The Loeb-Leopold case - The Clarence Darrow Collection

The Loeb-Leopold Case
cool, premeditated act. It was not a kindness to
you. We placed this responsibility on your shoul-
ders because we were mindful of the rights of our
clients, and we were mindful of the unhappy families
who have done no wrong.
Now, let us see, your Honor, what we had to sus-
tain us. Of course, I have known your Honor for
a good many years. Not intimately. I could not
say that I could even guess from my experience
what your Honor might do, but I did know some-
thing. I knew, your Honor, that ninety unfortunate
human beings had been hanged by the neck until
dead in the city of Chicago in our history. We
would not have civilization except for those ninety
that were hanged, and if we cannot make it ninety-
two we will have to shut up shop. Some ninety
human beings have been hanged in the history of
Chicago, and of those only four have been hanged
on the plea of guilty.
I knew that in the last ten years three hundred
and forty people have been indicted for murder in
the city of Chicago and have pleaded guilty and only
one has been hanged ! And my friend who is prose-
cuting this case deserves the honor of that hanging
while he was on the bench. But his victim was
forty years old.
Yes, we are asking this court to save these lives,
which is the least and the most that a judge can do.
The State's Attorneys invoke the dark and cruel
past. They say that neither tender years nor con-
122