In the late spring of 1924, two well-to-do University of Chicago students, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, kidnapped and murdered a fourteen-year-old neighbor boy, Robert Franks. When pressed by the police and scoop-hungry journalists, the two confessed. They said they had done it for the exhilaration of planning and executing "the perfect crime."
Part of what makes the Leopold-Loeb case historically significant is the manner in which the crime and its perpetrators were represented by the press and public reation to the story. Close examination of contemporary newspaper coverage is essential to understanding the underlying social tensions that made the case so sensational and so captivating. Below is a collection of contemprary newspaper articles and other items related to the Leopold and Loeb case.
Selected Newspaper Articles
The Investigation
"Loeb, Leopold Tell How They Lured Boy Into Car, Slew Him," Chicago Daily News, 31 May 1924
"Final Ransom Note Found on Train in East; Winds Up Plot," Chicago Daily News, 2 June 1924
"Girl Tells of Slayers," Chicago Daily News, 2 June 1924
"Leopold Shows That Pine Warbler Exists," Chicago Daily News, 2 June 1924
"'Experience' Seen as Motive," Chicago Daily News, 2 June 1924
"Loeb Turns Teacher," Chicago Daily News, 3 June 1924
"Loeb's Confession Accuses Leopold; Typewriter Found," Chicago Daily News, 7 June 1924
"Leopold's Father, Stunned, In Court," Chicago Daily News, 7 June 1924
The Trial
"Leopold Brainstorm Bared by Bird Pupil," Chicago Daily News, 26 June 1924
"Slayers' Baseness is Depicted," Chicago Daily News, 4 August 1924
Public Reaction
"The Inquiring Reporter," Chicago Daily Tribune, 5 Aug. 1924
"The Inquiring Reporter," Chicago Daily Tribune, 6 Aug. 1924
The Verdict
"Review of Franks Case Step by Step," Chicago Daily News, 10 Sept. 1924
"Life for Slayers of Franks," Chicago Daily News, 10 Sept. 1924
"Darrow Elated at Caverly's Decision," Chicago Daily News, 10 Sept. 1924
After the Trial
"Slayers Write Kin of Hope of Future," Chicago Daily News, 15 Sept. 1924
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Internet Resources
Photograph:
"Photograph
of a full-length portrait of Bobby Franks," 1924 [Library of
Congress]
Photograph:
"Group
of men standing outdoors at a crime scene in the investigation of the
Leopold and Loeb murder case," 1924 [Library of Congress]
Photograph:
"Three
men gathered around a culvert where Bobby Franks' body was found,"
1924 [Library of Congress]
Photograph:
"Two
police officers dredging the water near the scene where Bobby Franks
was murdered," 1924 [Library of Congress]
Photograph:
"Ransom
letter and envelope in the murder case of Bobby Franks," 1924
[Library of Congress]
Photograph:
"Men
standing around a table with the typewriter used to write a ransom
note," 1924 [Library of Congress]
Photograph:
"Home
of Richard Loeb on South Ellis Street," 1924 [Library of
Congress]
Photograph:
"Home
of Nathan Leopold on the northwest corner of East 48th Street,"
1924 [Library of Congress]
Photograph:
"Man
holding Nathan Leopold's glasses," 1924 [Library of Congress]
Photograph:
"Richard
Loeb, Nathan Leopold, Jr., and two men walking down a staircase,"
1924 [Library of Congress]
Photograph:
"Nathan
Leopold sitting and smiling with his hat in his lap," 1924
[Library of Congress]
Photograph:
"Richard
Loeb sitting in a chair in a courtroom," 1924 [Library of
Congress]
Photograph:
"Two
police photographs and physical records of Richard Loeb," 1924
[Library of Congress]
Photograph:
"Two
police photographs and physical records of Nathan Leopold, Jr.,"
1924 [Library of Congress]
Photograph:
"Jacob
Franks, father of murder victim Bobby Franks," 1924 [Library
of Congress]
Photograph:
"Robert
E. Crowe, a prosecutor in the Leopold and Loeb murder case," 1924
[Library of Congress]
Photograph:
"Clarence
Darrow, a defense attorney for the Leopold and Loeb murder case,"
1924 [Library of Congress]
Photograph:
"John
R. Caverly wearing a robe and standing behind a desk," 1924
[Library of Congress]
Photograph:
"Judge
John R. Caverly, Richard Loeb, and Nathan Leopold, Jr.," 1924
[Library of Congress]
Photograph:
"Richard
Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr. sitting in crowded courtroom," 1924
[Library of Congress]
Photograph:
"Crowds
standing on a street corner and in the street across from a courthouse
during the Leopold and Loeb murder trial," 1924 [Library of
Congress]
Photograph:
"Crowds
standing on a sidewalk in front of buildings during the Leopold and
Loeb murder trial," 1924 [Library of Congress]
Other Online Resources
Leopold
and Loeb Court Case Records [Cook County Clerk of Court Archives]
Famous
American Trials: Illinois v. Leopold and Loeb [Prof. Douglas
Linder]
Suggested Books and Films
· Annotated
Bibliography
· Hal Higdon,
Leopold
and Loeb: The Crime of the Century (University of Illinois
Press, 1999).
· Paula Fass, "Making and Remaking an Event: The Leopold
and Loeb Case in American Culture," Journal of American History
80 (1993), 919-951.
· Gilbert Geis,
Crimes
of the Century: From Leopold and Loeb to O.J. Simpson
(Northeastern University Press, 1998).
· Maureen McKernan, The Amazing Crime and Trial of Leopold
and Loeb (New American, 1957).
· Arthur Weinberg, ed.,
Attorney
for the Damned: Clarence Darrow in the Courtroom (University
of Chicago Press, 1989).
· Meyer Levin,
Compulsion,
novel (Carroll and Graf, 1996).
· John Logan,
Never
the Sinner: The Leopold and Loeb Story, stage play (Penguin,
1999).
· Robert Fleischer, director,
Compulsion,
film starring Orson Welles, 1959.
· John Houseman, director,
Clarence
Darrow, film starring Henry Fonda, 1974.
· Tom Kalin, director,
Swoon,
film, 1992.
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Page authored: 6 June 1997
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