303 Page – American State Trials 1918 Volume X Leo Frank Document

Here is the translated text as follows:

LEO M. FRANK

For instance, this Dalton, who openly claims that he went into the basement with Daisy. I don't believe he ever did, but in such a case, he slipped in. There are some fallen women who can tell the truth. They have characteristics like all other types. We put her on the stand to prove Dalton a liar, and she did it. Now, gentlemen, don't you think the prosecution is hard-pressed when they put up such a character as Dalton? They say he has reformed. A man with thievery in his soul never reforms. Drunkards do, and men with bad habits, but thieves? No. Would you convict a man like Frank on the word of a perjurer like Dalton?

Now, I'm coming back to Jim Conley. The whole case centers around him. Mr. Hooper argues well on that part. At the outset of the case, the suspicion pointed to Frank merely because he was the only man in the building. It never cropped out for weeks that anyone else was on the first floor. The detectives put their efforts on Frank because he admitted having seen the girl. They have let their zeal run away with them in this case, and it is tragic. They are proud whenever they get a prisoner who will tell something. The humbler the victim, the worse is the case. Such evidence comes with the stamp of untruth on its face.

Jim Conley was telling his story to save his neck, and the detectives were happy listeners. If there is one thing for which a negro is capable, it is telling a story in detail. It is the same with children. Both have vivid imaginations. And a negro is also the best mimic in the world. He can imitate anybody. Jim Conley, as he lay in his cell and read the papers and talked with the detectives, conjured up his wonderful story and laid the crime on Frank because the detectives had laid it there and were helping him do the same.

Now, Brother Hooper waves the bloody shirt in our face. It was found Monday or Tuesday in Newt Lee's house while Detectives Black and Scott were giving Cain to poor old man Newt Lee. I don't doubt for a minute that they knew it was out there when they started out after it. I can't say...