The Loeb-Leopold case - The Clarence Darrow Collection

The Loeb-Leopold Case
millionaire Jacob Franks, for a perfectly understandable motive
— to get the $10,000 ransom.
That the doctor, in a quiet, steadfast way, refused to admit.
Then, still seeking to travel that road that leads to the
normalcy of the defendants, Mr. Crowe insisted that Nathan
and Richard, for all their heaped up advantages of heredity
and environment, simply were the black sheep of their
respective families.
Dr. Glueck again refused to agree. " I do not know the
meaning of the term ' black sheep ' in general," he declared.
" Furthermore, I've known many black sheep who were
insane."
" Well," the prosecutor was persistent, " but what of the
other black sheep you've known, the ones who weren't
insane? "
Equally persistent was the doctor, as he smiled and re-
plied : " But they had psychological factors which might ex-
plain what they did."
Mr. Crowe, unconvinced that the majority of such " black
sheep " might be paranoiacs, pointed his irony as he clipped
out: "Now what about Benedict Arnold? He enjoyed the
confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens; then he threw
it away for position and money. Was he a paranoiac? "
" I don't know." And Dr. Glueck likewise pointed his
irony.
So the prosecutor took another example, as he shouted,
" What about Judas Iscariot? "
The doctor from New York hadn't quite made up his mind
whether to be annoyed or amused, when Judge Caverly, with
genial neutrality in his tones, ventured the authoritative suggestion:
" I don't believe you ever examined him, did you? "
Then Dr. Glueck made up his mind. He decided to be
amused, not annoyed, as he answered: "No, I don't believe
I have."
And the last clash.
Mr. Crowe: You say these defendants have told you every-
thing about themselves. Why didn't they tell me everything
when they confessed the crime to me in the State's Attorney's
office?
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