William J. Burns and the Great Leo Frank Case Carnival

Introduction

IN 1914, six days short of the first anniversary of the strangulation-murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan by Jewish businessman and B’nai B’rith official Leo M. Frank on Confederate Memorial Day, 1913, the Frank case entered its most frenetic public phase. A major legal decision was slated to be dropped in a few days. By then, Frank had already been convicted of the gruesome murder of Mary. But Frank’s defense team, flush with money from a national publicity campaign, was furiously working to get witnesses to reverse their testimony, and get Frank a new trial or exonerated one way or another — an exoneration effort that still continues today, led by Jewish groups including the ADL (Anti-Defamation League).

Famed — some would say notorious — private detective William J. Burns (hired months earlier by the Frank defense and paid out of a nationally-raised fund organized by wealthy Jewish businessmen Albert Lasker of Chicago and Adolph Ochs and Louis Marshall of New York) returned to Atlanta, where Mary’s murder had taken place, by train from a secretive trip to the “Big Apple” and announced he was ready at last to deliver his long-promised report on the case, a document he had been teasing in the national press since early April.

Across town at Atlanta Police Headquarters, State’s witness Albert McKnight sat in a self-requested jail cell, having walked in on April 15, 1914 and asked Chief of Police James L. Beavers for protection after un-repudiating his original affidavit in the case. He had repudiated it in a second affidavit he had given to Frank’s defense operative Captain C.W. Burke, an affidavit Burke had paid for, McKnight now admitted, with the promise of a $100-a-month Pullman job.

Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey spent the day assembling counter-affidavits from witnesses.

Frank’s high-priced attorneys, Luther Z. Rosser and Reuben R. Arnold, whose extraordinary motion for a new trial had been filed four days earlier on April 16 and had already won Frank a stay of his April 17 execution, worked on adding late-arriving affidavits as amendments to the motion and roughed out their oral argument.

Tye, Peeples, and Jordan (also working for Frank and doubtlessly paid out of the massive war chest from the national publicity campaign), whose parallel constitutional motion had been filed the same day arguing the verdict should be set aside because Frank had not been in the courtroom when the jury rendered it, assembled their supporting affidavits on the absence issue.

The clock was running on Judge Benjamin H. Hill, who would convene the hearing on both motions two days later, on Wednesday, April 22, 1914 — and would deny them both.

* * * * *

“THE TRUTH IS ON THE MARCH”
William J. Burns and the Great Leo Frank Case Carnival

by Carl Carnie

ADVERTISING MAGNATE Albert Lasker, who led a cynical personal crusade on behalf of Leo Frank in coordination with Jewish elites from New York and Chicago, did not coin the once-famous phrase he used. Émile Zola wrote, “La vérité est en marche, et rien ne l’arrêtera” (“The truth is on the march, and nothing will stop it”), in the closing paragraph of J’Accuse…! on January 13, 1898, sixteen years before the Jewish-American ad man appropriated it. What Lasker did was pinch the well-known line Zola originated during the Dreyfus Affair, polish it, and weld it to the Leo Frank defense campaign as a branded American slogan.

That act of importation made ‘The Truth Is on the March’ a thing of strange, exotic, and dangerous beauty in the United States. The mobilizing tagline was drawn from a highly disputed French military treason scandal that had afterward been politically engineered and media-manufactured into a “miscarriage of justice” in the minds of the public during the late nineteenth century. Lasker then freshly rebadged it for use in the Frank case. He pressed it into service on behalf of a convicted sex killer with zero connection to the Dreyfus case — except for the fact that both of the accused were Jews. More than a century later, some of Leo Frank’s posthumous advocates still insist on calling the Mary Phagan case “the American Dreyfus Affair,” which is exactly the misreading that Lasker’s motto was designed to produce.

“The Truth Is on the March.” Six plain words repurposed by an advertising executive who helped sell cigarettes, Palmolive soap, and Sunkist oranges for a living, applying the same art of persuasion he had perfected at the Lord and Thomas agency while helping addict a nation to nicotine and laying the commercial groundwork for a cancer epidemic. Lasker turned the catchphrase into one of the most effective pieces of ad copy ever written. It had everything a catchphrase needs: gravity, momentum, moral certainty, and the implied drumbeat of Union soldiers trampling south to right a wrong. It would do enormous work for the Frank campaign, raising millions of dollars and changing the minds of millions who knew the case only through the lens of Lasker and his confederates in the press. The effects lasted more than a lifetime. They still reverberate today.

But in April 1914 what was actually marching into Atlanta was not Truth, but a cadre of clowns.

The William J. Burns Detective agency made a show of their arrival, press agents in tow. It was like a circus caravan in slow motion, a snake of painted wagons rolling up Peachtree Street with a brass band in the lead and a line of carnies trudging behind, all gilt and bunting and fresh shellac.

Then the ringmaster stepped off a creaky train in Atlanta’s Terminal Station, with nothing in his hands but smoke. Then the showman barked, “Step right up, goys and goyls! Have I got a story for you!”

What the Lasker operation needed, and what Lasker bought when he brought in the high-priced self-promoting Burns, was a carnival barker. Not necessarily a detective. A showman. A mountebank. A man who could stand in front of the lofty tent with his thumbs hooked in a red vest and bellow, “Roll up, roll up, see the great vindication of Leo Max Frank, the innocent man framed by an ignorant mob of Southern Jew-haters, the truth revealed for the first time here in this tent, just one thin dime.”

William J. Burns played that role with real skill. He was an infamous egotist that would put Donald Trump to shame. He had the nickname the press had given him — “America’s Sherlock Holmes” — stitched into the lining of his elegant and expensive coats. He had a national reputation he could sell to deep pockets.

What he did not have was evidence.

Investigative journalist Tom Watson saw him for exactly what he was and pinned the label down in January 1915, calling Burns “that calliope detective” and “the fussy charlatan who hunts for evidence with a brass band and a searchlight.”

The vaporware at the center of the big tent

Burns did not bring evidence to Atlanta. He brought ballyhoo. By the time he arrived on the morning of April 20, 1914, his unseen “report” on the Frank case had been floating through the American press for roughly three months, morphing from whisper to tease to forthcoming-any-day-now to nearly-ready to almost-here, never once solidifying into something a judge could read, a prosecutor could cross-examine, or a clerk could file. It was the phantom deliverable. The card dealer’s sleight-of-hand. The rabbit that stayed stubbornly in the hat no matter how many times the ringmaster reached in with a flourish.

Watch the timeline, because it was genuinely a dark comedy, one that played hideous games with the feelings of Mary Phagan’s kinfolk and with the blue-collar Georgians who, like little Mary, were struggling to make ends meet during fifty-five-hour workweeks running from Saturday to Saturday. The multimillionaire Burns and the multimillionaire Lasker were from another world entirely.

On April 6, 1914, the New York Times ran an article entitled “Burns Completes His Frank Report.”

On April 20, 1914, the Atlanta Journal announced Burns had returned from his mysterious rail junket and was “ready to make his report whenever the attorneys for the defense want it.”

On April 22, Judge Ben Hill denied Frank’s “extraordinary motion” anyway.

On April 24, two days after Hill’s ruling, the same New York Times that had declared the report “complete” three weeks earlier ran the piece “Hold Back Report of Burns on Frank.”

Completed on the sixth. Ready on the twentieth. Held back on the twenty-fourth. The report did everything a real document does — except appear in a courtroom, except get tested by cross-examination, except appear at all.

It was Schrodinger’s evidence: alive in the headlines, dead on delivery, and the box never got opened.

Burns was running vaporware a century before Silicon Valley. What he was selling wasn’t a detective’s conclusion. No. He was selling the perpetual anticipation of a detective’s conclusion. Every week of “almost ready” was a week the donor checks kept clearing. The actual product — the signed, evidence-annexed, witness-listed document that could be placed in a judge’s hands and defended under oath — would have been a disaster for the Burns Agency, because once delivered, it could be examined. Once examined, it would stop selling tickets and running up bar tabs. So the strategy was simple. Never finish it. Never even start it. Announce it forever. Hold it back. Promise it tomorrow. Issue fragments. Leak “conclusions.” Tease the reveal. Let the caravan roll on. And get the hell out of town before the bullets start.

The clown car was carrying Chicago money

The men writing the checks were not fools, but either they were being played by Burns — or Burns was giving them exactly what they wanted, an impression of Leo Frank’s innocence. Possibly it was a bit of both. Lasker was in Chicago running Lord and Thomas. Marshall was in New York running the American Jewish Committee. Schiff was on Wall Street. Ochs was at the New York Times. None of them was going to show up at the Fulton County courthouse and ask Burns for a page count. They were going to read the New York papers at breakfast, see the Burns byline, and feel reassured that their money was producing results. And that was the whole point. The circus was not pitched at Georgia. The circus was pitched at a half-dozen breakfast nooks on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and the Chicago Gold Coast. It was also aimed at people too busy making a living to investigate for themselves, just as the preposterous ADL version of this case is today.

The Chicago money and the New York money kept flowing like a river of gold because Burns kept the smoke machine running, and as long as the smoke kept rolling out under the tent flaps, the customers outside believed there had to be elephants and magicians inside.

The January 30, 1915, Atlanta Constitution eventually put numbers on the flow: “Large Sums Paid to Burns Agency, Haas Tells Court.” The receipts came out only after the circus had left town.

“The Truth Is on the March.” he said. Stirring words. Napoleonic verbs. What was really coming to town was a clown car.

The three-ring racket

Watch the choreography from the grandstand. The headlines are in the papers week after week: Burns is in Europe. Burns cables back. Burns dispatches an operative. The operative arrives. Burns leaves. Burns is returning. Burns has returned. Burns is in conference with the solicitor. Burns is not in conference. Burns goes to New York. Burns sends word from Newark. Burns is back from Nashville. Burns is in Atlanta. Burns is in Marietta. Burns is being chased out of Marietta by a mob. Burns has been rescued. Burns has lost his Atlanta license. Burns has left town. Every one of those movements generated a news cycle. Every news cycle was a fresh poster tacked to a fresh lamppost. Every news cycle was a sensation of gossip and rumor.

Tom Watson’s Jeffersonian covered the tour with the acid pen Watson had been sharpening his whole life. Watson wrote 30,000 pages during his lifetime that survived to the 21st century. Pencil in hand, he called his writing “sawing wood.” Historians describe his writing as having its own life force of venom, wit, and electricity.

His headline-writing skills impress too:

April 23, 1914: “How Much Longer Will the People of Atlanta Endure the Lawless Doings of William J. Burns? What Right Has This Sham Detective to Tamper With the Witnesses That Told the Truth?”

April 30, 1914: “The Frank Case; the Great Detective; and the Frantic Efforts of Big Money to Protect Crime.”

May 7, 1914: “William Jackass Burns, at Another Angle: Some Tarnished Lawyers; Some Bought Newspapers; and the Murder of a Little Georgia Girl.”

Watson was not subtle, but on the Burns question specifically he was not wrong either. He saw a paid performer mistaking himself for a fortune-teller, and he named him for it, week after week.

The rage that cut both ways

The carnival did not just infuriate Frank’s detractors — though it certainly did that, all the way to a Marietta sidewalk in May 1914 where a mob had Burns by the collar before Dan Lehon could drag him out of town.

Even Frank’s own supporters on the ground in Atlanta began to get impatient with Burns. Every leaked teaser that failed to produce anything substantial was a withdrawal from Frank’s shrinking reserves of public benefit-of-the-doubt. Every day Burns spent working a press gag in New York, Chicago, or Atlanta was a day the clock ran down on Frank’s stay of execution.

The men writing the checks in Chicago and New York could afford an infinite theater run. Frank could not. He was in a cell in The Tower watching a calendar with a deadline on it, listening to a ringmaster in a distant city promise a cavalry that never came.

The poisoned booth

Now came the reward. Burns offered a thousand dollars — and the journalist and Frank sycophant Connolly in 1915 would claim the figure eventually climbed to five thousand — for any person anywhere in the country who could produce evidence of a single immoral act across the entirety of Leo Frank’s thirty years of life. On its face, it looks like a challenge thrown to the prosecution. Look closer and it is something much more clever than that.

Any witness who walks up to the booth, raises a hand, and offers real information damaging to Frank’s character is now, by definition, a bounty-chaser. The second they claim the money, defense counsel stands up at the next hearing and says, with total accuracy, “Your Honor, this witness has a direct financial interest in the testimony he is about to give. He is a paid claimant. His credibility should be weighed accordingly.”

The reward stamps every witness it attracts with a mark in ink that reads “impeachable” the moment he opens his mouth, anywhere. And the more astute kind of witness would see that, and therefore never come forward.

So you can see how the reward does “reverse work” too — and this is where the con really shines. The longer no claimant comes forward, the louder Burns can proclaim that no compromising material on Frank’s character exists anywhere on Earth. Look at the silence, he says. I offered a thousand dollars and nobody took it.

The silence is not exculpatory. Silence in the face of a tainted bounty proves only that nobody wanted to climb into the poison ivy.

It may mean no relevant evidence exists. It may equally mean that anyone with relevant evidence saw the bear trap and stayed out of it. It may mean that the witnesses with the most relevant material — the young women who had already testified in 1913 about Frank’s conduct around teenage girls at the National Pencil Company — had already paid the reputational price of testifying once, under oath, and were not about to volunteer to be called Burns’ bounty-chasers on top of it.

The informational content of the silence is zero. The rhetorical content, however, is enormous.

Meanwhile, Burns’ show rolls on. The “full truth” is always in the future, tomorrow, next week, next month, next never.

That is the deepest trick the Burns operation taught the Frank campaign, and it is the trick that is still being run today, more than a century later. The Truth is always marching. The Truth is never arriving. The Leo Frank vindication is always around the next bend. The exoneration is forthcoming. The absolution is coming. The exculpation is near. The new evidence will be revealed next year, next decade, next generation, in a book not yet written, in a documentary not yet funded, in a pardon petition not yet filed.

In 1914 the deliverable was Burns’s “report.” In 1986 it was a “humanitarian” pardon that explicitly declined to address guilt or innocence, and left the conviction intact. In every intervening year some new Frank partisan has stood in front of a microphone and told the county, the state, the country, and the whole world, with all the credibility of a man who has never read the Brief of Evidence, that Leo Frank “deserves to be exonerated.”

Not a single one of them has ever produced court-admissible evidence that would survive cross-examination by Hugh Dorsey, or Hugh Dorsey’s dog for that matter.

That is the inheritance Burns bequeathed. A memorable slogan lifted from someone else’s work. A “report” that wasn’t even a report, just an unclaimed reward and some offhand opinions. A “report” that is never cited by Frank partisans because it wasn’t even a report at all.

The Chicago money paid the freight. The New York money paid the lighting. The Georgia public paid the cover charge in social trauma, lynching, and endless denigration in the alien-owned “national press.” And when the tent came down and the caravan moved on, what remained in the middle of the empty lot was exactly what had been at the center of it from the start. Nothing. A handbill on the ground reading “The Truth Is on the March,” and under those words, very small, the words “Admission $1,000 and your soul.”

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Citations

Wikipedia contributors. (2026). “Albert Lasker”; Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved April 20, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Lasker

Leo Frank Case Research Library. (2024). New York Times chronology of Frank-case coverage, February through May 1914. https://leofrank.info/newspapers/new-york-times

Wikipedia. (2026). “Leo Frank”; retrieved April 20, 2026, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Frank

Wikipedia. (2026). “Louis Marshall”; retrieved April 20, 2026, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Marshall

Wikipedia. (2026). “William John Burns”; retrieved April 20, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_John_Burns

Watson, T. E. (1915, January). “The official record in the Leo Frank case.” Watson’s Magazine, calling Burns “that calliope detective” and “the fussy charlatan who hunts for evidence with a brass band and a searchlight.”

Atlanta Journal. (1914, April 20). “Burns now ready to present Frank evidence.” Page 16, column 5. Reproduced at
http://MaryPhagan.com

Atlanta Constitution. (1915, January 30). “Large sums paid to Burns agency, Haas tells court.” Reproduced at Leo Frank Case Archive. https://leofrank.org/newspapers/atlanta-constitution

Atlanta Constitution. (1914, May 2). “William J. Burns driven out of Marietta.” Reproduced at Leo Frank Case Archive.
https://leofrank.org/newspapers/atlanta-constitution

Atlanta Constitution. (1914, June 20). “Burns is dropped by police chiefs.” Reproduced at Leo Frank Case Archive.
https://leofrank.org/newspapers/atlanta-constitution

Watson, T. E. (1914, April 23). “How much longer will the people of Atlanta endure the lawless doings of William J. Burns?” The Jeffersonian, Vol. 11, Issue 16. Reproduced at Leo Frank Case Research Library. https://leofrank.info/enright/the-jeffersonian.html

Watson, T. E. (1914, April 30). “The Frank case; the great detective; and the frantic efforts of big money to protect crime.” The Jeffersonian. Reproduced at Leo Frank Case Archive.
https://leofrank.org/newspapers/jeffersonian-weekly

Watson, T. E. (1914, May 7). “William Jackass Burns, at another angle: Some tarnished lawyers; some bought newspapers; and the murder of a little Georgia girl.” The Jeffersonian. Reproduced at Leo Frank Case Archive. https://leofrank.org/newspapers/jeffersonian-weekly

Connolly, C. P. (1915). The Truth About the Leo Frank Case. Vail-Ballou Company. Reproduced at Leo Frank Case Archive.
https://leofrank.org/reactions/the-truth-about-the-leo-frank-case

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Source: Author

Another in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian
August 18th, 1913

That his married life has been very happy; that his office safe door was open and he could not see Mary Phagan as she spoke to him on leaving after drawing her pay; that he was in his office from 12 until just before going home to lunch.

PROFOUND IMPRESSION MADE BY PRISONER’S REMARKABLE STORY

FRANK LOOKS STRAIGHT AT JURY AND TELLS STORY DELIBERATELY

During his statement, Frank looked straight into the faces of the jurymen and talked very distinctly and deliberately. His voice was not very strong and the deputies had to rap frequently to keep down the noise.

From the lips of the man accused of the murder of Mary Phagan, came a remarkable story Monday afternoon, August 18, 1913.

The spectators in a densely packed courtroom listened with strained interest as Leo Frank told in graphic words of the events of the day which brought the charge of a terrible crime against him.

It is doubtful if a tale so clearly told, so thorough in its detail, so logically presented ever has been related in a Georgia court of justice by a man over whom has hung the accusation of a horrible murder.

His wife smiled affectionately at him when he told of his marriage to her and said with feeling: “My married life has been exceptionally happy; in fact, the happiest period of my life.”

His words, dispassionate at first, grew in force as he proceeded, but he seldom departed from his moderate tons of voice. The only exceptions were when he was referring to some particularly vital point.

At one point he adverted to one of the Solicitor’s charges that he had not done all the work on Saturday that his lawyers claimed for him. Frank displayed a sheaf of requisitions to the jurors, and said with a trace of heat:

“Notwithstanding any insinuations that may have been made, I wrote these requisitions!”

He brought out the closing words with a startling force he had not displayed before, emphasizing each word with a blow of his hand on the railing front of the jury box.

At another time he held up a long sample case of vari-colored pencils to the view of the jury.

Solicitor Dorsey objected to the display of the pencils on the ground that they had not been introduced as evidence.

Frank smiled and said to the jurors:

“I guess you have seen enough of the pencils to perceive there are a great many kinds.”

The spectators smiled with him as they saw he had accomplished all he desired.

Here is Frank’s story as it was told with its various interruptions:

Mr. Arnold: “Now Mr. Frank, such papers as you want to use you can come down here at any time or from time to time and get them on this table right here.

The Court: “Before you commence your statement, I want to read the law. In criminal procedure, the prisoner will have the right to make to the Court and jury such statement in the case as he may deem proper in his defense. It shall not be under oath and shall have such force as the jury shall think right to give it. They may believe it in preference to the sworn testimony in the case. The prisoner shall not be compelled to answer questions on cross-examination. He should feel free to decline to answer them. Now you can make such statement as you see fit.”

The defendant said: “Gentlemen of the jury, in 1884, the 17th day of April, I was born in Cuero, Texas. At the age of three months my parents took me to Brooklyn, New York, which became my home until I came South, to Atlanta, to make my home here. I attended the public schools of Brooklyn and prepared for college in Pratt Institute of Brooklyn, New York.”

“In the fall of 1902 I entered Cornell University, where I took the course of mechanical engineering, graduating after four years, in June, 1906. I then accepted a position as draughtsman with the B. F. Sturdevant Company, of Hyde Park, Massachusetts. After remaining with this firm for about six months, I returned once more to my home in Brooklyn, where I accepted a position as testing engineer and draughtsman with the National Meter Company of Brooklyn, New York”

Came to Atlanta In October, 1907.

“I remained with these parties until about the middle of October, 1907, when at the invitation of some citizens of Atlanta, I came South to confer with them with reference to the starting and operation of a pencil factory to be located in Atlanta. After remaining here for about two weeks I returned once more to New York, where I engaged passage and went to Europe. I remained in Europe nine months. During my sojourn abroad, I studied the pencil business and looked after the erection and testing of machinery which had been previously traded for.”

“In the first part of August, 1908, I returned once more to America, and immediately came South, to Atlanta, which has remained my home ever since. I married in Atlanta an Atlanta girl, Miss Lucille Selig. The major portion of my married life has been spent in the home of my parents-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Emil Selig, at number 68 East Georgia avenue, Atlanta. My married life has been exceptionally happy. Indeed it has been the happiest days of my life.”

“My duties as superintendent of the National Pencil Company were in general as follows: I took charge of the technical and mechanical end of the factory, looking after the processes and seeing that the product was turned out in quality equal to the standard which was set by our competitors. I looked after the installation of new machinery, and the purchasing of any machinery, and in addition I had charge of the office work at the Forsyth street plant, and the lead plant on Bell street.”

Looked After the Purchase of Materials.

“I looked after the purchasing of the raw material. I saw after the manufacture of pencils and kept up with the market of these materials, and when the prices fluctuated so that the purchases could be made to the best possible advantage.

“On Friday, April 25, 1913, I arrived at the pencil factory on Forsyth street at about 7 o’clock, my usual time. I immediately started in on my regular routine work, looking over the papers I had laid out the evening before, and attending to any work that needed my special attention that morning.”

“At about 9:30 o’clock I went over to the office of the general manager and treasurer, Mr. Sigmund Montag, whose office is at Montag Brothers on Nelson street. I stayed over there a short time, and got what papers had arrived in the mail all the mail of the pencil factory comes over to their office. I got that mail and brought it back to the Forsyth street office. I then separated the mail and continued in my usual routine duties in the office on Forsyth street.

“At about 11 o’clock Mr. Herbert Schiff handed me the payroll book, covering the plants at Forsyth street and Bell street, for me to check over and see if the amounts and extensions were correct. Of course, this work has to be very carefully done, so that the proper amount of money is drawn from the bank. This checking took me until about 12:20 p.m.”

Went to Bank To Get Pay Money.

“I then went over to Montag Brothers, took the checks drawn and had them signed by Mr. Sig Montag, after which I returned ot Forsyth street and got the leather bag in which I usually carried the money and coin from the bank, and got the payroll slip, on which the various denominations which I desired to have on the payroll were made out, and went, accompanied by Mr. Herbert Schiff, my assistant, to the Atlanta National Bank, where I had the checks cashed.”

“Returning to the factory in company with Mr. Schiff, I placed this bag containing the money for the payroll, in the safe and locked it. At this time my wife called for me and in her company and that of Mr. Schiff I went over to the car, and went with my wife home to lunch. After lunch I returned to the factory and took a tour for about an hour through the factory, after which I then assisted Mr. Schiff in checking over the amounts on the pay envelopes, checking the money
against the duplicate slips that we had got from the bank to see that the correct amount had been given us, and helped Mr. Schiff in checking over the money and in filling the envelopes.”

“This took us approximately until a quarter to six to fill the envelope and sent them, and place them in a box we have there with two hundred pigeon holes in it, that we call our payoff box.”

Paid One Man Check in Cash.

“While I was so occupied with Mr. Schiff in filling the envelopes, a young man named Wright, who had helped us out in the office as clerk during the past week came in and I paid him in cash, as Mr. Schiff had neglected to put his name on the payroll. I just made out a ticket and put it in the payroll box, not the cash box, and continued in the office with Mr. Schiff, taking all the envelopes that were due the help that had worked from Friday, April 18 to Thursday, April 24, inclusive, to pay them through the window in one side of the office. There is a little window built in the hall. I had stayed in my office, checking over the amount of money which had been left there.”

“This amount should have been equal to the amount loaned out in advance to the help. I took a ticket out when we were filling the envelopes in checking this amount there. As near as I recollect it, it was about $15.”

“I noticed a shortage of about $1.20, or something over a dollar, at any rate, and I kept checking to see if I could find the shortage shortage in the various deductions which had been made. I could not locate it that evening, after the help had been paid off, during which time I stayed in my office. No one came into my office and asked me for the envelope or for an envelope of any other party.”

“After the paying off of the help had taken place, Mr. Schiff returned and handed me the envelopes which were left over, bound with an elastic band, and I put them in the cash compartment, which is different from the cash box, the key to which is kept in my cash box, and placed them in the safe, and Mr. Schiff placed the amounts in the box, and placed the box in the safe and left them.”

Tells of Putting Slips in Time Clock.

“I placed in the time clock slips which were to be used the next day. I took the two time slips dated April 25, which had been used by the help on Friday, April 25 these are the two that I put in the slot,” exhibiting the same to the jury.”

Mr. Dorsey thereupon vigorously protested that Mr. Frank shouldn’t be allowed to exhibit these slips to the jury, because they had not been offered in evidence on the grounds that they were immaterial and irrelevant, and on the second ground that he could not put them in evidence on his own statement.

Counsel for the defendant insisted, however, that they should be allowed to offer these slips in evidence as they had been testified to by Mr. Darley and others. The testimony, however, was not produced, and Judge Roan ruled that Mr. Frank might make any statement concerning the same, but that he would withhold his ruling until further investigation. Mr. Frank thereupon proceeded to explain to the jury.

“Gentlemen, as I was saying, these two slips that have April 26, 1913, written at the bottom are the two slips I put in the clock on the evening of Friday, April 25, to be used on the day following, which, of course, was April 26.”

“I neglected to mention also, in going over my duties at the factory, that Mr. Darley was superintendent of labor and manufacture, and it fell to his duty to engage the help and distribute the help throughout the plant, and to discharge the help in case it was necessary. It was also due to him whether the wages were raised or not. In other words, he was the man that came directly in contact with the help. Moreover, he saw that the goods processed through the plant without stopping, speedily and economically for their manufacture.”

“On Friday evening (April 25th) I got home about 6:30 o’clock, had my supper, washed up, and with my wife played a game of suction bridge at a friend’s home in the evening. My wife and I returned home and retired about 11 o’clock.”

“On Saturday, April 26, I rose between 7 and 7:30 o’clock and leisurely washed and dressed and ate my breakfast, and caught a Washington Street or Georgia Avenue car. I don’t really remember which, at the corner of Washington and Georgia avenue, and arrived at the factory, the Forsyth street plant, at about 8:20 o’clock.”

“Upon my arrival at the factory I found Mr. Holloway, the day watchman, at the usual place, and I greeted him in my usual way, and found Alonzo Mann, the office boy, in the office.”

“I took off my coat and hat and opened my desk and opened the safe, and removed the various books and files and wire trays containing the various important papers which were placed there the evening before and distributing them in their proper places about the office. I then went out to the shipping room and conversed a few minutes with Mr. Irby, who was at that time shipping clerk, about the work he was going to do that morning.”

“According to my recollection, we did no shipping that day, owing to the fact that the freight offices were not receiving any shipments, due to the fact that it was a holiday.”

“I returned to my office and looked through the papers and sorted out those which I was going to take over on my usual trip to the general manager’s office that morning.”

“I then turned to the invoice covering shipments which were made by the pencil factory on Thursday, April 24, and which were typewritten on Friday, April 25, by Miss Eubanks, who was the stenographer who stayed at my office. She had hurried through with the office work on the day previous, so that she could go home and spend the holiday in the country where she lived. But I didn’t get to check over the invoices on the shipments on Friday, due to the fact that Mr. Schiff and myself were completely occupied the entire day. So we left the factory with the payroll. So that naturally, these invoices covering shipments which were made on April 24, ought to have been sent to the customers, and I got right to work checking them.”

Shows Invoices to Jury First Time.

“Now I have these invoices here, (Frank taking up the papers and exhibiting them to the jury). These papers have not been exhibited to you before, but I will explain them. You have seen some similar to these.”

“Of all the mathematical work in the office of a pencil factory, this very operation, this very piece of work that I have now before me is the most important. It is the invoices covering shipments and is sent to the customer, and it is very important that the prices are correct, that the amount of goods shipped agrees with the amount which is on the invoices, that the terms are correct, and that the price is correct. Also, in some cases, there were freight deductions, all of which has to be very carefully checked over and looked into, because I know of nothing else that exasperates a customer than to receive invoices which are incorrect.”

“Now, with reference to the work I did on these orders that is not such an easy job as you might be led to believe. Here are initials. They represent the salesman who took the order. Sometimes, I have to go to through a world of papers to find out to whom to credit these orders.”

“I notice that one of the orders to R. B. Kindele calls for a specialty. That has to be carefully noted and recorded. One column represents the shipping point, another the date, etc.”

“The next step is to fill in the orders on this sheet. On this sheet I must separate the orders into price groups. Evidently no work has been done on this sheet since he went away. The reason this is done in the pencil business as in all manufacturing business it is advantageous to sell as much of the high priced goods as possible.”

“This sheet is the only means of telling how much of the various goods we are selling. It is the barometer of our business and requires most careful work.”

Declares He Wrote Financial Sheet.

“After I have finished that work I have had to do this, and not withstanding any insinuations that have been made, I wrote these requisitions.”

Frank read the name on each requisition, which were the same as the names on the orders.

“Now that is all my handwriting, except what as written at a subsequent date to April 26.”

“Well, moreover, this operation this morning took me longer than it usually takes the ordinary person to check invoices because usually one calls out and the other checks, but I had this work all myself that morning. As I did this work this morning I saw that Miss Eubanks had evidently sacrificed accuracy to speed, and everyone of them was wrong. I went over the invoices to make the corrections, figure them out, correct them, and made deductions, if any were to be made, and then get the total shipments, because isnce these shipments were made on April 24, which was Thursday and the last day of our fiscal week, and it was on this week which the financial report which I make out every Saturday afternoon, which has been my custom, so that the total shipments could be figured out, and therefore I could not let it go out at that, so I had figure every invoice in its entirety, so I could get a figure I would be able to use.

“The first order here is to Hilton, Hart & Kern Co., Detroit, Mich. Here is the original order, which exists in our files in our office. Here is the original transaction which was made March 18, but it was not to be shipped until April 24. This is a small order, 100 gross of Number 2; and here is an order of the Packard Motor Car Company for 125 gross of No. 3, and 150 gross of No. 4. Those figures represent the grade of hardness of the lead in the pencil.”

Explains How Orders are Filled.

Frank thereupon explained how such orders were usually filled, whether in part or in whole, and how the shipments were made, and continuing said:

“In investigating shipments made by the pencil company our method is as follows: We make them in triplicate. Our first original is a white sheet that goes to the customer; the second is a pink sheet that goes over to the general manager’s office and is filed serially, that is chronologically, that is, one date after the other, and from that the charges are made on the ledger, and the last sheet, the third sheet, or yellow sheet, which is here (exhibiting it) and those are place in the files in my office, and are filed alphabetically. These yellow sheets that I have here are not the yellow sheets I had that day, because they have since been corrected, and I am just taking the corrected sheets I made the corrections and Miss Eubanks corrected them on Monday by the corrections I had on the white sheet from the corrections I made and I presume at that time made that correct.”

Mr. Frank exhibited to the jury various orders similarly written, to H. W. Williams and Company, of Forth Worth, Tex.; The Fort Smith Paper Company, of Fort Smith, Ark.; S. O. Barnum & Sons, of Buffalo, N. Y.; F. L. Schmidt and Company, of Chicago, and H. S. Kress and Company, of New York.

“Now, there is an order that takes a great deal of study (referring to other Kress order) because in common with these five and ten cent syndicates, there is a great deal of red tape. These are invoices that were typed on April 25, Friday, and were shipped on April 24. It was the date on which the shipment was made irrespective of the date there, (referring to the date on the letter) and these were typewritten. In other words, shipments took place April 24, and that date was at the top, typewritten and stamped by the office at the bottom, April 24. Among other things that the S. H. Kress Company demand on their orders, we must state whether or not it is complete, must give the case number, and must tell by which railroad the shipment goes.

Checking Made Hard By Much Red Tape.

“Here is one for F. W. Woolworth and Company, Fort Wayne, Ind., which shows 35 pounds, less 86 cents per 100 pounds credit. In other words, we had to find out what was the weight of that was on a basis of 86 cents for every 100 pounds shipped. Then here is another of our large distributors in New York. They have a freight allowance of 86 cents a 100 pounds also, and their shipments amounted to 618 pounds on Thursday, April 24.

“I started on this work. As I said, I have gone in it in some detail, to show you the carefulness with which the work must be carried out, and I was at work on this until about 9 o’clock, as near as I remember.

“Mr. Darley and Wade Campbell, the inspector of hte factory, came into the outer office and I stopped what work I was doing, which was this work, and went to the outer office and chatted with Mr. Campbell for ten or fifteen minutes, conversed with them, joked with them and while I was talking with them, I think about 9:15, or a quarter after 9, Miss Mattie Smith came in and asked me for her pay envelope, and the envelope of her sister-in-law. I went to the safe and got out the package of envelopes that Mr. Schiff had given me the evening before, and placed the two remaining envelopes in my cash box, as I considered they might come in and I wanted to have them near at hand so that I could pay them off when they came in. I keep my cash box on the lower side of my desk. After Miss Smith had gone away with the envelopes, in a few minutes Mr. Darley came back with one of the envelopes, and pointed out an error in one of them, the one of the sister-in-law of Miss Mattie Smith, who had gotten too much money.

“When I took the amount which was too much, that amount balanced the error in the payroll that I had noticed the night before, and left about five or ten cents. Those things generally right themselves, anyhow. I continued to work on these invoices when I was interrupted by Mr. Lyon, the superintendent of Montag Brothers, and he brought me a pencil display box. He seemed to be in a hurry, and I told him if he would wait a minute I would go over with him, but he passed out of the office, and then I found a stopping place in the work I was working on, and I put on my coat and when I got to the outer office I found that Mr. Lyon had already left.

“Mr. Darley and I left about 9:35 or 9:40, and we got out of the factory and stopped at the corner of Hunter and Forsyth streets, where we each had a drink at Cruickshank’s soda fountain, and I bought a package of my favorite cigarettes.

“After that conversation there I left him and went alone to Montag Brothers, where I arrived about 10 o’clock or maybe a little after. I entered Montag Brothers and spoke to Mr. Sig Montag, general manager, on business, and he brought the papers which I collect and laid them on his desk, and I then took the papers out, thrust them in the folder and took the other papers which I had in my folder, and […]

LEO FRANK’S OWN STORY ADDS FINAL TOUCHES TO STATE’S GREATEST TRIAL

[…] then distributed them at the proper places in the Montag plant. I don’t know just which ones they were.

Conversation With Miss Hall Recalled.

“In chatting with Mr. Montag I spoke to Mr. Montag and Mr. Korse, after that I spoke to Miss Hattie Hall, the pencil company’s stenographer, who stays at Montag Brothers, and asked her to come over and help me that morning, as I have already told you, that these invoices were wrong, and I wanted her to help me on that work, and could not take it up to-morrow. In fact, I told her I had enough work to keep her busy that whole afternoon if she would stay. She said she didn’t want to do that; she wanted to have at least a half holiday.

“I then spoke to members of the Montag Brothers force, on business matters, and then other matters. Also I then spoke to Mr. Guttenheim, who was sales manager of the Montag Brothers and of the pencil factory, and then spoke to him about several of his orders that were in the factory. There were two of his orders that he paid special stress on that were desired to be shipped right away. I said, ‘I don’t know how una [sic] far along in the process of manufacture the orders have proceeded, but if you can come back I can look it up and tell you when they can be shipped.’ He said he could not come then, but he would come a little later. I told him I would be glad if he would come up a little later on in the afternoon; that I would be there until about 1 o’clock in the morning, and then about half past three. I then took the folder and returned.

Arrived at Factory At About 11 o’Clock.

“Upon arrival at the pencil factory I went up to the second or office floor, and then I noticed that the clock was perhaps five minutes after 11 o’clock, and I saw Mr. Holloway there, and I told him he could go as soon as he got ready. He told me he had some work to do for Harry Denham and Arthur White, who wanted to do some repairing on the top floor, and that he would do the work first.

“I then went to the office, and found Miss Hattie Hall, who had preceded me from Montag Brothers, and another young lady, who introduced herself to me as Mrs. Arthur White. Mrs. White wanted to see her husband. I went into the inner office, and took off my hat and coat and removed teh papers which I had brought back from Montag Brothers and put the folder away.

Week’s Sheet Left In Incomplete Form.

“It was about this time that I first heard the elevator motor start up, and the circular saw in the carpenter shop which was near to it, and I heard it sawing through some boards and thought it was evidently the work that Mr. Holloway had referred to.

“I separated the orders from the letters which required answers, and took from them the letters that did not need immediate attention and laid them in the various places, and it was about this time I had an idea I would like to see how far along the report sheets were which I used in getting up the financial report every Saturday afternoon. To my surprise I found that the sheet contains the records of the pencils packed for the week had been entered for Thursday. The last day of the fiscal week was omitted, and Mr. Schiff, evidently in the stress of figuring out and filling the envelopes for the payroll for Friday instead of Saturday, had evidently not had enough time. I told Alonzo Mann, the office boy, to call up Mr. Schiff and find out when he was coming down; and Alonzo said that the answer came back over the telephone that Mr. Schiff would be right down, so I didn’t pay any more attention to that part of the work, because I expected Mr. Schiff to comem down any minute.

Mrs. Freeman and Corinthia Hall Came In.

“It was about this time that Mrs. Emma Clark Freeman and Miss Corinthia Hall, two of the girls that worked on the fourth floor, came upstairs and asked to go upstairs and get Mrs. Freeman’s coat, which permission I gave them. I told them at the same time to tell Arthur White that his wife was downstairs. A few minutes after they left my office two gentlemen came in, one of them Mr. Graham, and another gentleman; fathers of two boys who had gotten into some trouble during the noon recess and were taken down to police headquarters, and, of course, could not get their pay envelopes the night before. I gave the required envelopes to the two fathers, and chatted with them at some length in reference to the trouble that their boys had gotten into on the day previous.

“Just before they left the office Mrs. Emma Clark Freeman and Mrs. Corinthia Hall came into my office and asked my permission to use the telephone, and started using the telephone during the time these two gentlemen left my office. Previous to the time these two gentlemen came in I had called Miss Mattie Hall in and dictated what mail I had to give her, and she went out and was typewriting the mail.”

Frank went back to the stand. He was handed a glass of water as he resumed his seat but declined it.

“Miss Hall left my office” he continued, “on her way home at this time. There were then in the building Arthur White, Harry Denham and Mrs. White. It must have been from ten to fifteen minutes after that this little girl whom I afterwards found to be Mary Phagan came in. She asked for her pay. I got my cash box referred to the number and gave her the envelope.”

“As she went out she stopped near my outer office doer and said:”

“‘Has the metal come?'”

Sound of Voice Made Little Impression.

“The safe door was open and I could not see her, but I answered No.’ The last I heard was the sound of her footsteps going down the hall. But a few moments after she asked me, I had the impression of a voice saying something but it made no impression on me.”

“The little girl had hardly left the office when Lemmie Quinn came in. He said something to me about working on a holiday and went out. A few minutes before 1 o’clock, I called up my wife and told her I was coming to lunch at 1:15 o’clock. I then went upstairs to (the fourth floor) where Denham and White were working and found […]

Frank Details His Own Story to Jury

[…] they had a bit of the floor taken up and were sawing.”

“I explained to them that I was going to lunch and would lock the door when I left. Mrs. White left at this time. Some lady said that at 12:35 o’clock she found me in front of the safe. It is barely possible that she did. I don’t recall her being there. Her memory probably is fresher than mine on this point.”

“When I went up stairs, I asked Mr. White if his wife was going to stay there with him. She said no, that she would go. She left and then I got my hat and coat and left, locking the outer door.”

“Now, gentleman, to the best of my recollection from the time the whistle blew until I went upstairs to see Mr. White, I did not stir out my office. I went on home.”

(Narrators note: The Atlanta Georgian, omitted part of Leo Frank’s statement, where he spoke about the possibility of unconsciously going to the metal room to use the men’s toilet there, to explain why Monteen Stover found his second floor business office empty between 12:05 p.m. and 12:10 p.m. This evidence was crucial because in State exhibit B, Leo Frank had made an unsworn statement that Mary Phagan was alone with him in his office during this exact time. End of narrator commentary. Leo Frank continues…)

“I called up my brother-in-law, Mr. Ursenbach, to tell him I was unable to keep the engagement to go to the ball game. The cook answered the phone.”

“My wife and mother-in-law were going to the opera. My father-in-law and I ate lunch. He went into the backyard while I lit a cigarette and lay down for a moment.”

“I left and while passing the home of Mrs. Wolfsheimer, saw Mrs. Michael on the porch. I went in to see her and saw Mrs. Wolfsheimer, Mr. Loeb and others.”

Watched Parade When Street Cars Stopped.

“To catch the next car I ran down to Glenn street. On the car I met my wife’s cousin, Mr. Loeb. The car was blocked at the corner of Washington and Hunter streets. I walked up to Whitehall street and stood there possibly for fifteen minutes watching the Memorial Day parade.”

“As I walked down Whitehall street I met Miss Rebecca Carson. This was probably 3:10 or 3:15 o’clock. I greeted her and walked on. I stopped at Jacobs’ Pharmacy and walked on. I went from there to the factory.”

“When I reached there I went upstairs and let the boys know I had returned. A minute later, I returned to my office and started to work on the financial sheet.”

“In a few minutes the clock bell rang and Arthur White came into the office to borrow two dollars. It was while I was at work on the sheet at probably 4 o’clock that I went to the toilet.”

“As I returned toward the office, I noticed Newt Lee coming toward me from the head of the stairs. I told him he could go on off but to be sure and be back at 6 o’clock. I told him I was very sorry I could not let him know about the half holiday but that he was at liberty to enjoy himself as he saw fit, but that he must not fail to return at 6 o’clock.”

“The first night that Newt Lee went to work at the factory, I took him over the building, and stressed the fact that he must go into the basement, especially the dust bin every half hour.”

“I told him it would be part of his duties to watch the back door. He was to make a complete tour every half hour and punch the clock.”

“Now, I will return to the work of the financial sheet. This sheet contains the cost of all the pencils made that week. There are no names but this sample case will show you.”

Evidence Excluded But Jury Sees It.

Frank unfolded a sample case.

Dorsey: “We object to this being used as evidence.”

Judge Roan: “I sustain you.”

Frank placed the sample case to one side.

“Well,” he said, ” you got a sufficient glance at those pencils to see there was a great many.”

“In making up this sheet it was necessary to go through the list of all that were packed. Specials of course, have to be figured separately.”

“For instance, there is a special 60-60-x pencil known as Crackerjack.’ Now I notice that the two expert accountants reported two errors. While they were unimportant, I wish to explain that these errors were not mine. They were made by Mr. Schiff. I never checked his figures. I checked over mine, but not his.”

“Now the next is jobs.’ The accountant found the only error in my financial sheet there in the item jobs.’ It was not an error, as I will show you. He did not know my method of figuring.

“Two items here are totals. The total gross amount is 791 gross, the total value amount $396.75. In figuring the average I obtained $50.01. In that average he discovered an error. It was not an error. I simply did not go as far into the decimals as he did. One-tenth of a cent was close enough for my purpose.”

“Now some of the items in here are taken from the reports of the foremen of the different departments.”

Frank then exhibited a report from the foreman or forewoman of each department and explained it.

“Then there is the report of Mr. Schiff, showing the gross of pencils shipped each day of that week that week was an exceptionally heavy one.”

“Now there is a little report here that constitutes one of the most difficult calculations. It is from the packing room. We have a trick of the trade to put the pencils that do not sell very fast into fancy packages to make them go.”

“Now, very often these pencils are taken from the shelf, where they have laid for more than a year, and repacked in the fancy cases. I made all the calculations on this that afternoon, despite everything that has been said here to the contrary.

“Now here is a little sheet that deals with the grades of the pencils. It shows the totals for each class of pencils shipped that week. This data sheet—we have had very few clerks at the Forsyth street office capable of keeping it, because it requires rather advanced mathematics to reach the totals.”

“Now I will have to get all my thoughts on this sheet. It isn’t a hard job but it is a very tedious one and requires much care and accuracy. Here is rubber—cheap rubber and good rubber. Now it has been intimated that some of these items—this one in particular, if I am not mistaken—that I could take two that were already figured and subtract them from the total and get the cost of the third.

“That is not so. Some of the pencils haven’t any rubber in them at all. I have to go through the same tedious operation on each item. There are various sorts of packing boxes used. Then there are the skeletons in the boxes. Some pencils don’t have skeletons at all.

“All these items must be gone through accurately to get correct results of this sheet. Then there is no section on this data sheet showing the cost of tips. You can’t use rubbers without tips, so, after figuring them, I just added them to the rubbers.

“Some pencils take wrappers and some don’t. The very cheap pencils are tied with a cord, so we have the same tedious figuring again.

“The slat item is not worked out because I could not find the data. I just put it off until Monday.

“Here are the jobs—the payroll at Forsyth street and the payroll at Bell street.

“Now the shipments were figured for the week. I did part of that work in the morning and I explained to you about the invoices being wrong. Well, here are the items on this financial sheet. Then, as to the orders received. Entering the orders received that day involved no more work than transferring.

Has Own Method of Figuring Cost Data.

“Here they are in comparison the amount shipped.

“One of the most intricate things in making out this financial sheet is figuring the cost data. This sheet I may say is a child of my own brain. The first one gotten out was gotten out by myself.

“This item here gives us the net value and the net amount of money the pencil factory received for its pencils. The burden that a business has to carry is its fixed charges—rent, insurance, certain salaries, etc.—the charges that are the same whether great or few pencils are made.

“The machine shop is variable. We did make many machines at first, but later the machine shop was used solely for upkeep. The stats are figured at 22 a gross. That cost was simple multiplication.

“The figuring of that price is not done in making out the financial sheet Saturday afternoon. Mr. Montag and myself figure that in advance, making allowance for profit, breakage, etc.

“I have here on the report of April 26 ‘Slats, not complete;’ that was because Schiff had not made out the slat report, and I planned to complete it Monday morning before taking it to Montag.

“Now, beside the making this large sheet here and the financial sheet, there are three other sheets that I made out. Now, I want to call your attention to this. I did not typewrite it. I merely filled in the blanks. I have several of them typewritten and keep them in my desk.

“In addition to that I make out two condensed financial sheets, showing the principal figures. They are sufficient for a director or stockholder to see what the factory is doing.

Mailed Statements To Stockholders.

“One of these statemetns I mailed to my uncle, Mr. M. Frank, who is president of the company, and the other to Oscar Papenheimer, who was a director.

“I put one in an envelope and addressed it to Mr. Oscar Papenheimer; the other I sent to my uncle along with a price list, and I wrote him this letter.

“This price list is too long for an ordinary envelope, hence the large envelope.

“After finishing the financial sheet, I folded the large sheet and addressed it to Mr. Selig Montag. I then took up the checking up of hte cash and balancing of the cash book. I did that work as near as I remember, between 5:30 and 5 minutes to 6 o’clock. It did not take me an hour and a half. I did it in about 25 minutes. There was $30.54. There couldn’t have been any more. It was mostly in small change. There was one loan to Mr. White, making the total amount of cash $28.50.

“Beginning that week, we had $39.25 as a balance. We drew two checks of $15 each—I mean by that that we went to Mr. Montag’s office and had him draw the checks. The total amount of money we had to account for was 69.25. What it was spent for, of course, is shown on the debit side.”

Frank explained each of those items, including drayage, parcel post, etc.

“I found at the end a shortage of $4.34 coming about in payrolls within the last three months.”

Drinks Water After Talking Two Hours.

At this point Frank paused to take a drink of water having been talking for 2 hours and 30 minutes.

“I finished this work I have just outlined,” he continued, “at 5 minutes to 6 o’clock. I took those slips—I won’t show them to you—stamped April 28. They were put into the clock because no one was coming into the office until Monday.

“Newt Lee’s punches on Monday night would appear on the strip placed on the clock Monday night. Just before I left I put new tape in the clock and made Newt Lee punch it. Then he went on down stairs to wait and let me out.

“As I started out of the factory, I saw Newt Lee talking to a man named Gantt, who had been released about two weeks before, I gave them permission to go into the factory and get Gantt’s shoes which he said were left there and I told Newt Lee to go with him.

“I reached home at about 6:25 o’clock and at 6:30, thinking Newt Lee woudl be near the clock, I called him over, the phone to see if everything was all right. I could not get him. I called again at 7 o’clock and again at 7:30. At that time I got him and he told me everything was all right.

“That night my parents-in-law had company at the home. Those present were Mr. and Mrs. Marcus, Mrs. Goldstein, Mrs. M. Marx, Mrs. A. B. Marx, Mr. Ike Strauss—who came in at about 10 o’clock. I read a magazine until about 10:30 and then retired.”

Told Officer He Did Not Know Girl.

At this juncture the jury retired for five minutes.

Frank conferred with his attorneys while the jury was out. Upon its return he resumed:

“I believe I have taken in every move Saturday night. I retired Saturday night. Sunday morning about 7 o’clock I was awakend by the telephone ringing and a man’s voice which I afterwards found out to be Detective Starnes, said: ‘I want you to come down to the factory.’ ‘What is the trouble?’ I asked. ‘Has there been a fire?’ ‘No,’ he said. ‘A tragedy has occurred.’ I said, ‘All right,’ and he said he would send an auto.

“They came before I finished dressing. At this point I differ with the detectives, Black and Starnes, about where the conversation took place. They say it was after we were in the machine, I say it was before we left the house, before my wife. At any rate, here is what was said:

“They asked me if I knew Mary Phagan. I answered that I did not. They asked me if I did not pay off a little girl with long hair down her back the afternoon before. I said I did. They said they wanted me to go the undertaking establishment to see if I could identify the body. They made the trip to the undertaking establishment very quickly. I went in and stood in the doorway. The attendant removed the sheet from the little girl’s face and turned the head toward me. His finger was right by the cut on the head. I noticed her nostrils were filled with dirt and cinders and there were several discolorations. I noticed a piece of cord around her neck, the kind we used in the pencil factory. I said it looked like a little girl that came to the factory the day before. They had already told me it was Mary Phagan. We went to the factory and by examining the payroll I found that Mary Phagan had drawn her pay the day before and that the amount was $1.20.

“As we went into the factory I noticed Mr. Darley going in. We went to the office and I found Newt Lee in the custody of the officers. They told me they wanted to go down into the basement. I got the elevator key, but when I tried to start the elevator machinery I found I could not and I told Mr. Darley to see if he could start it.

Admits Nervousness And Defends Himself.

“He started the car, and when we got further down I found that one of the chains had slipped. They showed me where the body was found, where the shoe was found and pointed out everything that was at that time known. After looking about the basement we got some nails and a hammer, and Mr. Darley nailed up the back door. Back upstaris Mr. Darley, Chief Lanford and myself went on a tour of inspection of the three upper floors. We went through the metal room, the same metal room that has figured so prominently in this trial, and neither Mr. Darley nor myself noticed anything particular on that floor. Nor did Sergeant Lanford, chief of the Atlanta detective force.

“We went to the time clock. I took out the slip and a casual note of this ship would indicate nothing was on it. There was something on it. It had been partially rubbed out. It could not be rubbed out altogether without rubbing out the printed lines. I did write with a pencil across the face of it, ‘8:26 a. m.’ We noticed a slip but overlooked any skips. I folded the time slip as it is now and handed it to Chief Lanford. Now, gentlemen, I have heard a great deal during this trial about nervousness.

“I was nervous. I was completely unstrung. Imagine yourself called from sound slumber in the early hours of the morning, whisked through the chill morning air without breakfast, to go into that undertaking establishment and have the light suddenly flashed on a scene like that. To see that little girl on the dawn of womanhood so cruelly murdered—it was a scene that would have melted stone. Is it any wonder I was nervous?”

Notes Found by Dead Girl’s Body Described.

“I got in an automobile and sat on Mr. Darley’s knee. I was trembling, perhaps. Later Sunday morning, I went to the home of Mr. Sig Montag and told him what had occurred. I got home about 11 o’clock. My wife and I went over to my sister-in-law’s, Mrs. Ursenbach’s, and with a number of friends we discussed the tragedy.

“We went back home to dinner and mentioned there the terrible crime. After dinner I read a short time and about 10 minutes to 3 o’clock caught a car downtown.

“The conversation on the car was about the little girl that had been found dead in the factory. At 3:10 o’clock I went back to the undertaking establishment and found Joe Stelka there.

“On Monday I went to the police station with Darley and he said he would like to talk to Newt Lee alone. We were shown the two notes found by the side of the slain girl.”

Frank then described the notes.

“Now, on one of the notes there was an erasure, but the tracing was still discernible. It was January 11, 1912. The order number was very indistinct, but it was evidently an old serial number.

“Returning to my home at 4:15 I met Mr. Haas and he asked me about the murder. Several people on the street also asked me.

“I remained at home until 5 o’clock, then I went to Mr. Montag’s home and made a report of the tragedy to him. From there I went to the home of Mr. Marcus where I had received a telephone message from my wife, and I went by there to get her.

“At supper that night the conversation was again about the murder. After supper I read the paper. I called up Mr. Marcus and asked him if he would come down. He said he could not.

“Mr. and Mrs. Selig had a party that night. About 10 o’clock, my wife and I went up to bed. Next morning before I had finished dressing, the door bell rang. It was Detectives Black and Hazlett. They said they wanted me to go to the police station with them.

Kept in Ignorance of Charge Against Him.

“I went and on the way I asked them what was the trouble. They said Chief Lanford would tell me.

“I arrived at the police station and sat in an outer office for probably an hour without seeing Chief Lanford. Near 9 o’clock, Mr. Sig Montag and Mr. Herbert Haas came down. Near 10 o’clock I saw Mr. Rosser. He came in and said, ‘Hello boys, what’s the trouble.’

“Mr. Haas took him off to one side. Chief Lanford came out and said to me: ‘Come in here.’

“I went into his office. He handed me the time slips and if I am not mistaken this same time slip had the figures still unerased: ‘8:26 a. m.’

“I took the slip and examined it closely, discovering the slips. There seemed to be some altercation about Mr. Rosser getting into the room with me. I heard him say: ‘I am going into that room. That man is my client.’ Chief Beavers asked me if I would give him a statement.

“I heard Mr. Rosser say: ‘Why, it’s preposterous. The man who did that would have signs on his […]

ACCUSED DID NOT PEER INTO GIRLS’ DRESSING ROOM, WORKER SAYS

[…] body.” I jumped up and, opening my clothes, let the detectives see for themselves.

“I then gave them a statement, willingly and freely and without any reluctance. Then one of them said something about examining my linen at my home. I knew that none of it had gone to the laundry at that time and invited the detectives to make a search, which they did. Mr. Herbert Schiff went with them. They were very well satisfied with the search, or rather, they found nothing.

Employed Pinkertons To Aid the Police.

That afternoon I telephone Mr. Schiff to get Mr. Montag’s permission to employ the Pinkertons to aid the police. I told him I would be down about 3 o’clock.

“I went around to Mr. Wolfsheimers, got into his automobile and went downtown. I saw Mr. Schiff, Mr. Darley and a number of others, including Mr. Quinn.

“Mr. Quinn said he wanted to take me back to the metal room where it was claimed blood spots had been discovered and wheere the hair on the lathe was discovered by Mr. Barrett.

“I examined them closely, particularly the spots. I did not examine them standing up. I got down on my knees and examined them with a strong electric flashlight and I arrived at certain conclusions.

“That floor is grease, soap and dirt covered to a thickness varying from a quarter to half an inch.

“To return to that spot. I don’t claim it was not blood. The space where these spots were adjoins the ladies’ dressing room. There have been accidents which may not have been brought out in this trial. We do not report every time one of the employees cuts his finger.

“There are all sorts of paints around the factory. I have seen girls drop bottles in the hall, not exactly at that point, but near there. But the point about those spots is that when I examined them there was over them an accumulation of dirt not of days or weeks, but of at least three months.

Phoned to Prevent Alarm of Family.

“The white stuff was not fresh. It was dry. And another thing: If that compound had been put on the blood fresh, it would have been pink and not the white that it was.

“Now, when the Atlanta papers containing the statement that I was detained were published, I telegraphed Mr. A. R. Montag to communicate with my uncle that I was no longer; that I had been released. I did this because I knew they would be alarmed if they saw the sensational stories in the papers.

“Harry Scott of the Pinkertons came in and spoke to me in the presence of Mr. Darley. He said he had not read the newspapers. I told him all that had been published and in addition the statement that Mrs. White had seen a negro about 1 o’clock on the first floor.

“After I had told him all I knew, I took him over the factory. On the second floor I noticed was a piece of cord such as I learned had been found around Mary Phagan’s neck. I asked him as to the rates of the Pinkertons. He told me and I informed Mr. Montag, who approved them.

“Mr. Scott said that at it was the usual custom of the Pinkertons, he would work hand in hand with the police. I went home and found my family there and sat up until about 10 o’clock, when I went to bed.

Gave Officers All Information Wanted.

“Tuesday a. m. I arose between 7 and 7:30 and caught the 8:10 car. I remember I got to the factory at 8:30. I went right into my routine work and at 9:30 o’clock went on my regular trip to Montag’s. I then went back to the factory and to work again.

“After a while Detectives Black and Scott came and told me they wanted me to go to the station house. I went and I have been incarcerated since then.

“I went down in an automobile. They took me to Chief Lanford’s office. I answered all the questions they asked. In a few minutes, Detective Scott and Black came in with a bundle.

“They showed me a piece of material and asked me if I had a shirt like that. I told them I never had. They showed it to Newt Lee and they said he admitted having a shirt like that but declared he had never worn it.

“They then unfolded a bloody shirt.

“About 10 o’clock Mr. Rosser came down and said Chief Beavers thought it best for me to remain at the station, and they thought I might employ a supernumerary to avoid being locked up. I assented, because, of course, I could not do anything else.

“They wanted a sample of my handwriting. I told them I was willing. They dictated it word for word, spelling the unusual words. Detective Starnes took me down to the desk sergeant and searched me.

“I was locked up in a cell while my father-in-law was providing a supernumerary.

“The detectives came to me and said: ‘Mr. Frank, we would like to talk to you a little bit.’ We went into a little room and they stressed the possibility of a couple being let in the pencil factory at night. Then they said: ‘You talk to Lee. You are his boss. He will talk to you.’

“The detectives told me to go after him strong and tell him we would both go to hell. Detective Black said that.

“I went in and talked to Lee. I tried to get him to talk. I said: ‘Newt, you had better tell everything you know or you will get us both into trouble.’ He stuck to his statement that he had told the whole truth.

“Then the detectives came in and I was initiated to the Atlanta police department third degree for the first time. Detective Black went after that poor negro. He called him every vile name he could think of. He fairly streamed with profanity.

“I want to touch upon a few accusations that have been leveled against me, besides this crime. The first is that I would not talk to the detectives. Let us look into that and see if there is any truth in that. I went there Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and discussed the matter freely and openly. I gave them a written statement. I talked to them at midnight. I talked to Newt Lee at their instance. What did they do? They grilled him. They twisted my words. They put words into his mouth he never heard. After that, I said I washed my hands of them. They came to me again—Scott and Black. Black said: ‘We are suspicious of that man Darley. Now, open up and tell us all you know about him.’

Could Not Trust Even His Own Detectives.

“I said: ‘He is the soul of honor.’

“Come on, Scott; nothing doing,’ said Black.

“Then I knew I couldn’t trust even our own Pinkerton detectives. After that I treated them with silence. That is why I would not see Conley surrounded by a bevy of city detectives. They would distort; they would falsify. That is the reason I kept my silence.

“Now this second charge that I knew Conley could write. The same day that Conley was arrested I was taken to the Tower. There was nothing in the papers that said he could not write. The first thing I knew about it Harry Gottheimer came to see me on May 12 and told me the Pinkertons had turned suspicion toward Conley, but that he stood them down he could not write.

“I told him that I had received too many notes from Conley not to know that he could write. I told Harry that if they would look into the drawer of the safe in my office they would find a card with a jeweler’s name on it, and that if they would go to him he could probably show a contract that Conley had signed.

“Gentlemen, the first man that pointed out the way to prove Conley could write is sitting before you now.

“That other insinuation that is so dastardly that it is beyond the comprehension of a human being—that my wife didn’t come to see me—she was down stairs at the police station. Rabbi Marx was with me. I advised with him whether I should let her come up or not. We had to restrain her.

Brands Conley Tale As a Tissue of Lies.

“I know nothing of the murder of Mary Phagan. I never saw Jim Conley on that day.

“This man Dalton I never saw before this trial. He was never around the factory with Daisy Hopkins that I know of.

“Irene Jackson is mistaken. I have no recollection of ever looking in on the girls in the ladies dressing room when the girls were undressed.

“That room on the fourth floor has no bath. It is simply a place in which young ladies can change their outer clothing. I might have looked in to see that they were not loafing. I heard complaints about them flirting and I wanted to stop it.

“The statement of Jim Conley is a tissue of lies. He never saw me with any women.

“Conley’s statement about seeing me in improper positions with women is so vile that I have no words fit to denounce it.

“My father is notable to work. I have no relative of any means except my uncle in Atlanta.

“There is no fund raised to pay these attorneys. The fees are paid, but they were paid by sacrificing a portion of my family’s small estate.

“Gentlemen, some newspaper men have called me the silent man in the Tower. I was silent, but it was advisedly. The time to talk is now. The place is here, and I have told you the whole truth.”

Frank bowed slightly to the twelve men to whom he had addressed this remarkable statement and then stepped down from the stand. Court adjourned until 9 o’clock Tuesday morning.

Hapeville Episode Hinted by State.

That Frank rode on a street car to Hapeville with a girl the Saturday previous to the murder of Mary Phagan and repeatedly sought to persuade her to leave the car with him was the sensational testimony Solicitor Dorsey endeavored to get from Mrs. J. G. Wardlow Monday.

Anticipating the nature of the questions the Solicitor was about to ask Mrs. Rae Frank, mother of the defendant, stopped her ears with her fingers and then rushed from the room. Attorneys for Frank at first objected to the questions and the jury was excused
. It was at this moment that Mrs. Frank made her dramatic exit. She was evidently fearful of repeating her outburst of a few days ago.

Mrs. Wardlaw denied that she ever knew of such a circumstance. She denied as well that she had been told of it by Harmes Stanton or H. G. Backer, street car men.

Another sensation was created when the defense called to the stand Miss Emmeline Mayfield, the young woman whom the State maintains was in the dressing room when Frank looked in at one time. Miss Mayfield denied this was true.

Paving the way for the eagerly awaited statement of Frank, the lawyers for the defendant devoted Monday morning to the gathering up of the story ends of their case, most of the time being occupied with the testimony of character witnesses.

More than a score of women and girls employed in the National Pencil Company were called to tell what they knew of Frank’s character and what they had observed of this conduct about the factory. All asserted that they never had known personally of any misconduct on the part of the superintendent and never had heard of any.

Explains Looking Into Dressing Room.

Mrs. Mattie Thompson proved one of the most important of the character witnesses. After testifying to Frank’s good character, Mrs. Thompson declared that the girls on the fourth floor were in the habit at one time of flirting from the windows of the dressing room. She said that the practice became a matter of comment among the elder women on the fourth floor and that she finally took it upon herself to report it. Whereupon orders were issued against it.

The testimony of Mrs. Thompson was produced to provide a basis for the contention of the defense that Frank had opened the dressing room door on several occasions solely for the purpose of determining if his orders were being carried out.

Miss M. E. Fleming, a stenographer said that she worked in Frank’s office from April to December, 1912, and that she never had observed any misconduct on the superintendent’s part nor had seen women visiting his office.

Godfrey Winecoff superintendent of the lead plant of the National Pencil Company, testified that it was his custom to visit the pencil factory office every other Saturday afternoon about 3 o’clock. He said he always found Frank or Schiff, Frank’s assistant frequently both working in the office. He asserted he never saw any women there.

A large crowd was attracted to the courtroom by the probability that the prisoner would tell his story Monday, and the keenest expectancy prevailed. It was problematical whether there would be any cross-examination. Ordinarily, of course, the accused in a murder case merely makes his statement and the jury can believe it or discard it entirely as it chooses. It is said, however, that Frank has earnestly urged his lawyers to allow the Solicitor to cross-examine him.

When court reopened Monday Solicitor Dorsey took up the cross-examination of Harlee Branch, a reporter for the Atlanta Journal.

Took Conley 15 Minutes To Tell Crime Details.

Branch was asked.

“Can you give any estimate of the time taken in conversation in Conley’s re-enactment of the crime?” He replied that it took about fifteen minutes.

Q. You never said it was about half the total time, did you? A. I don’t recall.

Attorney Arnold took the witness.

Q. You said it took about fifteen minutes to cover the time lost in conversation? A. Yes.

Q. He began at 12:18 and you left at 1:08? That would be about 50 minutes that you were there? A. Yes.

Q. How long was he writing the notes? A. Two minutes at the most. He did not write fast or slow?

Q. How long did he stay in the wardrobe? A. About one minute.

Q. Did you see Conley in the newspapermen’s room here in this courthouse reading a newspaper since this trial began? A. I saw him looking at one as though he was reading it.

Mr. Branch was excused and Lou Castro, former ball player and at present fight promoter, was called as a witness by the defense to testify to time it took to walk certain distances.

Q. Did you walk from Marietta and Forsyth streets to the second floor of the pencil factory? A. Yes.

Q. How long did it take you? A. Four and one-half minutes.

Q. Did you walk from the National Pencil Company to the corner of Whitehall and Alabama streets? A. I did.

Q. How long did it take you? A. Three minutes and twenty seconds.

Q. Did you walk from Broad and Hunter streets to the Pencil Factory?

Employees of Factory Character Witnesses.

Miss M. E. Fleming was the next witness called. She is one of Frank’s former stenographers. She testified on direct examination that Frank’s character was good. Dorsey cross-questioned her.

Q. Were you ever there on Saturday? A. Yes

Q. How long did it take you? A. One and one-half minutes.

Q. On the day of the murder were you there Saturday afternoon? A. No, I was off then.

Q. Did you ever see Mr. Frank work on the financial sheet Saturday mornings? A. Yes, I saw him work on it a little.

Miss Fleming was excused and Godfrey Winecoff, superintendent of the lead plant of the pencil factory, took the stand.

Q. Did you visit the National Pencil factory on Saturdays between July 1, 1912 and May 1, 1913? A. Yes.

Q. What time? A. Three to 5 o’clock.

Q. How often? A. Almost every Saturday.

Q. Did you ever see women there in Frank’s office? A. No.

Q. Who was there? A. Frank, Holloway, Schiff and the office boy.

Dorsey took the witness on cross-examination.

Q. Are you sure Holloway was there at 3 o’clock? A. Yes.

The witness was excused, and Mrs. Mattie Thompson, an employee of the factory working on the fourth floor took the stand testified as to Frank’s good character. Arnold questioned her.

Q. Do you know anything about that dressing room on the fourth floor and the conduct of the girls there? A. I made a complaint about the girls flirting out of the window.

Dorsey took the witness on cross-examination.

Q. Who has talked to you in the last few days about what you were to swear on the stand here? A. Mr. Haas talked to me.

* * *

Atlanta Georgian, August 18th 1913, “Leo Frank Testifies,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Another in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Journal
August 17th, 1913

Defense Has Attacked the State’s Case at Every Point, Considering No Detail Too Small to Raise a Reasonable Doubt Against It.

When the third long week of the trial of Leo M. Frank ended Saturday afternoon 203 witnesses had taken the oath and told the jury what they knew of the circumstances surrounding Atlanta’s greatest tragedy, the murder of Mary Phagan in the National Pencil factory on Memorial day, April 26. Of these witnesses thirty-four had testified for the state and 169 for the defense and among them all only one directly connects the factory superintendent with the crime. Jim Conley, the negro factory sweeper, is Frank’s accuser. He not only accuses the superintendent of murder, but adds the charge of perversion and it is through this charge that the state hopes to show a motive for the crime.

Center of Attack

Much of the most determined work done by the defense during the third week, just finished, has been concentrated upon the testimony given by H. F. Harris, secretary of the state board of health, and upon the testimony of C. B. Dalton, both of whom were introduced by the prosecution.

In attacking Dr. Harris’ testimony, the defense introduced several physicians who characterized Dr. Harris’ conclusion as guesses and said that they attached no importance to them and believed them to be without scientific foundation. It will be remembered that Dr. Harris’ testimony fixed the time of Mary Phagan’s death, in the opinino of the witness, at not more than 45 minutes after she ate her last meal of cabbage and bread at home and started for town to meet her death. This was based upon the stage of digestion attained by the contents of her stomach and arrested by death.

Dr. Harris testified further regarding other details which had convinced him that violence of some nature was inflicted upon the girl, and that she was rendered unconscious from the blow upon the back of her head, being choked to death later by cord around her neck. The defense assailed each of the conclusions, combating most vigorously the one that Mary Phagan was killed within a specified number of minutes after her last meal.

Witnesses from Walton county were introduced one after another to swear that they know C. B. Dalton and that they would not believe him on oath. Dalton’s own experiences with the criminal law were revealed, the defense lawyers securing his admissions of them. Dalton’s testimony was menacing to the defense because it purported to corroborate in incidental particulars the general story told by Jim Conley—whose evidence is the center of the whole attack by the defense.

Points at Issue

The state has sought to prove that Mary Phagan met her death in the metal room on the second floor of the pencil factory before 1 o’clock on April 26.

The defense has sought to refute this with testimony that it is impossible to determine the hour in which the girl died, and that there are chances that she met her death in another part of the building.

The state clings to the theory that the girl was struck on the head, rendered unconscious by falling against a piece of machinery, then was strangled to death by a cord.

The defense has put its witnesses up to testify that the wound on the back of the dead girl’s head may not have caused unconsciousness and that the manner in which she met death is a question which possibly no physician can answer correctly.

The state has sought to prove that Frank was the last person to see the girl alive. So far nothing has developed in the trial to show that the girl was seen after she drew her pay from the factory superintendent.

By the testimony of Monteen Stover, who swore that she found Frank’s office vacant at 12:05 o’clock on the afternoon of the tragedy, and waited five minutes, and left then without having seen or heard anyone, the state got before the jury the allegation that just after Mary Phagan was supposed to have entered the factory neither she nor the factory superintendent was seen around the office by the witness. On this too the defense directed a heavy attack, introducing witnesses who swear they saw Mary Phagan get off a trolley car as late as 12:10—thus tending to make immaterial Frank’s absence from his office while Monteen Stover was there.

The state has produced a witness (Conley) who says he heard a girl scream after Mary Phagan entered the factory, but this same witness says that Mary entered ahead of Monteen Stover, and the latter swears she entered at 12:05, and then too according to the defense’s witness Mary Phagan was seen outside of the factory after that time.

The state has sought to prove that violence was done the girl before her death. The defense has put its experts on the stand to swear that testimony that violence was done is only guess work; and many well known Atlantians witnesses have testified to the good character of Frank.

The state has sought to prove that when Frank went about to get lunch on the day of the tragedy he left immediately without eating, but the defense produces witnesses who swear that Frank remained in his home at least forty minutes at that time.

The state has sought to prove that the accused was very nervous on the day, following the tragedy, and that has admitted by the defense; like defense has put up witnesses who swear that Frank was not nervous on the night of the tragedy and did not become so until he was informed by the detectives that a girl had been murdered in his place of business.

Attack Is General

In every detail, no matter how minute, the defense had attacked the state’s case against Leo M. Frank. No particular been considered too small to the efforts of Attorneys Arnold and Rosser to a responsible doubt against it if they could and no particular had been too small for Solicitor Dorsey and his assistant Attorney Hooper to permit an attack upon it to go unchallenged and unresisted. From one angle then another, the defense aligned its bombardment, and at one angle then another, state’s attorneys have striven to fend off any damage in their case, impugning a witness when they could, striving to ridicule him or her, endeavoring to show interest, excessive for Frank, or other controlling motive have been on guard at every argument against the determined onslaughts of the attorneys for the accused.

Week’s Developments

Whether the defenses continued its attack on the testimony given by Dr. H. F. Harris that Mary Phagan died within a half or three quarters of an hour after calling for midday lunch and that there were evidences of violence immediately preceding death. Dr. Leroy Childs began the attack on the evidence of the secretary of the state board of health on Saturday week, and on Monday Drs. George Bachman, Willis Westmoreland, T. H. Hancock and J. C. Olmstead testified and were followed and substantiated on Wednesday by Dr. W. S. Kendrick.

In nearly every instance where a physician testified for the defense the testimony, or parts of it, as given by Dr. Harris was refuted. When the evidence give by the physicians for the defense is boiled down to an essence, it is up to the effect that in their opinion the statements by Dr. Harris that the girl died within the time limit set by him is but a mere guess, and that his testimony that violence preceded death is a second guess.

The jury heard medical testimony that it could be impossible for any physician to examine cabbage from the stomach of any patient and state the correct length of time the food had remained in the stomach. To substantiate this, several jars of partially digested cabbage taken from the stomach of several patients were exhibited to the jury with the statements of a physician that no one could tell exactly how long any of the exhibits had remained in the stomach.

Was Violence Committed?

Some of the evidence given by these physicians termed Dr. Harris’ statements that violence had been committed on the girls shortly before as a mere guess. It was testified that the distended condition of the blood vessels might have resulted from numerous causes.

It will be recalled that Dr. Harris testified that he examined parts of the body after nine days after death, and that Dr. J. W. Hurt, the coroner’s physician, testified he had made an examination prior to that by Dr. Harris. The jury was told that the first examination might have caused the conditions noted under microscope by the state board of health’s secretary. As to the distended condition of the blood vessels, it was testified that the injection of the examining fluid and several other causes might have produced the same conditions.

That Frank’s work on the financial sheet, which it has been testified required expert work running into decimals, could not have been done by any one committing such a crime as is charged to the factory superintendent immediately following the commitment, and the is to quote by the testimony of expert who were put on the stand. Joel Hunter, the last witness to inquiry Monday, gave his opinion that the work does on the made out on April 26 was the work of Leo M. Frank, and in substance was correct.

Dalton’s Story Eliminated

Twenty-two witnesses took the stand on Tuesday and six of them gave testimony impeaching C. B. Dalton, one of the witnesses put up by the State to corroborate Jim Conley in his testimony that he frequently acted as lookout for Frank on Saturdays and holidays when women visited the superintendent at the factory. Dalton was pictured by the witnesses as anything but a truthful witness. His past was exposed in the news and when he himself was recalled to the stand admitted portions of the testimony derogatory to his character.

These witnesses against Dalton were brought to Atlanta by the defense from places where Dalton had formerly lived. They told of his indictment by a grandy jury of a for a certain crime and stated that they would not believe him under oath. Dalton, it will be remembered, was expected to prove a strong witness for the state in its corroboration of the negro’s story. He admitted visiting the factory after work hours with certain women employees of the place and stated in the jury that Frank frequently had women visitors at the time he made his visits. His impeachment by witnesses from his further homes, eliminates, to a certain extent, his testimony as material.

The defense scored again on Tuesday when Miss Magnolia Kennedy was on the stand. Her testimony refuted that given by Helen Ferguson that she asked for Mary Phagan’s pay on the Friday before the murder and it was refused. Miss Kennedy works in the pencil factory and declares that she knew both Mary Phagan and Helen Ferguson. She told the jury that she followed the Ferguson girl to the pay window and that nothing was said about Mary Phagan’s pay. She also declared that she went out of the factory immediately behind Helen Ferguson and both walked on down the street in the same direction.

Cook Denies Affidavit

Minola McKnight, the negro cook in the Selig home where Mr. and Mrs. Frank live was also on the stand Tuesday and denied the truthfulness of her affidavit made to the police concerning the notions of the aroused immediately following the tragedy. The negroes declared that she had been forced to sign the paper and that most of the allegations were false.

Mr. and Mrs. Emil Selig, the father and mother-in-law of the secured, took the stand in defense of the factory superintendent on Tuesday and corroborated the statement made by Frank to the coroner concerning his moves on the day of the tragedy before and after the hour in which the girl met her death. They denied any knowledge of certain matters mentioned in the Minola McKnight affidavit, reflecting on the behavior of the accused on the Saturday of the tragedy and Sunday following.

Charles W. Bernhardt and Henry Wood were called to the stand to tell the results of their examinations of the Selig home and explain the blue prints of the home to the jury. Albert McKnight, husband of the Selig cook, had stated that he was sitting in the kitchen and saw Frank enter the dining room on the afternoon of the tragedy, go to the sideboard and leave without eating. According to export testimony it would be impossible for any one sitting in the kitchen at the point where the McKnight negro claims he was sitting to see the parts of the dining room as testified by him.

Character Evidence

On Wednesday the defense put the character of the accused to issue and no sooner had the character evidence started well when the real evidence started well when the real sensation of the week occurred in the court room. It was Frank’s mother, Mrs. Rae Frank, of Brooklyn, N. Y. who startled judge, jury, counsel, and spectators by shouting her denunciation of Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey when he asked a question of a character witness reflecting strongly on the character of the defendant.

John Ashley Jones, an insurance man, had been put up by the defense and had just told the court that after investigation, his company had found the character of the accused man to be good. When the solicitor began his cross-examination he asked several questions concerning the investigation made by the insurance company and then began a series of questions, all of which the witnesses answered to the negative, but caused the jury to lean forward and caused the mother of the accused man to give the so indignation by of denial, of a certain question the witness on the stand could answer in the negative.

The solicitor asked the witness if he never heard of Frank’s familiarity with little girls around the factory. To this Mrs. Rae Frank shouted: No, and you haven’t either!” Following new outrage, she left the room.

The solicitor used the names of several with whom he intimated the factory superintendent had been familiar. He is expected to call them in rebuttal to the witnesses who have testified for the state.

Can Dorsey Supply Link?

What evidence the solicitor has to use in rebuttal is indicated only by his questions to the witness Jones and by the sudden appearance in Atlanta of the former inmate of the Home of the Good Shepherd, in Cincinnati, in company with the police matron. The only evidence derogatory to the accused’s character was given by the negro Jim Conley who charged perversion to the factory superintendent. While the state was having its innings no evidence was given to corroborate this charge because the character of the defendant had not then been put in by the defense. Now that the defense put up witnesses to prove the accused’s good character, the state can put up testimony to prove the contrary.

It is understood that the solicitor will call the girl, who has just returned from Cincinnati, and other witnesses, who will be ready to blast the character of the defendant if they are asked the questions by the defendant’s own counsel.

Judge Roan permitted the solicitor to ask defense witnesses questions reflecting on Frank’s character Wednesday, and on Thursday refused a request of the accused’s counsel to have the questions stricken from the secured. The trial judge held that the prosecutor had a right to question character witnesses as to whether they had heard certain things derogatory to the defendant’s character.

Frank’s Story Corroborated

On Thursday the defense put up witnesses which by their testimony, accounted for the presence of Frank at almost every hour during the day of the tragedy. The story of his movements as he told it to the corner immediately after the murder was fully corroborated. He was trailed from his home in the morning to the factory, from his office over to Montag’s offices and back to the factory; from his office to where he took a car, and from the time he stepped from the car in front of his home until he left again to less than an hour. He was also seen on Whitehall street after getting off the car on his return to the office for his afternoon’s work.

The members of the card club whose party was being given at the Selig home on the night of the tragedy took the stand and accounted for his presence that night. The state has proven, and to a certain extent it is admitted by the defense, that Frank was nervous on Sunday after being informed of the murder. The state contends that this was the nervousness of a guilty man, while the defense contends that under the same circumstances most anyone would have been very much agitated.

Those who attended the card party on the night of April 26 declare that Frank was his natural self; that his actions indicated anything but nervousness, and that he sat in the hall and read for at least two hours during there visit to the Selig home. By this testimony the defense hopes to show that Frank had no knowledge of the crime until informed by the detectives and consequently not nervous until after he learned that a little girl had been slain in the factory of which he was superintendent.

Court Records Broken

When Thursday’s morning session of the trial exposed all court records for Georgia had been broken. The testimony from Wednesday night amounted to 600,000 words, enough matter to fill 500 columns of newspaper print.

One feature of the developments which stands out significantly in the loyalty of the defendant’s classmates from Cornell. Several of the young men who attended college with him came from their homes in the east to testify to his good character. With them came two professors at the university.

Friday was taken up with testimony by Atlantians hearing on the good character of Frank and by evidence given by factory employee against the character of Jim Conley, the negro who accuses Frank of the crime and who admits having disposed of the body after the girl’s death.

Members of Conley’s own race declared that they would not believe the negro on oath, that he could not be trusted and that from what they knew little dependence could be put in what he said. White women who knew both the negro and Frank told the jury that the negro was unreliable and that from what they knew Frank’s character was good.

Forty-one witnesses, many of them prominent Atlantians, bore testimony to Frank’s good character on Friday and were followed on the stand by the accused’s own mother. Mrs. Rae Frank, of Brooklyn, occupied the chair Friday afternoon and resumed it Saturday. Nothing of great interest was developed and resumed it Saturday. Nothing of great interest was developed by her testimony except that portion referring in the letter which her son wrote up the day of the tragedy and mailed to his uncle in New York. This letter was introduced as evidence. Its contents referred to Memorial day and to grand opera, in Atlanta.

Saturday’s Testimony

Fifteen girls who work or have worked in the pencil factory were on the witness stand Saturday and of the number, only one cast a slur on the character of the factory superintendent. Miss Irene Jackson, the daughter of Policeman A. W. Jackson, who has quit the employ of the factory since the murder, while under cross-examination declared that Frank had looked into the dressing room of the factory while some of the girls were in only half attire.

Solicitor Dorsey made an attack on the Pinkerton detectives Saturday while W. D. McWorth, one of the agency’s men was testifying concerning a bloody bludgeon found in the factory. The solicitor charged that the Pinkertons had not worked in harmony with the city police and held withheld evidence from them. Harlee Branch, a Journal reporter, was the last witness on the stand and court adjourned while he was under the solicitor’s examination. He told of Jim Conley’s re-enactment of the tragedy in the presence of detectives and newspaper men.

[Below is a transcription of this article’s inset]

A MILLION WORDS OF TESTIMONY

The trial of Leo M. Frank, charged with the murder of Mary Phagan, is believed to have broken at least three records in criminal prosecution in the south.

More witnesses have been called than in any other case on record, more actual time has been taken up in hearing testimony, and the transcript of evidence is the most voluminous, so far as known, ever taken in a criminal court south of the Mason and Dixon line.

When court adjourned Saturday afternoon thirty-four witnesses had been called by the state and 169 by the defense, a total of 203; for three weeks the jury had listened to testimony, having spent approximately 115 1-2 hours in court; and the evidence transcribed by the stenographers exceeded 875,000 words.

It is considered likely that before the end of the trial nearly 300 witnesses will have been called and the transcript will total considerably more than a million words.

One of the most remarkable features of the trial is the way in which the court stenographers have taken down the testimony. The defense, anticipating the need of having a copy of the official record in their possession as quickly as possible after a witness’ testimony has been taken down, engaged two extra stenographers to work with the two regular court reporters of the county. The four work in relays. One will “take” for an hour. He will then be relieved, and while another is writing down the questions of the attorneys and the answers of the witnesses he is either typing from his notes or reading from them into a dictophone. In the latter event an assistant takes the testimony as it is dictated by this device.

In this way the defense is able at any time to refer immediately to any part of the testimony which has already been given in the trial.

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Atlanta Journal, August 17th 1913, “Summary of Frank Evidence at End of Week,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Atlanta Journal
August 17th, 1913

While Defense Has About Forty Character Witnesses, It’s Not Believed That Their Testimony Will Take More Than One Day, and Frank Himself Will Probably Tell His Self to the Jury Some Time Tuesday.

REBUTTAL EVIDENCE WILL TAKE TWO DAYS AND THE ARGUMENTS OF ATTORNEYS TWO MORE

This Will Put the Case In the Hands of the Jury at the End of the Week – All Interest is Now Centered in the Witnesses That the Solicitor Will Put on the Stand In an Effort to Break Down Fine Character Showing Made by Frank.

The present week will see the end of the trial of Leo M. Frank charged with the murder of Mary Phagan, all attorneys connected with the case believe.

Counsel expect to conclude the young factory defense certainly before the end of Tuesday morning’s and probably during the day Monday.

Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey says that he expects to be longer than two days is introducing testimony is rebuttal. With two days for the arguments this will mean that the fate of Frank will be in the hands of twelve jurors by Saturday. The length of the Frank trial, which has passed through its third week, long ago broke all records for criminal cases in Georgia. While many, civil cases run over a much longer period of time, few if any equal the Frank trial, which has passed through its third week, long ago broke all records for criminal cases in Georgia. While many, civil cases run over a much longer period of time, few if any equal the Frank trial in the matter of straight testimony delivered on the stand. The official court reporter, Judge H. L. Parry, states that his record showed 375,000 words. Judge Parry is working court reporters in relay and typing the evidence as rapidly as possible. The record now shows over 3,000 typewritten legalese pages.

Interest in the trial centers largely in the rebuttal testimony, which will be offered by the state. Approximately fifty witnesses have been summoned by the solicitor general to give rebuttal testimony at the trial, and according to rumors some of the testimony will be sensational. The solicitor has indicated by questions to witnesses that he has under subpoena a girl, who will testify that two weeks prior to the tragedy Frank made advances to Mary Phagan, and that she was forced to beg him, to leave her alone. Much mystery surrounds the probable testimony of Dewey Howell, who was brought here from the Home of the Good Shepard to Cincinnati to be a witness.

The greater number of the rebuttal witnesses have been called as character witnesses and they can only say that they consider Frank’s general character good or bad, unique, then are asked about defense.

The statement of Leo M. Frank will be one of the big features at the trial next week. Despite the fact that there is little that can be added to the detailed statement of his movements on the day of the tragedy made at the coroner’s inquest, there is much interest manifested in the account which the young superintendent will give of his life.

NO WRITTEN STATEMENT.

While he will have a number of notes to which he will, it is said that Frank will probably not have a written statement, but will tell his story largely from memory.

Little said to be left in the defense’s case except Frank’s statement. According to well established reports W. H. Mincey, who claims that Conley made a confession to him, will not be put upon the stand.

While the defense will probably place about forty more witnesses on the stand practically all of them, it is said, will be factory employees who will testify to the good character of the defendant, and go to the character of his chief accuser, the negro Conley.

The putting of Frank’s character in issue, which has greatly increased the length of the trial, is the result of Frank’s own request, according to a well authenticated rumor.

Frank knew that his character could only be put in issue by his own lawyers, and they, it is said, put the matter up to him, and he requested that they let down the bars, declaring that the state could prove nothing against him.

DEFENSE NOT DISTURBED.

Despite the statement of Solicitor General Dorsey that he had several “high-class ladies” who attack Frank’s character, it is said that attorneys for the defendant are satisfied that no credible testimony will be offered against Frank’s character.

Frank has stood the three weeks of the trial well, and is ready and anxious, it is said, for a chance to tell his own story.

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Atlanta Journal, August 17th, 1913, “Frank Should Know Fate Before the Week Passes is Opinion of Attorneys,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Another in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Journal

Wednesday, April 30^th, 1913

Harry Denham’s Story Indicates Miss Annie Howell Wasn’t in Factory

The time clock at the National Pencil company’s factory, where Mary Phagan was murdered, shows that employe [sic] No. 141 registered off at 3:07 p. m. last Saturday.

This is the number of Miss Annie Howell, of 664 East Fair street, and at first the detectives thought she might be able to throw some light on the mystery.

It developed later, however, that this must have been a mistake. Harry Denham, one of the men employed in the factory, claims that he punched her by mistake, and then punched his own number, which is 143, as a correction.

The clock shows that No. 143 was punched at 3:09 p. m. on Saturday.

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Atlanta Journal, April 30th 1913, “Says He Punched Time Clock on Wrong Number,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Another in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Journal

Wednesday, April 30^th, 1913

Judge Gober Says His Client Will Be Taken Before Justice of the Peace Powers

J. M. Gantt, held on a warrant charging the murder of Mary Phagan, will given a hearing before Justice F. M. Powers at 3 o’clock Wednesday afternoon. Gantt was Tuesday afternoon transferred from police barracks to the jail on an order issued by Judge Bell.

Justice Powers, who issued the warrant for Gantt’s arrest, had not been notified of the hearing at 8:30 o’clock Wednesday morning, but it was stated at the office of Judge George Gober, attorney for Gantt, that the hearing will be held at 3 o’clock.

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Atlanta Journal, April 30th 1913, “Hearing for Gantt at 3 P.M. Wednesday,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Another in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Journal

Thursday, May 8^th, 1913

Miss Hattie Hall, a stenographer, was called to the stand after Quinn was excused.

When Miss Hall was excused, shortly before 12:30 o’clock, she was told to return at 2:30 o’clock, as she probably would be recalled then. Miss Hall’s testimony revealed nothing not already known, and was vague upon a number of points already testified to by others. It bore mainly upon the period when she was in the office of the National Pencil company on the morning of Saturday, April 26. According to her, she was there from about 11 o’clock until noon. She saw nothing of Mary Phagan and could throw no light upon the mystery. The coroner questioned her minutely as to hours and minutes and details of her own actions.

She lives at 69 Luckle street, she said, and is a stenographer employed at the office of Big Montag, of Montag Brothers, 10 and 12 Nelson street, to attend to the correspondence of the National Pencil company, of which she said Mr. Montag is treasurer. The books of the pencil company are kept there, she said.

ARRIVED AT 8 O’CLOCK.

She arrived at work about 8 o’clock Saturday morning, April 26, she said. After telephoning to Mr. Frank at the pencil factory and learning that he needed help over there, and after Mr. Frank had come to the office of Mr. Montag for some purpose, she went to the pencil factory, leaving the Montag office between 10:30 and 11 o’clock, she said, walking over to the factory. She worked in the outer office after taking some dictation from Mr. Frank in the inner office. She acknowledged to a number of orders, using postcard blanks which she stamped with dates, etc. She didn’t remember a man near the clock, didn’t remember seeing the day watchman, Mr. Holloway, didn’t remember whether he was there or not. She wrote about ten or twelve letters, couldn’t remember anything about any of them except that one related somehow to a die for stamping pencils; made carbon copies of them, and put her initials on the typewriter in one corner of each. She described vaguely several people who called—the father and stepfather of two of the factory boys, who talked with Mr. Frank, he telling her later that the boys had gotten into trouble about breaking up an automobile or something like that; a “Mrs. Somebody,” whose husband worked in the factory; two young women, one of whom got a pay envelope. She was writing the letters when the two young women called. She has been a stenographer since December 4, she said.

LEFT ABOUT NOON.

When she finished her work she went straight home, she said. She left the office almost exactly at 12 o’clock, for she noticed the whistles blowing. She found she had forgotten her umbrella, and went back upstairs after it, looking at the clock and noticing that it pointed at about 12:02. She told minutely what she did that morning, and what she was accustomed to do at the factory office.

No important discrepancy was noticeable between her story and that of Mr. Frank, who already had testified about her being there.

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Atlanta Journal, May 8th 1913, “Miss Hattie Hall, Stenographer, Left Factory at Noon,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Another in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Journal

Thursday, May 8^th, 1913

L. A. Quinn was called to the stand. He lives at 31B Julliam street, he said, and is foreman of the metal department at the National Pencil factory. Mary Phagan worked in his department, he said. The last time he saw her was on the Monday preceding the murder, he said. She left the plant about 2 o’clock that Monday, said he. That was earlier than usual, but she left because the metal with which she worked had run out and she wanted to hurry to the matinee. He didn’t know any of her intimate friends, said he. She worked with Helen Ferguson and Grace Hix and Magnolia Kennedy, said he, and Henry Smith and John Ramey also worked in that department.

He worked on Friday, April 25, until 5:30 o’clock, said Quinn. He got his pay and left with the understanding that he would come to work on Monday.

The next morning, Saturday, he got up about 7 o’clock. Later he went uptown with his wife to get a picture made of their baby. Then they went back home. He came up town again, said he. He was stopped there, and questioned closely about hours and minutes.

He left home about 9:30 o’clock, he said. He and his wife and baby went straight to Kuhn’s photograph studio. They were there about ten minutes, he said.

They stopped next at the Globe Clothing company’s store on Whitehall street, said he, and talked for a while with some friends of his in there. He named them. He and his wife were there about five or ten minutes. They went from there down to a meat market in the next block south and bought some meat, staying there about five minutes. Farther down the street they stopped in at a soda water stand and bought some soft drinks. They arrived home about 11:15 o’clock. He remained in the house about thirty minutes. He left there about 11:45 o’clock, for town again, to get to the market before it closed, so he could buy some supplies for Sunday. He bought some meat and vegetables on that trip, said he. He could not describe the man he bought the meat from. He bought the vegetables first, from a man about five feet eleven inches tall, 165-170 pounds in weight, clean shaved. The man seemed to be a foreigner. He looked like an Italian.

HE WENT TO THE FACTORY.

From the meat market he went to Benjamin’s pharmacy and bought some cigars from a man named Pounds. He arrived there at a few minutes after 12 o’clock. He went on up Whitehall, left on Hunter street, to Forsyth, and then to the pencil factory. There was nothing unusual about him going to the factory on holidays, said the witness. He did so often. He wanted to speak to “Mr. Schiff” on this occasion, said he. He found the front door unlocked. He did not see Mary Phagan. He got there some time between 12:20 and 12:25, said he.

He was asked how he observed the time so minutely.

He figured it on the time he left home, said he.  He knew he left there about 11:45 o’clock, because he looked at his watch several times while he was at home. He walked to town, up Pulliam to Garnett, to Whitehall, and so to the market. It took him about 10 or 15 minutes to make the walk. It was pretty close to 12 o’clock when he got to the market, said he. He did not remember looking at his watch after he left home. It didn’t take him long to buy the meat and vegetables. He bought 40 cents worth of steak. He was waited on immediately. It took him about ten minutes, however, he said, to buy the vegetables. He wasn’t around the market longer than ten or twelve minutes. He stopped two or three minutes in Benjamin’s on the corner. The walk from there to the factory took about five minutes. He went straight to the office. He didn’t go anywhere else. He didn’t remember hearing the noon whistles blow.

WHEN HE SAW MR. FRANK.

He found Mr. Frank in the latter’s private office. They exchanged “good mornings,” he said. “Is Mr. Schiff in?” Quinn said he inquired. “No, I don’t suppose he will be down today,” Quinn said Mr. Frank replied. “You see you can’t keep me away even on holidays,” Quinn said he remarked to Mr. Frank. He said that Mr. Frank answered, “Yes,” and laughed, and nothing else was said. He was there in the office about two minutes, said he. He wasn’t positive about the exact time. He didn’t think it could be as early as 12:15 when he arrived there. It could have been between 12:20 and 12:35, he admitted.

“Could it have been as late as 12:30 o’clock?” he was asked.

“It could have been, but it wasn’t.”

“Why are you so positive?”

“Because I was somewhere else at 12:30,” the witness answered.

He continued that when he left the factory he stopped to talk with “Mr. Maulsby” at Mr. Maulsby’s place of business two doors from the factory. He offered Mr. Maulsby a cigar. Maulsby told him “those girls are in the restaurant,” and he answered “I know it; I saw them when I came up.” He told the names of two young women, one of whom was then a bride and the other of whom still worked in the factory.

IS AT FACTORY NOW.

Mr. Quinn said that he thought Miss Corinthia Hall is at the pencil factory this Thursday. The Miss Hall he saw at the undertaker’s establishment was a stenographer at Montag Brothers, and not Miss Corinthia Hall, he said.

The witness said that his purpose in going to the factory Saturday was to see Mr. Schiff and talk baseball with him. He had been accustomed to drop by the factory often on Saturdays and holidays, he said.

Mr. Quinn said that after leaving the factory he met the young ladies—Miss Hall and Mrs. Freeman—at the Busy Bee café, at the corner of Forsyth and Hunter streets.

In reply to a question from the coroner, he said that he thinks Mrs. Freeman is at the factory this Thursday.

Mrs. Freeman, who is about seventeen years old, had been married the day before—Friday—he said. Mr. Quinn said that he wanted to chat with her about the wedding. They remained in the café only a few minutes, he said, all three leaving together. Mr. Quinn said that he went to DeFoor Brothers pool parlor, getting there about 12:30, and chatted with the proprietors until about 1:15.

The coroner at this point asked Mr. Quinn if he knew May Barrett.

He replied, “Yes, she is employed in the varnishing department of the pencil factory.”

A FIFTEEN-MINUTE WALK.

In response to a question, Mr. Quinn said that it takes him about fifteen minutes to walk from his home to the pencil factory.

Going back to his visit to the pool room, Mr. Quinn said that after chatting baseball with the proprietors, he went to the Atlanta theater to buy a ticket.

Here Mr. Quinn said in response to a question that he knows John Rainey.

Just after he had bought his ticket at the theater, Mr. Quinn said, he saw Cliff Dodgen, an employee of the theater. The witness said that he didn’t remember exactly where his seat in the theater was, but thought it was on the ninth row, in the center aisle. No one that he knew sat near him that he remembered, he said.

The witness said in reply to the coroner’s question that Mr. Frank wore a brown suit Saturday.

Mr. Quinn said that he went to the factory about 9:30 o’clock Sunday morning. He met Mr. Darley and Ed Montag, an officer of the factory there, he said, and they went in the basement together.

The witness said that he heard of the murder about 9 o’clock Sunday morning when he went to a soda water stand near his home. Officer Payne and the men in charge of the stand were discussing it, he said, and told him. Mr. Quinn said that he gathered from the description given him then that the victim must have been Helen Ferguson. He was told that her first name was Mary, he said, and asked if the last was Phagan. The soda water man recalled it then.

The witness said that he then went to the undertaker’s establishment and looked at the body.

DENIED STATEMENT TO OFFICER.

He said that on Sunday afternoon he saw Mr. Frank at the undertaker’s. Mr. Frank wore a blue or a black suit then, he said.

Mr. Quinn denied that he had told Officer Payne or Detective Starnes that he hadn’t been to the factory since Friday.

He declared that when he had talked with Detective Starnes and Campbell at the rear door of the factory he had not stated that he hadn’t ben to the factory since Friday.

Mr. Quinn was asked about the white material used in his department. It was known as “hascolene,” he said, and was used as a lubricant for the machines. It came shipped in barrels, he said.

The witness said that on Tuesday or Wendesday in the detectives office, he recalled his visit to Mr. Frank on Saturday and that Mr. Frank remembered it readily. He told Mr. Frank, he said, that if it would do any good to mention his visit he would tell of it. Mr. Frank suggested that he mention it to his lawyer first, the witness said.

At this point Mr. Quinn, in response to a question, again denied that he had told Officer Payne or Detective Starnes or Campbell that he hadn’t been to the factory since Friday.

The witness said that he knew Miss Grace Jones and that he thinks she has been at the factory since the tragedy. He hadn’t accompanied Miss Jones from the factory; he said, and had not seen her since the tragedy, except on the fourth floor of the factory. He had talked to her there, he said, to see if she would not come to work in his department in case there were a number of vacancies that were anticipated. Mr. Quinn said that he didn’t remember discussing the Phagan case with Miss Jones.

Mr. Quinn said that he paid the Colemans a visit of consolation on Thursday. He went, he said, at the suggestion of Mr. Darley and Miss Magnolia Kennedy and because he thought he should go. His visit was purely one of consolation, he said.

Coroner Donehoo then asked Quinn:

“Did you ever tell Mr. Coleman (Mary Phagan’s stepfather) how Frank acted toward the girls in your department?”

“No, sir.”

“Did you ever tell Mr. Coleman how you treated the girls?”

“Yes, I told him I had always tried to make the girls feel at home. Frequently in fixing their machines, I would tell them to ‘Get out of the way and let papa fix it.’ I told Mr. Coleman how jolly Mary was—about a remark she made once: ‘Yes, you look like papa!”

“Do you know a man named Barrett?”

“Yes.”

“You never mentioned to him that you went to the pencil factory that Saturday?”

“No, sir.”

“When was the first time that you told anybody that you had been up there Saturday?”

“I told my father the next day, on Sunday. I didn’t tell Chief Lanford or any of the detectives until last Monday.”

“Why did you withhold that information?”

“I wasn’t asked about it.”

“You didn’t consider it your duty to tell unless you were asked?”

“No, I didn’t want to be dragged into it any sooner than necessary.”

“State what else you know, that you have retained.”

“Nothing.”

“You are not withholding anything then?”

“No, sir, nothing.”

“You say it was your duty to come down and see Mr. Frank after his arrest?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Do you consider it your duty to protect Mr. Frank?”

“No, sir.”

HIS PAY WENT ON.

He was asked if his pay went on while he called upon Mr. Frank at the jail, and said yes. Answering further questions, he said that now and then he got away for matinees, etc., but that his pay went on, that he wasn’t docked for absences. He was asked about his call at the jail.

“You came down and recalled your visit to Mr. Frank. Did he tell you to keep quiet about it until he had told his lawyers?”

“No. He remarked that he was going to tell his lawyers.” He said that Mr. Frank remembered his having been there, but did not remember the time of the visit until his attention was called to it.

“Why did you volunteer this information to Mr. Frank and not to the detectives?”

“I knew he couldn’t question me for three or four hours and the detectives could.”

“Did Mr. Frank consider it advisable that nothing be known about this?”

“No, sir. Mr. Frank didn’t ask me not to tell about it. I didn’t volunteer to tell it, because I expected to be asked every day.”

“Why didn’t you want to be questioned?”

“I knew they had three or four men holding them here, and they could hold me if they wanted to, as I had been in the building on Saturday.”

Other questions intervened, and then the coroner asked:

“Did you go out to Mrs. White’s yesterday?”

“No, sir; I don’t know Mrs. White.”

“Arthur White’s wife—you know Arthur White?”

“Yes, but I never have been out to his house.”

Quinn was excused from the stand at this juncture.

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Atlanta Journal, May 8th 1913, “Lemmie Quinn Grilled by Coroner But He Sticks to His Statement,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Lemmie Quinn, foreman, who testified that he visited the factory and talked to Mr. Frank just after Mary Phagan is supposed to have left with her pay envelope. He was given a searching examination by the coroner Thursday, but stuck to his statement.

Another in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Journal

Thursday, May 8^th, 1913

Lemmie Quinn, the Factory Foreman, Was Put Through a Grilling Examination, but He Steadily Maintained That He Visited the Factory Shortly After the Time Mary Phagan is Supposed to Have Left With Her Pay Envelope

FRANK’S TREATMENT OF GIRLS IN FACTORY DESCRIBED AS UNIMPEACHABLE BY ONE YOUNG LADY EMPLOYEE

Mr. Frank’s Manner at the Time He Was Informed of the Tragedy by Officers at His Home on Sunday Morning is Told of by Former Policeman — Both Frank and the Negro Night Watchman Are Expected to Testify During Afternoon, When Inquest Will Be Concluded

The coroner’s inquest into the mysterious murder of Mary Phagan adjourned at 12:55 o’clock Thursday to meet again at 2:30. At the hour of adjournment, six witnesses had testified. They were “Boots” Rogers, former county policeman; Lemmie Quinn, foreman of the pencil factory; Miss Corinthia Hall, an employee of the factory; Miss Hattie Hall, stenographer; J. L. Watkins and Miss Daisy Jones. L. M. Frank and Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, were both present at headquarters during the morning session, but neither had been recalled to the stand when recess was ordered. Both are expected to testify during the afternoon, when an effort will be made to conclude the inquest and return a verdict.

Though put through a searching examination by the coroner in an effort to break down his statement that he had visited the factory on the day of the tragedy shortly after noon just after Mary Phagan is supposed to have received her pay envelope and left, Quinn stuck to his story. He declared that he had recalled his visit to Mr. Frank, and that Mr. Frank told him he was going to communicate the fact to his lawyers.

“Boots” Rogers testified that Mr. Frank had changed the tape in the time clock while the officers were in the factory Sunday morning after the body of Mary Phagan had been found, and that he stated at the time that the sheet he took from the clock seemed to be correct. Rogers also described Mr. Frank’s manner when the officers went to his home in an automobile to take him to the factory Sunday morning.

Miss Daisy Jones, who was mistaken for Mary Phagan by J. L. Watkins. She was a witness before the coroner Thursday. G. W. Epps, the boy who came to town with Mary Phagan on the day of the tragedy and left her on her way to the factory [right].

Miss Corinthia Hall, an employee in the factory, testified that Mr. Frank’s treatment of the girls in the factory was unimpeachable. She also testified that she had met Lemmie Quinn at a restaurant near the factory near the noon hour Saturday, her statement being confirmatory of his visit to the factory on the fatal day. J. L. Watkins testified that he had mistaken Miss Daisy Jones for Mary Phagan when he thought he saw Mary on the street near her home on Saturday afternoon about 5 o’clock. Miss Jones testimony was also in this connection.

NEW WITNESSES CALLED.

Following a conference between Solicitor General Dorsey, Assistant Solicitor General Stephens and Chief of Detectives Lanford, just after the inquest recessed for lunch, it was learned that Leo M. Frank and Newt Lee would be recalled at the afternoon session and that there would be the following new witnesses: Miss Alice Wood, of 8 Corput street; Miss Nellie Pitts, of 9 Oliver street, and Mrs. C. D. Dunnegan [sic], of 165 West Fourteenth street.

Rogers Describes Mr. Frank’s Manner When Told of Tragedy

“Boots” Rogers, formerly a county policeman, was the first witness. Mr. Rogers said that he lived at 100 McDonough road. He was at the police station at 3 o’clock on the morning of April 27, he said, when a call came from the factory of the National Pencil company. The officers responded to the call in his automobile, he declared. Those who went with him were Police Sergeants Brown and Dobbs, Call Officer Anderson and Britt Craig, a newspaper reporter.

Mr. Craig was the first person to enter the basement, the witness said. He (Mr. Rogers) entered second; Dobbs and Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, bringing up the rear. All saw the body about the same time, Mr. Rogers said.

George W. Epps

The witness said that the girl’s body was lying face down, with the hands folded beneath the body. The body was turned over by Police Sergeant Dobbs, he said.

Rogers continued that they found two notes near the body. The first note, found by Sergeant Dobbs, was on white scratch paper and on a tablet lying face down. The sheet with the note on it was detached and fell off when the tablet was picked up. It was lying about a foot from the body’s right shoulder. Another note was found later, written on a yellow order blank of the factory, lying about a foot from the feet of the body. Rogers wasn’t sure whether he or Sergeant Dobbs noticed that first. He didn’t notice a sharpened pencil nearby. There were a number of stubs, but none sharpened that he saw.

Asked “Who telephoned Mr. Frank that the girl was dead?” he said no one did as nearly as he remembered—that Detective Starnes telephoned Mr. Frank later in the morning to come down to the factory.

About two or three minutes after the first officers arrived with him, said Rogers, they were admitted to the factory. They saw the negro night watchman, Newt Leet, through the glass door, coming down the stairs with his lantern.

“She’s down in the basement—she’s down in the basement,” Rogers aid the negro told them first. He showed them the way down, indicating the trap door and the ladder. Britt Craig, a newspaper man, went first, and was followed by the witness, then by Sergeant Dobbs of the police, and last by the negro.

Everything was in gloom, though a gas jet was burning dimly at the foot of the ladder.

NEGRO WASN’T EXCITED.

“Look out, white folks, you’ll step on her,” the witness said the negro exclaimed when they started toward the rear of the basement. The negro took the lead then, with his lantern, and led them to the body. The negro’s manner was as cool as that of a man would be under the circumstances, said the witness. The negro wasn’t excited. “He was being questioned by all of us,” said the witness. He answered questions promptly.

“How did you happen to find the body?” the witness said was one of the questions put to the negro. He repeated the negro’s answer—of how he was making his rounds, and entered the basement, and by the dim rays of his lantern noticed a suspicious looking object on the ground near the back. “Somebody’s put that there to try to scare me,” the negro said he remarked to himself, going over to see closer. The body was revealed and he hurried back upstairs to telephone the police.

BODY FOUND FACE DOWN.

The witness said that Sergeant Dobbs asked the negro how the body was lying when he found it. The negro’s answer was “on its face.” “Did you turn it over?” the negro was asked; and answered “no sir, I didn’t touch it.”

This point of the evidence was in conflict with previous testimony by the negro himself, who swore at the inquest that when he found the body it was lying on its back face up, with its head toward the back door—exactly the reverse of the position in which the officers found it.

Rogers, the witness, said that the body was lying on its face, hand folded beneath it, when he and the officers first saw it. The negro stuck to the same story while answering all the questions, said the witness. After about ten minutes Sergeant Dobbs ordered that the negro be held under arrest. The negro was taken upstairs by Call Officer Anderson. The rest of them looked around for the girl’s left shoe, which was missing from the body.

Officer Anderson and the negro went upstairs first alone. Twenty or thirty minutes later the witness went up and found the officer and the negro sitting in the office. Anderson was trying to telephone to some of “the factory folks,” said the witness. The negro was sitting nearby in silence. Some one suggested that the officer telephoned to Mr. Frank, the superintendent, at his home. Anderson tried to get Mr. Frank’s number. There was no answer. Anderson talked to the operator, and told her something very serious had happened and that the call was urgent; and Anderson said he heard the persistent ringing that followed.

IDENTIFIED AS MARY PHAGAN.

While he and Sergeant Dobbs had been moving about downstairs, looking for the girl’s shoes, said Rogers, they found the staple on the back door pulled, and pushed the door back and went out into the alley, searching it to Hunter street for some clue. Rogers then went away to find some one to identify the body, said he. The shoe was found by somebody else later. He went to 100 McDonough road, said he, to get Miss Grace Hix, a relative of his own, whom he knew to be employed in the factory. He brought Miss Hix back with him in the automobile, and she identified the body as that of Mary Phagan. Miss Hix sought first to telephone to Mary’s mother, Mrs. J. W. Coleman, but there was no phone in the Coleman home, so she telephoned instead to the home of another girl, Miss Ferguson, and got Mrs. Ferguson, and asked her to go over and break the news to Mrs. Coleman.

MR. FRANK NOTIFIED.

Mr. Rogers said that Detective Starnes, who had been summoned to the factory, called Mr. Frank over the telephone shortly after 6 o’clock. The witness said that he drove Detective Black to Mr. Frank’s home, and that Mrs. Frank, wearing a heavy bathrobe, came to the door. He said that Mr. Frank stood in the hall, fully dressed except his collar and tie.

The witness said that Mr. Frank appeared nervous and excited and asked whether the night watchman had reported to the police that something had happened at the factory. Mr. Rogers said that neither he nor Mr. Black answered.

The witness said that Mr. Frank remarked that a drink of whiskey would do him good and that Mrs. Frank said there was none in the house, but insisted that Mr. Frank get some breakfast before going out. However, they hurried to the undertaking establishment, the witness said.

Mr. Rogers said that on the way to the undertaker’s establishment, Mr. Frank remarked that he had dreamed he had heard his telephone ring about daybreak. Detective Black asked Mr. Frank whether he knew Mary Phagan, the witness said, Mr. Frank replying that he didn’t know whether he did or not.

The witness said that Mr. Frank did not go into the room in which the Phagan child’s body lay.

Mr. Frank remarked, the witness said, that he could refer to his payroll and see whether Mary Phagan worked at the pencil factory.

“Was Mr. Frank steady or trembling at the undertaking establishment?” was asked Mr. Rogers.

“I couldn’t say,” he answered.

Mr. Frank suggested that they go to the factory, the witness said. At the factory, the witness said, they found a number of detectives and policemen and Mr. Darley, an official of the factory, who had been summoned. They went upstairs, the witness aid, to the office and Mr. Frank referred to the payroll, saying that Mary Phagan worked there and that she had been paid $1.20 the day before, shortly after 12 o’clock.

ELEVATOR AT SECOND FLOOR.

The witness said that Mr. Frank then asked if the pay envelope had been found, remarking that it must be around somewhere. They went to the basement in the elevator, which stood at the second floor, the witness said. Mr. Frank switched the current and there was some delay in getting the elevator to work. The fire doors of the elevator were open at this time, Mr. Rogers said, but he didn’t remember whether they were open or closed when he went to the factory the first time.

The elevator was run to the basement, the witness said and Mr. Frank was shown where the body had been found.

CHANGED TAPE IN CLOCK.

When he returned from the basement, said the witness, he sat in Mr. Frank’s inner office with the negro , Lee. Mr. Frank stayed in outer office, but came in twice where he and negro were, and, on the second trip, Mr. Frank looked at the negro and shook his head and said, “Too bad!”

Mr. Frank asked repeatedly if the officers were through with him, saying he wanted to go out and get a cup of coffee, but no opportunity to get the coffee arose. After a while, said the witness, after Mr. Frank had been through the building with Chief of Detectives Lanford, Mr. Frank suggested that they change the tape in the time clock. Mr. Frank took a key to the clock, which he wore on a ring at his belt, and opened the clock with it and removed the time slip and laid it down by the clock. He then went back into his office and got a blank slip. He asked one of the officers standing near to hold back a little lever while he inserted this slip. The lever knocked against a little pencil in the clock. Newt Lee, the negro, was standing near. Mr. Frank turned to the negro and asked, “What is this pencil doing in the hole?” Lee said he had put it there so his number would be sure to register every time he rang. Mr. Frank put the key back at his belt and dated the slip which he had taken from the clock with a pencil which he took from his pocket. The witness though Mr. Frank wrote the date “April 26, 1913,” on it, but he wouldn’t be sure about that, he said.

Mr. Frank, after examining the slip, stated that it was punched correctly, said the witness. He also looked at the slip. The first punch started at 6 p. m., and it was punched every half hour, the witness thought, up to 2:30 o’clock. At 2:30 was the last punch. Mr. Frank took the slip into his own office, said the witness, and the witness said he did not know what became of it after that. A little later they all got into his automobile, said Rogers, Mr. Frank sitting in Mr. Darley’s lap in front beside him (the witness) at the wheel, and some of the officers sitting with Frank in the back.

At this point the coroner asked where Mr. Darley was when the clock slip was being removed. He was standing near by, said the witness.

After delivering his passengers at police headquarters, said Rogers, he went with Miss Hix to take her back to her own home.

On the trip to headquarters, said he, Mr. Frank did not seem to be as nervous as he had been. When he returned to headquarters, said the witness, the detectives were getting Newt Lee, the negro, to write. Lee then seemed very nervous.

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Atlanta Journal, May 8th 1913, “Phagan Inquest in Session; Six Witnesses are Examined Before Adjournment to 2:30,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Another in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Journal

Wednesday, May 7^th, 1913

BY KENNETH TODD.

HOUSTON, Tex., May 7.—Although young Paul P. Bowen, arrested in Houston Monday as a suspect in the Mary Phagan case, has been released by the chief of police, the release was ordered against the wishes of the chief of detectives and the latter has been summarily discharged for opposing his superior in spite of the telegram from Chief Beavers, of Atlanta, to Chief Davison, of the local department.

Bowen was released twenty-four hours after the message was received. Chief of Detectives Peyton stubbornly refused to let the youth go free, so Chief Davison procured the keys and acted as turnkey. He also discharged Peyton and started a row that has the police department up in the air. Fourteen members of the department were discharged. Claiming that the discharge of Bowen was actuated largely by spite and before a thorough investigation had been made local Pinkerton’s agents as well as private detectives are doing some work on their own accord.

The row between the chief of police and the chief of detectives was caused when the latter gave out the story to an afternoon paper without consulting the head of the department and mentioning his name.

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Atlanta Journal, May 7th 1913, “Fourteen Houston Policemen Fired on Bowen’s Account,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)