Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-25
LEOPOLD AND LOEB
SEEN AS ELIGIBLE
FORPAROLE IN 1884
Error in Mittimus Leaves
LoophoIe, According to .
Official.
CALLS PAIR "PAMPEREO
PETS AT JOLIET"
Bobby Franks Slayers Building Up
Fine Records" Pardon Board
Head Says.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
CHICAGO, September 25.-An
error in the mitt mus under which
Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, jr
were sent to the Joliet Penitentiary fou
years ago makes these two slayers O.
little Bobbie Franks eligible for parole
in six more years, Hinton Clabaugh
chairman of the State Board of Par.
dons and Paroles. said today.
Clabaugh spoke Of Loeb and Leopold
as sons of wealth, who are pamperee
pets in Joliet"
These men, each under life sentence
for murder and 99-year sentences fol
kidnapping, are building up fine rec.
ords,' Clabaugh said, with a view t.
seeking parole when, because of the er.
rcr in the mittimus, they become eligi-
be within six years.
Blames Leopold for Break.
"One is private secretary to the first
warden" Clabaugh said. 1.-The other
IS private secretary to the Protestant
chaplain. Yet Leopold is generally be-
lieved to have been the brains of the
prison outbreak few months ago which
las cost, so far, several innocent lives
and resulted in the hanging of 'hree
men"
Loeb and Leopold were the college
students whose crime marked the birth
OF the thrill murder. They were de-
Tended by Clarence Darrow, the Chicago
criminal lawyer, whose strategy of hav-
Ing them enter pleas of guilty was one
Of series of astonishing developments
that marked the entire case. Follow
ing this, DarTow introduced testimony
the object of which, as he expressed it,
was not to keep them from paying for
their crime, but to prevent their being
hanged. The court in passing the dou-
bic sentences recommended that neither
should be granted a parole, no matter
how long they might serve.
Loeb and Leopold were sentenced to
life imprisonment and 90 years." Mr..
Clabaugh explained today. THE nit
timuS, however, doesn't specify whether
the terms were to be consecutive or
concurrent. and, the nittiInus being
silent, their terms run concurrently aud
The longer term, imprisonment for life,
rules In matters Of parole"
Life prisoners are eligible for parole
after 20 years under ordinary circum-
stances, with special allowances for good
prison records The best possible allow
ance. Mr.. Clabaugh said, would permit.
hem to apply for parole after IL years
and three months in the penitentiary
and both Loeb and Leopold, holding
What Mr.. Clabaugh called the choicest
positions" available to TRUSTEES, appar-
emily are making exceptionally good
records.
The n1ittimus was signed by the judge
oronouncing sentence, by the States
attorney who directed prosecution and
oy the court clerk.
Judge Refuses Comment.
William A. Rittenhouse, assistant
States attorney, commented today thai
In view of the recommendations o,
both court and prosecutor that Loet
and Leopold be held in prison unit
heir deaths, it would have been ri.
5iculous" to make the sentences rur
.onsecutiyely.
THE pardon board has promised tt
Ieep the murderers in prison for thu
house said, land it is not to be pre-
,umed that the pardon board will fai
n its duty to the public"
Judge John r. Caverly, who heare
The pleas of guilty and listened to TIT
evidence presented in mitigation o
the crime, declined to comment OF
Ehe supposed error.
Il have never commented on tn
rial since rendering the verdict, ant
never WILL" he said.