Newspaper Page Text
3
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS.
4?1»
g1<
T
LEE JUST II SHOT II DARK;
By JAMES B. NEVIN.
If Mr. Luther Z. Rosser’s bite is
one-half so dangerous as his growl
undoubtedly is disconcerting and
awe-inspiring, there will be little save
shreds and patches of the prosecution
left when the State comes eventually
to sum up its case against Leo Frank.
Rosser’s examination of Newt Lee
was one of the most nerve racking
and interesting I ever listened to.
It reminded me much of a big
mastiff worrying and teasing a huge
brown rat, and grimly bent eventual
ly upon the rat’s utter annihilation.
A witness up against one of Ros
ser's mighty ■ bombardments is in a
decidedly uncomfortable predicament
—no doubt about that!
True, Lee snapped bark at Rosser
and growled angrily every Tittle tut,
and strove this way and that to get
away from -the insistent .prod of tl)-,
tremendously menacing mass of. hu-^
manity forever in front of him. Wor
rying. teasing, sneering, and threaten
ing. but he could not.
Always the terrible Rosser was
there—and so. every little - bit. Le3
would fall back into the witness
chair, with an audil le sigh, and say.
ever so softly and abjectly, "Yassir,
yassir, Ah guess dat’s so!”
Sometimes Lee Countered.
Bulldozer Rosser may be. browbeat-
er perhaps, he still is far and away
the most picturesque figure in the
trial as it has progressed to date.
The Solicitor General outspokenly
resents the Rosser methods of exam
ining witnesses and endeavors with
all the resourcefulness at his com
mand to counteract them and set
them so far at naught as he may but
just as plainly he fears the powerful
figure leading the case for Frank and
dreads to the very limit the effective
ness of his methods.
It must be remembered that tne
State is relying hargely upon the
testimony of two ignorant negroes nr
the conviction of Frank.
Conlev is the State’s star witness
and Newt Lee is its second best bet.
Both are densely ignorant, and. thej-
reUcally at least, more or less easy
marks for the Rosser method of ex
amination. ... . ,
Time and agrin, Lee rallied and
came back at his torm/nter wn>i
telling effect—it is likely altogether
that more than onee the jury's sym
pathy went out to Lee in large meas
ure, while Rosser was gr...ing him—
and to the darkey's occasional sail Is
and adroit sidesteps, the spectators
in the courtroom frequently respond
ed readily with approving titters and
" in, more than once Rosser mixed
the negro up somewhat—and wernay
hear more of that when the adroit
Arnold comes to the bar foi argu
n ” ri 'Rapiers' Second the ‘Clubs.'
And so, it seems to me now that
the battle is to .-'tvide after this
fashion: 'Rosser \V.to wield th •
bludgeon, and DorsVfs to neutralise
or ward off its shock wherever and
whenever he can, while Arnold and
Hooper are to undertake the more
skillful and artistic, but none the less
deadly, rapier work. _ thl _„ s
Rosser is to smash and hang things
around, and Arnold is to puncture,
,hrU wiU n be Pa in y ihose circumstances,
and fair time from small boys
persons of hesitating dispositions
to starffl from under—but neither
Itorsev nor Hooper is made of that
variety of human clay.
• Whom the gods would destroy
they first make mad,” of course—and
Luther Rosser has scored man> « a
brilliant victory in the past throug
the simple process of making tho
other fellow mad.
And he can make Dorsey mad, too
anr i does, frequently!
H only Dorsey had Hooper's poise
and unruffled calm, the assaults of
Rosser and the aggravating persist
cpr-e of the man would he as harm-
fess as the shots of a popgun against
a modern roan-of-wa*\
Dorsey Falls Into Trap.
But Dorsev Isn't Hooper, and the
consequence is that Dorsey gets very
angry now and then, which is ex
actly what Rosser is driving at
and when Dorsey communicates
some of his distress of mind and
temper to the witness on the stand.
Ihe P phvschol6gical condition Rosser
is fighting for has been set. up. and
if he doesn't make the most of it
every time It happens. his hand *
hHve lost its cunning and he will
Llie and contradict a lifetime
achievement at the bar.
At times, there is something grim
ly humorous about Rosser-as when.
. having befuddled a witness and ex-
' asperated him to the very verge of
madness Mr. Rosser will ev with
rjncUed sarcasm and belittling em-
"Oh well, we'll not quarrel
that—well not quarrel, you
it
full
and
to
FATHER AND SON WHO FIGURE
IN THE DEFENSE OF LEO FRANK
L. Z. Rosser, Sr., and s on. L. Z. Rosser, Jr., both en
gaged in Phairan ease
Flashes ol Tragedy Pierce
Legal Tilts at Frank Trial
ne. e s
Dobb:
an\
Hyde
the
phasi
about
“"if Vhat doesn't make the witness
a thousand times madder than ever
before. I can not imagine why.
When it comes to handling a wit-
of the caliber of Sergeant
is Mr Rosser does not perform
,, particular transformation in his
ake-up or his methods.
He essays no Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
roles—he *ver and always is
the same big. massive, powerful,
crushing, snorting, fighting, destroy
ing mass of humanity, under full
mental and physical steam ahead.
His Scowl Good Argument.
If anybody in this world is capa
ble of lifting himself by his own
bootstraps, unquestionably Mr. Ros
ser is tne man!
No one in ail the courtroom
watches him »o closely, and ap
parent!? so analytically, as does the
JEkendallt'a wife. Lucile Frank.
"•rank watclsw Slim rather ourious-
•en quizzically; the elder Mrs:
—the defendant mother—not
so closely—but th. prisoner’s
rarely takes her eye*, off her
husband's leading counsel.
And there is something amazt.-^ly
fascinating about Mr. Rosser.
He is fascinating physically—or
course his superb mental equipment
is not debatable—much after the
same fashion that old John L. Sulli
van used to be.
In his palmy days, one of old John
hr. eve
Frank-
quite
wife
L.’s scowls often served to scare an
adversary instantly into a doubt that
a second scowl not infrequently
evolved rapidly into despair.
Old' Jake Kilrain told me once in
Washington city that he never was
genuinely afraid but once in his life,
and that was the first time his an
cient enemy, John L. Sullivan,
frowned ferociously upon him in the
beginning of their first fight—and
that he (Kilrain) never got over it.
Both Center on Purpose.
"If only once or twice he had
smiled upon me and looked the least
little hit pleasant. I might havo.
licked him.” said white-haired old
Jake Kilrain. "but be never did once
— Indeed. T never once saw Sullivan
smile while fighting, in all the days
T fyave known him!"
And T it as a compliment to
Luther Z, Posse** when T credit him
with that same sort of terrible defi
niteness "of purpose in trying a case.
Mr. Rosser lets it be seen, cau
tiously and carefully at first, that he
had a deadly indent toward Lee. He
made It plain bv an adroit develop
ment of questioning, thnt he proposed
showing, if he could, more in Lee’s
connection with this crime than the
public latterly has imagined to be
possible.
Rventuftllv it dawned upon the
thick-witted negro there in the wit
ness chair that Rosser was leading up,
through .all those puzzling and wor
rying questions, to a fixed and steady
mark, and Lee could be seen plainly
to squirm and twist as he drew ln-
evltablv nearer and nearer the peril
ous brink.
Stor'' V»rtual'v Unshaken.
He began to shift and bank awav
from questions, to complain of inac
curacy in the stenographic reports of
the* Coroner’s inquest, to evade and
become indefinite. Evidently, at one
time, the negro was growing afraid,
and he undertook to be as cunning
and as cautious as he might.
And vet. with all of that, he stood
the ordeal pretty well, and came
through relatively unhurt and cer
tainly rot seriously damaged. I think
his evidence, as an isolated thing,
amounts to littl°, anvwav—but T think
it went to the jury fairly well unchal
lenged, at that!
The fighting so far. In its fuller as
pect. has b°en so plainly skirmish
ing and jockeying for position that
many spectators must have won
dered often, as T did, what sort of
accounting that other and far mor°
important sable figure in the Frank
trial. Jim Conlev. might be expected
to give of himself under the merci
less fire of Ro c ser.
It i? about the negro Conlev that
'the battle will reach its zenith and
the fighting will be the fiercest.
After Conlev has been disposed of.
one way or the other, the case against
Frank will he either up or down, ac
cording to the status of Conley when
his remarkable story has been put to
the ultimate tost.
Will Conlev Stand t'oe Test?
Will Conley be as nimble-witted as
Lee was?
Will he be able to withstand the
onslaughts of Rosser and Arnold, even
approximately as well as Newt stood
them ?
Tf he does
Conlev thus far has held himself to
gether pretty well. His examinations,
however, have been altogether one
sided. A very different story may be
told after he has been up against the
best legal talent the defense could
secure.
Newspapers have reported, frorn
time to time, how Conley was "grill
ed” by thus and so—never a party to
th» defense—and it has been related
how well he “stuck to his story” when,
after three trials, he apparently suc
ceeded in getting hold of a story he
could stick to overnight as a funda
mental proposition: but whether the
>vord "grilled” should not really have
been "drilled” never has been per
fectly clear in my mind.
Conlev ought to have his story well
in hand by now. in any event: and
so, if it is a true story, neither Mr.
Rosser nor Mr. Arnold will succeed in
breaking him down.
On the other hand, if Conlev relates
an untrue story, surely Rosser and
Arnold will be able to locate the loose
joints'in it and when they do Conley
should read as* readilv as anybody the
big and sinister danger signal that
there and then will loom significantly
ahead of him.
Rosser Shoots in Dark.
As for the examination of Newt T.ee
bv Mr. Rosser, it impressed me often
as a mere shooting in the dark, hop
ing to »\it something.
To my mind there is nothing muoh
to save and excepting the one
fact that he discovered the dead body
of little Mary Phagan in the factory
cellar.
He is a genuine negro, with all of a
negro’s superstitious antipathy for a
dead body. He went into the cellar on
a perfectly natural and ordinary mis
sion. and there he discovered the body
Just so soon as he satisfied h’mself
as to what it was he undoubtedly
did. as he swore, "light a rag out of
•thar! ”
Immediatelv he called the police, as
be Md been instructed to do by
Frank, when be (Lee) first was em
ployed as a night watchman in the
factory.
Thnt 1s all he knows about the
crime—and it ip all Mr. Rosser ever
pot out of him and ever will get out
of him.
The remainder of his testimony is
relatively unimportant, although, to
be sure, there are hits of It that will
serve to account for any seeming un-
r.aturalnev* in the behavior of Frank
lust prior to his departure from the
factor* Saturday afternoon and later
along in the evening
Battle Has Just Begun.
The battle for Leo Frank's life lib.
ertv and honor as a man. the fight to
clear his home of the shadow of trag
edy forever, has hardly yet begun.
The fighting po far has been inde
cisive. and to neither side has fallen
anv advantage worth reckoning upon.
The State has sustained itself very
n ell beenune it hasn’t lost anything—
at,.! about as much may be said for
the defense.
And not until Jim Conlev gets into
the case will the really big guns be
unlimbered.
Frank and Wife Perfect in
Poise; Mo ther Pi tifu l Figu re
Arm akimbo, glasses firmly Bet.
changing position seldom. Leo M.
Frank sits through hip trial with his
thoughts in Kamchatka. Terra del
Fuego, or the Antipodes, po far as
the spectators in the courtroom can
Judge.
He may realize that if the twelve
men he faces decide that he is guilty
of the murder of Mary Phagan. the
decree of earthly court will be that
his sole hope of the future will be
an appeal to the Court on High. His
mind may constantly carry the im
pression of the likelihood of the
solemn reading of the death war
rant. the awful march to the death
chamber, the sight of the all terrify
ing gibbet, the dreadful ascension of
its steel stair?. the few words of re
ligious consolation—and then the
drop.
Frank's Face a Mask.
But if he does realize these things,
his face i? as completely masked
against emotion as that of a skilled
poker player.
To all appearances, he is the de
fendant in a civil suit on a contract
of $100, and he has the money in hi*?
pocket to pay the judgment if the
court should rule against him.
An outsider entering the court
room, uninformed, would »ook in vain
for the man whose chief interest is
in the trial.
There is a world of earnestness
written on the faces of the array of
counsel. The Juror* sit with fixed
faces. Their nervous fanning tells
their emotion. The court Is all in
terest and the spectators lean for
ward. ear? strained to catch every
word, eyes keen to observe every
move.
But Leo Frank sits there placid a?
a pool, calm as a champion about to
go forth to assured victory. If any
thing. hi>* appearance indicates that
the trial is not a trial to him. It is
simply a detail of a misfortune that
is through circumstance.
Frank’s months in prison have not
affected him physically. His eyes are
By L. F. WOODRUFF.
extremely luminous. His olive skin
is exceedingly clear. He holds his
spare frame erectly.
He speaks seldom. Occasionally he
turns to pass a word with his wife.
Every now and then he has a brief
conference with his counsel. More
often he gazes straight ahead—at
nothing.
He sits next to the massive Luther
Ross*er. When Rosser is on his feet
he is next to studious-appearing Reub
Arnold. When he speaks to them, his
voice is impa8sionate and his sen
tences are carefully framed.
Frank'* Wife Confident.
Behind him is his wife. Mrs. Frank
is a remarkably handfome woman.
She shares the stoicism of her hus
band in the trial. Though she has
not missed one minute of the hear
ing. she has never shown that she
realizes that the outcome of the case
may change her to a widow.
Twice after the court has taken
recesses, and Frank has been turned
over to his deputy sheriff guardian,
she has embraced and kissed him.
Bu f afterward ?he has walked
from the courtroom, head thrown
hack, shoulders erect, apparently un
concerned. On the street she would
he taken for a woman out for an aft
ernoon of shopping rather than the
woman who bears the name of the
man charged with the blackest crime
known to Atlanta criminology.
Then to the left of her git? the pa
thetic figure of the trial. To those
who believe Frank guilty, his person
ality is not one to arouse pity. His
self-assurance is too apparent. His
wife hardly stirs sympathy. She. too,
is apparently confident of victory.
But there's the mother Hour after
hour she fits and listens to men try
ing to send her firstborn to the gal
lows. Hour sfter hour she is thrilled
by the skillful struggle that his coun
sel makes to have the family name
cleared of the stain brought by the
charge that now rests against It.
Mrs*. Frank U a motherly-looking
woman. Her form is ample, and in
her younger days was evidently a
woman of striking appearance. She
is typical of the mother'-of her race—
the revered head of thetHebrew fam
ily.
In this trial, though, her eyes are
practically always fixed on her son.
Their yearning light spreads through
the big courtroom.
Mother's Locks Are of Love.
Their every flash sends the mes
sage that she wants him back on her
breast a free man.
No single feature of the trial es
capes her. When the prosecution
scores, another line is added to the
face that has been wrinkled by the
three months of wa'ting and horror.
When the defense seem? to have an
advantage, there is a joy expressed
as great as the power of Niagara.
When the attorneys ask a question,
her eyes are fixed on the questioner.
When the witness answers, her gaze
Is on him. When the court rules,
every movement of his lips Is marked
by her.
But there i* always an eye for her
son. During the trial he wished a
drink of water. The pitcher was on
the desk of his counsel, far from his
seat and mar hers.
When he looked for It, she divined
his wish. She was on her feet in a
second. The glasw was in her hand
The water was poured out. In her
trembling grasp it was passed to him.
As he took it. his stoicism broke.
He smiled his acknowledgment of
the little act of kindness, and there
was a wealth of love in hip smile, and
she smiled back reassurance. Su
perlatives couldn’t tell the meaning of
that smile.
• * •
Mary Phagan is dead. She died
horribly, the victim of as cruel a
beast ever polluted the soil of the
Southland.
But Mary Phagan Is dead: she
sleeps peacefully beneath a flowered
sod.
The mother of Leo Frank is alive
and be her pon innocent or guilty,
the mother is tne pitiful figure in this
black an ! baffling my^ery,
The trouble Is, plain human emo
tion* won’t stick at concert pitch all
the time.
And so the Frank trial, after the
first twenty minutes, say, become?
much like any other trial.
Except in the flaaheg.
You get into the courtroom with
some formality. At once you are in
the midst of order. It is rather pon
derous, made-to-order order. But it
is order.
Officials stalk about, walking on the
balls of their feet, like pussy cats. But
they do not purr. They request you to
ibe seated. You must not stand up:
you must ait down Unfortunately,
you must stand up to walk to a place
to sit down. And that grieves the of
ficials. They mop their faces. Ore
in particular uses an entirely red
bandana handkerchief—sometimes for
for hi.* face, sometimes to flag stand
ing spectators, who must sit down.
There is order.
Thrill* Get Temporary Check.
Until you are thoroughly sitting
down there is no chance for the con
cert pitch to vibrate. Human emo
tions are constituted so curiously that
a rasping Cuilar ha* been known to
overbalance the diead presence of the
King of Terrors. Honest persons have
admitted this. And the grim por
tent of the Frank trial produces no
thrills while you are stepping on other
people’s feet.
Being seated, the first thing you do
is to perspire gently. That of itself
is not romantic. Also it interfere*
with the concert pitch. It is hard to
reconcile perspiration and cold pric
kles back of the ears.
You get the first tingle when you
pick out the accused. Your neighbor
does not help you do this. One’s
neighbor at a trial rarely knows any
thing about anything connected with
it.
You pick out the prisoner because
you have seen many pictures of him.
He is one of tho** whose pictures look
like them. You are quite certain who
it is.
First Chord a M ere Tinkle.
But the opening chord of the con
cert pitch is disappointing. It is
not majestic and uoul stirring. Frank
ly, It is more of a tinkle.
Here is a slim little man. He 1s
dark. His face is sharply cut and
lean. His eyes are well opened,
back of thick lenses. * * * That
was the first real tingle. * * *
Did those eyes glare down upon the
huddled figure of Mary Phagan in
the echoing loneliness of the pencil
factory that Saturday afternoon?
Glared through the thick lenses?
The grotesquery jars oddly.
The thrill passes.
There Is Rube Arnold, objecting to
something. It is among the duties
of counsel for the defense to be
constantly injured. Mr Arnold is
good at that. He is not going to
fail, if the court please, in his full
duty to his client, who sits there.
And the particular part of Mr. Ar
nold’* duty at this moment is to s?e
that his learned brother does not get
before the jury from this witness any
of his (the witness’) ideas as to how
the defendant looked the morning aft
er the tragedy at the pencil factory.
Mr. Arnold Philosophizes.
Mr. Arnold beg* to submit that an
officer, if it please the court, thinks
everybody looks guilty. Mr. Arnold
begs to submit further that the hu
man face is the most inscrutable
thing in the world. And Mr. Arnold
will say—
You discover the defendant’s wife
and mother, and lose the thread of
Mr. Arnold's philosophy.
They sit by his side. The mother's
face is of the Inscrutable type pic
tured by Mr. Arnold. The wife’*
face. • * * That was thrill No.
2. * * * You realize in a flash what
the Frank trial means to her. • * *
She watches the witnesses more
closely than her husband. She moves
her fan nervously at times. She re
gards the prosecutor and his assist
ant with a certain contemptuous de
fiance. • * * The tingle lasts un
til you realize she Is chewing gum.
Mr Arnold’* philo*ophic objection
has spun itself out. Mr. Dorsey re
sumes his questioning. Mr. Dorsev
has a querulous manner of asking
questions. Mr. Arnold’s injured ob
jections may explain that.
The Patho* of a Dress.
The testimony Just now is not
thrilling. It ha? to do with a stair
way and an office and some very
usual-looking cord or heavy twine.
The witness has to get up frequently
and point out things on a framed plan
of the pencil factory that hangs on
the wall where the jury can see it.
He uses an umbrella. He may be
pointing out the very spot where Mary
Phagan * • • But the handle of
the umbrella is bent. Is it his own
umbrella? It looks like a woman’s.
* * • Where did Mr. Dorsey get
that twine, anyway?
Oh. the suitcase. There are other
things in the suitcase. * * • A
little heap of thing? on the floor of
the witness stand—-a crumpled dress,
a hat. * • *
And that time you wink your eye?
very hard, because they sting. What
was in that little girl’s mind as. she
put on that hat for the last time?
What painertaking care had she used,
to make It her "best” hat—what
needle pricks, maybe, in the small
fingers? And the luvender dress.
* * * And the end of all, in the
dust and dirt of the pencil factory
| basement.
1 Just for 0- flash it's all real. And
By 0. B. KEELER.
cold. And grim. And pitiful.
Rosser Soars—Regardless.
Then Mr. Arnold objects again, and
there in another dreary wrangle, and
the idea get* uppermost in your head
that the city detective is a most lit
eral-minded witness.
It is confusing.
Mary Phagan’s sister is there. She
wears a black hat and an unaccus
tomed veil. You look in vain for
tributes to emotion. She shows a
mild interest in Mr. Rosser’? pomp
and circumstance of language. In
stead of another thrill, you gaih a
hazy impression that Mr, Rosser is
an orator who loves to soar—who
would soar, in fact, when he might
get along faster by walking.
You hoar the purr of the fan?, the
shuffle of feet, the clearing of throat?.
You are sensible that it is very warm
and that the judge twice has handled
his palm leaf as if it wene a gavel.
You see a juror yawn luxuriously and
once more find proof that yawning ifc
contagious.
Oh. yes—after the first twenty
minutes (say), the Frank trial is much
like any other, except
"A big splotch that looked like
blood.”
"Where was It?”
"Well, some of it was over tn the
corner. * * * It looked as if it had
been swept over with something
white. * * * The rest M
"Well, tell the jury* where was the
rest.”
"Around a nail that stuck out.
* * * The top of the nail was cov
ered with blood, and * * *”
You sit back and your hands hurt
from squeezing the arms of the seat.
They are talking about a stairway
again, and the city detective is point
ing out something on the map with
the bent-handled umbrella.
No use.
Plain human emotion? simply won’t
stick at concert fritch, even for the
terrific romance ol murder.
Once in a while, over the whirr of
fans and the shuffle of feet and the
interminable squabbling of counsel,
you feel the *hadow of a crime—an
uglier crime than that which took
Eugene Aram out of Lynn, “with
gyve* upon his wrist.”
But only in the flashes.
Defense Plans Sensation,
Li ne of Queries Indicates
That a sensation is to be sprung by
the defense by the production of the
mysteriously missing ribbon and flow
ers from the hat of the murdered girl
was repeatedly indicated by Attorney
Rosser's line of questioning Tuesday
and the afternoon before.
Beginning with Mrs. J. W. Coleman,
mother of Mary Phagan, the attorney
for Frank interrogated every witness
who .".mn the giri alive or dead that
day in regard to the ribbon anil flow
ers.
Mrs. Coleman said that the ribbon
and flowers were <>n the hat when
Mary left home. Newt Lee said that
he had seen no sign of the missing
trimmings. Tne testimony of Ser
geant L. S. Dobbs was the same. De
tective Stamps, when he was turned
over for the cross-examination, made
the same admission.
It is believed that Rosser will pro
duce the ribbon and will attempt to
establish that it was found in a place
throwing suspicion upon the negro
Conley.
Frank was brought to the court
house at about 8 o’clock Wednesday
morning. There was no change in
hi? demeanor or physical appearan c.
If the trial has been any strain upon
him he does not display the effects.
He was dressed in the dark mohair
suit he wore Tuesday. He greeted
his frienda cheerily and spoke con
fidently of acquittal.
I The jurors, sleeping in three rooms
Jat the Kimball TIouse, spent a rest
less night. They appeared rather
I fagged when they were brought into
the courtroom at 9 o’clock.
First Witnesses Unimportant.
Attorneys for the State have an
nounced that the witnesses called
J Monday and Tuesday were only for
the purpose of starting the presenta-
I tion of evidence against Leo Frank
right from the opening incidents of
thp day that the murder was commlt-
I ted, and that they were Important
I only in so far as they assisted In mak-
1 ing a continuous chain of evidence,
I and as they made here and there
! statements w hich might be interpret
ed ns flamaging to the accused.
I Working on the foundation laid by
, Tuesday's testimony. Solicitor Dorsey
* was understood to be prepared Wed
nesday and Thursday to introduce
witnesses who would swear that the
fed stains found In two places on the
second floor were splotches of blood
and not aniline or any other color
ing stain; also that the bloody finger
prints on the rear door of the base
ment were the finger-prints of Leo
M. Frank.
City Detective J. N. Starnes Jus:
before he left the stand Tuesday
night identified pieces of wood as
pieces he had chipped from the rear
door of the factory. There were fin
ger-prints easily distinguishable upon
them. A finger-print expert was in
the employ of Solicitor Dorsey for
some time during the investigation of
the murder mystery and was named
among the State's witnesses.
The red-stained chips from the fac
tory floor were sent to Dr. Claude E.
Smith, city bacteriologist, for analy
sis. Dr. Smith also is one of the
State’s witnesses and was expected to
be called Wednesday or during Thurs
day’s forenoon session^
Writing Pad Evidence?
Starnes was on the stand practical
ly all of Tuesday afternoon. While
the direct examination was In prog
ress the detective told of his part in
scouring the pencil factory for evi
dence.
one of his statements on which the
Staie Is relying to establish that
b rank acted and talked in an incrim
inating manner t\ morning the body
was found cons;. >d in his testimony
in regard to a telephone conversation
which he said he had with the fac
tory superintendent that morning.
Starnes, under the examination of
Dorsey, said that he had been very
guarded when he called up Frame
that morning and had merely said
that he desired Frank’s presence at
the factory. He denied that he had
mentioned the fact that a gir! had
been killed.
Claim Frank Knew.
It is the purpose of the State to
seek to establish that Frank, without
being told of what had happened, had
made remarks to the officers when
they came for him which indicated he
was not unaware that a girl had been
murdered in his factory.
The main points of Starnes’ testl-
mouy were:
That n»- had discovered suiins re
sembling blood In two places on the
second floor of the factory.
That Frank acted nervous when
brought to the factory.
That Frank made a strange remark
to Foreman M. B. Darley that he "had
more than one suit of Clothe**,” refer
ring to the fact that he had on a
different suit than the one he wore the
day before.
That Lee appeared composed when
questioned Sunday by the detectives
That he witnessed the new night
watchman in the pencil factory make
a complete punch of the time clock
covering a period of twelve hours In
five minutes. •
Under Kossers croes-examination
Starnes admitted that it was practi
cally Impossible for him to remember
the exact words he used in certain
parts of his testimony at the Cor
oner’s inquest. This admission was
obtained by Ro.«ser to show that
Starnes’ memory in respect to the tel
ephone conversation with Frank could
not be regarded as any more reliable.
Rosser brought out that Starnes failed
to mention at the Coroner’? Inquest
either the matter of the telephone
conversation or of the alleged conver
sation he held with Frank the morn
ing of the murder.
SPECIAL REDUCTION
For a few days you have an opportunity to
get your eyes fitted with first-class glasses at
lowest possible prices.
EYEGLASSES and SPECTACLES
$2.50 Glasses
$5.00 Glasses
Now $1.00
Now $2.50
Wo are thoroughly equipped to fit you with
any style of glasses you may desire.
Our oculist will give your eyes a thorough
scientific examination, and we guarantee glasses
he prescribes to give satisfaction.
L N. HUFF OPTICAL CO.
Builders Fine Spectacles and Eyeglasses.
TWO STORES.
70 Whitehall 53 W. Mitchell