On September 10, 1924, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb were sentenced to life in prison for the murder of 14-year-old Bobby Franks, plus 99 years for his kidnapping. The fact that they had escaped the hangman's noose provoked nation-wide outrage, but it had been the entire aim of Attorney Clarence Darrow, who had accepted the case to advance his crusade against the death penalty. | American Experience | PBS

In 1770, a 14-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart traveled to Rome with his father, Leopold. During Holy Week, he heard Miserere mei, Deus by Gregorio Allegri performed in the Sistine Chapel — a piece so sacred that for over a century the Vatican had forbidden its transcription or performance outside, under threat of excommunication. What happened next became legend. Mozart, blessed with an astonishing musical memory, listened once and then wrote the entire composition from memory. After a second h