1036 Page – Leo Frank Georgia Supreme Court Appeals Records, 1913, 1914

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going in the basement. That would only prevent anybody from up stairs from going into the basement unless they went by the elevator or by unlocking those double doors. All of the doors to the factory were unlocked when I got back there Saturday afternoon about six o'clock, the first floor, the second floor, the third floor and the fourth floor. Anybody could come right in from the street and go all over the factory without Mr. Frank in his office knowing anything about it. The doors are never closed at all. That is a great big, old, rambling place up there. The shutters, the blinds to the factory were all closed that day because it was a holiday, excepting two or three on the first floor which I closed up that night. It's a very dark place when the shutters are closed. That is why we have to burn a light. There is a light on the first floor near the clock, it burns all the time because that is a dark spot. There are two clocks, one punches to a hundred, the other punches to two hundred, because there are more than a hundred employees. I punch both of them. About Mr. Frank and Mr. Gantt, they had had a difficulty and I knew that Mr. Frank didn't want him in there. Mr. Frank had told me "Lee, I have discharged Mr. Gantt, I don't want him in here, keep him out of here," and he had said, "When you see him hanging around here, watch him." That is the reason I thought Mr. Frank was startled when he saw Mr. Gantt. Mr. Gantt is a great big fellow, nearly seven feet. When he went out I watched him as he went to the beer saloon and I went upstairs. He left the factory about half past six. I went through the machine room every time I made a punch that night. I went to the ladies' dressing room every half hour that night until three o'clock. I went all over the building every half hour, excepting the basement. I went down to the basement every hour that night, but not all the way back. Mr. Frank had instructed me to go over the building every half hour and he said go down in the basement once in awhile. He said go back far enough to see the door was closed. He told me to look out for the dust bin because that is where we might have a fire and to see that the back door is shut and to go over all the building every half hour. No, he didn't give me any different instructions that Saturday, he didn't tell me not to go in the basement or in the metal department. He allowed me to carry out the instructions just like I had been doing before. Yes, if I had gone back to find out whether that door was closed or not, I would have found the body, but I could see if the door was open, because there was a light back there. No, it wasn't open that night. It was shut when I found the body. It was about ten minutes after I telephoned the police that they arrived. When I was down there I was close enough to the door to see it was shut, there was a light in front of it. There was no light between the body and the door. It was dark back there. The body was about sixty feet from that door. If the back door had been open I could have seen that big light back there in the alley. The back door was closed when I found the body. The first time I went down the basement that night was seven o'clock. I went just a little piece beyond the dark, so I could see whether there was any fire down there. That's what I was looking for. Yes, I could tell whether the door was open