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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN ANT) NEWS.
DEFENSE NOT HELPED BY
WITNESSES ACCUSED OF
ENTRAPPING THE STATE
By JAMES B. NEVIN.
Has the State succeeded in
thoroughly establishing the fact that
little Mary Phagan’s tragic death was
effected on the second floor of the
National Pencil Factory, in Forsyth
street ?
It has not, of course—but it has set
up by competent evidence a number
of suspicious circumstances, which,
if properly sustained later along, will
prove damaging in the extreme to
Leo Frank.
Unless these circumstances, trivial
in some aspects, are braced up and
backed up, however, by other much
stronger circumstances, they will give
the Jury, in all probability, little con
cern in arriving at a verdict.
Thursday was not a sensationally
good day for the State, although it
was much better than the day be
fore.
Twice Thursday the Solicitor Gen
eral claimed that he had been “en
trapped” by witnesses—and this,
with the lamentable fall down of
John Black the day before—served
to give rise in the minds of some
spectators to a faint suspicion that
the State didn’t have its case very
well in hand.
No Help to Defense.
There is something terribly sig
nificant and actually sinister in that
little word “entrapped,” however,
when hurled at a witness in the pres
ence of a Jury, and it would be a mis
take to believe that a witness, ac
tually convicted, even in the mere
circumstances and admissions brought
out in favor of the defense, under the
merciless cross-examination of Lu
ther Rosser.
It is a good deal to say, neverthe
less, that at this staae of the trial the
defense apparently has scored heav
iest, for such noint« as it has won
necessarily have been wrung from th<>
State’s own witnesses, and not the
witnesses of the defense. In other
words, wherever the State fails to
score, the defense scores.
How Points Have Been Scored.
If the defense made little, if any
thing, of Lee. it lost little, if anything,
because of him.
It almost, if not quite, broke even
on Rogers—and It most certainly
scored tremendously on Black.
Scott, if damaging in a way, was
also helpful In a way, in that he prac
tically admitted suspicion of the ne
gro Conley quite as strong as sus
picion of Franl:.
Monteen Stover swore that Frank
was not In his office for, at least, a
period of some five minutes imme
diately after 12 o’clock on the dav
of the murder; at least, if he
was. he was where she could not -»r
did not see him. Grace Hix undoubt
edly helped Frank. Dr. Smith helped
the State.
R. P. Barrett swore he found a piece
of a pay envelope under Mary Pha
gan’s machine three or four days after
the murder, and that he found blood
spots near the dressing room door
opinion of the jury, of having delib- three or four days after the murder.
erately misled the prosecution there
by helps the defense.
The witness who entraps, or who is
thrown under suspicion of having
entrapped, frequently does the party
he seems primarily to have hurt a
wonderful amount of good.
I believe, for instance, that Witness
E. F. Holloway was speaking the
truth when, on oath, he reversed his
former affidavit to the Solicitor, and
said that he left the elevator un
locked on Saturday, whereas he be
fore had sworn that he locked it Fri
day and did not unlock it Saturday
—the last inferentially, at least.
This point will mean a good deal
later, when it is reached in develop
ing the defense’s case, and if Hollo
way’s last story, apparently satisfac
torily explained, holds together, well
and good—but who can tell what the
jury thinks about that contradiction
upon the part of Holloway, particu
larly when he has been so deliber
ately accused by the Solicitor of en
trapping him?
Holloway is an employee of the
pencil factory—was before and has
been since the murder. If the jury
gathers the impression that he has
been tampered with since his first
statement, and by friends of Frank,
to clear up seemingly damaging cir-
cjmstances against Frank, it likely
will be an aggravating thing, when
the jury comes to make up its find
ings.
Will Hurt ^rank's Case.
<3ust as I thought, and still think,
that Dorsey made a tactical mistake
—for which he paid the full price,
moreover—when on Wednesday he
exclaimed “plant,” thereby accusing
the defense of unfair and grossly in
Mell Stanford swore that the spots
near the dressing room were not the r a
Friday, and were there Monday, but
he could not swear the spots were
blood. Holloway helped the defense,
probably.
There is nothing new in most of
this testimony, however, save that of
Barrett concc*..ing the piece of en
velope. and the defense presumably
is ready, therefore, to meet It.
State Facer Hard Task.
The mete finding of a piece of pay
envelope somewhere even near Mary
Phagan’s machine, is not, of itself
highly important; but It might serve
as a link in an otherwise strong
chain forged to connect Frank di
rectly with the killing.
But if the iLcate has succeeded it*
setting forth the fact that Frank may
possibly have committed the crime, it
yet has a long road to travel before It
proves “beyond a reasonable doubt”
that he DID do it.
Indeed, Frank’s attorneys have
never combated the idea that he way
in the factory at » moment when t!
killing of Mary Phagan MIGHT hav*
been effected—and beyond that fact
the State has been unable to proceed
very far to date.
It must be remembered, too. that
while the State now Is engaged in
weaving a web. real or imaginary,
about Frank, the defense expects >o
weave a much more terrible and sub
stantial web about Conley.
But even at that, mere suspicion
alone will serve to convict neither.
Much Depends on Conley.
After all is said and done, and it
generally gets back to this, the pre
liminary chain of circumstances
against Frank likely will hold to-
decent methods of bolstering up its ffe ther tightly or fall apart hopeless
cause, so I think the constant sug
gestion of witnesses changed in opin
ion and testimony, and in favor of
Frank, will hurt Frank's case, rather
than help It, if sustained.
Mr. Dorsey failed utterly to bolster
up his charge of “planted” evidence,
but he didn’t fail, in anything like
the same degree, to say the least of
it, in attacking Holloway.
Or, anyway, there is a grave prob
ability that he didn’t fail in the minds
of the jury.
In short, my idea is this, as it has
been all along: The public, and pre
sumably even more the jury, will re
sent anything that savors of unfair
methods employed either by the State
or the defense.
Steadily, though slowly, the defense
seems to be pulling away from the
prosecution in the Frank trial, and
the impression apparently is gaining
ground gradually that the State like
ly is fighting a losing battle.
All of this may be changed in a
moment—one witness on bdhalf of the
State may serve to win back all the
ground it may have lost.
# Nothing More Uncertain Than Verdict
And, of all things, there Is nothing
to speculate upon quite so uncertain
its the verdict a jury will hand in.
The Jury Is sitting there, its atten
tion confined to the development of
the evidence. It reads no newspa
pers; it converses with no outsiders.
It can not get up, run across the
street and swap ideas with somebody
In the comer drug store.
It took charge of the case, under
Its deliberately assumed oath that it
was “perfectly impartial between the
State and the accused,” and it is see
ing things in its own way—and that
way may not be the way outsiders are
•eeing it.
So far. however, the States wit
nesses alone have been Introduced.
Whatever advantage the defense has
gained of them has come in two ways
—either in their failure to testify di
rectly to the State’s benefit or througn
FACTORY GIRL CALLED
TO STAND BY STATE
Miss Grace Hix,
National Pencil
plant employee.
LEFT FACTDRY, BELIEVED
TD BE DEFENSE THEORY
Sherlocks* Lupins and
Lecoqs See Frank Trial
ly, according to the fate of James
Conley on the witness stand.
If Conley stands the test of ex
haustive cross-examination, then the
circumstances leading up to and away
from Conley’s connection with the
case will stand or 2a.Il.
He is. and has been, at all times
both the hope and the despair of the
State, no less than the hope and de
spair of the defense.
He is the star witness about whom
the entire Frank case revolves, about
whom it has revolved for weeks, and
about whom it must revolve to its
end.
Of course, there ever is the chance
that the State has something sensa
tional, new and significant up its
sleeve—and there is the remoter
chance that the defense has some big
surprises in stofe. .
As the fifth day of the trial drags
on, however, the impression has deep
ened almost into a conviction in tfie
mind of the public that neither the
State nor the defense ha„s much to let
out that already hasn’t been let out. in
whole or in substantial parts.
Spirit of Fairness Everywhere.
And the public is waiting for Con
ley’s evidence before making up its
mind.
More and more I notice in the cas
ual comment of people about town a
spirit of fairness and an inclination
to await the full developments of both
the State and the defense.
The public largely still is open-
mind id. It is “from Missouri"—and,
after all, that is the way the public-
mind should be in this matter, for it
is a very grave matter, and its final
effect will be far-reaching and full of
significance, no matter which way the
verdict tomes finally.
There is one point that Undertaker
Gheesling cleared up, on oath, and the
public should takh careful note of it.
He swore that Mary Phagan’s body
was NOT mutilated in the way street
rumor and gossip had it mutilated,
just after the crime was committed
That ugly story undoubtedly was
accountable for some of the primary
prejudice against Frank—but it was
an untrue rumor, and in all fairness,
now 'hat it has been exploded, it
should be borne in m a ind.
Th*»re are enough "hists,” aha’s”
and those other exclamations that
i iark a true detective besides the
badge on his left suspender to fill a
whole volume of Gaborieau thrillers
at the Frank trial.
A stranger whirled from the Ter
minal Station to Judge Roan’s court
room would be convinced before he
had been in that temple of justice
five minutes that all Atlanta earns its
living following clews, and that if
Sherlock Holmes was made a mate
rial being he could heat Jim Wood
ward for Mayor by 8.000 votes.
Ever since the body of Mary Pha-
gan was found, practically every man
of voting age and a lot of those who
just think they are, have evolved a
theory as to the crime they regard
as incontrovertible as two plus two
makes four, and have a system of
ratiocination (beg pardon. Mr. Poe),
that either proves beyond the shadow'
of a doubt that Leo M. Frank is guil
ty, or that he is innocent, or that
Jim Conley did it. or he didn’t, or
that somebody did. hut theyTl he
hanged if they know who.
Theorists There for Vindication.
The census of 191ft gave Atlanta a
population of 154.839, and it is safe t»>
say that 154.839 sure-fire theories
have been evolved.
And everyone of the theorists wants
to go to the courtroom to see his the
ory upheld and see the theory of the
other fellow smashed to smithereens.
Atlanta’s deductive and inductive
powers were never even dimly real
ized until this week.
Chat with the throng around the
courthouse. Mingle with the Lupins,
the Anna Katherine
the
Lacoqs,
Greens in th* room where the issue
is being fought.
Clerk Turns Detective.
Your surprise will b@ suddenly con
verted into admiration and then into
awe. A person, whom you had mis
taken for a clerk with a brain capa
ble of knowing nothing more complex
than a suit will sell for $19.99 quick
er than it will for $20. you discover
has a reasoning power as infallible
as that of Socrates and a knowledge
of things criminal that makes him
the most deadly foe to crime sin.e
Bertillon.
He can take an envelope, locate it
on a second lloor and in a flash con
ceive just how a deed of murder was
committed.
He can watch a man’s hand trem
ble and immediately conceive him a
perjurer and a villain of the deepest
dye, although he doesn’t ask him If he
had taken on too much the night be
fore.
“Signs Air Hopeful,” Says Uncle Ben.
He can point out the fatal weak
ness in the attack of a lawyer who
makes more money in a minute than
he himself makes in a week. A man
selected by a sovereign people to rep
resent the majority of their law be
comes a mere novice under his merci
less criticism.
•‘But the signs air hopeful,” re
marked Uncle Ben Green, from out
Hapeville wav, us he listened to the
findings of the amateur sleu.hs and
chewed tobacco.
"The signs air hopeful.” he repeated.
"I’ve been a-sittin’ here since the trial
begun, and from what I hev seed of
these deteckertive fellers we’ve got
right now. it’s a pretty good thing
that a new crop is a-comln' up.”
Money Bill Blocks
Midsummer V acation
WASHINGTON, Aug. 1.—With th<.
certainty that the Glass currency bii.
cannot pass the House before Sep
tember 10 and that the Senate will
consume at least two months consid
ering it if it be considered at all
Congress faced the alternative to-day
of remaining on the job h€*re contin
uously or upsetting the President’s
program by blocking the bili.
CHARLESTON OFFICIAL DEAD.
CHARLESTON. Aug. 1.—Clerk of
Council R. G. O’Neale died to-day ot
heart failure. He was the Mayor’s
secretary 20 years and Council Clerk
seven years He was president of the
Fellowship Society and prominent in
fraternal and club circles.
Dr, O'Kelley Chosen
As New Mercer Head
MACON, Aug. 1.—It Is definitely
announced that the presidency of
Mercer University has been offered
to Dr. T. W. O’Kelley, pastor of the
Fin* Baptist Church, of Raleigh, N
C. It is believed that he will ac
cept.
Dr. O’Kelley graduated at Mercer
in 1890 with first honors, and sub
sequently he taught Greek and Latin
at Mercer. Afterward he became
principal of Hiawaesee High School,
in North Georgia. He ia 50 years of
age and a man of family. He is re
garded as one of the ablest Baptist
ministers of the south.
Dr. O’Kelley was* chosen from a list
cf sixteen prominent clergymen and
educator*.
Was Mary Phagan killed at or v:y
near the time she entered the Na
tional Pencil Factory April 26 to .Tet
her pay envelope or was she merely
attacked at this time and murdered
later?
The line of questioning pursued toy
Luther Rosser in his cross-examina
tion of two of the State’s witnesses
Thursday afternoon Indicated this
will be one of the questions the juror s
will have to sett before thev will no
able to determine the innocence or
guilt of Leo M. Frank.
Rosser was most persistent in his
interrogation both of William A.
Gheesling embalmer. and Dr. Claude
A. Smith, physician and bacteriolo
gist. Gheesling went to the pencil
factory at about 4 v’cL k the morn
ing of the crime and took charge of
the Phagan girl’s body. He told So
licitor Dorsey in the direct examina
tion Thursday that the girl had been
dead ten or fifteen hours and that
rigor mortis was well established.
Gets Admission Before Jury.
Rosser at once began an attempt to
break down this portion of the em-
balmer's testimony, and succeeded in
getting before the jury the witness
admission that rigor mortis is ex
tremely variable in the time it takes
to set in and become w'ell established
In a body. Gheesling admitted that
the surroundings in respect to damp
ness and temperature had their ef
fect, as did the cause of the person's
death, and that the degree of rigor
mortis could not be taken as an inva
riable indication of the time that a
person had been dead.
Frank’s attorney made similar in
quiries of Dr. Smith and from him
obtained similar statements. The
presumption is he will use the tes
timony of the State’s witnesses to
supplement that of the defense, com
bining them to support the theory
that the Phagan girl was attacked on
the first floor by Conley and by him
was thrown down the elevator shaft
or carried down the ladder into the
basement, but was not actually slain
until after Frank had left the factory
in the evening
Two other points will be. estab
lished by the defense before the State
rests if Rosser is able to wring the
information he wants from the wit
nesses called by Dorsey.
Says Frank Returned Alone.
One of them Is that Jim Conley did
net walk to the factory with or jusi
behind Leo Frank Saturday morning.
April 26. as Conley swore in his last
affidavit that he did. E. F. Hollo
way, one of the State’s witnesses,
testified Thursday afternoon that no
one was with Frank when he re
turned from Montag Brothers that
morning.
Rosser also displayed an unmis
takable intention of making the de
tectives and officers admit that Frank
was under virtual arrest when he was
questioned Monday by the authorities,
and that there was no reason why he
should not have been aware of his
status.
He succeeded in getting B. B. Has-
lett to make just this admission and
undoubtedly will use it to explain the
measures that were taken at once for
the protection of Frank’s interests,
measures on which the State has
looked with suspicion because, the
attorneys state. Frank was not placed
under arrest until 11:30 the Thursday
forenoon after the crime.
State Fares Better Thursday.
The State fared better Thursday
than any other day during the trial.
Harry Scott, Pinkerton detective,
submitted considerable damaging ev
idence in respect to Frank's appear
ance and actions during the first
daVs of the investigation, although
nothing that was startling or direct
or even new.
He told that Frank was extremely
nervous when the superintendent and
Newt Lee were placed in the same
room at the police station and that
Frank squirmed about in his chair,
rubbed his chin and lips in agitated
manner, grew pale and trembling and
in every way comported himself as
one might who was guilty of a crime.
Scott said that he and John Black
entered the room as Frank and Lee
were finishing their conversation and
that he .overheard the latter part of
Frank's remarks.
Rosser immediately caught the de
tective up on this statement, referimg
him to his testimony before the Cor
oner's Jury, where he testified that
he had not entered the room until
the conversation between Lee and
Frank was completed and that he
overheard nothing. Scott explained
that he must have been mistaken
when he testified before ’.he Coroner.
Scott testified that Herbert Haas,
one of Frank’s attorneys, early In the
case had tried to persuade him to
turn his evidence over to the defense
before submitting it to the police, bu*
this already had been aired at the in
quest and was without particular ef
fect, as Scott added, under the cross-
examination of Rosser, that there was
no attempt to have it suppressed or
kept from the police authorities, but
only to have it given first to the de
fense.
What had the appearance of being
the most sensational testimony of the
day was that given by R. P. Barrett, a
y.
machinist on the second floor of the
factory, when he declared that he had
found a pay envelope under the ma
chine used by Mary Phagan. The pay
envelope, however, when it wau
shown to the jury, was discovered to
have on It no date, no amount, no
name, with the exception of a loop of
one letter, no number nor any other
mark to identify it as the pay en
velope that the Phagan girl received
Saturday, April 26. Nor was any ex
planation suggested as to how she
may have happened to be at her ma
chine when there was no work beinjg
done that day and the machines were
not in operation.
Barrett testified to the finding of
the alleged blood spots on the second
floor near the women's dressing room
and the strajids of hair on the lath
ing machine. No more was developed
out of the testimony then was al
ready known to the public when Bar
rett anounced his discovery a few
days after the murder. Barrett also
declared that a white substance had
been used with the apparent intention
of removing the splotches of red.
Sweeper Tells of Splotches.
Mel Stanford, a factory sweeper,
corroborated Barrett in his story of the
finding of the spots and the white
substance that was spread over them.
He said the spots were not there when
he swept the factory Friday and that
the flr.-'t time he noticed them was
when they were pointed out *to him
the Monday morning after the mur
der.
Mrs. Geprge W. Jefferson, who
works In the polishing room, gave
testimony of the same sort. She aleo
testified that cords like the one found
around the neck of Mary Phagan
hung on a post in the polishing room
She said that this was the only plac.
on the second floor where they weri
kept, but admitted that they migln
drop on the floor and be swept to any
part of the factory. She said thal
three shades of red paint were used
in the polishing room, but that all of
them were distinguishable from blood
and that the spots she saw near lh«
women’s dressing room were none of
the paints she had described.
Monteen Stover, the 14-year-old
factory girl, gave exactly the testi
mony that had been expected. She
said she 1 ad entered the factory at
12:05 the day of tK tragedy, and that
Frank was not in his office. She said
that she locked about in his office
for him and on failing to find him
left the building. She testified that
she looked at the clock as she depart
ed. and it was 12; 10. Her story con
tradicts the statement of Frank that
he was in his office all the time after
he came from Montag Brothers at
about 11 o’clock until he went to the
fourth floor to see Harry Denham and
Arthur White at about 12:50.
Dr. Claude A. Smith, city bacteriolo
gist, testified that he found four or
five blood corpuscles on one of the
chips of wood that were brought to
him. He could not tell whether or not
it was human blood. These chips
were the ones taken from the floor
where the alleged spots were found.
He said that in his opinion the blood
stained shirt found at the home of
Newt Lee. the negro night watch
man, never had been worn and that
the blood on it was put on the inside
of the garment and seeped through
to the outside.
Man Suffragette
Jailed for Threat
Special Cable to The American.
LONDON, Aug. 1.—For threatening
to kill Home Secretary McKenna if
Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst. the mili
tant suffragette leader, died from the
effects of her terms of imprisonment,
Alien Clarke, a male suffragette, was
to-day ordered to furnish a $2.*)0u
bond to keep the peace or spend two
months in prison.
BRIGHT COSTUMES,
BEAUTY SHOW GIRLS
AT THE NEW BOHEMIA
With bright new costumes, a
bunch of beautiful showgirls, fun
ny comedians, tuneful songs and
catchy lines, the Bohemia Stock
Company is presenting a show that
should pack the Bohemia to ca
pacity. Manager Glenn has reno
vated and remodeled the old Amer
ican and it is clean and comfort
able. Shake the Glooms by a visit
to the Bohemia, 100 Whitehall
street.
SEASHORE
EXCURSION
AUGUST 7.
Jacksonville, Brunswick,
St. Simon, Cumberland, At
lantic Beach, $6.00—Limit
ed 6 days. Tampa, Fla., $8
—Limited 8 days.
TWO SPECIAL TRAINS.
10 p. m. solid Pullman train.
10:15 p. m. Coach train.
Make Reservations Now.
SOUTHERN RAILWAY.
Whole Day of
Adventure
AND*
Reams •* Romance
That’s what you can get delivered right
at your front door, for your hours of Sab
bath enjoyment. For
NEXT
Sunday’s American
in addition to the dozens of regular feat
ures which have made it Dixie’s best read
newspaper will include the
Free
Fiction Magazine
This wonderful periodical teems with
the good things of summer reading and
carries, as w r ell, the continuation of ,
JACK
LONDON’S
Great
Story
a'
99
THE
SCARLET
PLAGUE
which already has a grip on those who
have started it. And all this is free
with this issue of The Sunday Ameri
can, which in itself surpasses all that
has gone before.
There’s a Thrilling Color Page
ENTITLED
WHEN WOMEN
GO TO WAR
Inspired by the brilliant achievements
of warring women of all ages, a French
woman has organized a fighting female
brigade. Of course
Lady Dull Gordon
the famous Lucille of London, has aft ar
ticle in which she tells how Paris solves
the problem of keeping cool in gowns of
chiffon trimmed with fur. Moreover,
there are many other queer tales from the
ea rth’s four corners which no one who can
read can afford to miss. So insure your
self a pleasant day by ordering your
SUNDAY AMERICAN
NOW
From Your Dealer or By
Phoning to MAIN 100
f
*