The Omaha morning bee., 1924-08-24
Aged Lawyer
j Pleads Mercy
For Slayers
Crowd at Leopold-Loeb Trial
Quiet Following Friday
Riot. Police Guard
Halls.
By GEORGE r. HOLMES.


Criminal sCourt, Chicago, Aug. 23.
As tolerantly as a kindly father
might deal with a wayward child.
Clarence Darrow pleaded for mercy
today for Nathan F. Leopold. 1r..
and Dicky Loeb. the youthful scions
OF wealth and education who brutally
slew little boy to obtain "a kick"
for their jaded intellects.
There was not rioting about Judge
John r. Caverly's court today by the
hundreds who sought vainly to gain
admission to hear this plea. Cordons
OF police swarmed in Austin avenue
and through the six floors of the
grayish old criminal court building
to see to that. None were allowed
to enter unless they could prove TO
the skeptical bluecoats they had
business there.
Darrow began as softly today as he
did on yesterday.
mo one" he told Judge Caverly,
could do this thing except as the
result of an immature and diseased
brain.
II want to show this court other of
their acts that perhaps explains how
and why this terrible and weird
homicide was committed.
No Motive.
Lets take the afternoon of that
crime. Not moved by passion and
hatred, not wanting money, not want
ing revenge, but only by the vague
wonderings of diseased brains, they
got a machine and looked around for
somebody to kill. Somebody to kill
for nothing.
They went to Harvard school.
Dicky Loeb's little brother was there.
They were known to all, both had
been students there. Has any such
case ever been covered in any of the
books? Nevex a one. Ordinarily
there would be no question of con-
ditions of these boys minds. The
question is only raised because their
parents have money.
They first picked a little boy aged
L. a
that shocks one. A boy bent on kill
ing, not knowing where he would go
or whom he would get, trails little
boy
This refers to 11-year- Johnny
Levinson. the original victim selected
by Loeb and Leopold. They trailed
Johnny but were unable to get him.
LAS I think of this story" Darrow
continued. II think of DIR. Krohn.
who testified here, for cash. that
these boys were all right Their act
was that of an immature boy with a
diseased mind; his act is one who
makes his living dealing in human
blood, without regard to sex or age.
All Known.
"And so without any motive or any
reason. they picked up this little boy
in the vicinity of ther own home, sur
rounded by their neighbors. They
ride a little way on crowded street.
where eyes might be at every window
they passed, where they were known
10 every one and they hit him on the
head with a chisel, and go on about
their business.
And yet they say this is the act
OF sane man.
Whatever hate ard frenzy may do
to the human mind. no man can say
this act was not the act of diseased
brains. There is no other explana
ton for it.
Had it not been fer the wealth,
the weirdness and the publicity. they
would have been placed in a psy
chopathic hospital. and not brought
into this court with people bowling
for their blood"
Darrow did not spare the details Of
the crime. They dragged this little
boy into the back seat, he said, and
covered his body with a robe. a
bloody covering on small frame.
WHO ever heard of anything like
IT." he cried. I've been practicing
law for As years and I never did"
He traced the route of the death
car through the busting streets OF
Chicago's South Side, Nathan Leo
pold driving the car Richard Loeb
on the back seat, and the little dead
boy between them"
why" he shouted, "the slightest
accident to the car. an arrest for
speeding, would have brought a thou
sand eyes on them.
Need No Experts.
THE mad act OF the fool In King
Lear Is the only thing I can think
Of to compare with 1t. And yet doc
tors will say that It was the sane act
Of q sane man.
Tell me that is sanity7 Tell me
these boys brains are not diseased?
We need no experts, no X-rays, no
endrocins gland study-their very
conduct proves it. They should be
taken to hospital and treated kindly
and with care.