The Loeb-Leopold case - The Clarence Darrow Collection

The Loeb-Leopold Case
Yet, fifty years ago the Ross boy was kidnaped —
not the son of a multimillionaire. He was never
found. And yet we all, even those of us born many
years after, still talk about the case of Charley Ross.
There is something in the nature of the crime itself
that arrests the attention of every person in the
land. A child is stolen; the heart of every mother,
the heart of every father, the heart of every man
who has a heart goes out to the parents of that child.
Bobby Franks kidnaped! When we had not the
slightest information who was guilty of the dastardly
crime, the papers were full of it. It was the only
topic of conversation. It remained the only topic
of conversation for a week before the State's At-
torney of this county called in Nathan Leopold, Jr.
Their wealth, in my judgment, has nothing to do
with this. It permits a defense here seldom given
to men in the Criminal Court. Take away the mil-
lions of the Loebs and Leopolds, and Clarence
Darrow's tongue is as still as the tongue of Julius
Caesar. Take away their millions, and the wise men
from the East would not be here to tell you about
fantasies, Teddy bears, and about bold boys who
had their pictures taken in cowboy uniform. Take
away their money, and what happens? The same
as has happened to all other men who have been
tried in this building that had no money: a plea of
guilty; a police officer sworn; a coroner's physician
sworn; the parents of the murdered boy sworn; a
sentence.
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