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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS.
I
ENTER
DIAGRAM SHOWING DEFENSE'S THEORY OF THE KILLING
By JAMES
The third week of the molt remark
able murder trial ever known In Geor
gia opened to-day with no apparent
lessening of the acute interest and
grim appeal heretofore attaching to It.
The public has come to realize thor
oughly and completely that the issue
Is a battle not only between the State
and the defendant, Leo Frank, but
between Leo Frank and the negro
Jim Conley.
Presumably, the defense will take
the entire week rounding out its case
and perfecting Its undermining of
Conley's story.
If it does get through within the
week, It will have employed approxi
mately the same amount of time In
telling Its story that the State em
ployed In telling the other side.
The first powerful and bewildering
shock of Conley's tale, unanticipated
in its full sinister detail, has passed
away in a measure, it seems.
It is but the simple truth to say
that the day of .and the day following
Conley’s awful charge, in addition to
the one of murder, marked the climax
of the State’s case and the zenith of
feeling against Frank.
Then it was that the outlook for the
defense seemed to be the most dis
mal, and then it was that even
Frank's most loyal friends and sym
pathizers began to grow apprehen
sive and sore afraid.
Doubt Begins to Grow.
Since the defense began its plead
ing, however, there has been some
thing of a revulsion of feeling—or, at
least, there appears to have been cre
ated a doubt in the minds of many
people as to the complete and con
vincing probability of Conley's reve
lations.
Not that the defense is Out of the
woods yet, by any means—as a mat
ter of fact, the defense still is very
deep in the woods, and while there
may be those who think the defens?
likely sees daylight and sunshine
somewhere through the darkness, .t
generally is admitted that the dark
ness still very much Is there.
As the frightful charge of perver
sion was the most prejudicial thing
injected by the State against Frank,
so, as a natural consequence, is the
seeming determination of the defense
to put his character frankly in issue
the thing seemingly most likely to re
move that prejudice, if possible.
To put Frank’s character in Issue,
in the face of the fact that the de
fense alone has that right, despite the
dramatically delivered and certainly
Impressive testimony of Conley
against it, will seem in the mind of
many to argue that the defense is in
no way afraid to meet that issue fair
ly and squarely—and it is not at all
illogical to conclude that the success
fully tendering of his character as an
issue will have the effect,' in large
measure anyway, of removing from
the mind of the jury the horrible
charge of the negro.
Depends on Conley's Word.
As the matter stands now, the at
tack on Frank s character rests en
tirely upon Conley's word—Conley has
been corroborated not at all on the
direct charge, and he has been cor
roborated, even indirectly, in the most
doubtful way.
It may be that, on the other hand,
that the State, once given the right
to go after Frank’s character ham
mer and tongs, will be prepared to
attack it with heavy artillery, and
perhans demolish it entirely. Cer-
Uiulv the necessity of doing this, in
the circumstances then, will be ap
parent enough.
TA* -Supreme Court of Georgia
bos held definitely that character
may be tendered as evidence of a
positive fact, and it asks signifi
cantly this question, through the
late Chief Justice Warner:
"Of what use is good character,
which a man may have been years in
establishing, if it is to avail him
nothing in his hour of periir"
It is rather curious, in a way, that
practically every vitally effective
and controlling point in this case
should reduce, itself eventually to a
question of truth between Frank
and Conley.
Nothing Fidgety About Frank.
The Leo Frank of this week of his
trial is not the Leo Frank of last
week and week before last.
If spectators were inclined for a
time to think the quiet, repressed,
spectahled young man sitting over
there beyond Luther Rosser and
Reuben Arnold, the slight person Im
mediately between the only two
women in the entire court room, was
in any wise indifferent to or unmind
ful of the progress of the trial—his
own trial, and for a brutal murder,
at that—they have changed their
mind now.
They have changed their minds
as completely as Leo Frank has
changed his attitude.
If there is anything in external
appearances and surface indications,
1 should say that Frank is, in prac
tically any and all circumstances, a
man of very marked patience. I
doubt that he ordinarily hurries, or
frets unduly, or grows especially
festless, any way.
He is brisk enough in his move-
B. NEVIN.
ments, getting up now and then,
with a quickness of action easily
enough to be seen, either to say a
Word to one of his lawyers or to
leave the courtroom for a moment
—but there is nothing the least
"fidgety” about the man.
While th« State was making out
its case—evan when Conley was on
the stand, htirling his charge of im
morality against Frank—-the defend
ant sat apparently unmoved.
Save for an occasional momentary
gripping of the arms of his chair, a
tightening of the lips, or a slight
wrinkling of the crows, the defend
ant gave no sign, either of the in
dignation he must have felt if inno
cent, or the apprehension he must
have felt if guilty.
Apparent Stoic Under Fire.
While the State was making out its
case, Frank seemed the personifica
tion of patience—or whatever it is
one should call it, according to the
state of his mind in respect of the de
fendant.
He sat there—just sat there—to
some an apparent stoic, to othersa—
what ?
Immediately the defense got well
under way. directly however, the Leo
Frank theretofore known to the pub
lic became another person—absolute
ly and entirely another person.
He seems to have realised that
now, at last, has come his day to
J'lpeak.
No longer must he, restrained by
wise and far-seeing counsel, hold back
in word of mouth or effort at defense.
At last, after all the long days of
waiting, of studying the charge lodged
against him, of repressing his emo
tions and standing aloof from a crit
ical and possibly hostile outside world,
Frank is saying the necessary word
to clear his good name, if it be suf
ficient to the undertaking.
Where once he sat unmoved and
calm, he now takes a noticeably di
recting part in his defense. Time
and again, he arises or leans over,
as the case may be. and whlop^rs
words Into his attorney’s ears.
On several occasions his whisper
ings have been responded to imme
diately by approving nods from hi*
counsel, and at once thereafter has
followed, particularly on the direct
examination, a line of questioning
evidently enough set in motion by
the defendant himself, and by other
persons.
Seems Sure of Himself.
Frank, I think, is rather sure of
himself—guilty or innocent, he is
there to do battle to the bitter end.
to meet hi* enemies in the gate, and
to vanquish them, if he find himself
powerful enough.
He i«i a very small man physically,
but I think he has the courage requi
site to the undertaking he has in
hand. Whether It is the courage of
righteousness and a sense of hi* In
nocence, or the courage of despera
tion and guilt, it is not. perhaps, for
me to say.
It only seems that he Is eager for
the fight, and confident of hist strength
to win.
No spectator there can hope to rend
his heart or rend his mind. Great
reams of newspaper space and rep-
ortorial effort might be saved hence
forth If onlv one might do either of
those two things.
And whether all the rest of the
world be against him, it appears a
rttre thing to say that, at least, his
wife there beside him and hi?' moth
er constantly in attendance upon him.
believe him utterly and altogether
Innocent.
I suspect there Is no question, more
over. that both Luther Z. Rosser and
Reuben Arnold believe in the inno
cence of Frank.
Beyond these four and the jury and
the judge, however. I doubt if Prank
concerns himself extensively nowa
day®—unless, of course, he thinks
often of that stout-hearted and un
afraid bald-headed man. Fimon
Marks, and a band of friends who
never yet have forsaken him. no
matter how- dark the gloom that has
seemed .to close, around him.
Picked Up State's Gauntlet.
Tt may be that Frank in his de
fense of himself will disappoint these
expectant ones. It may he that he
never will come through the fire un-
scorched. it may he that and it may
be a lot of things, but it will not he
denied, when this cane is over, that
Frank picked up. full and free, the
gauntlet the State threw at his feet
The State's case was the State’s
business. Frank stood off and let it
go its limit. Of course, he hardly
could have kept it from going Its
Ilmt-—but the pont s, he ddn’t try
pa rtcularlv.
The defense, however—the defense
is Frank’s business, strictly!
And he is right there, on the job,
as he would be. I take it. had this
frightful murder never been commit
ted. and were it with him merely a
question of catching up with a smash
ing and record-breaking order for the
product of the factory over on For
syth street, where a few weeks ago
he was the universally respected su
perintendent.
Frank will make no balf-wav de
fense of himself—that much may he
anticipated confidentlv. I aunpect. He
will meet every Issue tendered—even
including the attack other than the
charge of murder
How will he fare eventually 0 Well,
that is another question—and it is
not yet has been approximately an-
OFFICE
FLOOR
To TRAJTKS'
- QFTUCT
II 11
1CZJI
—h
V r
The defense’s theory of the killing of Mary Phagan is that the little girl, after leaving
Frank’s office unmolested, was seized by the negro Conley at the foot of the stairs, crowded back
into the rear room and there battered into insensibility, if not instant death, after which ahe was
dragged to the trapdoor in the extreme rear and thrown into the cellar below. Later the negro
want into the cellar, placed the cord around the girl’s neck, and drew it very tight, perhaps thus
snffing out the last fluttering breath of life in the insensible body. The motive assigned to the
tiogro is robbery.
Grief- Stricken Mother Follows
Testimony Without Bitterness
That black-clad woman in the cor
ner of the courtroom—nobody ha*
noticed her much. Things have hap
pened 510 swiftly in the Frank trial
that all eyes are on the rush of
events, waiting for a quiver on the
face of Leo Frank, watching with
morbid gaze the brave faces of
Frank’s wife and hie mother, studying
tlie passing show that the numerous
witnesses present.
And the woman Is so unobtrusive,
so plainly out of it all. The tears,
whose traces are evident on her face,
were not shed as a result of this trial.
The lines under her eyes are older
than two weeks. Her sorrow—and
it is plain that she has undergone
sorrow—came some time ago Now.
the first poignant pain of it has passed
and only a dull ache remains,
AH that is plain as she sits in the
courtroom in an attitude which be
speak* much of listlessness and resig
nation. The thoughts that pass in
her mind are revealed in that atti
tude and in her ptaoid face. And the
sum of them is this:
No matter what happens, the dull
ache will always be there at her
heart.
Mary Phagan’s Mother.
Because, you see, it is her little
girl that all this Is about. The black-
clad woman is Mrs. W J. Coleman,
Man' Phagan’s mother, and Mary
Phagan Is dead.
Mrs. Coleman has not been in the
courtroom during all the trial. Much
of the time she ha* been in the room
upstairs, kept there because she was
a witness. And witnesses must not
see nor hear what i* going on in the
courtroom before they are called, even
if the names of t>eir own little girls
are bandied back and forth.
But now Mrs. Coleman has testified.
Bhe has looked upon the blood
stained, pitiful clothing of her daugh
ter, the clothing that was publicly
shown, the intimate garment* that
were upheld before hundreds of eyes.
She ha* announced for purpose* of
court record that they were Mary’s.
She has explained how she last saw
her daughter alive. She has told how
Mary Phagan ate her last hurried
meal of cabbage and bread and then
went out to a horrible death. Now.
she may come out of the witness
room and listen to all that other per
sons have to say about Mary, alive
and dead.
Now she may »it in a corner of the
courtroom and hear that her daugh
ter was beaten and choked and killed.
She may listen, perhaps with a p.ang
nf Jealousy, to other persons tell that
they saw Mary Phagan alive, happy
By TARLETON COLLIER.
and serene, long after she kissed the
little girl good-by for the last time.
It is her Mary that they are talking
about, the little girl whom she held
In her arms a* a baby, whom she
watched grow up to be a capable
worker, with a spirit unspoiled, with
a laugh as free as In the baby days,
with a hundred dreams and hopes
there on the edge of young woman
hood.
Testimony Bewilders.
Mrs. Coleman wears a look of be
wilderment at times, a9 she trie* hard
to follow the intricacies of the testi
mony. Sometimes they-are not talk
ing about Mary Phagan at all, but
about expense accounts and balance
sheets and clocks. What has all that
to do with her little girl?
It is when the witnesses are talk
ing about these incidental bit* in the
chain of circumstantial evidence that
the black-clad mother is most the list
less and pagMive figure of resignation.
It is then that she looks around, with
her wide-open stare, as if in wonder
that her little girl could be the cause
of it all.
But even when the name of Marv
Phagan Vs mentioned, the mother is
not noticeably* attentive. Her eyes
cease their wandering, but her body
changes nothing of its posture of list
le*isness, loses none of its air of being
detached from the courtroom and its
incidents.
She is there plainly without resent
ment toward any one in particular
There is no vengefulnes* in her soul
—you can read that ifi. her face. It
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is almost as If she, having suffered
so much, is unwilling that any others
suffer. She sits there and looks,
curiously, wonderingly, a little dully.
And sometimes they mention Mary
Phagan’s last meal of cabbage. It is
remarkable that a dish of homely
cabbage should become a great thing
There is something grimly ludicrous
in the situation. And there are some,
the irreverent and the unfeeling, who
have made It a subject of je*t.
Glorified in Love.
But to Mrs. Coleman there must be
something appealingly Intimate in the
subject. She cooked the cabbage. She
chopped It and prepared it as her
Tittle daughter liked. The simple meal
was glorified by the love that must
have gone into it* making—house
wife love for those in her care, moth
er-love for the whims and desires of
her children The cabbage subject
must be of tremendous interest to
Mm Coleman.
Whatever her interest, though, it
Pond
is never keenly shown. Apathy seems
to be the chief characteristic of her
in the courtroom—no, not apathy, but
Just a dull wonder.
You read plainly from her worn
face and her figure that she Is not
seeking vengeance. Sometimes you
might wonder why she is there in the
courtroom You establish curiosity a*
the motive, curlouity and the natural.
Jealous, mother-desire to hear directly
from the mouths of other* something
about her little girl as she last was
seen.
It must be almost like awaiting a
message that she Js there, nursing her
dull grief.
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