Ken Rossignol - Leopold & Loeb Killed Bobby Franks

LEOPOLD & LOEB

to commit the perfectcrime

Copyright 2012

Seattle Miracle Press
Huggins Point Publishing LLC

SMASHWORDS EDITION

All rights reserved. No part of thispublication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, ortransmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of theauthor. The author, editor and Seattle Miracle Press have nocontrol over and assumes no responsibilities for any third-partywebsites.

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May 21, 1924 - Fourteen-year-old Bobby Franks failedto return from his school which was only three blocks from hishome. Many hours passed before his parents received the informationthat their son had been kidnapped.

In this volume we tell the true story of two spoiledboys who believed that societys law should not affect them. NathanLeopold and Richard Loeb had every advantage including their highIQs. Their parents were millionaires and Leopold was just about totake a trip to Europe when he and his best friend were arrested forthe kidnapping and murder of Bobby Franks.

Like a great movie from the film noir days theLeopold and Loeb case in many ways really is stranger than fiction.The two young men decided that they were going to commit theperfect murder. They took many months to plan their horribleacts.

They committed their crime with the callousness ofamoral individuals. It was like a scientific experiment and once itwas accomplished and they proved to themselves and to the worldthat they really could get away with a murderthey would go ontheir merry way and forget about it.

In this book, we try to give you a play by playdescription of what took place in 1924. As you read the narrativeyou will find contradictions because many witness accountsconflicted.

Nathan Leopold in 1958 went on to write a book aboutthis crime. Richard Loeb was murdered in 1936, so the only accountwe have from him is in this volume and was his 1924 confession.

The horrible crime of Leopold and Loeb is one of themost fascinating in the annals of murder investigations. In 1958Meyer Levin wrote Compulsion which was a fictional accountof this case. Other Hollywood movies including Rope,directed by Alfred Hitchcock, have been based on this case.

In the following pages we tell you the real story ofwhat happened almost nine decades ago. There have been severalexcellent books written about this event because it was so unusualand so fascinating. This book is a time-machine to yesterday. Wehope that all the readers of the true-crime genre will enjoy thejourney.

Bruce M. Caplan Ken Rossignol

Acknowledgements: TheChicago Tribune, Chicago Daily News, Chicago Museum of History,Library of Congress, University of Missouri-Kansas City,Northwestern University, Warner Bros., Chicago Herald-Examiner.

Dedication: This book isdedicated to the men and women of law enforcement who risk theirlives every day to protect the public and track down killers.

No one would have noticed the two young men gettinginto the Red Willys Knight automobile at the University of ChicagoCampus at 11A.M on May 21, 1924. Nathan Leopold was six monthssenior to his best friend Richard Loeb. Theyd been neighbors andbest buddies for four years. Like many young men theyd done a lotof mischief together.

On that day---May 21, 1924, the United States had apopulation of 114 million. The total U.S. budget for the year wasonly three billion dollars. After a brief depression from 1921-1922prosperity was returning and there was only a 5% unemployment rate.A first class stamp was two cents and Walt Disney had just createdhis first motion picture of Alice and Wonderland.

As the afternoon sun was shaded by clouds, Nathan gotbehind the wheel of 1924 automobile and put the key into theignition. Richard jumped into the passenger seat beside him andsoon with the help of the modern electric starter, they were ontheir way.

Both Leopold and Loeb felt that seven months ofcareful planning was about to conclude with the perfect murder.Their destination was a Rent-a-Car outfit on South Michigan Avenue.Nathan had previously rented a car from the same place using thefictitious name of Morton D. Ballard.

In order to create this fake identity, two weeksprior, Leopold at almost closing time on the 7th of May,entered a branch of the Hyde Park State Bank. He told the elderlylooking male officer that he was a salesman from Peoria and gavethe name of Morton Ballard for the first time. After a few minutesof paperwork Leopold nervously exited the bank with documentationgiving proof of his new identity.

Later that day Richard Loeb using the aliasestablished by Leopold of Morton D. Ballard rented a room at aprestigious Chicago Hotel. Instead of Loebs suitcase havingclothes it was filled with heavy books checked out from TheUniversity of Chicago Library. Loeb told the man at the front deskthat he was only going to stay there for one night but that hewould return in a few weeks to pick up his mail.

Two days later on May 9th Leopold had goneto the Rent-a-Car agency on South Michigan Avenue in an attempt toestablish his identity and credit with the company. He offered a$400.00 deposit for the car (A considerable amount in 1924) and hisnew bank account information. For a character reference he toldthem to call a Mr. Louis Mason. He gave them Masons address andphone number.

The phone number that Leopold gave was a localdelicatessen on Wabash Avenue. When they called the pay phoneRichard Loeb quickly answered and confirmed that Morton D. Ballardwas a gentleman of the highest credentials. The rental car companyaccepted the fake identity.

On May 21, 1924, (the day of the murder) they wentback to the rental agency. Since Leopold had already rented avehicle, his credit was firmly established. He rented a dark greenWillys Knight touring car. Leopold drove the rental car and Loebdrove Leopolds fancy Willys Knight vehicle. They first drove to alocal restaurant and had a casual lunch.

Previously that morning at 8 A. M. Leopold attendedhis criminal law classes at the University of Chicago Law School.At nine oclock he attended a lecture on French literature and atten he was at another one of his law classes. He was not troubledby his future plans for that day.

Now it was afternoon and the two young men werecasually discussing the murder that they were about to commit.Leopold had an I Q of over 200 and Loeb had an IQ of over 160. Theywere two very intelligent young men. They were so nonchalant aboutdiscussing killing someone. To both of the men it was like aquestion in physics or a chemistry problem that needed asolution.

For seven long months they had been planning for thisone day. They were going to prove to the world that they werebeyond being caught by the law. Societys morals did not regulatetheir actions. They didnt want to be serial murderers --- theyjust wanted to do it once to show the world that they could getaway with it!

Both men believed in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche , who was a major philosopher in the 19th Century. He hadpreached that for most people the regular morality should befollowed. He believed that exceptional people should follow theirown sense of morals. He once said, Become what youare.

Leopold and Loeb had been ardent followers ofNietzsche and they interpreted his teachings to mean that sincetheir intelligence was much greater than that of the generalpopulation they could make up their own set of morals.

Today we might ask ourselves how these two men cameto have such distorted views on life. If we look at NathanLeopolds background we find that he was the youngest child borninto a very wealthy Jewish family. As was the custom at that timeamong so many of the wealthy, Leopold was raised by agovernessactually three of them. The last governess that raisedhim would often bathe with him and his brother. The Leopold familywas unaware of the governesss illicit behavior.