For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb, and the Murder That Shocked Jazz Age Chicago by Simon Baatz Read Free Book Online

student who talked too much than a student who talked not at all.
    Nathan explained that he had wanted to discuss the legal ramifications of the murder of Bobby Franks; would the sentencing guidelines in Illinois necessarily mandate the death penalty for the kidnappers?
    Suppose that the kidnappers had abducted Franks solely for the purpose of the ransom and suppose also that the murder had occurred accidentally, say, as the boy was being kidnapped. If there had been no intent to kill, would the kidnappers nevertheless receive the death penalty?
    Puttkammer twirled his pencil in his hand, looking at Nathan from across the desk.
    “Isn’t kidnapping,” Puttkammer replied, “a felony here in Illinois?”
    “Yes,” answered Nathan.
    Puttkammer laid the pencil on his desk and leaned back in his chair. “Supposing a man causes somebody’s death while he is intending to commit a felony? Is that murder or manslaughter?”
    Nathan hesitated. Perhaps the kidnappers had intended only to rape Bobby. What then? “Suppose that the intent were simply to take improper liberties with this boy?” he replied. “I understand that that is a misdemeanor here in Illinois.”
    “Well…you still are talking about someone who had an intent to kidnap at the time, so that it is none the less a case where the intent is to commit a felony, even though other crimes might enter into it which are simply misdemeanors.”
    Puttkammer was pleased that Nathan was taking such an interest in the case. The majority of students seemed interested in the law only as a way to make a living; Nathan was one of those rare students with genuine intellectual curiosity.
    Puttkammer confessed his ignorance of the case; he had been too preoccupied with keeping up with the decisions of the Illinois supreme court to spend much time reading the newspapers. But he had attended the Harvard School himself as a young boy, so, to that degree at least, the case was very interesting.
    “I went to the school myself,” Nathan interrupted.
    “Well, then, your interest perhaps is even greater than mine, because you went there so much more recently and must know many more of the people.”
    Puttkammer had read in yesterday’s papers that the police had arrested Mott Kirk Mitchell, the English teacher, as the leading suspect. That was unexpected—he had always thought of Mitchell as an outstanding teacher and a considerate and thoughtful person.
    “Well, I don’t know—” Nathan interrupted again. “I am not so sure about that.”
    All the boys knew, Nathan continued, that Mitchell was a homosexual; he was notorious for soliciting sex with the older boys at the Harvard School.
    “Are you sure of that?”
    “Yes; he made that sort of a proposition to my brother; that is straight enough, isn’t it?”
    The professor had picked up his pencil again and was drumming it lightly on the top of his desk, glancing at the clock, and starting to pick up a book. Nathan rose from his chair, saying, as he turned to leave the room, “I wouldn’t put it past that man, Mitchell; I would like to see them get that fellow….”
    He stopped and turned back to Puttkammer as he reached the door; there was a slight smile on Nathan’s face. “But…I don’t say he did it.” 26

    T HE NEXT DAY —T HURSDAY, 29 M AY —N ATHAN stayed home. The law exams were finished and that afternoon he was taking a group of schoolchildren from University High School on a bird-watching expedition to Wolf Lake.
    He heard the bell at the front door but paid no attention; he was not expecting anyone to call. Two minutes later the maid was at his study door: three men, police officers, wished to speak with him.
    How irritating! No doubt they wished to ask him more questions about his birding expeditions. But perhaps he could put them off; perhaps he could persuade them to come back at a more convenient time.

6 THE INTERROGATION
T HURSDAY, 29 M AY 1924–S ATURDAY, 31 M AY 1924
Since you have been in my