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.
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.
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