In a 1924 wealthy neighborhood of Chicago, Nathan Leopold, 19, and Richard Loeb, 18, randomly murdered Bobbie Franks, 14,
to show they could execute the perfect crime. In “Murder Among Friends” (Anne Schwartz Books 2022) the award-winning nonfiction author Candace Fleming tells of the family lives of each perpetrator as well as that of the victim in Kenwood, saving the details of the crime to be woven into the description of the arrest and trial in which the renowned Clarence Darrow served as the defendants’ lawyer.
Nathan Leopold, a brilliant scholar and a misfit, earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago at the age of seventeen and was preparing to study law at Harvard University when he committed the crime. He considered himself a superman, superior to others, and therefore wasn’t restricted by rules or laws. Called “Baby” by family and close friends, he shot and stuffed songbirds throughout the city as a hobby. Nathan, a gay man living at a time when homosexuality was illegal, was in love with Richard.
Richard, also a good student, was a handsome lady’s man who also graduated early, from the University of Michigan. As a pastime he “shadowed” random people around town, delighting in his secret world. He considered himself a master criminal and convinced Nathan to commit a murder with him in exchange for sexual favors. Richard craved attention.
Their complex and supposedly air-tight murder plan involved ransom, although neither young man needed the money. But first, they had to find a victim. Bobby, from a wealthy family, a neighbor of the Leopolds and second cousin to Loeb, was walking home from school. The teens abducted him in their car, killed him, then sent a ransom note to the Franks family.
The murderers who were apprehended early on, felt no anxiety and no remorse. Richard, who wanted credit and attention for his plan, ultimately confessed. The sentence would almost certainly be hanging.
Lawyer Clarence Darrow who often defended pro bono cases was hired by the Leopold and Loeb families. Darrow had unlimited funds to call in psychiatrists at a time when practitioners were still called alienists. Psychiatry was a new science being developed by Freud Jung, and others. At the time of the trial, a criminal might be saved by a plea of insanity, but the two teenaged criminals were deemed sane.
What the brilliant Darrow wanted was ground-breaking—to show that the boys were mentally deficient, although not insane. Nine pages of primary sources cite the psychiatry records of the boys’ examiners. Here we find out more about Nathan being raised by an adoring but abusive nanny, rather than by his family. Loeb was neglected by his uber-wealthy parents. Surely a jury would convict these entitled arrogant boys. Better to convince one judge than a group of twelve. So Darrow had the boys change their not-guilty plea to guilty to avoid a trial by jury.
Gruesome as the story is, I found this meticulously researched and well-written cross over (to adult readers) to be a valuable insight into the history of law and a page turner. Check it out.
Patricia Hruby Powell is the author of the award-winning books: Lift As You Climb; Josephine; Loving vs Virginia; and Struttin’ With Some Barbecue all signed and for sale at Jane Addams bookstore. Books forthcoming about women’s suffrage, Martha Graham, and Ella Fitzgerald. talesforallages.com
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