Friday, 20th February 1914: Rosser Hints At Conspiracy, The Atlanta Georgian

Reading Time: 5 minutes [854 words]

### STATE HID FACTS TO CONVICT, HE SAYS

Defense Roasts Dorsey and Harris, Declaring Other Developments May Come.

Hints at a Virtual Conspiracy between Solicitor Dorsey and Dr. H. F. Harris to hang Leo Frank were uttered Friday evening by Luther Z. Rosser in his comments on the latest development in the famous Phagan murder mystery the statement of Dr. Harris that the strands of hair found on the lathe on the second floor of the National Pencil Factory were not Mary Phagan's, as the jury which tried Frank was led to believe.

The inference is conveyed that, even though there were no verbal or tacit agreement between the two to conceal the evidence, as great harm was worked to the defendant as would have been the case in a deliberate conspiracy.

Mr. Rosser Says He's Amazed.

Mr. Rosser expressed his amazement that such evidence should be kept from the jury and asked if one might not suspect that much else equally as important had been concealed by the Solicitor and those with him.

He said: "The story that the State and its Chief Medical Expert knew during the trial of Leo M. Frank that the hair found in the Pencil Factory was not the hair of Mary Phagan amazes us beyond words."

"For some time we have heard vague rumors that the hair that figured in the Frank case was not the hair of Mary Phagan, and that Doctor Harris knew it when he testified at the trial, and that the Solicitor knew it when he was making proof about the hair by Barnett and Magnolia Kennedy and other witnesses; but, in spite of these rumors, we could not bring ourselves to believe that Doctor Harris would have concealed this important matter, with the knowledge of the Solicitor, and that the Solicitor himself would argue to the jury as he did that the finding of this hair was evidence of the fact that Frank had killed Mary Phagan on the second floor of the factory."

"Unless we are much mistaken in the fairness of the people of Fulton County, the admitted facts about this hair will awaken great wonder as to what other things were concealed and misrepresented in the same way."

Dorsey Not Disturbed.

Solicitor Dorsey Friday afternoon was disposed to minimize the significance of the published statement of Dr. H. F. Harris that the strands of hair found on a lathe on the second floor of the National Pencil Factory were not those of Mary Phagan who, the State claimed, was murdered on that floor by Leo Frank.

"Whether they were or were not, I never considered the matter as of great importance to the State's case," said the Solicitor. "If they were, it simply provided me another addition to the mass of cumulative evidence that was heaped up against the defendant. If they were not, the State's case lost none of its strength, since it was not on such trifles that it was based."

### IS UNDISTURBED BY NEW FRANK EVIDENCE

Solicitor Says State Had Complete Case, and Didn't Need Hair Evidence.

Continued from Page 1.

Recalls Old Statement.

"It is true that Dr. Harris told me at the time that it was his opinion that the hair was not Mary Phagan's. He did not swear this on the stand, of course, while several other witnesses testified that it did resemble the dead girl's hair. I did not regard it as material then, nor do I now."

Dr. Harris, who was one of the State's star witnesses in the trial of Frank, Friday provided the defense with a weapon with which to continue the battle for Frank's life through the medium of an extraordinary motion for a new trial on the grounds of newly discovered evidence.

Thought Discovery Unimportant.

He made public his opinion that the hair found on the lathe in the factory metal room was not the hair of Mary Phagan, but accompanied the opinion with the statement that he never had considered the fact material. He said that he had not attempted to conceal the fact from the public, but had not told of it merely because he considered it inconsequential.

"I don't know that I was asked about it on the witness stand," he said.

The defense is expected to use his statement in making an extraordinary motion for a new trial for Frank.

Burns to Open Probe.

With March 1 definitely set as the time when Detective William J. Burns will return to Atlanta and make an investigation of the murder of Mary Phagan, interest in the famous Frank case centered Friday in the probable time that the motion for a rehearing of the case by the Supreme Court would be ready for filing by Frank's attorneys, Luther Rosser and Reuben Arnold.

No inkling of the progress that is being made in the preparation of the appeal would be divulged by the lawyers Friday. It was stated that a trio of stenographers are working hard on the document, and it is hoped that it will be ready to file with the clerk of the Supreme Court some time Friday.