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Leopold and Loeb

STORY PREFACE

"Now hollow fires burn out to black,
And lights are fluttering low:
Square your shoulders, lift your pack
And leave your friends and go.
O never fear, lads, naught's to dread,
Look not left nor right:
In all the endless road you tread
There's nothing but the night."

From A Shropshire Lad (1896)
By A. E. Housman

It's September, 1924.  As Clarence Darrow - one of the most brilliant trial lawyers of this century - quotes these words from A.E. Houseman, he is in the midst of a twelve-hour plea for mercy in a Chicago courtroom. The public outcry has been

No mercy!!

The defendants, 19-year-old Nathan Leopold and 18-year-old Richard Loeb, had viciously kidnapped and killed 14-year-old Bobby Franks. Had they shown mercy to him?

 

Author: Carole D. Bos, J.D.

 

 

To cite this story, using MLA Guidelines:

Bos, Carole D. "Leopold and Loeb" AwesomeStories.com. Date of access
       <http://awesomestories.com/famous-trials/leopold>.

IN OTHER WORDS: Author. Title of story. Name of web site. Date of access <URL>.