Reading Time: 16 minutes, [2816 words]
The Atlanta Journal,
Sunday, 3rd August 1913,
PAGE 1, COLUMN 4.
A co-worker with Mary Phagan in the National Pencil factory, who testified Saturday that she asked Superintendent Leo M. Frank for Mary Phagan's pay on the evening before the murder, and that he declined to deliver it to her.
PAGE 1, COLUMN 6
FRANK TRIAL WILL RUN INTO THIRD WEEK; DEFENSE WILL BEGIN TESTIMONY WEDNESDAY
Indications Saturday, When Court Adjourned Until Monday Morning at 9 o'Clock, Were That State Would Require at Least Two More Days Before Concluding Presentation of Its Case Against the Factory Superintendent
DEFENSE'S DECISION TO INTRODUCE EVIDENCE MEANS THAT THE TRIAL IS NOT YET HALF OVER
Dr. H. F. Harris Will Take the Stand Again Monday Afternoon and Will Probably Be Under Cross-Examination for Several Hours Conley Will Be State's Last Witness, and a Big Battle Will Rage Around His Testimony
"IT'S TERRIBLE FOR AN INNOCENT MAN TO BE CHARGED WITH CRIME"
Leo M. Frank.
Leo M. Frank is apparently standing the strain of the tedious trial remarkably well, and the expression of his face seldom changes during the introduction of evidence. According to his jailers he still sleeps soundly every night, and he has never lost his appetite.
Few people have ever discussed the actual evidence in the case with him, and no expression of an opinion from him about the case, which the state has put up against him, has reached the public.
Frank is quoted as having made only this comment before Saturday's session started: "It is terrible for an innocent man to be charged with a most damnable crime. Even if he is cleared he can never get over the fact that he was charged and tried for the crime."
SOLICITOR General Hugh M. Dorsey admits that he has practically completed his "circumstantial" case against Leo M. Frank, although the state has several witnesses who will be put on the stand this week before the state's case is concluded.
It is generally believed that the witnesses who form the links of the circumstantial chain have simply paved the way for the testimony of Jim Conley, who claims to be almost an eyewitness to the killing of Mary Phagan for which Frank is being tried.
While Solicitor Dorsey refuses to deny a rumor that the state would not use Conley, the rumor is not credited, and it is generally believed that the dramatic climax of the trial will be the testimony of the negro, and the efforts of the attorneys for the defense to break down Conley's story that Frank called him to help in disposing of Mary Phagan's body.
It has been definitely announced that Dr. H. F. Harris, up to the present probably the most important witness, will again take the witness stand at 2 o'clock Monday afternoon.
The direct examination of Dr. Harris, who swore that Mary Phagan met her death within an hour after she ate lunch on April 26, had not been concluded Friday when he collapsed on the witness stand.
When he is cross-examined the attorneys for the defense are certain to make strenuous efforts to weaken his testimony, and his cross-examination will probably take several hours. In other words eliminating Conley, the state can hardly conclude its evidence by Monday.
When Conley goes on the stand he will stay there probably a day, and the result will be that Wednesday will have been reached when the state finishes its case.
The Journal has definitely learned that the defense will introduce testimony to combat the state's evidence. As a result it appears that it will be the middle of next week or the end of next week before the case of the state against Leo M. Frank goes to the jury.
Although many character witnesses have been summoned, no intimation has been made by the attorneys for the defense as to whether or not they will put the defendant's character in issue.
While questions to state witnesses have made it appear as if the defense was seeking to show that almost anyone could have committed the crime of which Frank is accused, it is said that when the defendant's witnesses are put on the stand they will concentrate on Conley, and seek to clear Frank by showing that the negro is guilty.
The battle about Conley is certain to be a strenuous one, and Frank A. Hooper, who is assisting Solicitor Dorsey, is authority for the statement that the negro sweeper makes a good witness, who will not be easily cowed.
Conley has been schooled for the grilling which Attorneys Luther Rosser and Reuben Arnold will give him by his many "sweatings" at police headquarters.
The "third degree" with Jim Conley has become a casual everyday affair, to be taken as nothing unusual but as part of his daily routine.
Detectives have grilled him for hours, putting his answers in writing. Then they have returned a week or ten days later to his cell with the same set of questions, and if Conley makes the slightest discrepancy in his answer, he has been rigidly called to account for his mistake.
The negro is said to be naturally quick witted, and ready with his answers the second a question has been completed.
JURORS ALLOWED MAGAZINES.
The twelve men, who are to decide Frank's fate, remained in their rooms at the Kimball hotel all of the afternoon Saturday until Bailiffs A. F. Pennington and Charles Huber escorted them to supper at a nearby restaurant.
A number of carefully-censored periodicals have been allowed the jurors and by reading these and telling stories they are whiling away the time.
Sunday the jurors, guarded by the bailiffs and several deputies, will probably go for a walk.
PAGE 1, COLUMN 4
State's Case Against Frank As It Stands After Week's Testimony Is Shown Here
Most Important Points State Has Sought to Prove Are That Mary Phagan Was Killed Shortly After Entering Factory That Crime Was on Second Floor, and That Frank Was Not in His Office at the Time He Says He Gave Her the Pay Envelope
AN entire week has been given over to the trial of Leo M. Frank, charged with the murder of Mary Phagan, and so far the state has not shown or attempted to show any direct connection on the part of the defendant with the crime. Solicitor Dorsey has worked systematically to weave a chain of circumstantial evidence about Frank.
Those who have watched the progress of the trial day by day are impressed with the fact that he has endeavored by the introduction of circumstantial evidence to pave the way for the testimony of James Conley, the negro sweeper, who will be the climax witness for the state and upon whose evidence the case against Frank will largely stand or fall.
The state swore but twenty-six witnesses when the trial began Monday afternoon, but up to date it has called thirty and the indications are that still others are to be put upon the stand. The defense has not put up a single witness and can not do so until the state rests its case. However, Attorneys Rosser and Arnold, counsel for Frank,
(Continued on Page Four, Col. 2.)
PAGE 4, COLUMN 2
State's Case Against Frank As It Stands After Week's Testimony Is Shown Here
(Continued from Page 1.)
the dilated and inflamed blood vessels satisfied him that external violence had been committed, and that the condition of the inflammation caused him to believe it occurred not more than ten minutes before her death.
A bottle containing the undigested cabbage taken from Mary Phagan's stomach was tendered by Dr. Harris, as were two other bottles containing partially digested cabbage, which he said he had taken from the stomachs of two healthy normal men an hour after they had eaten it.
Dr. Harris was too ill to finish his testimony, and the defense had no opportunity to cross-examine him. He will doubtless be recalled this week.
MONTEEN STOVER'S EVIDENCE.
Monteen Stover testified that she went to the pencil factory for her pay at 12:05 o'clock on Saturday, April 27; that she stepped into the outer office where she could have a good view of Frank's private office; that she saw no one in either office; that she sat on a bench outside the office until 12:10, when she went back home.
A statement made by Frank to the detectives was read to the jury. In it Frank says Mary Phagan came to his office about 12:05 or 12:10; that he gave her her pay envelope and that she then went out.
In their cross-examination of several witnesses Attorneys Rosser and Arnold brought out the fact that it would be almost impossible for a person to see into Frank's private office from the outer office when the safe door was open; that the door was so large that it practically cut off all view into the inner office. It is presumed that the defense will later attempt to show that the safe door was open at the hour the Stover girl says she looked into Frank's office.
DR. J. W. HURT.
The testimony of Dr. J. W. Hurt, the coroner's physician who performed the autopsy on Mary Phagan's body, Sunday morning following the murder, differed in several important particulars from that of Dr. Harris in his testimony. He agreed with Dr. Harris that the girl came to her death by strangulation, but admitted on cross-examination that the only accurate way to prove this was by an examination of the lungs, which he had not made. He also agreed that the blow on the head was delivered before death and produced unconsciousness, but admitted on cross-examination that such blows frequently result in concussion of the brain and in death.
Dr. Hurt corroborated Dr. Harris in the latter's statement that the girl had not been criminally assaulted, but differed with him as to her having undergone external violence. Dr. Hurt says he never found any indications of violence and that the dilated and inflamed blood vessels could have resulted from natural causes.
He would not attempt to estimate how long the cabbage had been in the stomach, but admitted that mastication had a great deal to do with digestion and that some persons digested food sooner than others.
MRS. J. W. COLEMAN.
Mrs. J. W. Coleman, mother of Mary, testified that the girl left her home at 11:45 to go to the factory, and just prior to leaving she partook of a meal consisting of cabbage and bread.
Attorney Rosser developed from Mrs. Coleman that it was two blocks to the car line from her home and that she had no way of knowing how soon Mary caught a car.
George Epps, a newsboy, swore that he boarded the car with the girl at Olive street and Bellwood avenue at 10 minutes to 12 and that they left the car at Marietta and Forsyth streets about 12:10. He was not sure of the latter time, as he judged it by the sun. The girl, he said, walked on across the Forsyth street viaduct toward the factory, two blocks away.
The presence of blood spots on the second floor of the factory, near the girl's dressing room was testified to by R. P. Barrett, a machinist at the factory; Mell Stanford, another factory employe; Detectives Starnes and Black; Mrs. George W. Jefferson, also a factory employe, and Chief Beavers. Dr. Claude A. Smith, city bacteriologist and chemist, testified that he had made an analysis of the stain upon chips taken from the floor and found that it was blood.
Barrett swore that he had found hair upon the handle of his turning lathe in the metal room; that it was not there Friday when he stopped work, and that no girls worked in the factory on Saturday. He also testified to having found a pay envelope under Mary Phagan's machine.
Attorneys Rosser and Arnold brought out from a number of witnesses that paint spots, both red and dark, could be found in all parts of the factory and that it was not an uncommon thing to find blood spots around the women's dressing rooms and toilets of factories where large numbers of women were employed.
WHAT DARLEY SAID.
One of the state's witnesses, N. V. Darley, general manager of the pencil factory, stated on cross-examination that about 175 pay envelopes were scattered over the factory on every pay day, and that lengths of cord, similar to that found around Mary Phagan's neck, could also be found all over the factory; that it was frequently carried to the basement in the trash. He declared further that order blanks and tablet paper of the character upon which the notes found by the body were written, could be picked up in all parts of the factory, and that pencils were everywhere plentiful.
Both Darley and E. F. Holloway, the day watchman, testified that the switch box on the elevator was unlocked on Sunday morning, and Holloway recalled under cross-examination that he had left it unlocked the day before.
Mrs. J. Arthur White stated that she was at the pencil factory from 12:30 to about 1 o'clock on the day of the murder and that as she walked down the stairs to leave she saw a negro sitting on a box on the first floor a few feet from the staircase.
In his affidavit Conley claims that it was just before 1 o'clock that Frank called him up to aid in disposing of the body. Conley's statement has not yet been produced in court.
FRANK'S NERVOUSNESS.
Among the witnesses who swore that Frank was very nervous on Sunday morning when he was brought to the factory were Detective John Black, Detective J. N. Starnes, W. W. Rogers, a bailiff, and Darley.
Upon cross-examination practically all of these witnesses admitted that they had never seen Frank before and knew nothing about his natural demeanor. Some of them said he was not much more nervous than others at the factory that Sunday, and Darley declared that on two former occasions he had seen Frank fully as nervous and excited once just after he had seen a child run over by a street car and once after Frank and a pencil factory official had quarreled.
Detectives Black and Rogers did not think that Frank had looked upon the dead girl's face when taken to the undertaking establishment, but neither would swear positively that he had not. Black admitted that Frank was between him and the body and that he had seen the face.
Pinkerton Detective Harry Scott testified that Frank had told him that he had not left his office from the time he returned from Montag Bros., about 11 o'cock, until about 1 o'clock, when he went upstairs to tell Mrs. White that he was going to lunch and lock the front door, and that she had better leave if she wished to get out before he returned at 3 o'clock.
THE STATE'S WINESSES.
A list of the witnesses so far introduced by the state follows: Mrs. J. W. Coleman, mother of Mary Phagan; George Epps, a newsboy; Newt Lee, the negro night watchman at the factory; Police Sergeant L. S. Dobbs, who found the notes in the basement beside the body; Detective J. N. Starnes, W. W. Rogers, a bailiff; Miss Grace Hix, an employe at the factory, who identified the dead girl; Detective John Black, J. M. Gantt, former shipping clerk at the factory, who testified that Frank was nervous and jumped when he encountered him at the factory door about 6 o'clock the day of the murder; Pinkerton Detective Harry Scott, Miss Monteen Stover, R. P. Barrett, Mell Stanford, Mrs. George W. Jefferson, who saw the blood on the metal room floor and who swore no paints were ever kept in the metal room; Detective B. B. Haslett, who said he saw Frank in his office on Monday morning and that he was nervously pacing back and forth; William A. Gheesling, the undertaker, who embalmed the body; Dr. Claude A. Smith, E. F. Holloway, Mrs. J. Arthur White, N. V. Darley, Call Officer W. F. Anderson, who responded to Newt Lee's call for the police to come to the factory Sunday morning about 3 o'clock; Dr. H. F. Harris, G. C. Febuary, stenographer to Chief Lanford, who identified a statement made by Frank to the chief; Albert Mc Knight, husband of the cook at the Frank home, who swore Frank reached his home on the day of the murder about 30, remained but a few minutes and left without eating luncheon; Helen Ferguson, who testified that she asked Frank for Mary Phagan's pay on the Friday before the murder, but that he didn't give it to her; Detective R. L. Waggoner, who rode to police station in the automobile with Frank on Tuesday following the murder and who swore he was nervous; Dr. J. W. Hurt, Police Chief James L. Beavers and Patrolman Lassiter, who with some of the other officers, swore that he saw a trail in the basement, leading from the elevator to the body which indicated that the dead girl had been dragged.