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Leopold and Loeb

January 09, 2023

Nathan Freudenthal Leopold Jr. (November 19, 1904 – August 29, 1971)[1] and Richard Albert Loeb (/ˈloʊb/; June 11, 1905 – January 28, 1936), usually referred to collectively as Leopold and Loeb, were two wealthy students at the University of Chicago who kidnapped and murdered 14-year-old Bobby Franks in Chicago, Illinois, United States, in May 1924. They committed the murder – characterized at the time as "the crime of the century"[2] – hoping to demonstrate superior intellect,[3] which they believed enabled and entitled them to carry out a "perfect crime" without consequences.

Nathan Leopold
Leopold in August 1924
Born
Nathan Freudenthal Leopold Jr.

(1904-11-19)November 19, 1904
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
DiedAugust 29, 1971(1971-08-29) (aged 66)
Puerto Rico
Criminal chargeMurder, kidnapping
PenaltyLife + 99 years' imprisonment
Richard Loeb
Loeb in August 1924
Born
Richard Albert Loeb

(1905-06-11)June 11, 1905
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
DiedJanuary 28, 1936(1936-01-28) (aged 30)
Joliet, Illinois, U.S.
Cause of deathHomicide (from 58 inflicted wounds from a razor attack)
Criminal chargeMurder, kidnapping
PenaltyLife + 99 years' imprisonment

After the two men were arrested, Loeb's family retained Clarence Darrow as lead counsel for their defense. Darrow's twelve-hour summation at their sentencing hearing is noted for its influential criticism of capital punishment as retributive rather than transformative justice. Both young men were sentenced to life imprisonment plus 99 years. Loeb was murdered by a fellow prisoner in 1936. Leopold was released on parole in 1958. The case has since served as the inspiration for several dramatic works.

Early lives

Nathan Leopold

Nathan Leopold was born on November 19, 1904, in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Florence (née Foreman) and Nathan Leopold, a wealthy German-Jewish immigrant family.[4][5] A child prodigy, Leopold claimed to have spoken his first words at the age of four months.[4] At the time of the murder, he had completed an undergraduate degree at the University of Chicago with Phi Beta Kappa honors and planned to begin studies at Harvard Law School after a trip to Europe.[6]

Leopold had reportedly studied fifteen languages, claimed to speak five fluently,[7] and had achieved a measure of national recognition as an ornithologist.[6] Leopold and several other ornithologists identified the Kirtland's warbler and made astute observations about the parasitic nesting behavior of brown-headed cowbirds, which threatened the warblers.[8] He maintained his interest in birds after his crime, writing to the Field Museum from his prison cell regarding specimens he had donated.[9]

Richard Loeb

Richard Loeb was born on June 11, 1905, in Chicago, to the family of Anna Henrietta (née Bohnen) and Albert Henry Loeb, a wealthy lawyer and retired vice president of Sears, Roebuck & Company.[10] His father was Jewish and his mother was Catholic.[11] Like Leopold, Loeb was exceptionally intelligent. With the encouragement of his governess, he skipped several grades in school and became the University of Michigan's youngest graduate at age 17.[citation needed] Loeb was a student at the University of Chicago Law School and was especially interested in doing graduate work in history at the time of the murder.[12]

Compared with Leopold, Loeb was not as strictly intellectual. He often socialized, played tennis, and read detective novels.[6][13]

Adolescence and early crimes

The two young men grew up with their families in the affluent Kenwood neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. The Loebs owned a summer estate (now called Castle Farms) in Charlevoix, Michigan, as well as a mansion in Kenwood, two blocks from the Leopold home.

Though Leopold and Loeb knew each other casually while growing up, they began to see more of each other in mid-1920,[13] and their relationship flourished at the University of Chicago, particularly after they discovered a mutual interest in crime. Leopold was particularly fascinated by Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of "supermen" (Übermenschen), interpreting them as transcendent individuals possessing extraordinary and unusual capabilities, whose superior intellects allowed them to rise above the laws and rules that bound the unimportant, average populace.[6]

Leopold believed that he and Loeb were such individuals, and as such, by his interpretation of Nietzsche's doctrines, they were not bound by any of society's normal ethics or rules.[6] In a letter to Loeb, he wrote, "A superman ... is, on account of certain superior qualities inherent in him, exempted from the ordinary laws which govern men. He is not liable for anything he may do."[14]

The pair began asserting their perceived immunity from normal restrictions with acts of petty theft and vandalism.[13][15] Breaking into a fraternity house at the University of Michigan, they stole penknives, a camera, and a typewriter that they later used to type their ransom note. Emboldened, they progressed to a series of more serious crimes, including arson,[16] but no one seemed to notice. Disappointed with the absence of media coverage of their crimes, they decided to plan and execute a sensational "perfect crime" that would garner public attention and confirm their self-perceived status as "supermen".[17]

Murder of Bobby Franks

 
Bobby Franks

Leopold and Loeb, who were 19 and 18, respectively, at the time, settled on kidnapping and murdering a younger adolescent as their perfect crime. They spent seven months planning everything, from the method of abduction to disposal of the body. To obfuscate the actual nature of their crime and motive, they decided to make a ransom demand, and devised an intricate plan for collecting it involving a long series of complex instructions to be communicated, one set at a time, by phone. They typed the final set of instructions involving the actual money drop in the form of a ransom note, using the typewriter stolen from the fraternity house. A chisel was selected as the murder weapon and purchased.[18]

After a lengthy search for a suitable victim, mostly on the grounds of the Harvard School for Boys in the Kenwood area,[19] where Leopold had been educated, the pair decided upon Robert "Bobby" Franks, the 14-year-old son of wealthy Chicago watch manufacturer Jacob Franks. Bobby Franks was Loeb's second cousin and an across-the-street neighbor who had played tennis at the Loeb residence several times.[20]

Leopold and Loeb put their plan in motion on the afternoon of May 21, 1924. Using an automobile that Leopold rented under the name Morton D. Ballard, they offered Franks a ride as he walked home from school. The boy initially refused, because his destination was less than two blocks away,[21] but Loeb persuaded him to enter the car to discuss a tennis racket that he had been using. The precise sequence of the events that followed remains in dispute, but a preponderance of opinion placed Leopold behind the wheel of the car while Loeb sat in the back seat with the chisel. Loeb struck Franks, who was sitting in front of him in the passenger seat, several times in the head with the chisel, then dragged him into the back seat and gagged him, where he died.[22]

With the body on the floorboard, out of view, the men drove to their predetermined dumping spot near Wolf Lake in Hammond, Indiana, 25 miles (40 km) south of Chicago. After nightfall, they removed and discarded Franks' clothes, then concealed the body in a culvert along the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks north of the lake. To obscure the body's identity, they poured hydrochloric acid on the face and genitals to disguise the fact that he had been circumcised.[23]

 
The ransom note

By the time the two men returned to Chicago, word had already spread that Franks was missing. Leopold called Franks's mother, identifying himself as "George Johnson", and told her that Franks had been kidnapped; instructions for delivering the ransom would follow. After mailing the typed ransom note and burning their blood-stained clothing, then cleaning the blood stains from the rented vehicle's upholstery, they spent the remainder of the evening playing cards.[24]

Once the Franks family received the ransom note on the following morning, Leopold called a second time and dictated the first set of instructions for the ransom payment. The intricate plan stalled almost immediately when a nervous family member forgot the address of the store where he was supposed to receive the next set of directions, and it was abandoned entirely when word came that Franks's body had been found. Leopold and Loeb destroyed the typewriter and burned a car robe (lap blanket) they had used to move the body.[18][22] They then went about their lives as usual.[25]

Chicago police launched an intensive investigation; rewards were offered for information. While Loeb went about his daily routine quietly, Leopold spoke freely to police and reporters, offering theories to anyone who would listen. He even told one detective, "If I were to murder anybody, it would be just such a cocky little son of a bitch as Bobby Franks."[26]

Police found a pair of eyeglasses near Franks's body. Although common in prescription and frame, they were fitted with an unusual hinge purchased by only three customers in Chicago, one of whom was Leopold.[13][27] When questioned, Leopold offered the possibility that his glasses might have dropped out of his pocket during a bird-watching trip the previous weekend.[28]

Leopold and Loeb were summoned for formal questioning on May 29.[29] They asserted that on the night of the murder, they had picked up two women in Chicago using Leopold's car, then dropped them off some time later near a golf course without learning their last names. Their alibi was exposed as a fabrication when Leopold's chauffeur told police that he was repairing Leopold's car while the men claimed to be using it. The chauffeur's wife confirmed that the car was parked in the Leopold garage on the night of the murder.[13][30] The destroyed typewriter was recovered from the Jackson Park Lagoon on June 7.[31][32]

Confession

Loeb was the first to confess.[13] He asserted that Leopold had planned everything and had killed Franks in the back seat of the car while Loeb drove. Leopold's confession followed swiftly thereafter.[33] He insisted that he was the driver and Loeb the murderer. Their confessions otherwise corroborated most of the evidence in the case.[18][22] Both confessions were announced by the state's attorney on May 31.[34]

Leopold later claimed, long after Loeb was dead, that he pleaded in vain with Loeb to admit to killing Franks. "Mompsie feels less terrible than she might, thinking you did it", he quotes Loeb as saying, "and I'm not going to take that shred of comfort away from her."[35] Most observers believed that Loeb did strike the fatal blows.[15] Some circumstantial evidence – including testimony from eyewitness Carl Ulvigh, who said he saw Loeb driving and Leopold in the back seat minutes before the kidnapping – suggested that Leopold could have been the killer.[36]

Both Leopold and Loeb admitted that they were driven by their thrill-seeking, Übermenschen (supermen) delusions, and their aspiration to commit a "perfect crime".[6] Neither claimed to have looked forward to the killing, but Leopold admitted interest in learning what it would feel like to be a murderer. He was disappointed to note that he felt the same as ever.[37]

Trial

 
Defense attorney Clarence Darrow

The trial of Leopold and Loeb at Chicago's Cook County Criminal Court became a media spectacle and the third – after those of Harry Thaw and Sacco and Vanzetti – to be labeled "the trial of the century."[38] Loeb's family hired the renowned criminal defense attorney Clarence Darrow to lead the defense team. It was rumored that Darrow was paid $1 million[39] for his services, but he was actually paid $70,000[40] (equivalent to $1,100,000 in 2021). Darrow took the case because he was a staunch opponent of capital punishment.

While it was generally assumed that the men's defense would be based on a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, Darrow concluded that a jury trial would almost certainly end in conviction and the death penalty.[39] Thus, he elected to enter a plea of guilty, hoping to convince Cook County Circuit Court Judge John R. Caverly to impose sentences of life imprisonment.[41]

The trial, technically an extended sentencing, as their guilty pleas had already been accepted, ran for thirty-two days. The state's attorney, Robert E. Crowe, presented over 100 witnesses, documenting details of the crime. The defense presented extensive psychiatric testimony in an effort to establish mitigating circumstances, including childhood neglect in the form of absent parenting, and in Leopold's case, sexual abuse by a governess.[6][13]

One piece of evidence was a letter written by Leopold claiming that he and Loeb were having a homosexual affair. Both the prosecution and the defense interpreted this information as supportive of their own position.[42] Darrow called a series of expert witnesses, who offered a catalog of Leopold's and Loeb's abnormalities. One witness testified to their dysfunctional endocrine glands, another to the delusions that had led to their crime.[13]

Darrow's speech

Darrow's impassioned, twelve-hour-long "masterful plea"[43] at the conclusion of the hearing has been called the finest speech of his career.[44] Its principal arguments were that the methods and punishments of the American justice system were inhumane, and the youth and immaturity of the accused:[13][45][46]

This terrible crime was inherent in his organism, and it came from some ancestor. Is any blame attached because somebody took Nietzsche's philosophy seriously and fashioned his life upon it? It is hardly fair to hang a 19-year-old boy for the philosophy that was taught him at the university.

We read of killing one hundred thousand men in a day [during World War I]. We read about it and we rejoiced in it – if it was the other fellows who were killed. We were fed on flesh and drank blood. Even down to the prattling babe. I need not tell you how many upright, honorable young boys have come into this court charged with murder, some saved and some sent to their death, boys who fought in this war and learned to place a cheap value on human life. You know it and I know it. These boys were brought up in it.

It will take fifty years to wipe it out of the human heart, if ever. I know this, that after the Civil War in 1865, crimes of this sort increased, marvelously. No one needs to tell me that crime has no cause. It has as definite a cause as any other disease, and I know that out of the hatred and bitterness of the Civil War crime increased as America had never seen before. I know that Europe is going through the same experience today; I know it has followed every war; and I know it has influenced these boys so that life was not the same to them as it would have been if the world had not made red with blood.

Your Honor knows that in this very court crimes of violence have increased growing out of the war. Not necessarily by those who fought but by those that learned that blood was cheap, and human life was cheap, and if the State could take it lightly why not the boy?

Has the court any right to consider anything but these two boys? The State says that your Honor has a right to consider the welfare of the community, as you have. If the welfare of the community would be benefited by taking these lives, well and good. I think it would work evil that no one could measure. Has your Honor a right to consider the families of these defendants? I have been sorry, and I am sorry for the bereavement of Mr. and Mrs. Franks, for those broken ties that cannot be healed. All I can hope and wish is that some good may come from it all. But as compared with the families of Leopold and Loeb, the Franks are to be envied – and everyone knows it.

Here is Leopold's father – and this boy was the pride of his life. He watched him and he cared for him, he worked for him; the boy was brilliant and accomplished. He educated him, and he thought that fame and position awaited him, as it should have awaited. It is a hard thing for a father to see his life's hopes crumble into dust.

And Loeb's the same. Here are the faithful uncle and brother, who have watched here day by day, while Dickie's father and his mother are too ill to stand this terrific strain, and shall be waiting for a message which means more to them than it can mean to you or me. Shall these be taken into account in this general bereavement?

The easy thing and the popular thing to do is to hang my clients. I know it. Men and women who do not think will applaud. The cruel and thoughtless will approve. It will be easy today; but in Chicago, and reaching out over the length and breadth of the land, more and more fathers and mothers, the humane, the kind and the hopeful, who are gaining an understanding and asking questions not only about these poor boys, but about their own – these will join in no acclaim at the death of my clients.

These would ask that the shedding of blood be stopped, and that the normal feelings of man resume their sway. Your Honor stands between the past and the future. You may hang these boys; you may hang them by the neck until they are dead. But in doing it you will turn your face toward the past. In doing it you are making it harder for every other boy who in ignorance and darkness must grope his way through the mazes which only childhood knows. In doing it you will make it harder for unborn children. You may save them and make it easier for every child that sometime may stand where these boys stand. You will make it easier for every human being with an aspiration and a vision and a hope and a fate. I am pleading for the future; I am pleading for a time when hatred and cruelty will not control the hearts of men. When we can learn by reason and judgment and understanding and faith that all life is worth saving, and that mercy is the highest attribute of man.

The judge was persuaded, but he explained in his ruling that his decision was based primarily on precedent and the youth of the accused. On September 10, 1924, he sentenced both Leopold and Loeb to life imprisonment for the murder, and an additional 99 years for the kidnapping.[13][39] A little over a month later, Loeb's father died of heart failure.[47]

Prison

 
Leopold (top) and Loeb (bottom), 1924

Leopold and Loeb initially were held at Joliet Prison. Although they were kept apart as much as possible, the two managed to maintain their friendship. Leopold was transferred to Stateville Penitentiary in 1931, and Loeb was later transferred there as well. Once reunited, the two expanded the prison school system, adding a high school and junior college curriculum.[48]

Loeb's death

On January 28, 1936, Loeb was attacked by fellow inmate James Day with a straight razor in a shower room; he died soon after in the prison hospital. Day claimed that Loeb had sexually assaulted him, but he was unharmed while Loeb sustained more than fifty wounds, including defensive wounds on his arms and hands. His throat had been slashed from behind. News accounts suggested Loeb had propositioned Day; the authorities, perhaps embarrassed by alleged same-sex behavior in the prison, ruled that Day was defending himself.[6][48]

A sexual motive for the killing was suggested. While some sources state that newsman Ed Lahey began his story in the Chicago Daily News with the lead, "Richard Loeb, despite his erudition, today ended his sentence with a proposition"[49][50] – no evidence has been found that this lead was ever published, and actual copy from that date reads otherwise.[51]

On February 19, 1936, in a column printed in the Syracuse Journal, Mark Hellinger wrote, "I must tell you of the line that came to me from an unknown correspondent in Chicago. This anonymous contributor said he had the absolute low-down on the recent slaying of Dickie Loeb. Seems that Loeb made a slight mistake in grammar. He ended a sentence in a proposition..." Other newspapers at the time appeared to praise Day, who was later tried and acquitted of Loeb's murder.[52]

There is no evidence that Loeb was a sexual predator while in prison, but Day was later caught at least once in a sexual act with a fellow inmate.[53] In his autobiography, Life Plus 99 Years, Leopold ridiculed Day's claim that Loeb had attempted to sexually assault him. This was echoed by the prison's Catholic chaplain, a confidant of Loeb's, who said that it was more likely that Day attacked Loeb after Loeb rebuffed his advances.[54]

Leopold's prison life

 
Leopold in Stateville Penitentiary, 1931

Leopold continued with his work after Loeb's death. Despite suffering from depression, he became a model prisoner and made many significant contributions to improving conditions at Stateville Penitentiary. These included reorganizing the prison library, revamping the schooling system and teaching its students, and volunteer work in the prison hospital. In 1944, Leopold volunteered for the Stateville Penitentiary Malaria Study. He was deliberately inoculated with malaria pathogens and then subjected to several experimental malaria treatments.[55] He later wrote that all his good work in prison and after his release was an effort to compensate for his crime.[48]

In the early 1950s, author Meyer Levin, a classmate at the University of Chicago, requested Leopold's cooperation in writing a novel based on the Franks murder. Leopold responded that he did not wish his story told in fictionalized form, but offered Levin a chance to contribute to his own memoir, which was in progress. Levin, unhappy with that suggestion, went ahead with his book alone, despite Leopold's express objections. The novel, titled Compulsion,[56] was published in 1956.

Levin portrayed Leopold, under the pseudonym Judd Steiner, as a brilliant but deeply disturbed teenager, psychologically driven to kill because of his troubled childhood and an obsession with Loeb. Leopold later wrote that reading Levin's book made him "physically sick... More than once I had to lay the book down and wait for the nausea to subside. I felt as I suppose a man would feel if he were exposed stark-naked under a strong spotlight before a large audience."[57]

Leopold's autobiography, Life Plus 99 Years, was published in 1958[58] as part of his campaign to win parole.[14] In beginning his account with the immediate aftermath of the crime, he engendered widespread criticism for his deliberate refusal, expressly stated in the book, to recount his childhood or to describe any details of the murder.[59] He was accused of writing the book solely as a means of rehabilitating his public image by ignoring the dark side of his past.[60]

Leopold's post-prison years

 
Nathan Leopold in 1958

After thirty-three years and numerous unsuccessful petitions, Leopold was paroled in March 1958.[6][7] The Brethren Service Commission, a Church of the Brethren-affiliated program, accepted him as a medical technician at its hospital in Puerto Rico. He expressed his appreciation in an article: "To me the Brethren Service Commission offered the job, the home, and the sponsorship without which a man cannot be paroled. But it gave me so much more than that – the companionship, the acceptance, the love which would have rendered a violation of parole almost impossible."[61] He was known as "Nate" to neighbors and to co-workers at Castañer General Hospital in Adjuntas, where he worked as a laboratory and X-ray assistant.[62]

Later in 1958, Leopold attempted to set up the Leopold Foundation, to be funded by royalties from Life Plus 99 Years, "to aid emotionally disturbed, retarded, or delinquent youths."[6][7][63] The State of Illinois voided his charter on grounds that it violated the terms of his parole.[64]

In 1959, Leopold sought to block production of the film version of Compulsion on the grounds that Levin's book had invaded his privacy, defamed him, profited from his life story, and "intermingled fact and fiction to such an extent that they were indistinguishable."[62][65] Eventually the Illinois Supreme Court ruled against him,[66] holding that Leopold, as the confessed perpetrator of the "crime of the century", could not reasonably argue that any book had injured his reputation.[60][62]

Leopold moved to Santurce and married a widowed florist.[6][7] He earned a master's degree at the University of Puerto Rico, then taught classes there. He became a researcher in the social service program of Puerto Rico's department of health. He worked for an urban renewal and housing agency. He did research on leprosy at the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine.[67]

Leopold was active in the Natural History Society of Puerto Rico, traveling throughout the island to observe its birdlife. In 1963, he published Checklist of Birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.[68] While he spoke of his intention to write a book titled Reach for a Halo about his life following prison, he never did.[69]

Leopold died of a diabetes-related heart attack on August 29, 1971, at the age of 66.[6][7]

In popular culture

The Franks murder has inspired works of film, theatre, and fiction, including the 1929 play Rope by Patrick Hamilton, performed on BBC television in 1939,[70] and Alfred Hitchcock's film of the same name in 1948.[71] A fictionalized version of the events formed the basis of Meyer Levin's 1956 novel Compulsion and its 1959 film adaptation.[71] In 1957, two more fictionalized novels were released: Nothing but the Night by James Yaffe and Little Brother Fate by Mary-Carter Roberts.[14] Never the Sinner, John Logan's 1985 play,[72] was based on contemporary newspaper accounts of the case, and included an explicit portrayal of Leopold and Loeb's sexual relationship.[73] In 2019, the story was fictionally retold again in the third season of The Sinner.

In his book Murder Most Queer (2014), theater scholar Jordan Schildcrout examines changing attitudes toward homosexuality in various theatrical and cinematic representations of the Leopold and Loeb case.[74]

Other works said to be influenced by the case include Richard Wright's 1940 novel Native Son,[75] the Matlock episode “The Sisters”,[citation needed] the Columbo episode "Columbo Goes To College" (1990),[76] Tom Kalin's 1992 film Swoon,[77] Michael Haneke's 1997 Austrian film Funny Games and the 2008 International remake,[78] Barbet Schroeder's Murder by Numbers (2002),[79] Daniel Clowes's 2005 graphic novel Ice Haven,[80] Stephen Dolginoff's 2005 off-Broadway musical Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story,[81] and the film Scream (1996).[82]

References

Citations

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  64. ^ Chicago Daily Tribune, July 16, 1958 p. 23
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Bibliography

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Leopold and Loeb.
  • by Douglas Linder. Famous American Trials – Illinois v. Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb. University of Missouri at Kansas City Law School. 1997. Retrieved September 14, 2008.
  • by Marilyn Bardsley. Crime Library – Courtroom Television Network. Retrieved April 11, 2007.
  • Northwestern University Archives
  • Thrill Me:The Leopold and Loeb Story – main site/CD ordering
  • from York Theatre Company
  • Harold S. Hulbert Papers from Northwestern University Archives, Evanston, Illinois
  • "Leopold and Loeb Collection" from Northwestern University Special Collections, Evanston, Illinois
  • Charles DeLacy (August 1930). "Inside Facts on the Leopold-Loeb Crime". True Detective Mysteries. Retrieved May 7, 2014.
  • 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 (1926) stored on Archive.org
  • Murder by Birder – A Brain Scoop video episode featuring Nathan Leopold
  • The Case of The Perfect Murder Gone Wrong (Leopold and Loeb) (Real True Crime // LegalEagle) – by the YouTube channel LegalEagle

January 09, 2023
leopold, loeb, nathan, freudenthal, leopold, november, 1904, august, 1971, richard, albert, loeb, june, 1905, january, 1936, usually, referred, collectively, were, wealthy, students, university, chicago, kidnapped, murdered, year, bobby, franks, chicago, illin. Nathan Freudenthal Leopold Jr November 19 1904 August 29 1971 1 and Richard Albert Loeb ˈ l oʊ b June 11 1905 January 28 1936 usually referred to collectively as Leopold and Loeb were two wealthy students at the University of Chicago who kidnapped and murdered 14 year old Bobby Franks in Chicago Illinois United States in May 1924 They committed the murder characterized at the time as the crime of the century 2 hoping to demonstrate superior intellect 3 which they believed enabled and entitled them to carry out a perfect crime without consequences Nathan LeopoldLeopold in August 1924BornNathan Freudenthal Leopold Jr 1904 11 19 November 19 1904Chicago Illinois U S DiedAugust 29 1971 1971 08 29 aged 66 Puerto RicoCriminal chargeMurder kidnappingPenaltyLife 99 years imprisonmentRichard LoebLoeb in August 1924BornRichard Albert Loeb 1905 06 11 June 11 1905Chicago Illinois U S DiedJanuary 28 1936 1936 01 28 aged 30 Joliet Illinois U S Cause of deathHomicide from 58 inflicted wounds from a razor attack Criminal chargeMurder kidnappingPenaltyLife 99 years imprisonmentAfter the two men were arrested Loeb s family retained Clarence Darrow as lead counsel for their defense Darrow s twelve hour summation at their sentencing hearing is noted for its influential criticism of capital punishment as retributive rather than transformative justice Both young men were sentenced to life imprisonment plus 99 years Loeb was murdered by a fellow prisoner in 1936 Leopold was released on parole in 1958 The case has since served as the inspiration for several dramatic works Contents 1 Early lives 1 1 Nathan Leopold 1 2 Richard Loeb 2 Adolescence and early crimes 3 Murder of Bobby Franks 3 1 Confession 4 Trial 4 1 Darrow s speech 5 Prison 5 1 Loeb s death 5 2 Leopold s prison life 6 Leopold s post prison years 7 In popular culture 8 References 8 1 Citations 8 2 Bibliography 9 External linksEarly lives EditNathan Leopold Edit Nathan Leopold was born on November 19 1904 in Chicago Illinois the son of Florence nee Foreman and Nathan Leopold a wealthy German Jewish immigrant family 4 5 A child prodigy Leopold claimed to have spoken his first words at the age of four months 4 At the time of the murder he had completed an undergraduate degree at the University of Chicago with Phi Beta Kappa honors and planned to begin studies at Harvard Law School after a trip to Europe 6 Leopold had reportedly studied fifteen languages claimed to speak five fluently 7 and had achieved a measure of national recognition as an ornithologist 6 Leopold and several other ornithologists identified the Kirtland s warbler and made astute observations about the parasitic nesting behavior of brown headed cowbirds which threatened the warblers 8 He maintained his interest in birds after his crime writing to the Field Museum from his prison cell regarding specimens he had donated 9 Richard Loeb Edit Richard Loeb was born on June 11 1905 in Chicago to the family of Anna Henrietta nee Bohnen and Albert Henry Loeb a wealthy lawyer and retired vice president of Sears Roebuck amp Company 10 His father was Jewish and his mother was Catholic 11 Like Leopold Loeb was exceptionally intelligent With the encouragement of his governess he skipped several grades in school and became the University of Michigan s youngest graduate at age 17 citation needed Loeb was a student at the University of Chicago Law School and was especially interested in doing graduate work in history at the time of the murder 12 Compared with Leopold Loeb was not as strictly intellectual He often socialized played tennis and read detective novels 6 13 Adolescence and early crimes EditThe two young men grew up with their families in the affluent Kenwood neighborhood on Chicago s South Side The Loebs owned a summer estate now called Castle Farms in Charlevoix Michigan as well as a mansion in Kenwood two blocks from the Leopold home Though Leopold and Loeb knew each other casually while growing up they began to see more of each other in mid 1920 13 and their relationship flourished at the University of Chicago particularly after they discovered a mutual interest in crime Leopold was particularly fascinated by Friedrich Nietzsche s concept of supermen Ubermenschen interpreting them as transcendent individuals possessing extraordinary and unusual capabilities whose superior intellects allowed them to rise above the laws and rules that bound the unimportant average populace 6 Leopold believed that he and Loeb were such individuals and as such by his interpretation of Nietzsche s doctrines they were not bound by any of society s normal ethics or rules 6 In a letter to Loeb he wrote A superman is on account of certain superior qualities inherent in him exempted from the ordinary laws which govern men He is not liable for anything he may do 14 The pair began asserting their perceived immunity from normal restrictions with acts of petty theft and vandalism 13 15 Breaking into a fraternity house at the University of Michigan they stole penknives a camera and a typewriter that they later used to type their ransom note Emboldened they progressed to a series of more serious crimes including arson 16 but no one seemed to notice Disappointed with the absence of media coverage of their crimes they decided to plan and execute a sensational perfect crime that would garner public attention and confirm their self perceived status as supermen 17 Murder of Bobby Franks Edit Bobby Franks Leopold and Loeb who were 19 and 18 respectively at the time settled on kidnapping and murdering a younger adolescent as their perfect crime They spent seven months planning everything from the method of abduction to disposal of the body To obfuscate the actual nature of their crime and motive they decided to make a ransom demand and devised an intricate plan for collecting it involving a long series of complex instructions to be communicated one set at a time by phone They typed the final set of instructions involving the actual money drop in the form of a ransom note using the typewriter stolen from the fraternity house A chisel was selected as the murder weapon and purchased 18 After a lengthy search for a suitable victim mostly on the grounds of the Harvard School for Boys in the Kenwood area 19 where Leopold had been educated the pair decided upon Robert Bobby Franks the 14 year old son of wealthy Chicago watch manufacturer Jacob Franks Bobby Franks was Loeb s second cousin and an across the street neighbor who had played tennis at the Loeb residence several times 20 Leopold and Loeb put their plan in motion on the afternoon of May 21 1924 Using an automobile that Leopold rented under the name Morton D Ballard they offered Franks a ride as he walked home from school The boy initially refused because his destination was less than two blocks away 21 but Loeb persuaded him to enter the car to discuss a tennis racket that he had been using The precise sequence of the events that followed remains in dispute but a preponderance of opinion placed Leopold behind the wheel of the car while Loeb sat in the back seat with the chisel Loeb struck Franks who was sitting in front of him in the passenger seat several times in the head with the chisel then dragged him into the back seat and gagged him where he died 22 With the body on the floorboard out of view the men drove to their predetermined dumping spot near Wolf Lake in Hammond Indiana 25 miles 40 km south of Chicago After nightfall they removed and discarded Franks clothes then concealed the body in a culvert along the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks north of the lake To obscure the body s identity they poured hydrochloric acid on the face and genitals to disguise the fact that he had been circumcised 23 The ransom note By the time the two men returned to Chicago word had already spread that Franks was missing Leopold called Franks s mother identifying himself as George Johnson and told her that Franks had been kidnapped instructions for delivering the ransom would follow After mailing the typed ransom note and burning their blood stained clothing then cleaning the blood stains from the rented vehicle s upholstery they spent the remainder of the evening playing cards 24 Once the Franks family received the ransom note on the following morning Leopold called a second time and dictated the first set of instructions for the ransom payment The intricate plan stalled almost immediately when a nervous family member forgot the address of the store where he was supposed to receive the next set of directions and it was abandoned entirely when word came that Franks s body had been found Leopold and Loeb destroyed the typewriter and burned a car robe lap blanket they had used to move the body 18 22 They then went about their lives as usual 25 Chicago police launched an intensive investigation rewards were offered for information While Loeb went about his daily routine quietly Leopold spoke freely to police and reporters offering theories to anyone who would listen He even told one detective If I were to murder anybody it would be just such a cocky little son of a bitch as Bobby Franks 26 Police found a pair of eyeglasses near Franks s body Although common in prescription and frame they were fitted with an unusual hinge purchased by only three customers in Chicago one of whom was Leopold 13 27 When questioned Leopold offered the possibility that his glasses might have dropped out of his pocket during a bird watching trip the previous weekend 28 Leopold and Loeb were summoned for formal questioning on May 29 29 They asserted that on the night of the murder they had picked up two women in Chicago using Leopold s car then dropped them off some time later near a golf course without learning their last names Their alibi was exposed as a fabrication when Leopold s chauffeur told police that he was repairing Leopold s car while the men claimed to be using it The chauffeur s wife confirmed that the car was parked in the Leopold garage on the night of the murder 13 30 The destroyed typewriter was recovered from the Jackson Park Lagoon on June 7 31 32 Confession Edit Loeb was the first to confess 13 He asserted that Leopold had planned everything and had killed Franks in the back seat of the car while Loeb drove Leopold s confession followed swiftly thereafter 33 He insisted that he was the driver and Loeb the murderer Their confessions otherwise corroborated most of the evidence in the case 18 22 Both confessions were announced by the state s attorney on May 31 34 Leopold later claimed long after Loeb was dead that he pleaded in vain with Loeb to admit to killing Franks Mompsie feels less terrible than she might thinking you did it he quotes Loeb as saying and I m not going to take that shred of comfort away from her 35 Most observers believed that Loeb did strike the fatal blows 15 Some circumstantial evidence including testimony from eyewitness Carl Ulvigh who said he saw Loeb driving and Leopold in the back seat minutes before the kidnapping suggested that Leopold could have been the killer 36 Both Leopold and Loeb admitted that they were driven by their thrill seeking Ubermenschen supermen delusions and their aspiration to commit a perfect crime 6 Neither claimed to have looked forward to the killing but Leopold admitted interest in learning what it would feel like to be a murderer He was disappointed to note that he felt the same as ever 37 Trial Edit Defense attorney Clarence Darrow The trial of Leopold and Loeb at Chicago s Cook County Criminal Court became a media spectacle and the third after those of Harry Thaw and Sacco and Vanzetti to be labeled the trial of the century 38 Loeb s family hired the renowned criminal defense attorney Clarence Darrow to lead the defense team It was rumored that Darrow was paid 1 million 39 for his services but he was actually paid 70 000 40 equivalent to 1 100 000 in 2021 Darrow took the case because he was a staunch opponent of capital punishment While it was generally assumed that the men s defense would be based on a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity Darrow concluded that a jury trial would almost certainly end in conviction and the death penalty 39 Thus he elected to enter a plea of guilty hoping to convince Cook County Circuit Court Judge John R Caverly to impose sentences of life imprisonment 41 The trial technically an extended sentencing as their guilty pleas had already been accepted ran for thirty two days The state s attorney Robert E Crowe presented over 100 witnesses documenting details of the crime The defense presented extensive psychiatric testimony in an effort to establish mitigating circumstances including childhood neglect in the form of absent parenting and in Leopold s case sexual abuse by a governess 6 13 One piece of evidence was a letter written by Leopold claiming that he and Loeb were having a homosexual affair Both the prosecution and the defense interpreted this information as supportive of their own position 42 Darrow called a series of expert witnesses who offered a catalog of Leopold s and Loeb s abnormalities One witness testified to their dysfunctional endocrine glands another to the delusions that had led to their crime 13 Darrow s speech Edit Darrow s impassioned twelve hour long masterful plea 43 at the conclusion of the hearing has been called the finest speech of his career 44 Its principal arguments were that the methods and punishments of the American justice system were inhumane and the youth and immaturity of the accused 13 45 46 This terrible crime was inherent in his organism and it came from some ancestor Is any blame attached because somebody took Nietzsche s philosophy seriously and fashioned his life upon it It is hardly fair to hang a 19 year old boy for the philosophy that was taught him at the university We read of killing one hundred thousand men in a day during World War I We read about it and we rejoiced in it if it was the other fellows who were killed We were fed on flesh and drank blood Even down to the prattling babe I need not tell you how many upright honorable young boys have come into this court charged with murder some saved and some sent to their death boys who fought in this war and learned to place a cheap value on human life You know it and I know it These boys were brought up in it It will take fifty years to wipe it out of the human heart if ever I know this that after the Civil War in 1865 crimes of this sort increased marvelously No one needs to tell me that crime has no cause It has as definite a cause as any other disease and I know that out of the hatred and bitterness of the Civil War crime increased as America had never seen before I know that Europe is going through the same experience today I know it has followed every war and I know it has influenced these boys so that life was not the same to them as it would have been if the world had not made red with blood Your Honor knows that in this very court crimes of violence have increased growing out of the war Not necessarily by those who fought but by those that learned that blood was cheap and human life was cheap and if the State could take it lightly why not the boy Has the court any right to consider anything but these two boys The State says that your Honor has a right to consider the welfare of the community as you have If the welfare of the community would be benefited by taking these lives well and good I think it would work evil that no one could measure Has your Honor a right to consider the families of these defendants I have been sorry and I am sorry for the bereavement of Mr and Mrs Franks for those broken ties that cannot be healed All I can hope and wish is that some good may come from it all But as compared with the families of Leopold and Loeb the Franks are to be envied and everyone knows it Here is Leopold s father and this boy was the pride of his life He watched him and he cared for him he worked for him the boy was brilliant and accomplished He educated him and he thought that fame and position awaited him as it should have awaited It is a hard thing for a father to see his life s hopes crumble into dust And Loeb s the same Here are the faithful uncle and brother who have watched here day by day while Dickie s father and his mother are too ill to stand this terrific strain and shall be waiting for a message which means more to them than it can mean to you or me Shall these be taken into account in this general bereavement The easy thing and the popular thing to do is to hang my clients I know it Men and women who do not think will applaud The cruel and thoughtless will approve It will be easy today but in Chicago and reaching out over the length and breadth of the land more and more fathers and mothers the humane the kind and the hopeful who are gaining an understanding and asking questions not only about these poor boys but about their own these will join in no acclaim at the death of my clients These would ask that the shedding of blood be stopped and that the normal feelings of man resume their sway Your Honor stands between the past and the future You may hang these boys you may hang them by the neck until they are dead But in doing it you will turn your face toward the past In doing it you are making it harder for every other boy who in ignorance and darkness must grope his way through the mazes which only childhood knows In doing it you will make it harder for unborn children You may save them and make it easier for every child that sometime may stand where these boys stand You will make it easier for every human being with an aspiration and a vision and a hope and a fate I am pleading for the future I am pleading for a time when hatred and cruelty will not control the hearts of men When we can learn by reason and judgment and understanding and faith that all life is worth saving and that mercy is the highest attribute of man The judge was persuaded but he explained in his ruling that his decision was based primarily on precedent and the youth of the accused On September 10 1924 he sentenced both Leopold and Loeb to life imprisonment for the murder and an additional 99 years for the kidnapping 13 39 A little over a month later Loeb s father died of heart failure 47 Prison Edit Leopold top and Loeb bottom 1924 Leopold and Loeb initially were held at Joliet Prison Although they were kept apart as much as possible the two managed to maintain their friendship Leopold was transferred to Stateville Penitentiary in 1931 and Loeb was later transferred there as well Once reunited the two expanded the prison school system adding a high school and junior college curriculum 48 Loeb s death Edit On January 28 1936 Loeb was attacked by fellow inmate James Day with a straight razor in a shower room he died soon after in the prison hospital Day claimed that Loeb had sexually assaulted him but he was unharmed while Loeb sustained more than fifty wounds including defensive wounds on his arms and hands His throat had been slashed from behind News accounts suggested Loeb had propositioned Day the authorities perhaps embarrassed by alleged same sex behavior in the prison ruled that Day was defending himself 6 48 A sexual motive for the killing was suggested While some sources state that newsman Ed Lahey began his story in the Chicago Daily News with the lead Richard Loeb despite his erudition today ended his sentence with a proposition 49 50 no evidence has been found that this lead was ever published and actual copy from that date reads otherwise 51 On February 19 1936 in a column printed in the Syracuse Journal Mark Hellinger wrote I must tell you of the line that came to me from an unknown correspondent in Chicago This anonymous contributor said he had the absolute low down on the recent slaying of Dickie Loeb Seems that Loeb made a slight mistake in grammar He ended a sentence in a proposition Other newspapers at the time appeared to praise Day who was later tried and acquitted of Loeb s murder 52 There is no evidence that Loeb was a sexual predator while in prison but Day was later caught at least once in a sexual act with a fellow inmate 53 In his autobiography Life Plus 99 Years Leopold ridiculed Day s claim that Loeb had attempted to sexually assault him This was echoed by the prison s Catholic chaplain a confidant of Loeb s who said that it was more likely that Day attacked Loeb after Loeb rebuffed his advances 54 Leopold s prison life Edit Leopold in Stateville Penitentiary 1931 Leopold continued with his work after Loeb s death Despite suffering from depression he became a model prisoner and made many significant contributions to improving conditions at Stateville Penitentiary These included reorganizing the prison library revamping the schooling system and teaching its students and volunteer work in the prison hospital In 1944 Leopold volunteered for the Stateville Penitentiary Malaria Study He was deliberately inoculated with malaria pathogens and then subjected to several experimental malaria treatments 55 He later wrote that all his good work in prison and after his release was an effort to compensate for his crime 48 In the early 1950s author Meyer Levin a classmate at the University of Chicago requested Leopold s cooperation in writing a novel based on the Franks murder Leopold responded that he did not wish his story told in fictionalized form but offered Levin a chance to contribute to his own memoir which was in progress Levin unhappy with that suggestion went ahead with his book alone despite Leopold s express objections The novel titled Compulsion 56 was published in 1956 Levin portrayed Leopold under the pseudonym Judd Steiner as a brilliant but deeply disturbed teenager psychologically driven to kill because of his troubled childhood and an obsession with Loeb Leopold later wrote that reading Levin s book made him physically sick More than once I had to lay the book down and wait for the nausea to subside I felt as I suppose a man would feel if he were exposed stark naked under a strong spotlight before a large audience 57 Leopold s autobiography Life Plus 99 Years was published in 1958 58 as part of his campaign to win parole 14 In beginning his account with the immediate aftermath of the crime he engendered widespread criticism for his deliberate refusal expressly stated in the book to recount his childhood or to describe any details of the murder 59 He was accused of writing the book solely as a means of rehabilitating his public image by ignoring the dark side of his past 60 Leopold s post prison years Edit Nathan Leopold in 1958 After thirty three years and numerous unsuccessful petitions Leopold was paroled in March 1958 6 7 The Brethren Service Commission a Church of the Brethren affiliated program accepted him as a medical technician at its hospital in Puerto Rico He expressed his appreciation in an article To me the Brethren Service Commission offered the job the home and the sponsorship without which a man cannot be paroled But it gave me so much more than that the companionship the acceptance the love which would have rendered a violation of parole almost impossible 61 He was known as Nate to neighbors and to co workers at Castaner General Hospital in Adjuntas where he worked as a laboratory and X ray assistant 62 Later in 1958 Leopold attempted to set up the Leopold Foundation to be funded by royalties from Life Plus 99 Years to aid emotionally disturbed retarded or delinquent youths 6 7 63 The State of Illinois voided his charter on grounds that it violated the terms of his parole 64 In 1959 Leopold sought to block production of the film version of Compulsion on the grounds that Levin s book had invaded his privacy defamed him profited from his life story and intermingled fact and fiction to such an extent that they were indistinguishable 62 65 Eventually the Illinois Supreme Court ruled against him 66 holding that Leopold as the confessed perpetrator of the crime of the century could not reasonably argue that any book had injured his reputation 60 62 Leopold moved to Santurce and married a widowed florist 6 7 He earned a master s degree at the University of Puerto Rico then taught classes there He became a researcher in the social service program of Puerto Rico s department of health He worked for an urban renewal and housing agency He did research on leprosy at the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine 67 Leopold was active in the Natural History Society of Puerto Rico traveling throughout the island to observe its birdlife In 1963 he published Checklist of Birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands 68 While he spoke of his intention to write a book titled Reach for a Halo about his life following prison he never did 69 Leopold died of a diabetes related heart attack on August 29 1971 at the age of 66 6 7 In popular culture EditThe Franks murder has inspired works of film theatre and fiction including the 1929 play Rope by Patrick Hamilton performed on BBC television in 1939 70 and Alfred Hitchcock s film of the same name in 1948 71 A fictionalized version of the events formed the basis of Meyer Levin s 1956 novel Compulsion and its 1959 film adaptation 71 In 1957 two more fictionalized novels were released Nothing but the Night by James Yaffe and Little Brother Fate by Mary Carter Roberts 14 Never the Sinner John Logan s 1985 play 72 was based on contemporary newspaper accounts of the case and included an explicit portrayal of Leopold and Loeb s sexual relationship 73 In 2019 the story was fictionally retold again in the third season of The Sinner In his book Murder Most Queer 2014 theater scholar Jordan Schildcrout examines changing attitudes toward homosexuality in various theatrical and cinematic representations of the Leopold and Loeb case 74 Other works said to be influenced by the case include Richard Wright s 1940 novel Native Son 75 the Matlock episode The Sisters citation needed the Columbo episode Columbo Goes To College 1990 76 Tom Kalin s 1992 film Swoon 77 Michael Haneke s 1997 Austrian film Funny Games and the 2008 International remake 78 Barbet Schroeder s Murder by Numbers 2002 79 Daniel Clowes s 2005 graphic novel Ice Haven 80 Stephen Dolginoff s 2005 off Broadway musical Thrill Me The Leopold and Loeb Story 81 and the film Scream 1996 82 References EditCitations Edit Mocavo and Findmypast are coming together findmypast com www mocavo com Archived from the original on March 23 2016 Retrieved March 7 2014 Homicide in Chicago 1924 Leopold amp Loeb Retrieved July 18 2015 Lane Brian 1995 Chronicle of 20th Century Murder New York Berkley Books pp 106 107 ISBN 978 0425146491 a b Nathan Leopold biography The Biography Channel 2012 Archived from the original on November 16 2012 Retrieved December 16 2012 Higdon Hal 1975 Leopold and Loeb The Crime of the Century Champaign Illinois University of Illinois Press ISBN 978 0252068294 Archived from the original on August 18 2021 Retrieved October 18 2020 via Google Books a b c d e f g h i j k l The Leopold and Loeb Trial A Brief Account Archived March 15 2007 at the Wayback Machine by Douglas O Linder 1997 Retrieved April 11 2007 a b c d e Bardsley Marilyn Freedom Crime Library Archived from the original on April 1 2007 Retrieved April 11 2007 Rapai William 2012 The Kirtland s warbler the story of a bird s fight against extinction and the people who saved it Ann Arbor Michigan University of Michigan Press p 18 ISBN 978 0472118038 Rings Gretchen May 12 2017 Spring Migration Notes By a Murderer Field Museum of Natural History Archived from the original on November 6 2021 Retrieved November 6 2021 Richard Loeb biography The Biography Channel 2012 Archived from the original on January 2 2013 Retrieved December 16 2012 Leopold and Loeb Archived from the original on May 1 2014 Retrieved May 1 2014 Linder Douglas The Leopold And Loeb Trial An Account Famous Trials Archived from the original on March 4 2022 Retrieved March 4 2022 a b c d e f g h i j The Perfect Crime In Love with Murder Transcript PBS April 10 2018 Archived from the original on April 16 2018 Retrieved April 11 2018 a b c Baatz Simon 2009 For the Thrill of It New York HarperCollins ISBN 978 0060781026 a b Denise Noe February 29 2004 Leopold and Loeb s Perfect Crime Crime Magazine Archived from the original on April 28 2018 Retrieved February 3 2013 Higdon 1975 p 151 Higdon 1975 pp 150 154 a b c Statement of Nathan F Leopold Archived March 3 2016 at the Wayback Machine Northwestern University Retrieved October 30 2007 Leopold amp Loeb kill Bobby Franks Chicago IL Waymarking com Archived from the original on October 3 2018 Retrieved January 28 2013 Purdum Todd S August 18 2005 Armand S Deutsch Hollywood fixture dies at 92 The New York Times Archived from the original on April 2 2015 Retrieved August 20 2010 Map of the Scene of the Kidnapping and Murder of Bobby Franks 1 Archived June 2 2021 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved August 22 2014 a b c Statement of Richard Loeb Archived March 4 2016 at the Wayback Machine Northwestern University Retrieved October 30 2007 Bardsley Marilyn Leopold amp Loeb Enter Clarence Darrow Crime Library Archived from the original on February 10 2015 Leopold and Loeb The Crime of the Century ISBN 0 252 06829 7 p 106 Chronicle of 20th Century Murder ISBN 978 0 425 14649 1 p 107 Darrow Will Drop Carefully Reared Insanity Defense The Sunday Morning Star July 27 1924 p 1 Archived from the original on August 18 2021 Retrieved October 18 2020 The Glasses The Key Link to Leopold and Loeb Archived May 5 2007 at the Wayback Machine UMKC Law Retrieved April 11 2007 Chicago Daily News June 2 1924 Urbana Daily Courier October 28 1924 CrimeArchives The Leopold Loeb Case Interrogation www crimearchives net Archived from the original on December 1 2017 Retrieved November 27 2017 Leopold and Loeb gain national attention May 21 1924 History com Archived from the original on May 29 2019 Retrieved November 16 2017 Leopold amp Loeb chicagology com November 18 2015 Archived from the original on June 18 2018 Retrieved November 16 2017 Chicago Daily News September 10 1924 p 3 Two Rich Mens Sons Confess to Franks Murder The Evening Independent St Petersburg Fla Associated Press May 31 1924 Archived from the original on December 27 2021 Retrieved December 26 2021 Leopold N Life Plus 99 Years Doubleday 1958 p 66 ISBN 1131524608 Leopold Loeb amp The Crime of the Century by Hal Higdon p 319 Joint Report of All Psychiatrists Northwestern University Archives 1924 p 16 JURIST The Trial of Leopold and Loeb Archived November 3 2010 at the Wayback Machine Prof Douglas Linder Retrieved November 1 2007 a b c Gilbert Geis and Leigh B Bienen Crimes of the Century Boston 1998 Weinberg A ed Attorney for the Damned Clarence Darrow in the Courtroom Simon amp Schuster 1957 pp 17 18 ISBN 0226136507 Darrow s plea of guilty University of Missouri Kansas City School of Law Archived January 1 2018 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved August 22 2014 Hardwick Courtney August 30 2021 QUEER CRIME The Not So Perfect Partnership of Leopold and Loeb IN Magazine Retrieved September 23 2022 Urbana Daily Courier September 10 1924 Famous American Trials Illinois v Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb University of Missouri Kansas City School of Law Archived October 11 2018 at the Wayback Machine Prof Douglas Linder Retrieved March 7 2012 Darrow s summation for the defense University of Missouri Kansas City School of Law Archived October 6 2018 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved August 22 2014 Scopes John Thomas 1925 World s greatest court trial Cincinnati Ohio National Book Co pp 178 179 182 Daily Illini University of Illinois October 28 1924 a b c Life amp Death In Prison Archived March 30 2007 at the Wayback Machine by Marilyn Bardsley Crime Library Courtroom Television Network LLC Retrieved April 11 2007 Dr Ink August 23 2002 Ask Dr Ink Poynter Online Archived from the original on October 22 2013 Murray Jesse George 1965 The madhouse on Madison Street Follett Pub Co p 344 Farrell John Aloysius December 1 2009 Leopold Loeb and the Curious Case of the Greatest Newspaper Lead Never Written U S News amp World Report Archived from the original on June 26 2019 Retrieved June 26 2019 Leopold and Loeb The Crime of the Century ISBN 0 25206829 7 p 301 Leopold Loeb amp The Crime of the Century p 302 Leopold Loeb amp The Crime of the Century p 293 Higdon H The Crime of the Century 1975 New York Putnams ASIN B000LZX0RO pp 281 317 Levin M Compulsion 1956 New York Simon amp Schuster ISBN 0786703199 In Nathan Leopold s Own Words UMKC archive Archived January 1 2018 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved August 1 2014 Leopold N Life Plus 99 Years 1958 New York Doubleday amp Co ISBN 1131524608 Higdon H Leopold and Loeb The Crime of the Century University of Illinois Press 1999 p 262 ISBN 0252068297 a b Larson EJ Murder Will Out Rethinking the Right of Publicity Through One Classic Case Rutgers Law Review archive Archived July 7 2010 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved February 11 2015 The Companionship the Acceptance The Brethren Encyclopedia Vol 2 1983 Print a b c E mailed comment Law umkc edu Archived from the original on February 3 2011 Retrieved October 29 2012 Daily Defender May 29 1958 p9 Chicago Daily Tribune July 16 1958 p 23 Leopold v Levin et al Supreme Court of Illinois 1970 Text Leopold v Levin 259 N E 2d 250 255 256 Ill 1970 Gertz supra note 48 at 166 Higdon 1975 p 332 Leopold Nathan Jr 1963 Checklist of Birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands University of Puerto Rico Agricultural Experiment Station ASIN B006D31YB2 Higdon 1975 p 361 Rope 1939 IMDb com Archived from the original on April 18 2015 Retrieved October 29 2012 a b Jake Hinkson October 19 2012 Leopold and Loeb Still Fascinate 90 Years Later criminalelement com Archived from the original on September 29 2017 Retrieved October 23 2012 Logan John 1999 Never the Sinner Samuel French Inc ISBN 978 0573626715 Archived from the original on August 18 2021 Retrieved August 10 2013 Christiansen Richard Revised Never the Sinner An Even More Riveting Work Chicago Tribune Archived from the original on August 30 2013 Retrieved August 10 2013 Schildcrout Jordan 2014 Murder Most Queer The Homicidal Homosexual in the American Theater University of Michigan Press ISBN 978 0472072323 Archived from the original on August 18 2021 Retrieved October 18 2020 Butler Robert 2005 The Loeb and Leopold Case A Neglected Source for Richard Wright s Native Son African American Review 39 4 555 567 ISSN 1062 4783 JSTOR 40033693 Archived from the original on September 30 2021 Retrieved September 30 2021 King Susan Falk Still Gets His Kicks From Alter ego Columbo Greensboro News and Record Archived from the original on September 30 2021 Retrieved September 30 2021 Swoon The New Yorker Archived from the original on September 30 2021 Retrieved September 30 2021 Lybarger Jeremy July 26 2018 Reopening the Case Files of Leopold and Loeb The Paris Review Archived from the original on November 27 2021 Retrieved September 30 2021 Ebert Roger April 19 2002 Murder by Numbers movie review 2002 rogerebert com Archived from the original on September 30 2021 Retrieved September 30 2021 Graphic Novelist Daniel Clowes NPR org Archived from the original on September 30 2021 Retrieved September 30 2021 Shenton Mark January 15 2015 Stephen Dolginoff Musical Thrill Me The Leopold amp Loeb Story Will Get London Revival Playbill Archived from the original on September 30 2021 Retrieved September 30 2021 Scream Screenwriter Kevin Williamson Confirms Billy and Stu s Queer Coded Relationship Was Based on Real Gay Killers January 12 2022 Archived from the original on January 15 2022 Retrieved January 15 2022 Bibliography Edit Leopold Nathan F Life plus 99 Years 1958 Introduction by Erle Stanley Gardner Baatz Simon For the Thrill of It Leopold Loeb and the Murder that Shocked Chicago HarperCollins 2008 Baatz Simon Criminal Minds Smithsonian Magazine 39 August 2008 70 79 Higdon Hal Leopold and Loeb The Crime of the Century University of Illinois Press 1999 originally published in 1975 ISBN 0252068297 Kalin Tom director Swoon Film 1990 Levin Meyer Compulsion Carroll amp Graf Publishers 1996 originally published in 1956 ISBN 0786703199 Logan John author Never the Sinner play Samuel French Inc 1987 Saul John author In the Dark of the Night 2006 ISBN 034548701X Dolginoff Stephen author composer Thrill Me The Leopold amp Loeb Story musical published by Dramatists Play Service ISBN 0822221020 Morita Yoshimitsu director Copycat Killer Film 2002 Leopold N F 1963 Checklist of the Birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Leopold and Loeb Leopold and Loeb Trial Home Page by Douglas Linder Famous American Trials Illinois v Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb University of Missouri at Kansas City Law School 1997 Retrieved September 14 2008 Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb Crime of the 20th Century by Marilyn Bardsley Crime Library Courtroom Television Network Retrieved April 11 2007 Northwestern University Archives Thrill Me The Leopold and Loeb Story main site CD ordering Thrill Me The Leopold and Loeb Story Review quotes from York Theatre Company Harold S Hulbert Papers from Northwestern University Archives Evanston Illinois Leopold and Loeb Collection from Northwestern University Special Collections Evanston Illinois Charles DeLacy August 1930 Inside Facts on the Leopold Loeb Crime True Detective Mysteries Retrieved May 7 2014 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 1926 stored on Archive org Murder by Birder A Brain Scoop video episode featuring Nathan Leopold The Case of The Perfect Murder Gone Wrong Leopold and Loeb Real True Crime LegalEagle by the YouTube channel LegalEagle Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Leopold and Loeb amp oldid 1132550425, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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