Wednesday, 6th August 1913 Conley Swears Frank Hid Purse

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Sweeper's Grilling Ends After 15 Hours, His Main Story Unshaken

PAGE 55, COLUMN 7

MYSTERY OF GIRL'S MESH BAG EXPLAINED BY NEGRO ON STAND

That Mary Phagan's silver-plated mesh bag, mysteriously missing since the girl's bruised and lifeless body was found the morning of April 27, was in Leo Frank's office a few minutes after the attack and later was placed in the safe in Frank's office was the startling statement made by the negro Conley Wednesday in the course of his re-direct examination by Solicitor Dorsey. At 11:10 the negro left the stand after being questioned for fifteen and one-half hours.

This testimony was the sensation of the forenoon. Throughout the more than three months of the murder mystery an unavailing search was made for the mesh bag, the city and Pinkerton detectives being convinced that the finding of the bag would go a long distance toward pointing out the person guilty of the Phagan girl's murder.

"Did you ever see a silver mesh bag that Mary Phagan carried?" inquired the Solicitor.

"Yes, sah," replied Conley. "I see it right on Mr. Frank's desk when I went in there."

"What became of the mesh bag?" continued Dorsey.

"He went and put it in his safe," the negro said.

First Word of Mysterious Bag.

It was the first information, authentic or otherwise, that had come to light regarding the disposal of the mesh bag. The homes of Newt Lee and Jim Conley had been searched high and low for the bag or any other clew to the perpetrator of the crime. Except for a vague rumor that a mesh bag had been found by a negro in a shop on Decatur street, a story which later was found to have no connection with the Phagan mystery, not the slightest clew ever was discovered to the whereabouts of the bag which so strangely had disappeared.

Attorney Rosser's manner was angry and threatening when he arose for the re-cross examination. He began at once a vicious attack on Conley's story of the mesh bag. He asked when Conley first told this remarkable tale. Conley said he couldn't remember.

"Why didn't you tell all this when you were telling 'the whole truth' to the detectives?" Rosser shouted.

The attorney apparently sought to create the impression that the mesh bag story was an afterthought, and that it was manufactured by the negro when he heard of the search the detectives were making for the bag.

On Grill Over Thirteen Hours.

When Rosser turned Conley back to Dorsey for the redirect examination, the negro had been under the grill of Rosser's cross-questioning for a total of thirteen hours. His main story of Frank's admitting the killing and of the disposal of Mary Phagan's body at Frank's direction was unshaken except by his own admissions of previous falsehoods. He had been on the stand a total of fifteen and one-half hours. Of this time the Solicitor had questioned him only about two hours.

Conley was called from the stand at 11:10 o'clock.

Conley was taken into an anteroom. He removed his coat and lit a cigarette someone had given him.

"How did you like it?" he was asked.

"I liked it all right," he replied, grinning.

Sheriff Mangum then interrupted the questioning of the reporters, saying that under the judge's orders no one could speak to him.

The next moment Conley picked up a newspaper and became intently interested in the story of his own testimony.

As soon as court opened Mr. Rosser asked the judge if he was ready to hear argument on the proposition to eliminate parts of Conley's testimony. He said he was prepared to support his motion with authorities.

Judge Roan replied that he would postpone his decision until 2 o'clock.

Solicitor Dorsey declared that he had witnesses he expects to put on the stand Wednesday morning to substantiate the part of the negro's testimony in dispute. He said:

"I just want the court to understand that I am going to do this."

Judge Roan replied:

"I'll give you the benefit of whatever you bring out."

Conley was then recalled to the stand for the conclusion of his cross-examination.

Questioned About Affidavit.

Rosser's first question was:

Q. You made this statement just as I read it, didn't you, Jim? A. Yes.

Q. It's all correct? A. Yes.

Q. Now, Jim, you signed this statement, too, didn't you? (Showing another affidavit.) A. Yes, sir.

Q. You made this one the day after the one I just read? Now, listen,

PAGE 56, COLUMN 1

CONLEY SAYS FRANK TOOK MARY PHAGAN'S MESH BAG

Lies Down on Floor to Show Jury How He Left Girl's Body in Cellar

NEGRO'S LONG GRILL ENDS AFTER 15 HOURS, HIS MAIN STORY STILL UNSHAKEN

and see if this is what you said?

Mr. Rosser read how Jim Conley for the first time told the story of carrying the body of Mary Phagan to the basement. These were the concluding words:

"The reason I have not told this before is that Mr. Frank said he would get me out, but it don't seem that he is going to get out and I have decided to tell the whole truth. I gave him back the $200. He said he would fix it all right Monday."

Q. This is what you swore, isn't it, Jim? A. Yes, sir; I swore it.

Q. Jim, didn't Miss Carson ask you on Monday while you were working around her machine when they were going to get you, you answered that you hadn't done nothing? A. No, sir.

Denies Alarm While Sweeping.

Q. Didn't she say that Mr. Frank was innocent and the real murderer of little Mary Phagan was the man Mrs. White saw near the steps? You dropped your broom and quit sweeping when she said that? A. No, sir.

Q. Didn't you say to Mr. Herbert Schiff on Monday after the murder that you were afraid to go out of the factory and that you would give a million dollars to be a white man? A. I didn't say just that, but I told him if I was a white man I would go on out.

Q. He told you to get on out, asking you what you had to be afraid of? A. Something like that.

Q. Jim, you talked with Julia Fuss on that day and asked her if she had another extra? You asked her if she got one to let you see it? A. No, sir.

Q. She told you that Mr. Frank was innocent, didn't she? And you said he was innocent as the angels in heaven? A. No, sir; I didn't say that.

Mr. Rosser closed the cross-examination and Solicitor Dorsey began the redirect examination.

Tells of Prison Record.

Q. Jim, where were you in prison? A. Police headquarters.

Q. Were you ever in jail? A. Yes.

Q. What were you charged with? A. Just because I was washing my shirt.

Q. I mean those other times you were arrested. Were you in the county jail then? A. No, I was in headquarters.

Rosser interrupted:

"The charges are in writing, your honor. They are the last evidence."

"It's a poor rule that doesn't work both ways," said Dorsey. "Can't we exclude this evidence?"

Judge Roan: "You can show where he was."

Q. What were you arrested for the first time? A. I was throwing rocks.

Q. Who arrested you? A. A police named Edmonds.

Q. The second time? A. I was fighting.

Q. A white man or a woman? A. No, I never had any trouble with white folks.

Q. Jim, did you try to see Mr. Frank in jail?

Rosser objected.

Judge Roan Don't lead him, Mr. Dorsey.

Q. Did you ever see Frank after you went to the pencil factory? A. No.

Q. Why not?

Rosser objected to the question as immaterial. Dorsey changed his question.

Last Saw Frank at Station.

Q. When was the last time you saw Frank before you saw him here? A. Over there at the police station.

Q. Did he say anything? A. No, he just smiled and bowed his head.

Q. When you wrote those notes, did you sit down, and, if so, where? A. I was sitting at the desk.

Q. Where was Frank sitting? A. At the other desk.

Attorney Rosser objected. "He went into all that before," he said.

Judge Roan Did you, Mr. Dorsey?

"No, it is something I omitted," said Dorsey.

Q. What did Frank do when he you wrote those notes?

Rosser objected to the question as leading.

Q. Did Frank touch your pencil when you were writing?

Rosser objected again, declaring that the question was leading.

Judge Roan said the question could be asked without leading.

Q. What, if anything, did Mr. Frank do when you were writing? A. He took the pencil out of my hand and told me to rule out that "s" on the "negro."

Q. What hour was it Friday Frank came up on the fourth floor and spoke to you? A. About 3 o'clock.

Says Frank Took Girl's Bag.

Q. How far was it from where you were Tuesday when he told you to be a good boy? A. Almost the same place.

Q. How far was it from the water cooler to where her body was dragged? A. I don't know, sir.

Q. How far from the water cooler? A. I don't know.

Q. Did you ever see Mary Phagan's pocketbook or meshbag? A. Yes, it was on the desk in Mr. Frank's office.

Q. What did he do with it? A. He put it in the safe.

Q. How long were you in jail before you wrote for the detectives? A. About ten or fifteen days.

Q. How long would it take Frank to go down and lock that door? A. About one minute.

Q. Where was Frank standing when you saw the clock at four minutes to one? A. He was standing near those stair steps.

Q. Describe that scream you heard.

Rosser objected.

"He has gone into that before, your honor," he said.

The question was sustained, Judge Roan saying: "The question cannot be asked because it is reopening a long cross-examination."

Q. Jim, who has asked you the most questions, Mr. Black, Scott, Starnes and Campbell and myself or Mr. Rosser?

Tries to Show Court Grilling.

Rosser objected.

Dorsey: "Your honor, he has tried to bring out the fact that this witness has been grilled. I want to show that altogether he was not questioned as long or as much as Mr. Rosser has questioned him on the stand."

Judge Roan: "You can ask him how long he was questioned out of court, and what has gone on here is public."

Dorsey put the question again.

Q. How long was the longest you was ever questioned before you came here? A. Mr. Scott came and got me one day and I herd him tell the turnkey it was fifteen minutes to eleven. It was dark when I got back.

Q. How long was that? A. I'd say about three and one-half hours.

Q. How long has Mr. Rosser questioned you?

"Your honor, I want to get this answer in the records," said Dorsey.

Judge Roan: "Do you object?" looking at Mr. Rosser.

ONE OF WITNESSES FOR DEFENSE

Mrs. Emma Freeman, who will testify for Leo Frank.

"I do," said Rosser.

"I sustain you," said the court.

Dorsey continued the questioning.

Q. Jim, how did you leave the body in the basement? A. I left her on her side.

Lies on Floor to Answer Query.

Q. How? (Conley got down on the floor and lay on his left side, his arms against his body. After the illustration he identified a photograph of the basement and pointed out just where he left the body).

Q. Now, Jim, tell the jury in detail everything you did after you looked at the clock at 4 minutes to 1.

Rosser objected. "He has gone into

that, your honor," he said.

"Have you, Mr. Dorsey?" Judge Roan asked.

"We have not gone into that detail," Dorsey replied. "We want to show the jury how long it would have taken to do the things there and how long it would have taken Frank to get to his home. Mr. Rosser has brought out this detail to draw his conclusions."

Judge Roan: "Have you asked that?"

Dorsey: "Yes."

Judge Roan: "Then I sustain the objection."

Dorsey: "That's all right, your honor. If you think the State ought not to ask these questions, it is all right with me."

Promised Help in Trouble.

Q. What kind of paper were you talking about when you spoke of green sheets? A. That one (identifying the white note).

Q. What kind of back did it have?

A. A kind of grayish pad.

Q. What did Frank say about taking you to Brooklyn? A. He didn't. He said he would take me away, and if I got into trouble he would get me out.

Q. Did you ever have any conversation with Mr. Mincey? A. No; I saw him at police headquarters.

Q. What did he say?

Rosser objected, and the objection was sustained.

Q. That night at jail, did those newspaper men come on the inside? A. No.

Q. What did they say? Wait a minute; I want those two men out. (Two

newspaper reporters, H. W. Ross and Harllee Branch, of The Atlanta Journal, who were at the press table, retired from the courtroom.) A. I can't remember that.

Q. Did they offer you anything at all?

Rosser objected, and was sustained. Conley had answered the question, though, declaring that nothing was offered him but a paper.

Q. That day at the factory, were you nervous or not? A. No; I was not.

Darley Knew He Could Write.

Q. What did Mr. Schiff say to you? A. They were standing there by the clock and asked if there was a crowd at the front door. Mr. Schiff came in and I said I wish I was a white man; that I would go out from

there. One man said he wished he had a pistol. Mr. Schiff said: "They've got Mr. Frank in jail. I don't see that being white would help."

Q. Did Darley know you could write? A. Yes.

Rosser objected. "It is immaterial," said he.

Dorsey: "We want to show that this man could write; that he was in jail several days without writing, and the detectives, the Pinkertons employed by the factory, knew he could write.

Q. Could you spell luxury? A. Yes.

Q. Why? A. I had to write it several times. Mr. Frank had me to write down the names of the different boxes that pencils were in, and give them to him, so that he could know when they were out.

"Wasn't Asked Before."

Attorney Rosser took up the recross-examination:

Q. Jim, you were questioned by Mr. Dorsey and myself and all the detectives, and this morning was the first time you ever mentioned that mesh bag. A. You didn't ask me.

Q. Do you know what I asked you yesterday? A. Yes, sir; I remember some of the questions.

Q. What? A. Well, I don't remember just exactly.

Q. You don't remember a single thing that has not been written down?

Dorsey objected. "He must give the witness time to answer," said he.

Q. Jim, haven't you answered my questions? A. Yes, sir.

Q. You said this morning that Mr. Frank promised to get you out on bond and send you out of town? A. Yes, sir.

Q. Why didn't you tell the detectives that when you told them you were telling all the truth? A. I did tell them he promised to get me out.

Q. Mr. Dorsey saw you seven times, didn't he? A. Yes, sir; I think that's right.

Q. Did he take down what you said? A. He took down something the first time.

Q. How about the next times? A. I disremember.

Q. How long have you kept up with those boxes? A. About a year.

Conley Tries Spelling.

Q. And you wrote Mr. Frank reports on these boxes? A. Yes, sir.

Q. Would you know "luxury" if you were to see it? A. No, sir.

Q. How did you write it for Mr. Frank, then? A. I can write it.

Q. Can you spell it? I can try it. Well, let's hear you spell 'luxury.' A. L-u-s-t-r-i-.

Q. Was that the only kind of pencil boxes up there? A. No, sir. There was Uncle Remus, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and others.

Q. Did you write reports on them? A. Yes, sir.

Q. Let's hear you spell 'Uncle Remus?' A. O-n-e R-i-m-e-s.

Q. Let's hear you spell 'Thomas Jefferson'? A. T-o-m J-e-i-s-s.

Q. Let's hear you spell 'George Washington'? A. J-o-e W-i-s-h-t-o-n.

Q. What did Mr. Frank say about your spelling? A. He laughed.

Q. How do you spell 'Ox'? A. O-x-.

Q. How did you write him notes to borrow money? . A. I just wrote them.

Q. Tell me what you wrote? A. I just said: 'Please let me have fifty cents.'

Q. When you were standing by

that box talking, could Mr. Darley hear you? A. Yes.

Q. Could Mr. Schiff? A. Yes.

Q. Could that boy? A. Yes.

Asked If He Could Write.

Q. When you went into the office to write those notes, Mr. Frank asked you if you could write, didn't he? A. Yes.

Rosser put the question again.

Dorsey objected to the repetition, and the objection was sustained.

Messrs. Hooper and Dorsey were with you in the jail together, were they not? A. Yes.

Q. How long? A. Two or three hours.

Dorsey Wins Ruling.

Q. How long after April 26 was

it you saw this man? A. About a month.

Q. At the time you saw him at the police station did you identify him? A. I did not.

Rosser objected.

Q. What did you say?

Rosser: "I object. I wasn't there."

Dorsey: "Your representative, Mr. Scott, was there."

Rosser: "I move to rule that out."

A. I said he looked more like the one than any man I have seen.

Rosser: "I move to rule it all out."

Dorsey: "We expect to show by this witness that this was the man. We want to show how he was dressed, his facial expression, etc., and we submit that it is material."

Judge Roan overruled the objection.

Q. Describe the man you saw. A. He was about the size of the one just brought before me whom I have been told is Jim Conley. He was in a dark place and I took him to be black. He had on dark clothes and I don't know whether he had on a hat or not.

Q. Wade Campbell is your brother, and Arthur White your husband, aren't they? A. Yes.

Q. When did you tell them you saw a negro sitting in that hall?

Rosser objected.

Laughing Spectators Ousted.

The odd situation of the attorneys for the defense being in possession of the official court records were relieved when Mr. Arnold consented to it being read.

Mr. Rosser, however, found it first in his copy of the testimony of Scott.

Rosser: "You were right. Harry Scott did say Mrs. White told Frank about seeing this negro Monday after the crime."

Several spectators were put out of the courtroom for laughing at Mr. Rosser's admission of the error.

Rosser: "I will say it is the first time that you have been right. Your honor, we object. It is immaterial what time this witness made known the fact unless they go further and show she was delayed through the influence of Frank."

The objection was overruled.

Lawyers Clash.

Dorsey Your honor, I have already shown that Leo Frank knew on Monday, April 28, that she saw this negro there, and that it was May 7 before the State got into possession of this fact.

Rosser I say that no such evidence has been introduced.

Dorsey Call for the record of Harry Scott's evidence.

Rosser I say he has not introduced this evidence, and he saws he has. If your honor can not remember some of the things that happen here we are perfectly helpless.

Stenographer Parry was called. He said he was taking the testimony for Mr. Arnold and he wanted Mr. Arnold's consent before reading it.

Jim Conley was the same cool, unafraid negro when he returned to the stand Wednesday morning in the trial of Leo Frank after almost two whole days under the cross-examination of Luther Rosser. He had passed through fire and didn't seem to mind it. He had no fear of anything that was yet to come.

Mr. Rosser might threaten him or might joke with him; it was all the same to the negro. He had tried both and had established but one thing that Conley is a liar, and Conley admits that.

Arnold might describe him as "that miserable wretch in the witness chair;" he could gaze calmly out the window as he had done before. He didn't quite understand all those names they were calling him, anyway.

If, in all the time that Conley was under the raking fire of Rosser's cross-examination, he was disturbed in the slightest degree, it was when he was being asked about that mysterious affidavit of William H. Mincey.

The declaration of Mincey that Conley had boasted the afternoon of April 26 of killing a girl was sinister and held in it the possibility that Rosser would finish by blazing forth with a direct charge of murder against the negro. Conley moved uneasily in his seat. He refused to meet the eye of his inquisitor. He fidgeted with his hands, but with his lips he framed a denial of every damning charge contained in the document.

The ordeal soon was over. Conley regained his composure, and when court adjourned a few minutes later a grin of triumph cleft his black face almost in twain.

Attorney Sees Conley.

Conley's attorney, William M. Smith, provided him with supper and breakfast at the jail and talked for some time with the State's star witness. He had been prevented from holding any sort of a conference with his client the night before, and protested at this procedure at the close of court Tuesday night. Judge Roan extended him the privilege of seeing Conley. Reuben Arnold asked that an exception be entered in the record.

Conley slept between nine and ten hours and arose much refreshed.

"I'se telling the truth now," he said to a newspaper man who encountered him outside the jail. "That Mr. Rosser ain't got no chance to get me mixed up because I'm telling just what happened."

Frank occupied his usual cell on the second floor of the Tower. He was joined by his wife and mother as soon as he arrived at the courthouse.

PAGE 55, COLUMN 5

ACCUSER OF CONLEY IS READY TO TESTIFY

W. H. Mincey, who declares Conley told him he had killed a girl.

Deplores Newspaper Publicity,

but Poses Merrily for the

Camera Brigade.

W. H. Mincey, the school teacher and insurance solicitor who made an affidavit that Jim Conley confessed to him that he had already killed a girl that day and didn't want to kill anyone else, was the center of attraction for the crowd on the outside of the courthouse Wednesday morning.

While deploring newspaper publicity, he readily agreed to pose for a group of newspaper photographers, assuming many poses, some of which were rather grotesque. He followed this with implicit instructions to the photographer that his picture was not to be printed in the papers.

Efforts to get him to state whether he had seen Jim Conley since his arrest proved futile. Mincey declared he would not make this statement or answer until he had taken the stand.

Mincey was located at New Salem, Ga., near Rising Fawn, in Dade County. He is teaching school there, his work being the preparation of students to enter the Martha Berry School at Rome.

"I will not talk of the case and will not tell my story until I take the stand," said Mincey. "If Jim Conley killed little Mary Phagan, I feel that it is my duty to tell of the experience I had with him that Saturday afternoon. I don't think this thing should be discussed in the newspapers, though I regard newspapers as a necessity. These matters should be left to the court hearings. It is a loss to me to be here and I trust the case will soon be over. I think, though, that it is my duty to tell what I know."

Mincey is a man of small stature with piercing eyes and a gray mustache. He wears a black felt slouch hat and a dark suit.

PAGE 57, COLUMN 1

CAN JURY OBEY IF TOLD TO FORGET BASE CHARGE?

By JAMES B. NEVIN.

"Gentlemen of the jury, having heard from James Conley, the blackest, most damning story ever told in Atlanta by one human being against another, having sat there and listened as he smudged with unspeakable scandal the defendant in this case, Leo Frank, although it is irrelevant, immaterial, and has nothing to do with this case, you will kindly forget it, being on your oaths as jurymen to consider the evidence declared competent!"

And the jury, being like most other juries, in one way and another, and having heard all the things as aforesaid, will promptly proceed to do as instructed about forgetting it NOT!

I have heard juries told too many times to "forget" things such, for instance, as that there is no such thing as "unwritten law" in this land of the free and home of the brave and I have seen, too many times those very same juries proceed to "forget" NOT!

Juries are, after all, composed of mere human beings, and things such as Conley said to the Frank jury can NOT be forgotten, and will NOT be disregarded by the average jury.

Merely Question of Belief.

It is merely a question of whether the jury BELIEVES the negro!

There was something infinitely pathetic in the situation Tuesday, when court met in the afternoon.

For one thing, it brought to the cheeks of the defendant's wife, always and ever at his side, the first tears I yet have seen fall from her eyes.

She has borne herself with amazing fortitude thus far the wonder is that she has not long ago collapsed.

When Reuben Arnold, moving to strike from the record the vile story of Jim Conley, paused a second before reading the exact words he desired expunged, looked a moment in the direction of the defendant's wife, and said, with no show of the spectacular whatever, "Your honor, I would prefer not to read this in the presence of these two ladies, and I therefore pass it to your honor that you may read it in silence!" The moment was tense and tragic!

Weeps For First Time.

I do not know whether it was gratitude to Arnold for the kindness and consideration thus shown, whether it was realization of the weighty purpose of the motion, whether it was the first chilling breath of apprehension, or whether it was just a physical giving way that moved Mrs. Frank. Whatever it was, as Arnold passed the paper along to Judge Roan, the first tear I ever saw from the eyes of Lucile Frank trickled down her cheek and she dropped her head in her hands for a moment or two and sobbed!

Apparently there was nothing in the incident, either upon the part of Arnold or the woman, designed to be the least bit theatrical. The jury had been removed, the stage settings were wanting.

It merely was a natural and minor incident that tugged, somehow, at the heartstrings and caught at the throat.

In all the packed courtroom there were two women only beyond that, there was a morbidly hungry crowd of men, ready to grasp greedily at anything sensational.

Arnold denied the crowd for the sake of the women.

And now the jury has been asked to forget the damning thing that has been said to it, that has been said in the presence of the wife and the mother and that was too vile to say a second time in the presence of the latter!

Do you think the jury WILL forget do you think it CAN forget?

Maybe you do I don't!

And as to Conley and his story in its entirety the spectators in that Conley would do that. It should be borne in mind that to "break down" Conley's story does not necessarily mean to break down Conley to collapse him.

PAGE 57, COLUMN 3

SCENE IN COURTROOM AS CONLEY WAS UNDER FIRE OF THE DEFENSE

Reuben Arnold assisting in the grilling of the negro.

Jim Conley as he appeared on the witness stand during cross-examination.

Luther Z. Rosser

in a characteristic attitude as he fired volleys of questions at Conley.

The point is: Can the defense has or will the defense so UNDERMINE Conley's story that, through the introduction of other evidence, it eventually will fall to the ground as a mass of lies?

Slowly, but persistently, with deadly intent even if with tediousness of method, Luther Z. Rosser for more than two days has attacked the amazing and terrible story upon which the State hopes to convict Leo Frank of the murder of Mary Phagan.

Rosser has been almost maddening in his patience with the negro. He has gone over the same ground, time after time, in his efforts to get Conley's various stories adjusted to the purpose of the defense.

Conley, rapid-fire enough in direct examination, rattling off his grewsome and frightful story as if it were a recital of an altogether common thing, became quite another Conley under cross-examination.

Where but a few moments ago he had remembered most amazing and inconsequential details such as the fact that a woman who called to see Frank on Thanksgiving Day wore a blue and white polka dotted dress, a green hat and white shoes and stockings under cross-examination he could remember nothing at all save after the most persistent prodding.

Time and again Mr. Rosser had to go over the entire ground of an entire situation to draw from Conley one further comment upon it. Questioned on his story under both cross and direct examination, the negro was pat enough in reply on other points he was as vague as he possibly could be.

Twenty-one times Tuesday he admitted to Mr. Rosser that he had "lied." Seven times in addition to that he admitted that he had been "mistaken."

As the cross-examination progressed, too, it became evident enough that the defense is to hold the entire charge against Frank to be largely a "frame-up," with Conley as the bright and particular star about whom it revolves.

The negro said he at first refused to speak of the crime at all, and when he did speak deliberately lied because he "wished to protect Mr. Frank."

"He was my young superintendent I would have done anything to save him," said the negro whether with sinister cunning or genuine sincerity, the jury must say.

Showed How Negro Lied.

And yet, with Conley's own lips Rosser showed how, time and again, he deliberately lied about his movements on the fatal Saturday that was Mary Phagan's last on earth after he had said that he had looked in vain for help from Frank, and was then determined to tell "the whole truth!"

After Conley's excuse of protecting Frank had been shattered by the negro's own "confession," he had to make three subsequent and different "confessions" before he got things shaped to his liking and every time he readjusted his story it was changed to meet the ever bobbing up objections to the story of the day or two before.

Continuously Mr. Rosser referred to the fact, always admitted by the negro, that his various affidavits were changed "at police headquarters," in the presence of officers, "after being released from jail and carried to headquarters."

There are dozens of puzzling inconsistencies to be bridged over in Conley's story scores of things yet to be explained and straightened out.

And yet

In the average mind I doubt whether Conley's story has been seriously discredited in the main.

There are people who admit, readily enough hundreds of them that Conley is a liar, a thousand times over, a loafer, and an utterly undesirable citizen.

Doubt Slowly Crystallizing.

They will say thus and so to his disparagement, but

Fateful, suggestive, profoundly melancholy "but" for Leo Frank!

It bespeaks a widespread and crystallizing doubt that is dangerously incompatible with Frank's hopes for life and liberty and the restoration of his good name.

With all the undermining and incongruities of Conley's story that the most subtle ingenuity of the defense can conjure to its aid, the jury has been given a story which, if so much as 5 per cent of it sticks, likely will serve to convict.

The primary circumstances these might be swept aside like chaff before the wind, if only Conley's story might be crushed to earth and made absurd.

But there is the story in all its abundance of sinister detail the comings and goings of questionable men and women, the negro, time and again, on watch downstairs, responding to signals, the connivance of the negro with the white man in unnatural and perverted practices, the coming of innocent little Mary Phagan, the pattering of anxious feet above, the suppressed scream, the call to Conley for further assistance in consummating unlawful deeds with women this time murder the removal of the body, and the promise to pay on some subsequent day!

Will the story thus given to the jury, unless completely and altogether moved from its mind entirely? And unless it is removed entirely, can Frank hope for acquittal?

If it is, in its essentials, the truth, what will the jury care about the exact time at which Conley bought some whisky on Peters street; or whether he went straight from Peters street to the laundry; or whether he remembers the mythical "woman in green who went up the factory steps," no matter how vitally important these things may be to the sustained truth of Conley's story.

Conley may lie in a dozen details of his story, he may have readjusted it continuously under the direction of Tom, Dick, or Harry, he may be everything he ought not to be and yet, if one BIG detail in his awful story sticks in the minds of that jury, Leo Frank is undone hopelessly.

If the story Conley tells IS a lie, then it is the most inhumanly devilish, the most cunningly clever, and the most amazingly sustained lie ever told in Georgia!

Every little detail, as finally adjusted and not then until Conley went upon the stand Monday fits the necessities of those bent upon Frank's conviction. If it is, as the defense contends, a "frame-up," it is a diabolically smart "frame-up" one can not escape that conclusion!

Girl's Visit Dovetails In.

Even the coming and going of Monteen Stover, the five minutes of time in which the primary circumstances might be made to dovetail into the Conley story, is cited by the witness Conley as the very period of time wherein Conley, sitting in the dark hall below, heard pattering footsteps above, the faint scream, and immediately after Miss Stover went out, the tiptoeing of Frank to the front, and then the story of the death upstairs.

Monteen Stover could not have chosen a more exact and useful moment to wander in and yet, she heard no scream, although she did not see Frank in his office during the few minutes she remained upstairs.

If the Conley story is a lie, if it has been TOO CLEVERLY "framed up" if and a thousand other "ifs" what matters that?

It matters this: If it be a lie, it MUST break down, somewhere, sometime; if be the truth, it will stand against ALL the assaults made upon it!

It has come to the point where one, seeking the truth and justice and the right to all men at all times and in all circumstances, can only say he will leave it to the jury and that the JURY will speak the TRUTH!

PAGE 57, COLUMN 6

Crowd Set in Its Opinions

By O. B. KEELER.

The impression persists that courtroom crowds are made up in the main of two classes, as follows:

(1) People who take it for granted that any person being tried on any charge in any court is guilty, and then some.

(2) People who are constitutionally incapable of believing anybody is guilty of anything whatever.

That is one powerful impression gained at the Frank trial. It is an impression sticking out pointedly in the wake of the Thaw trial, and the Nan Patterson trial, and the Beatty trial, and the Hyde trial.

All three of the Hyde trials, in fact.

Never an Opinion Altered.

At the risk of being convicted of exaggeration in the first degree, the writer, who was rather intimately associated with the celebrated poison case, would estimate that 18,397 persons expressed in his hearing what they insisted were unalterable opinions as to the guilt or innocence of the accused physician before the jury in the first trial had been impaneled.

And of the 18,397 (estimated) not one single instance is recalled of one single opinion being altered.

The fact that the physician was convicted on his first trial made not the least difference to those who believed him innocent.

Court Ruling Mattered Not.

The fact that the Supreme Court reversed and remanded the case for further trial made not the least difference to those who voted guilty.

The second and third trials, one of which resulted in an escaped juror, fleeing madly by way of a rain spout from the dread lair of the hypothetical question, and the other in a hung jury, had no perceptible effect on the factions.

Except to solidify them in their original beliefs.

One side desired to take steps at once.

The other side named men-children for the object of a persecution unparalleled since the days of Nero.

Arguments Never Will End.

And if Bennett Clark Hyde's annual trials proceed as per schedule until the year 1950, there will be hoary-headed wrangling over the same old points, by the same ancient and original wranglers, lined up the same way as when the greatest mystery of the West came to the fall of the gavel in the opening trial.

Take the Beatty Case.

There were men and women you know some of them who raised frantic hands to heaven, that a poor boy should thus be railroaded to his doom.

They were about set to buy mileage and travel to throw themselves and their petitions at the feet of a cruel and callous Governor.

And then Beatty confessed.

Did that still the trouble lachrymal waters?

Not precisely.

They said the poor boy's mind had been weakened by his persecution.

And if you are in a hypercritical mood or are otherwise disposed to stick pins in toy balloons, just ask your memory to inform you how many times you have heard these pronouncements since the trial of Leo M. Frank began:

First: "Well, I've been absolutely certain from the very first that Frank did it."

Second: "Well, I never have believed that Frank was guilty of that crime."

And now do you feel hypercritical?

And now do you fancy that 18,397 is an inflated estimate?

Of course, there must be a Third Estate a well-balanced, thoughtful, cautious body. Particularly cautious, and slow of speech mayhap in some sporadic instances slow of thought.

They are the judicial ones. They hold the balance open at both ends, to receive and weigh the testimony and the facts.

At least, they say they do.

That would be the jury, perhaps.

And some others perhaps.

PAGE 57, COLUMN 7

DORSEY ACCOMPLISHES AIM DESPITE BIG ODDS

By L. F. WOODRUFF.

Practically the entire case on which the State of Georgia bases its claim on the life of Leo Frank to pay for even be seriously considered. The unsupported word of the negro sweeper would have been about as valuable as a punctured drum. The Solicitor knew this.

First, he had to prove the venue. He had to locate Frank in the National Pencil Company factory at the time Mary Phagan was slain. He did this by the unattacked testimony of many witnesses. He did it so thoroughly that the defense has tacitly admitted that Frank was at the factory about the time the deed was supposed to have been done.

Question of Time Settled.

Then he had to prove the time. According to the State's theory the murder was committed about 12:10 on Memorial Day. Frank himself has said and his employees and his associates have testified he was there at that time. This point also is practically unchallenged.

At last came the hardest task. He had to prove that Leo Frank was the only human being in the pencil factory at that time who could have taken Mary Phagan's life.

By every witness introduced on this point it was shown that as far as human knowledge goes Leo Frank and Jim Conley were the only men in that part of the factory at that time. Either could have committed the crime. It was Dorsey's work to place the blame on Frank alone.

Newt Lee's testimony was introduced to show that Frank sent him away that afternoon. Dr. Harris' testimony tended to show that the slaying must have been done immediately after Frank had given the child her week's wage and had given it to her while they were alone. Mrs. White's testimony tended to show that Jim Conley was sitting downstairs making no attempt at flight after the time the crime is supposed to have been committed.

Then came Conley's direct evidence and the chain was practically complete.

As has been said before, this chain may not stand the acid test of the defense's attack. It may not be strong enough even unattacked to convince the jury that Frank is responsible for Mary Phagan's death.

But it is what Dorsey went out to get before the jury. He has done it.

And he has done it practically unaided. The valuable assistance he had reason to believe he would receive from the police department has been more or less missing. In fact, the greatest blows to the State's case have been delivered by detectives, supposedly expert witnesses who have been unable to withstand the crossfire of Luther Rosser.

The case has meant a lot to Dorsey, and right now, with the thrilling battle approaching its final stages, Dorsey stands out as big and commanding a figure as the brilliant lawyers against whom he is arrayed.

He may lose his case, but if he does he will come out with reputation enhanced.

PAGE 67, COLUMN 1

CONLEY GRILLING BEGINS AGAIN

PAGE 67, COLUMN 7

JUDGE WILL RULE ON EVIDENCE ATTACKED BY DEFENSE AT 2 P. M.

As soon as court opened Mr. Rosser asked the judge if he was ready to hear argument on the proposition to eliminate parts of Conley's testimony. He said he was prepared to support his motion with authorities.

Judge Roan replied that he would postpone his decision until 2 o'clock.

Solicitor Dorsey declared that he had witnesses he expects to put on the stand Wednesday morning to substantiate the part of the negro's testimony in dispute. He said:

"I just want the court to understand that I am going to do this."

Judge Roan replied:

"I'll give you the benefit of whatever you bring out."

Conley was then recalled to the stand for the conclusion of his cross-examination.

Jim Conley was the same cool, unafraid negro when he returned to the stand Wednesday morning in the trial of Leo Frank after almost two whole days under the cross-examination of Luther Rosser. He had passed through fire and didn't seem to mind it. He had no fear of anything that was yet to come.

Mr. Rosser might threaten him or might joke with him; it was all the same to the negro. He had tried both and had established but one thing that Conley is a liar, and Conley admits that.

Arnold might describe him as "that miserable wretch in the witness chair;" he could gaze calmly out the window as he had done before. He didn't quite understand all those names they were calling him, anyway.

If, in all the time that Conley was under the raking fire of Rosser's cross-examination, he was disturbed in the slightest degree it was when he was being asked about that mysterious affidavit of William H. Mincey.

The declaration of Mincey that Conley had boasted the afternoon of April 26 of killing a girl was sinister and held in it the possibility that Rosser would finish by blazing forth with a direct charge of murder against the negro. Conley moved uneasily in his seat. He refused to meet the eye of his inquisitor. He fidgeted with his hands, but with his lips he framed a denial of every damning charge contained in the document.

The ordeal soon was over. Conley regained his composure, and when court adjourned a few minutes later a grin of triumph cleft his black face almost in twain.

Attorney Sees Conley.

Conley's attorney, William M. Smith, provided him with supper and breakfast at the jail and talked for some time with the State's star witness. He had been prevented from holding any sort of a conference with his client the night before, and protested at this procedure at the close of court Tuesday night. Judge Roan extended him the privilege of seeing Conley. Reuben Arnold asked that an exception be entered in the record.

Conley slept between nine and ten hours and arose much refreshed.

"I'se telling the truth now," he said to a newspaper man who encountered him outside the jail. "That Mr. Rosser ain't got no chance to get me mixed up because I'm telling just what happened."

Frank occupied his usual cell on the second floor of the Tower. He was joined by his wife and mother as soon as he arrived at the courthouse.

Rosser Reads Affidavits.

Rosser asked Dorsey for the original of Conley's third affidavit. The Solicitor advised Mr. Rosser that the original had never been signed. Rosser took a copy of the affidavit, which the Solicitor said was identical with the original, and read it to Conley. It was a signed statement from the negro, in which he admitted the other two affidavits contained lies and the one which the detectives said was the last word in the great mystery.

The reading consumed nearly fifteen minutes, Rosser enunciating clearly and slowly, emphasizing every statement that differed with Conley's evidence on the stand.

Freely Admits He Lied.

All of Rosser's quiz Tuesday had only the one possible effect that of casting suspicion in the minds of the jury of the story that Conley now is telling. He spread his lies with a lavish hand in that first affidavit he made to the detectives.

He freely admitted this and rather gloried in his prowess as a first-class liar. He lied in his second affidavit, although he maintained that this was a step nearer the truth. And in his third affidavit, which he and the detectives had joined in proclaiming "the whole truth," there were still little discrepancies and deviations from the straight path of veracity.

But this tale that he was unfolding to the jury, this was the pure, unalloyed, gospel truth. He had raised his right hand and sworn that he was going to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Mr. Rosser was most unkind to throw over it a shadow of suspicion.

And the lawyer labored in vain to shake the negro's story as it had gone before the jury. Rosser midway in the Tuesday forenoon session abandoned his line of interrogation in regard to statements that Conley had made to the police and detectives and began questioning Conley directly on the crime.

Questioned Closely on Time.

He questioned him most closely in regard to the time in an effort to show conclusively to the jury that Frank and Conley did not have the opportunity to accomplish all which the negro narrated before Frank left the factory for luncheon at his home, No. 68 East Georgia avenue, at which place he arrived by 1:30 o'clock, according to the State's own witnesses.

Conley testified, under Rosser's cross-examination, that he went to the rear of the factory at Frank's direction and there found the body of the slain girl. He said that he yelled to Frank that the girl was dead and that Frank told him to bring her to the front of the factory.

Conley said that he did not know how he was going to carry the girl and he asked Frank. Frank, he said, yelled back something about getting some crocus bagging, but he did not quite understand him and walked to the front of the factory so that he could hear the superintendent better. He noticed the clock at this moment. It was four minutes of 1 o'clock.

With this time as a starting point,

PAGE 68, COLUMN 1

CONLEY ON STAND AGAIN; SAYS HE'S NOT 'SCARED'

Continued from Page One.

Rosser began to quiz the negro closely as to how long it took him to accomplish each part of the remainder of the afternoon's events.

It was plain that the negro's estimates did not coincide with what the lawyer thought they should be.

Defense's Views Evidently Differ.

"How long did it take you from the time that you came forward and looked at the clock until you had taken the body down to the cellar and was back again on the second floor, and Frank went to wash his hands?" asked Rosser.

Conley thought it was only four or five minutes. It evidently was the opinion of the defense that it should have been nearer twenty minutes, as it included rolling the body of the girl into the cloth from the cotton box, carrying it to the elevator, the wait while Conley says Frank went into the office after the key, the trip down the elevator, the carrying of the body to the rear of the basement, the disposal of the cloth and the return to the second floor.

Rosser asked how long it took Frank to wash his hands. Conley replied that it was only a minute or two. Rosser then inquired how long Frank had Conley in the closet while the two women were in his office. Conley said it was eight or ten minutes. This incident, if it is as Conley represented it, would have brought the time up to 1:12 or 1:15.

Rosser then asked how long it took Conley to write the four notes, two of which were found by the girl's dead body.

Wrote Notes in a Hurry.

"You couldn't have written those four notes inside of ten minutes to save your soul, could you, Jim?" Rosser inquired.

"Yas, sah; I think I wrote 'em in about a minute and a half," replied the negro.

"You're some rapid writer," retorted Rosser after he had called attention to the laborious scrawl.

Rosser then questioned Conley as to the time of each part of his conversation with Frank while he was in the office that afternoon. He asked him about Frank giving him the cigarettes with the money in the box, about Frank giving him the $200 roll of bills and the attendant conversation, about the conversation in respect to Conley's watch and to Frank's wealthy folks in Brooklyn.

While he did not make the actual computation of time, he impressed strongly on the minds of the jury that it would have been impossible for all this to have occurred in connection with the undisputed fact that Frank arrived home at or before 1:30 that afternoon.

Defense to Test Story.

It is understood that persons interested in the defense have rehearsed a number of times every event that the negro says took place in the disposal of the body as Conley narrates it, and that they will be prepared to testify that it could not have been completed by the time that Frank had arrived at his home.

This was by far the most important testimony in the examination of the negro. Rosser also quizzed him sharply in regard to the cloth in which he wrapped the body; his evident theory being that, as a matter of fact, no cloth was used at all and that Conley, the only one connected with the crime, simply dragged the body to the rear of the basement. No cloth was found by the police or detectives, although Conley testified that he threw it in the same place he threw the hat and shoe.

The sensation of the day came when Reuben Arnold moved to have stricken from the record all of the testimony regarding Frank's alleged conduct previous to the day of the crime. The motion was met with strenuous opposition on the part of the prosecution but received a favorable ruling from Judge Roan who said that he would hold himself in readiness to re verse the decision before court convened Wednesday morning should the Solicitor be able to show him sufficient law on the subject to warrant a change.