The Loeb-Leopold case - The Clarence Darrow Collection

The Loeb-Leopold Case
age at which they are hanged, but the age at the
time of the verdict or sentence.
The first hanging in Illinois — on a plea of guilty
— was May 15, 1896, when a young colored man, 24
years old, was sentenced to death by Judge Baker.
Judge Baker I knew very well; a man of ability,
a fine fellow, but a man of moods. I do not know
whether the court remembers him; but that was the
first hanging on a plea of guilty to the credit of any
man in Illinois — I mean in Chicago. I have not
obtained the statistics from the rest of the State, but
I am satisfied they are the same, and that boy was
colored, and twenty-four, either one of which should
have saved him from death, but the color probably
had something to do with compassing his destruc-
tion.
The next was Julius Mannow. Now, he really
was not hanged on a plea of guilty, though the
records so show. I will state to your Honor just
what the facts are. Joseph Windreth and Julius
Mannow were tried together in 1896 on a charge
of murder with robbery. When the trial was nearly
finished, Julius Mannow withdrew his plea of guilty.
He was defended by Elliott, whom I remember very
well, and probably your Honor does. And under
what he supposed was an agreement with the court
he plead this man guilty, after the case was nearly
finished.
Now, I am not here to discuss whether there was
an agreement or not. Judge Horton, who tried this
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