Leopold and Loeb Trial - The Clarence Darrow Collection

More documents

Recommendations

Info

About all that can be learned of the mind and the character of the man must be gathered from the manifestation of the machine. It is shown by his behavior in action and reaction. This behavior is caused by the capture, storage and release of energy through the ductless glands. A defective mechanism either inherited or acquired through imperfectly balanced glands will inevitably produce an imperfect mind and defective conduct. This it will be bound to do because the body is the mind. 56 Darrow’s mechanistic views on human behavior explain why he was interested in physical properties of the body, including the endocrine system. If man was just a machine, it was logical that physical defects in the machine would cause it to act inappropriately. He took the machine metaphor literally: The human machine moves in response to outside stimulation. How it will move depends upon two things, the character of the stimulant and the machine to which it is applied. No two machines will act exactly alike from the same stimulus. Sometimes they act in diametrically opposite ways. For instance, under the same stimulation, one may run and another may fight, depending perhaps on the secretions that the ductless glands empty into the blood. 57 Darrow was convinced that the endocrine system greatly affected the human machine, including the mind. It was natural that with Darrow’s interest in the new science and the need to save his clients from the gallows that Darrow would look to the science of endocrinology for arguments the defense could use. Given the wealth of the Leopold and Loeb families and their overriding desire to save their children’s lives, Darrow was able to hire numerous doctors to work for the defense. Darrow would mount the best defense he could and would have a fascinating lab experiment also. Darrow likely was familiar with Dr. Bowman, a nationally renowned doctor in endocrinology and its connection to mental disorders, before the Leopold and Loeb case broke. New Science not Proven The value of endocrinology to the study of criminal behavior was not universally accepted. Writing in 1935, the author of a book on criminology said of endocrinology that while it contained interesting possibilities, “The wide claims of the endocrinologists that personality characteristics, conduct trends and criminal behavior are all explicable in terms of glandular functioning have not yet been substantiated. The science is still too young, and there is too much disagreement about its data to allow definite conclusions.” 58 Dr. Rollin T. Woodyatt, an alienist for the state, would later testify that present knowledge about the endocrine glands might “be compared to the interior of Africa before Stanley went there.” He continued, “There are many definite facts known, but they 56 Id. at 174-75. 57 Id. at 38. 58 HAYNES, CRIMINOLOGY, supra note 53, at 38. 36
are scattered, disordered, unrelated. This field of endocrinology beyond the coastline of definite information is a field which has been exploited by romantic writers, charlatans, and others who are not to be classified as scientists.” Poverty Still a Cause of Crime But Darrow’s 1932 autobiography shows that he still believed poverty was a major cause of crime. Darrow writes that in prison, “Most of the inmates are the children of the poor.” 59 In another passage he relates: More than three-fifths of the inmates of our state prisons are confined for getting property by unlawful means, or for offenses like killing which grew directly from burglary, robbery, and the like. A large part of the rest of the inmates are there for sales of liquor, opium and other dope. The hundreds of other provisions of the criminal code furnish comparatively few victims. It is safe to say that almost none of these would have gone to prison except for poverty. 60 The new findings in behavioral science he studied supplemented but did not replace Darrow’s views on the causes of crime. The new science allowed Darrow to explain the strange case of Leopold and Loeb. These defendants were wealthier than virtually all of the criminals in the Cook County jail, in Illinois’ state prison and wealthier than the vast majority of citizens across the country that closely followed the case. Defense Hires Alienists Because the prosecution had secured the services of the most prominent local experts, the defense had to search elsewhere for experts to examine the defendants and testify during the trial. The defense hired two psychiatrists and endocrinologists, Dr. Karl M. Bowman, Chief of Staff at the Psychopathic Hospital in Boston and Harold S. Hulbert who formerly taught in Nervous and Mental Diseases at the University of Illinois. Bowman and Hulbert were to examine the defendants and prepare a report that would be used by the main alienists hired by the defense. Dr. William Alanson White was the Superintendent of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington D.C., the largest mental institution in the country, and also the president of the American Psychiatric Association. Dr. William Healy was the Director of the Judge Baker Foundation in Boston. Finally, Dr. Bernard A. Glueck was formerly a psychiatrist at Sing Sing prison in New York. Dr. Hulburt would be the fourth alienist for the defense. These were some of the most eminent psychiatrists in the United States. The defense would eventually hire over a dozen doctors to examine Leopold and Loeb. Darrow misspells Bowman and Hulbert’s names in his autobiography, calling them Bowen and Hurlburt. Referring to the nationally renowned endocrinologist he had hired, Darrow writes, “Doctor Bowen was an expert whose business related to the careful and 59 STORY OF MY LIFE, supra note 23, at 338. 60 Id. at 340. 37
Page 1 and 2: Introduction Leopold and Loeb Case
Page 3 and 4: endangered species. 5 The practice
Page 5 and 6: So thoroughly had Loeb ingratiated
Page 7 and 8: participate in some type of crime w
Page 9 and 10: Leopold knew of a great place to st
Page 11 and 12: victim. 14 At about 5:15 p.m., as t
Page 13 and 14: notify the police and they went to
Page 15 and 16: LARGE red brick factory situated im
Page 17 and 18: victim. They found a ready talker i
Page 19 and 20: most likely suspects. There were al
Page 21 and 22: early stage of the investigation su
Page 23 and 24: Leopold was asked what kind of type
Page 25 and 26: front seat and threw him on a rug i
Page 27 and 28: newly confessed murderers get “la
Page 29 and 30: were both in deep shock, as would b
Page 31 and 32: Accusations that the family was abl
Page 33 and 34: Illinois in 1917 who possessed many
Page 35: system was believed to have profoun
Page 39 and 40: ody was found in Lake Michigan. Wol
Page 41 and 42: Leopold early on displayed a concei
Page 43 and 44: phantasies but that he actually enj
Page 45 and 46: followed his example in staying cle
Page 47 and 48: evidence as to the youth of these d
Page 49 and 50: to show that Leopold and Loeb were
Page 51 and 52: Scopes trial, the NAACP considered
Page 53 and 54: White: “Well, I think he has made
Page 55 and 56: Court: “It would be public, if th
Page 57 and 58: showed no remorse, no regret, no co
Page 59 and 60: [U]nless we assume that every man w
Page 61 and 62: I was pretty well disgusted with my
Page 63 and 64: argued that “only gloating or boa
Page 65 and 66: Savage described the scene when the
Page 67 and 68: Darrow designated as a ‘roundup.
Page 69 and 70: Bobby Franks’ Murder not Cruel Da
Page 71 and 72: from its beginning, not one single
Page 73 and 74: Endocrinology Darrow was convinced
Page 75 and 76: and left after he was dead, but, yo
Page 77 and 78: But you cannot destroy thought beca
Page 79 and 80: From that day I have never gone thr
Page 81 and 82: ‘humanitarian,’ who believes in
Page 83 and 84: Take away the millions of the Loebs
Page 85 and 86: Judge Forces “Ladies” to Leave
Page 87 and 88:
And if it is the fate of these two
Page 89 and 90:
Darrow had ridiculed Crowe’s argu
Page 91 and 92:
alone for these two young men. He s
Page 93 and 94:
have been possible to set up succes
Page 95 and 96:
losses since the Franks’ loss was
Page 97 and 98:
they never went away. This aspect o
Page 99 and 100:
Ed Lahey at the Chicago Daily News,
Page 101 and 102:
former Cook County Jail assistant w
Page 103 and 104:
motion for summary judgment and jud
Page 105 and 106:
It appears that most analysis of Da
Page 107 and 108:
Wigmore then identified the cause o
Page 109 and 110:
sufficient horror of that—everybo
Page 111 and 112:
stand).” 158 Another significant
Page 113 and 114:
discuss sex crimes against boys, as
Page 115 and 116:
through the mazes which only childh
Page 117 and 118:
aside completely the opinions of 12
Page 119 and 120:
when he was strangled with the tree
Page 121 and 122:
The defendant was convicted of a mu
Page 123 and 124:
In some very sensational cases in w
Page 125 and 126:
What is most disturbing about the m
Page 127 and 128:
A judge sentencing for a D.C.Code v
Page 129 and 130:
The remark was improper, and had th
Page 131 and 132:
overstepping the bounds of propriet
Page 133:
133
show all

Leopold and Loeb Trial - The Clarence Darrow Collection

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?