Reading Time: 3 minutes [430 words]

LEO M, FRANK, 407

THE VERDICT AND SENTENCE.
At 4:55 the Jury returned into court with a verdict of

guilty,

The courtroom had been cleared of spectators; the prisoner
himself, as well as his counsel, were absent (see post, p. 410)
and only the Judge, the officers of the court and the state
counsel and some other members of the bar were preserit,

‘When the verdict waa rendered, the windows of the court-
room were closed on account of the noise made by the erowd
in the streets.”

® “While the jury was out nearly four hours, and each and every
member was pledged to secrecy, it is definitely known that only one
ballot was taken and that the verdict was reached in a comparatively
short time. When the crowd that filled the court room was driven
out Monday afternoon on the order of Judge Roan, it flowed to the
streets to await the verdict, increasing in size as the minutes passed,

“A veritable honeyeomb of humanity spread over the section from

Whitehall to Central avenne, on Hunter street, and from Alabama
to Mitchell on Pryor. Men and women clung to the walls of build-
ings and sat in doorways. Windows were crowded with women and
girls and children. It was as thongh a street audience had gathered
to wateh an eventful procession. The shrill orders of the mounted
policemen arose over the hum of the crowd, A knot of men clustered
around the press room, the windows of which front Hunter street,
just opposite the new court house building. As the reporters at the
telephone ahonted the verdict to their offices, the word eame through
the windows, It was received with a shout. The ery of guilty took
winged flight from lip to lip. It traveled like the rattle of musketry.
Then came a combined shout that rose to the aky. Pandemonium
reigned. Hats went into the air. Women wept and shouted by
turns, .
“A great ovation was accorded Solicitor General Dorsey. As he
appeared in the doorway of the court house while the crowd yelled
its reception of the Frank verdict, there came a mighty roar.—At-
Janta Constitution, Aug. 26, 1913,

“The jury reached their verdict within two hours after Frank’s life
had been placed in their hands. On the first ballot the vote was ten
for convietion, one blank and one doubtful. The second ballot waa
taken just one hour later, and resulted in a unanimous vote for con-
vietion.”—Atlanta Journal, Aug. 26, 1913,

“Two thousand people, mostly men, awaited the aunouncement
of the verdict in the streets around the court honse and the demon-
stration following the news of the verdict drew double that number
to the scene. The windows of the court room ‘were ordered closed,
60 great was the din from without the eonrt, As the solicitor passed

Related Posts