Evening star., 1924-08-24

lows. Leopold sat tense and
motionless.
The bows showed no trace Of emo
tionalism which on Friday sent them
tremulous and fearful from the court
room But there was little in today's
proceedings to arouse such feelings
in them.
Proceeding with his argument that
the crime was 80 senselesS as 10 pc
the possible product of only diseased
mind" Mr.. Darrow pointed out to
Judge Caverly that each detail of the
killing, the disposition of the BODY
and the actions afterward took place
under conditions that showed lack OF
mental balance.
Followed the Crowds.
He emphasized particularly that the
/ kidnapping and killing occurred in the
yery neirhborhood of the boys homes.
where they were known to most any
one that might pass. He also stressed
the drive of the death car about the
busy South. Side boulevards and that
they followed the main arteries OF
travel to the section where they dis
posed of the body.
"If ever a death vehicle went over
the same kind of route driven by sane
people, / never heard of it, and fancy
| no one else ever has" he said, and
added:
"Why did they do it? For nothing.
| The mad act of King Lear is the only
| thing 1 know to compare it with. Yet
| some of the doctors here have declared
| it a sane act.
| and the State says these boys are
sane because they planned this crime
! Why? ManiacS plan, idiots plan, AMI
mails plan and any brain that functions
| may plan. And here we have plans
from the diseased minds of boys"
| The pleader mentioned that Loeb had
helped newspaper reporters who worked
| on the case when it was still mystery
| was that criminal?" he asked. ano
answered by saying that 1t was his
| experience that criminals Stunned re-
porters, "even when there was ne
chance of detection"
| Mr.. Darrow also brought up agair
the effect upon the community o1
newspaper accounts of the crime anc
| the wealth of the Leopold and Loet
families He reiterated that these
| forced him into the position of plead
| ing for the lives of his clients.
Denounces Capital Punishment.
He painted a gruesome picture O.
| the boys upon the scafold, bound
hooded and with some one waiting
| to loose the spring" He philosophical
| again and again upon the barbaTitI
| of capital punishment and PLEADED
| with the Judge to decide the case b,
his own conscience, wisdom and cour
age, despite the pressure OF news
paper and other directing forces o.
public clamor.
He pictured, too, the depth of in
fanny to which the boys would de
scend if forced to spend all their re
naming years within prison WALL
Checking off the days and hours ant
! minutes"
would not that be glorious salts
faction of justice" be exclaimed
would it not be moro so than deatl
by hanging? Where is there human
heart that would ask for more
| Where is there a human heart tina
would not be satisfied? Is a lifetime
for the young, spent behind prison
bars, not enough punishment for thi
mad act?
"Yet we are forced to fight that on,
boy IS and another 10 may be per
mitted to live in solitude all thei
lives. We are forced to plead tina
court and the States. attorney b,
| to be locked up in the penitentiar.
until they die.
"I sometimes wonder If I an
dreaming, if am really living in tn.
twentieth century and If there ha.
come back into the heart OF man the
lust for blood which permeated the
primitive man."
| Recites Death Record.
| Mr.. Darrow hammered also on tho
idea that death sentence would bs
against any precedent. He repeated
that $40 murderers had pleaded
guilty in this county within 10 years
and that only one 40-year-old mar
had been executed, he having beer
sent to the hangman by Robert E
| Grove, States attorney, when the lat
ter was chief justice of the crimina.
court.
l He also declared that hundreds q