The State was peculiarly fortunate in this case, in that we took time by the forelock. Mr. Bachrach, Jr., was guileless enough to believe that after I had gotten their confessions and corroborated them in every detail, that I had a suspicion in my mind that these two young perverts and murderers were insane. Mr. Darrow knows me a little longer, and he is not quite as guileless as the younger Bachrach, and he guessed that maybe after I knew they had no defense on the fact, and I knew how much money they had, that I might think that they were going to put in some kind of a fancy insanity defense.
And that is the reason I sent for the four best alienists in the City of Chicago, while I still had these young, egotistical, smart alecs--that is all they are, they are not supermen, they are not men of super intelligence, they are just a couple of spoiled smart alecs, spoiled by the twaddling and petting of their folks and by the people who fawn upon them on account of their wealth. They repeat, parrot like, things that they have remembered and assume the solemn expression of an owl and talk about supermen. In one breath one of these wise men from the East will you that the two defendants still believe in Santa Claus, and then in the next breath, Mr. Darrow will tell you they do not know or believe in God.