The Loeb-Leopold case - The Clarence Darrow Collection

The Loeb-Leopold Case
out, and we felt certain at not being caught, or we
would not have gone into it."
Is that the mad talk of a mad man or a mad boy?
Or is that the cold-blooded reasoning of a man who
is a criminal, with a criminal heart and a superior
intelligence and education?
" I had considered the possibility of being caught
and I was afraid my father, a sick man, could not
stand the shock, but I felt so certain of not being
caught that we went on with it." No emotion.
Just a machine. And yet again, on page ii8, if
your Honor please, the doctor says: " He expressed
remorse." At what? At his being caught. The
only one that he is concerned in, in his scheme of
life, is himself.
" I asked him if he would go through this plan
again if he felt certain he would not be discovered.
He replied: ' I believe I would, if I could get the
money.' The patient's attention was called to a
newspaper account of an interview with Mrs.
Franks, the mother of the victim, in which she stated
she had no desire to see the boys hanged, but would
like to talk to them to know whether the boy suf-
fered in his last moments. The patient was asked
whether it would upset him at all to talk with Mrs.
Franks. He replied, he thought it would upset him
a little, and make him feel sad. He said when he
read this interview in the paper, ' was joy.'
My first feeling
Joy at what? " ' That it might help us, her not
28s