The Loeb-Leopold case - The Clarence Darrow Collection

The Loeb-Leopold Case
without a rudder, and not knowing what port he was
going to put into.
'' At one time he had thought of teaching history,
but he felt that he was not of the scholarly type.
Asked why, he replied that he was always lazy, and
that he could never sit down and apply himself.
As a boy, he poisoned his mind by reading detective
stories."
Well, therein is where a whole lot of us are in the
same fix. I remember crawling under the bed to
read Nick Carter. After I got through reading Nick
Carter I began to read Gaboriau's French detective
stories, and when I was a student of Yale I paid
more attention to Raffles than I did to real property.
Oh, the only reason that Dickie committed this
slight delinquency of murdering little Bobby Franks
was that he desired the thrill; all his life he craved
for thrills.
What do Bowman and Hulbert say about it?
" He never appeared to crave a thrill or excitement,
but was rather quiet in his conduct; after Miss
Struthers left that home he seemed to be much the
same as before, quiet, rather affectionate, extremely
polite and respectful."
That is what the friends and members of the
family must have told the doctor. Here is what the
patient told the doctor himself: " The patient's esti-
mate of himself: While also at times he had a tremendous
output of energy and physical ability, he
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