The Loeb-Leopold case - The Clarence Darrow Collection

The Loeb-Leopold Case
of these is that your prompt reply conclusively proved
my previous idea that the whole matter really did mean
something to you, and that you respected my wishes,
even though we were not very friendly. This is a great
satisfaction, but the second is even greater, in that I
imply from the general tenor of your letter that there
is a good chance of a reconciliation between us, which I
ardently desire, and this belief will give me that peace
of mind on which I based my request.
But I fear, Dick, that your letter has failed to settle
the controversy itself, as two points are still left open.
These I will not attack. As I wrote you yesterday, the
decision of our relations was in your hands, because it
depended entirely on how you wished tol treat my refusal
to admit that I acted wrongly. This request you do not
answer. You imply merely that because of my statement
that ' I regret the whole matter ' I am in part at
least admitting what you desire. I thought twice before
putting that phrase in my letter, for fear you might
misconstrue it, as in fact you have done. First, you
will note that I said that ' I regret the whole matter
(not any single part of it). By this I meant that I
regretted the crime you originally committed (your
mistake in judgment) from which the whole consequences
flow. But I did not mean and do not wish to be under-
stood as meaning that once this act had been done, I
regret anything subsequent. I do not in fact regret it,
iDecause I feel sure, as I felt from the beginning, that
should we again become friends, it will be on a basis of
better mutual understanding as deliberately planned and
precipitated. Further, even if I did regret those con-
sequences, it would not follow at all that I consider
myself to have acted wrongly. I may regret that it is
necessary to go downtown to the dentist, and still not
feel that I am acting wrongly in so doing. Quite the
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