692 Slide – American State Trials 1918 Volume X Leo Frank Document

660 X. AMERICAN STATE TRIALS.

MRS. HIRSCH’S STATEMENT TO THE JURY.

Mrs. Hirech. Gentlemen, I met Mr. Candler, being introduced to
him by a prominent lady of this city at his office in the city hall.
Last summer the Atlanta Woman’s Club formed an auxiliary to the
Red Cross and they asked me to be chairman of the finanee com-
mailtee of this auxiliary, and to raise money to donate eighty-five
dozen operating gowns to the base hospital, which would require
between $800 and $1,000. We decided to raise it by raffling an
automobile. I asked Mr. Cook to select the ear, as I knew nothing
about them. Then the question arose whether the raffle was legal
and some of my friends suggested that I consult Mayor Candler.
I had never met him, but had heard that he waa 9 very striet church
member and rather narrow-minded 9s to games of chance or gam-
bling or anything of that kind, and I was very much afraid to ap-
proach him on the subject. I called a meeting of the Atlanta Wom-
ans Cleb for the next day and Mrs, Spencer Atkinson was chair
man of our auxiliary and we suggested that, in order to get the
approval of Mayor Candler, Mrs. Atkinson would accompany me
to his offies in the city hall and introduce me and we would try to
get his co-operation, which was done. Mrs. Atkinson took me down
and introduced me to him and we took one of the cards with us, on
which was a picture of the automobile being displayed and we told
him that we were trying to avoid ealling it a raffle; we were simply
ealling it an automobile campaign for the Red Crosa, and in order
to keep people from calling it = raffle we had stated down on the
bottom of the card, “Donate $1 to the Red Cross and receive the
number on one of these ecards.

Mr. Candler kept the card offiee, on his mantel, at our re-
quest, and bought one of the tickets for the automobile, and gave
us a dollar for the ticket. We jokingly told the Mayor that he
was Made an accessory to this raille; that if we were prosecuted he
would have to be prosecuted, too. Mrs. Atkinson afterwards ro-
marked in 8 very innocent way to the ladies at the clab that “Mr.
Candler and myself flirted outrageously in the office” that day. I
don’t think she meant it really, or anything of that kind, but he
eertainly did attract attention by putting his arm through her arm
and my arm as we eame from the offiee and told her not to tell
Judge Atkinson that he had dong so.

About three days after that The Journal came out in flaming
headlines, that the Atlania Woman’s Club was raffling an automo-
bile. I called up Mr. Candler at the city hall that morning and told
him what The Journal bad published, and he asked me to come and
see him at his office about 3:30. I reached there promptly; he was
talking to a man I did not know, and when he left he walked over
to the door and closed it, it had a spring lock. He came over to
the davenport, where I was sitting, sat down beside me and pat his
anns around me and made a grest many demonstrations in a fond
and affectionate way. I resisted his attempts to be affectionate,