El Dorado Daily News

Millions Battle Over Boy Slayers

Of Young Franks Leopold and Loeb in County Jail—Missing Letter Found in Pullman, Instructed Father to Take Train for New York, Count 4, and Throw $10,000 Out of Window.

CHICAGO, June 2—The legal battle of millions to free Nathan Leopold, Jr., and Richard Loeb, scholarly sons of Chicago millionaires and confessed kidnappers and slayers of 13-year-old Robert Franks, son of another millionaire Chicagoan, opened today, and, at the end of the legal skirmish, the state and defense attorneys each claimed victories.

Hearing on a writ of habeas corpus for release of the two youths was continued to June 8, but the defense succeeded in securing an order taking the boys from the custody of the police and remanding them to the care of the sheriff of Cook county. They were taken to the county jail tonight.

To Grand Jury Today.

The inquest into young Franks' death was re-opened today with the confessed slayers in attendance, but was continued to June 27. State's Attorney Crowe said he will take the case before the June grand jury tomorrow and probably will take three days to present his evidence. He said he expected to ask for indictments for murder and for kidnapping for ransom, each crime punishable by death.

The most important evidence uncovered today was a letter which Mr. Crowe said was written to Jacob Franks, father of the slain boy, by Leopold and Loeb and which was found in a Michigan Central sleeper at New York.

Plot for Ransom.

When young Franks disappeared May 21, Leopold and Loeb, according to Crowe, called the Franks home by telephone and notified the parents their son was held for ransom. Next day, their confessions said, they sent Mr. Franks a letter asking $10,000 ransom and in the afternoon, shortly before the body of the boy, found in a south side swamp, had been identified, they made a second call to the father who had the money waiting, telling him to go to a nearby drug store. He failed to understand the address and did not go.

Had he proceeded to the store, the boys said, he would have been instructed to buy a Michigan Central railroad ticket to Gary, Ind., and sit in a certain rear car seat, where the letter had been placed.

The letter instructed him to watch for a large sign after passing a certain street and to count four and then toss the money out of the window, the boys said.

Boys Tested It.

This part of their plot, according to Mr. Crowe, had been carefully re-prepared, the boys having made the trip themselves and tossed a bundle of papers representing the money from the car window at the specified place to determine if the plan was feasible.

The boys said, according to Mr. Crowe, that the elaborate plans were taken so that Mr. Franks would have no time to notify the authorities after receiving his final instructions and could not get off the train when he delivered the money. The youths said they intended to have an automobile waiting to speed away with the cash, according to their statements. The letter, as well as the Pullman car in which it was found, are both being returned here, Mr. Crowe said. The Pullman left here the day of the kidnapping.

Defense Is Silent.

The accused youths spent a busy day, being rushed from a police station to the state's attorney's office, from there to the court hearing, then to the inquest and back to the (Turn to Page Two, Column One.)
Confessed Slayers

TOP: Nathan Leopold, 19-year-old son of a millionaire Chicago box manufacturer, who confessed his part in the slaying of Robert Franks 14-year-old son of another Chicago millionaire. Leopold is a Phd. in the University of Chicago and is rated among the most brilliant students of the university.

Below is Richard Loeb, son of a millionaire vice president of Sears, Roebuck and Company. He is 18 years old and was graduated from the University of Chicago in May as an honor student. He confessed planning the murder with Leopold.
MILLIONS BATTLE OVER BOY SLAYERS OF YOUNG FRANKS

(Continued from Page One.)

State's attorney's office where a conference between the prisoners' attorneys and relatives lasting for two hours was held. The prisoners, lawyers, relatives at the end of their conference continued their new policy of saying nothing which has characterized the defense tactics today since attorneys reached the boys through the habeas corpus proceedings.

Clarence Darrow, chief of counsel for the defense, said during the proceedings that the action was brought not so much with a view to having the prisoners freed as to allow their attorneys to consult with them and to prevent the state from making an examination as to their sanity.

Through the inference in the arguments did not indicate that the boys had suffered bodily harm at the hands of the police, there was an intimation that the confessions if not repudiated would be attacked on the ground that the youths had made the statements attributed to them after they had been subjected to long hours of questioning and had been forced to go without sleep and endure other hardships. The authorities also started an investigation of the possible connection of the youths with an attack and operation on a taxidriver several months ago the victim being reported to have said that the boys were his assailants.

Girl Joked With Him.

Miss Susan Lauric, university student and friend of Leopold, was called to the state's attorney's office for questioning today after she had told of a conversation with Leopold the day previous to his arrest, in which she suggested, jokingly, that he confess to the slaying and be acquiesced, remarking she could then collect the $10,000 reward.

Prosecutors said they had gained little additional information from her.

Two automatic pistols were added to the many pieces of evidence collected by the state today after assistant state's attorneys said the boys had told them the pistols were carried in their car the day of the kidnaping and were to have been used in case of pursuit.

Typewriter in Lagoon.

Mr. Crowe declared the state now has in its possession practically every bit of evidence the boys have mentioned, including young Franks' shoes, belt buckle, parts of his clothing, fragments of a blood-stained automobile robe, the car the slayers used, the spectacles lost by Leopold when he took the body to the swamp and other evidence. Only a typewriter, on which, they said they wrote the ransom letter before throwing the machine into a lagoon is missing. The police still are searching for his typewriter.

The youths, according to their confession, selected young Franks as a victim because he happened along at an opportune moment, and the police today were investigating the statement of John Levinson, 11, son of a wealthy attorney, and A. C. Haas, an instructor of the boy that he may have been intended for their victim. The boy said he knew both Leopold and Loeb and that Loeb approached him a few hours before the kidnaping and spoke casually to him.

Offered Liquor Bribe.

Young Leopold, son of Nathan Leopold, Sr., wealthy box manufacturer, appeared nonchalant at the inquest and hearing and had not forsworn his braggadocio attitude of yesterday when he boasted of his family's wealth and suggested that a few jurors might be fixed.

He attempted to have an officer deliver a note to his home instructing his family to give the bearer a pint of liquor. The note was destroyed.

Loeb, however, was extremely nervous and apparently much affected by the trying ordeal. He paced the floor nervously during the court proceeding and had little to say to anyone. The boys, each of whom declares the other did the actual slaying, refused to speak to each other and were taken to different restaurants for lunch.

Charles Ream, the taxicab driver who was the victim several months ago of an attack and mutilation, was taken to the state's attorney's office by reporters today to try to identify Leopold and Loeb as his assailants.

As the youths were led through an outer office where Ream sat, he leaped to his feet shouting: 'It's them,' then fell back in a faint, weeping. Ream had been brought to the state's attorney's office by reporters for one newspaper and he left with reporters for another newspaper, the authorities having no opportunity to question him.

At the time of the attack Ream said he did not get a good view of his assailants and doubted his ability to identify them. For this reason, officials were skeptical of his reported positive identification.

'They look like the two who kidnapped me,' he said. 'I am not real positive but they have the general appearance of the kidnappers. One is tall and the other short. I would like to see them again however. I am fairly sure that they are the men.'