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

Here is the translated text as follows:

314 X. AMERICAN STATE TRIALS.

It is courageous enough to let that man who had taken that poor girl's life to save his reputation as the pastor of his flock go, and it is an illustration that will encourage and stimulate every right-thinking man to do his duty. Then, there's Beattie. Henry Clay Beattie, of Richmond, of a splendid and wealthy family, proved to be of good character, though he didn't possess it. He took his wife, the mother of a twelve-month-old baby, out automobiling and shot her; yet that man, looking at the blood in the automobile, joked! Joked! Joked! He was cool and calm, but he joked too much; and although the detectives were abused and maligned, and slush funds to save him from the gallows were used in his defense, a courageous jury, an honest jury, a Virginia jury measured up to the requirements of the hour and sent him to his death; thus putting old Virginia and her citizenship on a high plane. And he never did confess, but left a note to be read after he was dead, saying that he was guilty. Crippen, of England, a doctor, a man of high standing, recognized ability, and good reputation, killed his wife because of infatuation for another woman and put her remains away where he thought, as this man thought, that it would never be discovered; but murder will out, and he was discovered, and he was tried, and be it said to the glory of old England, he was executed.

But you say, you've got an alibi. Now, let's examine that proposition a little bit. An alibi—Section 1018 defines what an alibi is, "An alibi, as a defense, involves the impossibility"—mark that—"of the prisoner's presence at the scene of the offense at the time of its commission." "An alibi involves the impossibility, and the range of evidence must be such as reasonably to exclude the possibility of guilt"—and the burden of carrying that alibi is on this defendant. "It involves the impossibility"—they must show to you that it was impossible for this man to have been at the scene of that crime. The burden is on them; an alibi, gentlemen of the jury, while the very best kind of defense if properly sustained, is absolutely worthless—I'm going to show you in a minute that this alibi is worse than no defense at all. I want to demonstrate that this alibi is not only unconvincing but also detrimental to the defendant's case.