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[THE STOLL KIDNAPPING]
Original Wanted Notice for Thomas H. Robinson on the Charge of Kidnapping.
Publisher: Washington, Division of Investigation, U. S. Department of Justice, Identification Order No. 1233, October 16, 1933
Stock code: 46552
Price: £375 Currency Conversion
In October 1934 this Nashville criminal abducted Alice Speed Stoll, granddaughter of a prominent Louisville businessman and philanthropist, from suburban Louisville and held her captive in an apartment in Indianapolis while negotiating a $50,000 ransom. Robinson was a transvestite, and law enforcement officers had a difficult time tracking him down, as he was able to indulge in two of his favorite pastimes at the same time - wearing his wife's clothes and evading the police. Finally captured, he was sentenced to life imprisonment, his wife and father were also implicated but acquitted, and in 1943 Robinson won the right to a new trial, but this time was sentenced to death for the kidnapping. This high-profile case briefly captured the public's attention, but was superseded by the higher-profile Lindbergh kidnapping case and the trial of Richard Bruno Hauptmann. Unmarked as such but from the collection of noted Lincoln and Civil War scholar Arnold Gates (1914-93).
Singlesheet (200 × 200 mm) printed both sides on heavy paper/light card stock. Two mug-shots, full-face and right profile, full set of prints, and sample signature, text consists of paragraphs titled "Description," "Relatives" (where his co-conspirator wife and father are listed) and "Criminal Record." Verso contains a mailing panel and list and list of Department of Justice offices. Pristine condition, never folded for mailing.
