The Loeb-Leopold case - The Clarence Darrow Collection

The Loeb-Leopold Case
fate, and I cannot tell — perhaps the boy who died
at fourteen did as much as if he had died at seventy,
and perhaps the boy who died as a babe did as much
as if he had lived longer. Perhaps, somewhere in
fate and chance, it might be that he lived as long
as he should.
And I want to say this, that the death of poor
little Bobby Franks should not be in vain. Would
it mean anything if on account of that death, these
two boys were taken out and a rope tied around
their necks and they died felons? Would that show
that Bobby Franks had a purpose in his life and a
purpose in his death? No, your Honor, the unfor-
tunate and tragic death of this weak young lad
should mean something. It should mean an appeal
to the fathers and the mothers, an appeal to the
teachers, to the religious guides, to society at large.
It should mean an appeal to all of them to appraise
children, to understand the emotions that control
them, to understand the ideas that possess them, to
teach them to avoid the pitfalls of life.
I have discussed somewhat in detail these two
boys separately. Their coming together was the
means of their undoing. Your Honor is familiar
with the facts in reference to their association.
They had a weird, almost impossible relationship.
Leopold, with his obsession of the superman, had
repeatedly said that Loeb was his idea of the super-
man. He had the attitude toward him that one has
to his most devoted friend, or that a man has to a
185