The Loeb-Leopold case - The Clarence Darrow Collection

The Loeb-Leopold Case
And then the next step was the finding of the
typewriter. And that was the last straw.
And then counsel say that they want you to listen
to evidence in mitigation; that you have listened to
the evidence in aggravation. And they proceed to
introduce their evidence, and the first witness, if the
court please, that they call, is Dr. White from
Washington.
He starts off before your Honor, and with all your
years of experience I think it would be safe to say
that you never before heard two murderers referred
to as " Babe " and " Dickie."
Then he went on to explain to your Honor the
reason why he called Leopold " Babe ": because one
day he was in the cell talking to " Dickie," and
" Babe " told him that unless he would call
him " Babe " he wouldn't play any more. So he
proceeded to call Leopold " Babe " and Loeb
" Dickie."
And then he told your Honor that he could tell
when they were telling the truth, that he could look
into their minds, and that he knew when they were
lying.
He then proceeded to tell your Honor about this
king-slave phantasy, and about how Leopold looked
up to Loeb as the king, and he is the slave, and that
all the king had to do was to indicate to the slave
what he wanted, and his wish would be carried out,
and that the slave was waiting for an opportunity
to go to Europe, to get away from this plot, but he
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