427. CLARENCE DARROW (1857-1938) American lawyer who defended Eugene Debs, Leopold and Loeb, and John T. Scopes in the infamous "Monkey Trial". Extraordinary and historically important signed document, the contract making payment to Darrow for his efforts for the defendants in the famous Leopold and Loeb murder trial, signed by Darrow and the fathers of the murderers! The typed document, 1p. 4to., was executed by Darrow in Chicago on Dec. 9, 1924 and reads in full: "Dear Sir:- We hereby offer to you Sixty Five Thousand Dollars ($65,000) (Less Fifteen thousand Dollars ($15,000) already paid) as full payment for your services to date in the Loeb-Leopold case. Payments to be made on or before January 3rd, 1925 at your option. Kindly indicate your acceptance of the above. Very truly yours [Signed] N[athan]. F. Leopold A[lbert]. M. Loeb The above proposition is hereby accepted. Clarence Darrow". Folds, faint mat burn and toning, mounting remnants on verso, else near fine, with a photo of Darrow. Nathan Leopold, Jr. and Richard Loeb committed what is still considered "The Crime of the century", driven by their hope to commit a perfect crime. On May 21, 1924 the pair lured 14-year-old Bobby Franks, a distant relative and neighbor of Loeb's, into a rented car where they suffocated him, and Loeb bludgeoned him with a chisel. After concealing the body in a culvert under a railroad track, they made the crime appear to be a kidnapping. The body was soon discovered, along with a pair of eyeglasses which were traced back to Leopold. The ransom note had been typed on a typewriter that Leopold had used with his law-student study group. During police questioning, Leopold's and Loeb's alibis fell apart, and the pair broke down and confessed. Darrow was hired to defend the pair, among cries for vengeance from the public, along with a healthy dose of anti-Semitism from the press and other quarters. Darrow surprised everyone by having the pair plead guilty, avoiding a jury trial which certainly would have resulted in hangings. In the end, Darrow was successful in avoiding the sentence of execution, and the pair were given life in prison for the murder and 99 years for the kidnapping. There were other indirect victims of the crime, including two of the signers of this agreement: Nathan F. Leopold Sr. died of heart failure in 1929, and the family was driven from its home. Eventually, two sons would change their names to avoid the stigma attached to their family. Albert Loeb, who had been rendered an invalid by a severe heart attack before his son's crime, died a month after his son was sentenced. He never saw his son after he had been arrested in May. Darrow would, of course, go on to the famous Scopes "Monkey" trial a few years later. $5,000-7,000