Atlanta Georgian
August 18^th, 1913

By JAMES B. NEVIN.

It is rather an extraordinary thing that on this Monday, the beginning of the fourth week of the most remarkable murder trial ever held in Georgia, the interest should be in nowiseabated or lessened, and that the opening of court to-day saw the biggest, hungriest and most insistent crowd of curious spectators yet on hand at the opening of court.

Far from letting go the Phagan mystery, the public to-day seems to be gripping it even more eagerly than ever before.

Opinion still is widely divided as to the guilt or innocence of Leo Frank, and there have been many switches of conclusion and reversals of theory, pro and con, within the past week, and no doubt there is much more of the same sort of thing to come.

People to-day believe Frank guilty who started out believing him innocent, and the rule is working right around the other way, moreover!

Despite the many things that have been said and the countless things that have been written of the Frank trial and all that led up to it, it remains, on the threshold of its fourth week, the most absorbing melodrama ever enacted in Atlanta—the most bitterly fought and the most uncompromisingly contested trial known to the criminal history of the State of Georgia.

The principal parties to the case are, of course, Mary Phagan, the dead girl; Leo Frank, the defendant at bar, and Jim Conley, the grimly accusing negro.

Four months ago no one of these people was known to many Georgians.

Mary Phagan, a sweet little working girl, had a circle of perhaps a hundred friends—not 1 per cent of the population of Atlanta ever had heard of her.

Frank Little Known.

Leo Frank, the superintendent of the National Pencil Factory, was hardly known by very many more people—he had a business and college acquaintance, and a limited circle of social intimates. Not more than 2 or 3 per cent of Atlanta’s population ever had heard of him.

Jim Conley, the negro, more than well known in police circles, along the way of the “Butt In” bar in Peters street, and a familiar figure enough along Darkest Decatur, numbered among his respectable acquaintances not more than 50 people—if nearly so many—perhaps.

Now—less than four months after the terrible deed enacted in the pencil factory on Saturday, April 26—there is not a hamlet, a crossroads store or a country or city home in all Georgia that has not heard of every party to the sordid story, and that has not discussed everyone of them, together and singular, from every point of view imaginable!

It is more than morbid curiosity upon the part of people that prompts this great and never-flagging interest in the Phagan case—it is more than the mere fascination of crime that links the heart and mind of the people to it.

In the case of Leo Frank there is that indescribable element we call “human interest,” that vague and elusive thing that tugs at the heart-strings and nags at the conscience—there is the knowledge upon the part of the public that a monstrous crime has been committed, and that responsibility for it must be fixed, no matter the cost and no matter the effort!

The public does not clamor for Leo Frank’s life so much, nor for Jim Conley’s—it demands that responsibility for Mary Phagan’s brutal murder be fixed, and it will not be satisfied until that responsibility IS fixed.

At the same time, I believe—and I have believed all along—that the public wants to see justice done and fair play indulged in.

If Frank is not guilty he has been punished already beyond reason or reparation. He should be turned loose, with every amend decency and mistaken zeal may summon to their embarrassed effort at righting a frightful wrong.

If, however, he is guilty, and that is shown, then the inconvenience and discomfort accorded him thus far will matter little, if anything.

It is a tremendously big game the lawyers are playing in the stuffy little courtroom in the old City Hall Building.

One one side is the majesty of the law of the land, that must be maintained at any and all cost—that majesty of the law that may be invoked in behalf of the humblest no less than the highest. On the other hand is the defendant—an abstract thing in the sight of the law.

On one side is the great State of Georgia, calling for a “tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye”—on the other side are those guaranteed rights of citizens, embodied in Frank, that must not be challenged lightly or without complete and compelling reason.

It is a Big Game.

It is a big game—it involves that most precious of all gifts of God, a human life, and a human reputation, a home and the happiness thereof. It is a game, nevertheless, that involves on the contrary a sinister charge of utter unworthiness upon the part of the man who still protests his rights to these precious gifts, jealously given of a Divine Power, and as jealously guarded by His laws, no less than by the laws of human beings.

One can not get away from the conclusion, cited many times, that, after all is said and done, Frank’s character will determine the verdict in the case now on trial.

His character will be found to be his greatest asset and his most sure dependence, in this his hour of pressing peril—as his lack of it, if shown, must prove to be his final and everlasting damnation.

Frank, by injecting his character in issue, has challenged the worst upon the part of the State.

He has cited scores of witnesses to uphold it—he has made a brave and maybe an abundant, showing.

The State, however, says it will break down that character—that it will show Frank’s unspeakable depravity, even as charged glibly and smugly by the negro, Conley, as yet uncorroborated by any person the most abandoned would care to believe.

If the State can do this thing—

Can it be possible that Frank, through all these years, has been leading a double life?

Can it be true that he has, while professing to be an honorable and upright man, a faithful husband, a dutiful and worthy son, a deserving and decent friend among his neighbors and his kind, nevertheless been, really, a moral degenerate, an ignoble and deceitful creature—and can it be that these things, so long and so cleverly concealed, at last led him to murder?

The State’s Contention.

The State holds that his family circle, his intimate social acquaintances, and his business associates, would, as a matter of fact, be the last people in the world to know the truth of Frank’s double life—for, say they, Frank would employ every artifice and summon to his aid every possible device to keep those very people from discovering the truth concerning him.

This, so the State contends, is precisely what Frank did do—and in that way they justify his alleged intimacy with Conley and his quick calling upon Conley for help, when eventually he found himself with the blood of a human being on his guilty hands.

The State is asking a good deal when it asks the public to believe this of Frank, in the light of the evidence of his good character tendered last week, and it hardly is possible that the public WILL believe it, unless the State makes its charges crystal clear.

Men will ask themselves—and will ask themselves wisely—whose reputation is safe, if it may be brushed away and broken down by the uncorroborated word of such a creature as Conley?

But, Conley uncorroborated in one thing—while Conley corroborated is quite and altogether another!

The State is yet to be heard in rebuttal of Frank’s character witnesses—and so judgement must be suspended pending their revelations.

The only point is—and it has been an evident point so long that to reemphasize it seems trite—the State must make good on its sinister charge of perversion and degeneracy upon the part of Frank, or its case will be greatly weakened, perhaps beyond repair.

I have an idea that Frank’s statement on the stand may weigh heavily in the minds of the jury.

Frank the Star.

Indeed, it is not improbable that the very best jury speech and jury argument put forth in defense of Frank, with all due appreciation and respect of and for Mr. Rosser and Mr. Arnold, will be made by Leo Frank himself!

His statement, although not sworn to, will carry an appeal that hardly can be framed of other lips—either that, or it will fall flat and stale and of no consequence whatever.

The trial long ago resolved itself into a matter of Frank vs. Conley.

It is the defendant’s word against the negro’s.

Both have self interest in the verdict—the life of one or the other must pay the forfeit of Mary Phagan’s murder.

The forthcoming statement of Frank, and the rebuttal of the character witnesses, constitute the two events ahead that may, within themselves, make or mar this case, as one may come to view it eventually.

And it is this situation, no doubt, that holds up the interest to-day, as the fourth week begins—for, despite all that has gone before, the case is not yet nearly ended, and there still remains many things undetermined.

* * *

Atlanta Georgian, August 18th 1913, “Leo Frank’s Own Story to Add Final Touch to State’s Greatest Trial,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

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

Atlanta Georgian
August 18th, 1913

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

PROFOUND IMPRESSION MADE BY PRISONER’S REMARKABLE STORY

FRANK LOOKS STRAIGHT AT JURY AND TELLS STORY DELIBERATELY

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Frank smiled and said to the jurors:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Came to Atlanta In October, 1907.

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

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

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

Looked After the Purchase of Materials.

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

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

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

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

Went to Bank To Get Pay Money.

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

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

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

Paid One Man Check in Cash.

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

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

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

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

Tells of Putting Slips in Time Clock.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shows Invoices to Jury First Time.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Declares He Wrote Financial Sheet.

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

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

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

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

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

Explains How Orders are Filled.

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

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

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

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

Checking Made Hard By Much Red Tape.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conversation With Miss Hall Recalled.

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

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

Arrived at Factory At About 11 o’Clock.

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

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

Week’s Sheet Left In Incomplete Form.

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

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

Mrs. Freeman and Corinthia Hall Came In.

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

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

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

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

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

“‘Has the metal come?'”

Sound of Voice Made Little Impression.

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

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

Frank Details His Own Story to Jury

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Watched Parade When Street Cars Stopped.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Evidence Excluded But Jury Sees It.

Frank unfolded a sample case.

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

Judge Roan: “I sustain you.”

Frank placed the sample case to one side.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Has Own Method of Figuring Cost Data.

“Here they are in comparison the amount shipped.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mailed Statements To Stockholders.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Drinks Water After Talking Two Hours.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Told Officer He Did Not Know Girl.

At this juncture the jury retired for five minutes.

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

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

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

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

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

Admits Nervousness And Defends Himself.

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

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

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

Notes Found by Dead Girl’s Body Described.

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

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

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

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

Frank then described the notes.

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

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

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

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

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

Kept in Ignorance of Charge Against Him.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Employed Pinkertons To Aid the Police.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Phoned to Prevent Alarm of Family.

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

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

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

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

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

Gave Officers All Information Wanted.

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

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

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

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

“They then unfolded a bloody shirt.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Could Not Trust Even His Own Detectives.

“I said: ‘He is the soul of honor.’

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brands Conley Tale As a Tissue of Lies.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hapeville Episode Hinted by State.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Explains Looking Into Dressing Room.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Took Conley 15 Minutes To Tell Crime Details.

Branch was asked.

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

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

Attorney Arnold took the witness.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Employees of Factory Character Witnesses.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Q. What time? A. Three to 5 o’clock.

Q. How often? A. Almost every Saturday.

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

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

Dorsey took the witness on cross-examination.

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

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

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

Dorsey took the witness on cross-examination.

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

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

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

Atlanta Georgian
August 18th, 1913

The eyes of Leo Frank’s wife and his mother-in-law, Mrs. Emil Selig, were constantly upon him as he sat in the witness chair talking conversationally with the jurors. His mother seldom looked at him, maintaining her usual attitude, looking slightly downward and toward the judge’s bench.

Frank had been talking only 10 minutes when they unexpectedly was interrupted by a heated argument between the opposing attorneys over Frank’s explaining the time slips, including the one which the defense claims was taken from the time clock Sunday morning following the finding of Mary Phagan’s body.

Frank had mentioned the time slips and was undertaking to make an explanation of the manner they are used when Attorney Rosser called for the slips for Frank to explain before the jury.

Solicitor Dorsey made an instant objection, arguing that the slips had not yet been placed in evidence. All four of the principal attorneys interested in the case were on their feet at once, two and sometimes three of them, were talking at the same time.

Papers Withheld.

Judge Roan was compelled to caution them to proceed parliamentarily. His r
uling was that Frank might refer to them as much as he pleased, but that he must not go before the jury with them until they had been properly identified and offered for evidence. The same situation developed when Frank sought to explain the details of his work by means of papers and records of his office. He was allowed to sit in his chair and refer to them but not to exhibit them to the jurors.

Fearless and Direct.

Frank talked to the jurors directly and fearlessly. There was no trace of uncertainty in his voice or in his manner. He appeared exacty as though he were in an informal conference with some persons interested in the factory and was outlining his duties and leading up to some particular incident that had engaged their attention and interest.

He was entirely at ease. He assumed an easy pose in his chair, gestured frequently as he proceeded with his narrative, and occasionally changed his position. His hands most of the time were clasped in front of him, except when he illustrated a point with an unconscious gesture. He found it necessary often to adjust his glasses which seemed not to fit him perfectly.

Tells Complete Story.

He touched only briefly on his early history, telling merely of his place of birth, his career in school and college, his short business experience after his graduation and finally his coming to Atlanta in 1908 to take charge of the National Pencil Factory.

He began with Friday, August 25, the day before the crime and recounted his movements almost minute by minute. Coming to the fatal Saturday, he told of leaving his home, reaching his office, talking with his employees and taking up the work of the day.

He was given orders, records, acknowledgement of orders, record sheets, financial sheets and all the other minute details that are involved in the work of the office. Those that had been submitted in evidence he took before the jury and explained at length and in detail the amount of work required in getting these out.

His Own Best Witness

Notebook in hand, Solicitor Dorsey took a seat almost directly in front of Frank, but this appeared to disturb the prisoner not in the least.

Through the major share of the remarkable address, with its clear-cut statements and explanations, there was little or no attempt at oratory, but the speech was unquestionably a most eloquent argument. As had been prophesied, Frank was his own best witness.

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Atlanta Georgian, August 18th 1913, “Frank Makes His Own Best Witness Telling Direct Detailed Story,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

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

Atlanta Journal
August 17th, 1913

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

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

Center of Attack

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

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

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

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

Points at Issue

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Attack Is General

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

Week’s Developments

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

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

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

Was Violence Committed?

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

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

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

Dalton’s Story Eliminated

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

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

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

Cook Denies Affidavit

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

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

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

Character Evidence

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

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

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

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

Can Dorsey Supply Link?

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

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

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

Frank’s Story Corroborated

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

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

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

Court Records Broken

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

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

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

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

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

Saturday’s Testimony

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

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

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

A MILLION WORDS OF TESTIMONY

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Atlanta Journal
August 17th, 1913

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NO WRITTEN STATEMENT.

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

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

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

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

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

DEFENSE NOT DISTURBED.

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

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

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

Introduction to Mary Phagan-Kean’s Insights into the Murder of Her Great Aunt

HERE ARE SOME of the key points offered by Mary Phagan-Kean in her latest interview with social media activist Ryan Dawson. (video above)

Mary Phagan-Kean’s journey into the dark and complex narrative surrounding the murder of her great aunt, Mary Phagan, began unexpectedly. Her father first shared the story after her name was recognized by a teacher, sparking a lifelong quest for truth and justice. The tale, as recounted by her father, painted a grim picture of Leo Frank, the man convicted of Mary Phagan’s murder. According to testimony, Frank was a sexual pervert who molested numerous young girls and even boys, earning him the moniker “the B’nai B’rith pedophile” — a reference to the fact that he was president of the Atlanta chapter of the Jewish fraternal order B’nai B’rith, the organization which gave birth to the powerful ADL, or “Anti-Defamation League.” Frank was even re-elected president of the group after his conviction for murdering little Mary.

The Vigilance Committee, which consisted of leading community leaders and which sought “Southern justice” after a corrupt governor (who was a partner in the law firm that defended Frank) commuted Frank’s death sentence, played a pivotal role in the case by executing him themselves after, as they saw it, outside influencers had illegally prevented his lawful hanging. (The New York Times-invented “Knights of Mary Phagan” never existed. That moniker was likely invented to link the Vigilance Committee to similar-sounding “Knights” factions of the Ku Klux Klan, in order to smear the Committee.)

The lynching of Frank was the first done by automobile, quite a feat considering the limited ownership of automobiles in Marietta, Georgia, in 1915 — further proving that prominent citizens, who were outraged by Governor Slaton’s involvement in the law firm that defended Frank, and his commutation of his sentence, were involved, and not a “mob.”

The Anti-Defamation League, an organization with a vested interest in the outcome, has been relentless in its efforts to secure a full pardon for Frank for decades. Their tactics, however, have been marred by deception and misinformation, leading to numerous hoaxes, including false claims about a pardon (the existing “pardon” does not address his guilt at all).

Mary Phagan-Kean’s father never mentioned Frank’s Jewishness but emphasized his perverse behavior. Her grandfather, Mary Phagan’s brother, was deeply emotionally affected by the case, becoming distraught when asked about it, particularly noting the resemblance between Mary Phagan-Kean and little Mary.

The narrative surrounding the case is fraught with controversy. Jews have even attempted to portray Mary Phagan as a seducer, a claim that Mary Phagan-Kean vehemently rejects.

There has been documented collusion between Jewish groups and officials to alter the wording on Mary’s commemorative plaque, with the altered plaque suggesting that Frank was exonerated for the murder — which he was not. This alteration occurred under the cover of night and was set up during secret meetings from which the Phagan family — and the public — were excluded, further obscuring the truth.

Rabbi Steven Lebow, a prominent figure in the area Jewish community, demanded that Mary’s marker be changed because it “offended” the Jewish community to tell the truth about the non-pardon. This defense of a convicted child rapist and murderer is a strange hill for Jewish groups to die on.

During the 1960s, when Jewish authors Leonard Dinnerstein and Harry Golden were writing their books on the case, the trial transcript mysteriously disappeared, making it unavailable for public scrutiny.

The best outcome of the efforts of both sides in this case, Mrs. Phagan-Kean says, has been the creation of a team to digitize and make all relevant documents on the case available and searchable online. And the best way to study the case, she avers, is to examine these newspaper articles in conjunction with the Brief of Evidence (all now available on leofrank.info and leofrank.org). Contrary to popular belief, the newspapers were pro-Frank and had Jewish editors, contradicting the notion of an anti-Frank, anti-Jewish atmosphere. Nevertheless, the firsthand reports of the trial at that time were mostly honest and paint a very different picture from that of the “Leo Frank is an innocent victim of anti-Semitism” narrative being pushed today. (One can learn, for example, that the grand jury that indicted Frank included four Jews out of 21 members, and that all voted to charge Frank with the murder.)

The Jewish community’s claims that Frank did not know Mary Phagan are untenable. Frank walked past her daily for a year, handled her pay packets weekly, and even directed police to investigate James Gannt, claiming he was “close to” Mary. These actions suggest a familiarity that contradicts his claim of ignorance.

The Anti-Defamation League’s never-ending defense of Frank has inadvertently contributed to the cause they claim to oppose: anti-Semitism.

Mary Phagan was brutally raped, as evidenced by the autopsy report, which, though difficult to read, showed no markings on her body except those of strangulation. There was blood in her panties, and family proof confirmed she was not on her menstrual cycle. ADL-linked author Steven Oney referred to Mary as a “voluptuous woman,” a claim that Parade magazine attempted to exploit this by implying she was “flirting” before her death, a particularly odious insinuation.

A 1980s miniseries, inspired by Harry Golden’s book and dubious material from Alonzo Mann, was produced without consultation with Mary Phagan’s family. This miniseries further muddied the waters of the case.

In a more recent development, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, under pressure from Rabbi Lebow and the Jewish power structure, established a “Conviction Integrity Unit” in Atlanta. This unit, ostensibly to exonerate falsely convicted individuals, including Blacks, was really created explicitly to push for the exoneration of Frank. They have even floated the idea of a new trial for Frank, despite the extreme improbability of a proper prosecution more than a century later.

Contrary to ADL claims, the “mass exodus” of Jews from the area after the Frank case never occurred. This is one of the many hoaxes that will be debunked in the forthcoming new edition of Mrs. Phagan-Kean’s book, The Murder of Little Mary Phagan.

Mary Phagan-Kean’s father’s enduring belief was that “the truth will always win,” a sentiment that continues to guide her quest for justice.

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

Atlanta Constitution
August 24th, 1913

“What I had to say yesterday,” began Mr. Dorsey at the opening of Saturday morning’s session, “with references to character, I think I have demonstrated by law to any fair-minded man that the defendant is not a man of good character.”

“In failing to cross-examine these twenty young ladies who claim his character was bad, is proof, of itself, that if he had character that was good, no power on earth would have kept him and his counsel from plying countless questions in his behalf.”

“That’s common-sense, gentlemen, a proposition that is as fair and a proposition which I have already shown you by law that they had a perfect right to delve into his character. Also, you have seen their failure to cross-question these witnesses.”

“Whenever any man has evidence in possession and fails to produce it, the strongest presumption arises that it would he hurtful if they did produce it. Failure to present such evidence is a glaring Indictment. You need no law book to tell you that.”

“You know the reason, his able counsel did not ask these ‘hare-brained fanatics’ questions of the evidence they had presented against their client. You know it too well, they know it—they know it better than you. That’s why they did not question.”

“You tell me those good people from Washington Street came and said they never heard anything against Frank. Many a man has gone through life, without even his wife knowing his misfortune. It takes the valley to know a man’s life.”

Bad Character Demonstrated.

“That man has a bad character and it has been ably demonstrated. Often a man uses charitable and religious organizations to cover up his misdealings —sometimes to cover up his conscience—as Leo M. Frank has done by the B’nai B’rith, of which he is president”.

“Many a man has walked high in society and outwardly has appeared spotless, but who was rotten, clean rotten, inside. He has no character, I submit—gentlemen, he has none. His reputation for good – is among the people who do not know his real self”.

“David, of old, was a great character, until he sent Uriah to the front of battle, so that Uriah might be killed and David take his wife. Judah Iscariot, until he planted the betraying kiss upon the lips of the Lord Jesus, was a good character.”

 “Benedict Arnold had the confidence of all the people, until he betrayed his nation. Since that day, his name has been a synonym of infamy and disgrace”.  

Cites Wilde Case.

“Oscar Wilde, literary, brilliant, author of works that will go down for ages, the profoundest of which he wrote while in jail, had the companionship of himself and the son of a Marquis, broken up for criminal practice in which he indulged.”

“Wherever the English language is read the coolness and affrontery of Wilde, while he underwent cross-examination, will be the subject of history and admiration. He was a man of Frank’s type. Wilde will remain forever the type of pervert as is this man, who stands with the murder of Mary Phagan.”

 “Not even Wilde’s wife suspected he was guilty of perversion. He was sent to prison for three long years. He was a scholar, cool, calm. and, collected and his cross-examination is a worthy part of history.”

“Good character! Why, he came to America and lectured throughout the country. It was he who raised this sunflower from a weed. A man of rain, knowledge and physique, courage and bravery, but a sexual pervert.”

“Abe Ruef, of San Francisco, a man of Frank’s race, boss of his town, respected, honored, admired. But he corrupted Schmidt and corrupted everything he put his hand to. He led a life of heinous sin, ruining and debauching girls without end. Eventually his case terminated in the penitentiary.”

“Crime, gentlemen, doesn’t go only with the ignorant and poor. The ignorant like Jim Conley, commit the smaller crimes. A man of high intellect and wonderful, endowments commits the worst of crimes. For instance, look’ at McKuhn, mayor of Charlottesville, who slew his wife in the bathtub because he had tired of her. A jury of Virginia gentlemen sent him to a felon’s grave, his just deserts.”

Richeson Sent to Choir.

“Then, there was Richeson, a Boston preacher, who was engaged to one of the wealthiest and most attractive girls of his city. But, entanglement with a poor little girl who had been weak and pliant in his driving and lust-ridden hands, caused him to so far forget himself, as to put her in a grave.”

“All these cases are of circumstantial evidence, and, after conviction, in hope he would obtain pardon, he confessed, while a Massachusetts governor and jury were brave and dauntless enough to send him to the electric chair. Then, there were others, including Henry Clay Beattie, of Richmond, scion of splendid family, who took his wife, the mother of a 12-month-old baby, to shoot her in the automobile in which they were riding.”

“Yet, that man, gazing upon the blood of his slain mate, was cool and calm enough to joke with the detectives. Slush funds were raised, every effort possible was made to free him, but a courageous and honest jury of Virginia gentlemen sent him to death, thus putting this old Virginia citizenship on a high plane.”

“Beattie never confessed, that is true, but he left a note to be read after his electrocution, which he admitted his guilt.”

“Dr. Crippen, of England, man of worthy standing, killed his wife because of his infatuation for another woman, and put her body away, like this man Leo Frank put away little Mary Phagan’s, hoping it never would be discovered.”

“You, gentlemen, have the opportunity that comes to but few men. Measure up to It. Will you do it?”

“If not, let your conscience say why! Tell me as an honest man, why not?”

Attacks Frank’s Alibi.

“They say Frank has an alibi. Let’s examine It. In section 101 of the Georgia code you’ll find just what is an alibi. It involves the impossibility of the prisoner’s presence at the scene during the time of the crime. The range of evidence must reasonably exclude possibility of his presence”.

“In short, gentlemen, they must show you it was absolutely impossible for Frank to have been on the scene at the time Mary Phagan was killed. The burden is upon them. An alibi, unless properly substantiated, is worthless. I am going to show you why that this alibi is worse than no defense at all”.

“I once read an old darkey’s description of an alibi, and it was this:”

“‘Rastus, what’s an alibi?”

“’An alibi is somethin’ that show you was at the prayer meetin’ where you wasn’t, and not at the crap game where you was.’”         

“Turn around this table a minute—this alleged chronological table of Frank’s actions that day, and then turn it back to the wall where I want it to stay—face against the wall.”

“At 1 p.m. Frank leaves the factory. That’s mighty nice. Now, turn it back to the wall. Let it stay. It’s not sustained by evidence. Not even sustained by the statement of the defendant, himself. His story at police headquarters says he locked the door of the pencil factory at 1:10 o’clock and left the building. There’s your alibi. Punctured by the defendant’s own statement made when he did not know the value of time element in his case.”

“He never realized its importance until he went on the stand, and then he swore it was 1 o’clock when he left the building.”

A Sad Spectacle.

“The little Kern girl–God help her! —swore she saw him at Alabama and Whitehall streets at 1:10 o’clock; yet here’s his own statement that he left the factory at 1:10 o’clock.”

“You talk of sad spectacles, the saddest I’ve ever seen was the bringing of this little Kern girl, the daughter of a man who works for Sig Montag, to help free this red-handed murderer.”

“The jurors have a right to take into consideration the reasonableness of what any witness swears. Any man who looked at that little girl could see the untruth stamped clearly in her story.”

“If Frank had locked the door at 1:10 o’clock, how did she ever see him at Alabama and Whitehall streets at that time of day?”

“Mind you, she had never seen him but once, this daughter of a Montag employee. Yet, she comes here and tells you the unreasonable story she has told.”

“On this time proposition, I want to read this; It’s a speech of a wonderful man, a man to whom even the great and brainy Arnold and the big powerful Rosser would have doffed their hats—Daniel Webster: “

“’Time’s subdivisions,’ he says, ‘are all alike. No man knows one day from another or an hour. Days and hours are not visible to the senses. He who speaks of date or minute or hour of occurrence with nothing to guide him speaks at random.”

Other Discrepancies.

“Now, what else about this alibi”. Old man Sig Montag twisted and warped his words so as to sustain this man. For instance, Frank got down to the building at 8:26 o’clock, according to Holloway and others. Frank says he got there at 8:30. He arrived with a rain coat. They tried to make it appear that he did not have one.”

“I’ll venture the reason he borrowed Ursenbach’s rain coat was because he forgot the coat Jim Conley saw him with.”

“Mattie Smith says he left the building at 9:10 o’clock. Frank says he left at 9:30 o’clock. At 11 o’clock Frank returns to office, says the chronological alibi chart. In his own statement he swears it was 11:05 o’clock.”

“Move it up or down—move it anyway—do anything with it. Gentlemen, we’ve got to have an alibi some way or other.”

“12:12 p.m., says the chart, the time Mary Phagan entered the plant. Frank says Mary came at 10 minutes after Miss Hattie Hall left and she left at 12 o’clock. If persons were as accurate as Frank is in regard to time on the day Mary Phagan was killed, wouldn’t this old world be a glorious one. No trains missed, no appointments missed—no nothing but an entire world accurate on time.”

“Lemmie Quinn arrives, says the chart, from 12:20 to 12:22 o’clock. But Lemmie conflicts with Mrs. Freeman and the other lady who saw him at 11:45 a.m.”

 Here the solicitor was interrupted by Mr. Arnold, who arose saying:

“There is no evidence to that effect, Mr. Dorsey. The girls didn’t see him at the factory.”

“I don’t doubt that anyone didn’t see him,” retorted the solicitor.

Crowd Rules Arnold.

The crowd in the courtroom broke into a laugh that was well-nigh an applause.

Mr. Arnold said to the judge:

“Your honor, we can do without this crowd. If there is another such outbreak, I’ll move to clear the courtroom.”

“Lemmie Quinn was blowing hot and blowing cold” continued Dorsey, “and he was too anxious. I never saw a more eager man in my life. Is Jim Conley telling the truth or a lie? Jim says he saw Lemmie Quinn go up the stairs before Mary Phagan got there.”

“If this be true, why did Frank want to consult with his lawyers before he spoke at police headquarters?”

“Lemmie Quinn is the hardest man to pin down on a proposition I have ever encountered. He is the most anxious man; the most eager I have ever seen, unless it be old man Holloway. Can you tell me that an honest innocent man would first want to consult his lawyers before making his statement?”

“Let me read you what a great judge said, Judge Lochraine:”  

“’I don’t take mere words, even of witnesses. I take their acts.’”

“This table that the defense produces is a fraud on its face. It puts Quinn there from 12:20 to 12:22 o’clock, just the time that will suit the defense and its notorious alibi. Men, they are straining at a gnat.”

The Charges of Perjury.

“Let’s consider for a moment Arnold’s flippant charges of perjury.”

“You saw the witnesses. You heard what they had to say. Do you remember one Iady, who, almost hysterical, wanted to die for Frank? When did you ever hear of an employee who would be enamored of her employer that that she would die for him if the friendship that existed was merely platonic? I know that back of that willingness to put her neck in the noose meant for Frank there was something stronger, something more powerful than platonic love, don’t you? It must be a passion born of something beyond mere friendship. But he is married, and she is single; he is the employer and she is the employee!”­

“Take the little Bauer boy. Before he took that ride in Sig Montag’s automobile to the offices of Arnold and Rosser, he could remember details, but after that he suffered a lapse of memory. Before that, he could remember just where he laid his watch, but after that his mind went blank.”

“It reminds me of the South Georgia instance where everybody was gathered in the church praying for rain. They prayed and prayed, and after a while, the Lord sent a regular trash-mover, a gulley-washer. Then the preacher rubbed his chin a little and said, ‘I guess we must have over done it, just a leetle!”

“Don’t you know that Sig Montag must whispered in that boy’s ear, ‘You’ve overdone it, just a leetle?’”

“Does that look like perjury? Oh, how foolish, foolish, foolish!”

“How about that machinist, Lee?”

“He said he had seen in the possession of Schiff papers that he had signed. Then they brought papers up here written on a typewriter, and his name was not even mentioned in them. That’s the stuff they’re unloading on you!”

Claims Women Were Subborned. 

“Perjury? Let’s go further.”

“I have never seen a case where women have been suborned as in this case.”

“Take the stenographer, Miss Fleming. They put her on the stand, and we took her up on a line she didn’t expect.”

“Oh, we don’t mean to say that Frank tried to seduce or ravish every woman who came to the pencil factory. All of them would not have submitted to it. He knew whom to approach and whom not, until he met Mary Phagan. And she ‘called’ him.”

“How about flirting? She said she never saw or heard of any orders against flirting.”

Dorsey then read Miss Fleming’s account of Frank’s work at the office on Saturday morning.

“Now,” he continued, “she says that she saw Frank working on the financial sheet. She said that this was Frank’s business in the forenoons of Saturdays. She was questioned on this point time and time again, and was positive that she saw Frank making out the financial sheet.”

“Then Arnold Interrupted her and said. He didn’t have time to make the financial sheet on  Saturday morning, did he?”

“And she caught Arnold. She answered, ‘No.’”

“And was so nervous that he couldn’t let me finish, but he interrupted the witness with a most unfair question, and she took the bait and went under the bank with it.”

“I have read to you how positive she was about having seen Frank working on the financial sheet. Now look. Afterwards when she was about it she said that she had never made any such statement. I asked her whether she had said these things I have read you from the record, she said, ‘No.’”

“I tell you if you are going to turn men loose on such evidence as that, it is time to quit drawing juries in Fulton county.”

Why Frank Was Indicted.

“Why didn’t Rosser, Pat Campbell and Starnes take Newt Lee, Jim Conley, or James Gantt instead of this man? Because the evidence against them was only a film of cobwebs, but about Frank the evidence is composed of cables, and they are bound about him and he can’t break them. The erudite Reuben Rose Arnold and the dynamic Luther Zeigler Rosser, can not break them!”

“Circumstantial evidence is as good as any if it is the right sort. This evidence draws tightly around him and there is not a break in it.”

“Herbert Schiff said that Frank, who was behind with his work, went home and slept instead of making out the financial sheet, because he (Schiff) had not given him the data (pronouncing it ‘dotter,’ as Schiff had pronounced it).”

“Do you think that Leo M. Frank, with such a charming wife as he has, with all his friends; Frank, head of the B’nai B’rith, lover of cards and pleasure; do you think that he would go back to the factory on Saturday afternoon to make out that financial sheet just because he did not have the data in the morning. He made out that financial sheet in the morning.”

“I submit that this man made out that financial sheet on Saturday morning. I give no reasons because I don’t believe them necessary. But even if he made out the sheet on Saturday afternoon, don’t come to that belief because the sheet shows no nervousness.”

Why Frank Was Calm.

“Why, after the crime, he went to his home and in the bosom of his family he showed composure. He read the joke about baseball and laughed about it. He made so merry over it that he disturbed the card game which was in progress.”

“He had been making out financial sheets for six years, and do you mean to tell me that he had to wait for Schiff to tell him what to do before he could make that sheet?”

“He didn’t betray nervousness when he wrote for the police, did he? And right here. His mother identified that writing as that of her son, and yet when they put an expert, who knew Frank’s writing, on the stand to identify it, he was so afraid that he might do something to hurt this man that he wouldn’t identify it. Is that perjury?”

“The frivolity that Frank showed at his home was just the sort of frivolity that Henry Clay Beattle showed beside the automobile in which was the blood of his wife!”

“I’ll tell you something this man did do on Saturday afternoon. You remember how Jim Conley told about Frank’s looking at the ceiling and saying, ‘I have rich relatives in Brooklyn. Why should I hang?’ he wrote that letter to his rich uncle and his people in Brooklyn that afternoon.”

“They say his people in Brooklyn were not rich. His uncle is rich, and he thought that he was in Brooklyn that afternoon when he wrote that letter and said what he did.”

Dorsey picked up the letter.

“Listen to this. ‘How are the dear ones in Brooklyn?’ Does that sound like he thought his uncle was in Brooklyn, or not?”

A Betraying Line.

“Now, here’s a line that if you know anything about the conduct of a guilty conscience, you will know was written in the afternoon when Frank knew the body of Mary Phagan was lying in that basement where he had it put.”

“He wrote: ‘It has been too short a time since you left for anything startling to happen!’ ‘Too short! Too short! Startling!’”

“Do you tell me, honest men, that line did not come from a guilty conscience? What do you think of that, honest men?”

“Now, do you think the rich uncle cared any anything about this line? An eminent authority says that extravagant language is the earmark of fraud.”

“Today was Yondif—holiday— and the thin gray line of veterans is growing thinner each year.’”

“This from Leo M. Frank, the statistician, to a man who cared not for the thin gray, but for the dividends the factory was paying!”

“There’s nothing new in the factory to report,” he writes.

“Ah, but there was something new, but for the dividends the factory was paying!”

“There’s nothing new in the factory to report,” he writes.

“Ah, but there was something new, and there had been time enough for something startling, and there had been enough for something to happen! It had happened in the space of thirty minutes! Oh, me! The time was not too short!”

“Yes, his people lived in Brooklyn and Jim Conley would not have known they lived in Brooklyn unless he had heard Frank say so. They may not be rich, but they have a cold $20,000 lying away on interest! And they have no business worth I don’t know how much!”.

Frank’s Wire to Montag.

“Let’s read that wire Frank sent to Montag.”

“’You may have read,’ it says, ‘of a pencil factory girl found dead—Found dead—in factory? In factory? No! Where? ‘In cellar of factory!’ That’s what he says. Why? He knew where he had put the body of that girl and that picture was in his mind when he sent that wire.”

“He knew he would be arrested unless the police were corrupt, and he didn’t want Montag to be unprepared.”

 “But Pat Campbell was not corrupt! John Black was not corrupt! Rosser was not corrupt! Starnes was not corrupt! And he was arrested!”

“Listen to what Frank said when he wanted to put the rope around the neck of Newt Lee and James Gantt:”

“Police will eventually solve it!”

“Oh, they did solve it!”

“’Assure my uncle,’ he says. ‘I’m all right if he should inquire. Our company has the case well in hand.’”

“Maybe he did think that when he got this follow Scott. There’s an honest man for you! If there was a slush fund in this case—I don’t know that there was—but if there was one, Scott could have got it. But Scott said that he was going to work this case hand-in-hand with the police.” That’s what Frank wanted them. He wanted Scott to work hand-in-hand with the police. He wanted to know what the police wore doing.”

“Then came Herbert Haas—and he’s nobody’s fool—and suggested to Pinkerton detective Harry Scott that he let them have all the evidence he found before he let the police have it. If Harry Scott had fallen for that, things might have been different.”

Recognize Weakness of Case.

“Talk about your expert, Hunter? He’s not nearly so smart as Frank. Leo M. Frank is as smart as either of his lawyers. Frank realized that weakness of his case. He wrote that statement himself, I’ll bet.”

“Frank, in his statement, had to drag in a lot of stuff that was not evidence and he would have dragged in more if we had not stopped him.”

“And do you ‘remember about the blood? The machinist Lee said that Duffy held out his finger and let that blood spurt from it. Why should he have done that. Isn’t the first and most natural thing to grab that finger and tie it up?”

“Miss Rebecca Carson said that she saw Frank and Jim Conley on the fourth floor Tuesday morning before the arrest. That was the morning that Frank said to Jim, ‘Jim, you be a good boy.”

“According to their own witness, Jim and Frank were just where Jim said they were that morning.”

“Mrs. Carson, mother of Rebecca, when asked about seeing blood spots was very particular to ask what blood spots and where. Then she said that she never saw any blood spots on the second floor, because she didn’t want to see anything like that.”

“Miss Small corroborates Conley’s story. She said that she saw Frank and Jim on the fourth floor of the factory about 9 o’clock on that Tuesday morning.”

“Why was Frank there?”

“He wanted to see if Jim was keeping the secret. Arnold said that this is a dirty suggestion. It is dirty. It is more than that; it is infamous. Yet there sits today Leo M. Frank trying to put that rope around the neck of another.

Upholds Detective Department.

“The only thing in this entire case that is at all to the discredit of the police department,” continued Mr. Dorsey, “is that they were afraid on account of the influence and position of Leo Frank to put him in a cell like they did Lee and Gantt. That’s the only thing against them.” 

“If my friend, John Black, over there had gone after Leo Frank like he went after Newt Lee, there would probably, very probably, have been a confession and no necessity for this long and tedious trial.”

“You,” he continued, turning to Frank, “you called for Haas, and you called for Rosser and you called for Arnold, you had to have the very best legal talent that the state afforded, and it took their combined efforts to keep up your nerve.”

“You know I’m telling the truth,” continued Mr. Dorsey, again addressing himself to the jury.”

“There Is only one thing, I tell you, that is to the discredit of the police and that is they were swayed by learned counsel and the glamor of wealth, and treated with too much consideration this man who had snuffed out the life of the poor little girl.”

“I honor, although I had nothing to do with it, I honor the way they went after Minola McKnight and the way in which they got her affidavit. Gentlemen, the getting of evidence in a big murder case like this is no Job for a man with the manners of a dancing master. You’ve got to get on the job like a dog after a ‘possum and you’ve got to tree that ‘possum and keep on barking up that tree until you show he’s there.”

“You know that Albert McKnight, the woman’s husband, would not have told Craven and Pickett any such tale unless it was true.”

“So these detectives knew that, too, and they hung around and they barked up that tree until they got the evidence that was there. Talk about illegally holding that woman. Why they had the habeas corpus if they had wanted. To get her out. That’s what it was made for. I certainly had nothing and could have had nothing to do with freeing her.”

What He Would Have Told Haas.

“If Herbert Haas had come to me on the Tuesday after the murder and told me he wanted me to get Frank out, I would have told him that I was running my office and not the police department. I would have added that the habeas corpus was intended for is that; oh, I don’t know. I wouldn’t have insulted a lawyer like that. He would have known about the habeas corpus.”

“Well, they have taken me to task, too, for the way in which I went early into the case. Well, I mean the memory of the late Charlie Hill; I’m as proud of being his successor in the solicitor’s office as I am that the people elected me to that high office, but I tell you gentlemen, I’m going to pattern myself after no man; I’m going to pattern myself after the dictates of my own conscience.”

“If I’m proud of anything in this case, I’m proud that I went into this case with the detectives when I did and sought with them to find the real murderer of the little girl, and that, too, when your influence was pouring letters into the grand jury in an effort to try and hang an innocent man —negro, even though he was.”

“I’m glad I stuck it out and kept them from indicting that innocent man, and I’m going to stick it out as long as I’m in office and if you don’t like it, the only way to do is to remove me, because I’m doing what I think is right.”

No Evidence of Perjury.

“Now they have talked about perjury. Well, let’s not say that everybody in this case have been liars, when wo have no reason or evidence to accuse everybody of boring liars”.

“Was Jim Conley a liar?”

“Let’s look at some of the things he says and let’s look at the many times the little and apparently unimportant details of his statement are corroborated by other witnesses. Mrs.

Small, time and again, in her testimony, corroborates the things Jim told of as happening that Tuesday morning in the pencil factory. Well, now, let’s take one of their witnesses: Take Mrs. Carson, mother of Rebecca Carson, the forewoman, whom witnesses swear went into the women’s dressing rooms with Frank. Mrs. Carson swore on the stand that she did not go back and look at the spots of blood on the second floor. 

“You know why she swore that? Well, there had been too many of those employees admitting to going back there, and the defense did not want to make it appear that the spots caused any stir up there, so by the time Mrs. Carson came, employees began to say that they had paid no attention to the spots.”

“Well, we asked Mrs. Small If she went to look at them, and she said that she did, and we asked who went with her, and she did say that Mrs. Carson did, and we asked her how she knew, and she said she remembered because she and Mrs. Carson had gone back there after the others had left, and at a time when they could get plenty of time to look at the spots.”

“If this is founded on perjury, if the defense claims it is, then it’s simply a case of pot calling the kettle black, and I haven’t dealt in glittering generalities, either, in making my charges.”

“When evidence or testimony was wanted in any particular phase of this case, there has never been the time when some witnesses or witnesses did not come forward and testify to what was needed, and they’d have you believe those witnesses came willingly, and that there was no slush fund.”

Notes Fix Crime on Frank.

“Now, gentlemen, I want to discuss with you briefly these letters, he continued, taking up the two notes found near the dead girl’s body. If they are not the order of an overruling Providence, then I will agree with the defense that they are naught but folly. The pad and paper usually found in Frank’s office was used, and this man Frank, trying to fasten the crime on another, has indelibly fixed it upon himself.

“The pad, the paper, the fact that he wanted notes, all that goes to show Frank as the man. Tell me, if you can, that a negro over lived who, after killing and robbing or assaulting a girl, would take time before leaving to write these notes.”

“These notes wore folly! Yes, as Judge Bleckley once said, ‘All crime is a mistake and what proof have we that a man who has made a big mistake will not make little ones in trying to hide the first?’”

“Then, there’s another thing that makes against Frank. He said here that when the little girl asked him if the metal had come, that he told her no; and yet, when he had not had time to think about how it would sound, or when he first talked he said he told her that he did not know.”

“There’s a big difference there, gentlemen. For Frank to have told the little girl that he did not know would have sent her back to the metal room to see for herself, but to have told her no, that it had not come, would have sent her on out of the building. Frank did not want to give us here any reason to suspect that the child ever went back there to that metal room.”

Use of the Word “Chat.”

“Then, another thing: How could Starnes and Campbell, or even Chief Lanford, know that Conley, when he told them about Frank’s saying ‘chat,’ when he referred to taking girls and women to his office, was using the same word that Frank used here in his statement four times in the short period between the time he started speaking and the time the jury went out for a few minutes recreation? You noticed, too, that he didn’t use the word ‘chat’ when he started again.

“I tell you Mr. Arnold is a man of keen foresight, and he knows what a thing sounds like, and he sought to parry the blow before I even started talking that I am now trying to deliver.”

“Tell me, if you will, that Conley, when he finished his evil work on that little girl, would have dragged the body way back to that corner of the basement. It meant nothing to him whereabouts in the basement the body lay.”

“But it was the white man—the superintendent of the factory—who knew that it would never do for that body to be found in the metal room.”

“Again, in these murder notes you find the words, ‘The long, tall, black nigger did it.’ Well, when did Conley ever say ‘did.’ Old Jim was up here on the stand, and every time he used that verb at all he said, ‘I done it,’ or ‘he done it.’ It was never ‘I did it,’ with Conley, but always, ‘I done it.’

“Tell me, if you can, that these letters, which are a ‘plant’ as sure as was the club and the bloody shirt found at Newt Lee’s house, were ever thought out by an ignorant negro like Jim. Conley couldn’t have done it if he’d had Starnes, and Rosser, and Campbell and Black, and even Chief Lanford, to aid him. It was a smarter man than this negro, it was a smarter man than these detectives, who laid this plot which it appeared would free him, but which really inculpated him.”

“You tell me that Conley wrote those words; well, when this man was arrested and when he knew Conley was arrested and that Conley, infamously told to keep quiet, was not telling anything, did he even hint to the police that Jim Conley writes?”

“These notes were written to protect the white superintendent and they were dictated by the man who sent the telegram to Sig Montag in New York, asking him to tell his uncle that a girl had been killed in the factory cellar and that the police would eventually solve the mystery and that he was all right.”

The Statement of a Guilty Man.

“Now, I want to take up that statement of Frank’s, that statement that it was said was strong enough to carry him to acquittal, by proving his innocence. I tell you: that was the statement of a guilty man and a statement that was cunningly constructed to fit around the chain of circumstances that showed up.”

“You notice, Frank never admitted being anywhere except when It was proven on him, “There was nothing he admitted except what he knew could be proved.”

Mr. Dorsey then read a number of authorities on circumstantial evidence and showed where the comparison of circumstantial evidence to a chain, no stronger that the weakest link, had been rejected and the comparison of it to a rope where when all webs are twisted together it will hold and where a  few webs may be weak or break and not despoil the rope of its holding power, had been accepted.”

“Frank’s statement was a brilliant one,” he continued, “and if you believe it and follow it blindly, there is only one thing you can do and that is to turn Frank loose.”

 The solicitor then read the law upon the statements made by defendants In murder cases and made various comments and cited a number of author.

“This man (Frank) says” he continued, “that he sat in his office, checking off the money that was loft from the payroll; he was careful, mind you, not to say he was checking over the cash.”

“Out of the money left from that $1,100 payroll and the amount of cash that was kept for various incidentals, don’t you see there was enough money to make up the amount he offered Jim Conley when he asked him to burn the body and that he afterwards took back when Jim said he would not burn it unless Leo went with him.”

“Jim Conley refused to burn the body by himself. Had Jim Conley started to do that and the black smoke rolled out of that chimney, Leo Frank would have soon been down there with these same detectives and what chance would the negro, have had?”

Another False Statement.

“Old Conley took no chance, he was willing to write the notes to put by the side of the body, but drunk or sober, as you will, he was too wise to go down to the basement by himself and burn that body.”

 “Then again, in his statement, Frank says that no one came into his office that Friday before the murder and asked for their own or anyone else’s pay envelope. Well, here is this little Helen Ferguson, the friend and running mate of little Mary Phagan, who swears to us that she did go there and ask Frank for her own and Mary’s pay envelope and that she did it because she knew Mary did not intend to come down, the next day!”

“Oh, they’ve told about plots and conspiracies; I’ll tell you about one. I’ll show you that in this man’s lustful heart there was a plot to undo this little girl, not a plot to murder her; oh, no, he did not want to take her life, he wanted to use her to satisfy his passion.”

“In March, little Willie Turner, a plain country boy, tells us he saw Frank with his arm around Mary and that she was trying to escape and to leave him and go to work, but that he kept on talking to her and told her he was the superintendent In that factory, thus using his position to coerce her to his own ends.”

“You can’t tell me that a brilliant man like him could pass her machine every day and she as pretty and attractive a little girl as she was and as bright, and then he not learn to know who she was. You can’t tell me that this man with the brain he’s got could have helped make out the pay roll for fifty-two times in a year and then been so little familiar with the name as to have to look on the time book to find out If a girl by the name of Mary Phagan ever worked there. You can’t tell me Wille Turner lied when he said he saw Frank talking to the little girl, and you can’t tell me that little Dewey Hewell, the little girl brought here from the Home of the Good Shepherd in Ohio, who, despite her reputation, probably caused right there in that factory, is of tender years and would hardly make up a story like that, was Iying when she said she saw Frank talking to Mary Phagan.”

“You can’t tell me Gantt was lying when he said Frank knew Mary Phagan, and you want to remember another thing—Frank said to Gantt, ‘You seemed to know this girl pretty well.’ How did Frank know that Gantt knew her pretty well, if Frank did not know her himself?”

Proclaims Belief in Plot.

“I’m prepared, knowing that man’s character as I do, to believe that passion had seized him way back there in March and that he plotted to take advantage of this little factory girl. Mr. Rosser quoted from Burns in his speech, and I can quote from Burns, too, and it will show you something on the case.”

Here the solicitor quoted a passage from Burns, beginning, “There’s no telling what a man will do.”

“You can’t tell me that all these people have lied,” continued the solicitor.

“I would not be at all surprised if Frank did not begin to covet this girl back there in March when she first came to work on this floor. I would not be at all surprised if he did not get worried about this lanky Gantt, this man from the same country place where she had come from, this man who knew her people: and I would not be surprised If he did not discharge Gantt not for the $1 shortage, which Gantt said he would give up his job before he’d pay, but because he thought Gantt would be in the way of his vile purpose.”

“I would not be at all surprised if when Frank and Schiff checked up the pay roll that Friday afternoon and Frank saw that Mary Phagan had not got her money, that he did not slip out and make arrangements with Conley, knowing that the girl would have to come on Saturday morning to get her money.”

“I would not be surprised if he did not deliberately refuse the money to little Helen Ferguson, because he wanted to bring Mary Phagan there on Saturday.”

“Jim Conley tells us that Frank slipped up to where he was on Friday afternoon and told him to come back Saturday morning, and old Conley says, ‘I done it,’ not ‘I did it.’

Looked Far Into Future.

“This thing of passion,” continued the solicitor, “is a great deal like fraud, and libertines look far into the future. It’s probable that the man whose character was torn and whose attorneys feared to cross examine witnesses, who swore against his character, began in March to plot and plan to get this girl in his power, because he could not control the passion that consumed him.”

“You try to tell a jury compared of honest men that you didn’t know Mary Phagan,” continued the solicitor, turning towards Frank, “and do you expect them to believe that?”

“Tell me,” he continued, “that Helen Ferguson lied, that this little girl was suborned by the Atlanta detectives to come here and swear to a lie, and that’s the little girl they called a ‘hare-brained fanatic.’”

Mr. Dorsey then read from Frank’s statement to the jury where he had used the word “chat” in four different places.

“Mr. Arnold says,” he continued, “that negroes regularly pick up the words and phrases of their employers, and certainly Frank must have been associated with Jim Conley a great deal to get this word chat from him.”

“Well, Frank. also says that Miss Hall left when the whistle blew for 12 o’clock. Well, do whistles blow on holidays? I don’t know, I’ll leave that for the jury to decide.

“Then Mrs. White says that when she came up that Frank, who was in his office pulling up some pay envelopes, jumped when he saw her. Why, no wonder he jumped, for that little girl was lying back in the metal room then, and he hadn’t had a chance to dispose of the body. He found out that Mrs. White wanted to see her husband, and this time he did not call for the husband. He sent the woman up to the fourth floor. After a while he goes up there and makes out he’s in a big hurry to get away, and he gets her out. He knows that the men have had their lunch and will be working there the greater part of the afternoon”.

“Well, Mrs. White comes down the steps and passes the office. Is Frank ready to leave? Has he got on his hat and coat? No; he’s not in a hurry then, not at all. He’s got to wait there to get rid of that body.”

Addresses Himself to Frank.

Here, Mr. Hugh M. Dorsey gradually drifted in the use or the second person in his talk and seemed to be addressing himself to Leo M. Frank instead of to the jurors:

“You went tiptoeing right back to see if everything was all right, and then you signaled Conley,” he continued, “and you soon learned, by what Conley said about not seeing a certain girl go back down the steps, that you were given away, and so you sent him back to get the body. ‘There was no blood there where you hid the girl. The blow was not sufficient, and no blood was there until Conley dropped the body and caused, it to spatter out.

“No, you had struck the girl and gagged her and assaulted her and then you went back and got a cord and fixed the little girl, whom you had assaulted, when, thank God, she would not yield to your proposals.”

“You got that cord because you wanted to save your reputation—you had no-character—you wanted to save your reputation among the good people of Rabbi David Marx’s church and among those in the B’nai B’rith, and you wanted to save your reputation among the masses and the Montags.”

“Oh, you knew that dead men tell no tales, you knew it, but you forget that murder will out. Oh, had that little girl lived to tell the assault made on her in that factory, there would have been a thousand men in Atlanta who would have not have feared your wealth, and your power and relatives, rich and poor, but who would have stormed the jail and defied the law in taking vengeance on you. It is not right that it should be so, people ought to wait for fair courts and honest juries to decide these things, but they don’t and you knew it then.”

‘I wouldn’t be a bit surprised that if Frank hadn’t put Mary Phagan’s handbag in the safe it would have turned up just the same as the painted envelope and blood spots the Pinkertons found on the first floor.’

“This cloth that was found around her throat was torn from her own upscale clothing and placed over her mouth for a gag, while Frank tiptoed back to his office for the cord with which to strangle her.”

Describes Death of Girl.

“When she did not yield to his lust that was not like that of other men, he struck her. They scuffled. She fell against the machine. Her brain lapsed into unconsciousness.”

“They say he had no marks on his person—he did not give her time to inflict marks. Durrant had no marks.”

“There never was such a farce as this attempt by Frank’s able counsel to disprove the fact that  the spots found on the second floor were blood stains. They bring in this perjurer Lee. He says it wasn’t. Who is this Lee?”

“You know it was blood and that it was the blood of Mary Phagan, because its location corresponds with the spot where Jim Conley says he dropped the body.”

“Barrett discovered the blood and hair long before any reward was ever offered. The hair was identified by Magnolia Kennedy, their own witness.”

“When it became apparent that too many persons saw Frank go to the elevator box and get the key, old man Holloway, who lied and betrayed us, perjured himself in a story about having opened the box, himself.”

Says Holloway Perjured Himself.

“Holloway perjured himself either to obtain acquittal of his boss or to get the reward for the conviction of Jim Conley, ‘his nigger.’ I say that Barrett stands as an oasis in a mighty desert for truth and veracity, although, his own job be in jeopardy. Barrett told the truth. If there is a man in town who rightfully deserves a reward, it is that poor employee of the pencil factory who had courage to tell the truth.”

“Compare him with Holloway.”

“Neither did Barrett make his discoveries on May 16. His find has no resemblance whatever to a plant.”

“But you could wipe Barrett completely out of the case and have an abundance of ground on which to convict.”

“Mrs. Jefferson saw the blood and so did Mel Stanford. It was not there Friday, because Stanford swept the floor and is positive he did not see It.”

“Jim Conley saw Mary Phagan go up and never come down. She was killed where Jim Conley found her and her body was put where Frank wrote in his telegram: ‘In the cellar.’”

“Darley and Quinn saw the blood spots. Sometimes, you know, we have to go into the camp of the enemy for ammunition. The handsome Darley was tied up by an affidavit. It was a hard pill for him, but he had it to swallow, and he admitted having seen the blood that so glaringly accused his boss.”

“To cap it all, Dr. Claude Smith saw the blood, and, upon analyzing it, found there were blood corpuscles disporting the argument of the defense that it was paint.”

“Their own witnesses, Herbert Schiff, Magnolia Kennedy and Wade Campbell all saw this blood and admit having seen it.”

New Richmond in Field.

“Frank and his friends found that Harry Scott didn’t manipulate to suit them. They got some new Richmonds and put them in the field. Where are they now, these men who found the club and blood spots and planted envelope?”

“Where is Pierce, the Pinkerton head? Echo answers “Where?”

“Where is McWorth, who helped find them? Echo answers ‘Where?’”

“All detectives, Starnes, Black, Campbell, Rosser, Scott every one of whom searched in vicinity of the scuttle hole, say they could see no blood spots nor club nor envelope.”

“Don’t you know that if they had not been planted and had been there after the murder. Holloway and others of his ilk would have been only too glad to have reported It to their superintendent in prison.”

“Why, only a few days after the murder, a general clean-up was or ordered by insurance authorities. None of the cleaners found the blood nor the club nor the envelope on the first floor. Why? Because they weren’t there.”

Evidence All Planted.

“The club and spots and envelope are purely in keeping with the planting of Newt Lee’s bloody shirt.”

“Boots Rogers saw Frank take out the clock slip that morning and say that it was accurate. But, later, when the shirt was planted, this graduate of Cornell, this man so quick of figures, saw that Newt Lee wouldn’t have had time to go home and change his shirt, so he accordingly changed his figures and altered his statement.”

“But, the man who planted the shirt did his job too well—he got a shirt too clean and smeared blood on both sides.”

“And, more about this club—Dr. Harris and Dr. Hurt both say that the wound in Mary Phagan’s head could not have been inflicted by this planted club. It was too large, too round.”

“They harp on this Minola McKnight business. Isn’t it strange that Minola, herself, should tell such a story to her husband, then corroborate it in a sworn and written statement.”

“Are we going to swallow all this stuff of Mrs. Selig’s without knowledge of human nature?”

“Minola, in presence of her counsel, made that statement and swore to it. Gordon would not have been worthy of the name of lawyer had the story not been true and he had not said:”

“’Minola, don’t put your name to that story unless it be true.’”

“If the statement wasn’t true, Gordon, her lawyer, would not have sat there without raising a hand, knowing, well knowing, that his client could be sent to the penitentiary for false swearing.”

“The reason Minola made that affidavit was because it was the embodiment of the truth, the pure truth.”   

It was at this point that Judge Roan recessed until Monday, on account of the exhausted condition of Mr. Dorsey.

* * *

Atlanta Constitution, August 24th 1913, “Solicitor Reasserts His Conviction of Bad Character and Guilt of Frank,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Atlanta Constitution
August 25th, 1913

Solicitor Dorsey Is Expected to Complete His Address to Jury During Morning Session of Court

MANY FRIENDS VISIT FRANK IN THE TOWER

Judge Has Intimated That He Will Be Ready to Receive Verdict at Any Time of Day or Night

By 11 o’clock this morning—and perhaps earlier—Solicitor Hugh Dorsey will have finished his address in the case of Leo M. Frank, charged with the murder of Mary Phagan, and Judge Roan ‘will’ begin charging the jury.

In a talk with a Constitution reporter last night, Mr. Dorsey intimated that the final summing up of his argument would not take two hours, and that it probably would not last much longer than one. He intimated that by 11 o’clock the judge would be well under way in his charge.

With two more hours added to the already record-breaking speech of the solicitor, it will establish a mark that many declare will not be excelled in years to come. Mr. Dorsey has already spoken over six hours.

Because of exhaustion, resulting from his speech of over four hours Saturday afternoon, the solicitor spent a quiet Sunday, getting ready for the end of his argument today.

Rosser at Warm Springs.

Luther Z. Rosser, senior attorney for the defense, spent Sunday and Sunday night in Warm Springs and Woodbury, which he visited with his wife. At Warm Springs during the day, he was besieged by a host of admirers.

Leo Frank spent a typical Sunday in jail. Throughout the day his cell was a mecca for callers. His wife and mother came late in the afternoon, remaining with him for considerable while. On these trips, he is permitted to see them in the jailer’s dining room on the first floor.

He read the papers bearing on the progress of his trial, and, according to attaches of the prison, appeared unaffected by the terrific strain of the trial. Frank, his jailers say, has not suffered a single day of illness since his Imprisonment.

It is predicted that the jury will retire this afternoon between 3 and 4 o’clock. The regular noon recess will be observed. The judge will charge the jury on the law in the case, and then there will be no developments until a verdict is reached.

When Will Verdict Be!

It is a matter of wide speculation over the time in which the jury will require to render a verdict. Many predict it will not be returned tonight, while others expect it as early as midnight, if not before.

Following the. charge the twelve men retire to the jury room in the courthouse. A hat ballot is cast, each man indicating his decision of “guilt,” “innocent” or “doubt.” Then a foreman is elected.

A foreman selected, the jurymen begin their arguments. Each man is permitted to present his individual views of the case. If much time is required the foreman, from time to time, will be called into the courtroom to announce to the court the progress of his body.

Judge Roan has already announced that he will be in readiness to receive the verdict at any time it is reached.

Quiet Day for Jurors.

Sunday was a quiet day for the jurors. An extra detachment of bailiffs and deputies stood guard over their quarters in the Kimball house and no outsider was permitted within hearing distance. 

At 8 o’clock the twelve men were taken on their daily constitutional through side streets of the uptown district, returning shortly before 9 o’clock.  

Police reserves from both the headquarters and county departments will be detailed to the courthouse today.

* * *

Atlanta Constitution, August 25th 1913, “Leo Frank’s Fate May Be Decided by Monday Night,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Atlanta Constitution
August 26th, 1913

As the big bell in the Catholic church tolled the hour of 12 o’clock Solicitor Dorsey concluded his remarkable plea for the conviction of Leo Frank with the dreadful words— “Guilty, guilty, guilty!”

It was just at this hour, more than four months ago that little Mary Phagan entered the pencil factory to draw her pittance of $1.20.

The tolling of the bell and the dread sound of the words cut like a chill to the hearts of many who shivered involuntarily.

It was the conclusion of the most remarkable speech which has ever been delivered in the Fulton County courthouse—a speech which will go down in history stamping Hugh Dorsey as one of the greatest prosecuting attorneys of this age.

Arnold Makes Protest.

Only after Attorney Reuben R. Arnold had registered a vigorous protest against the action of the spectators, who clapped their hands in tumultuous applause as Solicitor Hugh Dorsey entered the courtroom. Monday morning the solicitor was allowed to continue his speech, which was interrupted by adjournment Saturday.

When court convened at 9 o’clock, there were more people outside of the courthouse unable to gain admission, than there were inside, and about two minutes before the hour of opening court, a roar of cheers told the spectators inside that the solicitor general was coming. His entrance was the signal for the outbreak of approval of his wonderful effort Saturday.

Mr. Rube Arnold immediately protested and declared that “such outbreaks had no place in a court of justice. “

“Mr. Sheriff,” said Judge Roan from the bench when order had been restored, “I see that there is a large crowd in here and that many of them do not seem to understand what is required of them in a courtroom. If there Is the least disturbance after the jury comes in, I want you to clear the room of all but officials.”

“We don’t want to spoil the work of four weeks by any unseemly actions at this time and we are not going to allow such disturbance.”

The jury was then brought in and the solicitor took up his speech. Mr. Dorsey’s voice was hoarse when he started and it seemed as though he had received no refreshment from the rest over Sunday. Like a long distance runner who has kept a hard pace during the race and who at the finish, is staggering toward the goal line and “running on his nerve,” the solicitor renewed his attack on the defense.

As he went on his throat seemed to get better and his vocal cords appeared to loosen up. He was continually harassed during the morning, however, by Attorneys Arnold and Rosser, who declared he was making false statements and that parts of his speech were “improper and insulting”.

“Gentlemen of the jury,” began the solicitor, “I am even more exhausted this morning than I was Saturday. My throat is in such shape that I fear I cannot finish this case or do Justice to it.

“Had we, not an adjournment Saturday, I might have finished and his honor might have charged you, no that you might have brought In your verdict this morning and been free.”

Renews Attack on Statement.

“When I was compelled to stop Saturday, I was. in the midst of a brief analysis of the statement of this defendant. I am not going into an exhaustive analysis of that, because it is not necessary and It would inconvenience you uselessly, and two, I haven’t the strength to carry it out.”

“There are, however, certain parts of the defendant’s statement that merit consideration. He stated to you, after his honor had ruled out our evidence, that his wife visited him at police headquarters and that after he consulted with Rabbi Marx that he decided it would be best not to have his dear wife run the line of snapshooters, interviews of reporters and quizzing of detectives.”

“Well, Frank tells you his wife actually came there and that he would not let her come there again. He says she was brought by her two brothers-in-law and Rabbi Marx. Yet, Frank makes no attempt, to prove by them, that his wife was there. He wants you to believe it, from his own, unsupported statement.” 

“There is no evidence anywhere that she ever went to see her husband at the station house, and I tell you, gentlemen of the jury, that a true wife ever lived who would refuse to go to see her husband when he was in such trouble as that, provided she believed him innocent. No wife, believing her husband innocent, would hesitate to face snapshotters, interviewers, or detectives to get to see her husband.”

Defense Attorneys Object.

“Your honor,” interrupted Mr. Arnold, “we have sat here and listened to one of the most unfair speeches I have ever heard and we have kept silent, but we do object to this unwarranted attack on the defendant’s wife.”

“Solicitor Dorsey submitted that part of Frank’s statement to the jury where he claimed that his wife did visit him at the police station, then he submitted that the defense had not tried to prove it by other witnesses, and declared that he was making no attack on the wife, but merely stating why she had not visited her husband,” Judge Roan allowed him to go on.

“Let the galled jade wince, we-—” began the solicitor in a powerful voice, which he apparently did not have when he began his argument.”

“Now, your honor, I do object to that,” interrupted Mr. Arnold, “when we make a legal objection to the solicitor’s statements, he has no right to say, ‘Let the galled jade wince.’”

Attorney Rosser also registered an objection.

The solicitor was allowed to go on with his speech and the defense made a formal objection to the court against that part of it.

Mr. Dorsey then took up another feature of Frank’s statement.

“Frank said that Conley could write and he adds, ‘I have received too many notes from him asking to borrow money for me not to know that.’ Frank also corroborates Conley’s statement in regard to the watch which Conley was buying on the installment plan and Frank says he gave the information to the police that Conley could write and the police and detectives have told you that he did not and Harry Scott, Mr. Franks’ own detective, has told you that Frank never gave him this Information.”

“If Frank knew, as he says he did, that Conley could write, why didn’t he tell the police that? Scott declares to you that Frank never mentioned the subject.”

“Gentlemen, it was only when the detectives, after laborious effort and despite Frank’s silence, found out that the negro, who was denying he could write, could really do so, that they obtained from him his first affidavit in which he told part of the things that happened that day.”

“Frank says to you that he knew Conley could write. Then why did he not tell the police of that fact, when he knew that the murder notes were believed to be the key that would unlock this mystery?”

Dorsey Turns to Frank.

“By your own statement,” continued the solicitor, addressing, Frank, “you saw the notes at the station house that Sunday morning, April 27, when the body was found, and you said not a word about knowing that Conley could write; you never said it then and you never did tell it to the police authorities, and yet you knew that the notes tried to place the blame on a negro.”

“Well, I won’t discuss that further, it’s not necessary,” continued the solicitor. He then took up another phase of the statement made by the defendant.”

“Frank tells you in regard to that visit Conley made to the jail with the police, when Conley wanted to confront him that he did not see Conley because he wanted first to get permission of his attorney, Mr. Luther Z. Rosser, who was trying a case at Tallulah Falls that day, and he says that if he could have got Mr. Rosser’s permission, that he would have seen Conley or anybody else that day, but I tell you, gentlemen, that Mr. Rosser got back from Tallulah in a few hours, and yet Frank never did see Conley.”

“I tell you, gentlemen of the jury, that if you have got sense enough to get out of a shower of rain, you know that never in the history of the Anglo-Saxon race and never in the history of the African race in this country, did a negro accuse a white man and that white man, with Anglo-Saxon blood in his veins and claiming innocence, refuse to confront him.”

“I’ll tell you something else, no lawyer, astute as is Mr. Rosser, would refuse to let his client confront an accuser like that if he knew in his heart that his client was innocent.”

“WINS BIG CASE – SOLICITOR HUGH M. DORSEY”

“If a negro ever accuses me, I tell you that I will confront him and there’s no lawyer who can stop me, and even if I would wait for my lawyer’s return, I would confront my accused, as soon as he did get back.”

Rosser Again Interrupts.

“You say you never knew until you came to court, what Conley had sworn against you,” continued the solicitor, turning to Frank, “but you could have known if you had wanted to confront your accuser.”

Mr. Rosser entered an objection here, making the statement that Conley had made so many affidavits that Frank would not have known what he would swear to the courtroom, even if he had talked to him.

“Oh, well,” retorted Mr. Dorsey, “you can object all you want to, but I am going to put it up to the jury and they can decide about It. You can object all you want to.”

“He’s outside the rule, your honor,” shouted Mr. Rosser.

“I’m not outside the rule and they (the defense) see the force they think they can make by such objections.”

“Well, that’s out of order,” retorted, Mr. Rosser.

“Well, if they (pointing to the defense) don’t see the force of it all, they (pointing to the jury) do.”

“Well, now, your honor, I submit he’s out of order and he ought to be ruled out,” said Mr. Rosser.

Judge Roan allowed the solicitor to go on.

“This man, Frank, a white man, a graduate of Cornell, a man of a brilliant mind and of refined feeling, on the flimsy pretext that his counsel was out of town, refused to meet Conley and when his counsel came back he would not allow it.”

“Would you tell me, gentlemen of the jury, that you would let a man of black skin accuse you and yet were Innocent, that you would let Rosser or anybody else keep you from confronting him and nailing the lie?”

“No lawyer ever lived who would keep me, if I were wrongfully accused, from confronting my accuser, be he black or white!”

Again Turns On Frank.

“Then you,” (he pointed to Frank) “went and interviewed Newt Lee at 12 o’clock that April 29 and what did you do? Did you act like a man who did not know the truth and who wanted to learn it? Did you go into the room and take up the questioning of the negro in a way to get something out of him, out of him, the man you would have hung in order to save your reputation on Washington Street and in the B’nai B’rith?”

“According to Lee, you never questioned him, but you hung your head and told him that if he kept telling the story that he told then, and later told on the stand, that he and you would both go to hell. Now, you try to fix that up by saying that your detective Harry Scott and old John Black told you to do that and concocted against you and lied on you that Tuesday night.”

Adding to His Crime.

“The reason Frank never questioned Newt Lee, continued the solicitor, turning to the jury, “was because Frank knew who was guilty and he knew that he was already adding to the infamous assault and murder of the girl, an attempt to send this negro to the gallows in order to save his own neck.”

“Listen to this and note how smoothly that statement of Frank’s was fixed up, so that when we came back to rebut it that the technical laws would stop us. Frank told you that the detectives stressed the point that couples must have been allowed to go into the building by Newt Lee at night.”

“Now, Newt Lee was only there three weeks before the murder and the detectives really stressed the point that couples might have been let in there at night and they did not confine the time to the short time Lee was there as nightwatchman, as Frank said they did, and thus saved himself from impeachment.”

Mr. Dorsey then read Frank’s statement in regard to the spots found on the second floor by Christopher Columbus Barrett and said to have been blood spots, and the solicitor stressed that part, where Frank said that accidents were frequent there and that many of them were never even reported, and that the girls often carried buckets of red varnish by that place and that it frequently applied there.

No Chemists Introduced.

“If you claim that the spots were not of blood, in the name of fair play and decency, why didn’t you bring one chemist here to sustain your claim?” 

“’That was blood and the white haskoline substance had been smeared over it!’

“Important! There is no more important thing in this case to you, than to show that there was no blood on the second floor, but that the spots were only of red varnish, with haskoline over them.”

“The Gentlemen of the jury, are you going to believe this one statement when they could get no chemist to come here and stultify himself and when Dr. Claude Smith, city bacteriologist, tells you from his chemical analysis that it was blood and when scores of employees say that it was.

“This defense has no defense,” shouted the solicitor, “they have resorted to abuse, and they have fluttered around, but never alighted anywhere!”

“In this particular instance, they grab at varnish, they grab at cat’s blood, rat’s blood and mouse blood, and at blood from finger cuts.”

The solicitor then took up Frank’s statement about the possibility of the girl having been pushed down the chute in the rear of the building or thrown down the scuttle hole in the part formerly occupied by the Clarke Wooden Ware company.

Some Improbable Things.

“Why would that negro Conley, even if he had murdered the girl with that bloody club they claim to have found there, why would he have tied the cord around her neck and why would he have tied the clothing around her neck?”

“Why did old man Holloway say, ‘That’s my nigger,’ when he saw Conley ‘washing a shirt, and why was it that after fifteen days when the second squad of Pinkertons were searching the factory, that blood was found near the elevator shaft, more blood than it has been shown the girl lost?”

“Why was it that when Frank read in the morning paper that Barrett had discovered the blood spots on the second floor, that he, the superintendent, who had been anxious to solve the mystery had telephoned three times for Schiff to hire the Pinkertons, did not go back to see those spots until Lemmie Quinn came after him.

“That was a strange way for an innocent superintendent to do. And there is no evidence to show that Frank ever did go back there and look at those spots. Why? I’ll tell you why; if there was any spot on earth where this man did not want it to be known that blood had been found, it was on the second floor, where, according to his own statement, he was working at the time the girl was killed.”

“Frank also tells us that he visited the morgue twice on the day the body was found and if he went there and saw the body that morning and it tore him up as he says it did, why, except for the answer I’m going to give you, did he go back that afternoon and look at the body.”

“He didn’t see the body the first time.”

“That statement is a misstatement of facts. All the witnesses said they did not know whether or not Frank saw the body,” interrupted Reuben Arnold.

“Well, I’ll not quibble over the matter, retorted the solicitor. “If Frank did look at the body, and there’s no evidence to show he did, he gave it just a glance as the light was flashed on and then he turned and went into another room.”

Reference to Record.

“He never went into another room: the evidence don’t show that,” objected Mr. Rosser.

“It certainly does” replied the solicitor, “you look and see if it don’t”.

“Well, gentlemen,” said Judge Roan, “look the matter up and decide it.”

The defense made no motion to do so in order to sustain their claim and the solicitor, took advantage of that at once.

“Look it up: I challenge you to look it up!” Dorsey shouted.

“Well, we don’t have to look It up, even if he does challenge us to,” said Mr. Arnold in a quiet tone.

“Gentlemen, I’ll look It up myself, said Judge Roan who then turned and requested Leonard Haas, partner of one of Frank’s lawyers, to favor him by looking the matter up.”

“I tell you that there is no evidence that Frank ever looked at the girl that morning and that if he did look at her, as the defense claims, it was just a glance, and not sufficient to allow him to identity her as the girl he had paid off the day before,” Mr. Dorsey continued.

“The real reason why Frank went back to the morgue that Sunday afternoon was because he wanted to put his ear to the ground and learn if there was a whisper of his guilt going around.”

“The witnesses say Frank was nervous that morning and Frank says so, too, and declares that the auto ride and the sight of the dead girl caused it, and yet he goes back like a hog to his wallow. I tell you, and you know it, that Frank went back there that Sunday afternoon to learn if there was a hint anywhere of his guilt.”

At this point, Attorney Rosser interrupted and declared that on cross-examination “Boots” Rogers had testified that Frank went towards the curtains across the hall, but that he only surmised that he went into the room beyond them.

“Well, the proposition is,” replied Mr. Dorsey, “that Frank gave a glance at the girl’s body and turned away. He wanted to get out of the sight of the officers.”

“The evidence does not show that,” replied Mr. Rosser.

“Well, I won’t quibble with you; I’ll throw you that sop,” flung back the solicitor, and turned to discuss another part of Frank’s statement.

The Actions of a Guilty Man.

“Gentlemen,’” he said, “I tell you that on that Saturday night, after he had murdered the little girl, Frank’s actions in trying to break up the card party, were the actions of a guilty man. That laughter when he went into the room and showed the guests a funny story was the laughter of a guilty man.”

“If Frank, too, was so quiet and composed in the Selig home where the murder was a matter of indifference, why was he so nervous before the officers? Why was he so nervous when he tried to run the elevator that Sunday morning?”

“Frank says,” continued Mr. Dorsey, “’ I went to the office and looked on the payroll and saw that a girl named Mary Phagan really did work there and that she was due to have been paid $1.20,’ and Frank might have added, ‘I followed her back into the metal room when she came for that money and when she refused my proposals, I struck her and then I choked her with that cord to save my reputation.’”

Mr. Dorsey then gave a minute description of the blackened and dirt-covered condition of the girl’s face and body and declared that Frank in the casual glance he gave her that Sunday morning could never have identified her as the girl he had paid off the day before.

Did Detectives Lie?

“Do you believe that Rogers and Black, who have no interest in this case, other than to see justice done, would have perjured themselves in order to hang this man?” he asked the jury.

“Do you believe that Starnes has perjured himself, too? Well, Starnes tells you that when he called up Frank and told him he was sending an auto for him that Frank asked if there had been a fire, or if Newt Lee had reported anything wrong, but that nothing was about a tragedy. When Black and Rogers met Frank at his house they tell us he asked right away if there had been a tragedy, and we know that later he tried to claim that Starnes had mentioned this in the talk over the telephone. It was merely Frank’s guilty knowledge that made him mention tragedy.”

“Then Lee says that when Frank called him up that Saturday night, a thing he had never done before, Frank did not ask if Gantt had gone and did not mention Gantt’s name, but asked if anything had happened at the factory—if anything had happened.”

“Frank tells us that he asked about Gantt’s being there.”

“You can’t tell me, gentlemen of the jury, that with all these things piled up against this man, that there is nothing but prejudice and perjury in this case.”

“You remember that Frank made Lee go upstairs with Gantt that Saturday afternoon, and even Lee would not let Gantt into the factory, until Frank consented. Lee was true to his orders.”

“Now, why did Frank want to keep Gantt out of that factory, unless it was that he did not want Gantt around where he might talk to Mary Phagan at the time when he was plotting her downfall?”

“Would you convict this man on this and on that? No, but you can weave a rope out of all these strands that will send him to the gallows. No one of these strands would do that, but all together they make such a strong case that there is no room for reasonable doubt; no room for any doubt.”

“Frank says in his first affidavit that he stayed in his office during certain hours that Saturday. He did not know the time that his own detective, Harry Scott, had found little Monteen Stover and been told by the girl that she had gone into the office at 12:05, and found no one there.”

“Then Frank, seeing the importance, declared that he might have stepped out of the office for some little errand and then forgotten about it.”

Pays Tribute to Scott.

Mr. Dorsey turned aside here to pay a tribute to Harry Scott, and in it, he was careful to pay no tribute to the other Pinkertons. A moment later he accused the others of “running with the hare instead of the hounds.”

“Scott asked Frank if he was in his office from the time he came back until Mary Phagan came, and he said yes, and then Scott asked if he was there from 12 o’clock until Mary Phagan came, and he  declared he was, and then Scott asked him if he was in his office all the time from the occasion when he went upstairs after Mrs. White, until he left for lunch, and again he answered yes.”

“It was only when Frank realized that the little Stover girl had come up there and he was not there, that he tried to hedge by declaring that he might have gone out for a moment and not remembered it afterward.”

“Not until be recognized the wonderful truth and ability in Scott and his adherence to duty did Frank shut him out from his councils.”

“Gentlemen, you have the power to find a guilty man, innocent or guilty. No potentate is more powerful than the American jury. In the secrecy of the jury room, you can write a verdict that outrages humanity, but your consciences will control you, and only by doing your duty can you ever afterward have your own self-respect.”

The Testimony of Kelley.

 “The defense has already talked about the time element and tried to break down little George Epps because he did not have a watch, and they tried to impeach George Kenley, the motorman, because he knew the little girl, and felt down in his heart that he knew who killed her.”

“There is one state’s witness, however, against whom there has been no breath of suspicion, and he is Mr. Kelly, a street car man, who rode with Mathews that day, and who knows him, and knew the girl, and he declares that she never rode around to Hunter street as Mathews claims.”

“Mr. Rosser says he doesn’t care about the cabbage and the statements made about it. I tell you, and I don’t go back on my raising when I do, that cabbage is good food and that there is no better food than cabbage, cornbread and buttermilk.”

“It would not surprise me” he added, “if these astute gentlemen on the defense did not go out and bring in all these general practitioners they used, solely because they happened to be the family physicians of some of the jurors, and for the effect they thought it would have on you.”

Defense Makes Objection.

“That’s grossly unfair and improper,” interrupted Mr. Arnold in an appeal to Judge Roan.“

“And it’s insulting,” added Mr. Rosser; “insulting to us and to the jury.”

“I want your honor to rule that out and to reprimand the solicitor,” continued Mr. Arnold.“

“I did not say that it was a fact, but I said that it might be so and would not surprise me if it was and I’ve got a right to say that,” answered Mr. Dorsey. “The fact that they went out and got general practitioners instead of getting experts goes to show that.”

“You may state that you think such was the case, Mr. Dorsey, but not that it is,” ruled Judge Roan.

“I thought so!” shouted Solicitor Dorsey to the jury.

“Now, your honor, he’s got no right to shout, ‘I thought so.’” Mr. Arnold declared heatedly.

Judge Roan upheld the solicitor; however, ruling that he had a right to say that he had thought that he would be upheld in the former argument.

“I can’t see any other reason in the world,” continued the solicitor, “for their going out and dragging in a lot of general practitioners and surgeons instead of experts competent to testify, unless they were seeking for the effect that the testimony of their family physicians might have on some of the jurors”.

Mr. Arnold here had the court stenographer enter on the record his formal objection to the statement and the solicitor went on.

“You can’t tell me that Childs, a general practitioner, this man from Michigan, with only seven years’ experience, can put his opinion up against that of Dr. Harris, the eminent secretary of the state board of health.”

“Before you or anybody can set aside the evidence of this man, Dr. Harris, and take the opinion of the man from Michigan, or of the pathologist from Alsace-Lorraine, who did not know the name of the first step in the digestive process, you’ve got to have better evidence than was shown here.”

Attack on Hancock.

“You can’t tell me that Dr. Hancock, who saws bones for the Georgia Railway and Power company, knows more than Dr. Harris does.”  

“You can’t tell me that Olmstead, a general practitioner, knows more than does this expert in the service of the state.”

“You can’t tell me that Dr. Kendrick, popular as he is, and who tells you he has not opened a book on the subject in ten years, should be taken in preference to Dr. Harris.”

 “You can’t tell me that these men can stand up before Dr. Harris, or before Dr. Clarence Johnson, the eminent stomach specialist, who backs him up; or before Dr. George M. Niles, another stomach specialist, who also agrees with him. They can’t stand against Dr. John Funke, expert pathologist, who agrees with Dr. Harris.”

“Why, gentlemen of the jury, Hancock Is so gangrened with prejudice that when I showed him this book (The American Medical Journal) he declared it a book made up by quacks.”

“Why, Dr. Willis Westmoreland was so bitter and so prejudiced against Dr. Harris that he told us that the board of health had found him guilty of scientific dishonesty, and the records showed that they had not done any such thing, and that Dr. Westmoreland had got mad because he could not run the board and had resigned.

Nervousness Not Natural.

“Well, I want to take up the question of Frank’s nervousness again. You remember that on that afternoon of Memorial Day that Newt Lee, who had been told to come early, came back like the dutiful darky he was, and found Leo Frank washing his hands. Frank was waiting there then for Jim Conley to come and burn the body and Frank did not want Newt around, so he made Newt go out into town, and that when Newt told him he was sleepy and wanted to find a comfortable corner anywhere in the building.”

“Frank wanted to get Lee away so that when Conley came back, as he had promised he would do, they could burn the body and the police might never solve that Phagan mystery; and might never know that the girl had ever entered the factory that day.”

“You remember, too, that when Frank was going out later that he almost ran into Gantt at the door and that Lee says Frank jumped and Gantt says he was nervous. Gantt said he wanted to go up and get a pair of shoes that he had left there and Frank told him that he had seen a boy sweeping out a pair and Gantt had replied that he had left two pair and would go up and see if he could not get the other pair. You remember also that Gantt went up there and found both pair of shoes and that this very fact showed that Frank was merely making up something to keep the man from going Into the building if possible.”

“And, when Frank sent for Attorney Rosser, he wanted him because his conscience needed somebody to sustain it. He got Haas and Darley for the same reason.”

“Now, we went into the camp of the enemy to get Darley, who has told openly of Frank’s nervousness. Darley says Frank trembled like an aspen leaf. He told me when he made his affidavit that Frank was completely unstrung, but, when he got on the witness stand, he changed It to ‘almost.’”

“Frank’s nervousness was produced by one cause only, the consciousness of his infamous crime. Old man Newt Lee says that when he went back that afternoon, he found the inside door locked, something he had never found before. Newt also says that night when he went down into the basement, he found the light flickering low. Do you think for a minute that Jim Conley would have turned down that light? No. But, I tell you that Frank did it when he found Conley was not coming back to burn the body.”

“He didn’t want anyone to discover the body until he found time to dispose of It.”

“It was fear pulling at his heartstrings, fear and remorse. Spectral shadows flitted before him—shades of the body, the prison, this trial, the gallows, a murderer’s grave.”

Leaving Conley Out.

“You may leave Jim Conley entirely out of this case and you still have a course of conduct that shows this man’s guilt.” 

“Is Dalton a low-down character? If so, isn’t he then just the kind of man a person like Frank would consort with when his dual character was predominant.”

“I tell you that today he is a man of utter integrity, although he may, at times, be tempted to step aside with a woman who has fallen as low as Daisy Hopkins.”

“We sustained him by scores of witnesses, good and substantial men. We corroborated the statement that he had been seen to go into the factory with women. We corroborated Dalton almost in whole.”

“Lawyer Rosser says he would give so much to know who dressed up Jim Conley. If you, Mr. Rosser, had wanted to know half so much about Jim Conley being dressed up as you did to find faults with Dalton’s past, you could have learned very easily.”

Why Conley Was in Jail.

“Let’s see something about what William Smith, Jim Conley’s attorney, has set up about the rule which Judge Roan gave in regard to Conley’s imprisonment. The police, be it understood, may be no better than the sheriff of our county, but they are just as good.”

“Smith says that Conley, in the police station, is perfectly safe from a standpoint of physical welfare, and that, under such imprisonment, is far safer. No one has been allowed to see him. He has been protected from physical harm and false claims. He says that plans have been laid detrimental to the carrying out of justice so far as Conley is concerned.”

“Sufficient inside guards were not provided in the Tower. Only one man was paid to guard the entire five stories which contain twenty cell blocks. Friends of Frank were allowed to pour into the jail in a steady stream, many of whom were admitted indiscriminately into Conley’s cell. Newspaper men and others say, Smith, was admitted constantly in Conley’s cell. One man offered sandwiches and liquor to the negro.”

“Our proof of general bad character sustains Jim Conley. Our proof of general bad character as to lasciviousness sustains Jim Conley.”

“Their failure to cross-examine our character witnesses sustains him. Frank’s relations with Rebecca Carson sustains him. Your own witness, Miss Jackson, sustains him. Miss Kitchens, of the fourth floor, sustains him.”

“Lemmie Quinn, their dear Lemmie, sustains him. Daisy Hopkins and Dalton sustain him. The blood spots, the statement of Holloway and Boots Rogers relative to the open elevator box sustain him. Albert McKnight and Minola McKnight’s repudiated affidavit sustain him.”

“The existence of the notes sustains him. No negro in history of the negro race ever wrote a note or letter to cover up his crime.”

“The diction of the notes in ‘did’ and ‘done’ sustain him.”

Attorney Rosser entered an objection to this statement, arguing that in many places Conley had used the word ‘did’ in his statement.

“I have heard Conley’s whole statement and I say the jury has heard that every time it was put to him, he used the word ‘done’ instead of ‘did.’ I want to see the physiognomy of the man who took these notes. I also want his original notes.”

Judge Harvey J. Parry, the expert stenographer who had taken most of Conley’s statement, stated that the character for “did” is so different from that “done.” That it would have been impossible for the stenographer to have made a mistake.

“Very well, then,” said the solicitor, “you have said in your own argument Mr. Rosser that one thing a negro would do under any circumstances would be to absorb the words and expressions of a white man.”

“Jim Conley is sustained by Frank’s statement relating to his relatives in Brooklyn.”

“When Jim was on the stand, Rosser questioned him about Mincey. Where is this Mincey?  Echo answers: ‘Where?’ These men knew his perjuring, trying was so diabolical. It would have sickened the jury’s mind. The absence of Mincey is a powerful support of Jim Conley’s story.”

“Every circumstance in this case that this man killed this girl! Extraordinary? Yes! But as true as the fact that Mary Phagan is dead.”

“She died a noble death. Without a splotch or blemish upon her, a martyr to the virtue she protected the extent of death in saving it from her employer.”

“Your honor, I have done my duty — I have no apologies to make. There will be but one verdict, guilty, guilty, guilty.”

There was a melodious blast of noon whistles. The courtroom was still. The whistles rang out over a working city at the exact. hour Mary Phagan several weeks ago stepped into the pencil factory to her death. The solicitor’s speech was done.

* * *

Atlanta Constitution, August 26th 1913, “As Bells Tolled, Dorsey Closed Magnificent Argument Which Fastened Crime on Frank,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Atlanta Constitution
August 26th, 1913

WAITS WITH WIFE IN TOWER FOR NEWS FROM COURTROOM; FRIENDS TELL HIM VERDICT

“I Am as Innocent Today as I Was One Year Ago,” He Cries—“The Jury Has Been Influenced by Mob Law”— “I Am Stunned by News,” Declares ‘Rabbi Marx, One of Prisoner’s Closest Friends—Defense Plans to Carry Case to Supreme Court in Order to Secure New Trial—Judge Roan Will Defer Sentence For a Few Days.

OVATION FOR JURY AND SOLICITOR GIVEN BY CROWD WAITING ON STREET

Judge Roan Thanks Jurymen for Services During Four Long, Hard Weeks, and Tells Members He Hopes They Will Find Their Families Well—Courtroom Was Cleared by Order of Judge Before Jury Was Brought in to Give Its Verdict—“’I’m Sorry for Frank’s Wife and His Mother,” Says Solicitor Dorsey.

 Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the National Pencil factory; president of the B’nai B’rith, graduate of Cornell university, student of literature, and until recently regarded as a man of unblemished character and reputation, and a leader among his people, has been declared guilty of the murder of Mary Phagan, a 13-year-old employee of the factory which Frank is the head.

At 4 minutes to 5 o’clock, a jury of his peers filed slowly into the courtroom, which for four weeks has been the scene of the greatest legal battle in the history of the state.

The room had been cleared of the morbidly curious who for days have listened to the fierce fight for and against the young man. Only the newspaper men, Sheriff Mangum, his deputies, Solicitor Dorsey and Frank Hooper, a few lawyers and some close personal friends of the defendant were in the room.

VERDICT WAS EASY TO READ.

On the face of each juror was the drawn look of men who had been compelled, through duty, to do an awful thing—to consign a fellow creature to the gallows. There was no mistaking that look. The strongest of the men shook as if some strange ailment had stricken them.

It took no student of human nature to read that the verdict was the ultimate one of guilt.

A hush fell over the courtroom. The scraping of a chair across the floor, the rustle of a fan, the shuffling of a foot would have been welcome sounds. The silence was fearsome.

Slowly, with voice that trembled, Fred Winburn, foreman of the jury, read the verdict.

Immediately there was the hustle and bustle of reporters and strident voices calling out “guilty” over the telephones to Atlanta’s three newspapers.

The sound reached the street below and a shout went up from the waiting mob outside.

The end had come to the longest criminal trial on record in this state.

JUDGE THANKS THE JURY.

Just after the ballot was polled Judge Roan said:

“Gentlemen, I am now taking leave of you. You have been here for a month, and it has been a hard and trying time for all of us.

“Gentlemen, I want to thank you for your faithful service and consideration of all details in this most arduous case.”

The judge’s voice broke at this point, but bravely collecting his composure, he continued:

“Gentlemen, I hope you find your families well.”

Leo M. Frank was not in the courtroom.

Luther Rosser, Reuben Arnold or Herbert Haas, attorneys for the defense, were not present when the verdict was read. Lunch was in his residence, recuperating from the weeks of terrific strain undergone in their masterful fight. They were represented by Stiles Hopkins, a member of Rosser’s firm, and Luther Z. Rosser, Jr., son of the attorney.

The verdict was reached at 3:39 o’clock and was read in court at 4:56 o’clock.

FRANK HEARS FATE IN TOWER.

Over in the Tower, oblivious of his fate, sat Leo M. Frank, his arm around his faithful wife. His presence in court had been waived.

When, some three-quarters of an hour later, he learned the news, he bore up with fortitude. To a friend he said:

“My God! Even the jury was influenced by mob law.”

“I am as innocent as I was one year ago.”

His wife swooned away when she heard the awful news.

Judge Roan, will not pass the death sentence on Frank for some days. He has not definitely decided when.

Attorneys Arnold and Rosser will make a motion for a new trial on statutory grounds, and prior to the making of this motion, sentence will be passed.

Judge Roan stated that he would not pronounce sentence until public feeling was more calm.

While the jury was out nearly four hours and each and every member was pledged to secrecy, it is definitely known that only two ballot were taken and that the verdict was reached in a comparatively short time.

BIG CROWD ON STREETS WAITS FOR THE VERDICT.

When the crowd that filled the courtroom was driven out Monday afternoon on the order of Judge Roan, it flowed to the streets to await the verdict, increasing in size as the minutes passed.

A veritable honeycomb of humanity spread over the section from Whitehall to Central avenue, on Hunter street, and from Alabama to Mitchell on Pryor. Men and women clung to the walls of buildings and sat in doorways.

Windows were crowded with women and girls and children. It was as though a street audience had gathered to watch an eventful procession. The shrill orders of the mounted policemen arose over the hum of the crowd.

A knot of men clustered around the pressroom, the windows of which front Hunter street, just opposite the new courthouse building. As the reporters at the telephone shouted the verdict to their offices, the word came through the windows. It was received with a shout.

The cry of guilty took winged flight from lip to lip. It traveled like the rattle of musketry. Then came a combined shout that rose to the sky. Pandemonium reigned. Hats went into the air. Women wept and shouted by turns.  

GREAT OVATION ACCORDED SOLICITOR GENERAL DORSEY.

As Solicitor General Hugh Dorsey appeared in the doorway of the courthouse, while the crowd yelled its reception of the Frank verdict, there came a mighty roar.

As expressed by one aged man, whose wrinkled face and empty sleeve proclaimed service in the days of civil strife, and who had stood in the mob to hear the verdict, “It was kinder like ‘Dixie’ ringing out in a place where you ain’t known.”

The solicitor reached no further than the sidewalk. While mounted men rode like Cossacks through the human swarm, three muscular men slung Mr. Dorsey on their shoulders and passed him over the heads of the crowd across the street to his office.

With hat raised and tears coursing down his cheeks, the victor in Georgia’s most noted criminal battle was tumbled over a shrieking throng that wildly proclaimed its admiration. Few will live to see another such demonstration.

Mr. Dorsey was carried in the elevator to his office, where he dropped limply in a seat, exhausted, worn completely out by strain and exertion. Friends besieged him. The stairway leading to the floor on which his office is situated was lined with men and women.

A Constitution reporter asked a statement.

“I feel sorry for his wife and mother,” were his only words. He had nothing to say about the outcome, about the bitter fight that had been waged, nothing about the prospects of a new trial. His sympathy was for the two women who had been dealt a blow as mortal as the courts had dealt their son and husband.”

MOTION FOR A NEW TRIAL WILL BE MADE VERY SOON,

It will probably be tomorrow—at the earliest—before sentence is passed upon Leo Frank. Judge Roan stated last night that he would give time, for feeling to diminish, before calling the convicted man to court.

That the defense will make immediate appeal for new trial was stated by Attorney Luther Z. Rosser to a Constitution reporter last night, He would make no other statement regarding the verdict. Statutory grounds will be the basis for the plea. Excerpts from the evidence and decisions of Judge Roan, stated the attorney, would be the grounds. 

Judge Roan will be notified of this appeal, this morning. It will be promptly carried before the supreme court for consideration. It is legal for Judge Roan to grant the new trial. It is said, however, that the request will not be made of his court.

Attorney Frank Arthur Hooper, colleague of the solicitor in Frank’s prosecution, declared Monday afternoon that he did not believe that the supreme court would either grant a new trial or reverse the jury’s verdict. It has been a fair and impartial trial, he declared, and there will be no substantial grounds on which to base such a plea. Solicitor Dorsey would not commit himself. Both Mr. Rosser and Mr. Arnold, however, seemed confident that the supreme court would act favorably upon their plea.

The sentence will be imposed in the same courtroom In which the case was tried.

* * *

Atlanta Constitution, August 26th 1913, “Frank Convicted, Asserts Innocence,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)