1078 Page – Leo Frank Georgia Supreme Court Appeals Records, 1913, 1914

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shaft with an edge, it might have produced the wound. I do not know of the kind of instrument that produced the wound. There was no contusion on the inside of the skull, but the skull was not fractured. Neither the brain nor the meningis were affected. There was a slight contusion on the inner lining of the skull. There was no bleeding on the brain tissues. I don't know whether it would produce unconsciousness or not. I was never asked before to examine the inside of anybody's skull to determine the fact whether death or uncon- sciousness resulted from the wound. It is my impression that this lick did produce unconsciousness, but I won't swear it, I don't know. The hemorrhage which we discovered in the skull caused no pressure on the brain. That was no sign that unconsciousness resulted. Where a person is strangled to death the lungs ought to show congestion. I never examined this girl's lungs. When I saw the body on April 27th I gave it as my opinion that she had been dead from 16 to 20 hours at 9 o'clock Sunday morning. Rigor mortis was complete. It is a very variable thing. I couldn't tell whether the blood on her underclothes was menstrual blood or not. The hymen was not intact, and I was not able to say when this hymen was ruptured. I saw no indication of an injury to the hymen. The appearance of the blood on the parts was characteristic of a men- strual flow. There was no laceration on the vagina, and no mutilation on this girl's body except those wounds on the face, head and legs. The size of the vagina is no indication of anything except the anatomy and the natural build of the person. It is no indication of rape. I found no outward signs of rape. I have formed no opinion whether this little girl was raped or had ever had intercourse with anybody. There was no external marks of violence. I told Col. Rosser at the Coroner's inquest that this little girl had her monthly period on, but I got that from somebody else. I did not conclude that from my examination. The monthly period causes some inflammation and congestion in the blood vessels of the ovaries and uterus. The vagina itself might have some different appearance. I was present when Dr. Harris made the post mortem examination of this girl. Cabbage is digested better by some people than others. It depends on the individual very much. It is considered hard to digest. It depends largely on mastication. You can chew up so thoroughly that it would go down into the stomach almost a liquid, but it would not be digested until the stomach took up that chewed mass. It would take a much longer time to digest and assimilate unmasticated cabbage than if it had been thoroughly chewed. It takes about 3½ hours to digest cabbage properly masti- cated, and it would take longer if the cabbage had been taken into the stomach actually or practically whole. Digestion continues partially in uncon- sciousness. It is a guess to say whether the girl was conscious or not. I would not undertake to give an opinion how long she remained unconscious. I would not undertake to give an opinion and don't know of any way of telling ten days after death how long a distended condition of the vagina existed before death.