For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb, and the Murder That Shocked Jazz Age Chicago (59 page)

The
Chicago Evening Post
first appeared in 1890 and was the least distinguished of the city’s newspapers. Its coverage of the murder was competent yet largely routine. The
Post
’s journalists rarely reported any aspect of the case that had gone unnoticed by its rivals. The
Chicago Evening Post
could not survive the Great Depression and disappeared in 1930.

The
Chicago Daily Journal
, an evening paper that first appeared in 1844, was distinctive in its appearance (it was printed on pale green paper) and in its support for the Democratic Party. Its coverage of the Leopold-Loeb case was unrivaled. It devoted more column inches to the murder than any other paper, including the
Chicago Daily Tribune
, and its reporters seemed to be everywhere, uncovering new facts, pursuing fresh leads, and interviewing anyone with even the slightest connection to the case. The
Chicago Journal
, despite the breadth and extent of its coverage, failed to survive, and merged in 1929 with the
Chicago Daily News
.
⁵

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES

An autobiography—one might imagine—would provide an insider’s perspective. The author’s account would be direct, objective, and truthful; it would provide an immediately accessible description of events. If only that might be so! In reality few individuals can resist exaggerating their accomplishments. One of Robert Crowe’s assistants, Joseph Savage, wrote his autobiography in 1975, fifty years after the murder; and as one might expect for an account written so long after the event, it is full of errors. Less forgivably, Savage assigns himself the leading role in the investigation of the murder and appropriates Crowe’s triumphs for himself.
⁶

Clarence Darrow was seventy-three when he wrote his autobiography. Darrow was a protagonist in some of the most sensational trials of his day, and he devotes just two brief chapters to the Leopold-Loeb case. In the first, Darrow outlines the facts of the murder, and in the second he provides an analysis of his defense. His animosity toward Robert Crowe had softened in the years since the hearing and little remains of the hostility and contempt for the state’s attorney that Darrow expressed so frequently during the courtroom battles. Darrow always believed the best of his clients and, notwithstanding all the evidence to the contrary, he describes Richard Loeb as “a kindly boy” and Nathan Leopold as “genial, kindly, and likable.” Otherwise Darrow’s account is generally accurate.
⁷

Whereas Joseph Savage was careless with the facts, Nathan Leopold, who completed his autobiography in 1958, was careless with the truth. The first five chapters of
Life Plus 99 Years
deal with the events surrounding the murder; the remainder of the book is an account of Leopold’s experiences in Joliet and Stateville. Leopold wrote his autobiography as part of his campaign to win parole, and it should be read in that light. It is an immensely clever book, written in a clear and engaging style that portrays the author as a lovable rogue who constantly struggles, despite adverse circumstances, to improve the lives of his fellow prisoners. The establishment of the prison school, his work as an X-ray technician, his stint as a nurse in the psychiatric ward, his participation in the malaria experiments—everything, in Leopold’s account, is undertaken selflessly for the betterment of mankind. The publication of his autobiography came too late to be considered by the parole board, but it succeeded in creating a picture of Nathan Leopold that persists to the present. There is no evidence, for example, that Leopold could speak several languages or that he had an exceptional IQ, yet such myths have been repeated so often that they have now come to be accepted as true.
⁸

NOTES

CHAPTER 1: THE KIDNAPPING

1.
Trial Transcript, fols. 30, 38, 50, 69.

2.
Ibid., fol. 67.

3.
“Moron Theory Gains Favor in Franks Murder Inquiry,”
Chicago Daily Journal
, 23 May 1924.

4.
John Herrick, “Jail Policeman in Franks Quiz; Tutors Freed,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
, 29 May 1924; “Harvard School Head Calls Robert Franks Bright Youth,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
, 23 May 1924; “Moron Theory”; “Franks, as Debater, Won on Plea to Save Necks of Murderers,”
Chicago Daily Journal
, 4 June 1924.

5.
John Kelley, “Jacob Franks, Father of Slain Boy, Started as Pawnbroker; Made Fortune in Realty,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
, 23 May 1924.

6.
Ibid.; “Franks without Enemies, Says Old Time ‘Pal,’”
Chicago Sunday Tribune
, 25 May 1924.

7.
“Ettelson Sets Mark for Longest Term as City Law Chief,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
, 9 November 1920.

8.
“Ettelson Tells of Vain Effort to Spring Trap,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
, 23 May 1924.

9.
Ibid.

10.
Trial Transcript, fol. 107.

11.
“Moron Theory.”

12.
“Kidnap Rich Boy; Kill Him,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
, 23 May 1924.

13.
Ibid.

14.
Trial Transcript, fols. 82–84.

15.
“Kidnapers Slay Millionaire’s Son as $10,000 Ransom Waits,”
Chicago Herald and Examiner
, 23 May 1924; “Tony Minke, Finder of Boy’s Body, Gives Details of Discovery,”
Chicago American
, 23 May 1924.

16.
Trial Transcript, fols. 300, 323.

17.
Ibid., fols. 88–89, 91–92, 94, 309.

18.
Ibid., fol. 306.

19.
Ibid., fols. 316, 319–320.

20.
“Kidnap Rich Boy.”

21.
Ibid.

22.
Ibid.; “Cub Reporters Win Franks Case Glory,”
Chicago Daily News
, 31 May 1924.

23.
Leopold Statement, 2 June 1924, 12:01 a.m., fol. 329.

24.
Ibid., fols. 327–328.

25.
Trial Transcript, fol. 634.

26.
“Moron Theory”; “Collins Orders All Policemen to Look for Franks’ Slayer,”
Chicago American
, 23 May 1924.

27.
“Kidnap Rich Boy”; James Doherty, “Kidnaped Boy Died Fighting,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
, 24 May 1924; “Question Woman in Franks Murder,”
Chicago Daily Journal
, 26 May 1924.

28.
“Expert Fixes on Kind of Machine Kidnaper Used,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
, 24 May 1924; “Kidnapers’ Ransom Letter Shows Hand of Expert Letterer,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
, 24 May 1924; Charles V. Slattery, “Franks Boy Gagged, Died Fighting,”
Chicago Herald and Examiner
, 24 May 1924.

29.
“Police Delve into Past of Boy’s Teachers,”
Chicago Sunday Tribune
, 25 May 1924.

30.
“Kidnap Rich Boy”; Doherty, “Kidnaped Boy.”

31.
“Moron Theory.”

32.
“Raid Dope Rings for Franks Slayers,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
, 28 May 1924; “Harvard School Not Hurt by Franks Case, Principal Says,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
, 28 May 1924; “Aided Franks’ Murder Car,”
Chicago Daily Journal
, 27 May 1924.

33.
“Moron Theory”; James Doherty, “Girl Vanishes as Franks Did,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
, 26 May 1924; “Pence Vouches for His 3 Instructors,”
Chicago American
, 23 May 1924.

34.
“Frees Franks Teachers,”
Chicago Daily Journal
, 28 May 1924; “New Franks Clues,”
Chicago Evening Post
, 29 May 1924.

35.
“Eyewitness Tells of Boy’s Midnight Burial,”
Chicago American
, 27 May 1924.

36.
Doherty, “Kidnaped Boy”; Doherty, “Girl Vanishes.”

37.
James Doherty, “All City Hunts Kidnapers,”
Chicago Sunday Tribune
, 25 May 1924.

38.
Doherty, “Girl Vanishes”; “Coroner Renews Hunt for Clues at Death Scene,”
Chicago American
, 27 May 1924.

39.
Doherty, “Girl Vanishes.”

40.
“Aided Franks’ Murder Car.”

41.
“Even Dogs Bark at Gray Cars,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
, 28 May 1924.

42.
“Slayer of Franks Boy May Be Suicide,”
Chicago Daily News
, 24 May 1924; Doherty, “All City.”

43.
Doherty, “Kidnaped Boy”; Trial Transcript, fol. 95.

44.
Doherty, “Kidnaped Boy”; “Dig For Franks Boy Clews,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
, 27 May 1924; “Question Woman.”

45.
“Raid Dope,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
, 28 May 1924.

46.
Ibid.

47.
“Slain Boy’s Father Gets Death Note; Hunt Drug Addict,”
Chicago Evening Post
, 24 May 1924.

48.
Doherty, “Girl Vanishes”; “Girl, 17, Missing; Fear Her Victim of Franks Plot,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
, 26 May 1924.

49.
“Find Gertrude Barker: Male Companion Held,”
Chicago Daily Journal
, 27 May 1924.

50.
Maurine Watkins, “Simple Funeral Service Is Held for Franks Boy,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
, 26 May 1924.

51.
Ibid.; “Classmates Lay Franks to Rest,”
Chicago Daily Journal
, 26 May 1924.

52.
“Try to See Franks Slayer through His Spectacles,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
, 29 May 1924.

53.
Doherty, “Girl Vanishes.”

54.
Ibid.; “Talks of Franks Case, Found Dying of Drug,”
Chicago American
, 29 May 1924.

55.
“Glasses, Note Franks Clews,”
Chicago Daily Journal
, 31 May 1924.

CHAPTER 2: THE RELATIONSHIP

1.
“Psychiatrists’ Report for the Defense (Joint Summary),”
Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology
15 (November 1924): 360.

2.
Trial Transcript, fols. 1870, 1873.

3.
Ibid., fols. 1916–1917.

4.
Bowman-Hulbert Report (Leopold), fol. 27.

5.
Jean F. Block,
The Uses of Gothic: Planning and Building the Campus of the University of Chicago, 1892
–
1932
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983).

6.
“Samuel F. Leopold,” in Paul Gilbert and Charles Lee Bryson,
Chicago and Its Makers
(Chicago: F. Mendelsohn, 1929), 665.

7.
Ibid.; Bowman-Hulbert Report (Leopold), fol. 3.

8.
Maureen McKernan, “Leopold Family a Big Factor in City Business,”
Chicago Sunday Tribune
, 1 June 1924.

9.
Bowman-Hulbert Report (Leopold), fols. 23, 24.

10.
Ibid., fols. 17–18.

11.
Ibid., fols. 18–20.

12.
Ibid., fol. 18.

13.
“Athletics,”
Harvard School Review
(1920): 89–95.

14.
Bowman-Hulbert Report (Leopold), fols. 24–25.

15.
Ibid., fol. 24.

16.
Maurine Watkins, “‘Dick Innocent,’ Loebs Protest; Plan Defense,”
Chicago Sunday Tribune
, 1 June 1924; “Jacob M. Loeb,” in Gilbert and Bryson,
Chicago and Its Makers
, 928.

17.
Watkins, “‘Dick Innocent.’”

18.
Bowman-Hulbert Report (Loeb), fols. 13, 33; William Alanson White Notes (Loeb), fol. 4.

19.
Bowman-Hulbert Report (Loeb), fols. 72–75.

20.
William Harms and Ida DePencier,
Experiencing Education: 100 Years of Learning at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools
(Chicago: University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, 1996), 4–10.

21.
“Review of the Season,”
Correlator
16 (1918): 124–125.

22.
“Molecules Hold Meeting,”
University High School Daily
, 31 October 1917.

23.
“Freshman Lit Club Officers Nominated,”
University High School Daily
, 9 May 1918; “Election of Officers Closes Freshmen Lit,”
University High School Daily
, 22 May 1918.

24.
“Freshmen! Vote Today for Class Officers,”
University High School Daily
, 11 January 1918; “Freshmen Elect Officers,”
University High School Daily
, 15 January 1918; “Freshmen,”
Correlator
16 (1918): 25; “Freshmen to Wind Up Year with Large Party,”
University High School Daily
, 6 June 1918.

25.
Bowman-Hulbert Report (Loeb), fols. 14, 19.

26.
Ibid., fol. 14.

27.
Ibid., fol. 40.

28.
Ibid., fol. 14; Trial Transcript, fols. 1285–1286.

29.
Bowman-Hulbert Report (Loeb), fol. 12.

30.
“Sophomore Literary Society Holds Initial Meeting,”
University High School Daily
, 10 October 1918; “Soph Literary Society Holds Varied Meeting,”
University High School Daily
, 5 December 1918.

31.
Bowman-Hulbert Report (Loeb), fol. 24.

32.
Ibid.; Official Transcript (Richard Albert Loeb), Office of the Registrar, University of Chicago.

33.
Bowman-Hulbert Report (Loeb), fols. 14–15; Trial Transcript, fol. 1670.

34.
“The Campus Club,”
Cap and Gown
26 (1921): 178–179.

35.
Ibid., 179; Bowman-Hulbert Report (Leopold), fol. 28; Official Transcript (Nathan Freudenthal Leopold Jr.), Office of the Registrar, University of Chicago.

36.
Bowman-Hulbert Report (Leopold), fol. 89; Bowman-Hulbert Report (Loeb), fol. 78.

37.
Bowman-Hulbert Report (Leopold), fol. 92; Bowman-Hulbert Report (Loeb), fol. 85.

38.
Bowman-Hulbert Report (Leopold), fols. 90–91; Bowman-Hulbert Report (Loeb), fols. 83–85.

39.
Trial Transcript, fols. 1671, 1683–1684.

40.
Bowman-Hulbert Report (Loeb), fols. 69–71.

41.
Ibid., fol. 68; William Alanson White Notes (Loeb), fol. 6; Trial Transcript, fols. 1295–1296, 1534–1535.