Tag Archives: Grace Hicks

Daintily Dressed Girl Tells Of Daily Routine of Factory

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

Atlanta Constitution
July 31st, 1913

Grace Hicks, a sister-in-law of ‘Boots’ Rogers, whom he carried to the factory the morning of April 27 to tell if the dead girl was an employee of the factory was put upon the witness stand by the state after Rogers had been excused.

She was a daintily dressed slender girl of 17, and declared that she had worked there for the past five years.

To the solicitor’s questions she answered that she had known Mary Phagan for about a year at the pencil factory and that the dead girl had worked on the second floor.

“Did you see her on April 27?” Mr. Dorsey asked.

“Yes.”

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Defense Riddles John Black’s Testimony

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

Atlanta Constitution
July 31st, 1913

SLEUTH CONFUSED UNDER MERCILESS CROSS-QUESTIONS OF LUTHER ROSSER

Just Before He Left the Stand He Confessed That He Was “Mixed Up” and That He Could Not Recall What He Had Testified a Moment Before—Tangled on Finding Bloody Shirt.

FRIENDS OF PRISONER HAVE HIGH HOPES NOW OF FAVORABLE VERDICT

“Boots” Rogers, Grace Hicks, Mrs. J. W. Coleman and J. M. Gantt on Stand During Day—Mobs of Curiosity Seekers Besieging Doors to Gain Admission to Frank Trial.

When Wednesday’s session of the Leo M. Frank trial had come to a close, the friends of the accused were filled with high hopes for his acquittal. They were nothing short of jubilant, and on all sides expressions of satisfaction were heard.

This feeling was based on the fact that the testimony of John Black, member of the Atlanta detective department, who worked up a large share of the evidence against Frank, fell to the ground, in a large measure, under the merciless cross-questioning of Luther Rosser.

Time and again Black contradicted himself as to time; time and again he confessed that he did not remember. Just before he left the stand he confessed to Mr. Rosser that he was “mixed up,” and that he could not recall what he had testified a moment before.

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Collapse of Testimony of Black and Hix Girl’s Story Big Aid to Frank

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

Atlanta Georgian
July 31st, 1913

Although the State’s witnesses were on the stand all of Wednesday the day was distinctly favorable for Frank, partly because nothing distinctly unfavorable was developed against him—the burden of proof being upon the State—but most largely because of two other factors, the utter collapse of the testimony of one of the State’s star witnesses, City Detective John Black, and the testimony in favor of Frank that was given by another of the State’s witnesses, Miss Grace Hix, a 16-year-old factory employee.

Girl Helps Frank.

Miss Hix testified that the strands of hair found on the lathing machine on the second floor might have been the hair of one of the other girls in the factory, many of whom when they were ready to leave the factory at night, combed their hair right where they had been working. She said that Magnolia Kennedy’s hair was almost exactly the color of Mary Phagan’s. She also said that the red spots on the second floor might be paint. She never saw Frank attempt any familiarities with the girls.

Black was made the uncomfortable victim of the fiercest grilling any of the witnesses in the Frank trial have received up to this time.

Luther Rosser, chief of counsel for Frank, tore into Black the instant the city detective was turned over to him for cross-examination.

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Defense to Claim Strands of Hair Found Were Not Mary Phagan’s

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

Atlanta Journal
July 30th, 1913

GRACE HIX TESTIFIES THAT GIRLS FREQUENTLY COMBED THEIR HAIR OVER MACHINES

Miss Hix Also Testifies That Magnolia Kennedy, Who Worked Near Mary Phagan, Had Hair of the Same Color and Shade—Important Admissions Lay Foundation for Defense’s Claim That Murder Was Not Committed in Metal Room

STATE ENDEAVORS TO SHOW THAT FRANK VERY NERVOUS AND DID NOT LOOK ON FACE OF MURDERED GIRL

Attorney Rosser Directs His Questions to Combat Claim of Nervousness—Witness Declares She Never Saw Any Red Paint in the Metal Room—State Claims New Evidence Will Soon Be Given—Trial Will Run Into Second Week

Four distinct features marked the trial of Leo M. Frank Wednesday. One was an admission from Miss Grace Hix that the girls frequently combed their hair over the machines in the metal room of the factory; another was a strenuous effort on the part of the state to prove that Frank was very nervous on the morning of the discovery of little Mary Phagan’s body; still another feature was the attempt of the state to show that Frank was reluctant to look upon the dead girl’s face in the undertaking parlors, and the fourth was the state’s effort to prove that red paint never had been seen on the floor of the metal room where the state alleges bloody spots were found.

Around each of these points stiff legal tilts occurred. In developing from Miss Hix’s testimony the fact that the girl’s combed their hair in the metal room, Attorney Rosser laid the foundation for a refutation of the theory that Mary Phagan was murdered there.

The state is expected to introduce as evidence several strands of hair found on the handle of a turning lathe in the metal room, presumed to be those of Mary Phagan. Attorney Rosser drew from the Hix girl the admission that Miss Magnolia Kenneday, one of the metal room employees who worked very close to Mary Phagan’s machine, had hair almost the same shade as that of the murdered girl.

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Gantt Has Startling Evidence; Dorsey Promises New Testimony Against Frank

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

Atlanta Georgian
July 30th, 1913

STATE ADDS NEW LINK TO EVIDENCE CHAIN BY BOOTS ROGERS’ STORY

Sensational testimony by J. M. Gantt, discharged pencil factory employee, was promised Wednesday by Solicitor Dorsey and Frank A. Hooper, who is assisting him. They admitted that Gantt had testimony that had never before been published and would be one of the State’s most material and direct witnesses.

The defense has heard that Gantt will testify he saw Frank and Conley together on the day of the crime. Gantt was expected to follow Grace Hicks on the stand.

The State added another link in the chain of circumstantial evidence it is seeking to forge about Leo M. Frank by calling W. W. (Boots) Rogers to the stand Wednesday.

Rogers is the former county officer in whose automobile the policemen went to the National Pencil Factory Sunday morning after Newt Lee, factory nightwatchman, had called up the police station.

Rogers was on the stand two hours, but in this time he failed to give any material evidence that had not already been presented to the Coroner’s Jury.

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