Monday, 18th August 1913: Frank Ready To Take Stand, The Atlanta Georgian
The Atlanta Georgian,
Monday, 18th August 1913,
PAGE 81, COLUMN 1.
PAGE 81, COLUMN 7
LAWYERS URGED BY ACCUSED TO PERMIT CROSS-EXAMINATION
That Leo Frank, accused of the murder of Mary Phagan, will take the stand in his own defense Monday morning was the announcement made by Attorney Reuben Arnold just before the trial was resumed at the opening of the fourth week.
A large crowd was attracted to the courtroom by the probability that the prisoner would tell his story Monday and the keenest expectancy prevailed. It was problematical whether there would be any cross-examination. Ordinarily, of course, the accused in a murder case, merely makes his statement and the jury can believe it or discard it entirely as it chooses. It is said, however, that Frank has earnestly urged his lawyers to allow the Solicitor to cross-examine him.
When court reopened Monday Solicitor Dorsey took up the cross-examination of Harlee Branch, a reporter for the Atlanta Journal.
Branch was asked:
"Can you give any estimate of the time taken in conversation in Conley's re-enactment of the crime?" He replied that it took about fifteen minutes.
Q. You never said it was about half the total time, did you? A. I don't recall.
Attorney Arnold took the witness.
Took Two Minutes To Write Notes.
Q. You said it took about fifteen minutes to cover the time lost in conversation? A. Yes.
Q. He began at 12:18 and you left at 1:08? That would be about 50 minutes that you were there? A. Yes.
Q. How long was he writing the notes? A. Two minutes at the most. He did not write fast or slow?
Q. How long did he stay in the wardrobe? A. About one minute.
Q. Did you see Conley in the newspapermen's room here in this courthouse reading a newspaper since this trial began? A. I saw him looking at one as though he was reading it.
Mr. Branch was excused and Lou Castro, former ball player and at present fight promoter, was called as a witness by the defense to testify to time it took to walk certain distances.
Q. Did you walk from Marietta and Forsyth streets to the second floor of the pencil factory? A. Yes.
Walk Required Castro Four and Half Minutes.
Q. How long did it take you? A. Four and one-half minutes.
Q. Did you walk from the National Pencil Company to the corner of Whitehall and Alabama streets? A. I did.
Q. How long did it take you? A. Three minutes and twenty seconds.
Q. Did you walk from Broad and Hunter streets to the Pencil Factory? A. Yes.
Q. How long did it take you? A. One and one-half minutes.
The witness was excused.
Dorsey Plans To Use Defense's Witnesses.
Solicitor Dorsey, successful Saturday in introducing testimony as to the actual time it required for Jim Conley to enact his story of the disposal of Mary Phagan's body at the National Pencil Factory, prepared Monday to continue his examination of the defense's own witnesses along this line and later to put on witnesses for the State further to discredit the reliability of the test made by Dr. William D. Owens and three other men.
The Solicitor made a hard fight to get the evidence in. He made as hard a fight to keep out the testimony of Dr. Owens, but failed. When Harllee Branch, one of the newspaper men who made the trip through the factory with Conley, was called to the stand by the defense to testify in regard to an interview with the negro, Dorsey, as soon as the direct examination was concluded, started to question the witness as to his estimate of the time it required Conley
PAGE 82, COLUMN 1
DORSEY STRIVES TO USE DEFENSE'S WITNESSES TO SMASH TIME THEORY
Continued from Page 1.
to go through the factory May 30 and illustrate his version of the manner in which the Phagan girl's body was taken into the basement.
An instant and strenuous objection came from the lawyers for the defense. They protested taking the time that it required Conley to go through with the details he had described on the ground that he, knowing the possibility that he might later be charged with the crime itself, might probably have hurried through with it so as to leave the impression that the deed could have been done within the time that Frank was in the factory between 12:56 and the time he left for home.
Dorsey argued that the judge had let in an experiment by persons who knew of the alleged events of the day only by hearsay, so why not let in an experiment by a person who actually had taken a part in them. His argument won.
Victorious in this legal skirmish, the Solicitor was ready to press his advantage when court reopened Monday for the fourth week in the trial of Leo M. Frank on the charge of murdering the Phagan girl. His main endeavor was to show the unreliability of the estimate of Dr. Owens and his associates in the experiment by the defense. He also wanted to approximate as nearly as possible the actual time that it took Conley to reproduce the events, which the State claims were a part of the tragedy.
Tests Seem Fair To Neither Side.
So far as the testimony has developed along this line the time required for the enacting of Conley's story does not appear to be a fair test either for the State or the defense. The testimony already in is to the effect that the elapsed time from the moment Conley entered the factory building in charge of the officers until he went from second floor to basement and back again was about 47 minutes.
This estimate is evidently unfair to the State, as Conley was stopped several times in his narrative and was asked on other occasions to stop and illustrate the position of the dead girl's body. The interruptions served to lengthen the time that the negro took in going through the impressive drama.
The Solicitor from the witnesses yet to be examined will seek to show that these interruptions consumed an exceedingly large share of the time, and that the time occupied in the actual reproduction of the events of the day of the tragedy was comparatively brief.
A number of character witnesses were still to be called by the defense. If Frank's lawyers still were of the intention to omit no one who might help the case of the accused man, it was certain that most of the day would be taken up with the testimony of the character witnesses who had not as yet been examined.
Defense Would Show Bias of Detectives.
The defense also had planned to go into a number of interviews that were published during the progress of the investigation into the murder mystery in an effort to show that the detectives from the first have been obsessed with the idea that no one else than Frank could have been guilty of the crime, and that they have refused to entertain any other theory or follow out the possibility of the guilt of any other person.
If this phase of the investigation is developed, it is likely that Chief of Detectives Lanford will be called to the stand and asked concerning his attitude throughout the search for the murderer.
The State has more than a score of character witnesses to be used in the rebuttal of the testimony given by persons who have sworn to the good character of the young factory superintendent. It is known that a number of them have sensational stories to disclose. What part of their testimony will be permitted to go on the record is problematical.
The defense has fought strenuously the introduction of testimony by which the State has sought to show that Frank has been guilty of grossly immoral conduct.
Frank's lawyers brand these stories as slanderous and untrue. They are able to refute them, they say, by the word of scores of reputable citizens but they assert that Frank is not being tried on any other charge than that of murder and that, therefore, the testimony in regard to alleged acts of immorality is utterly irrelevant, immaterial and illegal.
Doors Closed on Specific Instances.
Since the ruling of Judge Roan, closing the doors to the introduction by the State of evidence relating to particular incidents of alleged misconduct, Solicitor Dorsey has been unable to get substantiation of his charges of immorality before the jurors. The sole exception to this was in the cross-examination of Miss Irene Jackson, one of the defense's witnesses. Frank, according to Miss Jackson, three times to her knowledge came to the girl's room, opened the door and looked in upon the girls there and then turned and walked away.
The State will construe this as one of the indications of Frank's attitude toward his young women employees. The defense will set forth that the young women were supposed to be at work at 7 o'clock and Frank looked into the room fifteen minutes later to see whether they had arrived or not.
Shadow of Death on Mary Phagan's Home.
The shadow of death was on the home of Mary Phagan Monday morning. Her grandmother, Mrs. A. E. Benton, of Marietta, died late Sunday night after having a vision in which she saw the slain girl alive and happy. Mrs. Benton had been visiting the Coleman home, No. 704 Ashby street since the trial of Leo Frank began. She was confined to bed the second day of the trial when the details of the finding of the body were rehearsed.
"After my mother was confined to her bed her one hope was that she would live until the end of the trial," said Mrs. Coleman. "Poor little Mary was her favorite grandchild and she never ceased talking about her."
Mrs. Benton is survived by two daughters, Mrs. J. W. Coleman and Mrs. J. W. Barmore, of Marietta, and four sons, Jack Benton, of Riverside, and Hardy, Thomas and Durell Benton, of Atlanta. The funeral arrangements have not been completed.
Phagan Jurors Dwell Together in Harmony.
The jury in the Frank case is an ideal one so far as their personalities are concerned, according to Chief Deputy Sheriff Plennie Miner.
"These men are considerate of each other and there has not been a single kick yet," said the deputy. "They retire at practically the same time and arise in the same manner. This is different from most juries, on which there are oftentimes cranks. One man will retire at 7 and the next one at 1 o'clock. One man will want a room on the first floor and the other one will want to sleep on the roof.
"They are a cheerful lot, and there is never any discussion as to what they will do. If one wants to go for a walk, all are ready. There has been no kick on the food or the censorship of their mail and reading matter. If these men are as ideal at home as they are on the jury, all must have happy homes."