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The Atlanta Georgian,
Wednesday, 27th August 1913,
PAGE 8.
DORSEY'S SPEECH CALLED UNFAIR
Prisoner Prepares Statement to Combat What he Terms Distortion of Facts.
"Dorsey's speech was as full of holes as a sieve! If I could have had just one hour to reply to his eight-hour address I am confident I could have shown the jury that I was an innocent man and that the Solicitor was misrepresenting the facts in order to obtain a conviction."
This was a statement made by Leo M. Frank to friends who visited him in the jail Wednesday.
"Dorsey twisted and contorted the real circumstances of the case until they were unrecognizable," he continued. "He altered everything that was said and everything that was done until it seemed to point to my guilt. If I could have spoken only briefly after he finished his eight-hour speech I could have shown, I am sure, that he departed from the facts of the case wherever it suited him."
"I am preparing a statement in reply to his argument to the jury which I propose to make public, if my lawyers think it advisable. In it I will point out exactly how the Solicitor warped the testimony and the facts to suit his own convenience. I know that these misstatements of his had their influence with the jury and that is why I am rebelling against the unfairness of the situation."
Frank Still Optimistic.
Frank, according to his friends, was as optimistic as ever Wednesday in regard to the ultimate outcome of his case, but was somewhat downcast over the wave of sentiment against him. He said he could not understand how people could be so certain of his guilt when the testimony was circumstantial in the extreme, except for that of Conley, who was an admitted liar and perjurer.
Rabbi Marx, Emil Selig, Prince Myers, Sig Montag, Milton Kline and Herbert Schiff were among Frank's visitors Wednesday. Mr. Selig, Frank's father-in-law remained at the Tower from 8:45 until about 11:30.
Schiff brought with him a stenographer from the pencil factory and Frank dictated a number of letters and also some matter in connection with his own case. The former superintendent is compiling in compact form all of the important testimony at the trial so that he more readily may refer to it when he comes to make his reply to Dorsey.
He sent for his diary and for a quantity of paper while Schiff was with him and the two worked together for more than an hour.
An indictment of Jim Conley, charging him with being accessory after the fact in the murder of Mary Phagan will be asked of the first session of the next Grand Jury, according to the present ineligible Solicitor General Dorsey.
The new Grand Jury will meet the first week in September, and probably will have the request of the Solicitor for the indictment of Conley
Continued on Page 5, Column 1.
PAGE 11
FRANK, IN CELL, PREPARES STATEMENT ATTACKING DORSEY'S ARRAIGNMENT
Continued from Page 1.
as the first business for its disposal. The maximum sentence for this offense is three years, but it is thought that Conley, as a self-confessed accessory and a State's witness, will get off more lightly than the maximum.
Frank told friends Wednesday that he was planning to have a large part in the conduct of the fight to obtain a reversal of the verdict of last Monday afternoon. Frank rendered his attorney's assistance during the preparation of his case for presentation at the trial which has just ended, but all of the decisions of any consequence were left to them.
The convicted man followed every move of Rosser and Arnold, as well as of Solicitor Dorsey, with an unceasing vigilance and with a thorough comprehension of the purpose involved. Friends say he feels that he is competent to have a part in the mapping out of the future campaign for his life and liberty, and expects to have a considerable voice in every plan that is proposed.
It is his life that is at stake, and he is convinced that he has obtained a sufficient knowledge of legal procedure at least to advise and suggest and, at times, direct as to what shall be done.
Rosser Lays Battle Plan.
Rosser Wednesday began active preparation for the appeal for a new trial for Frank. In summing up the evidence for the argument of the case before Judge Roan on October 4, Solicitor Dorsey will work in conjunction with Mr. Rosser.
Mr. Rosser emphasized the colossal task before him as he sat in his office in the Grant Building by pointing to the mass of evidence taken by the court stenographer. It embraces 4,500 typewritten pages, far and away the record for criminal cases in Georgia. This must be condensed to a workable basis-some 200 pages-according to Mr. Rosser. It is supposed to be just enough to make the point clear on which the arguments for a new trial will be based. But attorney representing both sides must agree on the evidence submitted. And therefore, to save time, Solicitor Dorsey will collaborate with Mr. Rosser.
If Judge Roan refuses a new trial. Attorney Rosser declared the case immediately would be taken to the Supreme Court.
Thus, the sentence of Frank to be hanged between 10 and 2 o'clock on October 10 will be stayed. It probably will be after the first of the new year before the Supreme Court will be able to take up the case, and Frank automatically will get a respite.
Mr. Rosser's statements and acts refuted the reports that he had suffered greatly from the long strain of the trial.
Away from the color and excitement of the courtroom scenes he is proceeding on his work with the methodical energy he would proceed on a civil case.
Referring to Mr. Arnold's trip to Bedford Springs, Pa, and the report that he himself had suffered a loss of 25 pounds in weight, Mr. Rosser said:
"I don't need a vacation, so I have gone back to work. I weigh exactly the same as I did the day I went into the case. I haven't got time to worry about my physical well-being."
"I would greatly enjoy a good rest. But Mr. Arnold or myself has got to prepare this case for a new trial. He is gone and I've got to do it. So you see I am at it."
Mr. Arnold will return in good time to take part in the appeal for a new trial.
October 10 Jewish Sacred Day.
That he is not without tactical ability in a law court was demonstrated by his statement to the jury.
An impressive coincidence in the sentencing of Leo Frank to hang on October 10 is that this is the most deeply sacred day of all of Frank's religion-the Day of Atonement. It is the day for confession of sins. It probably is as universally observed by members of this faith as Good Friday, for example, is observed by the Roman Catholics.
The setting of this day, however, may be regarded as little more than a formality, as it is certain that Frank will not go to his death on that day. The arguments for a new trial will be heard on October 4, and if the motion is denied, an immediate appeal will be made to the Supreme Court, and this will necessitate a postponement in the date set for the execution while the matter is being thrashed out in the higher courts.
While the beginning of the real battle will not take place until October 4, Frank's lawyers entered at once into a new plan of campaign for his freedom. Reuben Arnold is taking a few days' vacation, but will return to the city shortly to resume this work on the case. In the meanwhile, witnesses are being examined and data obtained in reference to several of the points on which a new trial will be asked of Judge Roan.
Conley Says He Told Truth.
Frank arose at 7 o'clock Wednesday morning and walked about this limited quarters for half an hour, and then sat down to read the papers. He was reported to be as cheerful as at any time during the months he was awaiting for his trial.
Jim Conley had for his breakfast the usual jail fare. "I told the truth, boss," he remarked to J. L. Poindexter, one of the deputies.
"A lie will wash away, can't keep it, but the truth, it will stay by you," was his sage observation as he continued to comment on his case."
Rudolph M. Frank, father of the convicted man, was told Tuesday at his home in Brooklyn of the verdict that had been returned against his son. An elderly man and an invalid much of the time, Dr. Frank was prostrated by the news.
"I know Leo is innocent. He never would be capable of committing a terrible deed of that sort," the old man told Harry Lewis, the family lawyer, who spoke to the reporters. Lewis was one of the character witnesses who came to Atlanta to testify at the trial."
In making their motion for a new trial Tuesday, Frank's lawyers set forth statutory grounds, and later will file an amended motion. The first motion represents that the verdict of guilty was contrary to the evidence, contrary to law and contrary to the weight of the law, and that the court, after overruling a motion of the defense, allowed certain testimony which was relative to other crimes that the one specified in the bill of indictment.
This last reference is in reward to Jim Conley's testimony in which the negro told of the alleged conduct of Frank with women in his office.
Frank's Flight Likely To Extend Over Months.
That the Leo Frank case can not reach the State Supreme Court, where it seems destined to go, before the third Monday in December, was the opinion expressed Wednesday morning by a court official who has figured out all the "possibilities."
Should the famous case reach the Supreme Court even at this early date it probably would be several weeks before a decision could be rendered, as a mass of testimony would have to be considered by the court.
According to the official, should Frank's attorneys be overruled by Judge Roan on October 4 in their request for a new trial, they may then file a bill of exceptions any time within the following twenty days. At the time of the filing of the bill of exceptions, which in this case probably will be immediately after the decision of Judge Roan and before October 10, the date of the hanging, the judge "shall," according to the law, order a supersedeas, which stays the execution.
After the bill of exceptions has been filed and the supersedeas ordered, the attorneys for the defense will have ten days to which to present the matter to the attorneys for the State. Following the notification to the State the defense then has fifteen days to file it with the Clerk of the Superior Court, who then has ten days to forward the record to the Clerk of the Supreme Court.
Should the defense take full advantage of the time granted in each case there is a possibility that the case will not reach the Supreme Court until January, or perhaps February.