The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1924-06-06
MURDERERS OF CHIC AGO LAD CONFESS
AND TELL STORY OF CRIME TO OFFICERS
Nathan Leopold 49, and Richard Loeb, 49, Sons of Mil
Honaires Calmly Admit Brutal Crime-Prompted By
Spirit of Adventure SpectacIes Give Them Away.

Chicago, May Youthful sons Of
two Chicago millionaires Saturday
confessed the kidnapping and Staying
10 DAYS ago Of Robert Franks, -
year-old son Of Jacob Franks, another
millionaire, according to Robert K.
c. Grove, states attorney. The boys
who confessed are Nathan Leopold,
Jr. and Richard Loeb, both universe
tv students and both residing within
a few blocks Of the Franks home in
a fashionable south side residential
district. Neither Of the boys seemed
excited during their questioning,
seeming perfectly at ease.
They Kidnapped the boy as he
walked home from school, strangled
him i'm their automobile, concealed his
body and wrote the parents for $1O,-
900 ransom, according to Mr. Grove.
SPECTACLES
CAUSE ARREST
"A pair Of spectacles led to their ar
rest and the chance remark OF
chauffeur resulted in their breakdown
and confession when the authorities,
after hours of questioning, were con-
WINGED the youths had established ali
bis and were considering releasing
them.
Their motive was a puzzle, PrOsecu-
tor Grove declaring that they wanted
excitement and the $4,000 ransom,
while friends asserted they did not
need the money and doubted the truth
of the confession. Both youths have
records as brilliant students, one be-
ing the youngest ever graduated from
the literary college of a leading mid
western university and the other do
ing special work at university here.
Leopold is the son Of Nathan Leo
pOld, ST., wealthy paper box manu-
facturer, and Leob is the son Of Al
bert Loeb, vice president of a Chicago
mail order house. At one time, ac-
cCrding to Mr.. Grove, the boys said
they considered kidnapping a relative
of julius ROsenWald. multi-milliOn-
aire head of the mail order firm.
The boys confession, the states
attorney believes, clears up one of the
most mysterious crimes in ChicagO's
history.
Robert Franks disappeared the aft
ernoCn of May q as ne was going
from a private school to his home, a
few blocks distant.
TELEPHONED
MOTHER
That night a man, posing as
George johnson" telephOned the
BOYS mother that her son was held
for ransom. The next day the father
received a letter demanding $4,000
for the boys release and telling him
further orders would follow. In the
afternoon came a telephone call to
Franks from Johnson inStructing him
to take the money, which he had
ready, tc, a drug store the address of
which Franks did not understand. A
few minutes afterward the nude body
of a boy found stuffed into a cUlvert
in a south side swamp was identified
as his son.
According to- the states attorney
Leopold and Loeb said they conceived
the plan to kidnap someone and hold
them fer a ransom of $4,000 last
November They picked the Franks
boy. whom they knew, as a victim on
the spur of the moment when they
saw him walking home from school.
Inviting him into a rented autOmO-
bile in which they were riding, they
said, according to Mr.. Grove, that
they struck him ever the head with
a chisel when he resisted and then
strangled him. The chisel, tossed
from the car, was found later and is
a part of the evidence against them.
For hours they dOrve about the city
with their victim huddled in the ton
neau Of the car and covered by a robe.
CONCEALED
BODY
That night, they said, according to
Mr. Grove, they disrobed their victim
applied acid to the face in an effort
to make identification impossible and
drove to the swamp where they con-
cealed the body in the culvert. They
then burned the clothing at Loeb's
home, according to their confession,
disposed of the shoes and belt en- a
prairie and rode about the city for a
time, finally returning home where
Loeb telephCned Mrs. Franks that
Robert was held for ransom while
Leopold prepared the ransom letter.
Then they threw the typewriter on
which the ransom letter was prepared
i'm q lagoon and when their plans to
collect ransom miscarried because
Franks did not understand their in
structions, Loeb pretended to assist
the police in finding the drug store
from which he made one of the calls
to Franks.
The only elew on which the author
tiles had to work was a pair of spec
tacles with tortoise shell rims and of
peculiar make. Identification OF the
owner of the glasses in a city of three
millions assumed the proportions of
looking for needle in hay stack but
the plice, 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 extend
ing their search to other cities
After a weeks hunt a Brooklyn
firm was found which said it made
the spectacles and its Chicago agen-
cipc we've then canv9c cnd TbOucapd