The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-06-01
States Attorney Ready To Take Case To Trial,
 , He Says
(Continued From Page One)

tacles with tortoise shell rims and of peculiar make. Identification of the owner of the glasses in a city of three million persons, assumed the propOr- tions of looking for a needle in a hay stack. but the police, realizing that their only hope of solving the mystery lay in finding the owner of the glasses, set to work canvassing every optician, optical supply and manufacturing house in Chicago, eventually extending their search to other cities.
 After a weeks hunt a Brooklyn firm was found which said it made the spec tacles, and its Chicago agencies were then canvassed. Thousands of records were carefully scrutinized until one was found which tallied exactly with the description of the glasses in question.
 Such a record was found by an Op- tician Wednesday night and the trail led direct to the Leopold home, diag- onally across the street from the home of Franks. Leopold and Loeb, his bosom friend. were arrested at once.
 The Surprise
 Then came the surprise. Leopold readily admitted ownership of the spec tacles, explaining that he is an ornithol- Ogist and in his study of birds had vis- ited the swamp where the body was found many times and probably lost bis glasses on one of the trips. The boys told straightforward story of their activities on the day Robert Franks disappeared. declaring they spent the day riding about in Leopold's car, and after day and most of a night of ques- tioning, their story remained unshaken in any detail. The authorities were about ready to admit that their state ments were correct.
 Meanwhile, in an outer room of the states attorneys office a man had been waiting patiently for four hours to have some notice taken of him. He was the Leopold family chauffeur and had been called in with a dozen others to substantiate details of the boys statement.
 Finally the chauffeur was called in and asked few perfunctory questions. He chanced to remark that the Leopold car was in the garage throughout the day of May 21. Questioners rushed to the two boys with this information and few minutes later, as dawn streaked through the windows of the states at- torney's office, the youths admitted the staying.
 Tonight authorities were working to cOrroborate the most minute details of the boys story. The lagoon where the youths said they threw the typewriter was being dragged, the boys were taken to a lonely prairie where they pointed out the spot where they tried to burn blOodsmeared robe that they said they placed over their victims body. search was being made for the Franks boys shoes and belt, and the proprietors of the garage from which they rented the car in which Robert was kidnapped, had already identified them. Late today the boys, under heavy guard, were taken over the route they said they pursued and to the place where the body was found to re-enact details of their con- fession.
 Leopold tonight still appeared non chalant, although he showed effects of the great strain under which he had been placed for more than 24 hours. Loeb collapsed when a druggist at whose store he called the Franks home in con nection with ransom demand, positively identified him.
 Capital Ohenses
 Meanwhile plans were completed for quick action in the courts. The inquest indefinitely postponed the day after the body was found, will be reOpened Mon day morning and it was announced that the case will be the first to be sub mitted to the June grand jury. States Attorney Grove said that Kidnapping for ransom was a capital Offense in this state and that it was possible to try the slayers of the boy for two crimes, each punishable by death-murder and kid naping for ransom-in case indictments were returned.
 Had Card Games
 The story of the boys, Mir. Grove said, indicated that their victim was dead five minutes after he entered their automobile. Mir Grove said that his questioning revealed that the staying was a part of the plan and that the youths had no intention of returning the boy to his parents after payment of the ransom. After the crime was com mitted and the evidence of it were destroyed. MT. Grove said the boys engaged in a card game until they went to bed.
 Their confession also disclosed an elaborate plan for collecting the ran som money without exposing themselves to detection the states attorney said. In case Franks had gone to the drug store as they directed him to do, he was to be called at the drug store by telephone and instructed to look in a nearby refuse box where he would have found instructions to board a train and watch for a sign board after passing a certain stop. At a signal he was to have tossed the money from the window, according to their plans.
 The boys the police found, went about preparations for their feat months ago by registering at hotels under fictitious names, establishing bank accounts un- der assumed names in small banks in nearby cities and rehearsing the actual details of their plan. At hotel where youth believed to have hoen Loeb registered under an assumed name a few weeks ago the police found a book left by him on the subject of the ln- fluence of wealth in ancient Rome.
 Julius Rosenwald went to the states attorneys office during the day when informed the boys had tcld Of q plan to kidnap a relative of his. He said he doubted, even if they hld considered such a step, that ransom could he their motive. Rewards totalling S16,OOO were offered for information leading to the identity of the slayers.
 The police, officials rom ths state attorneys office and newspa CT re- pOrters who found clues all were won dering tonight who ould 5 are iH them. The boys father offeroi 5.HGn i each of two morning ne spa ar. ,ffere | CE n00 for avclucivo iY nr.,. f5t.f. yf.