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TTTE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS,
3
won
1ENON Wh
HOM
INTEREST CENTERS AT TRIAL 0
F_ F
RAN
IK
Mrs. J. W.
Coleman,
mother of the
slain girl,
Mary Phagan.
She is a
witness for the
State.
•
State Balloon Soars When
Dorsey, Roiled, Cries ‘Plant’
By JAMES B. NEVIN.
Maybe so—but then—
Rogers swore almost In the same
breath that Frank, looking up the
record of Mary Phagan after the par
ty reached the factory, deliberately
set the combination on the office safe,
opened it the very first time, without
excitement or unusual circumstances
of any sort.
Does the State intend to establish
the presumption here that Frank, not
withstanding the weight of guilt upon
his soul, was diabolically cool and de
liberate in his movements, as indi
cated by the safe incident?
What Is State’s Purpose?
Why not that presumption as ra«
tionally as the other?
Which thinr does the State intend
the jury shall believe from Rogers’—
ita own witn ss—testimony?
Fiddlesticks! What IS the State
driving at, anyway?
Maybe we shall find out eventually!
Again, when Grace Hix was placed
on the stand—and she was the State's
witness, remember—she testified or
cross-examination that Frank had
only spoken to her three or four times
during her five years’ service in the
pencil factory; that he talked to the
girl employees very seldom, and that
she had never known him to address
Mary Phagan at all.
This* very pretty young girl an
swered the questions given her in a
straightforward way—evidently she
was seeking to speak, only the truth.
Poor John Black!
With the unwitting assistance ol
the Solicitor General and the assist
ance of Luther Rosser, he furnished
all the “punch” there was in Wed
nesday’s story of the Frank trial.
Black evidently was undertaking
to tell the truth, and was unwilling
to tell more or less than the truth,
but that didn’t help matters much,
to far as the State was concerned.
When Solicitor Dorsey exclaimed
•‘plant!’’—which moans nothing more
than “faked” or “framed up” evi
dence for the benefit of the defense—
3 glanced rapidly at Rosser.
I saw precisely what I expected tc
Bee _a momentary flicker of a smile
about the lips and eyes of the man
an almost immediate tightening of
the lips and narrowing of the eyes,
atid then a quick return of the habit
ual ferocious frown.
I knew Dorsey had put his foot
In it—put it right in, away up over
the ankle, and I also knew that get
ting that foot back to solid ground
again was going to be an undertak
ing pregnant with extreme difficulty
and danger.
State Balloon Goes Up.
The Solicitor was fretted w^en he
exclaimed “plant”—thereby accusing
the defense of rankly unfair and un
pardonable methods of establishing
Frank’s innocence.
And right then and there, up went
the state’s balloon, and it hasn’t come
down yet!
If there is one thing in all this
■world Luther Rosser loves better than
Anything else he knows of, It is an
adversary in the courtroom who hol
lers “plant,” and things like that—
particularly when said adversary is
mad!
When Mr. Dorsey on Wednesday,
in a moment of forgetfulness and
vexation, exclaimed “plant,” It was
meat and bread and pie and cakes
and beer and skittles to Luther Ros
ser!
Right then. I would much have pre
ferred being a high private in the
ranks of the Bulgarian army thar.
John Black!
The Solicitor handed Mr. Rosser
the very club Mr. Rosser was lay
ing for, and wherewith the said Mr.
posser proceeded to pound poor, un
bending John Black to smithereens!
In no conceivable way did Black’s
responses justify the Solicitor’s pa?-
\ionate outbursts.
Witn«66 Goes Far Adrift.
On the otfteary, it served to con
fuse and befuddle the witness, to send
him far at sea.
After that he contradicted himself,
failed to remember, became hazy and
evidently worried and distressed.
He had been shot mortally from an
unexpected quarter, and he soon real
ized ‘hat Luther Z. Rosser was de
termined to finish the job—and finish
it he did!
As for the rest of the day and the
beginning of this day—
Court officials have settled them
selves down in full expectation of a
long siege in the Frank trial.
So far, the progress of the case has
been, in the main, commonplace in
the extreme, and bewildering only
when spectators have considered the
thousand and one questions asked,
and the always inevitable interposi
tion of objections.
The thing the average person m
the audience does not understand,
however, is that in all that seem
ingly intermijiable objecting and
wrangling there is, at least upon th
part of the defense, a far-reaching
purpose the mere mention of which
will serve to illustrate its importance.
Effect of One Little Error.
In murder cases the defense has th-
right, in the event the battle goes
against it. to move for a new trial
upon assignment of judicial error in
the first trial. If a new trial be re-*
fused by the trial judge, the defense
may appeal to the highest court of
review in the State, and if that court
finds error to have been committed vin
the trial of the case, it will remand
the entire proceeding back to the
court of original jurisdiction for cor
rection of the error, which means, of
course, for another trial.
Then the case will begin all over
again, exactly as if it never had been
tried at all.
The State, on the other hand..has
no such right as that—if it loses its
case in the first instance, it loses ;l
for all time. Frank, save of his own
motion, never can be tried a second
time for the killing of little Mary
Phagan.
The more rulings the defense, there
fore. calls upon the trial judge to
make the more chances there are that
error may creep in—and one little as
signment of error sustained by the
court of review would serve to re
verse the entire judgment, and send
thf> case back for another trial.
State Must Grin and Bear.
In insisting that the case be held
strictly within the legal rules, which
a trial judge never can be absolutely
sure of doing, the defense throws an
anchor to windward in case of defeat
—and the State can do nothing but
grin grimly, and bear it.
The big battle Wednesday to get
the diagram of the pencil factory,
containing as it did a red-lined indi- j
cation of the State’s theory of th-
crime, before the jury had, as will
readily be seen, a tremendous signifi
cance—and although Judge Roan 'et
it go in, it went in over the bitter and
carefully recorded protest of the de
fense. and in case Frank should lose
his fight now. the admission of that
diagram doubtless will be assigned as
error on original trial.
The State, of course, can not take ,
advantage of its own errors, but Dor
sey can hope to obtain nothing more .
than present advantage by combat
ing them—hence the defense may cui
in in all sorts of directions, with thf*
burden of proof on the State and the
nresumption of innocence always with
he defendant at bar, and the State
nay whistle for consolation.
It makes the trial rather uphill puli
ng for the State, therefore, however
nuch one may think it otherwise.
Tf Dorsey wins a point, it may avail
him something on the present trial.
>ut it will get him nothing eventually,
in case he is forced to go to the high-
^r court. The Solicitor has one long,
-straight shot for victory—and no
more.
The defense, on the contrary, is not
•learly whipped if it loses its present
iight.
Defense Seems to Have Shade.
If there has been any advantage
gained by either side thus far, it has
been gained, I should say, by the de
fense.
Nothing necessarily damaging has
. et been set up against Frank. In
deed, much of the evidence drawn out
seems almost childish in its mean
inglessness.
Rogers testified that Frank was
nervous” when he (Rogers) saw him
Sunday morning, April 27, and that
he continued “nervous” for some time
thereafter—although Rogers never
saw him before, and had no way of
comparing his conduct then with his
general conduct.
But if Frank was "nervous,” does
the State seek to establish the pre
sumption against him therefore that
his "nervousness” was occasioned by
the thought of little Mary Phagan’s
dead body there in the cellar, and
Frank responsible for it?
By L. F. WOODRUFF.
So, too, Rogers had the appearance
of sincerity—and what he said, wheth
er significant or of small importance,
apparently concerned him not at all.
Therefore since the State seeming
ly made so little of either of these
witnesses, although they were offered
as the* State’s witnesses and not the
defense’s, prompts me to say that the
advantage falling to either side be
cause of their introduction fell, really,
to the defense.
What Has State Shown?
* What, frankly has the State estab
lished thus far?
That Mary Phagan i.« dead; that
she probabiy was murdered, that the
place of the murder was Fulton
County, and the date of It April 26.
A8 a matter of fact, nothing much
has been developed that has not been
public property for weeks—some of it
for months.
There is a feeling, growing more
fixed every day. I think, that the State,
if it hopes to win. must set up some
thing more than it has yet made pub
lic!
If the State has some big card« up
its sleeve, if it is prepared to surprise
ihe defense, and many people think it
has the first and will do the second,
then the case yet Is !n its infancy and
the real charge against Frank still Is
to be made out.
If the State ha« no unrevealed evi
dence and is NOT prepared to strike
the defense heavy and unanticipated
blows, it is but the simple and honest
truth to say here and now that the
feeling, vague and elusive enough, but
unmistakably there, that acquittal
eventually will come to Frank and
will steadily grow and develop as the
days run by and the monotonous trial
proceeds.
The sun’s heat Is broiling. No man
can stand it without suffering. An 1
still men stand, not one man, but
scores of them, on a blistered pay
ment gazing on a red brick building
as unsightly as a gorgon s head and
look at nothing by the hour.
They are led there by a trail <>f
crimson, and they are held there by
the carmine charm that—since Cain
committed his deed of fratricide—
has made murder the deed that the
law most severely punishes and has
made it the act that most interests
man.
Go to Pryor and Hunter streets
You’ll find a study there. Leo Frank
is being tried for the murder of
Mary Phagan in the courtroom in
a building on the northeast corner.
The trial is progressing in a quiet,
orderly manner. Sheriff Mangum's
force is attending to that. Few per
sons not vitally interested In the
case are permitted In the courtroom.
Outsiders are not even allowed »n
the same side of the street that abuts
on the building housing Atlanta's
most famous criminal trial.
But these regulations fall to
dampen the interest Atlanta feels In
the case.
Dickens was never wrong in his
study of human frailties and human
emotions. Do you remember when
Mr. Pickwick was arrested for tres
passing and when asked as to his
identity replied “cold punch?” Do
you remember when he was placed
in the pound the sage of Gad’n Hill
told how the village populace gassed
at nothing through the cracks In the
fence of that inclosure?
Old Scene Re-enacted.
The same thing that Dickens wrote
of a half century ago is beipg re
enacted in Atlanta in this good year
of 1913. Hundreds of Atlantans are
figuratively looking through the
cracks of the pound fence and seeing
nothing.
They are standing on that sun
burnt pavement gazing on a building
Just because in the four walls of thi t
structure a man is fighting for his
life, just because a gallows threatens
a man accused of ending the life of
a little girl they never saw, th:*v
never heard of, until her dead body
was found, and the incarnadined mys
tery was added to the criminal his
tory of Georgia's capital.
For hours they gaze. They can not
possibly learn more of the progress
of the trial there across the street
than they could at their homes or
their places of business. But ther-
they stand. The intimacy of the lo
cation with the tragedy enthrall'?
them.
When this crowd is viewed, th*
strange fascination of the old R«>-
mans for the arena in which men
died, the allurement of the present
day prize ring in which men suffer,
is not so strange. A peculiar kink
in nature has made man love to wit
ness the tribulation of his fellows.
Inside the courtroom the crowd is
different. Frank is th*»re because sus
picion points to him as the slayv.
His wife is there, because it is »h
wife’s place to be near her husbanl
in his supreme hour of trial. His
mother is there because mother lov<
demands that she be a protector, a
guardian, a consoler, when others are
trying to blacken his character, t>
have him declared unfit to breathe
the air of free and 1 onorable men.
Attorneys and Their Fight.
The attorneys are there to fight a
fight they think just. Hugh Dorsey
is struggling to establish a record
that the county of Fulton will up
hold the law thou i the offender ae
a- wealthy and as powerful as the
chieftain of the greatest trust. Luther
Rosser and Reub Arnold are there in
their panoply of invincibility to main
tain their reputations as well as de
fend the man they declare innocent.
Mary Phagan’s mother and sister
are there because the call of the
blood tells them that the death cf
the little ‘'actor • girl #hould be
avenged.
There are scores of spectator?,
young lawyers, who wish to witness
the struggle between those master
minds of their profession engaged ‘n
the case. Their interest is as nat
ural as the interest of a stock bro
ker’s clerk in the personality of the
heir to the fortune of Morgan.
At a big round table is seated \
group of coatloss men working it
to- sneed, every energy strained Id
let the people of Atlanta know the
varying issues of the battle.
None of these men is there by
choice. They wotild probably like to
he in some other place, where, thougn
dozens % of elec tric fans are blowing
constantly, the heat is as oppressive
ns that of a Turkish 'oath steamroom.
But outside the railing. In the soec-
talors’ assigned seats, is a crowd n?
incongruous to the atmosphere as \
day laborer at a king' levee. Every
possible class is represented.
There are business men of big *n-
tcrests. They sit through the hear
ing with their mouths agape. Just
an the crowd on tile pavement
stands. There are typical Crackers in
the throng. One man wearing the
badge of honor of a Confederate ve,-
eran has been in constant attendance
during the trial.
Mere Boy , Hang on Every Word.
But the large portion of the audi
ence is young, pitifully young, too,
w hen the issue and the result is con
sidered. Boys just in long trousers
have obtained admission in some way.
T »ev are lustful for every word, everv
deed. They are not seeking informa
tion. They are attending the tritl
as a result of the same impulse that
leads them to spend their sparse
nickels for a recital of the deeds of
derring-do, of “Diamond Dick ” or
“Old King Brady.”
Om* man, hardly a man either, for
his face was youthful, has been .‘it
every session. He is palpably a drug
victim. His pallor stands out in
striking relief among the rather ro
bust countenances of the rest of the
audience. His hands twitch nervous
ly. His head frequently droops. Ilia
physical being is demanding the drug
he craves. But his mental desire
the thrill of the trial holds him more
firmly than the power of the opiate
His interest in the case might be a
study for the most eminent neurolo
gists.
A common link holds all of these
people, those inside and those out. It
is the rope of hemp that hangs *s
a possible conclusion to this gripping
tragedy that has held a city three
months.
No man has ever been seen who
says that he enjoys witnessing i
hanging. No hanging has ever been
seen where there were not more peo
ple anxious to see the execution than
there was room In the death cell.
The sun on Pryor street may
scorch, but the awful charm of the
noose and black cap makes the place
as pleasant as the veranda of a sea
shore hotel. The heat of the court
room may sear the very being of the
spectators, but the fascination of the
death watch keeps them as firmly
fastened In their seats as though
there were bars of iron about the
chairs.
It’s a morbid thought, but it’a a
morbid crowd. Those interested in
Frank listen to the case in the hope
of developments that will free him of
the ordeal of mounting the stairs of
steel. Those who wish his conviction
are there to see a web of circum
stance weaved around him that lead*
only to that awful end*
Ollie Phagan,
sister of slain
girl, who is
attending
every session
of the trial.
Crimson Trail Leads Crowd
To Courtroom Sidewalk
iThe mother of
I Leo Frank,
who is at her
son’s side
constantly
during his trial
for life.
Mrs. Leo M.
Frank,
wife of the
accused,
who sits at the
side of her
husband and
aids and cheers
him.