The Loeb-Leopold case - The Clarence Darrow Collection

The Loeb-Leopold Case
knew what was expected of him. His response was
adequate.
Now, you have heard a good deal of criticism of
that examination. I have no desire to overdo it. I
want to bring up the point, what should they have
done? Were they trying to find out only if the
senses were alert, if the logic was good, if the con-
tinuity of thought was perfect, if the stream ran
along, and if the accused boys knew where they
were? Is that enough? Is that the way they find
out whether men are insane or not?
How many people in this room are there that
couldn't have determined the same identical things
in this case that those four alienists determined on
that day? The defendants have senses working.
They can hear. They look at a book. They read
it correctly. They talk. They move around the
room. They don't seem to have their feet clogged
up. Their logic is good. They argue with one an-
other. Why, the ordinary person would say, " Yes,
they look to be sane; they look to be normal."
Of course they did. They looked that way to
their parents, to their brothers. How do we know
they looked that way? Mr. Crowe knows they
looked that way. He knows that the father of
Leopold, the uncle of Loeb, and the brother came
down to see them when they were under investiga-
tion and they told him they felt it their duty to co-
operate with him in every way. They never
dreamed what the truth of this case was.
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