The connection between Bruno Hauptmann, the convicted and executed kidnapper of the Charles Lindbergh baby, and the Aldinger family!

Bruno Hauptmann first set foot on American soil on his twenty- fourth birthday-November 26, 1923. A stowaway on the "SS George Washington", he spent the ocean crossing hiding in a coal bunker, emerging every night to scavenge from the garbage pails that were brought up on deck for disposal by the morning watch.

It was his third attempt in five months to enter the United States. On his first try, in July, Hauptmann had stowed away in a bilge compartment of the German liner "Hannover", only to be seized by customs officials when he tried to sneak off the ship. He gave the alias Karl Pellmeir and was departed to Germany after a brief hearing. On his second stowaway attempt, he was caught during a general search and locked in a bathroom for the return voyage. He escaped from the locked cubicle twice and eventually managed to leap overboard and swim to shore just before the ship docked in Bremerhaven.

The next time around Hauptmann got lucky. An engine stoker who stumbled on his hiding place in the coal bunker was planning to jump ship in New York and offered to help Hauptmann sneak ashore. The stoker had the address of a German family named Uhland on West Eighty-second Street, and he and Hauptmann walked there from the waterfront. Jacob Uhland was willing to put the merchant seamen up for a few days but wanted nothing to do with the dishelved, tough- looking stowaway. Hauptmann was sitting in the Uhlands' living room wondering where to go next, when eighteen-year-old Fred Aldinger showed up, hoping to trade some stamps with Uhland, a fellow collec- tor. Aldinger's father, a war veteran with a wooden leg and a heavy drinking habit, had recently lost his job, and his mother, Lena, was looking for a boarder to supplement her earnings as a laundress. Aldinger told Hauptmann that he could stay with his family for free until he earned his first paycheck.

At first Hauptmann was the ideal boarder. He landed a job washing dishes at a restaurant near South Ferry just two days after he moved in, and he spent his evenings studying an English grammar book. Although he never would learn to speak or write English fluently, Hauptmann was an intelligent man who prided himself on reading the "New York Times" every day, unlike so many other immigrants who relied on the German language press or the tabloids for their news. He also played the mandolin and displayed impeccable manners, never failing to help Lena Aldinger with the heavy baskets of laundry she collected from her customers on Riverside Drive.

Lena was just forty, a decade younger than her alcoholic husband, and she soon was enamored of this athletic, well-spoken roomer with, as she put it, "such happy go lucky ways". She began calling him Richard or Rick, names he came to prefer to Bruno because they sounded more American. Before three weeks had passed it occured to Rudolph Aldinger that his wife and his new boarder were getting along a bit too well. One night in mid-December, Aldinger came home blind drunk and accused the two of them of sleeping together. When Richard seemed reluctant to defend him- self with his fists, Lena resolved the dispute by breaking a chair over her husband's head. Hauptmann departed to a nearby rooming- house, and two days later, while Rudolph was at work, Lena and her teenage sons moved to a new apartment on 117th Street. As soon as they were settled, Lena sent word to Richard inviting him for Christmas dinner. He showed up carrying his meager belongings and moved in.

By now Fred Aldinger rued the day that he ever invited Hauptmann into his home. Richard had made contact with Albert Deibisch, a fellow German whom he had met on the docks in Bremer- haven before his second stowaway attempt. Deibisch, who came from a middle-class background and had brought some savings with him to the States, was now running a hole-in-the-wall coffee shop on Lexington Avenue known as the A.D. Coffee Pot. Almost every night Deibisch and Hauptmann lounged around the kitchen table in the Aldinger apartment hatching get-rich-quick schemes. One that Fred Aldinger particularly remembered involved a formula for laundry soap, apparently obtained from an old-country acquaintance of Hauptmann's who worked for Proctor & Gamble. Hauptmann and Deibisch were convinced that they could make a formula by manufacturing soap from the stolen formula and selling it them- selves, door to door. Like most of their ideas, this one never got beyond the talking stage.

Lena, meanwhile, had begun playing mother hen to another greenhorn who worked as a maid for one of her laundry customers on Riverside Drive. Anna Schoeffler was new in New York and didn't yet know her way around, so Lena invited her out once evening for a movie, then brought her back to 117th Street for coffee. By the time Anna left that evening, Hauptmann had asked her out on a date, and they were soon meeting secretly almost every weekend......( Anna became the wife of Richard Bruno Hauptmann).

Source: Joyce C. Milton "Loss of Eden", pages 307 and 308

Hauptmann - Aldinger Family Timeline

submitted by Robert Aldinger

Date

Event

November 1923

Richard Hauptmann (24) arrives in America. He moves in with Lena Aldinger (40), her husband, Rudy (50), and their two sons, Fred (17) and Rudolph Jr. (10). They live at 954 Columbus Avenue in New York City. Shortly thereafter Rudy Sr. orders Hauptmann out of his house. Hauptmann rents a furnished room.

Dec. 16 or 17, 1923

Lena Aldinger leaves her husband. She moves to 273 West 117^th Street and takes her two sons with her. Hauptman moves back in with Lena.

January 1, 1924

Anna Schoeffler (25) arrives in America on the S.S. Mongolia.

2^nd week in

Jan. 1924

Lena Aldinger befriends Anna Schoeffler.

Middle of

Feb. 1924

Lena Aldinger introduces Anna Schoeffler to Richard Hauptmann. Anna and Richard start dating after this initial meeting.

May 1924

Richard Hauptmann moves out of Lena Aldinger’s apartment. He takes an apartment with his friend Albert Deibig.

Oct. 10, 1924

Richard Hauptmann and Anna Schoeffler get married.

ca. 1926

Lena Aldinger’s son Fred (20) marries Mary Clark (17). They become Robert Aldinger’s parents in 1928.

June 1928

Anna Hauptmann travels to Germany for a visit.

August 8, 1928

Robert Aldinger (living in Florida) is born. He is the son of Fred Aldinger (22) and Mary Clark (19).

August 1931

Lena’s husband Rudy is admitted to the City Home at Welfare Island. He lives there on and off until June 1934.

1931

Richard and Anna Hauptmann embark on a months-long trip to the West Coast with a friend, Hans Kloppenburg. They probably left in May or June of that year.

October 1931

Anna and Richard Hauptmann return from their West Coast trip.

July 1, 1932

Anna Hauptmann travels to Germany.

October 9, 1932

Anna Hauptmann returns from Germany.

Jan./Feb. 1933

Anna and Richard Hauptmann spend 3 weeks in Florida. Their son Manfred is conceived during this vacation trip.

Nov. 3, 1933

Manfred Hauptmann, Richard’s and Anna’s son, is born.

Late 1933 or 1934

The marriage of Bob Aldinger’s parents, Fred and Mary, falls apart (according to Mary’s mother, also named Mary Clark). They start living apart.

Nov. 20, 1934

Lena Aldinger (50), her married son Fred (27) (= Robert Aldinger’s father) and her unmarried son Rudolph (21) live together at 20 Arden place, NYC. The police report does not say that Fred’s wife and child (i.e. Mary and Robert Aldinger) are living there also. It is therefore likely that Robert lived with his mother elsewhere or that at this time he was already living in an orphanage or similar institution.

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Date	Event
November 1923	Richard Hauptmann (24) arrives in America. He moves in with Lena Aldinger (40), her husband, Rudy (50), and their two sons, Fred (17) and Rudolph Jr. (10). They live at 954 Columbus Avenue in New York City. Shortly thereafter Rudy Sr. orders Hauptmann out of his house. Hauptmann rents a furnished room.
Dec. 16 or 17, 1923	Lena Aldinger leaves her husband. She moves to 273 West 117^th Street and takes her two sons with her. Hauptman moves back in with Lena.
January 1, 1924	Anna Schoeffler (25) arrives in America on the S.S. Mongolia.
2^nd week in Jan. 1924	Lena Aldinger befriends Anna Schoeffler.
Middle of Feb. 1924	Lena Aldinger introduces Anna Schoeffler to Richard Hauptmann. Anna and Richard start dating after this initial meeting.
May 1924	Richard Hauptmann moves out of Lena Aldinger’s apartment. He takes an apartment with his friend Albert Deibig.
Oct. 10, 1924	Richard Hauptmann and Anna Schoeffler get married.
ca. 1926	Lena Aldinger’s son Fred (20) marries Mary Clark (17). They become Robert Aldinger’s parents in 1928.
June 1928	Anna Hauptmann travels to Germany for a visit.
August 8, 1928	Robert Aldinger (living in Florida) is born. He is the son of Fred Aldinger (22) and Mary Clark (19).
August 1931	Lena’s husband Rudy is admitted to the City Home at Welfare Island. He lives there on and off until June 1934.
1931	Richard and Anna Hauptmann embark on a months-long trip to the West Coast with a friend, Hans Kloppenburg. They probably left in May or June of that year.
October 1931	Anna and Richard Hauptmann return from their West Coast trip.
July 1, 1932	Anna Hauptmann travels to Germany.
October 9, 1932	Anna Hauptmann returns from Germany.
Jan./Feb. 1933	Anna and Richard Hauptmann spend 3 weeks in Florida. Their son Manfred is conceived during this vacation trip.
Nov. 3, 1933	Manfred Hauptmann, Richard’s and Anna’s son, is born.