Nathan Leopold (1904–1971) made up one half of the notorious gay Jewish “thrill killing” couple whose trial for the kidnapping and murder of Chicago fourteen-year-old Bobby Franks was one of the most sensational news events of the 1920s. Despite an impassioned defense by the eminent Clarence Darrow, Leopold and his associate, Richard Loeb, were convicted, but, on the strength of Darrow’s argument, spared the electric chair. The duo earned everlasting infamy in the annals of American crime, and the case inspired at least three films, including Hitchcock’s Rope (1948) and the classic Orson Welles starrer Compulsion (1959). Leopold, sentenced to ninety-nine years, was paroled in the 1958. TLS, one page, 8.5 x 11, airmail letterhead, May 8, 1958. Leopold writes from Puerto Rico to Douglas Middleton in Detroit. In part: “I was prevented from sending [an answer to your letter] by prison regulations; you were not on my ‘list of correspondents’…. I had not known that a monograph on the Kirtland’s Warbler was in process of preparation…. Dr. Josselyn Van Tyne … and I were students at the University of Michigan many years ago and occasionally went on birding trips together…. Reprints of my article in the January 1924 issue of The Auk have not been available for many years…. I have managed to go on one all-day bird trip so far…. We saw 68 species….” A hint of mild soiling and tiny chip to top edge, otherwise fine condition. R&R COA.
