EVE OF SENTENCE

Southland Times, Issue 19346, 11 September 1924, Page 7

EVE OF SENTENCE

CHICAGO MURDER TRIAL INTENSE PUBLIC INTEREST THE JUDGE GUARDED BY POLICE. (By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Sun Cable). NEW YORK, September 10. (Received September 11, 1 a.m.) The Chief Detective with two picked rifle squads in motor-cars are guarding Judge Caverley’s residence at Chicago on the eve of his delivering sentence in the LoebLeopold murder case. A large demonstrative crowd assembled in the street. The police and Judge have received many threatening letters, including threats to blow up the Courthouse if the two prisoners receive the life sentence only. The newspapers state that the boys are making the most of the notoriety which the case has aroused, and appear in very high spirits. Leopold, replying to interviewers with reference to this, demanded: How should the author of the greatest crime in the century act on the eve of sentence?

“Thus is something more on trial than the two accused youths,” wrote an American correspondent in July, “and that will be the whole system of .American justice. This is realised by the better type of American people and the Press, and their demand that the proceedings should be conducted according to proclaimed ideals, is widespread. The story is sordid, and unfortunately not novel in the United States. The two youths confess that they found life boresome, and to obtain some excitement, they committed one (if not more), of the most cold blooded crimes possible, by kidnapping and killing a boy who thought them to be his friends. The details of the outrage sent thrills of horror through the country, even although accustomed to daily murders, but accompanied with this righteous indignation was a belief that the wealth at the disposal of the families ofthe two accused would enable them to cheat justice. That sort of thing has happened before in the United States, and it was time to call a halt, if the nation’s good name was to be preserved. At this juncture, when the American Congress passes with enthusiasm, a law forbidding the entry of Japanese settlers to American territory, it is more than ever essential that the United States should prove the maintenance of high national standards. No country can claim to be really civilised, which permits justice to be openly flouted. The outside world will follow with interest the trial of Leopold and Loeb, and on the manner in which it is conducted, will respect for American institutions stand or fall. The lads should be given a fair trial, and the right freely used of placing before the Court, anything and everything that can be said in their favour, but if this trial proves to be similar to what occurred in the Harry Thaw case, America will be condemned in the eyes of those who place justice before wealth. Friends of America must feel anxious about the path the United States is treading. Even allowing for the large territorial area, the mixed population, and special difficulties, there should not be so much crime and corruption in the United States. It is not confined to the lower classes. Recent revelations regarding the transactions of those in high places proved how “rotten was the state of Denmark,” and so far little has been heard of punishments awarded. Resignation from office seems to be the only penalty, and that mainly because of the effect of the scandals on the forthcoming Presidential elections, and not because of the wrong-doing. The United States may have through the war’s consequences, attracted the bulk of the world’s gold, and the belief is spreading that she is destined to be the greatest Power among the nations. That supremacy, however, will never be reached until she is strong and wholesome in home affairs. The first serious test against an enemy with greater mortal force would shatter the illusion that wealth by itself spells power. Other nations of course have their crimes and weaknesses, but they talk less of their virtues than do the Americans.”