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Show " -- What's Happene to Le opold in Puerto Rico? ' 1 ' i -. , v - , :..:-.- - J '", ; Jr ' ' v ! , .V ;' ':- T" - " -- 35 years ago, he was sentenced, with Loeb, for his vicious crime; today he is in an y hospital isolated, still seeking to atone back-countr- lV i - f A Leopold began his austere life as lab technician aware of the world's scrutiny. Arthur Massolo By building in the On:theveranda Rican hills, natives are accustomed man staring at the to seeing a short, balding, middle-age- d of distant mountains. On his face is a reflective expression the memory of a deep suffering. Here is a man haunted by monstrous act of violence he committed as a teenager. His name is Nathan Leopold. It was 35 years ago on July 21 when Leopold and Richard went on trial for Loeb, scions of wealthy Chicago families, of a c lliijiiiiifiw weather-beate- n - crime that aroused the wrath of the nation. Defense attorney Clarence Darrow, the legendary his youthful champion of lost causes, could hardljr question clients' guilt in the face of the appaUing facts. Instead, in which a classic courtroom maneuver, he put the society v had produced them on trial. R. So effectively did he pursue his case that Judge John that the boys Caverly ignored the prosecution's demand 99 years... hang, and doomed them to life imprisonment plus He admonished prison authorities "never to admit these defendants to parole." Loeb, who masterminded and executed the 'perfect 1936. Leopold murder, was killed by. a fellow prisoner in became a legend in the world of shadows and steel. A model prisoner, he mastered a score of languages, became an authority in ornithology, developed the prison library and, served asa human guinea pig in malaria research. He found-timtoo, to repent his deed. On Feb. 20, 1958, after more than a third of a century behind the walls of Joliet prison, a prediction thai Darrow had made to Leopold was realized. "The day will come when society will accept the idea that somehow every debt must be considered paid," the attorney had written to him when the future seemed bleakest. Despite outraged protests, Leopold was paroled to serve out five years as a laboratory technician in the Church of . 4A J, R JA f; e, 'I ti'iirnriiirliiH He's "free" within the confines of the missionwhere he works for mankind ary hospital, but Leopold remains aprisoner of his elusive search for inner peace. the Brethren missionary hospital in Castaner Puerto Rico. counThere, deep in the island's rugged, isolated coffee try, he is seeking his redemption in service to mankind. As. yet, redemption has eluded him. Ramon Perez, the director of the Puerto Rican parole best parole system, claims that Leopold is "one of my cases," but admits: "No,. Leopold's rehabilitation is not to complete, He still presses too hard. He is too anxious of his impress the parole board with the .completeness moral redemption to have found inner peace." and - lab Leopold's existence as a to the hosoital.eom-'.' rw " r.v- vicifnr i ICVlHUtlClll lO off here than mented, "I don't see how he's much better in prison. His living conditions were probably better there." To Nathan Leopold, however, there is a difference: the air he breathes is free. The Church of the Brethren hospital is poor. Luxuries for personnel are nonexistent. Leopold's almost bare room in a ramshackle CCC barracks is divided by a curtain. On the side nearest the door is a desk with two chairs." On the battered desk is a" typewriter. The cramped space on the other side of the curtain is his sleeping quarters. You i .viv gei an uvci wucuiinig vinji Yet Leopold expresses satisfaction with his Spartan life of today. His only complaint he hasn't voiced it, but you sense it is that the rigid terms of his parole curtail the intellectual pursuits of a man with an inquisitive mind and ' a genius IQ. Although he is painfully retiring, Leopold has made many friends on the island. "Nobody ever called me Nathan but my mother," he recalls. At prison it was always "Nate" or "Babe." But now everybody at the hospital calls him Nathan. The female employees all much younger than he use his name in a special way. They seem protective and motherly toward him. In the hospital's main building, the casa grande, where single girls on the administrative staff live, there's a snack bar where they relax at night. Sometimes Leopold visits with them. "We always look forward to Nathan's visits," one girl and he seems embarrassed much says. "He doesn't talk . . r i when we ask him about nimsen, duc nes sucu a gciinc man! We all feel .he's paid for his horrible crime, and we want to help him repent if he feels he must do more." $10-a-mo- - ... ; Family Weekly, July 19, 1959 . - 1 1 1 1- . in prison, Leopold is acutely aware of f the wonders of nature he had known only through his books. "Isn't that a nightingale?" he asked excitedly one day, seeing a graceful bird soar in the sky. "I've never seen one before. They're more beautiful than all the pictures a fter "I v. x-r- ay nth 35 years (Continued on page 14) |