Tag Archives: Leo Frank Trial

Frank’s Presence in Office at Time He Says He Was There is Denied by Girl on Stand

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

Atlanta Constitution
August 1st, 1913

Following the Pinkerton detective testimony the state introduced Miss Monteen Stover, who worked in the factory when Mary Phagan did. The girl was rather abashed when she first appeared, but turned out to be a witness who could relate exactly what she started out to tell and who did not seem to get confused.

“Where do you work?” asked the solicitor of the girl.

“Nowhere.”

“Were you work on April 26?”

“No.”

“When did you last work before the murder?”
“On the Monday before the murder,” she answered.

“Were you in the factory on April 26?”

“Yes, at 12:05.”

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William Gheesling, Embalmer, Tells of Wounds on Girl’s Body

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

Atlanta Constitution
August 1st, 1913

William Gheesling, the undertaker who embalmed Mary Phagan’s body, was next called in.

“What is your business?” queried Solicitor Dorsey.

“I am an embalmer.”

“How long have you been in that advice?”

“Fifteen years, or more.”

“Did you see the body of Mary Phagan?”

“Yes, I first saw it at 15 minutes to 4 on the morning of April 27.”

“Where was it?”

“In the basement of the National Pencil factory.”

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Holloway Denies Affidavit He Signed for Solicitor

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

Atlanta Constitution
August 1st, 1913

NEW TESTIMONY GIVEN AT TRIAL OF LEO M. FRANK BY R. B. BARRETT

Machinist at Pencil Factory Tells Jury of Discovery of Murdered Girl’s Pay Envelope and of Strands of Hair Near Her Machine in Metal Room on Second Floor.

HENRY [sic] SCOTT PUZZLES BOTH SIDES OF CASE BY EVIDENCE THURSDAY

E. L. Holloway, Who Swore in Affidavit That Elevator Was Closed on Saturday, the Day of the Murder, Admits on Stand That He Was Mistaken—“I’ve Been Trapped,” Cries Dorsey.

The first piece of new testimony of any importance which has developed since the beginning of the Leo M. Frank trial came Thursday morning, when R. B. Barrett, a machinist employed at the National Pencil factory, testified that he had found what was supposed to be Mary Phagan’s pay envelope near her machine in the metal room. Up to this time the matter of the pay envelope had been a complete mystery. Barrett also testified to having discovered blood stains on the floor near her machine, and a strand of hair on the machine. The blood stain had been wiped over with some kind of white preparation.

The whole gist of Solicitor Dorsey’s questioning was to prove that the murder was committed on the second floor. The testimony of this witness and others seemed to bear out this contention.

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Attorneys for Both Sides Riled by Scott’s Testimony; Replies Cause Lively Tilts

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

Atlanta Constitution
August 1st, 1913

When court convened on Thursday morning, J. M. Gantt, formerly employed in the bookkeeping department of the National Pencil factory, was placed on the stand for two questions, and he was followed by Harry Scott, Pinkerton detective, who worked as a partner of John R. Black, of the city detectives, in searching for the murder of Mary Phagan.

Solicitor Hugh Dorsey had Gantt swear that he was arrested on April 28 and hold until the following Thursday.

During Scott’s testimony, there were lively tilts of all sorts. At one time Scott became angry with the solicitor and asked him if he were accusing him of withholding evidence, and Dorsey declared that Scott had entrapped him by promising to swear one thing on the stand and then by refusing to swear it.

A moment later the defense was in a rage when Scott swore that Herbert Haas, one of Leo Frank’s counsel, had ordered him to furnish to the defense the evidence he might obtain before giving it to the police.

Luther Rosser, another of Frank’s attorneys, then tried to show that he had not been concerned in this, and when this was not helld [sic] admissible, he burst out with the statement, “There’s certainly no one here who believes that I had anything to do with this!”
Scott declared he told Haas, in the presence of Rosser and Sig Montag, that before the Pinkertons would do as he asked that they would quit the case.

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Watchman Swears Elevator Was Open; Changes Evidence

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

Atlanta Journal
August 1st, 1913

E. F. Holloway Angers Dorsey When He Testifies Contrary to Affidavit—Had Told Dorsey Elevator Switch Was Locked

Court adjourned at 4:58 o’clock until 9 o’clock Friday morning after a day of surprises in the trial of Leo M. Frank, charged with the murder of Mary Phagan, in the National Pencil factory building.

That the switch board which controls the motor used to operate the elevator in the National Pencil factory, where Mary Phagan was murdered was left unlocked Saturday morning when he left the building at 11:45 o’clock, and that anybody could have entered and run the elevator up and down the shaft during the balance of the day, was the statement of E. F. Holloway, one of the factory’s watchmen at the trial of Leo M. Frank late Thursday afternoon.

Although Holloway made an affidavit for Solicitor Hugh M. Dorsey, which he identified in the court room, swearing to the fact that he left the switch box locked on that Saturday, he positively declared on Thursday that he left it unlocked, and when confronted with his own signature answered, “I forgot.”

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Mrs. Callie Scott Appelbaum Attends Trial of Leo Frank; Believes in His Innocence

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

Atlanta Journal
August 1st, 1913

A woman sat among the spectators at the Frank trial Thursday afternoon, a pretty blue-eyed woman neatly clad in a white shirtwaist and black skirt.

“Four months ago,” she was thinking, “I was in the position of that boyish-limbed youth over there. Four months ago, I, too, was accused of murder, was on trial for my life. Four months ago men and women came to stare at me, even as I am staring at him now.”

The woman was Mrs. Callie Scott Appelbaum, who was freed last spring of the charge of slaying her husband in the Dakota hotel.

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Frank Trial Crowd Sees Auto Knock Down Youth

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

Atlanta Journal
August 1st, 1913

Thronged Streets Prevented Driver Seeing Raymond Roddy—Not Seriously Hurt

Raymond Roddy, a thirteen-year-old boy who lives at 66 Williams street, was knocked down by an automobile about 9 o’clock Thursday morning near the corner of Pryor and East Hunger street, not far from the old court house where the Frank trial is taking place.

The boy was crossing Pryor street at the time, attracted by the crowd of curiosity seekers gathered around the court house. The automobile was driven by H. H. Hooten, of the Adams Grocery company, who was taking it to the shop on Mitchell street.

On account of the crowded street it is said, Hooten did not see the boy until the machine was upon him. The accident is said by spectators to have been unavoidable.

The little fellow was not unconscious, and at the Grady hospital, where he was taken, physicians said that he would probably be able to leave during the morning. No bones were borken [sic].

Picnic and Theories Mark Noon Hour in Frank Trial Court Room

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

Atlanta Journal
August 1st, 1913

Spectators Remain From 5 to 7—Lunch Boys Acquiring Wealth

A court room where a man is on trial for his life is a strange place for a picnic, yet from 12:30 to 2 o’clock every afternoon the room where the Frank trial is taking place has all the appearance of the pavillion at Grant park on a hot July Saturday.

The benches are spread with boxes and sacks, sandwiches, chicken, cake, all the other essentials of a picnic lunch save ice-cold lemonade, are passed about from man to man, and the noon hour dinner is eaten with as much good-natured laughter as if there was never such a thing in the world as a murder trial.

True, most of the table conversation is of the latest testimony, and if there are after dinner speeches made they are sure to take a theoretic turn. But the afternoon session is an aid rather than a hindrance to digestion.

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Lawyers Battle Over Testimony of Frank’s Nervousness; Witness Swears Negro Was in Factory About 1 o’Clock

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

Atlanta Journal
August 1st, 1913

DARLEY’S ADMISSIONS ABOUT FRANK’S DEFENSE OFFSET BY HIS EVIDENCE IN REBUTTAL

Having Admitted Frank Trembled, That He Was Pale and Seemed “Upset,” on Cross-Examination Mr. Darley Said Frank Was Naturally of a Nervous Temperament and Told of Tedious Work He Did on Saturday in Preparing Financial Sheet

JUDGE ROAN REVERSES HIS RULING IN REFERENCE TO EVIDENCE ABOUT WHETHER OTHERS WERE NERVOUS

Attorneys for Defense Had Intimated That His Refusal to Admit This Evidence Was Good Ground for Appeal—Mrs. White’s Testimony That She Saw Negro Lurking Near Stairway at 1 o’Clock Saturday a Feature of Morning Session

Little progress was made at the morning session Friday of the fifth day of the trial of Leo M. Frank for the murder of Mary Phagan. The state showed by one witness that a negro was sitting on a box on the main floor shortly before 1 o’clock at the point Jim Conley claims he was sitting when he says Frank called him.

The state also introduced its best testimony relative to the nervousness and general demeanor of the defendant on the morning that the crime was discovered.

The witness, who gave his testimony was N. V. Darley, who also materially aided the defense by a number of points brought out on his cross-examination by Attorney Reuben R. Arnold. Considered of special value to the defense was his statement that with the time clock in the condition that it was on Sunday anyone understanding its mechanism could have made the punches for twelve hours within five minutes. The defense, brought out by Darley a statement that it had been hammering home since the trial first started, namely that the elevator and its motor made much noise when running and that a saw on the fourth floor ran simultaneously with the elevator. The inference is that the defense will argue that if the elevator ran shortly after noon or even up to 3 o’clock that White and Denham, working on the fourth floor, would necessarily have heard it.

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Girl Slain After Frank Left Factory, Believed to be Defense Theory

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

Atlanta Georgian
August 1st, 1913

Was Mary Phagan killed at or very near the time she entered the National Pencil Factory April 26 to get her pay envelope or was she merely attacked at this time and murdered later?

The line of questioning pursued by Luther Rosser in his cross-examination of two of the State’s witnesses Thursday afternoon indicated this will be one of the questions the jurors will have to settle before they will be able to determine the innocence or guilt of Leo M. Frank.

Rosser was most persistent in his interrogation both of William A. Gheesling embalmer, and Dr. Claude A. Smith, physician and bacteriologist. Gheesling went to the pencil factory at about 4 o’clock the morning of the crime and took charge of the Phagan girl’s body. He told Solicitor Dorsey in the direct examination Thursday that the girl had been dead ten or fifteen hours and that rigor mortis was well established.

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Sherlocks, Lupins and Lecoqs See Frank Trial

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

Atlanta Georgian
August 1st, 1913

There are enough “hists,” “aha’s” and those other exclamations that mark a true detective besides the badge on his left suspender to fill a whole volume of Gaborieau thrillers at the Frank trial.

A stranger whirled from the Terminal Station to Judge Roan’s courtroom would be convinced before he had been in that temple of justice five minutes that all Atlanta earns its living following clews, and that if Sherlock Holmes was made a material being he could beat Jim Woodward for Mayor by 8,000 votes.

Ever since the body of Mary Phagan was found, practically every man of voting age and a lot of those who just think they are, have evolved a theory as to the crime they regard as incontrovertible as two plus two makes four, and have a system of ratiocination (beg pardon, Mr. Poe), that either proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that Leo M. Frank is guilty, or that he is innocent, or that Jim Conley did it, or he didn’t, or that somebody did, but they’ll be hanged if they know who.

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Dorsey Unafraid as He Faces Champions of the Atlanta Bar

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

Atlanta Georgian
August 1st, 1913

Up Against a Hard Proposition Youthful Solicitor Is Fighting Valiantly to Win Case.

By L. F. WOODRUFF.

Georgia’s law’s most supreme penalty faces Leo Frank.

A reputation that they can not be beaten must be sustained by Luther Rosser and Reuben Arnold.

Atlanta’s detective department’s future is swaying on the issue of the Frank trial.

But there is a man with probably as much at stake as any of the hundreds who crowd Judge Roan’s courtroom, with the exception of Frank, and he is accepting the ordeal, though he realizes it, as calmly as a person who has nothing more serious to decide than whether he will order his steak rare or well done at breakfast time.

Hugh Dorsey is hereby introduced. He is known pretty well in Atlanta without introduction but as chairmen on political meetings insists on telling the audience that the President of the United States is about to speak or that the Secretary of State is endeavoring to earn an additional amount to his yearly $12,000. Mr. Dorsey can be placed before the public without fear of violating precedent.

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Defense Not Helped by Witnesses Accused of Entrapping the State

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

Atlanta Georgian
August 1st, 1913

By JAMES B. NEVIN.

Has the State succeeded in thoroughly establishing the fact that little Mary Phagan’s tragic death was effected on the second floor of the National Pencil Factory, in Forsyth street?

It has not, of course—but it has set up by competent evidence a number of suspicious circumstances, which, if properly sustained later along, will prove damaging in the extreme to Leo Frank.

Unless these circumstances, trivial in some aspects, are braced up and backed up, however, by other much stronger circumstances, they will give the jury, in all probability, little concern in arriving at a verdict.

Thursday was not a sensationally good day for the State, although it was much better than the day before.

Twice Thursday the Solicitor General claimed that he had been “entrapped” by witnesses—and this, with the lamentable fall down of John Black the day before—served to give rise in the minds of some spectators to a faint suspicion that the State didn’t have its case very well in hand.

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Conley Takes Stand Saturday

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

Atlanta Georgian
August 1st, 1913

Lawyers Wrangle Over Frank’s Nervousness

DORSEY WINS POINT AS ROSSER BATTLES TO DEFEND ACCUSED

Jim Conley, accuser of Leo Frank, will take the stand Saturday morning, according to all indications Friday, to repeat the remarkable story he told concerning his part in the disposition of the body of Mary Phagan and undergo the merciless grilling of the defense.

Solicitor General Dorsey said that he expected to have his case completed by Saturday night and police, believing he will call the negro to-morrow, had him shaved and cleaned up and in readiness for his appearance.

Regardless of statements by defense and State, it is generally conceded that the Frank trial will reach its crux in Conley’s appearance, and that on his story and whether it stands up or not under the first of the defense, will rest the outcome of the trial.

Objections by Attorney Hooper, assistant to Solicitor Dorsey, to questions put to N. V. Darley by Attorney Arnold about the contents of the financial sheet made out by Leo Frank developed the fact that the defense would introduce evidence in rebuttal.

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William Gheesling First Witness Today

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

Atlanta Constitution
July 31st, 1913

Harry Scott, Pinkerton Detective Will Also Be Called to Stand During Day

William Gheesling, the P. J. Bloomfield undertaking attachee who made the first examination and emblamed [sic] the body of Mary Phagan will probably be the first witness called to the stand in the Frank trial this morning.

He will be followed by Harry Scott, the Pinkerton detectives who worked with Detective John Black in the murder investigation and who engineered the third degree which resulted in Jim Conley’s confession.

Dr. Hurt, county physician who made the medical examination upon the corpse and who it is rumored testified before the grand jury to the effect that no assault had been made upon the girl will likely be called this afternoon.

Evidently, a big fight will be waged upon Dr. Hurt’s testimony as the defense, it is stated, has already made arrangements for an expert stenographer to take notes of his story.

Bearing of Black and Lee Forms a Study in Contrast

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

Atlanta Constitution
July 31st, 1913

By Sidney Ormond

Comparisons are odious, but to the close observer of events following the Mary Phagan murder and the trial now in progress one cannot help contrasting the impression made on the jury by Newt Lee, the negro night watchman of the National Pencil factory, and the testimony of John Black, detective, who worked up a large part of the evidence being used against Leo M. Frank by the state.

It was only a short while ago that John Black, according to the statement of Lee, was ‘blunblamming’ at him night and day in an effort to get something new in regard to the death of Mary Phagan. Lee was not allowed to sleep, and you know what that means to a negro. No sooner would he curl up on his bunk to dream of yellow-legged chickens, watermelons and the fresh air of liberty, than along would come Black or Starnes or some other member of the detective force to harass him with questions. For months his life has been one volley of interrogations fired at him coaxingly or menacingly. He told his story so often that doubtless if he were asked which he preferred, chicken or watermelon, he would say,

‘I went down into the basement and—’

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Gantt, Once Phagan Suspect, On Stand Wednesday Afternoon

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

Atlanta Constitution
July 31st, 1913

J. W. Gantt, who once was a suspect in the famous case, followed Mrs. Coleman to the stand at the afternoon session.

“Have you ever been connected with the pencil company?”

“From January 1st, 1918, until April 7, I was employed with that concern as shipping clerk. I was discharged by Mr. Frank for an alleged shortage.”

“Did you know Mary Phagan?”

“Yes—I knew her as a little girl.”

“Did Leo Frank know her?”

“Yes.”

“How do you know this?”

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Rogers on Stand Describes Visit of Frank to Undertakers

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

Atlanta Constitution
July 31st, 1913

When court convened and before the jury had been brought in Attorney Luther Rosser entered an objection to the drawing of the pencil factory which Solicitor Hugh M. Dorsey had rehung upon the wall after removing the descriptive lines. Objection had previously been made to the lines and the solicitor had caused these to be erased.

Attorney Rosser and his colleague Reuben Arnold declared that the dotted lines which shows the state’s theory of how the girl’s body was carried from the second floor to the basement were not part of the building and hence were not admissible.

Mr. Dorsey cited rulings of the supreme court to show that he had a right to leave this line in the picture and Judge L. S. Roan allowed it to remain in later explaining to the jury that the drawing was admitted with the dotted lines under the express agreement that the dotted lines represented merely the state’s theory and were not conclusive unless backed by argument to carry out that theory.

W. W. (“Boots”) Rogers ex-county policeman in whose automobile the police officers were taken to the factory the morning the crime was discovered and who later carried Leo Frank from his home at 69 East Georgia avenue to the undertaking establishment to see Mary Phagan’s body and later to the factory was the first witness called.

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Daintily Dressed Girl Tells Of Daily Routine of Factory

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

Atlanta Constitution
July 31st, 1913

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

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

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

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

“Yes.”

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Idle and Curious Throng Court Despite Big Force of Deputies

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

Atlanta Constitution
July 31st, 1913

In spite of the largest force of deputies that has ever been brought together in Fulton county for a similar purpose, the greatest difficulty is being experienced in keeping out the idle and morbidly curious at the Leo M. Frank trial.

A glance around the room is sufficient to show that the deputies have been imposed on. Scores of professional loafers—men who have had no visible means of support for years, and who could have possible interest in the trial—throng the room. Many women, who are in no way connected with the case either through friendship for Frank or the dead girl, arrive early in the morning and remain during the entire day. They display the keenest interest in every turn of the trial. Wednesday when the bloody shirt which was found at Newt Lee’s house was placed in evidence there was a craning of necks on the part of these women as if they could not bear to lose sight of one thread of the grewsome spectacle.

Deputies and county police on guard at the door have used little discretion in keeping out pretenders. In more than one instance reporters have had difficulty in getting in the room. Because one reporter who has been working on the trial since the first day insisted on his right to enter the room in order to do his work, a county policeman drew a “billy” and attempted to strike him.

Immediately on the heels of this incident a number of curiosity-seekers were allowed to enter the room.