On this day, May 21, 1924, Leopold and Loeb kidnapped and murdered 14-year-old Bobby Franks.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Tue May 21, 2024, 02:17 PM - Edit history (3)

It was one hundred years ago today.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

• 1924 – University of Chicago students Nathan Leopold Jr. and Richard Loeb (both pictured) murdered a 14-year-old boy in a thrill killing out of a desire to commit a "perfect crime".


Richard Loeb (left) and Nathan Leopold (right)

Leopold and Loeb


Leopold in August 1924

Born: Nathan Freudenthal Leopold Jr.; November 19, 1904; Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died: August 29, 1971 (aged 66); Puerto Rico
Criminal charge: Murder, kidnapping
Penalty: Life + 99 years' imprisonment


Loeb in August 1924

Born: Richard Albert Loeb; June 11, 1905; Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died: January 28, 1936 (aged 30); Joliet, Illinois, U.S.
Cause of death: Homicide (from 58 inflicted wounds from a razor attack)
Criminal charge: Murder, kidnapping
Penalty: Life + 99 years' imprisonment

Nathan Freudenthal Leopold Jr. (November 19, 1904 – August 29, 1971)[1] and Richard Albert Loeb (/ˈloʊb/; June 11, 1905 – January 28, 1936), usually referred to collectively as Leopold and Loeb, were two American students at the University of Chicago who kidnapped and murdered 14-year-old Bobby Franks in Chicago, Illinois, United States, on May 21, 1924. They committed the murder – characterized at the time as "the crime of the century"[2] – hoping to demonstrate superior intellect, which they believed enabled and entitled them to carry out a "perfect crime" without consequences.

After the two men were arrested, Loeb's family retained Clarence Darrow as lead counsel for their defense. Darrow's twelve-hour summation at their sentencing hearing is noted for its influential criticism of capital punishment as retributive rather than transformative justice. Both men were sentenced to life imprisonment plus 99 years. Loeb was murdered by a fellow prisoner in 1936. Leopold was released on parole in 1958. The case has since served as the inspiration for several dramatic works.

{snip}

There was an episode of Columbo in which a couple of college students decide to commit the perfect crime. The details are different. It aired on December 9, 1990.

Episode review: Columbo Goes to College

Lost Hyde Park: Springtime is for Lovers

Susan O'Connor Davis May 25, 2021

The rambling house that once stood at 4754 South Greenwood was built about 1886 for Charles van Kirk, one of the founders of the Board of Trade. Much of the original Victorian ornament was removed by the time the Nathan Leopold Sr. family lived there. This image, taken in 1924 after the shocking murder of a Kenwood teen, appeared in the Daily News.

{snip}

Nineteen years old and exceptionally intelligent, Nathan Leopold had mastered numerous languages and was an avid birdwatcher. His parents were wealthy German-Jewish immigrants; his father made a fortune in the family shipping business among other concerns. Nathan was only sixteen when he entered college and graduated from the University of Chicago in 1923 with high honors. That spring he was taking law classes with plans to attend Harvard Law School — all expected his future to be bright.

Described as “impossibly good looking,” Richard was the third son of Albert Loeb, the vice-president in charge of the massive Sears-Roebuck mail order business. Richard graduated from high school at fourteen and become one of the youngest graduates in University of Michigan history although the experience was not an easy one for him. Several years younger than his classmates, he was a lackluster student, more interested in detective stories and petty acts of crime than his studies.

Anna and Albert Loeb raised four sons in this mansion at 5017 South Ellis, which was designed by Arthur Heun in 1910. He was the architect of some of the most distinguished houses in Chicago, and country estates in the exclusive suburb of Lake Forest on the city’s North Shore. Loeb’s son Richard and his friend Nathan Leopold believed their high intellect made them capable of committing the perfect crime. Their gruesome plot was conceived in this mansion, within two blocks of where they kidnapped and brutally murdered their neighbor Bobby Franks.

The relationship between Loeb and Leopold was described as stormy and intense, and more than platonic. Leopold was aloof and egotistical, while the handsome Loeb was outgoing and sociable. Their lawyer, Clarence Darrow, would later say their friendship was “weird and almost impossible” and it led the two boys to do together what they almost certainly would never have done alone — commit murder.

As Beulah Annan awaited her fate, Wednesday, May 21st, dawned cloudy and chilly. After classes at the Harvard School for Boys ended that afternoon, Bobby Franks umpired a baseball game, then started his three block walk home. Loeb and Leopold would have been familiar to him when they pulled up in a rental car and offered a ride. After Bobby stepped onto the running board at Forty-Ninth and Ellis, he was never seen alive again.

{snip}

[snowybirdie]

1. I still have memories

Of my parents driving home in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. They would always point out Bobbie Frank's house to me. This was 30 years after the murder! A huge deal in Chicago.

[sop]

2. Alfred Hitchcock's movie 'Rope' (1948), starring Jimmy Stewart, was based on the Leopold-Loeb case.

[AZLD4Candidate]

3. So was Compulsion with Orson Welles

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. Two teen prodigies shocked America with a cynical murder 100 years ago

Last edited Wed May 22, 2024, 10:55 AM - Edit history (1)

RETROPOLIS
Two teen prodigies shocked America with a cynical murder 100 years ago

Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb killed a child for the thrill — and to prove that people with superior intellects could get away with it.

By Christopher Klein
May 20, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EDT



Nathan Leopold, 19, far right, and Richard Loeb, 18, second from right, are seen during their arraignment in a Cook County, Ill., courtroom in July 1924. (AP)

Teenagers Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb cruised around a leafy section of Chicago on the idyllic spring afternoon of May 21, 1924, searching for a neighborhood boy to kill. ... The duo weren’t motivated by vengeance, greed or hate. They wanted to kill a child for the simple thrill of it, and to prove to themselves that people with superior intellects could get away with murder.

The awkward, aloof Leopold and the charming, gregarious Loeb differed in personality, but they shared a privileged upbringing in Chicago’s exclusive Kenwood neighborhood, as well as a fascination with crime. The 18-year-old Loeb, who a year earlier had become the youngest graduate in University of Michigan history, fancied himself a master criminal, while Leopold, a 19-year-old University of Chicago law student, obsessed over German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s concept of intellectually superior “supermen” to whom laws and moral codes didn’t apply.

“Leopold had difficulty making friends and was very appreciative that Loeb was a close friend,” said Simon Baatz, author of “For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb, and the Murder That Shocked Chicago.” “The friendship developed into a sexual relationship, with Loeb the dominant partner, and he agreed to have sex with Leopold if he accompanied him on his acts of petty crime.” ... Once shoplifting, vandalism and fraternity house thefts lost their appeal, the prodigies sought stimulation in something more sensational: murder.

{snip}

Baatz said the case became a sensation because of the killers’ wealth and social status, which ran counter to the then-popular theory that crime was confined to the lower classes. “The murderers went against the grain of popular belief in criminology,” he said. “The idea was that only the poor and working-class people committed crimes, which was the basis behind eugenics.” ... What also made the case so unusual was the remorseless response from Leopold and Loeb. “Far from expressing regret or contrition, they actually said if they had the opportunity, they would do it again,” Baatz said. ... “It is no crime to use a human being in the interest of scientific research,” Leopold told a newspaper reporter. “A thirst for knowledge is highly commendable, no matter what extreme pain and injury it may inflict upon others. A six-year-old boy is justified in pulling the wings from a fly if by so doing he learns that without wings the fly is helpless.”

{snip}

Christopher Klein, a freelance writer, is the author of four books, including “When the Irish Invaded Canada: The Incredible True Story of the Civil War Veterans Who Fought for Ireland’s Freedom.” His website is christopherklein.com.

[sybylla]

5. Thanks for reminding us of this.

It's horrific, but Bobby Franks, and the arrogance of privilege, need to be remembered.