Saturday, 30th January 1915: Large Sums Paid To Burns Agency, Haas Tells Court, The Atlanta Constitution

Shows checks for $500 and for $1,000 given representatives for work done in the Frank case.

Jim Conley on stand for just five minutes. Denies that he ever confessed to murder of Mary Phagan. Father's mind unsound, says Ragsdale's son.

With the testimony of Herbert Haas, who handled the funds for the Leo M. Frank Defense, the State rested its case yesterday afternoon in the trial of Dan Lehon, Arthur Thurman, and Carlton Tedder before Judge Ben Hill, on charges of subornation of perjury. Haas was preceded upon the stand by Jim Conley. The Negro was on the stand less than five minutes. There was no cross-examination. When the Solicitor had finished the questions whether or not Conley had confessed to Mary Phagan's murder, the Negro quit the witness chair.

The testimony of Herbert Haas, Associate Counsel for the condemned man, related to sums of money paid the Burns Detective Agents at the time Tedder, Lehon, and Thurman are accused of having bribed Rev. C. B. Ragsdale, the recanting minister. He submitted a check for $500 which had been paid to Burns representatives for a month's advance salary and expense money for Tedder on April 16, during which time the Ragsdale Affidavit was said to have been in process.

Burns Agency well paid. Haas had brought into the courtroom a number of checks representing big sums of money, which he had produced at the command of a subpoena duces tectum issued by the Solicitor General. Three checks representing the $500 were paid to Burns Representatives and another for $1,000. In answer to the question if checks to the Burns Agents were not frequent, he answered: "Yes, and rapid, too!"

The huge crowd that packed the courtroom in the expectation of witnessing a surprise when Jim Conley took the stand was disappointed. Conley was called upon at the conclusion of the testimony of R. L. Barber, the alleged accomplice of Rev. Ragsdale, who is likewise under indictment for perjury.

Haas stated that he had never paid any money to Tedder, but to representatives of the Burns offices, principally C. E. Sears, who, at that time, was manager of the Atlanta Branch. The lawyer described himself as the man who handled the funds for Frank's Defense.

Jim Conley was calm, unruffled, and quick with his answers: He declared that he had never been in the alley in which Ragsdale's false Affidavit accused him of having confessed to Mary Phagan's murder, and, in answer to Mr. Dorsey's questions, stated that he had never talked about the murder of "a little girl," as was described in the preacher's story.

Father's mind unsound. A sensation of the morning session Friday was the testimony of W. A. Ragsdale, a son of the minister-witness, who, upon cross-examination, directly admitted that his father was of unsound mind. Mr. Dorsey had put him on the stand to show that Arthur Thurman had held transactions with the father even on the telephone on the day the Affidavit was made. The youth proved a reluctant witness, saying that all he knew was hearsay. Judge Hill would not admit his testimony in this regard.

He stated that his father's mind and business both failed in 1907, and that since that time he had frequently been afflicted with "spells" of temporary insanity. He did not notice anything wrong with the minister, however, on the day the Affidavit was made.

Dr. Ben Wildauer, of 69 Windsor Street, a friend of Leo Frank and the man who induced William J. Burns to take a hand in the Frank Case, was put up by Mr. Dorsey. He stated that he had urged Burns to employ Carlton Tedder, as he believed Tedder knew the truth of the Frank Case, connected, as he was, with William M. Smith, Conley's lawyer.

Money paid to Tedder. He also stated that he had seen Dan Lehon pay Tedder $500, in $250 payments, to be used for payment for services and for out-of-town expenses.

Other witnesses examined during the morning and afternoon were Boots Rogers and R. L. Barber. Rogers, who is now a bailiff in Municipal Court, but was formerly a Burns Detective, testified to having been sent to Ragsdale's Office from the Burns Office with instructions for Ragsdale to talk to no one except a Burns Operative, and that he must be assured of the Operative's identity before talking to him. He declared, however, that this procedure was customary with all witnesses, and that he had been sent with the same instructions to Annie Maude Carter, the Negress witness.