For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb, and the Murder That Shocked Jazz Age Chicago Read Online Free PDF Page B

man, with a worried expression on his face, so absorbed in his thoughts that he seemed about to walk past, without acknowledging one of his former pupils at the Harvard School. Nathan had recognized his English teacher immediately. He remembered Mott Kirk Mitchell as a rather fussy teacher, too conscientious and well meaning to deal adequately with a classroom of rowdy fifteen-year-olds. 11
    “How do you do, Mr. Mitchell?” Nathan inquired sincerely. “I haven’t seen you for a long time; how are you?” 12
    Mitchell peered at the young man in front of him—who was he? Yes, he recognized him now. Nathan Leopold had been a student at the Harvard School a few years back. Mitchell remembered him as an obnoxious pupil: clever, certainly, one of the best students in the class, but too arrogant and cynical to be likable.
    “Have you heard,” Mitchell asked, “about the Franks boy?”
    “No,” Nathan replied.
    Everyone at the Harvard School, Mitchell explained, was worried at the disappearance of Bobby Franks. There was a rumor going around that someone had kidnapped Bobby, and now there was news that a boy’s body had been found out by the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks near the Indiana state line.
    “Do you know him?” Mitchell asked.
    Nathan shook his head, “No.”
    “Robert Franks?”
    “No.” 13
    Mitchell stayed a few minutes more on the sidewalk, talking about the murder, as Nathan listened. It was inexplicable, Mitchell proclaimed, that someone would murder Bobby Franks—and what effect would it have on the Harvard School? Bobby had disappeared the previous day on his way home after school, not far from where they stood—was any child safe while the murderer was still at large?
    Mitchell soon stopped talking; he was in a hurry, he explained. There was to be a meeting of the school staff that evening with the principal; in all likelihood, the Harvard School would be closed tomorrow.
    They shook hands. As he made his way across the road, Nathan realized that his nausea had disappeared. In its place, he felt a sudden sense of exhilaration—they had succeeded in a crime that would be the talk of the town!

    S HORTLY AFTER NOON ON THE following day, Friday, 23 May—just two days after Bobby’s death—Richard stood in the entrance hall at the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity on Ellis Avenue, smoking a cigarette and chatting with friends; he had already had lunch in the dining hall, and now he was killing time, wondering how to spend the afternoon.
    He saw Howard Mayer enter and nodded a greeting. Howard was a senior at the university, and, although he had never rushed for the fraternity, he knew many of its members. Richard had heard that the Chicago American had hired Howard as a stringer; he detached himself from his group of friends and stepped across the hallway to ask what Howard knew of the murder.
    Everyone knew about the killing; everyone knew all the details; but, Mayer realized, Richard seemed almost to have an insider’s knowledge of the case. Mayer listened attentively as Richard talked about the ransom demand. The newspapers had reported that the kidnappers had telephoned Jacob Franks at his home, directing him to go with the ransom to a drugstore on 63rd Street. Was there some reason for Franks to go to a particular drugstore? And what was Franks expected to do once he arrived at 63rd Street?
    Could it be, Richard speculated, that the kidnappers had intended to give Franks a second message, perhaps instructing him to hide the ransom somewhere? After all, Richard said, the kidnappers would hardly wish to meet Jacob Franks face-to-face.
    “You know these kidnappers would not meet a man on a busy street,” Richard exclaimed, exhaling cigarette smoke as he spoke, “that is common sense.”
    Howard Mayer nodded in agreement; clearly there had been some reason for the kidnappers to direct Franks to the drugstore.
    “Why don’t you,” Richard continued, without waiting for an answer, “make the rounds of