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    Leopold & Loeb Killed Bobby Franks
    Leopold & Loeb Killed Bobby Franks
    Leopold & Loeb Killed Bobby Franks
    Ebook158 pages1 hour

    Leopold & Loeb Killed Bobby Franks

    By Ken Rossignol

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    About this ebook

    The legendary Clarence Darrow slipped them off the hangman's gallows into prison for life. With all the details of today's modern documentaries the very words of the killers themselves will spellbind the reader and have all parents noting the whereabouts of their children. Danger lurks at all times, often from those who know your child. This true crime story is as relevant today as it was to the family of young Bobby Franks in 1924 when he was murdered by the depravity of Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold.
    Join Bruce M. Caplan and Ken Rossignol for this great trip back into the murder files of Chicago.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKen Rossignol
    Release dateNov 18, 2012
    ISBN9781301911622
    Leopold & Loeb Killed Bobby Franks
    Author

    Ken Rossignol

    The author now is entering the field of fiction and makes it clear that cruising has never been more dangerous as the heroes in The Privateer Clause work to stop killers at every port as Americans and other passengers on the Sea Empress cruise the Caribbean. Rossignol works to make sure those cruising on the Sea Empress have the time of their lives and as a result, bookings are through the roof. Careful research and the imagination of a veteran reporter and editor combine to bring realism to the intinerary of the Sea Empress. What happens to law officers after they retire? In the Privateer Clause, Rossignol makes sure that the chief characters never get a moments rest and while buffets and rum drinks threaten to add waist to the rotund travelors, the husband and wife security force lay waste to bad guys who are out to spoil everyone's trip. Rossignol shows that the passengers are the new media and are instant reporters as they use their cell phones, digital cameras, and all other new electronic communications to take all the latest acts of piracy against cruise ships to the world news outlets in minutes. While the recession ravages the economy, taking a cruise has never been a better bargain but given the terror cells operating around the world, a cruise has never been more dangerous. Will the author ever be allowed to board a cruise ship again? Will he be tossed onto the 'No Float' list? Only The Shadow knows for sure and while danger lurks at every moment, the author makes sure that no one on the Sea Empress is bored.

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      Book preview

      Leopold & Loeb Killed Bobby Franks - Ken Rossignol

      LEOPOLD & LOEB

      Killed Bobby Franks

      …to commit the perfect crime

      Bruce M. Caplan & Ken Rossignol

      Copyright 2012

      Seattle Miracle Press

      Huggins Point Publishing LLC

      SMASHWORDS EDITION

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

      ken@mdinternet.net

      Bruce@CrimeClub.com

      Join us at

      www.CrimeClub.com

      www.privateerclause.com

      STOP THE PRESSES!

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

      In this volume we tell the true story of two spoiled boys who believed that society’s law should not affect them. Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb had every advantage including their high IQ’s. Their parents were millionaires and Leopold was just about to take a trip to Europe when he and his best friend were arrested for the kidnapping and murder of Bobby Franks.

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

      They committed their crime with the callousness of amoral individuals. It was like a scientific experiment and once it was accomplished and they proved to themselves and to the world that they really could get away with a murder—they would go on their merry way and forget about it.

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

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

      The horrible crime of Leopold and Loeb is one of the most fascinating in the annals of murder investigations. In 1958 Meyer Levin wrote Compulsion which was a fictional account of 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 of what happened almost nine decades ago. There have been several excellent books written about this event because it was so unusual and so fascinating. This book is a time-machine to yesterday. We hope that all the readers of the true-crime genre will enjoy the journey.

      Bruce M. Caplan Ken Rossignol

      Acknowledgements: The Chicago 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 is dedicated to the men and women of law enforcement who risk their lives every day to protect the public and track down killers.

      Chapter l

      No one would have noticed the two young men getting into the Red Willys Knight automobile at the University of Chicago Campus at 11A.M on May 21, 1924. Nathan Leopold was six months senior to his best friend Richard Loeb. They’d been neighbors and best buddies for four years. Like many young men they’d done a lot of mischief together.

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

      As the afternoon sun was shaded by clouds, Nathan got behind the wheel of 1924 automobile and put the key into the ignition. Richard jumped into the passenger seat beside him and soon with the help of the modern electric starter, they were on their way.

      Both Leopold and Loeb felt that seven months of careful 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 the fictitious name of Morton D. Ballard.

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

      Later that day Richard Loeb using the alias established by Leopold of Morton D. Ballard rented a room at a prestigious Chicago Hotel. Instead of Loeb’s suitcase having clothes it was filled with heavy books checked out from The University of Chicago Library. Loeb told the man at the front desk that he was only going to stay there for one night but that he would return in a few weeks to pick up his mail.

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

      The phone number that Leopold gave was a local delicatessen on Wabash Avenue. When they called the pay phone Richard Loeb quickly answered and confirmed that Morton D. Ballard was a gentleman of the highest credentials. The rental car company accepted the fake identity.

      On May 21, 1924, (the day of the murder) they went back to the rental agency. Since Leopold had already rented a vehicle, his credit was firmly established. He rented a dark green Willys Knight touring car. Leopold drove the rental car and Loeb drove Leopold’s fancy Willys Knight vehicle. They first drove to a local restaurant and had a casual lunch.

      Previously that morning at 8 A. M. Leopold attended his criminal law classes at the University of Chicago Law School. At nine o’clock he attended a lecture on French literature and at ten he was at another one of his law classes. He was not troubled by his future plans for that day.

      Now it was afternoon and the two young men were casually 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. They were two very intelligent young men. They were so nonchalant about discussing killing someone. To both of the men it was like a question in physics or a chemistry problem that needed a solution.

      For seven long months they had been planning for this one day. They were going to prove to the world that they were beyond being caught by the law. Society’s morals did not regulate their actions. They didn’t want to be serial murderers --- they just wanted to do it once to show the world that they could get away with it!

      Both men believed in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche,  who was a major philosopher in the 19th Century. He had preached that for most people the regular morality should be followed. He believed that exceptional people should follow their own sense of morals. He once said, "Become what you are."

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

      Today we might ask ourselves how these two men came to have such distorted views on life. If we look at Nathan Leopold’s background we find that he was the youngest child born into a very wealthy Jewish family. As was the custom at that time among so many of the wealthy, Leopold was raised by a governess—actually three of them. The last governess that raised him would often bathe with him and his brother. The Leopold family was unaware of the governess’s illicit behavior.

      Nathan Leopold first attended a predominately girl’s school that had only two male students. Later he was enrolled in the public school system and he did poorly. He returned to the girl’s school. Perhaps his unorthodox education may have contributed to his later antisocial behavior?

      Later the Leopold family moved to the Kenwood area of Chicago. At the time it was a wealthy neighborhood with a high Jewish population. Nathan was quickly enrolled in the private Harvard School for Boys. Most of the students were Jewish.

      On the day of the murder Leopold and Loeb both attended their classes. They went to lunch with friends. It was like any other day when Leopold opened the door of the rental car and got behind the wheel. Richard Loeb quickly got in beside him.

      Leopold started the car and within moments they were parked outside of their alma mater ----the Harvard School for Boys. They just wanted to murder someone and it really didn’t matter who the victim was going to be!

      As they waited in the car with the wind blowing through the open windows they saw

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