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

Here is the translated text as follows:

486 X, AMERICAN STATE TRIALS.

Words alone may precede, but if, after using such language, I proceed to take someone by the nose or fillip them on the forehead, that constitutes an assault, a blow. The law does not require a person to stand still and endure it; therein lies the distinction: hands off, touch me not. As soon as you touch me, if I run you through the heart, it is considered only manslaughter. The more you contemplate the utility of this distinction, the more satisfied you will become with it. An assault occurs whenever a blow is struck, no matter how slight, and sometimes even without a blow. The law views man as frail and passionate; when his passions are stirred, he may lose his composure. Therefore, the law makes allowances for this frailty, considering him as in a fit of passion, not in full possession of his intellectual faculties. Consequently, the law does not expect him to measure his blows with a yardstick or weigh them on a scale. Whether he kills with a sword, gun, or hedge-stake, it is not deemed murder, but only manslaughter.

December 4.

Mr. Adams proceeded to a detailed examination of every witness in the case, endeavoring to demonstrate that the assault on the soldiers was sufficiently dangerous to justify their actions; at the very least, it was provocative enough to reduce the crime to manslaughter.

The soldiers were bound to their position by their officer's command. They were obligated by their oath to obey. They could not defend themselves against so many people pressing upon them. They had every reason to believe their lives were in danger. They constituted a lawful assembly, while the people attacking them were, by every principle of law, a mob. We have heard a variety of phrases used to avoid calling this group of people a mob. Some call them shavers, others call them geniuses. The plain English, gentlemen, is that they were most likely a motley rabble of saucy boys, negroes, and mulattos, Irish teagues, and outlandish jack tars. I cannot conceive why we should hesitate to call such a group a mob, unless the name is too respectable for them.