Page:The plea of Clarence Darrow, August 22nd, 23rd & 25th, MCMXXIII, in defense of Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr., on trial for murder.djvu/9



On May 21, 1924, Robert Franks, aged fourteen, was picked up on one of the prominent streets of Chicago by an automobile which was in the possession of Nathan Leopold, Jr., and Richard Loeb. He was driven within half a block of Loeb's house and about the same distance from Frank's house, was hit on the head with a chisel and killed.

Robert Franks was in the front seat when the blow was struck. He was then pulled into the back seat and driven about twenty miles through some of the principal streets of Chicago and along the main automobile way. He was taken into the machine about half past four o'clock and taken by daylight through the main populated parts of the south side and that portion which is mostly frequented by automobiles. He was killed instantly and after this ride, his body was stripped and he was put into a culvert in a lonely spot about twenty miles from where he was picked up.

Nathan Leopold, Jr., was nineteen years old and Richard Loeb, eighteen years old. Loeb was well acquainted with young Franks. Before this time, Leopold and Loeb had prepared a letter addressed "Dear Sir," in which they demanded $10,000 ransom. Even the minute before Franks was picked up on the street neither Leopold nor Loeb had settled on the person they should kidnap. Immediately after the killing the ransom letter was addressed and mailed to the father of Robert Franks. All three families are people of considerable wealth.

Leopold was the youngest boy who ever graduated from the Chicago University and at the time, was preparing to enter Harvard Law College. Before entering