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

Atlanta Constitution
August 5^th, 1913

Police Sergeant L. S. Dobbs was the witness who followed Grice. The officer had already testified on the first day of the trial and was brought back for only a few minutes.

“Did you find a handkerchief that Sunday morning in the factory?”

“Yes, sir, in the basement near a trash pile.”

“That’s all,” said the solicitor.

Mr. Rosser then asked the officer several questions in regard to the detail of the basement and said he was through.

Mr. Dorsey then showed the officer a flashlight photograph of the spot in the basement where the girl’s body was found. It was the flashlight taken by Francis E. Price, Constitution staff photographer, on the morning the body was found and used the next day in The Constitution. The solicitor had borrowed it from a member of the staff.

The picture showed Detective John R. Black standing near the spot, and Mr. Rosser interrupted with some very pleasant remarks about “My handsome friend, Black.”

Mr. Dorsey then tendered the bloody handkerchief in evidence and had the officer identify it as the one he had found.

Sergeant Dobbs was then excused. He had been on the stand less than fifteen minutes.

* * *

Atlanta Constitution, August 5th 1913, “Flashlight in The Constitution Introduced in Trial of Frank,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

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

Atlanta Constitution
July 30^th, 1913

Sergeant L. S. Dobbs, one of the policemen who answered Lee’s call to the factory, was put on the stand, after Lee was dismissed.

He told of the call at about 3:20 a. m. on April 27, and of how he and Officers Anderson and Brown, with “Boots” Rogers, an ex-county policeman, and Britt Craig, of The Constitution, went to the factory and found the body.

The officer declared, among other things, that Lee was not frightened or trembling when they got there, that they had difficulty in telling at first whether the girl was white or black, and that Lee had interrupted his reading of the note when he reached the word “night” by saying, “Boss, that’s me.”

Sergeant Dobbs went into detail about the cord around the girl’s neck, and also the torn piece of underclothing tied loosely around the neck over the cord. He declared that the rope and piece of cloth exhibited were very similar to those he saw that morning, but would not swear they were the identical ones.

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

Atlanta Constitution
July 30^th, 1913

Sergeant L. S. Dobbs took the stand again at the afternoon session.

“Did you help take the girl’s body from the basement?” Attorney Rosser questioned.

“I was there when the undertakers came,” answered the sergeant.

“Who cleaned the girl’s face?”

“Sergeant Brown, I believe.”

“How?”

“With a piece of paper.”

“How was the body removed?”

“In a corpse basket.”

Here the examination was taken up by the solicitor general.

“What is the distance from the ladder to the spot where the body was found?”

“About 150 feet.”