The Loeb-Leopold case - The Clarence Darrow Collection

The Loeb-Leopold Case
dons or the Governor and get you out. He would
repeat maybe if he knew he would not be discovered.
Is that mitigation, your Honor? All the way
through this report runs the statement: '' I would
kill again if I thought I would get away with it,"
and they offer that in mitigation for a murder.
" When he and his associate quarreled in March
the patient considered securing another friend for
his criminal operations. He actually hinted con-
cerning this to his friend, but as he met with no
favorable response he did not press the matter
further. As he had considered that he and his as-
sociate would be no longer together after June of
this year " (that is when Leopold would be in Eu-
rope) " he had thought of other ways of continuing
his career of crime." (A, B, C, D, and the Franks
murder is E!) " One idea was to rent a room in a
bad neighborhood and hang around poolrooms and
meet criminals. He had also considered becoming
a clever financial criminal."
Money, money, money; not thrill, not excitement.
A clever financial criminal, after he finished his law
courses. He stated that he had considered crimes
similar to that of Koretz, who had put through a
gigantic stock swindle. If Mr. Darrow had read
this, I think he would have blamed Koretz for this
murder.
Heredity, finally Mr. Darrow says; the family, or
some ancestor away back, planted the seed here.
Hereditary influence. Well, let's see what their
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