The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-07-24
Continued from page One.)


 detailed recital of their carefully laid plans, their execution and the finding of the nude body of their 14-year-old victim in a water filled culvert beneath railroad crossing in a desolate out lying section once described by Leopold as an ideal spot for pathological field work, the young defendants left the court room jauntily. As tley entered an elevator to return to their guarded cells they laughed audibiy at each other s writings.
 The proceedings are designed to in- form the court exactly on the evidence in the case, and to assist him in fixing a just sentence. Formal pleas of guilty to two indictments for Kidnapping, for ransom, and for first degree murder were entered Monday, reversing previ- ous pleas of not guilty. Today, in firm voices the youths once more affirmed their pleas of guilty. Their fate now rests, in the language of Clarence Oar row, chief counsel for the defense, in ''the mercy of the court"
 Both prisoners were pointed out in court today by various witnesses as principals in activities described by the states attorney in his two-hour open ing presentation of the execution of their carefully laid plans for their crime.
 Demands Death Penalty
 Twice during the day did the states attorney demand the death penalty for the boys-once in the name of the parenthood and the childhood of the state," in his opening statement. Again it was demanded late in the day when the defense tried to shorten the testi- mony and Mir. Grove said he needed it to support his request for a death sen- tence.
 The defense strategy vas almost cryptic. There was but brief re- sponse to the lengthy statement of Mir. Grove. It was in conversational pitch, directly to the court and ended with a challenging of the superlatives of the prosecution. There was virtually no cross examination of the states, wit IleSSeS.
 At one point in brief exchange be- tween counsel, Darrow reiterated that the defense case rested" in the judg- ment, wisdom and the mercy of this court" and frequently signified with the assent of his colleague, Benjamin Bachrach, his willingness to permit di- rect and leading questions of the states witnesses. At several points the de- fense attorneys evinced a deposition to allow the proceedings to go on as speed fly as possible. But in reply to every offer of the court. or the defense to shorten the proceedings Mir. Grove re- peated his determination to bring every point of evidence into the record.
 Asked after the session what would be the action of the defense in the event of death sentence, Mir. Darrow said:
 Certainly I will never permit any man to hang so long as there is any thing in the world I can do to save him."
 Father Is Present
 Nathan Leopold, Sr., surviving par ent of one of the boys was in court all day, his face creased deeply by the lines of his grief. Neither parents of Loeb were present, but his uncle, Ja- cob Loeb, wealthy lawyer and former president of the Chicago Board of Edu- cation, was a close observer of the pro- ceedings.
 Fifteen witnesses was presented by tne Sldte dC IOQay SeSS1On. They lalu q foundation which directly connected both Leopold and Loeb with ingenious preliminaries to their crime and by re- peated Identification linked them with the Morton D. Ballard" who hired the automobile in which young Franks was driven to death.
 The father told of how he bade goodbye to the victim at a. m., and went to his business office. Shortly Mrs. Frank saw him trudge away to the private school, from whose yard, later in the day he was enticed to sudden death.
 The parents identified shoes, one stocking, neck tie, belt buckle and schoolpin worn by their "baby" the youngest of three children, on his last day of life.
 These objects were spared from the furnace in which the rest of Roberts clothes were burned chiefly because they would yield readily to the flames. They were thrown later from an auto mobile at widely scattered points and only the abnormally keen memories of the defendants for every detail permit ted their recovery when they led police back over the route of their flight from crime.
 The legal formalities incident to es, tablishing the corpus delicti' were compiled with by testimony from the