As the anniversary of the crime draws nearer, I thought I would make a post focusing on the memorials that were built in honor of Bobby Franks. You can find that post here.
I’ve got something big planned for next month, so stay tuned for that as well!
Updates
I’ve added a few new book reviews from Leopold to the Books page
Sela Desert Theater will present Stephen Dolginoff’s musical Thrill Me from May 11-27 in Struthers, Ohio. Tickets are $23 for the show and dessert, or $45 for the show, dinner and dessert. Go here for more information.
Stephen Dolginoff’s musical Thrill Me will be performed at the Hong Kong Cultural Center Theatre on May 19-21. Go here for more information.
A Leopold and Loeb Walking Tour will be conducted by Paul Durica around the neighborhood where the three families lived and the murder was committed on May 28th at 1pm. Tickets are $25 and the tour will last about 90 minutes. For more information, go here.
May 30th at 6:30pm (EST): A Conversation With Author Erik Rebain, hosted by the Stonewall Museum. This is a virtual only event. For more information go here.
A year after his youngest son was murdered, Jacob Franks updated his will, adding a gift that would ensure Bobby would not just be remembered for his death, but that he would also leave a lasting, positive legacy. On June 27th 1925, Jacob Franks notarized his will, in which he stated:
I desire that a suitable memorial be established in memory of my beloved deceased son, ROBERT E. FRANKS, and I AUTHORIZE, EMPOWER and DIRECT my said Trustee to expend the sum of One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00) for the establishment of such memorial as shall, in their uncontrolled direction, be a suitable memorial to perpetuate the memory of my beloved deceased son, ROBERT E. FRANKS. The type of memorial which I desire that my Trustee establish shall be one which will be a fitting perpetual memorial to the memory of my said beloved deceased son, whom I believe would desire that any memorial established in his memory should be one that will give pleasure, help and encouragement to boys as he in his lifetime gave sympathy, consideration and encouragement to his playmates.
When Jacob died on April 19th, 1928 the responsibility for deciding what kind of memorial would be best was placed in the hands of Jacob’s trustees: his widow, Flora Franks; his brother, Abraham Franks; his nephew, James Eppenstein, and the Chicago Title and Trust Company. For a year and a half the trustees deliberated on the most fitting memorial for Bobby, they “investigated and rejected numerous propositions before coming to a decision.” On September 17, 1929 the group publicly announced that the $100,000 would go to the American Boys’ Commonwealth, (ABC) a group dedicated to enriching the lives of lower-income boys.
This gift, it was announced, would create a new clubhouse in the lots of 3413-17 West 13th Place in the Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago, where there was a dense “boy population” and where the bulk of the American Boys’ Commonwealth members were located. The location was also seen as particularly well situated as it was half a block from a public library, across the street from a playground and about half a mile from the ABC’s headquarters. While Bobby’s brother Jack wasn’t a trustee (likely because he had just turned 17 when his father notarized his will), he became a director of the ABC board and was appointed part of the Robert E. Franks Memorial Committee, so he would also have input and could keep an eye on shaping his brother’s legacy.
While the bulk of the money would go toward the clubhouse, $30,000 would also be spent to level, terrace and otherwise improve an athletic field at Camp Wooster (later renamed to Camp Henry Horner) in Round Lake, Illinois. The camp was also run by the ABC, and it was where 1,600 boys from lower-income families who otherwise would be stuck in the city all summer, in groups of about 350 at a time, were bussed up north to enjoy two weeks of summer vacation at the camp. The Field was completed in time for the 1930 season.
On July 21, 1930 the cornerstone was laid for the ABC building. Attending the event were politician Jacob Arvey and soon to be governor of Illinois Henry Horner. Flora Franks posed with a shovelful of dirt, and her eldest son Jack said to the crowd: “His death left an aching void in our hearts. It may help to appease that pain to realize that hundreds of boys will be happy here in this structure built in his memory.”
The Robert E. Franks Memorial Building in 1930
Construction moved quickly, and the Robert E. Franks Memorial Building was dedicated on the afternoon of December 7th of the same year. The event was marked with singing, piano and violin solos from ABC members and many speeches, especially notable were those given by Henry Horner, Jane Addams and Flora Franks.
After the speeches and musical selections, attendees were taken on a tour of the new building. In the large lobby they would see a bronze “memorial tablet” above a fireplace, dedicating the building to Bobby. Going down to the basement there was a shop for woodworking and toymaking, and another for art and lettering. The basement also held the locker and shower rooms.
The lobby of the Robert E. Franks Memorial Building, with the dedication over the fireplace
On the first floor, in addition to the lobby, was the library, with its own fireplace, bookshelves and of course lighted trophy cases for displaying athletic awards. This floor also held offices, two game rooms, with games like ring-toss and ping-pong and a gymnasium. “In the gymnasium, equipment has been installed to provide for basketball games on a standard size court, as well as extra baskets for practice. A standard size indoor baseball diamond, and a volley ball court, have been laid out. Provision has been made for horizontal bar work, high and broad jumping, hurdling, wrestling, and other customary gymnasium activities.”
The second floor was devoted to classrooms, group rooms and a courtroom, as the ABC was a self-governing body, and regularly enforced the room to settle disputes. Architect Max Loewenberg, who designed the building, summarized his thoughts on the structure: “In general, while the building was designed along lines of simplicity and for hard use, we tried to remedy the error made in so many other boys’ clubs of building unattractive and uninviting structures. As the building is used by boys during the most formative period of their lives, we felt it was essential that a certain amount of dignity and beauty be introduced in all phases of the building, and to that end a great deal of study and thought was devoted.”
The building lived up to its goals, serving as a place for fun and education for thousands of boys every year. In 1932 the kids got together to stage an operetta called ‘The Legend of the Sparkling Pebble,’ written by Bobby’s brother Jack and the ABC’s Glee club director, Max Siegel. Because of Jack’s continued contributions and involvement in the ABC, the gymnasium was dedicated to his memory a year after his death. A plaque above the gym’s entrance states: “He served boys well.”
As the decades came and went there were classes, arts and craft shows, marble competitions, and the ABC boys were successful in city-wide baseball, basketball and wrestling competitions.
In 1949 the Chicago Tribune printed a photo heavy story on the building, showing off the various classes enjoyed by the boys, including woodworking and radio broadcasting, the space being utilized by the boy scouts, and less structured activities around the gym and ping-pong table.
The ABC was proud of its members successes in a variety of fields: musicians playing in orchestras over the radio, a young man who got his start playing basketball with the ABC and went on to get a basketball scholarship at the University of Michigan, and a sergeant in World War II who credited the experience he’d gotten at the ABC for his advancement in the army.
The Sidney Epstein Youth Center in the 2020s
Today the building is still being put to the use Jacob and his trustees envisioned for it; hosting classes, sports, spelling bees, arts and crafts, movie nights, community gardening, and taking kids on field trips to museums and even ski slopes. The demographic has shifted since its opening; starting in the 1950s the club began taking girls as well as boys, and as the neighborhood changed it now serves mostly African-American children and families, but the spirit of community, fun and education remains.
However one thing changed which likely would not have been seen so positively by Jacob and the trustees: the building no longer carries Bobby’s name. I’m unsure on when the name changed exactly. Perhaps it was in 1957, when the building was taken over by the Chicago Youth Center. Newspaper articles for about two decades after this change refer to the building as the “ABC Youth Center,” with no mention of Bobby. Or perhaps it was in the 80s, when it was called the “ABC Child Development Center.” Bobby’s name was definitely gone by the 2010s when it was briefly called the “ABC Polk Bros. Youth Center.” And in 2017 it was dedicated to its current name: The Sidney Epstein Youth Center, named after one of the co-founders of Chicago Youth Centers, after Epstein’s death in 2016.
Unfortunately, along with the building’s name being changed, the memory of who the building was created for seems largely forgotten. When I visited the Center only one staff member was aware of the connection to the Franks family, but they thought the family had just made a donation, not realizing that the entire building had been built in Bobby’s memory. Changing the name helped make this possible, and it was reinforced because the bronze dedication to Bobby that hung over the fireplace in the lobby has either been taken down or covered up. In its place is an art piece of three children with their arms around each other and a small plaque dedicating the building to Sidney Epstein.
The lobby of the Sidney Epstein Youth Center, where Bobby’s plaque once hung
Though the Robert E. Franks Memorial Building has lost its connection to Bobby, the same can’t be said for the other part of Jacob’s bequest. The Robert E Franks Field remains the heart of Camp Henry Horner. Located centrally and directly below the dining hall, Franks Field, as it is often called, boasts a soccer field, baseball diamonds and volleyball courts. Signs with the field’s name still welcome summer guests who want to participate in sports, athletic competitions and band practice.
The field’s sign in 1930
The field’s sign in 2023
For 93 years both the athletic field and building named for Bobby have helped likely over a hundred thousand children experience the “pleasure, help and encouragement” that Jacob Franks hoped they’d find, and they have left a lasting and positive legacy for Bobby. Even if his name has been forgotten, the positive impact he’s made and continues to make on the lives of under-privileged children can’t be so easily erased.
Sources
Archives
The Last Will and Testament of Jacob Franks (Richard J Daley Center) Program for the dedication of the Robert E. Franks Memorial Building (Northwestern University)
Newspaper Articles
Bobby Franks’ Father Provides Memorial, Chicago Daily News 4/23/28 $100,000 Willed By Franks For Memorial to Son, Chicago Tribune 4/24/1928 Franks Gives Money to Fund to Youngsters, Dekalb Daily Chronicle 4/24/28 $100,000 Fund Memorial For Bobby Franks, Rockford Register Gazette 4/24/28 The Franks Fund, Saratogian 5/1/28 The Scene of the Crime, Guardian 6/15/28 $100,000 Memorial for Bobby Franks Goes to Boys’ Club, Chicago Daily Times 9/18/29 Bobby Franks $100,000 Fund Will Help Boys, Chicago Tribune 9/18/1929 American Boy’s Commonwealth Will be Beneficiary of Bobby Franks Memorial, Saratogian 9/18/29 Young Men’s Jewish Charities Beneficiaries of Franks’ Bequest, Sentinel 9/27/29 Franks’ Gift to Build Club For Boys’ Group, Chicago Daily News 1/20/30 Club For Jewish Boys to Rise on West 13th Place, Chicago Tribune 3/2/1930 Dad’s Will Gives Boys $100,000 Memorial for Bobbie Franks, Chicago Daily Times 5/6/30 Loeb-Leopold Case Recalled, Forverts 6/18/30 Rush Memorial to Bobby Franks; Lay Corner Stone, Chicago Daily Times 7/22/30 Bobby Franks’ Days of Play Recalled by Club For Boys, Chicago Tribune 7/22/1930 Franks Memorial Now Ready; New Boys Club Completed, Young Men’s Quarterly 12/7/30 Furnishing of Franks Memorial Arduous Task, Young Men’s Quarterly 12/7/30 Robert Franks Club for Boys Recalls Tragedy, Chicago Tribune 12/8/1930 Boy’s Club, Memorial to Victim of Loeb and Leopold, is Opened, New York Herald Tribune 12/8/30 Robert Franks Club Dedicated, Reform Advocate 12/13/30 Judge Mack Will Speak Before the A. B. C., Sentinel 1/2/31 Local News, Reform Advocate 1/9/32 Boy’s Fair By American Boys’ Commonwealth, Reform Advocate 1/16/32 Boys’ Class Building Operetta Scenery, Chicago Daily News 12/16/32 Sports, Sentinel 8/1/35 Boys Put Crafts and Hobbies on Exhibition at Chicago Club, Christian Science Monitor 6/3/36 ABC Boys Make Good Soldiers, Results Show, Chicago Tribune 7/19/1942 Commonwealth Club Provides Haven for Lawndale Boys for 20 Years, Chicago Tribune 12/4/1949 Open Season of Lawndale Boys Commonwealth, Chicago Tribune 6/7/1950 Summer Camp Group Stages Crafts Fair, Chicago Tribune 8/24/1958 Songs, Plays Parties Will Greet Yule, Chicago Tribune 12/13/1964 Chicago Youth Centers Development Fills Void, Chicago Tribune 5/27/1971 Growing up American in a Jewish Boy’s Club, Chicago Tribune 7/31/1983 Commitment to Needy Kids Spans 50 Years, Chicago Tribune 7/2/2006
Websites
Facebook page for the Sidney Epstein Youth Center Camphenryhorner.com
Hello everyone, happy May! My book has been out for a couple weeks and it’s been wonderful to hear people’s reactions and feedback. Thank you to everyone who has reached out.
A new post exploring the ways the Ku Klux Klan reacted to the Leopold-Loeb case has just gone up.
I’ve added a new page for publicity around the book, there’s currently one interview and one article up there! There’s no published reviews yet, but if the book gets any, they’ll go on that page as well.
I fixed the Blog Posts button in the top menu so it actually goes somewhere.
I’ve got quite a few events coming up, two will definitely be posted online, so stay tuned for that on the upcoming events page. Since I have two live talks in the next couple weeks, I’ve been pretty busy preparing, but I’m hoping to get back to a more regular research and posting schedule as things calm down a bit.
Exciting news: there’s going to be a new Leopold-Loeb documentary coming out in the fall as part of PBS’ Chicago Stories series, and I was interviewed for it last week! Here I am on set, striking a pose.
In 1924 The Ku Klux Klan was fighting for political relevancy while espousing their racist, anti-immigration, religiously close-minded sentiments. Their organization’s name popped up several times in the media coverage of Leopold and Loeb’s case: in late June a burning cross was found near the Loeb-Leopold-Franks neighborhood, which was attributed to the Klan. In Late August a human skull, arm and leg bones were found on a porch on the same block as the Loeb and Franks homes, with a threatening note signed ‘K. K. K.,’ and dozens of letters signed the same arrived regularly for Judge Caverly, trying to persuade him into making Leopold and Loeb pay the ultimate price. The Klan denied connection to all of these demonstrations, claiming it was an attempt to make their group look bad (as if they needed help there). The Klan also had some things to say about Albert Loeb’s death, and Klan run newspapers commented on the hearing throughout the summer, using the crime as an excuse to espouse antisemitism.
This includes coverage from Klan papers, including: The American Forum, American Standard, Badger American, Fiery Cross and Tolerance.
If you know of other KKK relevant information or KKK papers with relevant stories, please let me know and I will work to expand the page.
Chicago Tribune, June 19, 1924
Flaming Cross
June 19
Kidnap Threat For Rich Boy, (Chicago Tribune, June 19, 1924)
“While detectives were leaping into action in connection with this latest ransom demand their mystification was intensified by the sudden appearance of a burning cross in a vacant lot at 49th street and Drexel boulevard-only a few blocks from Loeb, Leopold, and Franks’ residences.
The fiery cross appeared as by magic, illuminating the neighborhood for two blocks around. In the space of a few minutes hundreds of motorists and pedestrians, who came from all directions, jammed the sidewalks and the double driveway to stare at the symbol.
‘Kluxers,’ was the word on the spectators’ lips.
Police who went to the scene were unable to find any one who could account for the cross. Nobody, apparently, had seen the cross placed in the lot and ignited.
Sergt. Frank Rysell and Policeman C. E. Abbott were standing at the northwest corner of 49th street and Drexel when the fire appeared. They went across to the southeast corner, directly opposite the home of Martin A. Ryerson, millionaire steel man.
The cross stood fourteen feet high and eight feet wide. It was wrapped in cotton, which had been saturated in gasoline. The arms of the symbol were fastened with hinges, so that it could be carried folded until ready to jab into the ground.
The blaze lasted for fifteen minutes, when fire apparatus arrived and extinguished it while the crowd watched.
Detectives were inclined to believe that the recent murder of Robert Franks was responsible for the demonstration. They were sure that the cross had been placed there as a warning.”
Quiz Leopold’s Pals on New Kidnap Note, (Chicago Daily Journal, June 19, 1924)
Coincident with receipt of the extortion note, a fiery cross measuring eight feet across and fourteen feet high was lighted in a vacant lot at Forty-ninth street and Drexel boulevard. In the same neighborhood. As it blazed, hundred of motorists and pedestrians gathered to watch it.
There was none, however, who could tell who placed it there or ignited it. A fire company finally was called and extinguished it. Examination showed that it had been made carefully, the arms hinged to the center standard, so they could be folded and carried with ease.
Then the wooden arms had been wrapped in cotton and saturated with gasoline. The cross, which many believed was laced in this lot by the Ku Klux Klan, blazed for half an hour before being extinguished.
June 20
Send Hartman Children to Baltimore Kin, (Chicago Daily Tribune, June 20, 1924)
“Efforts to fix responsibility for the fiery cross planted in the vacant lot at 49th street and Drexel boulevard have failed.”
Mail to Caverly
August 4
Ku Klux Threat to Judge Caverly Seen as Fake, (Chicago Evening American, August 4, 1924)
The K.K.K. was in evidence today in the batch of letters received at the county jail. “If the judge don’t, we will,” the missive said. It was signed with three K’s and also bore a postscript which said: “The tar and feathers for you at the first opportune time.” It bore a Chicago postmark. Capt. Wesley Westbrook, superintendent of the county jail, was under the impression that the missive was faked.
Dickie Loved in Wellesley, (Chicago Daily Journal, August 4, 1924)
This one was sent special delivery on good quality gray stationary, and bears the signature, “Tar and Feathers.”
“To both Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb (the word “both” is underscored): Beware!! If the law doesn’t take its course, the K. K. K. will.”
August 5
Caverly Still Muses Over Decision, (Chicago Evening American, August 5, 1924)
“There is a report around that the Ku Klux Klan has representatives in the courtroom to watch the manner you conduct the trial,” he was told.
“If they are found here, I will make short work of them,” said the judge. “Of course, any citizen has a right to criticize judicial acts when such criticism is proper. But no man or organization has a right to attempt to influence a judge. Any one who does is as big a criminal as a bootlegger.
I doubt whether the letters I have received are from the K. K. K. They look to me like the work of some hoodlums.
These letters I am receiving are all violation of the law and I regard them as such. I have not made up my mind what will be done with these boys, but when I do you can rest assured that no idiotic letters from a lot of lawbreakers will have any influence on me.
The evidence in this case is not all in, and until it is, I myself do not know what the decision will be.”
August 6
Caverly Gets Threat Letters Signed “K. K. K.” by Sam Putnam, (Chicago Evening Post, August 6, 1924)
The Ku Klux Klan is taking a keen interest in the Leopold-Loeb hearing. This information came today from Judge Caverly. The judge admitted he was in receipt of many letters daily bearing the signature, “K. K. K.” Some of these, he said; are of a threatening nature.
“I do not wish this emphasized, however,” he said, “because I do not take anything of this sort very seriously, and I do not want to worry members of my family. Many of these letters come, we believe, from persons masquerading as members of the klan.”
The judge then told how he had been called out of bed at 2 a.m. today in answer to a long-distance telephone call from New York city.
“This is the headquarters of the Ku Klux Klan,” the speaker said. “If you do not hang those boys, we are coming to Chicago, and we will tear the jail down and hang them ourselves.”
“The speaker,” continued the judge, “appeared to be under the influence of liquor. I am not inclined to believe he represented the klan at all. Persons like this are simply bloodthirsty, vicious hoodlums. Nobody would be frightened of them.”
The jurist, naturally, was a little annoyed by having his early morning sleep disturbed. It is bad enough to have to look over a hundred or more letters daily without being called out of bed at 2 o’clock in the morning.
Judge Caverly today also received a report that members of the klan are attending the court sessions daily, with a view to seeing that justice is done to the slayers of “Bobby” Franks.
“It won’t be good for them,” said the judge, “if I find anything of the sort to be true.”
The judge then expressed his opinion of persons who attempt to influence the court.
“This sort of thing,” he said, “is wholly out of order, whether it is a bloodthirsty demand, purporting to come from the Ku Klux Klan, or a plea for mercy from a clergyman. In either case, the writer not only displays poor taste but is actually violating the law. All such communications, however, roll off me like water off a duck’s back. I pay no attention to them whatsoever.
The fact of the matter is, I have not yet made up my mind as to what is to be done with these boys. I am still listening to the evidence.”
From a source outside the courtroom and close to klan headquarters came word also that the Ku Klux is keeping close watch on the court proceedings. A man who asked that his name be withheld gave certain information to a reporter for The Post:
“I can tell you,” he said, “that members of the organization are in the court every day. They are determined to see that justice is done.”
Skull and Crossbones
Chicago Tribune, August 19, 1924
August 19
Grewsome Symbol of Death is Left Near Home of Loeb, (Chicago Tribune, August 19, 1924)
A human head, a pair of withered arms, and a single discolored leg-placed in the form of the piratical skull-and-crossbones symbol-were found opposite Richard Loeb’s home last night as a grewsome reminder of the morbid interest that the Franks murder trial has aroused.
Caught between the elbows of the two arms was an envelope addressed to: “Chicago, City of Crime.” Enclosed was a piece of white paper on which had been printed this sinister and ungrammatical warning:
“If the court don’t hang them, we will. K. K. K.”
The symbol of death rested on the porch of the Frank Harris home at 5000 Ellis avenue, across the street from the handsome Loeb residence.
Harris is president of the general merchandising firm of Frank Harris Sons company, 332 South Michigan avenue. He is the uncle of Samuel H. Harris Jr., living next door, who was one of the boys selected by the youthful slayers as a probable victim of their experiment in crime.
Franks Home Offered For Sale, by Our Princess Pat, (Chicago Evening American, August 19, 1924)
The grim “K. K. K.” reminders that Ellis av., the Loebs’ home being at 5017 and the Frankses at 5052, is a street of tragedy, caused no disturbance in his household last night, Mr. Franks said. But there were tears of exasperation in the eyes of Jacob Loeb, uncle of Dickie, as he refused today to discuss the finding of gruesome portions of a human body and a threatening note signed “K. K. K.” on a neighbor’s doorstep.
“A medical student’s prank, or the work of a crank,” Dick’s brother Allan said scornfully.
Note Signed ‘K.K.K.’ Tied to Real Bones Demands Slayers Die, (Chicago Daily Journal, August 19, 1924)
Bones of a woman, gruesome although apparently pilfered from a medical laboratory as they were marked and somewhat well thumbed, were left with a note on the steps of the Frank Harris residence at 5000 Ellis avenue. The home is opposite that of Richard Loeb, who with Nathan Leopold Jr., are on trial before Judge Caverly for the murder of Robert Franks.
The note, addressed to: “Chicago, City of Crime,” said:
“If the court don’t hang them, we will.” It was signed K. K. K.
The note was weighted down by a leg bone, resting between crossed arm bones, with a human skull above them. The hands were attached. Each bone carried a small metallic tag with the figure “11” stamped on it.
Mr. Harris, who is president of the Frank Harris Sons company, 332 South Michigan boulevard, and his family are away for the summer. The Harris boy, Junie, was on the list of intended victims compiled by Loeb before the Franks murder. Police believe the Harris home was selected for the warning because it is near the Loeb home, which is too well guarded by police to permit approach.
August 21
Mystery of Skeleton at Harris Home Explained, (Chicago Daily Journal, August 21, 1924)
Mystery connected with the human skull and other bones, and a threatening note left on the front porch of the home of Frank Harris, 5000 Ellis avenue, near the Loeb home, last Monday night, is thought to have been solved.
Peter Cacilo, 5402 Maryland avenue, student at the Chicago Osteopathic hospital, reported to the Hyde Park police that a skeleton which he had kept on the back porch and which he used for experimental purposes, had been stolen. Cacilo said he believed that “students” residing in the neighborhood had taken the skeleton and left it on the Harris front porch as a prank.
The KKK Responds
September 25
(The American Forum, September 25, 1924)
“If the court don’t hang them we will.” This brief note, according to a news dispatch, was signed “K. K. K.” It was left on the door step of a wealthy Chicago neighbor of Loeb, senior. The note was weighted down, a human leg bone resting between crossed arm bones with a human skull above. The bones were those of a woman, police said, and bore small metallic tags, causing the belief that they came from some medical college.
There isn’t an intelligent Klansman in the United States who believes for a moment that this gruesome piece of work was done by a member of the Ku Klux Klan, or by the Klan’s direction. The whole thing smacks of another dirty plot to give controlled newspapers the pretext to scatter a little more of their propaganda against this patriotic American order. The Klan doesn’t operate that way, and fair minded people are beginning to find it out.
Albert Loeb’s Death
These articles tie Albert Loeb’s death to his supposed registration from Sears Roebuck. First, I’d like to give context to this with articles from other Illinois papers.
Kittle to Head Sears-Roebuck, Chicago Tribune, October 25, 1924
“The election of Charles M. Kittle, senior vice president of the Illinois Central railroad, to the presidency of Sears, Roebuck & Co. will take place next Tuesday at a meeting of the board of directors of the company, according to an official announcement made last night by Julius Rosenwald.
Mr. Rosenwald, who has been president of the company since 1910, will be elected chairman of the board of directors. At the same time Gen. R. E. Wood, who recently resigned as vice president and merchandise manager of Montgomery Ward & Co., will be elected a vice president of Sears, Roebuck & Co.
Other than the statement that ‘the load is getting too heavy for Mr. Loeb and myself,’ Mr. Rosenwald did not give a reason for the changes. Albert H. Loeb, who has been senior vice president of the company for some time and active in its management, has been seriously ill with heart trouble since he was stricken on May 20 and has been confined to his bed practically ever since.
Mr. Rosenwald emphasized the fact that all of the present vice presidents of the company, including Mr. Loeb, will retain their positions.
And now onto the Klan papers:
November 9
Sears-Roebuck Hit By Klan Blacklist, (Tolerance, November 9, 1924)
According to this article, Sears was beginning to feel the strain of a KKK blacklist in protest of having the Jewish Julius Rosenwald and Albert Loeb as president and vice president.
November 14
Loeb’s Premature Death and the Klan Boycott, (Indiana Jewish Chronicle, November 14, 1924)
Reprints an editorial that originally was printed in The ‘Day’ (quoted below) about the boycott and the anti-Semitic movement in America helped along by Henry Ford and the KKK.
November 30
Believe Loeb’s Death Due the Klan Boycott, (Tolerance, November 30, 1924)
This article speculates that a KKK boycott of Sears is what caused Loeb to retire and die prematurely.
“According to a recent editorial published in ‘Day,’ the klu Klux Klan is blamed for the premature death of Albert H. Loeb, of this city. It will be remembered that Loeb died the day after he resigned his office as Vice President of Sears, Roebuck and Co., together with Julius Rosenwald, who was registered as president at the same time.
‘Is it an accident?’ the ‘Day’ asks, ‘that the death of the unfortunate Mr. Albert Loeb came a day after he was compelled to resign from the business to which he had devoted a lifetime? Would it be unreasonable to assume, therefore, that this blow contributed a great deal to the death of the man?
But the more important question that arises now is this: have we really come to a point when the Ku Klux Klan is beginning to hurt Jews in business? Are we on the eve of an open agitation against Jewish business enterprise and against Jewish business men?
Boycott and agitation of boycott is prohibited in America. We are certain that the Ku Klux Klan men who carried on the campaign against the Jewish chief officers of the Chicago concern, were careful enough to avoid being caught in the act so as to shield themselves from legal prosecution. This however, does not minimize the fact that such an agitation was carried on just as it is impossible to deny that we have an anti-Semitic movement in America. Henry Ford on one hand and the Ku Klux Klan on the other hand, are certainly poisoning the public opinion against us in this country. Henry Ford’s papers are libeling Jews in the most scandalous manner.’ The Klansmen are doing their destructive work throughout the country daily.
We cannot do anything practical against it so far. We have nothing definite upon which to base a concerted action, but we should be informed as to where we are at and what is being prepared against us. We ought to know the facts so as not to be surprised blindfolded by the evil, and not to be helpless when the danger is upon us.”
General Comments
While the majority of mainstream newspapers kept most overt antisemitism out of their articles, Ku Klux Klan newspapers such as the American Standard were happy to fill that gap.
June 1
American Brevities, (American Standard, June 1, 1924)
Two rich young Jews have confessed that they kidnapped and murdered 14-year-old Robert Franks of Chicago. They had boasted of being atheists. Once again Jewish degeneracy and anti-Christianity have done their work in America.
June 6
“Thrill Mad,” Editorial, (Fiery Cross, June 6, 1924)
No more convincing argument that America needs a steady and mighty hand to guide her from the morass of a thrill-mad generation can be put forth than is seen in the confessions of two wealthy Chicago youths who kidnapped and killed a boy “to get a thrill.” These young men, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, each nineteen years of age, planned the outrage “in a spirit of adventure,” according to their confessions. “We thought,” said Leopold, according to the police, “that it would give us a huge thrill.”
While these young men, both college students, were “getting a thrill” by cruelly twisting the heartstrings of grief-stricken parents, and strangling the life from an innocent child, other young men were strangling the modesty, virtue and decency from the hearts of young women who were also seeking “thrills.”
…
The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan has realized the condition into which American morals have fallen and throughout the country have made a determined drive against the bootlegger and vice panderers. Instead of being lauded and aided in their great purpose by the daily press, they have been maligned, lied about and slandered. Never daunted, however, they have marched onward and onward in their fight for clean morals and clean politics, the latter of which would do much to clear up our nation’s morals.
August 1
The American Public School System-The Bulwark of the Republic, and the Cornerstone of our Liberties, (Badger American, August 1, 1924)
Excerpt from longer article
A Leopold or a Loeb, possessed of a “super-knowledge”, is sadly deficient in the basic fundamentals of a true education. An Oleniczak, or a Knutowski, confessed “stick-up” men and rapists, although schooled in the hum-drum religion of a parochial school, were sadly neglected in an educational way. The Jew murderers of Chicago, and the raping Romanists of Milwaukee, were not educated. You may teach a dog a bagful of tricks-but that dog is not educated.
August 9
One Word After Another by Nunnally Johnson (Brookyln Daily Eagle, August 9, 1924)
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported on an issue of Danville Illinois’ Klan paper; the Illinois Banner, in their article One Word After Another by Nunnally Johnson.
“And the editorial column: Here is a long discourse on the Leopold-Loeb case. It turns out to be the only news story in the paper, being a fairly literate account of the trial in Chicago. The editor doesn’t say what he thinks about the thing.”
September 1
The Parochial Schools Must Be Closed by W. MacNicholl, (American Standard, September 1, 1924)
Excerpt from a longer article
“A shocking murder was recently committed by two Jewish boys in Chicago. It was the fruit of homes without Christ and schools without the Bible.”
September 15
American Brevities, (American Standard, September 15, 1924)
The Two Jewish youths in Chicago who killed a child for the “thrill” of crime, escaped the capital punishment, to the surprise of the nation. A clue may be found in an item published by the La Porte Daily Herald, that the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, “the provincial mother of which is a sister of Justice John R. Caverly of Chicago, who passed the sentence, “are praying that his decision in the Leopold-Loeb murder hearing be a just one.” The purpose of the papal sisterhood is stated to be, “to seek and save that which is lost.” The natural tendency of popery is to aid criminal elements.
November 1
Defying God’s Mandate, (American Standard, November 1, 1924)
Clarence S. Darrow, notorious criminal lawyer, of Chicago, whose skillful conduct of the Loeb-Leopold Jewish murder case, through which these two intellectual young Jews escaped the extreme penalty, has followed his successful assault upon American justice with a plea for the overthrow of the Prohibition law, in which he says he thanks God for the bootleggers. Such men as Mr. Darrow, who devote their exceptional gifts to the service of criminality, richly deserve to be restrained behind bars. The immutable laws of God can never be nullified through the sinful animus of mortals. The influence of Christ is paramount in America, and is potent to drive from the land all opposing forces.
Jews Attack Law Enforcement, (American Standard, November 1, 1924)
In view of the boast made in the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion that “We [Jews] have reduced the execution of the laws of the Gentiles to a minimum,” certain recent events in which Jews have had a prominent part have a sinister aspect. At the late trial in Chicago of two rich young Jews for an infamous murder, a Roman Catholic judge, John R. Caverly, failed to administer the supreme penalty, and shocked the entire world because of his strange leniency. Clarence Darrow, notorious criminal lawyer, who made a dramatic appeal for the Jew murderers, then issued numerous statements and articles to the press, attacking capital punishment.
Last week, at the Manhattan Opera House, New York, this same lawyer staged a sensational debate with a Roman Catholic, Judge Alfred J. Talley, on the subject, “Shall Capital Punishment Be Abolished?” Presiding over the debate, “strangely” enough, was Louis Marshall, generally considered to be the head of Jewry in the United States. The affair was obviously a publicity drive to weaken the public sentiment for law enforcement and punishment of crime. Evidently the protocol program is being pushed forward as fast as possible, under Jewish management.
November 15
Rebuke Jew-Jesuits, (American Standard, November 15, 1924)
The Jew-controlled motion picture industry received severe denunciation in resolutions passed by the New Jersey congress of Mothers and Parent Teacher Association at its 24th annual convention, which closed November 7, at Atlantic City.
…
Reverend Dr. Henry R. Rose, pastor of the Church of the Redeemer, Newark N. J., pointed to Leopold and Loeb, the Jewish boy murderers of Chicago, as products of non-religious training, and declared:
It is frightfully wrong not to give children the Bible in the public schools.
The Lives and Legends of Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold 