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7 17, 1913.
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ATLANTA, GA. SI .SLAV' Al G
DORSEY SURE OF CASE AS CRISIS COMES
Solicitor Expects to Prove That Frank Had Life Which He Hid From Relatives and Friends
TIL TO LAST THROUGH
WEEK. LAWYERS THI1
Continued from Page 1.
the defense to train Up every gun
squarely upon It, for upon Conley’8
story will the State be forced to stand
or fall eventually.
One of the curious things about the
Frank case is the way the question
of his general character got into the
pleadings.
Theoretically, the defense alone
may put the defendant’s character in
issue—it being contemplated by the
law that no man shall be required,
without his own consent, to answer
more than one charge at one and the
same time.
And so far as legal strategy
and astuteness is concerned, the
State ouegenera lthe defense in
the matter of getting Frank's
character before the jury.
Had Conley, the State’s star
witness, ben a man, even a
negro, of respectability and ap
proximately good previous rec
ord, the necessity of attaching to
Frank the charge of utter de
pravity might not have seemed
so pressing. But Frank's pre
vious good record seemed so well
established, and his standing
generally was thought to be so
high, that it contrasted rather
painfully with the record of the
main witness of all others (Con
ley) set up for the defndant’s
undoing.
ThP Stale doubtless knew that the
unspeakable portion of Conleys evi
dence was primarily inadmissible, but
it also knew that the defense would
be taking rather a long chance to
move its rejection when tendered.
In that event, a sinister and cer
tainly dangerous impression would
have been left upon the mind of the
Jury.
So the State deliberately drew out
of Conley the unmentionable charge,
which, in addition to the murder
charge, undoubtedly made absolutely
necessary the injection of Frank's
character In Issu".
The defense, in not objecting to the
admission of the evidence last cited
when it was first offered, may have
been moved by the idea that it would,
in the cross-examination of Conley,
so break him down that It still might
save Itself the necessity of pleading
Frank’s good character—that It would
even be able to make the frightful
charge of perversion act as a boomer
ang on Conley!
Defense's Delay
Gives State Victory.
Seemingly, that Idea, if It ever ex
isted, wai dissipated as the Conley
cross-examination proceeded, how
ever, for eventually the defense DID
move to strike out the evidence, but
at that time It was too late. *
Having walked Into the trap set by
the State, If It Indeed was a trap,
the defense could not very well extri
cate Itself save by pleading Frank's
complete good charac ter, and thus in
a sweeping way dispose of the spe
cific charge lodged against Frank by
Conley, in addition to the murder
charge.
Once committed to the necessity of
establishing Frank’s good character,
however, the defense went at it In no
half-hearted way.
It summoned Indiscriminately every
employee of the National Pencil Fac
tory, male and female, old and new,
and with unanimous voice they testi
fied willingly and thoroughly that the
defendant's general character is good
In addition to these witnesses, busi
ness men, former college professors
and classmates, and dozens of others
fell into line with the same line of
evidence.
The State now stands, therefore,
where it must close up the gap be-
t\'*en its primary allegation, depend,
ent alone upon Conley’s word so far.
and the absolute proof of his sinis
ter story.
if the State in rebuttal is able to
prove conclusively that Frank is the
thing Conley has labeled him. the
State's case will go to the jury dan
gerously formidable
If It fails to substantiate and corrob
orate Conley, It will go to the jury
greatly weakened.
To overcome the fine showing as to
Frank's good character made by the
defense the State must bring forth
witnesses in rebuttal that can not be
Impeached.
The Impression throughout Atlanta
Is that to fail in the establishment
and corroboration of Conley’s story
by witnesses of integrity and standing
yill be to fail in a crisis heavily im-
%rtant the State now.
fStraito say—there are so many
"strange things to say in this sur
passingly strange Phagan story—one
of the State’s apparent weaknesses is
proving. In one direction, to be one >>t
its greatest elements of strength.
The deefnse’s strenuous insistence
that Conley’s remarkable story Is im
possible Is one reason why a lot of
people are saying lh't it is impossi
ble. Conley may have manufactured
It out of the whole cloth.
If It Is a lie, It is a He too devilish
ly cunning for a negro of Conley's
limited mentality to conjure or carry
in his own mind 1n such remarkable
detail, these people hold. Jf the ne
gro were only less sure of everything.
If he had wabbled dangerously under
the terrific grilling administered by
Luther Z. Rosser, if he had broken
down or contradicted himself In any
essential detail once he got to the
witness stand. It now would be an
easier thing for many people, fair-
minded enough, too. to belleev the ne
gro’s tale a mass of lies from start
to finish!
And the danger to the defense here
is that if Conley’s story sticks in the
minds of the Jury, even in fractional
part, It probable fust as well stick In
Its entirety, so far as the hope of ac
quittal upon this tri 1 is concerned.
Whole Story Must
Be Torn Asunder.
In other words, many people are ar
guing to themselves that the negro, no
matter how hard he tried and no mat
ter how generously he was coached,
still noevr could have framed up a
story like the one he told, unless there
war somewhere In It some foundation
in fact.
And if there remains the impres
sion of even a little foundation In
fact, the defense Is damaged beyond
repair.
And so it gets back to where U
started, and to where it will end—It
is Conley pitted against Frank!
The State, with the burden of proof
to carry, appears to have considerably
more of an uphill fight on its hands
than the deefnse has, and yet the
very nature of both fights—uncom
promising, and neither asking nor
giving quarter—makes it something
of a toss-up. really, as to which actu
ally, and as a matter of fact, has the
harder task to perform.
Undoubtedly, the defense expects
profit much through Its Insistence that
the time element, as set up In Con
ley’s story, constitutes a most vital
and comnolllng factor in determining
the truth or falsity of the entire story.
It Is rather odd, too, that the de
fense should be relying upon the
State’s witnesses In this matter quite
as much as unon its own. It will
seek to use generously the State’s
witnesses to the State’s embarrass
ment—through the discrediting of
Conley’s story—In several different
directions.
The deefnse is seeking to show how
utterly absurd Conley’s story is from
Frank’s point of view, by setting up
these incompatible things
Time Element
Again Enters Case.
That Mary Phagan (Conley's testi
mony) reached the pencil factory suf
ficiently well In advance of Monteen
Stover (Conley’s testimony) to go up
to Frank’s office, get her pay, be lured
to a room in the rear and killed, not
withstanding the (act that Miss Sto
ver (Conley’s and Miss Stover's testi
mony) reached the factory at 12:05.
And this despite the fact that Mary
Phagan could not have been In the
factory before 12:12, In any event, at
shown by Mrs. Coleman (Mary’s
mother), George Epps, a motorma i,
and a conductor.
To g-et around this state of things,
set up for the most part by the
State’s own witnesses, the State al
ready has suggested, by a line of ex
amination probably to be amplified,
that the car upon which Mary Phagan
came into tow*n on Saturday, April 26,
was running AHEAD of scheduled
time, and that the litle girl did, as a
matter of fact, reach the factory be
fore 12:12, and that the clock in the
factory, by which both Miss Stover
and Conley testified as to the time,
was running SLOW on the day of
the crime.
In other words, to meet its own
witnesses’ statements, the State will
mov e backward the time of the street
car and move forward the time of
the office clock!
If the State can do that, which
looks like a big Job, it will eliminate
the dangerous time element in one
direction, at least; but if it can not !
do that, It will find itself in a most
trying position.
And whether it now can get away
from its own established time element '
is one of the very prettiest problems
involved in the entire case thus far'
Again, the defense will insist that
the time element cuts In another di- I
rection most favorably in Franks
behalf, when it will show by Conley’s
evidence that the disposing of Mary
Phagan's body began at 12:66, but
that Fra^k was seen at the corner of
Alabama and Whitehall streets at
1:10, waiting for a car. The latter
FRANK'S MOTHER DENIES FAMILY IS WEALTHV
\JU E are not wealthy and Leo has no rich relative in Brooklyn. My husband is broken in health and has
retired from business. We have about $20,000 which is loaned out at 6 per cent. We live on that
income. Our home, which we own, has a $6,000 mortgage on it. I have a sister, Mrs. Bennet, whose hus
band clerks for my brother in-law. I also have one son-in-law who is in the retail cigar business. I don’t
know much about my. other relatives. I have enough to do to keep up with my own affairs.—Testimony
of Mrs. Rae Frank, mother of Leo M. Frank, on the witness stand yesterday.
fact is testified to by Miss Helen Cur
ran 'positively, and she is unimpeach
able.
Every Second Has
Important Bearing.
The defense contends that the body
of Mary Phagan could not have been
disposed of, and the things done that
Conley alleges were done, within the
fourteen minutes of time thus allow
ed, between the beginning of the
work, according to Conley, and the
time of Frank’s presence two blocks
and a half away.
Conley would have been obliged to
dispose of the body In the remarkable
way he says he did, have written the
notes, remained in the wardrobe eight
minutes or more, all within the four
teen minutes.
According to the State’s own wit
nesses, Conley was In the wardrobe
eight minutes and used six minutes
framing tha notes. This would have
consumed the entire fourteen min
utes. without the dead girl’s body ever
having been touched.
It is admitted among lawyers gen
erally that there Is no defense so com
pletely effective as a sustained alibi—
which means that the crime alleged
was committed In the absence and
without the knowledge of the alleged
principal to it. or, more properly
stated, perhaps, that the crime could
not have been committed by the de
fendant because it would have been
a physical impossibility for him to
have effected it, in the circumstances
of it.
The past week, of course, was the
defense’s day in court, and It is but
fair to say that it made good use of
it.
Evidence Really
Challenge to State.
It has frankly and aggressively
urged Frank’s character as a vital
fact in his favor, and It thereby chal
lenged the State to do its very worst
by way of breaking that character
down, if it can.
This attitude upon the part of th
defense undoubtedly has had a
steadying effect upon th e public, too,
for it seems at least to have suspend
ed Judgment pending the State’s re
buttal.
In addition to its insistence upon
Frank’s good character, the defense
unquestionably has given the State
serious concern in the way it has
brought forward the time element,
and that In two separate and dis
tinct directions.
If It successfully maintains either
j one of its time theories. It will have
greatly discredited Conley's story. If
it successfully maintains both
theories, it will have about discredit
ed the Conley story to the point of
complete collapse.
As It was out of order to conclude
at the end of the second week of the
Frank trial, however, that the State
had made out a case that could not
be broken down, so it now is out of
order to conclude that the defense
has broken down the State.
The State for one thing does not
appear to be particularly alarmed,
eitheT by the Injection of Frank’s
character or by the turning of the
time element against the Conley story.
The State, it must be remembered,
ha8 not yet entered or disclosed its
rebuttal, either of the character evi
dence or the undermining of Its own
witnesses as to the time elements
stated,
Dorsey Seems
All Confidence.
It is perfectly confident of its abili
ty to show that Frank’s character Is
not good, despite the opinions of his
friends, business associates and ac
quaintances; and It will Insist, indeed,
that as in other depraved characters
of the sort It claims Frank to be, his
business acquaintances, his relatives
and his social Intimates would be the
very last people of all to discover the
.ruth concerning him.
The State, in seeking to prove
Frank a dissolute character, may be
forced to the summoning of dis
solute characters, with whom he is
alleged to have been associated in
degrading practices, in order to prove
its contention.
Thus witnesses brought out by the
State to establish Frank’s depravity
are apt to be easier marks for Im
peachment proceedings than wit
nesses of the ordinary sort, and ro
that extent the breaking down of
Frank's character is pregnant with
difficulty.
Nevertheless, the State proposes to
establish the fact of Frank’s degen
eracy by witnesses of sufficient credi
bility, particularly in the nature of the
charge sought to be proved, to get by
at least in sufficient numbers to over
whelm the defendant.
If the State can put up even one r
two witnesses that can weather the
gale of the defense’s rights of Im
peachment, it will have put Frank In
a most unenviable position before the
Jury. If, therefore. It puts up 50 wit
nesses, and 48 of them get knocked
out, theTe still will remain the two
that stood the test!
Here, then, is another pretty prob
lem to be thrashed out: Can the
State, in sustaining a charge of de
generacy against Frank, bring forth
witnesses to prove it absolutely, and
at the same time not bring forth wit
nesses so much a party to Frank’s of
fense that they will run serious risks
in testifying themselves?
A witness who is willing to swear
that he saw Frank do thus and so, or
was a party to Frank’s doing thus
and so, if the thus and so is particu
larly reprehensible. Is apt to get >n
pretty thin ice himself, If he isn’t
very careful!
The State says it can and will rebut
Frank’s good character. If it doer?,
Frank is In unutterably bad shape;
but If it doesn’t, Frank's cause must
be helped tremendously.
Frank Really
Combats 2 Charges.
It is markedly unique in the annnls
of judicial procedure in Georgia, as it
is contrary to the entire theory of the
law, that Leo Frank should be en
gaged now in combating at one and
the same time two of the gravest
crimes in the catalogue of crime,
j when he has been indicted for only
| one.
As extraordinary as the Frank case
is In so many of its ramifications, it
is extraordinary in nothing more than
In that!
And yet, which is additionally
unique, the fact that he is answering
two charges simultaneously Is largely
the fault or the misfortune of his own
lawyers!
Judgf* Roan virtually admitted that
had the more sinister charge of Con
ley been objected to by the defense
at the proper time, he would not have
admitted it. It was not objected to,
however, and it, therefore, was left
In the record. So, In a way, if not
technically, Frank Is answering the
two charges of his own voluntary mo
tion!
Apparently neither the State nor
the defense has hesitated to suggest
things calculated to prejudice the
minds of the Jury whenever either
could.
For instance, the examination of
Mrs. Rea Frank, the defendant’s mo
ther, as to the extent of her wealth
and many details of her private life,
and the suggestion that for some rea
son or other Mrs. Leo Frank refrained
from visiting her husband In Jail for
two weeks or more after his arrest,
seemingly were injected more by way
of arousing some vague suspicion in
the minds of the Jury, rather than by
way of proving anything definite.
On the other hand, the defense has
not hesitated to suggest, wherever it
could, that the entire charge against
Frank is a police and detective
"frame-up,” and that Conley has been
used merely as a cat's paw to convict
Frank; the presumption being that
the big rewards offered for the ar
rest and conviction of Mary Pha
gan's murderer may later be distrib
uted among these officials.
This suggestion seems to have been
thrown out largely in the hope that
the jury would assimilate enough of it
to throw discredit over the entire
case of the State.
Most Bitterly
Fought Case in State.
There never has been in this State
a case fought so bitterly and so un
compromisingly as this one of the
State vs* Leo Frank.
Besides the life and liberty of Leo
Frank, the preservation of his home
and family circle, the restoration of
his erstwhile good reputation, there
are big fees at stake, big reputations
to be preserved, big prejudices either
to combat or pander to—and there Is
even some politics involved!
All in all, however, the public seems
impressed with the idea that the trial
has been as fair and square thus far
as human ingenuity can make it, and
that neither side has been given any
undue advantage over the other in
any quarter.
Much of the bitterness that has
crept into the trial has been occa
sioned, of course, by reason of the
fame and tremendous significance of
the case. It is a battle to an everlast
ing finish, and both sides are pressing
it on that exact theory.
Despite the fact that the case now
is entering its fourth week, with the
end not yet in sight, public interest
still is at fever heat over it. No topic
is talked so exhaustively about the
streets, in the cafes and hotel lob
bies, and even in the homes, as the
now celebrated Phagan case.
Great crowds throng the stuffy little
courtroom daily, and the hours have
been few when admission could be ob
tained without extreme difficulty.
It is not thought likely that the ar
guments will begin before the end of
this week, and probably not until
AUCTION!
ADMINISTRATRIX
SALE!
We will sell the A. P. McCravy farm before the courthouse door in Marietta, Ga.,
SEPTEMBER 2ND, AT 10 A. M. This property is at Turner’s Crossing on Marietta
car line, 2 miles south of Marietta, and has been subdivided into 18 acreage tracts,
averaging from 1 to 20 acres each. 14 of these tracts front the W. & A. Railroad and
the electric car line and the public road. The other 4 are in sight of same. All of said
tracts have beautiful building sites, ground fairly level and mostly under cultivation.
Several tracts have beautiful shades and many have running water. 3 of these
tracts have small houses on them. All are splendidly adapted for suburban homes,
poultry or truck farms.
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Subdivision
ESTATE OF
A. P. McCRAVY
Land Lots 364, 3C7 and
426 and Parts of Land
Lots 353, 295 and 296,
17th District, 2d Section.
COBB COUNTY, GA.
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next. It is anticipated that It will re-»
quire hot less than three days foi
the lawyers to finish their discussion
of the case before the jury No-j
body looks for a verdict within ths
present week, unless the unforeseeq
happens.
Speculation as to the outcome <>(
the trial is varied and general. Th4
most widespread impression Is that
the case likely is headed for a misJ
trial, although there are many peopli
who believe the Jury will make a veivi
diet before dissolving.
Newt Lee Falls Into
Lazy Ways in Prison.
Newt Lee should worry. Being i.
prisoner is not the most undeslrabh
occupation in the world for tile ole
negro. There is no work to do, am
now that he Is safely beyond suspij
cion in this Mary Phagan case ther4
Is nothing for him to bother over.
Altogether, being in Jail all day, aU
ternately sleepir~ and dawdling front
meal to meal, never leaving his cell*
seems to suit the factory night watchl
man. Newt Lee has fallen into lazjl
ways there in the Tower.
The negro has been assigned to a
cell almost directly above that d
Frank, on the third floor south. Hd
grumbles a bit at he monotony anq
scantiness of the prison fare, but theij
it comes safe and certain twice a day*
No More Fat of the
Land for Jim Conley.
Time was when Jim Conley llv-atf
on the fat of the land. That was when
he was the most prominent negrd
prisoner in Georgia, the vital witness
in the case of the State against Leo
M. Frank. None of your prison fara
for him! They brought his breakfast
of thick steaks and chops to his ceiL
Lawyers were considerate of the ne-*
gro, and Jim experienced fat day 1 ?,
indeed for a litt 1 while.
Against his will, it is declared, they
forced on him a cold bath and somq
good clothes, and he came to court
unwonted fine apparel.
But "sic transit gloria” Jim Conley.
The sad fact comes that he is about
to be forgotten at the jail. No mocj
are his meals brought to him. and lik«
the other “niggers,” who never even
got their names in the paper, he inns;
subsist on prison fare—two meager
meals a day.
Jim Conley, In his cell on the first
floor north, sulks a little because >J
the unkind fate that has sent hini
back to grits and bread and water for
breakfast. And he has taken no bath
since.
J. B. JACKSON, Agent,
213-214 Peters Building, j Phone Main 929.
If you are interested in suburban acreage on one of
the oldest and best suburban lines out of Atlanta, see
this acreage at once. We know that you will agree with
us after seeing this property, and will come to our Auc
tion Sale September 2, 10 A. M., before Courthouse
door at Marietta, Ga.
Terms: One-half cash, balance 1 and 2 years on or
before, with interest at 7 per cent.
0. G. CLARK, Real Estate Auctioneer
PHONES: BK. Z AHanta, Ga.
MRS. JANE k McCRAVY, Administratrix