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The Atlanta Georgian,
Monday, 25th August 1913,
PAGE 3.
MRS. FRANK ARRIVING AT THE COURTHOUSE
The wife of the defendant in the Phagan case has not missed a session of the Trial of her husband.
DEFENSE ATTORNEYS VIGOROUSLY PROTESTAGAINST INTIMATIONS
Reuben R. Arnold at the conclusion of Solicitor Dorsey's argument at 12 o'clock, arose and made a motion for a mistrial. Attorney Arnold based his motion on the applause which at different times during the proceedings has broken the order of the courtroom.
Solicitor Dorsey finished his speech at twelve o'clock and Judge Roan prepared to charge the jury. A brief recess was taken.
With frequent clashes over intimated reflections on the motives of the counsel for the defense in introducing certain witnesses, the trial of Leo M. Frank, accused of slaying Mary Phagan, drew to a close Monday as Solicitor Hugh M. Dorsey continued his arraignment of the prisoner.
Mr. Dorsey was unsparing and vigorous as ever, although his voice showed traces of the terrific ordeal to which he put it in his sensational speech Saturday.
It was problematical whether recess would be taken before Judge Roan's charge to the jury, but all the indications were that Frank's fate would be in the hands of the "twelve good men and true" before mid-afternoon.
The claim was made again that Frank's nervousness the morning of his arrest and the morning he saw Mary Phagan's body at the morgue was an unfailing sign of his guilt. Mr. Dorsey declared that Frank's claim that it was due to the effect of the tragedy corresponded to that of Durant in the famous California murder on which the State dwelt at length Saturday. Durant said he had inhaled gas.
Derision was Mr. Dorsey's reply to Luther Rosser's statement that he did not seriously consider the evidence of the State's medical experts on the time Mary Phagan died as indicated by the condition of the cabbage she ate. Mr. Dorsey said this assertion was believed by the number of witnesses the defense had introduced in opposition.
Discussing these witnesses, he gave it as his opinion that some of them were introduced in the hope that they might be family physicians of some of the jurors. Mr. Arnold was on his feet with an objection, declaring the remark an insult to the jury, but the Solicitor was upheld. There were other frequent clashes, the defense claiming Dorsey was making remarks not warranted by the records of the case, but the Solicitor was generally upheld.
Asks Why Defense Didn't Prove Claim.
Mr. Dorsey also laid particular stress on Frank's claim that the haskoline which covered the alleged blood spots on the second floor would have been pink instead of white if the blood had been fresh. Mr. Dorsey asked why the defense had not brought in one reputable chemist to prove this assertion.
Mr. Dorsey insisted that as a matter of fact the blood spots were in the condition they were because the haskoline had been spread over them.
Bitter ridicule was cast on the attempts of the defense to show that Jim Conley had committed the crime and thrown the body through the scuttlehole on the first floor. Mr. Dorsey continued to hurl his accusations directly at Frank.
The prisoner was as emotional on the surface as ever. Before court opened he chatted apparently cheerfully with his wife and mother.
Mr. Dorsey received another ovation just before court opened Monday morning. A-hugs crowd gathered out side the courthouse doors and cheered as the Solicitor entered. Even within the courtroom the applause burst out spontaneously and Judge Roan hearing as it died out under the rapping of the deputies announced that he would clear the courtroom if it was repeated.