Audio Information
File Name: 1913-08-01-conley-takes-stand-saturday-the-atlanta-georgian.mp3
Modified Date: 2026-07-30 20:36:37
File Size: 48.88 mb
Duration: 00:53:23 (3203 seconds)
Bitrate: 128 kbps
Codec: MP3
Streaming/Embedded Video Information
Modified Date: 2025-08-23 12:48:11
Resolution: 1280 x 720
File size: 35.55 MB
Bitrate: 183 kbps
Duration: 00:27:12
Video codec: h.264/mpeg-4 H.264
Audio codec: ISO/IEC 14496-3 AAC
Download Video Information
Modified Date: 2025-08-23 12:27:43
Resolution: 1280 x 720
File size: 57.17 MB
Bitrate: 294 kbps
Duration: 00:27:12
Video codec: h.264/mpeg-4 H.264
Audio codec: ISO/IEC 14496-3 AAC
The Atlanta Georgian,
Friday, 1st August 1913,
PAGE 1, COLUMN 1.
Lawyers Wrangle Over Frank's Nervousness
PAGE 1, COLUMN 7
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 fire 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.
Defense to Introduce Evidence.
"We will introduce this sheet and plenty of other evidence," said Mr. Arnold. "You need not worry about that."
"That is just what I was after," remarked Mr. Hooper, aside. "I wanted to find out whether the defense intended to introduce evidence."
It had been rumored around the courthouse that the defense might rest its case at the completion of the submission of evidence by the State. Mr. Arnold's statement is taken to mean that Leo Frank himself will be placed on the stand.
Luther Z. Rosser, chief of counsel for Frank, declared Friday that the ruling of Judge Roan against the admissibility of the evidence that persons other than Frank were nervous and excited the Sunday morning after the crime might vitiate the entire trial.
He intimated strongly after Judge Roan refused to change his ruling that a new trial would be asked on a writ of error in the event of Frank's conviction.
Arnold, in arguing for the admission of Darley's testimony that other persons at the factory, as well as Frank, were nervous and distrait, got before the jury that it was hardly to be wondered at that Frank, aroused from his bed and told of a shocking crime at his factory, should be agitated, pale and nervous.
Calls Barrett Monomaniac.
Referring to the discoveries of R. P. Barrett, Arnold came out boldly and declared that it was his purpose to show Barrett a monomaniac who continually was turning up evidence, and who very likely was hunting for the rewards offered.
Darley testified that scores of pay envelopes like the one found by Mary Phagan's machine were scattered about the factory every week, and that it was most common to find them in any part of the factory. He said that he looked over the time tape with Leo Frank Sunday morning and made the same error that Frank did, believing at the time that the punches had been made correctly. The tape was shown to the jury to prove how the mistake might have been made.
Judge Roan ruled out testimony as to the conduct and appearance of other persons than Frank at the factory Sunday morning.
The defense played one of its strong cards in behalf of Leo M. Frank when it secured from Darley, manufacturing head of the plant and State's witness, evidence that the prisoner performed three hours of the most intricate mathematical work just before the time the prosecution claims Mary Phagan was slain.
This, the defense brought out, required an exceedingly clear mind.
Frank Nervous After Crime.
Darley also gave startling testimony as to Frank's nervous and upset condition on the two days following the murder of Mary Phagan.
The statements of Darley came as a complete surprise. The nature of the testimony had been carefully guarded by the Solicitor.
Darley declared that he and Frank arrived at the factory at about the same time Sunday morning, April 27, and that he first noticed Frank's nervousness when he saw the factory superintendent's hand tremble violently when he grasped the elevator rope to run the elevator down into the basement.
"When we got down to the basement," continued Darley, "and Frank started to nail up the back door, I saw that his hands were trembling and I took the hammer and nailed up the door myself, because I thought I could do it better than he could."
Darley also told that when he rode with Frank to the police station Monday, Frank sat on his knee.
"I could perceive that his whole body was trembling and shaking," said Darley. "I noticed it all of the way to the station house."
Club Not Found in Clean-Up.
Solicitor Dorsey asked Darley about a general clean-up ordered by a general insurance inspector who visited the factory April 28. Darley replied that the factory had been cleaned on the first and second floors on or before May 3.
Dorsey then called for the bloody club that was said to have been found on the first floor May 15 near where Jim Conley was sitting. Dorsey threw it down with a clatter by the chair of the witness.
"Was any club of this sort turned up during the cleaning process?" shouted Dorsey.
"No," the witness replied.
"And was not this a thorough cleaning?" the Solicitor asked.
"It was a general cleaning," replied Darley.
Frank Explains Nervousness.
Darley said that Frank later explained his nervousness of Sunday by saying that he had not had any breakfast and that he had just looked upon the body of the dead girl at the morgue. The witness added that Frank did not appear completely upset Monday, as he was able to transact a number of business affairs.
Darley, in spite of his testimony, which will be interpreted by the State as incriminating against Frank, probably was as valuable a witness for the defense as he was for the prosecution. It was under the skillful questioning of Attorney Reuben Arnold, who had begun to take a more active part in the cross-examinations than he had at first, that Darley told of the intricate work that Frank did on the afternoon of April 26 after the time the State claims that Frank murdered the Phagan girl.
Mrs. Arthur White, wife of one of the employees of the National Pencil Factory, who declared she saw a negro hiding behind some boxes on the first floor of the plant on the day Mary Phagan was killed, was the first witness called Friday.
The State with her testimony began
PAGE 2, COLUMN 1
CONLEY, SWEEPER, LIKELY TO BE LAST WITNESS FOR STATE
Frank Startled When Woman Came Upon Him Suddenly in His Office
BARRING OF TESTIMONY ON NERVOUSNESS OF FACTORY EMPLOYEES HIT BY ROSSER
Continued From Page 1.
to pave the way for the appearance of Conley, who, it is believed, would be the last witness to be called by Solicitor Dorsey, as he would be the most spectacular.
The first witness said her husband had been working at the National Pencil plant about two years.
Tells of Going to Factory.
Q. What is your husband's name? A. John Arthur White.
Q. Where does he work? A. At the National Pencil Factory. He has worked there about two years.
Q. Where was he April 26? A. At the pencil factory.
Q. Did you go to the pencil factory that day? A. Yes; about 11 o'clock.
Q. Did you see Frank? A. Yes; he was in his outside office.
Q. What did you say to him? A. I told him I wanted to see Mr. White.
Q. What did he say? A. He asked me if I was his wife. He said he thought so, as I looked like the Campbells.
Q. Did you see your husband? A. Yes; he sent for him.
Q. Did you go upstairs at 11:30 a.m.? A. No.
Q. What time did you leave? A. About ten minutes to 12.
Says Frank Jumped.
Q. What time did you come back? A. About 12:30.
Q. Whom did you see? A. I saw Mr. Frank standing at the safe in his office.
Q. What happened then? A. I asked him if I could see Mr. White. As I spoke to him he jumped.
Q. What did you do then? A. I went upstairs to see Mr. White.
Q. Did you see anybody else in the office except Denham, White and Mr. Frank? A. No, sir.
Q. Did you see anyone else as you came down? A. I saw a negro.
Q. Where? A. He was sitting on a box near the stairway that leads up to the second floor.
Q. Where did you see Frank the last time? A. In his outside office.
Q. Where was your husband and Denham at work? A. On the fourth floor.
Said She Had Better Go.
Q. What were they doing? A. Working on a machine with a hammer.
Q. When did you first hear the hammer? A. When I got on the fourth floor.
Q. Did you see Frank again before you left? A. He came up on the fourth floor.
Q. Did anybody say anything about your going up to the fourth floor? A. Yes; Frank told me to go up there.
Q. What time did Frank come to the fourth floor? A. Some time before 1 o'clock.
Q. Where were you at 1 o'clock? A. At Mc Donald's furniture store.
Q. Why did you leave before 1 o'clock? A. Mr. Frank said, "Arthur, if your wife wants to get out before 3 o'clock she had better leave now. I will go as soon as I get my hat and coat."
Frank in Office as She Left.
Q. When you came down, did you see Mr. Frank? A. Yes; when I went down he was sitting in his office.
Q. Did he have on his hat and coat as if he were going out? A. No.
Q. What was he doing? A. Writing.
Q. Could your husband and Denham see the stairway from upstairs where they were working? A. No.
Rosser took the witness on cross-examination.
Mrs. White, you talked about this matter to Mr. Arnold and myself, didn't you? You told us you left the factory about 1 o'clock? A. Yes.
Q. You don't mean to change your statement by saying it was ten minutes to 1 when you left, do you? A. I can't say exactly what time it was, but I know it was about 1 o'clock.
Q. You left there the first time about 11:30 o'clock? A. Yes.
Q. Who were there? A. Two men, Mr. Frank and a stenographer.
Q. Your father and your brother are old employees there, aren't they? A. Yes.
Q. By whom did he send word to your husband that you were there? A. Miss Emma Freeman.
Q. How long was it before your husband came? A. About five minutes.
Q. Who else was there? A. Miss Hall, Miss Freeman, Mrs. May Berrett and her daughter.
Q. You came back to the factory about 12:30, didn't you? A. Yes.
Q. How accurate are you about that? A. I looked at the clock.
Q. How close were you to Mr. Frank before you spo ? A. I was in the office door just behind him.
Q. He jumped and you thought he was surprised? A. Yes, that's what I thought then.
When he told your husband he was going to leave, he said you had better go pretty soon? A. He said I had better go now.
Q. You did wait a few minutes? A. Yes.
Q. Just where did you see the darky as you went out? Between the stairway? A. Five or six feet.
Q. What do you mean between the foot of the stairway and the door? A. Yes.
Q. How far from the foot of the stairway? A. Five or six feet.
Mr. Rosser took a blueprint to explain the position in which she saw the negro.
Q. How long after this was it that you talked with Mr. Dorsey about seeing this negro? Wasn't it four or five days? A. No, sir; about two weeks.
Mrs. White left the stand. Arthur White, her husband, was called, but failed to answer his name. M. V. Darley, assistant superintendent at the National Pencil Factory, was called.
Darley on Stand.
Q. What is your business? A. Assistant superintendent at the National Pencil Factory. I have charge of the manufacturing plant.
Q. Who is your superior? A. I considered Sig Montag.
Q. You and Frank worked together, didn't you? A. Yes.
Q. Were you at the factory Saturday, April 26? A. Yes.
Q. What time did you leave? A. About 9:40.
Q. When were you there again? A. Sunday morning about 8:10 or 8:20.
Q. Why did you go there? A. Mrs. Frank called me.
Rosser objected.
"I object to anything Mrs. Frank said. She can't be used as a witness," he said.
"Your honor, we have already shown that Frank told his wife to call this man," said Solicitor Dorsey.
"If that's all you want to show, I withdraw my objection," said Rosser.
Q. What time did Frank call at the factory? A. Shortly after I did.
Q. Did you notice anything unusual about Frank? A. When he reached out his hand to start the elevator, it was trembling. And again when he went to nail up the back door, he was so nervous he couldn't do it, and I did it for him.
Said Body Made Him Nervous.
Q. What, if anything, did Frank say? A. I don't remember. He said something about having on a new suit of clothes, or something.
Q. Did he say anything about not having breakfast? A. He said he hadn't had his breakfast and wanted a cup of coffee.
Q. Did he say anything about being nervous? A. Yes; he said they took him by Bloomfield's and into a dark room, where they turned on the light suddenly and he saw the girl. He said it made him nervous.
Q. Were you there when Newt Lee was? A. Yes.
Q. Was Lee nervous? A. No; he was composed.
Q. Did Frank say anything about the murder? A. He was under the impression the murder occurred in the basement.
Q. Did he say anything about the lock and staple? A. Yes; he said it looked like it was mighty easily pulled.
Staple Easily Pulled.
Q. Did you observe anything about the staple? A. Yes; it looked as if it had been taken out easily.
Q. Did you see Frank again? A. Yes, the following day.
Q. Did he say anything about his nervousness of the day before? A. Yes; he said something, but I have forgotten.
"Your honor," said Dorsey, "I would like to refresh the witness' memory by reading his previous statement."
"You can only show it to him," answered Judge Roan.
Dorsey showed Darley the affidavit.
Q. Just tell everything you heard Frank say about the murder A. I don't remember.
"Your honor, I would like to read this," said Dorsey.
Forgets Vital Evidence.
Rosser and Arnold objected.
"He will have to make the usual showing that he was entrapped, your honor," said Arnold.
"He is trying to bring in evidence from the outside," said Rosser.
"You can't read it, Mr. Dorsey," said Judge Roan.
"My friend Dorsey would show anything, your honor," said Rosser. "Nothing's too good for him."
Q. State to the jury how much of Frank's body was nervous? A. That is a pretty hard question.
"Look at this," said Dorsey, showing him an affidavit.
"I said there he was shaking all over," said the witness.
Rosser objected.
Judge Roan asked the witness if he was making that statement now,
Darley's Replies Guarded.
"Judge, that's a very hard question for me," answered Darley. "He reached up to get the ropes, and his hands were shaking very much."
Darley appeared very reluctant to answer any question that might incriminate Frank.
Q. Who nailed up the back door of the basement? A. I did.
Q. Was Frank able to do it? A. He was able to do it, I think, but he was nervous.
Q. How did Frank's face appear on the second floor? A. It was very pale.
STATE'S WITNESSES SKETCHED AT TRIAL
Claude E. Smith, city bacteriologist, showing the jury the blood-stained shirt found at Newt Lee's home.
Harry Scott, Pinkerton detective, in a characteristic attitude testifying.
E. F. Holloway, pencil factory foreman, who said that he saw Frank return to the factory Saturday forenoon unaccompanied.
Q. Was he upset when you got to the factory?
Rosser objected, but was overruled.
A. I can't say he was completely upset.
"Now, look here," said Dorsey, walking toward the witness with his affidavit.
"Your honor," interrupted Rosser, "he can't speak to the witness in that nasal tone. It is his witness. He can't cross-question him."
"That's right," ruled the judge.
"But," said Mr. Rosser, "your Honor has not been enforcing that ruling."
"I am going to enforce it," replied Judge Roan.
"That's what I am asking you to do now," returned Mr. Rosser.
Mr. Dorsey put his question again.
A. He was somewhat upset, but did some things around the factory that he could not have done if he had been completely upset.
State Wins Clash.
Q. Was he done up?
"I object," broke in Mr. Arnold. "He may mean that he was dead by 'done up'."
"Leave it to the jury to decide what is meant by 'done up.'," said Dorsey.
"It isn't for you to decide what is to go before the jury," retorted Rosser. "That is for the judge."
Judge Roan ruled the question was admissible.
A. He was partially done up but not completely.
Q. Why do you say that? A. He did some things he could not have done if he had been wholly done up.
Q. Who was with you on the way to the police station? A. I got in an automobile. I afterward learned that it was run by "Boots" Rogers. Mr. Frank sat on my knee.
Q. What was his condition? A. He was trembling all over.
Q. To what extent? A. He was sitting on my knee and I could feel his body shaking.
Q. What was the condition of Newt Lee?
"I object," said Rosser. "I have been objecting to this line of testimony all along. If your Honor permits this question to be asked, I want to be recorded as protesting."
"Do you insist on the question?" asked Judge Roan of Solicitor Dorsey.
Dorsey and Hooper conferred.
"I am willing to strike out all reference to Newt Lee's condition," said Dorsey.
Attorneys Exchange Courtesies.
"I am glad it has finally dawned on my brothers that these questions are illegal," said Rosser. "I have been trying to get them to see and I am glad to say the light finally has dawned upon them."
"Your Honor," interrupted Hooper, "I object to Mr. Rosser's statement about how long it takes anything to soak into my head. A reference to Newt Lee's attitude was made the other day. We see the object of these objections is to lead into a large field of investigation. We want to strike it all out."
Dorsey continued questioning the witness.
Q. Did you attend to any business Monday? A. There wasn't much work to do.
Q. Did you see the financial sheet Monday? A. Yes.
Q. Did Frank say anything about the financial sheet Monday? A. Yes, Mr. Frank called my attention to it.
Q. What did he say, and at what time? A. I don't recall the conversation, but it was about 9 o'clock.
Q. Did Gantt ever come to the factory after he was discharged? A. Yes.
Ordered Factory Cleaned.
Q. Did Frank say anything about it? A. I don't recall.
Q. Did Mr. Haas, the insurance man, come to the factory Monday or Tuesday? A. He did.
Q. What did he do? A. He ordered us to clean up the factory in a general way.
Q. What time did you clean up the main floor? A. May 3.
Q. Did you know anything about the finding of this club? (The witness was handed a heavy stick.) A. No.
Q. Do you know whether it was found before or after the cleaning up? A. Afterward about May 15.
Arnold here took up the cross-examination.
Q. Did you see any spots on the floor? Yes, in the dressing room.
Q. Who showed them to you? A. Quinn.
Calls Barrett a "Columbus."
Q. Where was the hair found? A. On the handle of the lathe.
Q. How was it? A. Wound around the lathe.
Q. Did Mr. Barrett find it? A. Yes.
Q. How many strands of hair were there? A. Not over six.
Q. Barrett has been doing most of the discovering around there, hasn't he?
"I object," said Dorsey. "The question is immaterial."
"I want to show that this man Barrett was a monomaniac," said Arnold.
Judge Roan ruled: "You can show that this man was more than ordinarily interested."
Q. Do you recall Barrett stating he was working for a reward? I don't recall.
Dorsey: "I object."
Judge Roan ruled: "I have ruled that he can show that to prove interest."
"I want to show that this man was a regular Christopher Columbus."
Q. Do you know who Barrett made this statement to? A. No.
Q. Is this a pay envelope? A. Yes.
Pay Envelopes Common.
Q. Are they thrown all over the factory? A. Yes. We have a rule that if there is any mistake in the pay roll it had to be reported before the employee left.
Q. They are very common in the metal room? Yes.
Q. Were you present Sunday morning when Frank took out the time slip? A. Yes.
Q. Did you see him run his finger down the time slip? A. Yes. He ran his finger down the number side. I was looking over his shoulder.
Q. Is there a row of figures down the number side? A. Yes.
Q. Did Frank say anything? A. Yes. He said they were all punched and I verified it.
Q. How did you do it? A. Just looking at the numbers. We would not have noticed a skip in the time.
Juror Asks Question.
Attorney Arnold addressed the court:
"Your honor, a juror wants to ask a question, but Mr. Hooper objects."
"I don't object to his asking the question, but I do object to Mr. Arnold giving the answer," said Mr. Hooper.
Juror Marcellus Johenning asked Darley to explain the time clock system, which Darley did.
Arnold took up the financial sheet.
Q. What did Frank say about the financial sheet?
"I object," said Hooper. "He can ask him about the sheet, provided it is later put in evidence."
"We will put it in all right," said Arnold, "and plenty of other evidence. You need not worry about that."
Q. When was the financial sheet made up? A. Saturday afternoon.
Q. You were interested? A. Yes, it was my duty to see it. It dealt with the cost of production.
Q. What time was it made up that is, what day of the week did it show last? A. Thursday.
Financial Sheet Introduced.
Q. Who makes it up now? A. One has not been made out since Mr. Frank left?
Q. How long did it usually take him to make it out? A. Always from about 2:30 or 3 until 5 o'clock.
Q. Look at this and tell me if this is the sheet you found on his desk Sunday morning? A. Yes.
Q. How does it compare with his regular handwriting?
Dorsey objected.
"I object, your honor," he said. "The writing is the best evidence."
Q. I want to ask you are you familiar with Mr. Frank's writing? A. Yes, I have been seeing it about five years.
Q. Now, I want to ask you one question, but don't answer until we get a ruling. Does this compare favorably with all of Mr. Frank's writing?
Dorsey objected.
Ruling on Handwriting Reserved.
"The code says, your Honor, that we are entitled to the very best evidence," the Solicitor said. "This section holds that in any question of handwriting that an expert must testify, and the papers or specimen of handwriting on the day in question and on other days should be introduced. The jury might not agree with the witness that the sheet in question and other sheets,
Continued on Page 3, Column 1.
PAGE 3, COLUMN 1
COST SHEET TESTIMONY OF STATE AIDS DEFENSE OF ACCUSED
Exceptionally Clear Brain Required on Such Figures, Rosser Shows
PAGE 3, COLUMN 1
DORSEY SHAPES HIS CASE FOR CONLEY
Builds Up Preliminary to Introduction of Sweeper as Climax of Prosecution.
Continued From Page 2.
are similar. They can be produced, and they should be."
"I will withhold my ruling until I look up some authorities," replied Judge Roan.
"I will ask the witness something else," said Arnold.
Q. What process did Frank have to go into to get at these results? A. He had to get reports from every department, figure averages, costs, sales, profits, expense.
Figures Required Clear Head.
Q. It took a man with a good clear head to figure it? A. Yes.
Q. What calculation was necessary to arrive at the net result? A. The amount of rubber tips, labels, and every other little detail must be calculated.
Q. It required a large amount of calculation? A. Yes.
Q. Sunday, were you in the factory with Frank and Detective Starnes?
A. Yes.
Q. There were forty or fifty people in the factory Sunday, were there not? No, not over six or eight.
Q. Did you go into the cellar? A. Yes.
Q. What time did you get to the factory? A. 8:20.
Q. There was a great deal of excitement there?
Dorsey objected. "I think your Honor has already ruled on this question," said he.
Calls Nervousness Natural.
Arnold interrupted.
"Your honor, it is eminently unfair," he said. "I want to show that this young man was whisked from his home before he had his coffee, and it was nothing unusual if he was excited. Why, I lived at a boarding house with some old bachelors, and they wouldn't even talk before breakfast. When Newt Lee first saw this girl in the basement he ran like a turkey. That was one way of showing his excitement. Some men are naturally nervous; some show nervousness in reading a paper or making a speech; some men go into battle without even flinching."
Judge Roan ruled: "I think you can show the occasion."
Rosser interrupted. "Let me give you a little illustration, your honor," he said. "I was on the streets during the time of the Atlanta riots. Crowds were everywhere and everyone was excited."
Dorsey then spoke: "Only a few minutes ago, your honor, you ruled out, or we considered that you ruled out, the question of Newt Lee being nervous or composed. The only question before this jury is: Was Leo M. Frank nervous?"
Dorsey Wins Ruling.
"You can't show that anyone else was nervous," said Judge Roan.
Rosser: "If you have ruled that way, it will vitiate this trial. This jury will never know that that crowd was nervous and excited. It will never know that Starnes, sleuth that he is, trembled and was excited when he saw that lifeless corpse. That Pat Campbell, son of the Emerald Isle, started back aghast when he touched that icy chest. And if there is one mistake at this time it will vitiate this trial."
"If there is any doubt on your honor's mind, I want to refer you to the 81 and 85 Georgia," said Dorsey. "This proposition is simply a dragnet to go out and bring in everyone when Leo Frank is the only one we are concerned with here."
The objection was sustained.
Attorney Arnold declared that he only wanted those around Frank in the factory described. Dorsey objected, and the objection was sustained.
Attorney Arnold then asked that the objection of the defense be recorded.
Blood Spots Common.
Q. How long have you been working at the factory where there were women, Mr. Darley? A. 24 years.
Q. Isn't it a common thing to find bloodspots around the women's dressing room? A. Yes.
Q. Did you ever see any blood spots around the dressing room in this factory? A. (Darley hesitated). Yes, sir, I have.
Q. What color was the suit Mr. Frank had on Saturday? A. Brown.
Q. What color suit did he wear on Sunday? A. Blue.
Q. What color on Monday? A. The same one he wore on Saturday.
Q. Did you see any splotches on it? A. No.
Q. Did you see any scratches on Frank's face or hands when he came to the factory Sunday? A. No, I did not.
Q. What time did Frank leave the factory Saturday morning? 9:40 o'clock. He started toward Montag's.
FACTORY GIRL CALLED TO STAND BY STATE
Miss Grace Hix, National Pencil Plant employee.
Q. You never saw him any more until Sunday? A. No.
Elevator Found Unlocked.
Q. In what condition did you find the elevator Sunday? A. The lock was in place but it was unlocked.
Q. Could anybody else have gone in and run it? A. Anybody who knows how.
Q. That elevator and motor made a good deal of noise when in operation, didn't it? A. The saw made more noise than the motor and the elevator. When the elevator was running, the saw also was running.
Q. These cords that have been referred to; they were scattered all over the building, were they not? A. Yes sir. Scattered all around.
Q. Mr. Dorsey asked you something about this building being cleaned? A. Yes, after the girl was killed.
Q. It was very dirty on the floor of the metal room, wasn't it, the dirt being about an inch thick? A. I don't know whether it would average that thick or not, but it was very dirty.
Q. The building also was very dark, especially on dark days, wasn't it? A. Yes.
Q. What sort of a day was it on which the little girl was killed? A. Drizzling rain.
Q. Is anybody supposed to be in the factory on Sunday? A. No, sir. It is supposed to be locked up on Sunday.
Q. The rope on the elevator has some slack in it, hasn't it? A. A little.
Q. Did Frank catch it with both hands, or with one hand? A. With both hands.
Q. Frank only weighs about 125 or 130 pounds, doesn't he? He is what you would call a little fellow isn't he? A. Yes.
Q. Is he fatter now than he was then? A. He is about the same.
Q. How did you happen to go to Mr. Dorsey's office? A. He 'phoned for me.
Q. He served a subpoena on you, didn't he?
Dorsey objected, but Judge Roan overruled the objection.
A. He served two subpoenas on me and 'phoned me once.
Frank Nervous Every Day.
Q. Didn't you know those subpoenas were not worth the paper they were written on? A. I didn't then. I have heard so since.
Q. Who was at Dorsey's office? A. Dorsey, Chief Lanford, Detectives Starnes and Campbell and a stenographer.
Q. They asked you questions, except the stenographer? A. Yes, sometimes. One would interrupt before I could answer the question of the other.
Q. They asked you whether Mr. Frank was a nervous man, didn't they? A. Yes.
Q. Wasn't he a hard working man who easily got nervous when things went wrong? A. Yes, sir. If your honor will allow me, I will say that there never was a day passed that Mr. Frank didn't get nervous over something. I have seen him run his hands through his hair in an agitated way a thousand times.
Q. Mr. Frank didn't know many of the help, did he?
"I object," said Dorsey. Arnold withdrew the question.
"Did he know Mary Phagan?"
"I object to that," continued Dorsey, still on his feet.
Objection was overruled.
A. Not to my knowledge, he didn't.
Q. Did you know her? A. If I had seen her on the street I would have known she was a factory girl; but I didn't know her name.
Q. I believe you said all sorts of papers get down into that boiler room, don't they? A. Yes.
"Give me those notes and that pay envelope," said Arnold.
Q. It was nothing unusual to find papers like these in the basement, was it? A. I have seen such papers there.
Q. Any man who had the run of the factory, would have no trouble in getting hold of them, would he? A. No.
Q. Was the watchman accustomed to locking the clock door? A. Yes, but at that time the key was lost.
Q. Frank didn't unlock it Sunday morning, did he? A. He couldn't have. The key was gone.
Q. You say you and Frank both made the mistake of thinking all the punches had been made? A. Yes.
At this point, which was 12:15, the court adjourned until 2 o'clock.
PAGE 1, COLUMN 5
MRS. FRANK SMILING AS SHE LEAVES COURT
PAGE 1, COLUMN 4
Mrs. Leo Frank, wife of defendant in Phagan case, and Julian Boehm, a friend of the family, snapped as they were leaving the courtroom.
Mrs. Frank evidently is well pleased with the course the case is running.
PAGE 4, COLUMN 1
DEFENSE NOT HELPED BY WITNESSES ACCUSED OF ENTRAPPING THE STATE
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.
No Help to Defense.
There is something terribly significant and actually sinister in that little word "entrapped," however, when hurled at a witness in the presence of a jury, and it would be a mistake to believe that a witness, actually convicted, even in the mere opinion of the jury, of having deliberately misled the prosecution thereby helps the defense.
The witness who entraps, or who is thrown under suspicion of having entrapped, frequently does the party he seems primarily to have hurt a wonderful amount of good.
I believe, for instance, that Witness E. F. Holloway was speaking the truth when, on oath, he reversed his former affidavit to the Solicitor, and said that he left the elevator unlocked on Saturday, whereas he before had sworn that he locked it Friday and did not unlock it Saturday the last inferentially, at least.
This point will mean a good deal later, when it is reached in developing the defense's case, and if Holloway's last story, apparently satisfactorily explained, holds together, well and good but who can tell what the jury thinks about that contradiction upon the part of Holloway, particularly when he has been so deliberately accused by the Solicitor of entrapping him?
Holloway is an employee of the pencil factory was before and has been since the murder. If the jury gathers the impression that he has been tampered with since his first statement, and by friends of Frank, to clear up seemingly damaging circumstances against Frank, it likely will be an aggravating thing, when the jury comes to make up its findings.
Will Hurt Frank's Case.
Just as I thought, and still think, that Dorsey made a tactical mistake for which he paid the full price, moreover when on Wednesday he exclaimed "plant," thereby accusing the defense of unfair and grossly indecent methods of bolstering up its cause, so I think the constant suggestion of witnesses changed in opinion and testimony, and in favor of Frank, will hurt Frank's case, rather than help it, if sustained.
Mr. Dorsey failed utterly to bolster up his charge of "planted" evidence, but he didn't fail, in anything like the same degree, to say the least of it, in attacking Holloway.
Or, anyway, there is a grave probability that he didn't fail in the minds of the jury.
In short, my idea is this, as it has been all along: The public, and presumably even more the jury, will resent anything that savors of unfair methods employed either by the State or the defense.
Steadily, though slowly, the defense seems to be pulling away from the prosecution in the Frank trial, and the impression apparently is gaining ground gradually that the State likely is fighting a losing battle.
All of this may be changed in a moment one witness on behalf of the State may serve to win back all the ground it may have lost.
Nothing More Uncertain Than Verdict
And, of all things, there is nothing to speculate upon quite so uncertain as the verdict a jury will hand in.
The jury is sitting there, its attention confined to the development of the evidence. It reads no newspapers; it converses with no outsiders.
It can not get up, run across the street and swap ideas with somebody in the corner drug store.
It took charge of the case, under its deliberately assumed oath that it was "perfectly impartial between the State and the accused," and it is seeing things in its own way and that way may not be the way outsiders are seeing it.
So far, however, the State's witnesses alone have been introduced. Whatever advantage the defense has obtained of them has come in two ways either in their failure to testify directly to the State's benefit or through circumstances and admissions brought out in favor of the defense, under the merciless cross-examination of Luther Rosser.
It is a good deal to say, nevertheless, that at this stage of the trial the defense apparently has scored heaviest, for such points as it has won necessarily have been wrung from the State's own witnesses, and not the witnesses of the defense. In other words, wherever the State fails to score, the defense scores.
How Points Have Been Scored.
If the defense made little, if anything, of Lee, it lost little, if anything, because of him.
It almost, if not quite, broke even on Rogers and it most certainly scored tremendously on Black.
Scott, if damaging in a way, was also helpful in a way, in that he practically admitted suspicion of the negro Conley quite as strong as suspicion of Frank.
Monteen Stover swore that Frank was not in his office for, at least, a period of some five minutes, immediately after 12 o'clock on the day of the murder; at least, if he was, he was where she could not or did not see him. Grace Hix undoubtedly helped Frank. Dr. Smith helped the State.
R. P. Barrett swore he found a piece of a pay envelope under Mary Phagan's machine three or four days after the murder, and that he found blood spots near the dressing room door three or four days after the murder.
Mell Stanford swore that the spots near the dressing room were not there Friday, and were there Monday, but he could not swear the spots were blood. Holloway helped the defense, probably.
There is nothing new in most of this testimony, however, save that of Barrett concerning the piece of envelope, and the defense presumably is ready, therefore, to meet it.
State Faces Hard Task.
The mere finding of a piece of pay envelope somewhere even near Mary Phagan's machine, is not, of itself, highly important; but it might serve as a link in an otherwise strong chain forged to connect Frank directly with the killing.
But if the State has succeeded in setting forth the fact that Frank may possibly have committed the crime, it yet has a long road to travel before it proves "beyond a reasonable doubt" that he DID do it.
Indeed, Frank's attorneys have never combated the idea that he was in the factory at a moment when the killing of Mary Phagan MIGHT have been effected and beyond that fact the State has been unable to proceed very far to date.
It must be remembered, too, that while the State now is engaged in weaving a web, real or imaginary, about Frank, the defense expects to weave a much more terrible and substantial web about Conley.
But even at that, mere suspicion alone will serve to convict neither.
Much Depends on Conley.
After all is said and done, and it generally gets back to this, the preliminary chain of circumstances against Frank likely will hold together tightly or fall apart hopelessly, according to the fate of James Conley on the witness stand.
If Conley stands the test of exhaustive cross-examination, then the circumstances leading up to and away from Conley's connection with the case will stand or fall.
He is, and has been, at all times both the hope and the despair of the State, no less than the hope and despair of the defense.
He is the star witness about whom the entire Frank case revolves, about whom it has revolved for weeks, and about whom it must revolve to its end.
Of course, there ever is the chance that the State has something sensational, new and significant up its sleeve and there is the remoter chance that the defense has some big surprises in store.
As the fifth day of the trial drags on, however, the impression has deepened almost into a conviction in the mind of the public that neither the State nor the defense has much to let out that already hasn't been let out, in whole or in substantial parts.
Spirit of Fairness Everywhere.
And the public is waiting for Conley's evidence before making up its mind.
More and more I notice in the casual comment of people about town a spirit of fairness and an inclination to await the full developments of both the State and the defense.
The public largely still is open-minded. It is "from Missouri" and, after all, that is the way the public mind should be in this matter, for it is a very grave matter, and its final effect will be far-reaching and full of significance, no matter which way the verdict comes finally.
There is one point that Undertaker Gheesling cleared up on oath, and the public should take careful note of it.
He swore that Mary Phagan's body was NOT mutilated in the way street rumor and gossip had it mutilated, just after the crime was committed.
That ugly story undoubtedly was accountable for some of the primary prejudice against Frank but it was an untrue rumor, and in all fairness, now that it has been exploded it should be borne in mind.
PAGE 4, COLUMN 3
DORSEY UNAFRAID AS HE FACES CHAMPIONS OF THE ATLANTA BAR
This shows the Solicitor warily noting the moves of an opponent.
Hugh M. Dorsey, Solicitor and prosecutor of Leo M. Frank.
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.
Consider Hugh Dorsey.
Consider Dorsey's job. His position as public prosecutor places on him the duty of sending someone to the gallows, and this time it is Leo M. Frank, against whom he must direct his efforts.
The proposition of convicting a man is as common in the life of a Solicitor as paying his car fare home. But here's a different proposition. Dorsey is confronted with the task of getting a conviction over the efforts of Luther Rosser and Reuben Arnold to obtain an acquittal.
And anyone who knows Atlanta, who knows Fulton County, who knows Rosser, who knows Arnold, realizes that this is a task from which Hercules might sidestep, a labor that is more tremendous than the building of the Panama Canal or the successful storming of the fortress of Gibraltar.
And still Dorsey has gone into the fight unafraid; not only that, he is aggressive.
Atlanta's record for big crime trials has not been altogether healthy in the past twelve months. In that time Dorsey has prosecuted Mrs. Daisy Grace on a charge of attempting to slay her husband. Atlanta was intensely interested in this issue. Mrs. Grace was acquitted. Dorsey lost.
He prosecuted Callie Scott Applebaum on a charge of ending the life of her husband. Again the public was deeply interested. Again Dorsey lost.
And then came the Phagan killing.
Atlanta, Georgia and the South demanded that her slayer be brought before the bar of justice and be given law's severest penalty.
Frank was fixed upon by the police as the man.
The grand jury indicted him, and Dorsey staked his all on his conviction.
Luther Rosser had been retained as Frank's chief counsel.
Dorsey smiled.
Again there was a flash. Reuben Arnold had been added to the list of legal array to clear the name of the superintendent of the National Pencil Factory of the charge that the had taken the life of a little girl.
Reputation is a big thing. No prize fighter faces a champion without doubts as to his ability to cope with him. The greatest financial genius probably trembled in his boots when he first met the foremost captain of industry. A violin virtuoso bows before Kubelik. There is no pianist who would approach Paderewski without a sensation of awe.
And here in Atlanta, Arnold and Rosser are champions. They are Kubeliks, they are Paderewskis.
Hugh Dorsey hasn't quailed.
Throughout the trial he has been desperately earnest. He realizes the work that is before him. If he has any enemies, they will admit that he has handled his case well.
The Solicitor General is a great deal younger than his opponents. His hair is tinged with gray, and there will probably be more of those strands there before he is through with his clashes with the dynamic Rosser and the erudite Arnold.
He is taking the case with intense seriousness. So far, Rosser's efforts to rattle him by calling him "Hugh," "my young friend," "son" and "bud" have been unavailing.
The practical collapse of his detective testimony was enough to stun any man, but Dorsey stuck it out gamely. There is plenty of fight still in his eyes. It will be there if the case goes against him.
His appearance would indicate that he is holding something back, something with which he expects to surprise his eminent opponents.
Then, There Is Hooper.
There is one thing that every spectator knows is being held back. He is a quiet little man, with a scholarly face, a man who has already won his spurs in Georgia politics, but who has not figured extensively in the bigger criminal cases tried before Atlanta courts.
The man is Frank Hooper. He has been on his feet but once. He made an impression then. And when the case comes to its crucial stages, it will be well to watch these two young lawyers arrayed against the admitted masters of their craft.
The lithe and unknown Corbett sent the invincible John L. Sullivan to oblivion. Brian du Bois Gilbert was unhorsed by Wilfred of Ivanhoe. Theodore Roosevelt ran second in a Presidential race.
Who knows?
PAGE 4, COLUMN 5
Sherlocks, Lupins and Lecoqs See Frank Trial
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.
Theorists There for Vindication.
The census of 1910 gave Atlanta a population of 154,839, and it is safe to say that 154,839 sure-fire theories have been evolved.
And everyone of the theorists wants to go to the courtroom to see his theory upheld and see the theory of the other fellow smashed to smithereens.
Atlanta's deductive and inductive powers were never even dimly realized until this week.
Chat with the throng around the courthouse. Mingle with the Lupins, the Lacoqs, the Anna Katherine Greens in the room where the issue is being fought.
Clerk Turns Detective.
Your surprise will be suddenly converted into admiration and then into awe. A person, whom you had mistaken for a clerk with a brain capable of knowing nothing more complex than a suit will sell for $19.99 quicker than it will for $20, you discover has a reasoning power as infallible as that of Socrates and a knowledge of things criminal that makes him the most deadly foe to crime since Bertillon.
He can take an envelope, locate it on a second floor and in a flash conceive just how a deed of murder was committed.
He can watch a man's hand tremble and immediately conceive him a perjurer and a villain of the deepest dye, although he doesn't ask him if he had taken on too much the night before.
"Signs Air Hopeful," Says Uncle Ben.
He can point out the fatal weakness in the attack of a lawyer who makes more money in a minute than he himself makes in a week. A man selected by a sovereign people to represent the majority of their law becomes a mere novice under his merciless criticism.
"But the signs air hopeful," remarked Uncle Ben Green, from out Hapeville way, as he listened to the findings of the amateur sleuths and chewed tobacco.
"The signs air hopeful," he repeated. "I've been a-sittin' here since the trial begun, and from what I hev seed of these deteckertive fellers we've got right now, it's a pretty good thing that a new crop is a-comin' up."
PAGE 4, COLUMN 7
GIRL SLAIN AFTER FRANK LEFT FACTORY, BELIEVED TO BE DEFENSE THEORY
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.
Gets Admission Before Jury.
Rosser at once began an attempt to break down this portion of the embalmer's testimony, and succeeded in getting before the jury the witness' admission that rigor mortis is extremely variable in the time it takes to set in and become well established in a body. Gheesling admitted that the surroundings in respect to dampness and temperature had their effect, as did the cause of the person's death, and that the degree of rigor mortis could not be taken as an invariable indication of the time that a person had been dead.
Frank's attorney made similar inquiries of Dr. Smith and from him obtained similar statements. The presumption is he will use the testimony of the State's witnesses to supplement that of the defense, combining them to support the theory that the Phagan girl was attacked on the first floor by Conley and by him was thrown down the elevator shaft or carried down the ladder into the basement, but was not actually slain until after Frank had left the factory in the evening.
Two other points will be established by the defense before the State rests if Rosser is able to wring the information he wants from the witnesses called by Dorsey.
Says Frank Returned Alone.
One of them is that Jim Conley did not walk to the factory with or just behind Leo Frank Saturday morning, April 26, as Conley swore in his last affidavit that he did. E. F. Holloway, one of the State's witnesses, testified Thursday afternoon that no one was with Frank when he returned from Montag Brothers that morning.
Rosser also displayed an unmistakable intention of making the detectives and officers admit that Frank was under virtual arrest when he was questioned Monday by the authorities, and that there was no reason why he should not have been aware of his status.
He succeeded in getting B. B. Haslett to make just this admission and undoubtedly will use it to explain the measures that were taken at once for the protection of Frank's interests, measures on which the State has looked with suspicion because, the attorneys state, Frank was not placed under arrest until 11:30 the Thursday forenoon after the crime.
State Fares Better Thursday.
The State fared better Thursday than any other day during the trial. Harry Scott, Pinkerton detective, submitted considerable damaging evidence in respect to Frank's appearance and actions during the first days of the investigation, although nothing that was startling or direct or even new.
He told that Frank was extremely nervous when the superintendent and Newt Lee were placed in the same room at the police station and that Frank squirmed about in his chair, rubbed his chin and lips in agitated manner, grew pale and trembling and in every way comported himself as one might who was guilty of a crime.
Scott said that he and John Black entered the room as Frank and Lee were finishing their conversation and that he overheard the latter part of Frank's remarks.
Rosser immediately caught the detective up on this statement, referring him to his testimony before the Coroner's Jury, where he testified that he had not entered the room until the conversation between Lee and Frank was completed and that he overheard nothing. Scott explained that he must have been mistaken when he testified before the Coroner.
Scott testified that Herbert Haas, one of Frank's attorneys, early in the case had tried to persuade him to turn his evidence over to the defense before submitting it to the police, but this already had been aired at the inquest and was without particular effect, as Scott added, under the cross-examination of Rosser, that there was no attempt to have it suppressed or kept from the police authorities, but only to have it given first to the defense.
What had the appearance of being the most sensational testimony of the day was that given by R. P. Barrett, a machinist on the second floor of the factory, when he declared that he had found a pay envelope under the machine used by Mary Phagan. The pay envelope, however, when it was shown to the jury, was discovered to have on it no date, no amount, no name, with the exception of a loop of one letter, no number nor any other mark to identify it as the pay envelope that the Phagan girl received Saturday, April 26. Nor was any explanation suggested as to how she may have happened to be at her machine when there was no work being done that day and the machines were not in operation.
Barrett testified to the finding of the alleged blood spots on the second floor near the women's dressing room and the strands of hair on the lathing machine. No more was developed out of the testimony then was already known to the public when Barrett announced his discovery a few days after the murder. Barrett also declared that a white substance had been used with the apparent intention of removing the splotches of red.
Sweeper Tells of Splotches.
Mel Stanford, a factory sweeper, corroborated Barrett in his story of the finding of the spots and the white substance that was spread over them. He said the spots were not there when he swept the factory Friday and that the first time he noticed them was when they were pointed out to him the Monday morning after the murder.
Monteen Stover, the 14-year-old factory girl, gave exactly the testimony that had been expected. She said she had entered the factory at 12:05 the day of the tragedy, and that Frank was not in his office. She said that she looked about in his office for him and on failing to find him left the building. She testified that she looked at the clock as she departed, and it was 12:10. Her story contradicts the statement of Frank that he was in his office all the time after he came from Montag Brothers at about 11 o'clock until he went to the fourth floor to see Harry Denham and Arthur White at about 12:50.
Dr. Claude A. Smith, city bacteriologist, testified that he found four or five blood corpuscles on one of the chips of wood that were brought to him. He could not tell whether or not it was human blood. These chips were the ones taken from the floor where the alleged spots were found. He said that in his opinion the blood-stained shirt found at the home of Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, never had been worn and that the blood on it was put on the inside of the garment and seeped through to the outside.
PAGE 6, COLUMN 2
STARTLED FRANK ON DAY OF GIRL'S DEATH
Mrs. Arthur White, first State witness On Friday at Frank trial.