Another in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.
Atlanta Constitution
August 14th, 1913
Dr. William S. Kendrick, head of the chair of medicine of the new Atlanta Medical school and for the past thirty eight years a general practitioner of medicine, was the first witness put on the stand Wednesday morning.
The physician on the stand declared the deductions of Dr. H. F. Harris, secretary of the state board of health, as to the time of Mary Phagan’s death and the alleged violation as nothing more than guesswork.
On cross-examination the solicitor forced Dr. Kendrick to admit that he was no expert on digestion and that he had not read a medical treatise on the subject in ten years or possibly in his life.
Many lively tilts occurred while the physician had the stand and in many instances the solicitor forced the witness to admit his ignorance on points pertaining to the subject.
Reuben Arnold outlined the condition in which it is said that Dr. Harris found the girl’s body and asked the witness if he could tell from that whether or not she had been violated. Dr. Kendrick stated that he could not.
“Would it be merely conjecture or not to make such a deduction?”
“I would call it nothing else.”
“Are you or not a stomach specialist?” Mr. Arnold next asked.
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