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

Atlanta Constitution
July 31^st, 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.”

“Where?”

“At the undertaker’s.”

“Was she dead or alive?”

“Dead.”

“How did you identify her, if you did?”

“I identified her by looking at her.”

Miss Hicks was then made to describe in detail the undertaking establishment and also Mary Phagan and she declared that the girl was good looking, with brown hair and blue eyes, and that she knew her at once by her hair.

She also stated that Mary Phagan was well built, and then she was asked to tell of the routine of the factory.

Describes Office Plan.

“What did you do every day when you went to the factory?”

“I punched the clock and then went to the dressing room.”

“How far was the clock from Frank’s office?”

“About 18 feet,” said the girl.

“How much of the twelve months had Mary Phagan worked?”

“Most of the time.”
“Where was Mary’s work place?”

“Next to the dressing room.”
“Were you present and saw the place when the blood was dug up?”

“That was about two weeks afterward.”

“How far was Mary’s machine from the dressing room?”

“About ten feet.”

“In going from the office to the clock would a person pass Mary’s machine?”

“Yes.”

“How far was this?”

“About ten feet.”

“Did you ever see Frank in the metal department?”

“I have seen him pass through.”

“About how often during the day would Frank come back to the metal department?”

“About two or three times a day he would come back to see if the work was being done properly.”

“When did Mary work last?”

“Monday, the metal have given out.”

“Had the metal come Saturday?”

“No.”

“Did Frank know when the metal was there?”

“I don’t know.”

“When was the regular pay day?”

“On Saturday, they paid off Friday of that week, though, I got a telephone message to come for my pay on Friday.”

Shown Building Plans.

The cross-section of the building was then shown the witness and she was asked to point out where the metal was kept. She also pointed out Lemmie Quinn’s dressing room, the register clock and Mary Phagan’s machine.

Mr. Rosser then took up the cross-examination of the witness on behalf of the defense.

“Standing at the time clock you could not see into Frank’s office, could you?” he asked.

“No, sir.”

“Did you work there a year?”

“Five years.”

“Who was your foreman?”

“Mr. Quinn.”

“In those five years how many times did you speak to Mr. Frank?”

“Three times.”

“Did you ever see him speak to Mary Phagan?”

“No, sir.”

“That floor back there is very dirty, isn’t it?”

“Very dirty.”

“Lot of white stuff around there?”

queried Mr. Rosser, referring to the white substance which it was said had been found partially covering the alleged blood spots on the floor.

“Yes, sir.”

“Was there any other girl in the factory who had hair like Mary Phagan?”

“Yes, Magnolia Kennedy’s hair was almost like it.”

“What was Mary’s hair like, was it like these locks?” asked Mr. Rosser, poking one finger at the blond head of Attorney Reuben Arnold.

“Yes, sir, very similar to that,” replied the witness, and Mr. Arnold did his best not to appear to notice that his colleagues and opponents were smiling at him.

Fun at Attorneys’ Expense.

Mr. Rosser amused everyone by pointing out the various lawyers on either side of the case and asking the girl witness if any of them had hair exactly the color of Magnolia Kennedy’s tresses. She shook her head as he indicated each one.

“Did you ever see Frank have anything to do with the clock?” Mr. Rosser asked, returning to his usual serious way.

“No.”

“Did you go on Friday to get your pay?”

“Yes.”

“Did Frank pay you off?”

“No, sir.”
“Did you see Magnolia Kennedy and Helen Ferguson while they were getting paid off?”

“Yes.”

“Do you live on McDonough road?”

“Yes.”

“Are the pencils in the factory ever colored?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Ever red?”

“Yes, I think so.”

“Could the red ever get on the rubber?”

“Yes, it might.”

“Did Frank pay off that Friday?”

“No.”

“Who did?”

“I can’t remember, but it wasn’t Mr. Frank.”

Asked About Frank’s Office.

“You may come down,” said Mr. Rosser. Mr. Dorsey, however, asked the witness to remain on the stand, and took up further questions.

“Do you still work for the National Pencil factory?” he began.

“Yes.”

Miss Hicks was then asked in regard to the details of Frank’s office, but could tell but little about its arrangement.

“Was there any paint in the polishing room?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Were the paint room and the machine room together or were they separated?”

“There was a partition between them.”

“Any paint in the room where Mary’s machine was?”

“No, sir.”

“I’ve seen drops of paint on the floor about the doorway between the two rooms,” she said when asked about that point.

“Was it hard to tell that it was paint?”

“No.”

“Could you easily tell it was paint?”

“Yes.”

“Did the paint look at all like blood?”

“I never saw any red paint there.”

Mr. Dorsey then finished with his witness, but the defense asked for another chance to cross-examine her.

“Could there have been any red paint there?” asked Mr. Rosser.

“Yes.”

“The floor was very dirty and greasy, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“If the paint stayed there long enough you couldn’t tell what I was?”

“No, sir.”

The girl was then excused after being on the stand slightly over an hour.

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

Atlanta Constitution
July 31^st, 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.

Black Very Nervous.

Black’s memory proved treacherous on many points, but it was in regard to the finding of the bloody shirt at Newt Lee’s house that he got mixed up and confessed his inability to recall dates.

Solicitor Dorsey had stated that he expected to show that Black had gone to Lee’s house only after Frank had informed him that several punches were missing from the time slip taken from the register clock, and that Lee would have had time to go home; that after Frank’s house had been searched for incriminating evidence at the suggestion of Herbert Haas, that Frank sought to have Lee’s house searched and that the bloody shirt was really a “plant.”

Black’s answers failed to bear out the contention of the solicitor. He could not say with any degree of certainty what day it was Frank had told him of the “misses” on the time slip.

He was also hazy as to the time Frank was actually detained at police headquarters. He could not tell by some hours what time he and Detective Haslett took Frank to the police station on Monday morning following the murder.

Black impressed a majority of the spectators as honestly trying to recall facts, but his inability to do so was manifest.

He seemed nervous. During the cross-examination by Luther Rosser he folded and refolded a large white handkerchief, frequently mopping his face.

Rogers on the Stand.

Other witnesses who testified for the state Wednesday were W. W. (Boots) Rogers, Grace Hicks, a sister-in-law of Rogers, who worked at the pencil factory and who first identified the body of Mary Phagan; Mrs. J. W. Coleman, mother of the dead girl, who was questioned for a short time, and J. M. Gantt, the discharged shipping clerk, who, for a time, was held in jail on suspicion.

Mr. Rogers made a good witness. He was accurate as to time, and the cross-questioning of Luther Rosser failed to confuse him. Rogers testified that to his best knowledge and belief Frank never saw the face of the dead girl in the undertaking establishment and that he could not have known who she was. At the coroner’s inquest Frank testified that he had seen the girl at the undertaking establishment.

Grace Hicks told of identifying Mary Phagan by her hair and she did not know whether Frank was personally acquainted with the dead girl or not. She said that she had worked at the pencil factory for five years and that during that time she had spoken to Leo Frank just three times. Grace Hicks is a decidedly pretty girl of 17, and she told her story in a perfectly frank and straightforward manner.

J. M. Gantt testified that he had been discharged from the National Pencil factory for alleged shortage in the pay roll. He explained that one of the pay envelopes was short and that when he declined to make it good Frank discharged him.

He said he had known Mary Phagan for years; that the families lived close together in Cobb county at one time.

He told of Leo Frank remarking.

“You know Mary pretty well, don’t you?”

He said Frank was decidedly nervous on the day he went to the factory to get his shoes.

Crowd Still Large.

Instead of diminishing, interest in the Frank trial grows daily. Mobs of curiosity seekers besiege the doors for admission. Many of them resort to all sorts of subterfuges to gain admission. The “I am a reporter” is the favorite dodge. At times bona fide newspaper men find difficulty in gaining admission on account of the suspicion entertained of all persons claiming to be reporters.

“BOOTS” ROGERS GOES ON STAND

The first witness put on the stand when court convened Wednesday was “Boots” Rogers, in whose machine police officers responded to Newt Lee’s call to the factory where Mary Phagan’s body was found.

Rogers told of the trip there and of the finding of the body and of the arrest of the negro. He then said that Detective J. N. Starnes called up a person, whom he afterwards heard was Frank, and told him to come to the factory.

Rogers took Detective John R. Black in his auto and went to Frank’s house. At the door he said the ring was answered by Mrs. Frank, who was dressed in a heavy bath robe, and while they were talking to her Frank himself appeared from behind a portiere curtain in the hall and began to ask them what was the matter at the factory.

Says Frank Was Nervous.

Testimony as to the defendants’s nervousness and his frequent asking for coffee before he left home and later at the factory made up the greater part of Rogers’ statement on the stand.

Rogers also went into some detail about the actual finding of the body and later about the way in which Frank acted at the undertaker’s shop.

Frank was nervous there, Rogers said, and did not enter the room to see the girl, but went into another room before the undertaker had turned the face toward them.

Rogers also told of the time clock at the factory and declared that Frank had taken out and put away the slip in the clock and put another one in its place.

Rogers declared that Frank had declared that the clock was correctly punched and that he also looked at the slip and that as far as he could tell the punches were regular and there was nothing out of the way in the appearance of the slip.

MISS GRACE HICKS GIVES TESTIMONY.

Miss Grace Hicks, a sister-in-law of Rogers and the girl whom he carried to the factory to identify the dead girl’s body, was next placed upon the stand. She said that she had worked there five years and that she had known Mary Phagan for about a year.

That Leo Frank came into the metal department where the Phagan girl and she worked, but that she had never seen Frank speak to Mary Phagan, was a part of her testimony.

The girl was asked a number of questions about the details of the factory building and of the routine of the employees in her department. She said that Lemmie Quinn was her foreman and that in the five years she had worked there she had only spoken to Frank three times.

The girl was also asked about paint spots on the floor and also if a white substance was not kept in the building similar to that which covered some of the alleged spots on the floor. She said she had never seen any red spots on the floor around her room, but that she had seen paint spots of other colors.

BLACK TELLS OF VISIT TO FRANK.

John Black, third witness on the stand, testified that he was called to the pencil factory at 4 o’clock on the morning of the 26^th. He told of having gone with “Boots” Rogers to the home of Leo Frank to bring him to the plant building in Rogers’ car and of Frank’s apparent nervousness.

Black told, also, of searching the home of Newt Lee and discovering the bloody shirt, which Solicitor Dorsey charges is a plant. He also told of hearing Attorney Herbert Haas, associate counsel for the defense, demand of Chief Lanford that detectives search Frank’s home on a day before the accused man was put under arrest.

Black told of Frank’s visit to the undertaking establishment shortly after daybreak on the day of the discovery, and of hearing the conversation over the telephone when Detective Starnes summoned Frank to the pencil plant.

He remained on the stand for several hours.

Mrs. J. W. Coleman, mother of Mary Phagan, was recalled to the stand for a short time to identify the mesh bag of her daughter.

J. M. Gantt, once a Phagan murder suspect, then testified about his visit to the factory to get his shoes. He was the last witness. Court adjourned at 4:50 o’clock.

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

Atlanta Georgian
July 31^st, 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.

Black Bewildered.

Within the space of 30 seconds the attorney had Black unmistakably bewildered, although the detective tried his best to stick to the details of the story he had just narrated under Solicitor Dorsey’s questioning.

In another 30 seconds Rosser continued his bulldog tactics and had Black practically admitting that he had told an untruth under oath, and that although a moment before he had sworn that he had seen Rosser at the police station between 8 and 8:30 o’clock the Monday morning after the crime, he now was not sure that it was not 10 or 10:30.

Rosser, seeking to discredit Black’s previous testimony and his memory, drove Black to admit that he could not remember any of the details of Frank’s attire the morning that Black visited the Frank home, and that he was not sure at all that Frank could not have seen the face of the Phagan girl when he visited the morgue Sunday morning.

Shaky Testimony.

Black swore when Dorsey was questioning him that Frank put on his collar, tie and coat on the first floor of his home, but when Rosser got hold of him he was just as willing to admit that it might have been in the cellar or on the roof, and the remainder of his testimony became shaky to the same extent.

Taking up a number of the details of Black’s testimony on direct examination, Rosser made the perspiring detective admit that he was not certain of a single one of them. None too fluent and assured under the friendly interrogation of the Solicitor General, Black instantly became halting and confused when Rosser let loose with his fire of disconcerting questions.

The detective’s features flushed crimson. He mopped his face which was running with perspiration. Then he held his handkerchief up by two of its corners to dry in the breeze from an electric fan. Before he could accomplish this, it must be applied again to his liquid features.

He tripped and stumbled over his answers. He became hopelessly muddled as to times and conversations. He was groping, but his memory turned traitor.

The “Plant” Story.

The climax came when Solicitor Dorsey came out with his declarations that the bloody shirt found at Newt Lee’s home was a “plant,” and that it was inspired by Frank or persons interested in Frank. He said that he intended to show that Black had gone to Lee’s home to make a search only after Frank had informed him that several punches were missing from the time tape taken out of the register clock, and that Lee would have had time to go home between punches. The Solicitor added that he proposed to show that the only interpretation of Herbert Haas’ demand for a search of Frank’s house was in order to open up the way for a search of Lee’s house by the detectives.

It took only a few moments to demonstrate that the Solicitor was leaning on a broken reed. Black already had passed through the ordeal of more than an hour’s grilling by Rosser and Dorsey had him in the redirect. Black gave only a half-hearted and half-certain assent to Dorsey’s inquiry if these circumstances did not transpire before the search of Lee’s house.

But when Rosser charged at him again even this fragment of memory and assurance had departed from him.

“Don’t you know, Black, that, as a matter of fact, that shirt was found before Frank ever said anything to you about the misses in that time tape?” Rosser bellowed at the red-faced, wilting detective.

Waited Six Minutes.

Black opened his mouth, but no answer came forth.

“Don’t you know it?” persisted the lawyer.

Still no answer.

Rosser drew his watch from his pocket and held it on the witness. Six minutes passed and the silence continued. Judge Roan started to speak.

“Give him time to answer, your honor,” interrupted Rosser grimly, still holding the watch.

“I don’t remember,” finally came from the lips of the witness.

A moment later Black gave up.

“I’m all crossed up,” he said. “I don’t know where I’m at.”

Rosser laughed.

“Come down,” he said.

“Come down,” echoed the Solicitor.

J. M. Gantt, discharged employee of the pencil factory, followed Black on the stand. Gantt’s most important piece of testimony was that Frank, contrary to the representations he made the morning after the murder, knew Mary Phagan by name.

He knew this, he said, because one day when he had been talking with the Phagan girl Frank said to him: “You seem to know Mary pretty well, Gantt.”

Rosser brought out in his cross-examination of Gantt that the young man had failed to tell of this alleged incident when he was before the Coroner’s jury when he was asked if Frank knew the girl.

Say Frank Was Nervous.

The bulk of the State’s evidence Wednesday was only for the purpose of showing that Frank was nervous, trembling and pale on the afternoon of the tragedy and the next morning when he was taken to the morgue and to the factory by the detectives. Gantt testified that Frank seemed nervous and apprehensive Saturday night at 6 o’clock when Gantt went to the factory to get some shoes he had left there when discharged. “Boots” Rogers and Detectives Starnes and Black testified that he acted in a nervous and agitated manner the next morning. Rogers and Black declared that Frank would not look on the face of the dead girl when they took him to the undertaking rooms.

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

Atlanta Journal
July 30^th, 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.

Evidently as to the nervousness of Frank on the morning of the murder was given by City Detective John Black and W. W. Rogers, who, after the body had been found called at Frank’s home in an automobile to bring him to the pencil factory. Upon cross-examination by Attorney Rosser these witnesses were unable to furnish any specific instances of Frank’s conduct indicating nervousness, beyond the fact that he walked rapidly, talked fast, found some difficulty in adjusting his collar and tie, and several times referred to his desire for a cup of coffee or something to eat.

Both of these witnesses swore that when they took Frank to the undertaking establishment they did not see him look at the dead girl’s face. However, neither of them would swear positively that Frank did not do so.

Apparently Solicitor Dorsey regarded as important the testimony of Grace Hix that the factory paints were kept in the polishing room, which a some distance from the metal room. The girl declared that she had seen a few drops of paint on the floor of the metal room leading from the polishing room to the water cooler, but that she had never observed any red paint on the floor. Attorney Rosser compelled the witness to admit that the floors of the factory were very dirty and badly stained and that on account of the dust and dirt only two or three days would be necessary to elapse to make it impossible to determine the color of a stain of pa[i]nt which had been dropped upon the floor.

Attorneys in the case are fighting strenuously over every point however insignificant it may seem to the spectators.

Despite the battle of three days, however, no testimony not already in the hands of the public has been presented. The prosecution, nevertheless, promises to produce new and startling evidence before much more progress in the case is made.

The report that J. M. Gantt, who was arrested shortly after the murder and later released, would give sensational evidence to the effect that he saw Frank and Conley together about 1:25 on the day of the tragedy was denied by Gantt. Gantt declared he met a friend of his, Rosser Shields, about 1:50 in the afternoon and went to the restaurant opposite the pencil factory, but that he did not see anyone come in or got out of the factory, as he was not noticing.

An effort of the prosecution to develop through the testimony of “Boots” Rogers that Leo M. Frank did not look upon the face of Mary Phagan as she lay is the morgue on the Sunday morning when Frank, accompanied by officers, visited the undertaker’s, and an equally determined effort of the defense to show that Rogers did not know whether Frank saw the little girl’s face or not, was one of the interesting features of the Wednesday morning session. Solicitor Dorsey, presumably, was endeavoring to show that Frank had lost his nerve and that he could not bear the sight of the child’s face, and Attorney Rosser combatted his efforts very energetically. The witness was stopped several times by each side as he was dismissed by the other and made to go over his testimony.

Another interesting feature was the line of questions directed at Miss Grace Hix, the friend of Mary Phagan, who was first to identify her body. Solicitor Dorsey asked her in considerable detail about a door on the second floor, leading to the third story. This door was near the point where the defense claims the girl was killed. It has never figured in the case however, until shown on the solicitor’s diagram. The purpose of the solicitor is not yet apparent. Mr. Dorsey also had Miss Dix tell what the natural route would have been from Frank’s office to the metal room. The lines on the solicitor’s diagram indicate a route which Mr. Frank is supposed to have taken and which apparently was somewhat out of the way.

Before Rogers took the stand the diagram of the pencil factory was again submitted by Solicitor Dorsey, but with all writing removed. After an argument by the attorneys with the jury out of the room Judge Roan admitted the diagram as representing the state’s theory.

While lawyers and principals in the Frank trial refuse to estimate the probable length of the big legal battle, those who have been following the case closely now believe that it will run far into next week. Judging from the progress made since the jury was chosen the state will do well if it closes its case next Saturday.

Everybody is wondering whether or not Conley, if he is called, will stand up under the battery of the defense when he takes the stand against the accused factory superintendent. Conley is expected to be the state’s main witness.

Conley is almost certain to take the stand twice during the trial. He will, of course, be a witness in the direct presentation of evidence by the state. And it is more than probable that he will be called in rebuttal to refute the statement that W. H. Mincey, defense witness, is expected to make. Mincey claims that Conley, while intoxicated, confessed to murdering a girl on the day Mary Phagan was killed.

So far the prosecution has presented nothing that has not been told the public weeks ago through the newspapers. Attorney Frank A. Hooper, for the prosecution, promises that evidence heretofore unknown will be brought before the jury this week, however. In conversation with newspapermen Thursday morning he said that the state would present important new evidence before it closes its case.

PUBLIC ADMITTED.

At 8:40 o’clock the public was admitted to the court room until the seats were taken. About fifty people were left outside when the doors were shut again. Frank already had arrived from the jail, in charge of the sheriff. Judge L. S. Roan was in his own chambers.

The jury was waiting in the room designated for its use. No woman appeared among the crowd first admitted to the court. Frank, the accused man, appeared cheerful, and chatted unconcernedly with friends close to him.

Court reconvened at 9 o’clock. The judge, lawyers and other principals appeared in mohair or linen suits.

Newt Garner, special deputy attached to the solicitor’s office, produced the diagram which the solicitor had sought […]

Did Frank Look at Mary Phagan’s Face at Morgue on Sunday?

[…] to introduce as evidence Tuesday afternoon and hung it again upon the wall. The key writing and most of the lines had been erased.

The solicitor again sought to introduce the diagram in evidence. The defense objected. The defense objected even to it being hung where the jury might see it. Attorney Arnold pointed out a heavy dotted line and two crosses and two red dots, assuming that they illustrated the story which the negro, Conley, he supposed would tell.

Solicitor Dorsey cited a decision by the state supreme court.

Judge Roan asked Mr. Arnold if all the writing which might indicate the meaning of the lines and crosses and dots had been removed. Mr. Arnold admitted that the writing was erased. “But, your honor, writing is not necessary in order to explain a picture of a horse,” he argued.

STATE WINS A POINT.

Judge Roan asked Mr. Dorsey. “The lines simply indicate the state’s theory, do they not?”

Mr. Dorsey answered affirmatively.

Judge Roan admitted the diagram as evidence, and the jury was brought in and the trial began.

W. W. Rogers, formerly a county police officer, in whose automobile the officers went to the scene of the murder and in which they brought Frank there, went upon the witness stand.

Rogers now is a bailiff in Justice Girardeau’s court. He is known as “Boots” Rogers.

Along about April 26, he said, he was operating an automobile for hire between Buckhead and Roswell.

ROGERS TELLS OF TRIP.

On April 26 he was riding around town in his car. That night he was at police headquarters with his car. About 3 o’clock Sunday morning, April 27, a call came to police headquarters from the pencil factory, and he drove some officers up to the factory on Forsyth street.

The officers were let in through the front door by the negro night watchman, Newt Lee. The negro led them to the basement where they discovered the body of Mary Phagan.

Rogers was present when Detective Starnes used the telephone in the pencil factory office. This was just after daylight, between 5 and 5:30 o’clock. He couldn’t recollect exactly what he heard Starnes say nor did he know what replies came over the wire.

Starnes was asking some one to come to the pencil factory. He did not know to whom Starnes was talking. He heard him say, “I’ll send an automobile for you.” The detective hung up the receiver and asked him, the witness: “Will you drive to Mr. Frank’s home, 68 East Georgia avenue, and bring him to the factory?” He consented, and went there with Detective Black, the drive requiring five or six minutes.

Detective Black preceded the witness to the door of the home. Black knocked on the door or rang the bell. In “a few minutes” the door was opened by Mrs. Frank. To the best of his recollection Mrs. Frank wore a heavy bathrobe. She opened the door wide and Detective Black and he stepped into the house entrance.

FRANK WAS DRESSED.

Black asked for Mr. Frank. Mrs. Frank called to her husband, and almost instantly he walked through the portieres in the hall toward the door. He was dressed for the street, with the exception of collar, tie, coat and hat.

Solicitor Dorsey inquired whether Mrs. Frank also was dressed for the street. Attorney Rosser objected. Judge Roan sustained the objection.

Frank wore a pleated bosom shirt. The witness said he noticed that particularly because it appeared to be ironed so nicely. Solicitor Dorsey requested the witness to go ahead and tell the jury what Frank had on.

Witness replied that he could tell only what he saw. Frank had on shoes, blue hose (he thought), blue trousers, white shirt and suspenders (he thought).

Describing Frank’s actions after he entered the reception hall, Rogers testified that Frank walked directly to Detective Black and inquired, “Has anything happened at the factory?” Black did not answer, but hung his head.

FRANK ASKED QUESTIONS.

“Frank then came to me,” the witness said, “and asked me the same question, and I did not answer.” Turning to Black again, Frank asked, “Did the night watchman call up and report anything to you?”

To this question Black replied, “You’d better get on your coat and go with us to the factory.”

Rogers testified that he did not hear Starnes tell over the telephone to whomever he was addressing, that a murder had been committed at the factory.

About 3:30 o’clock, he said, he heard Call Officers Anderson, who had Newt Lee in his custody, trying to call some one over the telephone from Frank’s office in the pencil factory.

The witness returned to the scene at Frank’s house. Frank asked his wife for his collar and tie.

Solicitor Dorsey asked Rogers if anything was said about dreams while he and Black were at Frank’s home. The defenses objected. Solicitor Dorsey said he was refreshing the mind of the witness from the transcript of evidence taken at the coroner’s inquest. Rogers replied.

FRANK’S DREAM.

“Mr. Frank said something about the phone ringing early that morning. He didn’t know whether it actually had rung or whether it was a dream.”

Rogers testified that Mrs. Frank asked her husband to drink some coffee before he went to the factory. Frank said, “Yes, I’d like to have time to drink a cup of coffee.” Detective Black said, “I think a drink of whisky would do him good.”

Mrs. Frank explained there was no whisky in the house because her father, Emil Selig, had suffered an attack of acute indigestion and had consumed it. Rogers asked Mrs. Frank for some water to put in the radiator of his automobile, and on her permission went back into the kitchen and got a bucket full of it.

There was no preparation being made for breakfast in the kitchen and there was no fire that he saw. There was a gas range there, said the witness. Rogers said that Frank was “extremely nervous,” that his voice was refined or strained and “kind of lady-like.”

FRANK APPEARED NERVOUS.

Frank was rubbing his hands and put questions abruptly and moved above briskly in the hall. Frank had his hair combed when they arrived at the house five or six minutes after they left the factory.

“On the trip to town, about how long did it take you?”

“About five or seven minutes. I remember looking down at the speedometer and seeing that it registered forty-one miles an hour.”

“What was said about Mary Phagan?”

“One of us. I think it was Black, asked Frank if he knew a girl by the name of Mary Phagan. Frank asked if she worked in the factory. Black said, “I think so.” Frank said he would look on the pay roll and see. One suggested taking Mr. Frank by the undertaker’s, and we went there.”

“Did you see a corpse?”

“Yes.”

“Describe the place and all about it.”

“There is a little hall leading through the place. On the left is a chapel and on the right is a large room. In that room the corpse was laying on a cooling board. The room was dark, but Will Gheesling, who worked there, lit a light behind the corpses. Then he took the sheet down and turned her head toward me. I looked back then, to see who was following, and saw Frank step into a little side room which I afterward learned was the place where Gheesling slept.”

FRANK AT UNDERTAKER’S.

“Did you see him look at the corpse?”

“I didn’t. I remember looking back to see who was following me, just as the head was turned toward me, and then he stepped into this little room. He could have looked at it, but couldn’t have seen the face until Gheesling turned it around.”

“Did you have any conversation there?”

“Someone asked Frank if he knew her. He replied that he was not certain, but if it was Mary Phagan and she worked at the factory he could tell there.”

At this point the witness said that in the conversation at Frank’s residence he had heard Frank tell his wife to call up Darley and have him come to the factory.

“Did Frank ask Black any questions at the undertaker’s?”

“I don’t remember.”

“What was Frank’s manner?”

“He still was apparently nervous.”

“What did he do or say?”

“It was just his general manner that made me think he was nervous—his quick actions and his quick steps.”

“When was Frank first told the girl’s name?”

“So far as I know it was in the car coming down when he first heard the name and heard that there had been a murder.”

“Did he ask anything about her name at the undertaker’s?”

“I don’t remember.”

“How long were you at the undertaker’s?”

ASKED ABOUT ENVELOPE.

“Ten or fifteen minutes. We went from there to the factory. As we stopped the car, Mr. Darley and some other man were going into the factory and Mr. Frank called to them. We all went up the steps together. We went directly to Mr. Frank’s office, and he immediately opened the safe and took out the time book. Running his finger down a page, he came to the name Mary Phagan. ‘Yes, she was here yesterday to get her pay,’ he said. ‘Wait and I’ll tell you what time. If I make no mistake, stenographer left at 12 o’clock, the office boy went a few minutes later, and then she came in and got her pay. It was 1:20.”

“What else was said?”

“Mr. Frank asked if the envelope had been found lying around the factory.”

“What day did he say Mary Phagan got her pay?”

“He said ‘yesterday,’ referring to Saturday, April 26.”

“Did he give the time any more accurately than at a little after 12 o’clock?”

The witness repeated his testimony regarding Frank’s statement.

“What were his appearance and deportment then?”

“He was still nervous.”

“Describe his manner.”

“He still stepped around quickly, and his speech was quick and sharp.”

“Describe his countenance.”

“I didn’t notice it especially.”

“What about the elevator?”

“After he had opened the safe, and so forth, something came up about where the body was found, and I think he said he wanted to see the place. Frank then went by the time clock and up to a switch box by the elevator. He turned this on and the machinery started running.”

THE ELEVATOR.

“Was the switch box locked?”

“No, the lock and key were there by it, but it was open.”

“What was said about this by Frank?”

“He said that he had been accustomed to keeping it locked until he was told by the insurance company that it was against the law to keep an electric switch box locked. The crowd got into the elevator, and Frank reached for the rope. It was hung (caught), and Mr. Darley helped him to get it loose.”

“Describe Frank’s manner.”

“He still was nervous.”

“Go into detail.”

The witness repeated his detailed description of Frank’s quick actions.

“Did you head Frank ask any questions on the way to the basement?”

“I can’t remember.”

“Did he then advance any theory about the crime?”

“Frank stated that Newt Lee had worked for a long time with Darley and had been at the factory only a short time. If the negro knew anything about it, said Frank, Darley would come nearer than anybody else to getting it out of him.”

THE TIME CLOCK.

“Did you see anybody take any punch slip out of the time clock?”

“That was later on after we had left the basement and come back to the office floor. Frank suggested to Darley that they’d better nail up the back door and they went back down. The officers left Lee with me, and after they came back upstairs they took Frank through the factory. When they returned to the office, one of them officers suggested that they’d all better go down to the station house, and Frank, turning to Darley, said, ‘I guess I’d better put a new slip on the clock.’ Darley said, ‘Yes.’ Frank took his keys out of his pocket, unlocked the door of the lock on the right, and took out the time slip. He examined the slip and then said it was punched all right.

“Lee was handcuffed and was standing near. Darley also was there. After seeing that the time slip was punched all right, Frank laid it down on the table and went into his office, coming out with a blank slip. While he was in the office getting the new slip, several of us examined the one taken from the clock. When Frank put in the new slip, he asked some of us to help him, and I held a lever. Frank found a pencil in one of the punch holes and asked Lee why it was there. The negro said he put the pencil there so he would punch the right hole and make no mistake.

“Frank locked the clock and on the margin of the slip he wrote in pencil ‘April 26, 1913.’ Then he folded the slip and carried it back into the inner office. When I examined the slip I noticed just the first two punches especially. One was punched at 6:01 o’clock and the second at 6:32 or 6:33.”

“He didn’t notice any skips on the slip,” said Rogers.

“He thought if there had been any omissions, he would have seen them.”

While they were in the factory, he heard Frank say several times that he wanted to go out and get a cup of coffee. Solicitor Dorsey wanted to know if anybody else said anything about coffee. Attorney Rosser objected. Judge Roan sustained the objection.

LITTLE TO SAY OF CRIME.

“Did you hear Frank say anything about wanting to get breakfast?” asked the solicitor.

“I don’t remember that I did, but while we were at his home Mrs. Frank asked if Mr. Frank couldn’t get his breakfast before he left.”

“While you were in the factory,” the solicitor asked, “did Frank talk much about the murder?”

Frank had very little to say about the murder, replied Rogers. When the others pointed out where the girl’s body had been found in the basement, Frank said, “That’s too bad.”

Rogers said he did not notice Frank’s eyes. Frank was in the factory about an hour that morning. From the factory they went to the station in his, Rogers’, automobile. Darley sat on the front seat beside the witness, and Frank sat on Darley’s knee.

Newt Lee, the negro nightwatchman, was in the rear seat with Detective Black. As far back as the witness knew, nothing had been said to indicate that Frank was under arrest. At police headquarters the officers took Frank to the detective chief’s office on the third floor. Rogers did not go upstairs with them. He stayed behind to take his sister-in-law home.

Replying to questions by the solicitor the witness did not remember to have seen Frank do any writing at the station house. He did see Newt Lee write. Some of the officers were writing. The solicitor sought to refresh the witness’ memory about his testimony on this point before the coroner’s jury. Attorney Rosser objected. Judge Roan sustained the objection.

Solicitor Dorsey asked Rogers if he had seen the officers do anything with Frank and Lee at the station house. Attorney Rosser objected. Judge Roan sustained the objection.

The solicitor asked if Rogers saw Frank with a pencil in hand.

ANOTHER OBJECTION SUSTAINED.

Taking up the stenographic record of the testimony at the coroner’s inquest, the solicitor stated that he desired to ask the witness what he swore at the inquest. Attorney Rosser objected. Judge Roan sustained the objection.

The solicitor then asked Rogers about Frank’s appearance while at the station house. Frank was nervous, said Rogers. Just like he was when the witness first saw him at his home and like he was at the factory. Asked to describe his actions, Rogers and Frank jumped from the car immediately it was stopped in front of the station; that he walked rapidly and nervously into the station; and that what few words he spoke were uttered in a nervous and excited manner. Darley followed Frank to Chief Lanford’s office. Rogers did not observe Frank’s hands at the station.

CROSS-EXAMINATION.

Rogers was cross-examined by Attorney Rosser.

Rogers testified that he had not seen Frank before that Sunday morning when he went to his home and got him. He did not know Frank’s usual actions and mode of expression. He couldn’t say whether Frank was perturbed or excited more than usual.

When the officers arrived at the factory, very early that morning, they waited at the door a minute or two for Newt Lee to come down and open the door.

Rogers admitted that they could not tell, at first, whether the body was that of a white or negro girl. They had to pull down one stocking and wipe her face off before they could tell. Rogers said that the cord cut into the flesh of the body’s neck, but the skin wasn’t broken.

The piece of her underskirt around her neck was over the cord. Attorney Rosser questioned Rogers closely about the time when they returned to town and took Frank to the undertaking parlor. Attorney Rosser asked Rogers if Detective Black didn’t say a drink drink would do them all good.

“Not in those words” answered Rogers. He reported what Mrs. Frank had said about her father having consumed all the whisky in the house. Frank and Mrs. Frank and the lawyers laughed.

Attorney Rosser asked Rogers what he said about Mary Phagan’s pay envelope before the coroner’s jury. Rogers said that he told the coroner’s jury about it, but couldn’t recall his exact words.

When they visited the undertaking establishment, said Rogers, he did not know whether Frank and Black were inside when the light over Mary Phagan’s body was flashed on.

Mr. Rosser asked him if he didn’t know Black was leaning against one side of the door and Frank against the other side. He didn’t know whether they were or not. He wouldn’t attempt to say that Frank didn’t see the corpse then. “Didn’t you know that Gheesling was looking at Frank when he turned the light on?” asked Mr. Rosser. Rogers said no.

Mr. Rosser developed from the witness that the elevator appeared to be a rather clumsy and frail affair, but the witness declined to say that it stopped with a bump. Mr. Rosser also brought out the fact that when Darley came to Frank’s assistance when they started the elevator, it started toward the top, but Darley stopped it, and then Frank took hold of the rope and ran the elevator to the basement.

Rogers testified that when they found the body it lay with its head toward the front and its feet diagonally across toward the right rear corner.

BRUISES ON BODY.

The body was lying on its front, with arms folded beneath it. The face looked toward the right wall.

Attorney Rosser brought out a repetition of testimony about bruises and slight cuts on the face, and about the examination of the body by the police. One of the stocking supporters was broken, testified the witness. Her undergarments were torn.

Rogers stayed about twenty minutes in the basement, and then left to get the undertaker and to go after his sister-in-law, who identified the body. Attorney Rosser brought out the fact that Frank went to police headquarters from the factory willingly and readily.

Solicitor Dorsey took the witness on re-direct examination.

“When you first saw the body in the basement, could you tell by the hair whether it was that of a white person?”

Rogers answered that at first glance it looked like the hair of a white girl, but he couldn’t tell from the face. Both Rosser and Dorsey interrupted the witness. The solicitor said that what he wanted the witness to do was to say whether he could tell by the hair that the body was that of a white person. Rogers answered that the hair impres[s]ed him that way.

DID FRANK SEE FACE?

Solicitor Dorsey asked the witness if the body that he saw in the basement was the same that he saw in the undertaking establishment. Rogers said that it was.

The solicitor asked if Frank saw the face of the body at the undertaking establishment. Rogers said he didn’t think so.

Attorney Rosser demanded to know if the witness had not stated that when he first went into the room where the body lay, he did not notice where Frank was and that Frank might have seen the fact at that time.

Rogers admitted that he said he did not know what Frank’s position was when he, Rogers, entered the undertaker’s room, but that unless Frank was close to where he, the witness, stood, he could not have seen the face.

Attorney Rosser interrupted again, striving to draw from the witness an admission that it was possible for Frank to have seen the face of the body without Rogers knowing about it. The witness repeated that he did not think Frank saw the girl’s face.

Solicitor Dorsey sought to go over with the witness the testimony he gave on direct examination about this point. Attorney Rosser objected, Judge Roan sustained the objection.

ANOTHER TILT.

Addressing the court, the solicitor said: “All I want to know, your honor, is whether it was possible for Frank to see the girl’s face. If not, why not?”

The solicitor put this question to the witness:

“What, if anything, prevented Frank from seeing the girl’s face when he turned off into the little room?”

Although Mr. Rosser was endeavoring to interrupt, the witness replied: “The body was lying so that he couldn’t have seen it.”

“What was it you testified about the envelope?” asked the solicitor.

Mr. Rosser objected. Judge Roan sustained the objection.

Addressing the witness, Attorney Rosser inquired:

“Didn’t you tell me that when the girl’s face was turned toward you, you were intent upon looking at it and didn’t know where Frank was?”

“I told you he had to be close to me in order to see the face. If he was outside, he could have seen the body but not the face.”

“Didn’t you tell me,” demanded Mr. Rosser, “that Gheesling, the undertaker, was in better position to know all about this matter, then yourself?”

“Yes,” answered the witness.

“Come down,” said Mr. Rosser.

Solicitor Dorsey interposed another question.

“When Frank went into the room, the girl’s face was turned toward the wall, was it not?”

“Yes,” replied the witness.

“Come down,” said the solicitor.

“Look out! Wait a minute,” snapped Mr. Rosser. “You were so busy looking at the girl’s body that he could have seen the face and you wouldn’t have known it?”

ROGERS LEAVES STAND.

“He could have seen the body but not the face. To see the face, he would have had to be somewhere close to where I was standing.”

“You just said, did you not, that you didn’t know where he was?”

“Yes.”

“Come down,” commanded Mr. Rosser.

“Hold on!” ordered the solicitor. “Didn’t you testify that Frank didn’t enter the room where the body lay?”

“Yes, sir,” answered the witness.

“And that he stepped off into a side room?”

“Yes.”

“Come down,” said Mr. Dorsey.

And this time the witness left the stand.

Miss Grace Hix, sister-in-law of “Boots” Rogers, who preceded her on the stand, was called as the next witness.

Miss Hix said that she had known Mary Phagan ever since Mary had worked at the pencil factory, nearly a year. Miss Hix worked with her in the metal room at the rear of the second floor. Mary was a pretty girl about thirteen years old and was well developed for her age. Mary and the other girls working there registered four times a day at the time clock, said the witness, checking in at the beginning of the day’s work, out and in again at noon, and out at inght [sic].

Mary’s machine was next to the dressing room, near where the blood stains were found on the floor. Frank made visits through the metal room at least once a day, and that sometimes the girls would see elsewhere in the factory.

MARY LAID OFF.

The last day that Mary had worked prior to the murder was on the preceding Monday, Mary had been laid off then on account of the metal giving out.

Solicitor Dorsey questioned her closely about the metal and where it was kept. His questions indicated that this will become an important point in the state’s case.

Miss Hix testified that the metal was kept in a closet under the steps leading from the metal room to the third floor.

Using Mary Phagan’s parasol, handed to her by Solicitor Dorsey, Miss Hix pointed out the metal room on the chart. She pointed out also a little room alongside it, occupied by Lemmie Quinn, the foreman, as an office; and the men’s and women’s toilets.

Solicitor Dorsey asked her if any of the metal had come between Monday and Saturday of that week. She replied that none had come. Mr. Dorsey asked her then if she knew whether or not Frank was aware that the metal supply had given out. She didn’t know.

She said that although Saturday was the usual payday, the majority were paid off on Friday night of this particular week, between 6 and 7 o’clock. On the Wednesday preceding the murder, Lemmie Quinn, the foreman, had called her up and told her the girls would be paid off Friday.

With Mary Phagan’s parasol again, Miss Hix pointed out Frank’s office on the chart, and the register clocks, and the probable course anyone would take in going from Frank’s office to the metal room in the rear on that floor.

She pointed out Mary Phagan’s machine in the metal room.

GOOD DEFENSE WITNESS.

Miss Grace Hix was cross-examined by Attorney Rosser. She made about as good a witness for the defense as she had for the prosecution, Mr. Rosser bringing out several material points. Miss Hix said that a person standing by the time clock could not see into Mr. Frank’s private office.

While Frank often passed through the metal room to see how things were going on, he seldom spoke to any of the girls. She remembered only three times in a about a year that he had spoken to her, and one of those times was when she went to him to bor[r]ow a quarter.

Miss Hix said that she did not know whether Frank knew her name. The floor of the factory was quite dirty, and there were several buckets of a white lubricant sitting around; also different colored paints were used around the factory.

She knew that they used blue and white paints, but was not sure about red paint. Only four girls worked in the department—herself, Magnolia Kennedy, Helen Ferguson and Mary Phagan. She and Helen and Magnolia got their pay on Friday afternoon. They went to the factory together some time after 6 o’clock.

In the metal room she and the other girls were accustomed to comb their hair only a few feet from Mary Phagan’s machine. Magnolia Kennedy, she said, had hair of almost exactly the same color as Mary Phagan’s. She described that hair as about two shades darker than her own.

Asked to point out somebody in the court room whose hair was about the same color, she pointed to Attorney Arnold. The girls usually combed their hair when they were getting ready to leave the factory.

She described Mary Phagan as being stockily built, quite a strong girl, who would weigh about 115 pounds. Miss Hix said that Darley, as general foreman, employed the help and Frank had very little to do with it. She described the distance between the time clock and the office as about ten feet.

She never saw Frank manipulate or have anything to do with the time clock, she said. She identified a pencil handed to her as one similar to the pencils which she helped make.

On re-direct examination, Solicitor Dorsey developed from the witness that she had not seen posted notices that Saturday, April 26, would be a holiday and that employes of the factory would be paid off Friday afternoon.

DIDN’T SEE NOTICE.

She admitted that probably she would have seen it had one been posted. These notice cards, said the witness, usually were tacked about at different places in the factory, and usually about a week in advance of the holiday which they related to. She saw no such cards on the Monday before the murder. Mary Phagan worked on that day. Foreman Quinn never had phoned her before. On this particular occasion he telephoned to her Friday after dinner.

Miss Hix stated that she still works at the pencil factory. She did not know where the uncalled for pay envelopes were kept, but thought they were kept in the office. Solicitor Dorsey endeavored to have the witness state whether a person punching the clock could be seen from Frank’s desk in the inner office. Witness did not know which desk Frank occupied. Neither did she know whether the door of the outer office, when opened, obstructed the view of the clock from Frank’s office. She does not enter the private office, she said.

Solicitor Dorsey questioned the witness in much detail as to where the paint was kept and how it was sued. She said that the paint was kept in the polishing room, a different department from the metal room in which Mary Phagan worked.

The door or entrance to the polishing room is about four or five feet from the door of the dressing room in front of which the red spots were found. She never had seen any paint in the metal room. However, she had seen drops of paint on the floor outside the polishing room, close to the dressing room and cooler.

Solicitor Dorsey wanted to know whether she could tell whether or not what she saw was paint. She answered in the affirmative. She added, however, that she had never seen any red paint outside of the polishing room.

Attorney Rosser interposed a question. He wanted to know if the floors throughout the factory are not stained and dirty, and if the stains on the floors are not so mixed as to make it hard to distinguish among them. Miss Hix answered that the floors are very dirty and that if paint remains on them for two or three days the dirt would cover it so it would be hard to tell whether it was paint or not.

Miss Hix was excused.

BLACK TAKES STAND.

City Detective John Black was called to the stand.

Detective Black said he had been on the detective force for six years. Before that he was a cooper.

Black testified that he was awakened about 4:30 o’clock on the morning of April 27 by Police Sergeant Bullard, who called him over the telephone and told him of the murder. He went from home to the police station, arriving there about 5 o’clock. He talked to Newt Lee at police headquarters from about 5 to 5:30 o’clock, he said. Then he went to the pencil factory, arriving there shortly before 6 o’clock.

About 6 o’clock Detective Starnes called Frank over the telephone and told him they wanted him at the pencil factory and offered to send an automobile out to get him. He went with Boots Rogers in the automobile to Frank’s home, and in answer to a ring Mrs. Frank opened the door. She wore a bath robe. He told her he wanted to see Mr. Frank. A moment later Frank stepped from behind some curtains in the hall.

Solicitor Dorsey asked Black if he had seen Frank before that moment. Black replied that on two previous occasions he had encountered Frank at the pencil factory on cases which took him to the factory. On one of these occasions, said Black, he had a conversation with Frank. On that occasion, said he, there was nothing unusual in Frank’s demeanor.

FRANK’S MANNER.

Solicitor Dorsey asked the detective as to Frank’s manner on the morning of April 27. Frank was very nervous that morning, said the detective. The solicitor asked him to explain, and Attorney Rosser objected.

Argument followed. Attorney Rosser said: “If my brother (Dorsey) would sit down and quit smiling at me, I’d be happy.” Judge Roan sustained the solicitor. The question was repeated.

Black answered that he was very nervous, and had trouble putting on his collar and tie. Frank mentioned breakfast twice, said Black. He asked questions rapidly. Frank asked him if anything had happened at the pencil factory and before he could answer that question, asked him if the night watchman had reported anything to the police. Black said that he gave indirect answers to both questions, and told Frank simply he’d better dress and come down to the factory and see.

Black said that he was watching Frank insisted, too, that he wanted a face seemed pale. Frank’s voice was hoarse and “trembly.” Black said that Frank insisted, too, that he wanted a cup of coffee before he left the house.

“What was said in the automobile when you were going to the factory?”

“Frank wanted to know what had happened, and I asked him if he knew a girl by the name of Mary Phagan and told him that her dead body had been found in the basement. Frank said he didn’t remember such a girl; that he knew very few of the girls employed in the factory.

TRIP TO MORGUE.

“I suggested that we go by the undertaker’s shop. When we entered the undertaker’s, one of the undertakers was in front. Rogers followed him. Frank went next, and I followed Frank. When the undertaker lifted the sheet down, Mr. Frank looked at her and stepped aside. I would say that he glanced at her casually.”

“Do you know that he saw her face?”

“I can’t say.”

“Did you see Gheesling turn her head over?”

“Yes,” that was just about the time Frank stepped aside.”

“What do you mean by ‘stepped aside?’ Where did he go?”

“He stepped behind a curtain.”

“Could he see the body from there?”

“No.”

STEPPED AWAY FROM BODY.

“Did he ever go into the room where the body was?”

“Except for that first time I can’t say that he did. After he stepped behind the curtain he went away from the body.”

The solicitor was interrupted by Attorney Rosser, who declared that he was “viciously leading” the witness. After a little tilt, the solicitor was allowed to proceed.

“What did Frank say then?”

“I asked him if he knew the girl, and he answered that he did not know her just then, but thought from her dress that he had paid her off Saturday and could tell by going to the factory.”

“How long did you stay at the undertaker’s?”

“About five minutes. We went from there to the factory, and just as we drove up we saw Mr. Darley and another man. There was a general conversation as we went up the stairs.”

Judge Roan adjourned the court at that point, 12:25 o’clock, until 1 o’clock.

AFTERNOON SESSION.

A large crowdr than at preceding sessions was waiting outside the court house when the doors were opened Wednesday afternoon. Shortly before 3 o’clock as many as could find seats were allowed to enter, and a number were turned away. A number of women were among the crowd.

Court re-convened at 3 o’clock.

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

Atlanta Georgian
July 30^th, 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.

As in the testimony of Sergeant L. S. Dobbs, another of the persons who visited the factory the morning after the crime, it was the purpose of Solicitor Dorsey to emphasize the circumstances which he later proposes to construe as highly significant of Frank’s guilt.

Frank Laughs for First Time.

During the testimony of Rogers, Frank laughed heartily for the first time since the trial began—in fact, it was the first display of any emotion that the defendant has made.

Rogers was telling of his visit in the Frank residence at No. 68 East Georgia avenue when the incident occurred which aroused Frank’s laughter.

The ex-county officer said that Detective Black had suggested that a drink of whiskey would do Frank good. Rogers said that Mrs. Frank had said that her father, Mr. Selig, had suffered an attack of acute indigestion and that there was no whisky left in the house.

“He had had an attack of acute indigestion and drank up all the liquor,” repeated Attorney Rosser, humorously, “Well, I have those attacks occasionally myself.”

Defense Hints Attack Theory.

Miss Grace Hicks, of No. 100 McDonough road, followed Rogers on the stand and Solicitor Dorsey, after having her tell of identifying Mary Phagan the morning after the murder, started at once on a line of questioning that indicated his theory that Mary Phagan was first attacked in or near the women’s toilet on the second floor of the factory.

Attorney Rosser, on cross-examination, brought out that Frank seldom spoke to the girls and that she did not know that he was familiar with them.

The most important points in the testimony of “Boots” Rogers in the re-direct examination were:

That he heard Detective Starnes make no mention of what had happened at the factory when Starnes called Frank Sunday morning.

That Frank, although the interval between calling him and the arrival of Rogers’ car at Frank’s home was only five or six minutes, was dressed for the street, except for collar, tie, coat and hat.

Says Frank Was Nervous.

That Frank’s shirt had the appearance of being freshly laundered.

That Frank appeared nervous and asked of Detective John Black if anything had happened at the factory, and if the nightwatchman had reported anything to the police.

That Frank’s words were jumpy; that he continuously was rubbing his hands, and that he moved about nervously.

That t[h]e defendant, when he was taken to the undertaking room, avoided going into the room, where the Phagan girl’s body lay, and that he never looked into the face of the girl whom the State charges was his victim.

That Frank still was nervous when taken to the factory. That he witnessed Frank take the tape from the time clock and heard him remark that the punches were correct. That he (Rogers), while Frank was in the office after a blank tape, examined the tape taken from the clock and saw that none of the punches had been missed.

Mincey, the star witness for the defense, was not in the witness room Wednesday, nor was he there Tuesday. The prosecution openly stated it did not expect Mincey to be introduced as a witness. Attorney Arnold would not discuss Mincey’s absence, but declared that he would be on hand at the proper time.

Factory Diagram Changed.

Court opened Wednesday with a discussion of the admissibility of the diagram of the pencil factory drawn by Bert Green, a Georgian staff artist. The key to the diagram and all objectionable wording had been removed.

Attorney Arnold still objected to the lines which he claimed outlined the theory of the prosecution.

“You don’t have to label a horse to see it as a horse,” he said.

Solicitor Dorsey cited legal authority which he claimed entitled him to present the diagram as evidence. Attorney Arnold said:

“Those dotted lines have nothing to do with the building proper at all. It undertakes to show something that the building itself wouldn’t show.”

Revised Chart Admitted.

When Solicitor Dorsey started to continued his argument Judge Roan interrupted and said:

“Do you mean for the dotted lines to show the theory of the prosecution?”

“Yes,” answered Dorsey.

“But,” continued the judge, “it is with the jury as to whether you prove this to be the correct theory or not.”

“Yes,” said Dorsey.

“On those grounds then I admit it as evidence,” said Judge Roan.

W. W. Rogers, the county policeman, who was one of the first to visit the scene of the crime, was the first witness of the day called.

Rogers on the Stand.

The jury was brought in after the picture was admitted.

The men filed into their seats, showing for the first time some signs of the long hours of confinement.

“Call W. W. Rogers to the stand,” said Solicitor Dorsey, announcing his first witness.

The young man, who took the police to the scene of the crime early that Sunday morning was sworn.

Q. Where were you Saturday night, April 26?—At the station house.

Q. Where were you at [several words illegible] […]

FRANK LAUGHS FOR FIRST TIME DURING TRIAL WHEN HOME INCIDENT IS TOLD

[…] o’clock Sunday morning?—A. I was still there.

Q. Where did you got from there?—A. I took the police to the pencil factory, where they had been called.

Q. What did you do then?—A. After a negro let us in I went down into the basement with the police and found the body.

Present as Starnes Phoned.

Q. Were you present when Detective Starnes called someone over the telephone?—A. Yes.

Q. What time was sit?—A. About 5 or 5:30 Sunday morning.

Q. Did you know who he called?—A. No.

Q. What did he say?—A. I don’t recall exactly, but in substance he was asking some one to come to the factory. I heard him say, “If you will come I will send an automobile for you.” He turned to me and asked me if I would go to Mr. Frank’s home and get him. He gave us the address and Detective Black went with me. Detective Black went to the door. I won’t be sure whether he knocked or rang the bell. Mrs. Frank answered the door. She had on a heavy blue bathrobe. We asked if Frank was there, and he came through the curtain into the reception hall.

Q. Was he dressed for the street?—A. Yes, with the exception of collar and coat.

Q. Can you tell exactly what he had on?—A. A pair of shoes, blue trousers, white pleated shirt and suspenders.

Neither Answered Frank.

Q. What was said?—A. When Frank came in he went directly to Black. He asked him, ‘Has anything happened at the factory?’ Black did not answer him, and, turning to me, he asked the same question. I did not answer.

Q. What else did he say?—A. He asked, “Did the nightwatchman telephone you anything had happened at the factory?”

Q. What else?—A. Black did not answer him then, but told him he had better come to the factory.

Q. What did Starnes say to Frank over the phone besides what you have already told?

“I object,” said Attorney Rosser, “on the ground that it is essentially a leading question.”

“You will have to put the question differently,” said Judge Roan to Mr. Dorsey.

Tells of Phone Talk.

Q. Detail, now, that Mr. Starnes said first.—A. Mr. Starnes was talking to someone over the telephone. I won’t be sure whether he told him who it was or not. He asked this party he was talking to to come to the factory. He said if he would, he would send an automobile for him. With that he turned to me and asked me to go to Frank’s house and get him.

Q. Did you hear anyone else call from the factory?—A. Soon after we reached the pencil factory, about 3:30 o’clock, I was up in the office with Policeman Anderson and Newt Lee. Anderson was trying to get someone over the phone. I don’t know who it was.

Q. What else happened at Frank’s home?—A. I think he asked his wife for his collar and coat.

Q. Was that all?—A. All I remember.

“Your honor,” said Mr. Dorsey, “he has clearly overlooked something. Can I direct his attention to it?”

Frank Recalled a Dream.

“How do you know it?” interrupted Rosser.

“I have his testimony before the Coroner’s jury and I have talked to him,” said Dorsey.

“Oh, Lord,” growled Rosser as he sat down.

Q. What was said about a dream?—A. Mr. Frank said something about dreaming or hearing the telephone during the night.

Q. Was anything said about whisky?—A. Yes; Mr. Frank said he had not had breakfast. He thought he would like to have a cup of coffee. Detective Black said a drink of whisky might do him some good. Mrs. Frank answered that Mrs. Selig had been ill with acute indigestion and had used all of the whisky in the house.

Q. How was Frank’s voice that morning?—A. He was nervous.

Q. What about his voice? Was it fine?—A. Yes, it was fine; somewhat like a woman’s. He asked questions rather abrupt, right off the reel. His questions were jumpy.

Appeared Very Nervous.

Q. What was his appearance when you first saw him?—A. He was rubbing his hands and was extremely nervous.

Q. Was his hair combed or tousled?—A. It was combed.

Q. What was the conversation on the way to the factory?—A. Black or myself—I don’t remember which—asked him if he knew a little girl named Mary Phagan. He asked if she worked at the pencil factory and we told him we thought she did. He said he would have to look on his pay roll to see if she did; that he didn’t know many of the girls there and that he never went out into the factory among them much. We suggested that we had better go by the undertaking establishment and let him see the body.

Q. Describe how you found the body?—A. The room was dark. Undertaker Gheesling went back of the body and turned on the light. The head of the dead girl was toward the wall. Ghe[e]sling took her face in his hands and turned it toward us. Mr. Frank had been behind me as we entered the room, but when Ghe[e]sling turned the girl’s face to me I looked around and Frank was going out of the room.

Didn’t See Her Face.

Q. How long did he have to see the face?—A. He didn’t have any time for when her face was turned to the light he had stepped outside the room.

Q. Did you ask him any questions?—A. Mr. Black asked him if he recognized the body. He said if her name was Mary Phagan he could tell whether she worked at the factory by looking over his pay roll.

Q. What was his attitude at the undertaker’s establishment?—A. He still appeared nervous.

Q. How?—A. Well, he stepped lively and moved quickly.

Frank sat passive during these questions, his expressions an enigma. His wife and mother on each side of him appeared weary.

Frank Looked at Books.

Q. What did Frank do when they got to the factory?—A. Frank went to the office and unlocked the safe. He got a book and ran his hand down a column and said: “Yes, Mary Phagan worked here; if I am not mistaken she was here Saturday and drew her pay.” He said it was some time a little after 12 o’clock. He asked us if we didn’t find a pay envelope near her body. We told him no.

Q. What was the time exactly, according to Frank?—A. He just said it was something a little after 12.

Q. What was his manner?—A. He was nervous and quick.

Q. What was done about running the elevator?—A. I don’t remember exactly who said it, but some one suggested that we see where the girl was murdered. Frank went out to the switchbox and opened it, and after he had turned on a few things the machinery began to run.

Tried to Start Elevator.

Q. Did anyone ask him about the switch box not being locked?—A. He said the insurance company had him stop locking it, saying it was against the law.

Q. Did Frank run the elevator?—A. He pulled the rope to start it, but it would not move. He called Darley and the elevator was started after some delay.

Q. Did anyone comment on the murder?—A. I think Mr. Frank said Darley had worked Newt Lee and that if anyone could get anything out of him it was Darley.

Q. What else happened?—A. Frank said: “We had better nail the back door, Darley.”

Q. What was done?—A. Frank and Darley went to nail the back door.

Q. What did you do then?—A. Frank said: “I guess we had better put in a new tape, Darley.” He then took the tape out of the box and remarked, “They are all punched all right.”

Frank Brought New Slip.

Q. Where was Newt Lee?—A. Lee was right behind me, handcuffed.

Q. Where was Darley?—A. He was right there.

Q. What happened next?—A. Mr. Frank went to his office, brought out a new slip. He took out the old slip and wrote on it April 26, 1913.

Q. What did he do with it?—A. He folded it once and went into his office.

Q. Did you see that slip?—A. Yes, I glanced at it. The first punch was 6:01 and the second at 6:32. There did not appear to be any skip in it.

Q. Did you hear Frank say anything about something to eat?—A. Yes, several times he said he wanted to get a cup of coffee.

Attorney Rosser objected.

Didn’t Notice His Eyes.

“Maybe several wanted a drink—I expect they did,” he said.

Solicitor Dorsey continued.

Q. Did you notice Frank’s eyes during the stay in the factory?—A. No.

Q. How long did you and Frank remain in the factory?—A. I should say something more than an hour.

Q. Where did you go?—A. In the automobile with Lee, Darley, Black and Frank to the police station.

Q. Was anybody under arrest?—A. Lee.

Q. Was Frank?—A. I didn’t consider him so.

Q. What happened at the station?—A. They took Frank up to Chief Lanford’s office.

Q. Did you see Frank do any writing?—A. I saw Newt Lee write, but not Frank.

Dorsey again wanted to refresh Rogers’ memory about his testimony before the Coroner’s jury. Rosser again objected. Judge Roan declared the witness could not be led.

Q. Did you see the officers do anything with Frank and Lee at the station?—A. I saw them take Mr. Frank and Lee up the stairs.

Q. Did you see Frank with a pencil?—A. I can’t say that I did or did not. I was around there so much and saw so much.

Q. What was Frank’s attitude at the station?—A. He appeared nervous, as he had all the morning.

Q. Did you or not have occasion to observe Frank’s hand at the police station?—A. No, sir, I did not.

Rosser Takes Witness.

Mr. Rosser then took up the cross-examination.

Q. You never saw Frank before that morning.—A. No.

Q. You don’t know whether what you considered his nervousness was natural to him or not?—A. No.

Q. How long after you had knocked at Frank’s door was it before Frank came?—A. About a minute or two.

Q. You went to the factory with the police?—A. Yes.

Q. You had some trouble in finding whether the child was black or white?—A. Yes.

Q. Didn’t someone have to pull down her stocking and look at the flesh before they could tell her color?—A. Yes, I believe so.

Tells of Victim’s Face.

Q. Was there dirt on her face?—A. Yes, and some in her eyes.

Q. How long were you at Frank’s home?—A. About fifteen minutes.

Q. It took that long for the things you have told us to happen?—A. Yes.

Q. Are you sure of it?—A. Pretty sure.

Q. You don’t know what time it was when you went to the undertaker’s? You don’t know whether it was 7 o’clock or not, do you?—A. I can’t be sure of that. I am trying to refresh my memory as best I can.

Q. Did you swear to that conversation with Frank about the pay envelope at the Coroner’s inquest?—A. Yes. I told something about it.

Q. Are you as sure of that as the other things you have sworn to this morning?—A. I am sure I said something about it.

Visit to Frank’s Home.

Q. Was anything said about a little drink doing you all good?—A. Yes. When we were at Frank’s home Black said something about a drink. Mrs. Frank called to Mrs. Selig and she said there was no whisky in the house; that Mr. Selig had an attack of indigestion the night before and used it all.

Q. When you were at the undertaker’s, how did you get to the chapel—A. We went down a long corridor.

Q. Did you know that Ghe[e]sling, standing in front of the corpse, saw Frank looking at it?—A. No.

Q. Then you won’t say that Frank didn’t see the young girl’s face?—A. I do say that it would have been impossible for anyone to see her face when it was turned to the wall, and I can swear that no one but Mr. Ghe[e]sling and I went up to the corpse.

Might Have Seen Body.

Q. Wasn’t it possible that Frank saw the body and the face at the same time you did and turned his head at the same time you did?—A. Yes, I suppose so.

Q. Did Frank have any trouble unlocking the safe at the office? Did he work the combination the first time?—A. Yes, without any trouble.

Q. Mr. Frank tried the elevator and couldn’t?—A. Yes.

Q. He called Mr. Darley?—A. Yes.

Q. Did it run smoothly when it started?—A. Yes.

Q. Did it stop with a jerk when it reached the bottom?—A. No; it just stopped.

No Stains in Sawdust.

Q. Was there blood on the sawdust where you found the body?—A. No; we couldn’t find any.

Q. Was there blood anywhere?—A. Yes; some on her underskirt.

Q. Was there blood on her head?—A. Yes, there was some dry blood matted in the hair.

Q. Was there blood running anywhere on the body?—A. I don’t remember any.

Q. Who turned her over?—A. Sergeant Dobbs, I believe.

Q. Were you there when they found the shoe?—A. No.

Q. Were the shoe and hat found that morning?—A. They were not before I left to get Grace Hicks to identify the body.

Went to Station With Party.

Q. How did it happen that Frank went with you to the police station? Did he volunteer to go?—A. I don’t know exactly. He went along with the party without any hesitancy.

The question was interrupted by a whispered conference between Rosser and Arnold; then Rosser continued.

Q. When Mrs. Frank was telephoning to Darley; how far were you from the telephone?—A. About 6 feet.

The re-direct examination was begun by Dorsey:

Q. Could you tell by a glance at the hair whether the girl was white or not?—A. Yes, you couldn’t tell by the face, but it was evident it was the hair of a white girl.

Couldn’t Have Seen Face.

Q. Did you say Frank did or did not see that girl’s face in the undertaking establishment?

“I object,” said Rosser.

“You can ask only what opportunities he had to see the face,” answered Judge Roan.

A. He couldn’t see it because her body was not lying so that he could.

Rosser said: “Mr. Rogers, didn’t you tell me that you didn’t know where Mr. Frank was when you looking at the girl’s face?”—A. Yes; but he couldn’t have seen it, unless he was standing near me, and he wasn’t standing near me.

Dorsey asked: “Did Frank ever go into the room in which the body was?”—A. To the best of my knowledge he did not. He went in the direction of the toilet, or a room which I took to be a toilet.

Grace Hicks on Stand.

Rogers was then excused, and Miss Grace Hicks went on the stand. She was questioned by Dorsey.

Q. Did you know Mary Phagan?

At this point members of the jury asked for water and while it was being secured for them, Frank leaned over and held a whispered conversation with Rosser.

The question was repeated.

A. Mighty near a year.

Q. Where did you know her?—A. At the National Pencil Factory.

Q. Did you identify her body the morning after the crime?—A. Yes.

Knew Her By Hair.

Q. How did you know her?—A. By looking at her.

[several words illegible] [s]poke in a very soft voice. She appeared about 16 years of age. She wore a white dress with light blue ribbons around her neck and elbow sleeves.

Q. How was she when you saw her?—A. She was covered except her head.

Q. How did you know her?—A. By her hair. It was so long and pretty.

Q. Where did you work?—A. In the metal room.

Q. What did you do first when you went to the factory each day?—A. Punched the clock.

At Factory Every Day.

Q. How often was Mary at the factory?—A. Nearly every day.

Q. Where was Mary’s work place?—A. Right next to the dressing room.

Q. Did you see where the blood was?—A. Yes.

Q. A person going from the office back to the rear of the second floor would have had to pass the dressing room, the place near where Mary Phagan worked, wouldn’t they?—A. Yes.

Q. Did Frank pass there every day?—A. Almost every day. He would come back two or three times a day to see how the work was going on.

Q. When was Mary at the factory last to work?—A. The Monday before April 26.

Saturday Regular Pay Day.

Q. Why didn’t she work that week?—A. The metal had given out.

Q. Where was the metal kept?—A. In a little closet under the stairway.

Q. When was the regular pay day?—A. Saturday at 12.

Q. Was anyone paid off Saturday, April 26?—A. Most of them were paid on the Friday night before, as Saturday was a holiday.

Dorsey then had the witness point out the machinery where Mary Phagan worked on the second floor, as shown on the Bert Green diagram. Then Rosser took the witness on cross-examination.

[This section added from the Home edition of Atlanta Georgian]

Never Spoke to the Girls.

Q. You worked there a year?—A. I worked there five years. Mary worked there a year.

Q. In those five years how many times did you speak to Mr. Frank?—A. Three times.

Q. How many times did you see him speak to Mary Phagan?—A. None.

Q. Did he ever speak to the girls when he came through the metal room?—A. No.

Q. What did he say to you the time he spoke to you?—A. He was passing through the room one day with a visitor. I was leaning my head on my hand. He said: “You can run this machine asleep, can’t you?” The other times he spoke to me on the street.

Q. Did he know your name?—A. I don’t know; he knew my face.

Combed Hair at Machines.

Q. Miss Grace, there was a place up there where you combed your hair, wasn’t there?—A. Yes.

Q. Where was it?—A. Sometimes we combed our hair at the machines.

Q. What color was Mary Phagan’s hair?—A. It was sandy, darker than mine.

Q. How far from the machine where you saw and combed your hair, was the lathe where the strands of hair were found?—A. About 15 feet.

Q. Was there another girl who sat near Mary who had hair like her’s?—A. Yes, Magnolia sat on one side of her and I sat on the other. Magnolia’s hair was sandy, too.

Q. You went on Friday to get your pay with the other girls, didn’t you?—A. Yes, sir.

Frank Not Paying Workers.

Q. Who was paying off, Mr. Frank?—A. No, I don’t remember who. It wasn’t Mr. Frank, though.

Q. Whom did you see there?—A. Magnolia Kennedy and Helen Ferguson.

Q. Who were the other girls in your department?—A. None other but Mary.

Q. What did you do in that department?—A. Cut metal tips.

Q. What time did they pay off on Friday?—A. About 6 or 7 o’clock, a little later than usual.

Q. Wasn’t there placards in the factory stating that Saturday would be a holiday?—A. I didn’t see any. I didn’t know there was to be a holiday until Mr. Quinn told me.

Solicitor Dorsey then took up the redirect examination.

Q. If there had been any cards stating there was to be a holiday you would have seen them, wouldn’t you?—A. Yes, I think I would.

Q. When did you know there was to be a holiday?—A. When Mr. Quinn informed me Friday.

Q. Do you still work at the pencil factory?—A. Yes.

Q. Do you still work at the pencil factory?—A. Yes.

Q. How do you know that a man sitting at Frank’s desk could not see a person registering?—A. I don’t know.

Q. You say there was paint around the machine?—A. There was paint in the polishing room.

Q. How far is it from the end of the dressing room where they say blood was found to the polishing room?—A. Four or five feet.

Q. How far back in the room do they keep the paint?—A. On all the machines.

Saw No Red Paint on Floor.

Q. Did you ever see any on Mary’s machine?—A. No.

Q. Was the paintroom off and separate?—A. Yes.

Q. Did they keep paint out where Mary’s machine and dressing room were?—A. No.

Q. Did you ever see any outside?—A. Sometimes drops on the floor where the women come out to get water.

Q. Was it easy to tell whether it was paint or blood?—A. I never saw any red paint on the floor.

Here Attorney Rosser took up the recross-examination.

Q. They did have red paint in there, and they could have dropped it?—A. Yes, sir.

Q. It was hard to tell what color it was, after it hit the floor, wasn’t it?—A. The floor was awful dirty.

Detective Black Called.

Detective John R. Black followed Miss Hix to the stand. Solicitor Dorsey questioned him.

Q. Where were you working before you went with the police department?—A. Atlanta Brewing and Ice Company.

Q. Who owned the stock of that company?—A. McCandless—

Here Attorney Rosser jumped to his feet.

“I object,” he exclaimed, “That can have no bearing on this case.”

“I agree with you,” ruled Judge Roan.

Q. When did you first see Newt Lee, the day the crime was reported?—A. About 5 or 5:30 o’clock in the morning.

Tells of Visit to Frank Home.

Q. Did anyone call Mr. Frank?—A. Mr. Starnes called Frank and asked him if he would come to the pencil factory.

Q. Was that all?—A. All that I can recall.

Q. Describe what happened when you went to Frank’s house.—A. I went to the door and rang the bell. Mrs. Frank came to the door and asked what we wanted. I told her I was detective from the police station and wanted to see Mr. Frank. Almost at once he stepped from behind some curtains. He asked almost immediately if anything had happened at the factory.

Knew Frank Previously.

Q. Did you know Frank before you went to the factory?—A. Yes, I saw him about two years ago and again about eighteen months ago.

Q. Then you knew him?—A. Yes.

Q. Did you know him or recognize him, when you saw him that Sunday morning?—A. No.

Q. Was Frank nervous or excited when you saw him two years ago?—A. No.

Here Attorney Rosser objected to the testimony being given along this line. Attorney Arnold also arose to his feet and said:

“No police officer can give an opinion as to how a man looks!”

Judge Roan said:

“Now, Mr. Black, state the facts and give your reasons.”

Says Frank Was Nervous.

Q. When you saw Frank the morning of April 27, did he seem nervous?—A. Yes.

Q. Why?—A. Because he had some considerable trouble putting on a collar. It seemed that he couldn’t tie his necktie, and he kept asking fast questions. He asked real quick: “Has anything happened at the pencil factory?” And before I could answer, he asked: “Did the night watchman report it?”

Q. Did he express any anxiety to go to the pencil factory?

Rosser objected with: “That is merely a conclusion, your honor.”

Frank Without Breakfast.

“Let him state exactly what happened, and the jury can draw their conclusions,” said Judge Roan.

Q. Did he ask for anything before leaving home?—A. He kept saying he had had no breakfast and would like to get some before he left.

Q. Did he mention anything else about breakfast?—A. Yes, he told Chief Lanford at the factory that he had had no breakfast.

Q. Tell everything he said in the automobile about the murder?—A. I asked him if he knew a girl named Mary Phagan, who had been found dead there. He said no, but he could tell from the records.

Q. What happened at the undertakers?—A. We went in and the man pulled the cover back. Frank looked at her for a second.

Stopped Behind Curtain.

Q. Are you sure he saw her face?—A. No, but I think so.

Q. Where did Rogers go when Ghe[e]sling turned the girl’s face?—A. I don’t know.

Q. Where did Frank go?—A. He stepped aside. There was a curtain hanging there and he stepped behind it.

Q. What did Frank do after he stepped behind the curtain?—A. I don’t know.

Q. Did he get a better view of the body from there?—A. He didn’t get any view at all.

Q. Did Frank ever go into the room where the body was?—A. He passed by it when we first entered the establishment.

Q. With that exception, did he ever go into the room?—A. Not to my knowledge.

Q. How long after he went behind the curtain did you see him?—A. In a few minutes we went out to the automobile.

Q. Was he going toward the body or away from it?—A. Away from it.

Q. State whether or not Frank said anything—

Not Sure of Girl’s Identity.

Here Attorney Rosser objected:

“Your honor, my friend evidently learned under a pastmaster the art of asking leading questions,” said Rosser.

“I want a ruling on this question,” returned Dorsey, “It is not leading.”

Judge Roan overruled the objection.

“Well, your honor sustains me and overrules Mr. Rosser,” said Dorsey, “The witness will answer the question.”

A. Frank said he was not sure he could identify her, but thought from her clothes she was the girl he had paid off Saturday. He said he could tell by looking at his pay roll.

At 12:30 o’clock court adjourned until 2 o’clock.

Attracted by the report that the State intended to introduce its most important witnesses during the day, a larger crowd than that which clamored for admission on the first two days of the trial besieged the courthouse Wednesday morning as the time for the resumption of the Frank trial approached.

[This section is from an Extra of the Atlanta Georgian]

Wife Cheers Frank.

For several minutes before Judge Roan called the court to order for the afternoon session Mrs. Frank sat with her arm around her husband’s shoulder, laughing and carrying on a happy conversation. Frank was visibly cheered by her.

Detective Black, who was on the stand at the noon adjournment, was recalled to the stand. Solicitor Dorsey delayed the questioning several minutes, waiting for Attorney Arnold to arrive. Then he proceeded.

Q. What examination of the clock did Frank make before he said it was punched correctly?—A. He took out the tape and examined it. He said the punches were right until 2:30.

Q. When did Frank first say the clock was not punched correctly?—A. He told me Tuesday.

Gave Slip to Lanford.

Q. Did he have the slip?—A. Yes, he had given it to Chief Lanford Monday.

Q. What did he do with the slip he took out Sunday morning?—A. He took it into his office.

Q. Do you know whether this is the slip he took from the clock?—A. No.

Q. When did you first hear that Frank had said there were three misses?—A. I don’t recall.

Q. At that time, who was being held.—A. Newt Lee.

Q. Frank had not been arrested?—A. No.

Q. What skips did Frank say Newt Lee had made?—A. I think it was from 10 until 11:30—I can’t recall exactly.

Attorneys Clash Again.

Q. How long after he was arrested did he employ counsel?

Attorney Arnold here objected.

“This witness does not know who employed counsel or whether they ever employed counsel, and besides he would have been in a mighty bad fix if he hadn’t,” declared Attorney Arnold. “It is also immaterial and irrelevant. What do you say, Mr. Dorsey?”

Dorsey replied:

“I want to show that this man employed counsel before he was arrested or even a su[s]pect, and I want to show it as one of the circumstances that led to this prosecution.”

Judge Overrules Objection.

Judge Roan overruled the objection, saying that in his opinion the Solicitor’s reason was material.

Q. State when Frank first had counsel.—A. About 8:30 o’clock Monday morning. Mr. Rosser came into police headquarters.

Q. What happened at Frank’s house before he went to police headquarters?—A. Mr. Hazlett went to Frank’s house and told him we wanted him to go to police station with us to discuss the case. It was about 7:30 o’clock.

Q. What time did you go to the police station?—A. We got to the station some time after 8 o’clock and soon Mr. Rosser and Mr. Herbert Haas came down.

Q. What did Mr. Haas have to say?—A. He wanted officers to go out and search Frank’s house.

Q. Had Frank been arrested?—A. No.

Q. What time did this take pla[c]e?—A. A little after 11 o’clock.

Q. Who did Rosser confer with when he went down at 8:30 o’clock on that Monday?—A. He conferred with Mr. Frank.

Q. Do you know anything about a conference between Newt Lee and Frank Tuesday night?—A. Yes, I suggested to Mr. Frank that he have a talk with Lee. They were alone in a room about ten minutes.

Q. Did you hear what they said?—A. No.

Q. What did Frank say about the conference?—A. Mr. Frank said Lee stuck to his story that he didn’t know anything about the crime.

Frank Seemed to Suspect Gannt.

Q. Did he say he tried to get anything out of Lee?—A. He said that Lee was the only one there and ought to know something about it.

Q. Did he say he suspected Lee?—A. He seemed to su[s]pect Gantt. He said he had discharged Gannt and had seen him at the pencil factory about 6 o’clock Saturday afternoon.

Q. Was Gantt arrested?—A. Yes.

Q. Was it after this conversation?—A. No, before.

Q. When did Frank first mention Gantt?—A. Sunday morning.

Q. Was that before Gantt’s arrest?—A. Yes.

Q. Were other suspects arrested?—A. Jim Conley.

Q. After you and Hazlett arrested Frank did you talk to him?—A. Yes.

Answer is Ruled Out.

Q. What was his appearance?—A. He was nervous, just as any man would be who was arrested.

“Your honor,” said Dorsey, “I move that that be ruled out as a gratuitous opinion. The jury is just as capable of judging whether he acted as any man would have acted or not.”

Attorney Rosser objected.

Judge Roan first said he would not strike the statement, but finally on the statement of Dorsey that he would withdraw the question, he said he would rule out the answer.

“I will put the question in a different way,” said Dorsey, “I will knock it down and set it up again.”

Q. What did Frank do Tuesday to make you think he was nervous?—A. He had nothing to say. He wouldn’t answer questions, while before that he appeared affable and in a good humor.

Here Mr. Rosser took up the cross-examination.

Q. You know that when Mr. Frank was at the station house on Monday he would not leave without consent?—A. No, I came down to the station house with Mr. Frank and I had not arrested him.

Q. Didn’t you swear he was released when he was allowed to leave the station?—A. Yes, but I retract that.

Q. A word put in just as a joke, just swore to a lie?

Black remained silent.

Q. Don’t you know, Brother Black, that I didn’t reach the station house until between 10 and 11 o’clock?—A. No, I think you came there between 8 and 8:30 o’clock.

Q. Didn’t you swear that I came there between 8 and 8:30 o’clock?—A. No. I swore that I got there between 8 and 8:30 o’clock and I thought you did.

Q. Don’t you remember that I came up and had to be introduced to Mr. Frank—that I didn’t know him?—A. No, I didn’t know that you didn’t know him.

Q. Don’t you remember that he told me he wanted a statement and I told him to give it without having a conference with him?—A. Yes.

Rosser Exerts Himself.

Q. Didn’t Chief Lanford order him into his office in the same tone he would talk to a negro?—A. No, I didn’t hear Chief Lanford talk in such a way. You wouldn’t let him go in without being with him.

Q. Didn’t I say I didn’t want him to give a statement without a third party being present so that it could not be stated he said something he didn’t say?—A. You wanted to be there when he made any statement.

Mr. Rosser was particularly vigorous in his tone of questioning. It was evident he was exerting himself more now than at any time since the trial began.

“Now,” he remarked aside, “we’ll go back and take up the story.”

Detective Fails to Remember.

Q. You or Lanford, one, told me that you didn’t want me in there?—A. I don’t remember.

Q. I told you that I was going in to hear what he said for fear you would say he said something he didn’t say?—A. I don’t recall it.

Q. When you released him he was not arrested until 11 o’clock, was he?—A. Yes.

Q. You were at the coroner’s inquest?—A. Yes.

Q. Frank answered all the questions freely?—A. Yes.

Q. You think you had one conversation with Mr. Frank before that Sunday morning?—A. Yes.

Q. Do you recall who was with you?—A. No, I don’t.

[This section is from the evening edition of Atlanta Georgian.]

Attracted by the report that the State intended to introduce its most important witnesses during the day, a larger crowd than that which clamored for admission on the first two days of the trial besieged the courthouse Wednesday morning as the time for the resumption of the Frank trial approached.

That sensation is to be sprung by the defense by the production of the mysteriously missing ribbon and flowers from the hat of the murdered girl was repeatedly indicated by Attorney Rosser’s line of questioning Tuesday and the afternoon before.

Beginning with Mrs. J. W. Coleman, mother of Mary Phagan, the attorney for Frank interrogated every witness who saw the girl alive or dead that day in regard to the ribbon and flowers.

Mrs. Coleman said that the ribbon and flowers were on the hat when Mary left home. Newt Lee said that he had seen no sign of the missing trimmings. The testimony of Sergeant L. S. Dobbs was the same. Detective Starnes, when he was turned over for the cross-examination, made the same admission.

It is believed that Rosser will produce the ribbon and will attempt to establish that it was found in a place throwing suspicion upon the negro Conley.

Frank was brought to the courthouse at about 8 o’clock Wednesday morning. There was no change in his demeanor or physical appearance. If the trial has been any strain upon him he does not display the effects. He was dressed in the dark mohair suit he wore Tuesday. He greeted his friends cheerily and spoke confidently of acquittal.

The jurors, sleeping in three rooms at the Kimball House, spent a restless night. They appeared rather fagged when they were brought into the courtroom at 9 o’clock.

First Witnesses Unimportant.

Attorneys for the State have announced that the witnesses called Monday and Tuesday were only for the purpose of starting the presentation of evidence against Leo Frank right from the opening incidents of the day that the murder was committed, and that they were important only in so far as they assisted in making a continuous chain of evidence, and as they made here and there statements which might be interpreted as damaging to the accused.

Working on the foundation laid by Tuesday’s testimony, Solicitor Dorsey was understood to be prepared Wednesday and Thursday to introduce witnesses who would swear that the red stains found in two places on the second floor were splotches of blood and not aniline or any other coloring stain; also that the bloody fingerprints on the rear door of the basement were the finger-prints of Leo M. Frank.

City Detective J. N. Starnes just before he left the stand Tuesday night identified pieces of wood as pieces he had chipped from the rear door of the factory. There were finger-prints easily distinguishable upon them. A finger-print expert was in the employ of Solicitor Dorsey for some time during the investigation of the murder mystery and was named among the State’s witnesses.

The red-stained chips from the factory floor were sent to Dr. Claude E. Smith, city bacteriologist, for analysis. Dr. Smith also is one of the State’s witnesses and was expected to be called Wednesday or during Thursday forenoon session.

Writing Pad Evidence?

It was understood when the trial opened Wednesday morning that Detective Starnes would be recalled to the stand by the Solicitor to tell of finding on a shelf just outside Frank’s office writing pads of paper similar to that on which the notes found by Mary Phagan’s body were written.

If the Solicitor did not alter his plans meantime, J. M. Gantt, discharged factory employee, was to be the next witness on the stand. Gantt told at the Coroner’s inquest that Frank appeared nervous and apprehensive when he (Gantt) went to the factory at 6 o’clock Saturday night to get some shoes he had left in the building.

Starnes was on the stand practically all of Tuesday afternoon. While the direct examination was in progress the detective told of his part in scouring the pencil factory for evidence.

One of his statements on which the State is relying to establish that Frank acted and talked in an incriminating manner the morning the body was found consisted in his testimony in regard to a telephone conversation which he said he had with the factory superintendent that morning.

Starnes, under the examination of Dorsey, said that he had been very guarded when he called up Frank that morning and had merely said that he desired Frank’s presence at the factory. He denied that he had mentioned the fact that a girl had been killed.

Claim Frank Knew.

It is the purpose of the State to seek to establish that Frank, without being told of what had happened, had made remarks to the officers when they came for him which indicated he was not unaware that a girl had been murdered in his factory.

The main points of Starnes’ testimony were:

That he had discovered stains resembling blood in two places on the second floor of the factory.

That Frank made a strange remark to Foreman M. B. Darley that he “had more than one suit of clothes,” referring to the fact that he had on a different suit than the one he wore the day before.

That Lee appeared composed when questioned Sunday by the detectives.

That he witnessed the new night watchman in the pencil factory make a complete punch of the time clock covering a period of twelve hours in five minutes.

Under Rosser’s cross-examination Starnes admitted that it was practically impossible for him to remember that exact words he used in certain parts of his testimony at the Coroner’s inquest. This admission was obtained by Rosser to show that Starnes’ memory in respect to the telephone conversation with Frank could not be regarded as any more reliable. Rosser brought out that Starnes failed to mention at the Coroner’s inquest either the matter of the telephone conversation or of the alleged conversation he held with Frank the morning of the murder.

Starnes also admitted that the finger-print chips which were shown him by Solicitor Dorsey might not be the same chips he had taken from the rear door of the basement, as the chips had been out of his possession part of the time during the investigation.