Editing Leopold and Loeb (section)

=== Loeb's death ===
On January 28, 1936, Loeb was attacked with a [[straight razor]] in a shower room by his fellow inmate James Day; he died in the prison hospital soon afterward. Day claimed that Loeb had attempted to [[sexually assault]] him, but he was unharmed while Loeb sustained more than fifty wounds, including defensive wounds on his arms and hands. His throat had been slashed from behind. News accounts suggested that Loeb had propositioned Day;<ref name="Linder" /><ref name="prison"/> some praised Day for his actions.<ref>''Leopold and Loeb: The Crime of the Century'' {{ISBN|0-25206829-7}} p. 301</ref>

Though several prison officials including the Warden believed that Loeb had been murdered, Day was found not guilty by a jury after a short trial in June 1936.<ref name="Linder" /><ref name="prison" /> There is no evidence that Loeb was a [[sexual predator]] while in prison, but Day was later caught at least once in a [[sexual act with a fellow inmate]].<ref>''Leopold, Loeb & The Crime of the Century'', p. 302</ref> In his autobiography, ''Life Plus 99 Years'', Leopold ridiculed Day's claim that Loeb had attempted to sexually assault him. This was echoed by the prison's Catholic [[chaplain]], a confidant of Loeb's, who said that it was more likely that Day attacked Loeb after Loeb rebuffed his advances.<ref>''Leopold, Loeb & The Crime of the Century'', p. 293</ref>

Several weeks after the killing, [[Mark Hellinger]] wrote in his [[syndicated column]], "I must tell you of the line that came to me from an unknown correspondent in Chicago. This anonymous contributor said he had the absolute low-down on the recent slaying of Dickie Loeb. Seems that Loeb made a slight mistake in grammar. He ended a sentence in a proposition..."<ref>''[[Syracuse Journal]]'', February 19, 1936</ref> While some sources state [[Edwin A. Lahey|Ed Lahey]] had previously written in the ''[[Chicago Daily News]]'', "Richard Loeb, despite his erudition, today ended his sentence with a proposition",<ref>{{cite web |author=Ink |first=Dr. |date=August 23, 2002 |title=Ask Dr. Ink |url=http://www.poynter.org/archived/ask-dr-ink/2048/bold-leads/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022005706/http://www.poynter.org/archived/ask-dr-ink/2048/bold-leads/ |archive-date=October 22, 2013 |publisher=Poynter Online }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book
| publisher=Follett Pub. Co
| last = Murray
| first = Jesse George
| title = The madhouse on Madison Street
| year = 1965
| page =344
}}</ref> no evidence has been found that this was ever published, and actual copy from that date reads otherwise.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Farrell |first1=John Aloysius |title=Leopold, Loeb and the Curious Case of the Greatest Newspaper Lead Never Written |url=https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/john-farrell/2009/12/01/leopold-loeb-and-the-curious-case-of-the-greatest-newspaper-lead-never-written |access-date=June 26, 2019 |newspaper=[[U.S. News & World Report]] |date=December 1, 2009 |archive-date=June 26, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190626032138/https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/john-farrell/2009/12/01/leopold-loeb-and-the-curious-case-of-the-greatest-newspaper-lead-never-written |url-status=live }}</ref>