W H GREESLING, Sworn In For The State, 28th To Testify

W. H. GREESLING, sworn for the State.

I am a funeral director and embalmer. I moved the body of Mary Phagan at 10 minutes to four o'clock, April 27th, in the morning. The cord (Exhibit C, State) was around the neck. The knot was on the right side of the neck and was lying kind of looped around the head. It wasn't very tight at the time I moved it. There was an impress of an eighth of an inch on the neck. The rag (Exhibit D, State) was around her hair and over her face. The tongue an inch and a quarter out of her mouth sticking out. The body was rigid, looking like it had been dead for some time. My opinion is that she had been dead ten or fifteen hours, or probably longer. The blood was very much congested. The blood had settled in her face because she was lying on her face. Blood begins to settle at death or a very few minutes after death. After Dr. Hurt examined her nails, I did. I found some dirt and dust under the nails. I discovered some urine or her underclothes and there were some dry blood splotches there. The right leg of the drawers was split with a knife or torn right up the seam. Her right eye was very dark; looked like it was hit before death because it was very much swollen; if it had been hit after death there wouldn't have been any swelling. I found a wound 2 & 1/4 inches on the back of the head. It was made before death because it bled a great deal. The hair was matted with blood and very dry. If it had been made after death, there would have been no blood there. There is no circulation after death. The skull wasn't crushed; the scalp was broken. The indication was that it was made before death. There was a scar over each eye about the size of a dime. I didn't notice any scratches on her nose. I can't state whether the defendant ever looked at the body or not. There was some discharge on her underclothes which was very dry and if she had been dead a short time, it would have been wet yet.

CROSS EXAMINATION.

I judge the length of time the corpse had been dead by the rigor mortis. This is very indefinite at times. It begins before death. If she died of strangulation, I would expect rigor mortis to begin within an hour. I have never had any experience about as a case of strangulation so as to determine when rigor mortis began and when it broke. There is no certainty about how long a corpse is dead. All the blood was dry when I examined the body. Mr. Rogers and Mr. Black came with Mr. Frank and asked me to take him back to where the girl was. I took them back there, pulled a light, pulled the sheet back, and moved the revolving table and walked out between them. Mr. Frank was near the right-hand going in. Mr. Black was at the left. I took a half gallon of blood from the little girl's body, enough to clear up the face and body. I injected one gallon of the formula into the corpse. Formaldehyde is a constituent part of the embalming fluid used. I prepared the little girl properly for burial. There was no mutilation at all on the body. I judged she died of strangulation because the rope was tight enough to choke her to death and her tongue being an inch and a quarter out of the mouth, showed she died from strangulation.

RE-DIRECT EXAMINATION.

I don't think the little girl lost much blood.