1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:05,080 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:09,320 Speaker 1: Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:15,560 Speaker 1: show that unmasks history one day at a time. I'm 4 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:19,760 Speaker 1: Gabe Lucier, and today we're grappling with the troubling implications 5 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:27,520 Speaker 1: of one of the most unusual murders in Chicago history. 6 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:36,960 Speaker 1: As a warning, today's episode includes descriptions of violence which 7 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:42,440 Speaker 1: some listeners may find upsetting. The day was May twenty first, 8 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:47,680 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty four. Two wealthy college students abducted and killed 9 00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:50,479 Speaker 1: a fourteen year old boy in an effort to commit 10 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:55,840 Speaker 1: a perfect crime. The killers, Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, 11 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:59,560 Speaker 1: were eighteen and nineteen years old, respectively, at the time 12 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:03,920 Speaker 1: of the murder. Both were keenly intelligent and highly privileged, 13 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:07,119 Speaker 1: born to well to do families in the Chicago suburbs. 14 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:11,640 Speaker 1: Loeb had recently graduated from the University of Michigan and 15 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:14,280 Speaker 1: had returned to his hometown with the plan to begin 16 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:18,760 Speaker 1: law school in the fall. His neighbor, Leopold, was already 17 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:21,720 Speaker 1: a law student at the University of Chicago, where he 18 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:27,000 Speaker 1: had developed a growing fascination with criminal psychology. Leopold was 19 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:31,360 Speaker 1: also fixated on the philosophy of German thinker Friedrich Nietzsche, 20 00:01:31,959 --> 00:01:37,720 Speaker 1: especially his conception of the Ubermensch or superman. As Leopold 21 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 1: once explained in a letter to Loebe, a superman is, 22 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:46,720 Speaker 1: on account of certain superior qualities inherent in him, exempted 23 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:50,680 Speaker 1: from the ordinary laws which govern men. He is not 24 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:55,520 Speaker 1: liable for anything he may do. Lob for his part, 25 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:59,000 Speaker 1: was an avid reader of detective fiction, and was obsessed 26 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:02,840 Speaker 1: with the idea of a perfect crime, one so meticulously 27 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:06,200 Speaker 1: planned and organized that no detective in the world could 28 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 1: solve it. The boy's interests, when paired together, convinced them 29 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:13,919 Speaker 1: that the way to become supermen themselves was to commit 30 00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:18,360 Speaker 1: an unsolvable crime. To that end, they pulled off several 31 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:21,359 Speaker 1: burglaries together, as well as a few acts of arson. 32 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:24,880 Speaker 1: But to their dismay, none of those crimes were deemed 33 00:02:24,919 --> 00:02:28,760 Speaker 1: notable enough to warrant a full investigation. In fact, they 34 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:32,360 Speaker 1: weren't even reported in the press, and so in the 35 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:35,920 Speaker 1: spring of nineteen twenty four, Leopold and Loebe decided to 36 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:39,400 Speaker 1: up their game by committing a crime so heinous it 37 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:43,239 Speaker 1: would be guaranteed to get the whole city talking. Their 38 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:46,600 Speaker 1: plan was to kidnap and murder a child and then 39 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:49,119 Speaker 1: send a ransom note to the parents as a way 40 00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:52,320 Speaker 1: to delay the search for the body. They didn't have 41 00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:55,840 Speaker 1: a victim in mind, because their crime wasn't motivated by 42 00:02:55,919 --> 00:02:59,800 Speaker 1: vengeance or personal gain. The act of killing was almost 43 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 1: in material. They didn't want a murder so much as 44 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:07,239 Speaker 1: they wanted to get away with murder. The pair established 45 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:10,320 Speaker 1: fake identities which they used to rent a car, and 46 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:13,040 Speaker 1: then began rehearsing how to carry out the crime and 47 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:16,760 Speaker 1: where to dispose of the body. On May twenty first, 48 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:20,800 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty four, Leopold and Lob went driving in search 49 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:23,480 Speaker 1: of a victim. They had nearly given up for the 50 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:26,920 Speaker 1: day when they spotted fourteen year old Bobby Franks walking 51 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:31,160 Speaker 1: home alone from school. The boy had never met Leopold before, 52 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:34,320 Speaker 1: but he was Lob's second cousin. The two of them 53 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:37,240 Speaker 1: sometimes played tennis together, and it was because of that 54 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,839 Speaker 1: familiarity that Franks accepted a ride from them, even though 55 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:43,360 Speaker 1: his school was just a few blocks from his home. 56 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:47,720 Speaker 1: Franks climbed into the front passenger seat next to Leopold, 57 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:50,800 Speaker 1: while Lob sat in the back, plying the boy with 58 00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:55,120 Speaker 1: questions about tennis. Rackets. Then, once the car was in motion, 59 00:03:55,520 --> 00:03:57,800 Speaker 1: lob struck Franks on the back of the head with 60 00:03:57,880 --> 00:04:01,400 Speaker 1: the blunt end of a chisel. Infused and panicked, the 61 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:04,280 Speaker 1: boy fought for his life, but was eventually pulled into 62 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:07,040 Speaker 1: the back seat and bludgeoned to death by his cousin. 63 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:11,080 Speaker 1: The pair drove to a secluded spot near the Indiana 64 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:15,280 Speaker 1: border and dumped Franks's body in a culvert. Along the way, 65 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 1: they stopped at a restaurant for hot dogs and root beer. 66 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:22,520 Speaker 1: The following morning, the killer scrubbed the boy's blood from 67 00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:25,279 Speaker 1: the rental car and sent his parents a ransom note 68 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:29,760 Speaker 1: demanding ten thousand dollars for his safe return. The ruse 69 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:33,120 Speaker 1: didn't work as plan, though, because before the family could 70 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:36,560 Speaker 1: pay the ransom, a passer by discovered the child's body 71 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:40,560 Speaker 1: and reported it to the police. A pair of eyeglasses 72 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:43,799 Speaker 1: was also found a short distance away, and the police 73 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:48,320 Speaker 1: assumed they belonged to the boy. However, when Franks's parents 74 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:51,520 Speaker 1: arrived to identify the body, they said their son had 75 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:55,640 Speaker 1: never worn glasses in his life. It turned out that 76 00:04:55,760 --> 00:04:58,840 Speaker 1: Leopold's glasses had fallen out of his pocket when they 77 00:04:58,839 --> 00:05:01,440 Speaker 1: were moving the body, and while that wouldn't have been 78 00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:05,000 Speaker 1: enough to identify him in most cases, especially since his 79 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:08,920 Speaker 1: finger prints were not yet on file. His eyeglasses happened 80 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:14,080 Speaker 1: to be very distinctive. The expensive horned rim frames included 81 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:17,560 Speaker 1: a specially patented spring and could only be obtained from 82 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:22,239 Speaker 1: one optometrist in Chicago. The police learned that only three 83 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:26,120 Speaker 1: people had purchased the frames, and after interviewing and dismissing 84 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:29,600 Speaker 1: the first two, they turned their attention to Nathan Leopold. 85 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:34,000 Speaker 1: When called in for questioning, Leopold explained that he must 86 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:36,960 Speaker 1: have dropped his glasses while bird hunting in the area 87 00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:40,600 Speaker 1: a few days before the murder. The story likely would 88 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:43,839 Speaker 1: have fooled police, but a few days later, reporters working 89 00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:47,640 Speaker 1: the case uncovered letters from Leopold that matched the format 90 00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:51,159 Speaker 1: and style of the ransom note. The police then spoke 91 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:54,400 Speaker 1: to the Leopold family's chauffeur, who revealed that he had 92 00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:57,320 Speaker 1: seen the two boys washing the interior of a rental 93 00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:00,640 Speaker 1: car after claiming to have spilled red wine in it. 94 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:05,080 Speaker 1: When confronted with this evidence ten days after the murder, 95 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:08,920 Speaker 1: both boys confessed their guilt and provided a detailed account 96 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:13,080 Speaker 1: of how and why they did it. The subsequent trial 97 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:17,240 Speaker 1: made headlines nationwide, not only because of the horrific nature 98 00:06:17,279 --> 00:06:20,120 Speaker 1: and bizarre motive of the crime, but because the boy's 99 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:24,799 Speaker 1: parents had hired Clarence Darrow to lead the defense. Darrow 100 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:28,240 Speaker 1: was one of the most famous and expensive criminal attorneys 101 00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:30,840 Speaker 1: of the era, having made a name for himself by 102 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:35,200 Speaker 1: representing railway union leader Eugene Debs during the trial over 103 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:38,200 Speaker 1: his role in the Pullman strike of eighteen ninety four. 104 00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:42,240 Speaker 1: Darrow knew that his clients would be convicted, as they 105 00:06:42,279 --> 00:06:46,120 Speaker 1: had both already signed full confessions. His goal was to 106 00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:49,279 Speaker 1: help them avoid the death penalty, something that would have 107 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:52,360 Speaker 1: been next to impossible if the case had been decided 108 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:56,240 Speaker 1: by a jury. To avoid that outcome, Darrow had his 109 00:06:56,320 --> 00:06:59,480 Speaker 1: clients plead guilty so that the sentencing would be left 110 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:03,320 Speaker 1: up to the judge. With his client's guilt established from 111 00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:06,560 Speaker 1: the start, Darrow focused his time on building a compelling 112 00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:10,880 Speaker 1: argument against the death penalty. In a wide ranging eight 113 00:07:10,960 --> 00:07:15,080 Speaker 1: hour closing speech, he asserted that although his client's actions 114 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:18,920 Speaker 1: were their own, their characters had been influenced by forces 115 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:24,080 Speaker 1: beyond their control and should therefore be shown leniency. Why 116 00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:28,520 Speaker 1: did they kill little Bobby Franks? Darrow asked, not for money, 117 00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:32,560 Speaker 1: not for spite, not for hate. They killed him as 118 00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:36,600 Speaker 1: they might kill a spider or a fly for the experience. 119 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:40,880 Speaker 1: They killed him because they were made that way. Because 120 00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:44,360 Speaker 1: somewhere in the infinite processes that go to the making 121 00:07:44,480 --> 00:07:47,920 Speaker 1: up of the boy or the man, something slipped, and 122 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:53,120 Speaker 1: those unfortunate lads sit here, hated, despised, outcasts, and the 123 00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:58,520 Speaker 1: community shouting for their blood. Most of Darrow's speech was 124 00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:01,800 Speaker 1: directed to the death penalty itself, which he had long 125 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:06,160 Speaker 1: decried as a barbaric, vengeful form of punishment. He didn't 126 00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:09,560 Speaker 1: think the sentence had any place in a modern judicial system, 127 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:13,040 Speaker 1: but especially not in a case concerning clients as young 128 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:17,080 Speaker 1: as his. I am not pleading so much for these boys, 129 00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:20,200 Speaker 1: he said. I am pleading for the future. I am 130 00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:23,440 Speaker 1: pleading for a time when hatred and cruelty will not 131 00:08:23,520 --> 00:08:26,640 Speaker 1: control the hearts of men, when we can learn, by 132 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:30,800 Speaker 1: reason and judgment and understanding and faith that all life 133 00:08:30,880 --> 00:08:34,560 Speaker 1: is worth saving, and that mercy is the highest attribute 134 00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:39,480 Speaker 1: of man. We can't say for certain that Darrow's speech 135 00:08:39,559 --> 00:08:42,560 Speaker 1: swayed the judge, but in the end he did as 136 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:45,960 Speaker 1: the attorney asked and spared Leopold and Loeb from the 137 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:50,080 Speaker 1: death penalty. Instead, they were sentenced to life in prison. 138 00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:54,720 Speaker 1: Richard Lobe served about a decade of his term before 139 00:08:54,760 --> 00:08:59,240 Speaker 1: being killed by a fellow inmate. Nathan Leopold served thirty 140 00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:02,360 Speaker 1: three years in prison and was released on parole in 141 00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:06,720 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty eight. In his youth, he had fancied himself 142 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:09,960 Speaker 1: a superman, but at his parole hearing he said that 143 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:12,360 Speaker 1: all he wanted now was the chance to be a 144 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:17,040 Speaker 1: humble little person. If only he and his accomplice had 145 00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:20,800 Speaker 1: afforded that same chance to Bobby Franks, all three of 146 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:27,240 Speaker 1: them could have been so much more. I'm Gabe blues 147 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:30,400 Speaker 1: Gay and hopefully you now know a little more about 148 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:34,200 Speaker 1: history today than you did yesterday. If you'd like to 149 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:37,400 Speaker 1: keep up with the show, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, 150 00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:41,640 Speaker 1: and Instagram at TDI HC Show, and if you have 151 00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:44,600 Speaker 1: any comments or suggestions, feel free to send him my 152 00:09:44,679 --> 00:09:49,480 Speaker 1: way by writing to this day at iHeartMedia dot com. 153 00:09:49,480 --> 00:09:52,520 Speaker 1: Thanks to Kasby Bias for producing the show, and thanks 154 00:09:52,559 --> 00:09:54,959 Speaker 1: to you for listening. I'll see you back here again 155 00:09:55,000 --> 00:10:01,760 Speaker 1: tomorrow for another day in History class. The printer Picter Pick, 156 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:02,560 Speaker 1: the Bolted