Silence

Hottest of hot stories in the U. S. Press was the Lindbergh kidnapping, murder, investigation and last week the arrest of the clam-mouthed Hauptmann (see p. 12). Any publisher would have given a year's profits for a complete scoop on the case. Certain Manhattan dailies even had men permanently assigned to the story, year in, year out. An ambitious Hearstling visited New Jersey State Police headquarters every week on his day off, patiently burrowing an inside track.

Last week it was revealed that one angle of the story had been forbidden fruit in news rooms. By an agreement almost unique in U. S. journalism, editors had promised the Department of Justice not to print reports of ransom money turning up. For more than two years city editors dutifully filed away such tips as their legmen brought them.

More than a week before Hauptmann's arrest, every reporter at New York Police headquarters knew the Lindbergh case was "red hot" in the Yorkville section of the city. To safeguard the confidence, they did not even notify their offices.

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