Feb. 7 meeting in Hopewell to focus on new evidence
By Ruth Luse, Managing Editor
On Feb. 7, the Hopewell Valley Historical Society will present author, Champ Atlee, who will speak on “The Lindbergh Case: Revisited” at 7:30 p.m. at the Hopewell Presbyterian Church, 80 W. Broad St, Hopewell.
According to the society, “a new argument with new evidence (about the Lindbergh case) will be presented.” The author, Mr. Atlee, is a writer/teacher at The Lawrenceville School. His unpublished book is titled “The Willows: The Untold Story of the Lindbergh Case.”
The public is invited. Admission is free.
The inn in the accompanying photo — known simply as “Gebhardt’s” — played a prominent role during the period following the kidnapping of the 2-year-old son of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh in 1932.
When news of the kidnapping spread across the nation, reporters flocked to Hopewell to cover the story. Gebhardt’s quickly became the “media center.” Reporters wrote their stories at Gebhardt’s and sent them off on hastily installed telegraph lines, which did not exist prior to the kidnapping.
The inn, now the property of Susan and Paul Molnar, has a long history. Previously known as The Hopewell Inn, it was owned and operated by Susan Molnar’s parents, Rose and Ernest Nemeth, who bought it in 1978 from Rose and Albert Rathousky, who had owned it for 30-odd years. The Gebhardts had sold the property to the Rathouskys in the 1940s. An early reference to the building dates it to 1887 when it was the Conrad Behre Oyster and Eating Salon.
A story in the Sept. 19, 1900, souvenir edition of the Hopewell Herald (Hopewell Valley News’ predecessor) refers to the property as the Central Hotel owned by John Corcoran, who had served as sheriff of Hunterdon County for three years.
In her biography of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, author Susan Hertog, referring to “Gebhardt’s” says: “The hotel lobby was a mass of reporters and curiosity seekers 24 hours a day.”
Michael Rufolo, a former Hopewell Valley resident, told the Hopewell Valley News — for its April 2, 1992 edition that memorialized the tragic event — that he remembered Gebhardt’s. “That’s where we all hung out . . . We played poker and cards … I got to know the farmers and local people. … There was a one-legged man always there, a sharpie gambler or maybe a government agent, we thought. … But I wasn’t playing for high stakes. Those reporters were! Some of them bet a dollar, that’s like $15 dollars today.”
Clarence “Chuck” Runyon, who was a teenager at the time of the kidnapping, told the Hopewell Valley News in 1992, “All the reporters were at Gebhardt’s. He said he and his friends would gather up all the newspapers and sell them for 25 cents apiece.
The late Joseph M. Pierson, Hopewell Borough clerk for over 40 years, often shared stories about the days following the kidnapping. Mr. Pierson died at the age of 91 in November 1999, so he was in his early 20s when Hopewell became famous because of the kidnapping event.
Mr. Pierson told of the big-time reporters staying up all night at the inns (like Gebhardt’s) in town, playing cards and partying. He recalled how local residents, suffering financially because it was Depression time, made out, serving as taxi drivers for the big-wigs who came to town to cover the breaking story, and renting out rooms. He recalled how Charles Lindbergh used to come to town to get gas and buy groceries.
Clifford C. Snook, who died at the age of 94 in April 2000, was Hopewell Township’s first police chief and the first officer to respond to the call about the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby from Highfields.
Much of this account comes from a story written by Janet Purcell in 2000 about the Hopewell Valley Bistro and Inn.