The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-26
ENDS
 DEFENSE PLEA
tContinued From Page 1.l

or men, Wuen we SHdu IcdIAc lhdt mercy is the highest attribute of man.
 Never in the history of the local courts, Mir. Darrow told the judge, has any culprit under 24 years of age been hanged after plea of guilty.
 "I do not know how much salvage there may be in these two poor, dis eased minds" he said 1t might be merciful for your honor to tie a. rope around their necks and let them die now. It might be merciful to them, but certainly not to those who come after them"
 The salvation of youth is the highest attribute of the state, Mir. Darrow argued and characterized the hanging of several Chicago boys after jury trials as "a shame and disgrace"
 "Juries have not the wisdom and mercy that come frem age and Iexperi- ence," he apostrophised, adding that if Judge Caverly "decorates the gallows" with Leopold and Loeb it would be in violation of the policy of the law and the spirit of humanity" Some day an- other judge may hang a boy of IT, or 15, or even IA"
 DenounceS Investigator
 The attorney denounced as poisoned perjury" the testimony given by one of the investigators for the states &3- torney that Leopold, shortly after his arrest, had expressed hope of escaping the hangman by 'pleading guilty be- fore friendly judge" Mir. Darrow said he mentioned this because he wish ed Judge Caverly to know that the de- fense had every confidence in him.
 He explained, too, that this reference to war was because armed conflict had always been followed by an era of crime He spoke of numerous veterans of the World war who had landed in courts after their return from the trenches where 'hoLorable, upright boys had learned now cheap was hu- man life"
 "We were fed on flesh and drank blood, even down to prCttling babes, exclaimed Mir. DarrOw, as he emphasized that the glories of war were preached from platform and pulpit and even taught in the Sunday schools.
 There are truly causes for crime as well as for everything else that hap pens ir this world" he said. Human blood was not the same to these two boys after we had all been bathed ill blood. War, money and education all were part of the circumstances that combined to wreck their destruction" l"
 There were tears in Mir Darrow' S eyes as with quivering voice he pictured the crumbling hopes of the parents of the boys, and the effect of the crime upon the future generations eOf their families. His voice broke again when he reached his perOration.
 Past And Future
 ''I know" he said, "that your honor stands between the future and the past For me the future means the hopes ot the young2 plead for life, charity kindness, sympathy and understanding and tho future is with me.
 Your honor may hang these boys but if you do you will make it harder tor every boy and girl in this land and for the babes as yet unborn.
 T am pleading that, all life is worth saving and that mercy is the highest attribute of man.
 My greatest reward, hope and com pensation will be that I have done something for the tens of thousands oi boys who must follow the path thes, two poor young Jews have trod."
 In a stiffness that was broken by mol even the untitled clicking of silent typewriters or telegraph instruments ir the press seats, Mir. Darrow added thi. verse from Omar Khayyam:
 So be written in the Book of Love
 T do not care about that bool above;
 Erase my name, OF write it as you
 will,
 "sO I be written in the Book Ot
 Love-"
 Slowly, almost fumbling, he gathered the notes and papers on which he haC been relying for the sequence of hi ideas. He turned toward his seat, out had not reached it when Robert B Grove, states attorney, and Benjamir Bachrach, who is to start the fina argument for defense tomorrow agre, with Judge Caverly that it was time tC adjourn. Dozens crowded about Mir Darrow to congratulate him, but tn, bailiffs pushed them back as they per suaded spectators that it was time tC II