cash in the bank had been locked in a vault, sealed with the time lock.


On Friday, November 18, a woman telephoned the Minneapolis police to report that a car parked across the street from our home on 18th Ave North, since early Monday morning. It was a 1951, 2-tone green Buick. The local police investigated, check the license plates and found the car was registered in the name of Kenneth Lindberg of Thief River Falls. They promptly notified the FBI. The federal man, under the command of Calvin B Howard, agent in charge of the Minneapolis office, arrived and made a thorough examination of the car.


In the trunk compartment they've found $1630 in silver, still in bank wrappers. The also obtained five different fingerprints from the interior of the car. One of these sets belong to Lindberg. Three others were too blurred for definite identification. The remaining set was not on file in the FBI Washington archives, further investigation revealed.


The mystery of what happened to Kenneth Lindberg remained just that until the afternoon of Friday, November 25. On that day the Fiereck boys, where rabbit hunting. There were three Fiereck boys: Merle, Kenney, and Gary. They were the sons of a farmer whose property lay a little more than 2 miles from Clear Lake, Minnesota. At two o'clock in the afternoon they came upon a corpse. It was half covered with snow and frozen solid. There were a dozen wounds in the head and the snow was stained with blood. Surrounding the body was some $200 in quarters and dimes.


The boys ran back to the farmhouse and told their father, Lawrence Fiereck, of the gruesome discovery. Feireck put a call to sheriff Chester Goenner of Sherburne County.


The sheriff and the coroner, Dr. Gordon Tesch, raced out to be Fiereck farm. Goenner, who had a detailed description of Kenneth Lindberg in his office, was certain that this was the body of the missing bank cashier. Dr. Tesch ordered the body taken to Elk River for autopsy. Goenner communicated with Sheriff Arthur Rambeck and Police Chief Cummings of Thief River Falls. Both were personal friends of Lindberg. They set out at once for Elk River and positively identified the corpse as that of Kenneth Lindberg. The FBI, searching the area where the body had been found, picked up more than $200 in silver.


The autopsy revealed that Lindbergh had been brutally beaten to death with some instrument, such as a hatchet, a machete, or possibly a stack of rolled up quarters. There were eight to 10 cuts in his head, four to 5 inches long. All of them had penetrated the skull.


Dr. Tesch announced that a corners jury would hold an inquest. "However," he added, "yet was undoubtedly murder."

On November 26, County Attorney L. W. Rulien issued a John Doe kidnapping warrant. The coroner are announced it would take 10 days of laboratory tests to determine just when Lindbergh had been killed. However, the fact that snow had half covered the body indicated that he had been murdered prior to the last heavy snowfall, which it occurred on November 15.

Stay tuned for part Three

THE MISSING BANKER, PART ONE OF FOUR

Kenneth Lindberg was a respectable citizen, as solid as Carrara marble. His life was an open book written in simple sentences. He never dappled in intrigue and his life held no mysteries. His death however was an enigma which neither the police nor the FBI have yet completely solved. In 1955, Kenneth Lindberg was 44 years old. He was married and the father of four children -- Ronald, 10, Janice, 15, Evonne, 8 and year-old baby, Nancy. He had lived in Thief River Falls, Minnesota all his life and had worked for the Northern State Bank for almost half of it. At the time of this baffling death he held the trusted position of cashier.

He was an active PTA worker and a prominent member of the Trinity Lutheran Church. His hobbies were energetic. He liked to hunt, fish, skate and tramp in the woods. In these pursuits he was usually accompanied by his son, Ronald. Lindberg was popular and highly respected in his community. Orvis Oen, his high school classmate and longtime friend, said after the tragedy, "to the best of my knowledge, Kenny Lindberg never had an enemy in all of his life."

That was probably true. For the man who murdered Kenneth Lindberg wasn't even an enemy. Hardly knew the victim.

For 44 years the life of Kenneth Lindberg had run on an even keel. If he had never known great ecstasy he had never known tragedy either. He was an average American citizen who led an average middle-class life. The insurance company actuaries would have laid you a nice price that Kenneth Lindberg would die in his own bed, quietly and peacefully at a ripe old age. The actuaries would have lost their money. Kenneth Lindberg died outdoors. Moreover, he died violently, mysteriously, and prematurely.

Although Lindberg had no inkling of the at at a time, he is bloody death was pre-staged at 11 o'clock on Saturday morning, November 12, 1955. At that moment, a telephone on Lindberg's desk rang. It was a long distance call from Minneapolis.

An amiable voice said," This is Herbert F Johnson. I'm calling from the Nicolet Hotel in Minneapolis. What time does your bank close today?"

"It's Saturday," said Lindberg. "We close at one o'clock."

"In that event," said Johnson, "I wonder if you could do me a favor. I can't reach Thief River Falls until late this afternoon. I am carrying some $23,000 in cash with me which I need to close a business deal on Monday morning. Could you possibly meet me at the bank at about half past four and let me deposit the money? I don't like to carry all this cash over the weekend."

Lindberg agreed. Although the bank closed at one, the cashier intended to work through the day. He promised to open the bank when Herbert Johnson arrived.

An hour later the telephone rang again. Once more he was Herbert Johnson calling from Minneapolis. "Sorry to bother you," he said, "Could you make a hotel reservation for me in Thief River Falls? Reserve two rooms for us. One for me and one for my secretary, Ms. Hadley."

Lindberg announced that he would be glad to make the reservations.

"Thanks a lot," said Johnson. "How about having dinner with me tonight?"

Lindberg, who had a prior engagement to attend a local school function, politely declined. Then he hung off and went back to his ledgers.

At 4:30, Herbert F. Johnson hammered at the locked door of the Northern State Bank. Lindberg left his desk and opened the door. A dark eyed man with curly haired stood on the threshold. He was well dressed, about 30 years old and had been affable manner. "Hi," he said, thrusting out his hand," I Herbert Johnson."

Lindberg introduced himself, shook hands and led Johnson to his office. As they passed down the corridor they met George Werstlein, vice president of the bank. Lindberg introduced Johnson to Werstlein.

Werstlein then went into his own office. He left for home at 6:30. At that time he heard Lindberg and Johnson laughing and talking in the former's office.

At nine o'clock that night two men emerged from the back door of the bank, a door which serve other offices in the building. One of them was carrying a black satchel. A porter, who was mopping the floor of the building, saw them walk out into the street. If these men were Lindberg and Johnson -- it was never been absolutely proved that they were -- a porter was one of the last persons ever to see Kenneth Lindberg alive.

At 11 o'clock at night it occurred to Mrs. Lindberg that her husband was working much later than usual. She put through a telephone call to the bank. There was no answer. At this point, Mrs. Lindberg was not particularly worried. She assumed that her husband had left the bank and was on his way home. At 11:20 p.m. the telephone rang. Violet Lindberg picked up the receiver and heard her husband's voice.

"Kenny," she said," where are you calling from?"

"I'm in Detroit Lakes." This is a town 90 miles south of Thief River Falls. "I'm calling from the Greystone Hotel. I'm here on bank business and it will take me two or three hours to clean it up. Don't wait up for me."

Reassured,Violet Lindberg hung up and went to bed. When she awoke on Sunday morning she found that her husband had not returned. Mrs. Lindberg called George Werstlein.

Werstlein said, "Kenny was in the bank talking to a client when I left last night about 6:30 and I haven't heard from him since."

"He called me last night from Detroit Lakes. He said he was there on bank business."

This puzzled Werstlein. There was no bank business which could possibly have taken the cashier to Detroit Lakes. He did not communicate his sudden fear to Mrs. Lindberg. Instead he said, "I am sure everything is all right. I'll check on it and call you back."

When he hung up, Werstlein put through a call to sheriff Arthur Rambeck of Pennington County. Rambeck immediately drove over to Werstlein's home. Werstlein told the sheriff of the visit to the bank of Herbert Johnson, and that Johnson and Lindberg were in the bank when he left it at 6:30.

"You never saw or heard of this Johnson before?"Werstlein shook his head. "No, but Lindberg told me he that he'd telephone from the Nicolet Hotel in Minneapolis."

"Anything missing from the bank?"

"I don't know, there is a time lock on the vault which won't open until Monday morning."

"Is all the cash in the vault?

"Most of it. There'd be some silver left in the tellers drawers."

The sheriff stood up. "Let's go down to the bank and take a look."

Werstlein and the sheriff drove to the bank. The vice president unlock the door and they entered. Lindberg's office was in good order. There was no sign of a struggle. Werstlein check the ledgers and the tellers drawers.

"There is some silver messing," he said. "I figure the amount as $1850. And there are a number of Bank of America travelers checks missing. I don't know exactly how many. The auditor will have to figure that out."

Sheriff Rambeck returned to his office and got in touch with Thief River Falls police chief Elton Cummings. Then, because it appeared that a member of the federal reserve banking system had been robbed, Rambeck telephone FBI agent Mark De Wolfe in the town of Bemidji.

A detailed description of Lindberg and a sketchy one of Herbert Johnson, furnished by Werstlein was sent on the police teletype throughout Minnesota and into neighboring states. Three days went by and no trace of either man was found. But the FBI, working quietly and efficiently, had managed to learn a great deal regarding the movements of the mysterious Johnson on November 11 and 12.

He had flown in from Chicago to Minneapolis on Friday, November 11. He had told the airline ticket agent that his name was J. O'Malley. Shortly before midnight he had checked into the Nicolet Hotel in Minneapolis. He signed the name of Herbert F. Johnson on the register. His address was given as Route 1, Racine, Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin FBI agents investigated. They've found a Herbert F. Johnson at the address alright. But this particular Johnson was neither a kidnapper nor a thief. He was a wealthy, highly respected President of Johnson and Son, manufacturers of Johnson's wax. Naturally Mr. Johnson was not the man who had visited the Northern State Bank. He could not explain how or why his name had been used. He knew no one who answered the description of the stranger who had appropriated his name.

Stay tune for Part Two

TRUE DETECTIVE MAGAZINE MAY 1956

The story about Kenneth Lindberg's kidnapping, murder, and the robbery of the Northern State Bank appears in true Detective Magazine, May of 1956. The magazine sold for $.25. The article is six pages long. Before we get into the actual story written in the true Detective Magazine lets look at the magazine as a whole.

As you can see on the cover other stories are illustrated. One is called a Murderous Statist Loose in Little Rock. "I don't mind killing again" and the banner at the bottom says How the defense attorney turned prosecutor, broke the Betty Cummings case. Another article is called a bludgeoned brunette and the boy nobody believed.

The magazine is filled with advertisements and what we would now call info commercials on television. One of them is called how is your batting average with the boss. Here's some of the questions it asks:

are you still making a hit?

Are you off for the job ahead?

Here is a sure way to score in any league!

If your boss is like most, he is casting his critical eye and everybody these days. He wants to know how you stack up. Are you making good -- -- or marking time? When the changes comes, will you go up -- -- or will you go out?

This is no time for casual resolve. What you plan to do six months from now may be too late. You've got to prove what are worth -- --!

The quickest, surest way to impress your boss is to show him that you are better equipped than the next guy. And that's where ICS can go to bat for you! Leading companies know it -- -- and use it! At your request, your boss will get regular reports of your progress with ICS. More important, he'll notice the immediate improvement in your work.

This is personalized instruction. No interference with other activities. No slow classmates to hold up your progress. You forge ahead as rapidly as your time and ability permit! The courses are practical, up to the minute, what you learn in one night you can apply the next day.

Successful men know how to make decisions don't put it off. Mail the coupon today

These are 36 page booklet's on how to succeed from the international correspondence school. It lists architecture, art, automotive, aviation, business, chemistry, structural engineering, drafting, electrical, high school, leadership, radio and television, railroad, steam and diesel power, textile, and miscellaneous. This is a partial list of 277 courses. They offer three free booklets that do not offer a price for courses. It almost reads as if in 1955, if you read a 36 page booklet, you could become a chemist!!!

One of the stories in the magazine is called Marlene was Ready to Kill. Pretty, some spoiled and man crazy, this girl re-paid her parents love with callous, calculated hatred.

Along an about page 62 and 63 years in an article s called True Detective Lineup readers are asked to watch for these fugitives. We've seen television shows where they are showing people now that are fugitives in back in 1950's True Detective magazine talks about the $21,000 paid out in rewards for 212 captures. Perhaps I should not dwell on the less than $100 for the reward but rather getting the criminals off the street. I DO watch too many 'copper' shows.

ADVERTISMENT

Here's another advertisement: A secret method for the mastery of life. It asks, has life brought you that personal satisfaction, that sense of achievement and happiness that you desire? If not, it is your duty to yourself to learn about this rational method of applying natural laws for the mastery of life. To a thoughtful person is obvious that everyone cannot be entrusted with the intimate knowledge of the mysteries of life, for every one is not capable of properly using it. But if you are one of those who possess a true desire to forge a head and wish to make a use of the stubble influences of life, and we will send you this sealed book without obligation. No price listed.

ADVERTISMENT

Here's an article for Vitalis, to you remember that? There's a picture of a man and a panda bear. It says Vitalis was way to keep your hair neat all day. Vitalis tames wild hair with these seven the unique grooming discovery that's not mineral, vegetable, or animal oil. You never have that unsightly, over slick plastered down look. It protects your handsome hair from the scalp dryness. Try it -- -- you like it! And so will your mate. Is his mate the panda?

ADVERTISMENT

There's a fisherman's product advertising here, it says it makes the fish bite every day. It's an amazing 100 year old gypsy bait oil it says that the gypsies invented this amazing scented oil formula that excites all kinds of fish through thousands of smell organs that cover their bodies. When one strikes madly for your lure they (all the fish), flight over it and usually the largest fish of gets the bait. Write, asking for one double sized bottle of gypsy fish oil bait for $1.98 or three for $4.98.

ADVERTISMENT

Men? Are you getting up nights because of loss of vitality and pain in hips, legs back, or nervousness?. These symptoms may be caused by glandular inflammation, a condition to men over 40. Write for your free booklets to the Kansas City Clinic.

ADVERTISMENT

RUPTURE? And amazing air cushioned invention allows body freedom at work or play. Light, neat, cool, AND sanitary. Durable, cheap. Day and night protection helps nature support weakened muscles gently but surely. Send for free trial. Confidential. I would not wish to be the second person wearing this garment if it was returned, would you?

ADVERTISMENT

Color slides -- -- studies of beauty -- -- brand-new series of exclusive slide sets for grown-ups. Really beautiful studies of lovely cuties imposes that were deliberately planned to reveal the most utmost beauty. You will be thrilled that the detail, color, and clarity. 10 different sets to buy two slides in each set mounted and ready for the projector or view or set up 10 slides three dollars. little porno here?

ADVERTISMENT

Monuments -- -- directly to you -- -- easy terms
genuine Rockdale monuments and markers. Full price $14.95 and up. We pay freight as low as $4.52 down.

ADVERTISMENT

Reading glasses for folks over 40 just mail name, address, and age. On arrival, pay postmen four dollars plus COD. Wear them five days if you are not more than satisfied return them for money back.

Analyze handwriting -- -- fascinating new training for knowing the criminal mind. Helps you understand the criminal mind by their handwriting. Endorsed by police officers, private investigators and New Jersey police. Send now for trial lesson free. Give age. Doesn't this sound fascinating?

On the back of the magazine is a picture of rugged Rock Hudson advertising for Camel cigarettes. Question. How is your disposition today? But its a physiological fact that pleasure helps your disposition! That's why every day pleasures -- -- like smoking, for instance -- -- means so much. So if you're a smoker, it's important to smoke the most pleasure giving cigarettes -- -- the Camel. Rock Hudson agrees with camel smokers everywhere: there is more pure pleasure in camels! More flavor, genuine mildness! Good reasons why today or people smoke camels than any other cigarette. Remember this: pleasure helps your disposition and for more pure pleasure -- -- have a Camel.

Aren't these all facts we just needed to know!!??

Now, let's get the magazine in the mail and sent to Judy Rambeck, after all she is the one who was looking for it! After it is on its way, I can tell you the whole story.

e