Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-05-31
BLAST STARTS $4,000 FIRE
IN WlNSL0W POWER HOUSE

Shell SPECTACLES
OWNER HAS ALIbIIN
aAYlNC OF FRANKS
Chicago, May S0.-ownership of q
pair OF Tortoise shell spectacles,
which the police hoped would iden-
ufy the slayers of Robert Franks.
school boy son of a Chicago mil
lipnaire. slain ten days ago, while
bin parents waited to pay a $4,000
rahsom. apparently was established
tonight, but the solution of the boys
death was as much a mystery as
ever.
Nathan A. Leopold, Jr., son of an
other wealthy Chicagoan who lives
diagonally across the street from the
Frank home, admitted to the police
thst the glasses, found near where
the Frank boys nude body was con-
ceaied in a south side swamp, prob
ably belonged to him.
Young Leopold, however, denied
an knowledge of the Staying al
though edmitting freely that he had
often visited the swamp where the
body was found. He explained his
interest in ornithology and said he
mad gone to the swamp in search of
birds. Richard Loeb, friend of Leo
pold's and son of a Chicago million
afre who resides near the private
school which the Franks boy attend
ed, substantiated the main points of
Leopold's story.
Both boys, university students
wereiqheld for questioning tonight
while the authorities attempted to
piece together the bits of informa-
ton obtained by questioning them
and other students with whom they
were; friendly. While frankly adj
mltHng that there was little to con-
necr Leopold with the case except
the Spectacles, officials from the
states attorneys office were at
tempting to find an explanation for
several important features.
The effort of the authorities to-
night was to try to establish owner
ship of garage chisel wrapped in
surgical tape on which were spots
which chemists, after an ANALYSIS.
said were human blood. 1t was such
Inn
have been used to kill Robert Franks.
and was thrown from a maroon COL
ored automobile the morning after
the youth disappeared, according to
story told by q night watchmen
who found it.
~ Among Leopold's effects the police
found tightly rolled bundle Of
newspapers. fashioned like a club
and tied with a rope.
Typewriters owned by both Leo
pold and Loeb were seized by the au-
thorities and specimens of the writ
ing were compared with the note to
Jacob Franks, father Of the slain boy,
which was signed George johnson"
and demanded $4,000 ransom. A
typewriter expert said that Leopold's
typewriter could not have produced
such a letter and previous to an eX-
animation of Loebs machine, ex-
pressed the opinion that it was too
recent a model.
Tracing Of the spectacles was con-
sldered remarkable feat by all con-
nected with the case. Opticians
throughout the city were canvassed
and the trail finally led to optical
manufacturers where at last the au-
thorities found the firm that made
the frames. The trail led then to the
dealers and to voluminous records
which were carefully checked as to
the specifications of the lenses.
Young Leopold admitted that he
knew the Franks boy, but because
Leopold Is 10 and the slain boy was
only 10, explained that the acquain-
lance was only casual.
Leopold and Loeb told substantially
the same story of their activities on
May 81, the day the Franks boy van
ished They said they drove to the
business district in Leopold's car for
luncheon, later going to the park TO
study the birds. After dinner, accord
ing to Leopold, they took an automo-
bile ride with two girls known to them
as Edna and May. An attempt was be-
ing made to find these girls tonight.
Leopold was shown the ransome LET
ter and asked if he could have written
such a missive. He said he could have
written a better one Among his papers
the police found a note addressed to
"Dick" in which IL was asserted that
"eyen though we have differences, we
must appear friendly to preserve ap-
pearances." No explanation of the let
ter was made public.
Young Leopold is the son OF paper
box manufacturer, and Loeb the son
of a vice president of a Chicago mail
order house. The families of the youths
offered the police every aid in the in
Other angles OF the case on which
the police have been working received
scant attention today, all of the time
of investigators being devoted to check
ing the stories Of the boys. The police
after receiving further information
from Louisville where Charles +.
Heath, a Chicago druggist, is in a hos
pital suffering from poison. said they
did not believe that Heath knows any
thing of the Staying. Women relatives
of Roderick Wolfe and Al Smith. who
are being held at Indianapolis for
were taken into custody
by the. police today, but IL was an
nounced that the only reason for hold
ing either men or women was that
Wolfe drives an automobile of make
similar to that in which the Franks boy
Ill -