The Perfect Crime

by Fergus Mason

  Leopold had been at the University of Chicago for a year when he and Loeb both moved to Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan. At first they shared a room, but after a few months Loeb joined the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity and moved into their house. One condition of his acceptance to the fraternity was that he end his friendship with Leopold; a fellow student who worked summers on the Charlevoix estate had started rumors of a homosexual relationship based on what he’d seen there in 1920. Eager for the social advantages of being in the fraternity Loeb agreed, and relations between him and Leopold cooled - outwardly, at least. They stopped being seen in public unless accompanied by others, but in secret they occasionally went drinking together. Loeb later said this was all on the advice of his brother Allen.

  In 1922 Leopold transferred back to the University of Chicago and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in March 1923. Loeb stayed at Michigan. He lived in the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity house, but his frat brothers thought his behavior was often childish and he wasn’t allowed to mentor pledges. He graduated in June, the youngest student to graduate in the history of the University of Michigan (although the university doesn’t acknowledge this publicly.) Apart from that his academic career had nothing to distinguish it, but he planned to enter the law school at Chicago. Leopold, on the other hand, intended to tour Europe in summer 1924 - his father had already given him $3,000 for this - then go to Harvard Law School. They both decided to start law school in fall 1924, and in the meantime they studied part-time courses at University of Chicago. Free from the scrutiny of the fraternity they became inseparable friends again.[6]

  Enter the Supermen

  Both Leopold and Loeb were outstandingly intelligent, and although their personalities were very different they shared a number of traits. One of these was an almost incredible level of arrogance. Both of them seem to have believed themselves to be on a higher level than the “normal” people who surrounded them, and their feelings of superiority led them towards a philosophy that they thought described them perfectly. The identity they adopted was that of the Übermensch, the “ideal being” described by Friedrich Nietzsche.

  Many politicians and others have claimed inspiration from the works of Nietzsche, but in many ways he was a vehemently anti-political thinker. Above all else Nietzsche was an individualist, and he despised those who followed an organized system of thought as lacking imagination and integrity. He disliked organized religion - especially Christianity, which he saw as being focused on “other-worldly” rewards at the expense of self-improvement in the real world - and had a complex view of morality. He also strongly criticized anti-Semitism, which was a powerful force in his native Germany and common in the USA of the 1920s.

  Between 1883 and 1885 Nietzsche published the four volumes of Also Sprach Zarathustra, a philosophical novel that expanded his earlier idea of the Übermensch. Although Übermensch is often translated into English as superman the original German word is more nuanced and can also be translated as beyond human or over human. In the novel Nietzsche argued that “God is dead,” in the sense that the concept of God could no longer be used as a source of values, and that Christianity’s idea of an eternal soul devalues life and is destructive. In contrast the Übermensch unifies soul and body in a single entity and is focused on achievements in life. Nietzsche saw the Übermensch as devoting his or her energies to constructive goals, but it was an easy idea to misinterpret. For two young men as self-obsessed as Loeb and Leopold this philosophy, with its implications of superiority, was irresistible and they ran with it in an appalling direction. They decided that they could prove their status as Nietzschean supermen by committing the perfect crime.

  [3]

  The Slippery Slope

  In fact Leopold and Loeb had already committed many crimes and had even attempted murder. The Loeb family had an estate in Charlevoix, Michigan, which the boys regularly visited. During a visit in the summer of 1920 they were caught in a compromising position by the student who had a summer job there, Hamlin Buchman. Outraged at what he saw as their perversion he wrote to Sam Leopold and Allen Loeb about what he had seen; worse from the boys’ point of view, he also later wrote to the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity to urge them not to admit “a pair of cocksuckers.” In the wealthy and influential circles their families moved in this threatened social disaster, and they moved quickly to limit the potential damage. Allen Loeb travelled to Charlevoix to help sort out the mess, and his intervention helped later when Loeb applied to the fraternity. He also advised his brother never to be seen alone with Leopold; they should always have a “chaperone” with them who could vouch for their behavior. The problem had been largely controlled, but this wasn’t enough for Leopold and Loeb. They wanted to hit back at Buchman and ending their friendship with him wasn’t enough; they wanted him dead.

  Leopold said later that they had spent months searching for a foolproof way of killing Buchman. The problem was that they couldn’t think of one that wouldn’t leave them implicated in his death. Finally they had an idea. By staging an accident they hoped to eliminate Buchman without attracting any suspicion. Drowning is a common cause of death now, especially among adolescent males, and it was just as common in 1920. A water-related accidental death, then, was likely to be accepted as a tragic mishap. The method they decided on was to go out in a canoe with Buchman then capsize it and let him drown. They actually attempted this, but the plan failed; Buchman escaped death by swimming to shore.

  The failure of this attempt didn’t deter Leopold and Loeb from crime. Loeb spent much of his spare time playing cards, and by 1921 was regularly cheating. This didn’t provide enough excitement, though, and he moved on to other crimes. Petty thefts provided some amusement at first, then vandalism was his next step; he began to throw bricks through car windshields and store windows. Leopold joined in, driven by a twisted pact he had made with Loeb.

  Loeb’s fantasy world placed him in the center as a popular, gifted and powerful figure, worshipped by others. Leopold’s hero worship gave him the chance to experience the same feeling in real life. At the same time Loeb was worried that Leopold’s constant desire for sex ran the risk of them being caught again. The solution came to be known as “the compact.” Loeb would think of crimes and Leopold would help him commit them. In return they would arrange a date and time to have sex. This let Loeb control the risks while also getting him a compliant partner for his misdemeanors. Leopold was also worried, but for a different reason - he was frightened of the consequences of the crimes they committed. The lure of sex with Loeb drove him on, though.

  The crimes got worse. Cars were stolen. Prank phone calls turned to fake fire alarms and then to arson. In 1923 a friend of Loeb’s went on holiday with his family. The two planned to burgle the house and they went prepared for violence. In their car they had ropes to tie up the maid and a pistol to kill the night watchman. Luckily the car broke down on the way and the plan came to nothing.[7] Finally they took the fateful step of planning another attempt at murder.

  The chain of events that led to this decision was a complex one. In November 1923 they planned to burgle two fraternity houses in Ann Arbor. One was the Delta fraternity that had led Leopold on then refused to pledge him; remembering the humiliation he wanted revenge. The other was Zeta Beta Tau, which had accepted Loeb. At first it seemed perfect; both would get revenge on the frats they hated and Leopold would get his perk for helping Loeb. When they set it in motion and drove back to Ann Arbor, though, a problem surfaced. It was one that had come up before, and was leading to increasing tension between them.

  Their trip to Michigan took place on November 10, 1923.[8] The break-in at Zeta Beta Tau was no problem. The takings were slim - they got away with $80 in cash, an Underwood portable typewriter and a handful of watches and penknives - but both of them had generous allowances and it wasn’t really about the money anyway. When it came to the other robbery, though, Loeb started to get second thoughts. He didn’t know the layout of the building and worried that this made
the risks unacceptable. It wasn’t the first time he’d backed out of a crime - he loved making plans but often held off from actually carrying them out - and as always it enraged Leopold. Part of this was that he saw his promised sexual reward disappear; another part might have been that he idolized Loeb and hated to have his illusions challenged. Either way he wasn’t happy, and he badgered Loeb into going ahead with it. In the end they did break into the Delta frat house, but it was a half-hearted attempt and they only stole a camera.

  In the car on the return journey Leopold let his frustration bubble over. The relationship was too one-sided, he said. He always agreed to join in whatever plan came up, but still Loeb kept his distance. The robbery he’d wanted had been a farce, and other cancelled crimes had denied him the rewards he craved. The lingering bitterness over the New Year incident spurred him on. It was going to take a lot for Loeb to smooth the waters this time.

  Of course Loeb, with the charm Leopold could never resist, delivered. Calming Leopold by professing his loyalty and affection, he suggested that they cement their relationship more closely. Up to now nothing they had done had made it into the newspapers; some thefts and fires just weren’t attention-grabbing enough. There wasn’t much chance of the frat house burglaries changing that. There was one crime guaranteed to get a media reaction, though - murder. Loeb now proposed that they kidnap and murder a boy from a wealthy family; they could demand a ransom, which would be a huge challenge to collect without being caught, and the crime would be famous. It would be a bold and decisive act, and nobody would ever know who’d done it. Of course, one other aspect that Leopold might not think of was that it would give Loeb more control over him. He could never risk a secret like that being revealed. Far from making the relationship more equal Loeb’s proposal would give him more power than ever.

  Leopold didn’t see the potential drawbacks, though, and threw himself into the plan. The intention was to confirm their role as Übermenschen by committing a crime that dull-witted, mundane people would never have the imagination or intellect to solve. The process of planning this perfect crime would increasingly occupy them for the next six months.

  [4]

  The Murder of Robert Franks

  The planning that went into the killing was elaborate in the extreme. The only automobile Leopold and Loeb could count on having access to was Leopold’s red Willys Knight. A brightly colored sporty coupé, this was a conspicuous vehicle and they decided it was too risky to use it for the crime.[9] Rather than steal a car an intricate plan was devised to rent one under a false name. In late April Leopold opened a bank account in the name of Morton D. Ballard, and Loeb registered at the Morrison hotel under the same name. Letters were sent to Ballard at the hotel, to begin building up an identity, and on May 9 Leopold went to a local Rent-a-Car office and introduced himself as Ballard. He claimed to be a salesman recently posted in from Peoria and asked to rent a car, offering a generous $400 deposit in lieu of the three references required by Rent-a-Car but which he couldn’t provide. The hire office insisted on at least one reference, though, and “Ballard” named his friend Mr. Louis Mason. A phone call to “Mason” - Loeb, waiting by the pay phone at a nearby delicatessen - secured the reference, and Leopold collected the car. He and Loeb kept it for a few hours then handed it back, at which point Loeb returned to the Morrison. The old suitcase he’d brought when he checked in was missing. He quickly realized that the staff had noticed that his bed had not been slept in and become suspicious about his reservation. He immediately left the hotel; the room had served its purpose and Leopold had been accepted as a reliable customer by the hire office.

  Leopold and Loeb hadn’t chosen a specific victim but they had decided on a hunting ground. Their plan was to cruise the streets around the Harvard School after the pupils had been released and abduct a boy who was walking alone. There were obvious dangers in this, because the school was only a few blocks from both their homes and many people in the district knew them. The same factor also offered advantages, though, and the pair decided these could be exploited.

  On May 20 they prepared the equipment they would need for the abduction and killing. They had decided to kill their victim by strangulation, with one of them pulling on each end of the ligature so they would be equally guilty. Loeb visited a hardware store on Cottage Grove Street and bought a length of rope to use for the killing. He then visited another hardware store further down Cottage Grove and bought a chisel. Rejoining Leopold, they next went to a drug store where Leopold tried to buy a bottle of hydrochloric acid. Failing, he tried again at another drugstore and this time was successful. The rest of the equipment was collected together at Leopold’s house - rags to use as gags, a bottle of ether to keep the victim quiet and a pair of hip boots belonging to Leopold’s brother. Leopold took a roll of zinc oxide tape from the bathroom and used it to bind the chisel’s sharp blade; it could now be safely gripped and the wooden handle used as a bludgeon. A car cloak was added; it would be used to conceal the body in the back of the car. Finally they added some extra security. If anyone caught them in the act it would be necessary to silence them instantly. Chisels and gags might work on a schoolboy, but more would be needed if an adult came across them. Two automatic pistols went into the car with the rest of the equipment, a .45 for Loeb and a .380 for Leopold.

  The final stage of the crime was to be a ransom demand. Leopold and Loeb planned to demand $10,000 for the safe return of their victim, and they carefully planned a method of collecting the money without risking themselves. Of course they never had any intention of honoring the deal; they were well aware that a released kidnap victim could identify them and that abducting a boy from their own neighborhood and old school was especially dangerous. The victim would be killed as soon as possible after the snatch, and the corpse concealed well enough that it wouldn’t be found until after the money had been delivered. To speed up the ransom demand they had already composed a series of letters. These told the boy’s father not to contact the police, then went on to describe the elaborate process for handing over the money. Because a specific victim hadn’t been chosen the letters were generic; the victim’s address would be printed on the envelope after the killing. Now Leopold typed up final copies of all the letters on the portable typewriter they’d stolen from Zeta Beta Tau.[10] They both knew that letters could be traced to the typewriter that had produced them by examining wear and imperfections on the keys, but being stolen there was nothing to link the Underwood to either of them. If the police did search Leopold’s house they’d find the heavy Hammond office model in the library, and good luck tying the notes to that. The Underwood would be long gone by then.

  The next day, with all their preparations made, Leopold got up early and went to college at eight o’clock as usual. Around eleven he met up with Loeb at the school. They stashed their equipment in the rented car and drove with both cars to Kramer’s restaurant on 35th and Cottage. Arriving there about quarter past twelve they put up the side curtains on the rented car, then ate lunch. Around half past one they drove to Leopold’s house, parked his car in the garage and masked the license plate of the green Willys-Knight.[11] That looked a bit suspicious, but plates weren’t as strictly regulated back then and it seemed less risky than having the number noted. By about quarter of two they were parked in Ingleside Avenue, a small street running parallel to Ellis Avenue where the Harvard School was located.

  Now it became obvious that eagerness had got the better of them; they were too early. They had no chance of finding a victim until the school let out - three o’clock at the very least. In fact it was probably going to be later still because the boys often hung around in groups after school, chatting to friends or setting up a ball game on a nearby vacant lot. They’d need to hang out until the cliques started to break up and the boys began making their way home, and then they’d have to wait until one got far enough away from his friends that they could snatch him unobserved.

  In fact hanging around the school f
or hours was almost insanely risky. It was within three blocks of both their homes - a single block over from Leopold’s. The boys they were stalking were the sons of family friends, and if the attempt failed they might be recognized. Loeb’s younger brother Tommy was a pupil there himself, and knew that he’d been cruising around the school that afternoon. By choosing a hunting ground where they were both quite well known they had made things much more dangerous for themselves. Maybe that was part of the thrill.

  Loeb certainly didn’t let the risk put him off. He walked from Ingleside over to the school, to reconnoiter the area. A group of boys were playing outside under the supervision of a tutor named James Seass. Loeb chatted to him for a while, all the time looking around for likely targets. The group included a boy they’d already discussed as a possible victim. Sol Levinson’s son John ticked all the boxes. He was young enough to be easily overpowered and his wealthy family could pay the ransom. He knew Loeb, so it would be easy to get him into the car without a fuss. Now Loeb chatted to him about his baseball game for a while, then said goodbye to Seass and wandered round the front of the school. Out front he found his brother, and was talking to him when he heard a whistle from across the street. He looked up, and there was Leopold. Loeb crossed over and Leopold told him there was another group of boys playing on Ingleside that looked promising.

  The two walked back to Ingleside and scouted out the group, but decided none of them would do. Next they headed down to Drexel Boulevard and 49th Street, where more boys were playing. Levinson had now joined this group, and they watched for a while then went back to the car. Drexel has a wide median strip, and they parked on the west side, opposite the vacant lot. Now they found a new problem - from that distance they couldn’t recognize individual boys. Leopold had a solution for that though; they drove to his house and he picked up a pair of field glasses, while Loeb went to the drug store on 47th and Ellis. He bought two packs of gum and leafed through the phone book, finding Sol Levinson’s address so they could guess John’s route home from school.[12]