Biographies of Key Figures

Robert "Bobby" Franks

Robert "Bobby" Franks Bobby Franks, born on September 19, 1909, was 14 years old when on May 21, 1924 he was picked up and murdered by Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb while on his way home from the Harvard School in Chicago'ss fashionable Hyde Park district.

Franks was a brilliant student at the school.  As a member of the Harvard debate team, he had argued against capital punishment. Franks' conduct, however, worried his teachers.  On his scholastic record are the notations "too self-satisfied" and "still hampered by unpleasant characteristics."

Franks was the son of Jacob Franks.  Jacob made his fortune financing Chicago real estate.  He earned the title "Honest Jake" Franks because of his reputation for square dealing.

Leopold and Loeb first considered kidnapping the son of Walter Baer or the son of Clarence Coleman, but Bobby Franks, whose family lived across the street from the Loeb family mansion in the affluent Kenwood neighborhood on Chicago's Southside, was chosen at random instead.  Franks knew Richard Loeb, but not Leopold.  Franks and Loeb had often played tennis together on the Loeb family courts.  Franks was also a second cousin of Loeb.


Nathan Leopold, Jr.

Nathan Leopold, Jr., ca. 1924 Nathan Freudenthal Leopold, Jr. was born on November 19, 1904 in Chicago, Illinois, to a wealthy immigrant Jewish family from Germany.

Leopold was a child prodigy who spoke his first words at the age of four months.  He reportedly had an intelligence quotient of 210, though this is not directly comparable to scores on modern IQ tests.  He also became an accomplished ornithologist at a young age.  As a teen, he became obsessed with the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche.  Nietzsche's philosophy became his life and destroyed his life.

Leopold completed an undergraduate degree at the University of Chicago, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, and was attending law school at the University of Chicago  He claimed to have been able to speak 27 languages fluently, and was an expert ornithologist  Leopold planned to transfer to Harvard Law School in September after taking a trip to Europe.

Leopold and Loeb met at the University of Chicago as teenagers  Leopold agreed to act as Loeb's accomplice  Beginning with petty theft, the pair committed a series of more and more serious crimes, culminating in the murder.

Before the murder, Leopold had written to Loeb: "A superman ...  is, on account of certain superior qualities inherent in him, exempted from the ordinary laws which govern men  He is not liable for anything he may do."

When asked why they committed the crime, Leopold told his captors: "The thing that prompted Dick to want to do this thing and prompted me to want to do this thing was a sort of pure love of excitement ... the imaginary love of thrills, doing something different ... the satisfaction and the ego of putting something over."

Leopold was 19 years old at the time of the murder  On September 10, 1924, he was sentenced to life in prison for the kidnapping and murder of Bobby Franks, but was paroled in 1958  On August 21, 1971, he died in Puerto Rico of heart trouble brought on by his diabetes.


Richard Loeb

Richard Loeb, ca. 1924 Richard Albert Loeb was born on June 11, 1905, in Chicago, Illinois.  He was the second of four sons of Albert and Anna Loeb.  Albert Loeb, a wealthy Jewish lawyer and vice president of Sears, Roebuck, hired a governess named Emily Struthers to assist in his boys' upbringing.

As a boy, Richard was an avid reader, with a passion for historical novels and crime stories.  At age 12, he entered the innovative University High School, adjacent to the University of Chicago campus.  Richard was an outgoing and popular boy, and seemed to thrive in the rich learning and social environment that University High provided.  He joined the Freshman Literary Society, the Discussion Club, and the Engineering Club.   He was the youngest graduate in the history of the University of Michigan and planned to enter the University of Chicago Law School after taking some postgraduate courses.

Loeb showed distinct manic characteristics at a young age  Whether as a result of rebellion at the repressive educational regime, or some deep-seated psychological flaw, Loeb showed distinct Jekyll/Hyde characteristics from an early age  He was outwardly an affable, popular child, but also showed a more sinister side to his personality  He became an accomplished thief early on and, while recognizing that lying was wrong, readily resorted to elaborate fabrications when caught out  He developed an elaborate fantasy life as a master criminal, and his interests evolved from minor family theft to shoplifting, vandalism and arson.

Loeb's father, Albert, began his career as a lawyer and became the vice president of Sears and Roebuck  Besides owning an impressive mansion in Kenwood, two blocks from the Leopold home, the Loeb family had a summer estate, Castle Farms, in Charlevoix, Michigan.

Leopold and Loeb met at the University of Chicago as teenagers  Leopold agreed to act as Loeb's accomplice  Beginning with petty theft, the pair committed a series of more and more serious crimes, culminating in the murder.

Loeb was 18 years old at the time of the murder  On September 10, 1924, he was sentenced to life in prison for the kidnapping and murder of Bobby Franks, and in 1936 was killed by a fellow inmate who claimed Loeb had made homosexual advances toward him.


Clarence Darrow

Clarence Darrow, 1923 Clarence Seward Darrow (April 18, 1857 - March 13, 1938) was an American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, best known for defending teenage thrill killers Leopold and Loeb in their trial for murdering 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks (1924), for defending Ossian Sweet, and defending John T.  Scopes in the Scopes "Monkey" Trial (1925).  Called a "sophisticated country lawyer", he remains notable for his wit and agnosticism, which marked him as one of the most famous American lawyers and civil libertarians.

Clarence Darrow was born in rural northeastern Ohio.  He was the son of Amirus Darrow and Emily (Eddy) Darrow.  Clarence attended Allegheny College and the University of Michigan Law School but did not graduate from either institution.  He was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1878.  The Clarence Darrow Octagon House, which was his childhood home in the small town of Kinsman, Ohio, contains a memorial to him.

In the summer of 1924, Darrow took on the case of Leopold and Loeb.  During the trial, the newspapers claimed that Darrow was presenting a "million dollar defense" for the two wealthy families.  Many ordinary Americans were angered at his apparent greed.  He had the families issue a statement insisting that there would be no large legal fees and that his fees would be determined by a committee composed of officers from the Chicago Bar Association.  After trial, Darrow suggested $200,000 would be reasonable.  After lengthy negotiations with the defendants' families, he ended up getting some $70,000 in gross fees, which, after expenses and taxes, netted Darrow $30,000


Robert Crowe

Robert Crowe, 1924 Robert Crowe, the State's Attorney for Cook County, was both the chief investigator and chief prosecutor in the Leopold-Loeb trial.  He was a "jut-jawed Irishman with a shock of brown hair and thick glasses."

Crowe was born in 1879 in Peoria, Illinois.  After graduating from the Yale Law School in 1901, Crowe returned to Illinois to practice.  From 1916 to 1921, Crowe was a judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County.  In 1921, he moved to the position he occupied at the time of the Franks murder.

By all accounts, Crowe conducted his investigation of the Franks murder in a thorough and professional manner.  No doubt also, he enjoyed the hunt.  When Leopold's chauffeur provided a key piece of evidence in the mounting case against the two boys, Crowe's response was "God damn, I think we've got them!"  At the conclusion of Leopold's confession, Crowe asked Nathan, "Have you been treated decently by me?"  Leopold replied, "Absolutely."

Anticipating a possible insanity defense, Crowe immediately proceeded to retain the four best known alienists (forensic psychiatrists) in Chicago, forcing Darrow to look elsewhere to find what Crowe at trial called his "wise men from the East."

Crowe presented his case with the same thoroughness as he did his investigation.  He offered 102 witnesses, even though both defendants had confessed and pleaded guilty.  Crowe's summation was a mixture of sarcasm for the defense case, careful recitation of evidence, and warnings about the consequences of accepting the "doctrines of anarchy."  Although Darrow's summation is far more famous, Crowe's speech also received praise and is included in Frederick Hick's collection of "Famous American Jury Speeches."  Crowe's summation contains far fewer personal reflections than does Darrow's, but it does suggest that Crowe thought himself to be a humane, decent, open-minded family man.  He bristled at the defense's complaint that his decision to seek the death penalty was heartless: "I have never been cruel or vicious to any living person in my life."  He proclaimed his love for his four children, his wife, and even his "good friend Clarence Darrow," with whom he had once traveled on a Chautauqau trip, talking about crime and punishment issues.

Crowe lived to reconsider his belief that death was the appropriate punishment for Nathan Leopold.  In the 1950's, he offered to write a letter supporting Leopold's release from prison on the condition that the letter would not be made public until after his death.  No letter was ever found.
The bulk of the information on this page was compiled by Wikipedia contributors, law students at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and by biography.com