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| Final Ransom Note
Found on Train in East; Winds Up Plot
Letter Taken from Pullman Folder Rack in New York Tells Franks to Throw Out Money at 74th Street; Youths Silenced as Lawyers Take Charge. State Expects Indictments To-Morrow and Plans to Arraign Slayers June 6 for Murder and Kidnaping for Ransom-- Loeb Glum but Leopold Seems Jovial. Source: The Chicago Daily News, 2 June 1924. The kidnapers' instructions to Jacob Franks for delivery of the $10,000 ransom were found in a Michigan Central sleeper in the New York city yards today, adding an important bit to the structure of evidence against Nathan Leopold, Jr., and Richard Loeb. A typewritten note in a envelope, marked for Mr. Franks, directed him to board the train at the Woodlawn station, watch for a certain factory building on the south side and then, after counting four, throw from the train a box containing the ransom money. Envelope Carries Warning. The letter of instruction was in a folder rack on the Pullman car Quarrin, which left Chicago the day after the murder. It was addressed to "Mr. Joseph Franks," according to a telegram sent by the New York police to State's Attorney Crowe, and carried the warning: "Do not disturb this; contents important; Mr. Franks will get this." Reveals Plan of Collection. With the letter in his official possession Mr. Crowe revealed the plan of ransom collection as told by Leopold and Loeb. The day after the kidnaping, when only Leopold and Loeb knew Robert Franks was dead, they went to the Michigan Central station, after telephoning Mr. Franks he was to receive further instructions that afternoon, and Loeb bought a ticket and a sleeping car seat on a train dut to leave for Boston at 3 p.m. Loeb remembered the number of the car, 507, and it was that which enabled Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Savage to trace it. It was the last car of the Boston train. Loeb took his seat, then casually dropped the letter of instructions in the rack used for holding timetables and telegraph blanks and a few minutes later got off and rejoined Leopold. Was to Get Other Orders. Carefully reckoning the train time against its arrival at the 63rd street station, the kidnapers telephoned Mr. Franks and told him to go to a drug store in the Woodlawn district, where he was to receive further instructions. He was to have four minutes between reaching the drug store and when the train was due. At that point, while Mr. Franks was ready to make payment, there came the sudden news that Robert was dead. He hurried to the undertaker's, the Boston train stopped at Woodlawn and then continued on, with the letter untouched in the timetable rack. According to New York authorities the letter directed Mr. Franks to stand on the back platform, face the east and watch for the Champion Screw works, near 74th street. The instant his car passed that plant he was to count four and then throw the box containing $10,000 he was supposed to have prepared. Since leaving Chicago that day the Quarrin has completed its trip to Boston, gone to Cleveland and Cincinnati and back to New York, with the letter untouched. At the request of Mr. Crowe, railway officials said they would have the car returned to Chicago at once. . . . . . Given into Sheriff's Hands. Writs of habeas corpus issued by Chief Justice Caverly of the Criminal court got the confessed murderers of little Robert Franks out of the state's attorney's hands. The defense lawyers were vigorously opposed by Crowe himself, but the court held that the law was on their side. Judge Caverly's ruling means that from now on the two youngsters will have the advice of lawyers in every move they make. Until this morning, they were police prisoners, cut off from their relatives and their counsel. As a consequence they were accompanied by Clarence S. Darrow and Benjamin Bachrach, the attorneys tentatively retained by their millionaire parents, when they left the Criminal court building to go to Furth's chapel, 936 East 47th street, for the resumed inquest into Robert Franks' death. State's Attorney Crowe, who announced that he would take personal charge of every step of the prosecution, hurried them off to the inquest the minute the hearing in Judge Caverly's court was over. They had a brief, undemonstrative meeting with relatives in the "bullpen" at the courthouse, then they were away to the south side under the guard of Chief of Detectives Michael Hughes and a squad of police. Pit Millions in Trial. The habeas corpus hearing was the first act in what promises to be a brilliant and bitter fight, with millions on one side and the state's resources on the other. Though Nathan Leopold Sr. and Albert Loeb have been noncommittal, they aren't expected to let their sons go to the gallows without giving them every defense that money can buy. And opposing them is State's Attorney Crowe in person, with election day approaching and the most dramatic criminal case in Cook county's history as an opportunity. To-day's court hearing was as swift and precise as if it had been rehearsed. Spectators who had crowded the courtroom in hope of seeing sparks fly didn't get much for their trouble. The affair was over in a few minutes. Attorneys Darrow and Bachrach were the first in court. The eleder Leopold and Jacob M. Loeb, Richard's uncle, accompanied them. In the names of the relatives they presented petitions for writs of habeas corpus, alleging that their clients were being held without warrant of law. Boys' Freedom Not Sought. "We do not ask that these defendants be released," said Attorney Bachrach, speaking for Leopold, "but only that they be taken from the custody of Chief of Police Collins and the state's attorney and be placed in the custody of the sheriff." The boys have been prisoners of the police since Thursday, he said. Efforts by their lawyers to get in touch with them have been repulsed. It is reported, he said, that they have been forced to go without sleep and that duress has been used. Judge Caverly issued the desired writs, as the law demands, and made them returnable forthwith. In another minute State's Attorney Crowe was in court with the accused youngsters. The defense lawyers had notified him in advance of their plans and he had summoned Loeb and Leopold to the court building from the police station where they spent the night. The prosecutor vigorously opposed the request that his prisoners be turned over to the sheriff. Predicts Indictments To-Morrow. "They have confessed murder voluntarily," he said. "If the grand jury was now in session I would have indictments at once. As it is I shall go before the grand jury as soon as it convenes to-morrow, and I can assure you, I think, that indictments will be voted before night." He asked Judge Caverly to let him keep the boys in custody until 2 o'clock, to complete his roundup of evidence against them. The court ruled, however, that he had no right under the law so to hold them. Over the state's attorney's protests he then committed the two to Sheriff Hoffman's custody, with the stipulation that they be denied bail. He set the matter over until June 6, by which time indictments will have been obtained and the two collegians will be arraingned formally on two charges that carry sentences of death-- first degree murder and kidnaping for ransom. The court ruled also that the police be given the right to guard the prisoners on the way to and from the inquest. Loeb and Leopold, the one glum, the other smiling, were led out to the "bullpen," there to talk briefly and privately with counsel and relatives. Lawyers Cautious, Silent. State's Attorney Crowe had intended, until the last minute, to give the coroner's jury the bare bones of the murder confession, but then decided to let the inquest go over altogether. Attorneys Darrow and Bachrach likewise were loath to put cards on the table too promptly and agreed to a continuance. The inquest will be resumed June 27, by which time it will have become merely a perfunctory bit of routine. Leopold and Loeb showed the effects of their lawyers' advice when they reached the inquest. They refused to talk about the case at all. To all questions they gave one answer: "Nothing to say." Loeb particularly looked boyishly innocent at the coroner's hearing. He wore a sport suit, youthful in cut, and a soft shirt that set off the still childish contour of his neck and throat. Leopold Tries to Get Gin. Young Leopold, who talked brazenly of "fixing a few jurors" last night, was no less brazen to-day. He even tried to send a police sergeant to his home to get him a pint of gin or whisky. The youngsters, still bitterly hostile over their disagreement as to the actual killing of the Franks boy, were taken separately to lunch after the appearance at the morgue. The state's attorney's plan was to question them further afterward, then let them confer with their lawyers, and, late in the day, deliver them at the county jail to be locked in cells. Both Up Early in Cells. The crowded day began early, with the prisoners out of their hard lockup beds long before any signs of life were visible in the gracious Hyde Park district, to whose routine they used to conform. Detectives were up even ahead of them, digging into their pasts on the University of Chicago campus, at the University of Michigan and in the "gin-and-petting set" the two lads rode with before they thought of murder as the greatest of all thrills. University instructors were questioned quietly, to avoid sensation, as to the records of the pair. The state's attorney's men seemingly hoped to find in the college record of Leopold, who was a Ph.B. at 18, and Loeb, one of the University of Michigan's youngest graduates, some clew to the motives of murder. Leopold had recovered his insouciance when he reached the Criminal court building, but Loeb was sullen and shaky. They rode downtown together from the Wabash avenue police station, where they spent an uneasy night, with bootleggers and sneak theives in the cells next to theirs. But they had no words for one another, according to Sergts. Harry Gray and M.J. Mullen, their guards. The hate that rose between them yesterday seemed to have lasted the night. Leopold swaggered about the court building, smoking cigarettes and chewing gum. A bit nervous, he sent home for a pint of liquor, which, of course, he didn't get. "Hey, sergeant," he called in lordly fashion, after scribbling a note on a scrap of paper. "Be a good fellow and have this delivered, will you?" Crowe Gets Liquor Note. The note was addressed to "4754 Greenwood avenue," Leopold's home. "Please give the bearer a pint of gin or whisky," the lad had written. Sergt. William Klockzien pocketed it, with a promise to get it right out, but turned it over to the state's attorney's office as soon as he was out of Leopold's sight. A gray haired scrbwoman employed for years at the court building, was shocked out of calloused indifference when she entered the room where Leopold was waiting. "My goodness," she said, "he doesn't seem to feel bad at all about what he has done. he hasn't got any brains, that's what I think." Loeb meanwhile paced uneasily up and down the anteroom of State's Attorney Crowe's private office. He borrowed a comb and slicked back his hair carefully, but that was the only sign of any thoughts but worried ones. The prosecution's case was virtually complete as the great legal fight began. In a hippodrome of evidence hunting yesterday, with morbidly excited crowds pursuing the "sob sisters" catching up avidly every word dropped by the two cofessed killers, all but one of the links in the chain were found. The missing link, not very important now, is the portable typewriter on which Leopold typed his letter to Jacob Franks, demanding $10,000 for the safe return of little Robert, who was already dead. The killers threw the typewriter in a lagoon in Jackson park, they say, but it couldn't be found there yesterday. "We have a hanging case right now," State's Attorney Crowe has said repeatedly since early Saturday morning, when the bravado of the two kidnapers suddenly collapsed and the true story of the unbelievable killing came from their trembling lips. The excitement of the reenactment of their crime all over, the heirs to the Loeb and Leopold millions slept uneasily at the Wabash avenue police station last night, less then a mile from their handsome homes. The had a great day of it yesterday, and they responded to the trailing crowds' morbid interest by showing off in sophmoric fashion. They quarreled for the spotlight, aired their young eruditions, swaggered and posed before the worshipful Boswells, talked the cant of their intellectual set. Drop Swagger in Cell. But toward the end of the day, with policemen growing less respectful and whispers of hanging in their ears wherever they went, the intoxication began to wear off. When they were put to bed in teh station cell room, with policemen to keep them from attempting suicide, their nonchalance was gone. They were frightened, bewildered, cornered boys. Yesterday's excursion over the long trail of the fantastic kidnaping plot brought confirmation of almost every detail of the murder confessions, the texts of which were still under the state's attorney's guard to-day. The boys helped do the confirming. They pointed out hiding places and dug up the Frank boy's belt buckle-- the one remaining bit of undestroyed clothing. They were helpful and frank, except about one thing-- the actual killing of their rich neighbor's young son. Each tried to make it appear that the other concocted the kidnaping plot and committed the murder. Their disagreement and the excitement of their crowded hour turned them enemies for the time being. Like jealous actors, they exchanged derisive taunts, with a newspaper reporter as messenger boy between them. Not a Word of Remorse. All through the day they had not a word of remorse to speak, not a word of sympathy for Franks' parents or their own. Leopold, who talked more freely, tried to justify the crime, in keeping with his intellectual pose, as a bit of scientific investigation. "We were experimenting," he said. "As a matter of fact the killing was accidental and incidental. But it is as easy to justify such a death as it is to justify an entomologist inpaling a beetle on a pin." Throughout the day he appeared to retain his composure and a certain measure of good spirits. Loeb, on the contrary, seemed depressed after the Criminal court building was reached. He seemed to brood a little and declared repeatedly that it was Leopold who had killed the boy. "I was driving the car," he said. "Robert was sitting next to me and I was holding him when Babe reached over from the rear seat and slugged him with the chisel." Boys Put in Separate Cars. The second trip to the murder scene began at about 11 o'clock in the morning. At that hour three automobiles, containing more than a dozen detectives, under the command of Capt. Hughes and Capt. William Schoemaker, drew up in front of the Wabash avenue police station. Leopold and Loeb were taken from their cells and placed in separate cars. The first stop was made at Daley's restaurant, 807 East 63rd street, where the boys partook of a light breakfast. The party then drove to the Jackson park lagoon, where the search for the Underwood portable typewriter was in progress. Loeb got out of the car and pointed out the spot near the middle of the bridge from which the machine had been dropped. He said it had not been thrown-- merely dropped, and it should be almost directly under the bridge. Several hundred persons had gathered about the searchers and were watching their efforts with interest. The prisoners created a great deal of excitement. Capt. Hughes then led the party to the southwest and to the spot where the shoes of the Franks boy were found Saturday. Here again it was Loeb who left his seat and found the evidence. Supplied with a rake, he dug around in the soft earth until he had unearthed the belt. It was of a blue and white striped web material and the buckle was missing. Loeb explained that this was also buried near by and Chief Hughes ordered that the party return without it, leaving Sergt. Berounski of the detective bureau and his squad to search for it. The sergeant found the buckle later. Loeb explained the reason for burying the shoes and the belt. He and his confederate intended at first to burn these, he said, but the shoes had rubber soles and they feared burning them would make an odor about the Loeb house that would be noticed. The metal belt bucked also could not be destroyed by fire. He added that he had dug the hole and buried the articles while Leopold attended to the gruesome duty of removing the clothing of the slain boy. The spot where the burial occured is about four miles west of Hammond, Ind., near a small village called Hessville. After the belt had been found the party returned to Jackson park, but paused only a moment on the bridge before going to the state's attorney's office. Leopold Plays Cards. The two boys were taken to the Wabash avenue station at midnight Saturday after they had had several hours' sleep following the afternoon grilling at the Hotel Windermere. Leopold, after sleeping about four hours in his cell, became restless and his guard, Sergt. John J. Walsh of the detective bureau, played rhummy with him for some time. Later in the morning he sent out for candy and magazines. Loeb slept more soundly and almost upt to the hour of leaving the station. Chief Hughes was asked during the afternoon if the pair had anything to do with the sending of the wreath of flowers purporting to be from the mysterious George Johnson of the ransom note to the Franks family the day of Robert's funeral. He said they had not: that he believed the wreath was sent by a crank who had read the story in the papers. Crowds Jam Murder Scenes. All yesterday afternoon the intense interest of the public in the tragedy and its dramatic denouement was attested by the thousands of persons who walked and rode past the homes of the three families involved. So congested was the roadway in front of the Loeb and Franks residences in Ellis avenue that extra police were sent from the Hyde Park station to keep the crowds of the curious on the move. Shades in all the windows of the three homes were closely drawn and only once did the crowd have a glimpse of any one. That was when the gates of the Loeb mansion swung outward and a big car containing the chauffeur and one passenger glided into Ellis avenue and turned northward. "It's Mr. Loeb," the word ran through the crowd, "it's the father of the boy." As the car proceeded northward the massed hundreds raised a cheer, indicative more of sympathy than of derision. Murder Car Identified. The grilling in the state's attorney's office continued through the afternoon. At about 6:30 o'clock the slayers were taken to the courtyard of the country jail, where the car used in the kidnaping had been placed. Leopold calmly identified it and added that he and Loeb had cleaned the blood of their victim from it with a sponge. They were asked to get into the automobile, but a slight argument arose over which was to have the driver's seat. Each declared he had driven it on the fatal afternoon. Leopold took the seat and was photographed in the position. Loeb refused to get in until his confederate had gotten out. Leopold maintained his nonchalant air; Loeb seemed overwrought and on the verge of another breakdown. After the inspection of the car the boys were taken back to the state's attorney's office and a little later were taken to separate restaurants for supper. They were to be taken back for further questioning. Examined by Alienists. Dr. William O. Krohn, alienist, with Dr. Patrick and Dr. Church, made a brief examination of the prisoners. He said that he had asked them a question which if answered might have had an important bearing on the determination of their full sanity. It was: "Did you at any time after you had planned the crime have the desire to back out?" They refused to answer. An affirmative answer, he said, would indicate that they were fully competent to decide between right and wrong. Asked if he had seen other accused men as cold and collected under a fire of questions he said Harvey Church and Carl Wanderer, both hanged for burtal crimes, had been of similar makeup. "These boys have not yet realized the full enormity of their offense," he said. "They have not yet experienced the full reaction. When it comes it will be spectacular and probably more complete than if they had broken at once." |
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Page authored: 25 June
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