The Loeb-Leopold case - The Clarence Darrow Collection

The Loeb-Leopold Case
He believed in a superman. He and Dickie Loeb
were the supermen. There might have been others,
but they were two, and two chums. The ordinary
commands of society were not for him. Many of
us read this philosophy but know that it has no
actual application to life; but not he. It became a
part of his being. He lived it and practiced it; he
thought it applied to him, and he could not have
believed it excepting that it either caused a dis-
eased mind or was the result of a diseased mind.
In New York State a man named Freeman be-
came obsessed in a very strange way of religious
ideas. He read the story of Isaac and Abraham and
he felt a call that he must sacrifice his son. He
arranged an altar in his parlor. He converted his
wife to the idea. He took his little babe and put it
on the altar and cut its throat. Was he sane?
Was he normal? Was this poor fellow responsible?
Not in the least. And he was acquitted because he
was the victim of a delusion. Men are largely what
their ideas make them. Boys are largely what their
ideas make them.
You remember that I asked Dr. Church about
these religious cases and he said, " Yes, many peo-
ple go to the insane asylum on account of them,"
that " they place a literal meaning on parables and
believe them thoroughly." I asked Dr. Church,
whom I again say I believe to be an honest man,
and an intelligent man — I asked him whether the
same thing might be done or might come from a
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