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

Here is the translated text as follows:

LEO M. FRANK. 359

"They didn't keep it shut all the time," said Albert. "And you know he didn't eat anything in that dining room?"
"Yes, I know he didn't eat."

And this is the tale that had been told to Craven by the husband of Minola McKnight. Minola went down there and, in the presence of her counsel, stated these things to these officers. She never would have done it if it hadn't been the truth. Gordon was down there, and he could have said—and if he hadn't said it then he's unworthy of the name of lawyer—"Minola, if these things aren't true, don't you put your name to it. If you do, you are liable to go to the penitentiary for false swearing. If you don't, the writ of habeas corpus is guaranteed to every man, and in less than two hours, by an order of a judge of the Superior Court, I'll have you out of here." And yet, George Gordon, with his knowledge of the law and his knowledge of his client's rights, sat there and let Minola McKnight, the cook, who is sustained in the statement that she then made but which here in this presence she repudiated, corroborated by her husband and sustained in many particulars by the Seligs themselves—George Gordon sat there and let her put her fist to that paper, swearing to a lie that might send her to the penitentiary. He was her lawyer and could have released her from that prison by a writ of habeas corpus as quickly as he could have gotten to a judge, because any judge that fails to hear a writ of habeas corpus immediately is subject to damages and impeachment.

But Craven was there, and Albert was there, and this woman, McKnight, sitting there in the presence of her lawyer, this man that was so eager to inject into this case something that these men wanted in here all the time but never could get until he got on that stand and swore that I had said a thing that you saw by the questions that I asked him never did occur. He said that I was afraid that I would get in bad with the detectives—I would get in bad with them if I would try to run their business, and I never will get in bad with them because I never expect to undertake it.