The Loeb-Leopold case - The Clarence Darrow Collection

The Loeb-Leopold Case
old enough to do all the things that an older man
can do. He was not a boy; a boy that is the special
ward of the State, and the special ward of the court,
and who cannot act except in special ways because
he is not mature. He was twenty-eight and he is
not dead and will not die. His life was saved, and
you may go over every hanging, and if your Honor
shall decorate the gallows with these two boys, your
Honor will be the first in Chicago who has ever done
such a deed. And I know you will not.
Your Honor, I must hasten along, for I will close
tonight. I know I should have closed before. Still
there seems so much that I would like to say. I will
spend a few more minutes on this record of hang-
ings. There was one boy nineteen years old,
Thomas Schultz, who was convicted by a jury and
executed. There was one boy who has been re-
ferred to here, eighteen, Nicholas Viani, who was
convicted by a jury and executed. No one else
under twenty-one, your Honor, has been convicted
by a jury and executed. Now, let me speak a word
about these.
Schultz was convicted in 19 12 and hanged. Of
course, I believe it should not have happened, but
your Honor knows the difference between a plea of
guilty and a verdict. It is easy enough for a jury
to divide the responsibility by twelve. They have
not the charity which comes from age and expe-
rience. It is easy for some State's Attorneys to
influence some juries. I don't know who defended
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