The Loeb-Leopold Case

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT UnJANA-CHAMPAIGN ILL HIST. SURVEY THE LOEB-LEOPOLD CASE PHILOSOPHY From a Copley Print ... by Puvis de Chavannes Copyright by Curtis is" Cameron, Publishers, Boston THE LOEB-LEOPOLD CASE WITH EXCERPTS FROM THE EVIDENCE OF THE ALIENISTS AND INCLUDING THE ARGUMENTS TO THE COURT BY COUNSEL FOR IHE PEOPLE AND THE DEFENSE PHILOSOPH'^tp^S BRLT^SWICK. GA. CLASSIC PUBLISHING CO. 1926 From a L,). Copyri,; », Publishers, Boston THE LOEB-LEOPOLD CASE WITH EXCERPTS FROM THE EVIDENCE OF THE ALIENISTS AND INCLUDING THE ARGUMENTS TO THE COURT BY COUNSEL FOR THE PEOPLE AND THE DEFENSE BY ALVIN V. SELLERS BRUNSWICK, GA. CLASSIC PUBLISHING CO. 1926 COPYRIGHT, 1926, BY ALVIN V. SELLERS PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. -^.u CONTENTS PAGE Philosophy Frontispiece The Loeb-Leopold Case ii Speech of Thomas Marshall 41 Speech of Joseph P. Savage 62 Speech of Walter Bachrach 90 Speech of Clarence Darrow 118 Speech of Benjamin C. Bachrach 214 Speech of Robert E. Crowe 233 THE LOEB-LEOPOLD CASE The Loeb-Leopold Case July 21, 1924, in the criminal court room ONof Cook County, Illinois, when the case of the People vs. Richard A. Loeb and Nathan F. Leopold, Jr., was called, Clarence Darrow, repre- senting the defendants, arose, and addressing Chief Justice John R. Caverley, presiding, said: Your Honor, we have determined to withdraw our pleas of not guilty and enter pleas of guilty. We dislike to throw this burden upon this court or any court. We know its serious- ness and its gravity. And while we wish it could be other- wise we feel that it must be as we have chosen. The statute provides, your Honor, that evidence may be offered in mitigation of the punishment, and we shall ask at such time as the court may direct that we be permitted to offer evidence as to the mental condition of these young men, to show the degree of responsibility they had, and also to offer evidence as to the youth of these defendants, and the fact of a plea of guilty as a further mitigation of the penalty in this case. With that we throw ourselves upon the mercy of this court and this court alone. Young Loeb and Leopold had — just two months before — kidnaped and killed still younger Robert Franks. All were sons of wealthy parents, and all residents of Chicago, where the crime was committed. The slayers were college graduates. II The Loeb-Leopold Case After the boy was murdered and his body hid in a culvert, Leopold telephoned to the home of Jacob Franks, father of Robert. To the mother, who answered the call, Leopold said: " This is George Johnson; your son has been kidnaped; don't worry; details later." Early next morning the following letter was received at the Franks home, addressed to Jacob Franks: Dear Sir: As you no doubt know by this time your son has been kidnaped. Allow us to assure you that he is at present well and safe. You need not fear any physical harm for him pro- viding you live up carefully to the following instructions and such others as you will receive by future communications. Should you, however, disobey any of our instructions, even slightly, his death will be the penalty. 1. For obvious reasons make absolutely no attempt to communicate with either the police authorities or any private agency. Should you already have communicated with the police, allow them to continue their investigations, but do not mention this letter. 2. Secure before noon today $10,000. This money must be composed entirely of old bills of the following denomina- tions: $2,000 in $20 bills, $8,000 in $50 bills. The money must be old. Any attempt to include new or marked bills will render the entire venture futile. The money should be placed in a large cigar box or, if such is impossible, in a heavy cardboard box securely closed and wrapped in white paper. The wrapping paper should be sealed and all openings with sealing wax. 3. Have the money thus prepared as directed above and remain home after one o'clock p.m. See that the telephone is not in use. You will receive a future communication in- structing you as to your future course. As a final word of 12 The Loeb-Leopold Case warning, this is a strictly commercial proposition, and we are prepared to put our threats into execution should we have reasonable ground to believe that you have committed an infraction of the above instructions. However, should you carefully follow out our instructions to the letter, we can assure you that your son will be safely returned to you within six hours of our receipt of the money. Yours truly, George Johnson, A few hours later the father was called by telephone and told to go to a designated drug store with the money, where he would again be called and given further instructions. He did not go, for, in the meantime, the dead body of his boy had been found in the culvert. It developed that he was to have been directed to go immediately from the drug store to the Illinois Central Station and get aboard a certain train and in the telegraph blank rack of a certain Pullman car he would find a letter giving directions to be obeyed. This letter was in a plain envelope, addressed to " Mr. Jacob Franks." Written on the envelope were these words: "Should anyone else find this note, please leave it alone, the letter is very important." The letter read as follows: Dear Sir: Proceed immediately to the back platform of the train, watch the east side of the track, have your package ready, look for the first LARGE red brick factory situated immediately adjoining the tracks on the east. On top of this factory is a large black water tower with the word CHAM- 13 The Loeb-Leopold Case PION written on it. Wait until you have completely passed the south end of the factory, count five very rapidly and then immediately throw the package as far east as you can. Remember, this is the only chance to recover your son. Yours truly, George Johnson. Near the culvert where the body was found was also found a pair of eyeglasses. From the records of the only concern in Chicago handling them it was learned that three prescriptions had been filled calling for that particular kind of glasses. One was for a prominent lawyer of the city, who was then out of town; another was for a lady, who had hers on; the other was for young Leopold, who, upon first being questioned, stated that his glasses were at his home. Upon being unable to find them there he said that he had not worn them for a long time and that he had taken many strolls through the section by the culvert and must have, on one of such occasions, dropped them from his pocket. It was soon seen, however, that he and Loeb, who also had been taken into custody when it was learned he and Leopold were together on the day that Bobby Franks was kidnaped, were making false and contradictory statements. They continued to be questioned and proofs of their falsehoods shown them. It was not long before both confessed and gave in detail the story of this deed of death that stirred a world. At the " trial " the defense asked life imprison- 14 The Loeb-Leopold Case ment while the State insisted on the maximum penalty of death. The State introduced the evidence of eighty-one witnesses — and rested. Every incriminating fact was proved, as being relevant on the question of " aggravation." Then the defense began, with its evidence of " mitigation," followed by rebuttal evidence on the part of the State. The defense, though not dis- claiming legal responsibility, urged, nevertheless, that the mental condition of the defendants was a mitigating circumstance. This the State vigorously controverted. Some excerpts from the evidence are given here. It would take volumes to include it all. Dr. W. A. White was the first witness for the defense. He said in part: We can only understand this homicide by understanding the back and forth play of these two personalities as they are related to each other. Now, Dickie Loeb, with his feel- ing of inferiority, developed certain anti-social tendencies which are characterized to a certain extent to compensate him personally, but which are disintegrating and socially de- structive, namely, his criminalistic tendencies. He develops these tendencies as being the head of a gang because, obvi- ously, it is not half as satisfying to an individual to be a great man in secret. Dickie needed an audience. In his fantasies, the criminalistic gang was his audience. In real- ity, Babe Leopold was his audience. Babe is generally the slave in the situation. But he is a powerful slave, who makes Dickie king, so that in either position he occupies, as the king or slave, he gets the expression of both components of his make-up. All of Dickie's life has been in the direction of self-destruction. He has often considered suicide. He told me he had lived his life out, come to its logical conclusion. IS The Loeb-Leopold Case Babe, on the other hand, has the definitely constructive capa- cities of an intellectual character. I do not believe that the Franks homicide can be explained without an understanding of this relation. Babe would not have entered it alone, because he had no criminalistic tendencies, as Dickie did.

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