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

Reading Time: 4 minutes [559 words]


Here is the translated text as follows:

ALEXANDER WHISTELO

579

There is a general rule; for instance, wherever the complexion partakes more of the white than from the known parentage, it should be expected, then it would be found that in some other of those indications there will be a preponderance the other way. One example out of many I had noticed was the French general, Rigand. He was the son of a white man, a relation of mine, by a black woman. He was so dark as to differ little from the true African complexion; but in return for that, he had the features and form of a white man—was handsome and well made. While this principle of nature is not universal, it is, as repeated observations have proved to me, very general. The last symptom of the negro blood which disappears is the crispation of the hair and the setting on of the ankle, amounting to this: the leg is inserted more forward on the foot, and consequently the heel is longer. Therefore, when I was told that this child was of a black man, I examined it to discover whether, seeing its complexion was so unusually fair, there were not some strong traces of the black race to counterbalance that deviation; and upon looking at the conformation of its feet and legs, and more particularly at the straightness and light color of its hair, I was disappointed not to find my observation verified; I am now of the opinion that it is not the offspring of a black man. I conceive the woman to be a perfect mulatto. I have known one instance of a woman of mixed blood having a white skin with the features of a negro strongly pronounced.

**Mr. Vanhook:** Might not some accident, happening at the moment of coition, produce by its effects upon the woman’s imagination as great a deviation from the general rule as this? Why make that particular conclusion? It would be much more apt, if it produced anything, to produce deformity or abortion; but it would be too far-fetched to suppose it would cloud or uncloud the skin. Upon the whole, as I am impressed, I must give my opinion that it is not the black man’s child.

**Alderman Baker:** The woman, when examined before me, said she had no intercourse with any white man. Afterwards, she acknowledged she had had a struggle with one.

**Mr. O’Blenis:** I am clerk of the police; after her examination on oath was closed, she was questioned as to that fact, and answered laughing, that the white man had torn her petticoat.

**Sir James Jay, M.D.:** I have a decided opinion it is not a black man’s child. It was not necessary to wait years to see what conformity there might be in the hair with the mother. It was enough if counsel chose to examine the mother at present.

**Mr. Sampson:** Doctor, we have been deep in the mysteries of Lucina.
**Doctor:** Very sir; I hope you have profited.
**Mr. Sampson:** No, Sir James; it is a cross birth—we are not yet delivered of our doubts. We want to know whether the Abbe Spallanzani’s method of propagation is a safe and good one—whether there is not such a thing as Lucina sine concubitu; for, as it appears, the black man could not have got the child because it is white, nor...

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