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LEO M. FRANK AS HE TOLD HIS STORY ON WITNESS STAND
<
'Jt '*' V %
He apparently welcomed the
opportunity to tell of the
famous crime from his view
point.
The accused man urged his
lawyers to let the Solicitor and
his aides cross-question him
freely.
Frank appeared
perfectly calm
• and collected
as he went to
the witness
chair in his own
behalf.
>, vis*
POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y„ Aug.
18.—A warrant charging Harry
K. Thaw with conspiracy in con
nection with his escape from Mat-
teawan was issued this afternoon
to District Attorney Conger, of
Dutchess County, who will at
tempt to use it as the basis of an
indictment, if Thaw is captured
in another State, said the Dis
trict Attorney, an effort will be
made to extradite him on the
conspiracy charge. If was said
that another warrant charging
bribery would be demanded.
NSW -YORK, Aug. J 8.— Harry K.
Thaw, who escaped Sunday from the
flatten vs an Asylum for the criminal
insane, to-day wrote to his mother,
Mr:,. William Copley Thaw, at the
Hotel < n*tham. in this city, saying
he was well and that lie would meet
her at Elmhurst, the Thaw summer
home at Cresson, l*a.
Mrs. Thaw said she would leave
at 9:25 to-morrow morning for Elm
hurst. Thaw's note was in an en
velope. apparently addressed by one
pf the men who had aided him to
escape. It had been mailed from
station O in this city at midnight
Sunday.
Over the top Thaw had written:
’Night letter. Fifty words. Twenty-
live eents.” H& had evidently in-
t< nded to send it by telegraph. The
pote was addressed to Mrs. William
Thaw, Hotel <3otham. New York
r.i> and read as follows:
All well; will take a rest before
going to Elmhurst, as I might be
asked for interviews and do not
• wish to refuse, yet do not care
to make any statement. Hope H.
and G. arrived safe and that you
will go home together. Have
sent short note to New York
Evening Journal. H. T. K.
Thaw, together with a man be
lieved to be Dr. W. R. Holden, of No.
220 West Ninety-eighth street, spent
the night at the Lennox Hotel in
Lennox, Mass., according to Richard
A. Stanley, proprietor of a hotel there.
About 8 o'clock a dust covered Palm
er-Singer touring car containing two
men drove up to the Lennox Hotel,
which is a favorite stopping place
for tourists in that section of New
England. One man registered as
W. Li. Holden, of New York and
the other as P. H. Sims.
They spent the night there, leaving
about 6: SO o’clock thii morning in
the direction pf Pittsfield. Their car
had the appearance of hard usage
and both men were stained and
travel weary. Sims avoided other
guests and refused to enter the din
ning room.
Identified by Picture.
This morning when newspapers
bearipg the picture of Thaw were re
ceived at the hotel. Stanley at once
identified "Sims" as Thaw. Over the
long distance telephone it was said by
the clerk of the hotel both men left
Continued on Page 4, Column 1,
! Frank, accused of slaying Mary Phagan, made his appeal for life
and liberty.
It was a dramatic close to the presentation of the case in
Frank’s behalf. The statement was the crowning point of the en
tire trial and was hoped by the defendant's lawyers to clinch and
strengthen all of the favorable testimony that had gone before.
With scar?ely a sign of emotion on his features, : e began his
story fraught'with importance and interest. Just before, he un-
| concernedly had assisted his attorneys in picking out a number of
documents to be identified in the record of the case. The moment
ous import of the occasion did not appear to weigh upon him
| heavily.
Outside a large crowd clamored for admission. They resem-
i bled nothing so much as the spectacle before a theater at a popular-
priced matinee where hundreds are waiting to purchase their gal
lery seats.
The throng formed itself into two lines extending in both
directions from the front doors of the courthouse around the
building into the alley on one side and the whole length of the
courthouse on Hunter street on the other side.
His Mother a Tense Listener.
The courtroom filled up with a rush as soon as the doors were
i opened. After that only three or four at a time were permitted
to push their way through the doors. The others waited patiently
in the hot sun through the long afternoon.
Mrs. Rae Frank, who rushed from the courtroom, her fingers
in her ears earlier in the day when she anticipated another attack
character by the Solicitor, was present when he
The younger Mrs. Frank had been in court
any statement he sees fit. He is not under oath. He does not have
to submit to any cross-examination and can decline to answer any
question. He can say as much or as little as he pleases.”
‘Mr. Frank,” continued Judge Roan, “make your statement.”
Hnpeville Episode
Hinted by State.
That Frank rode on a street
.•at - to Ilapeville with a girl the
Saturday previous to the murder
of Mary Phagan and repeated!\
sought to persuade her to leave
the car with him was the sensn.
tional testimony Solicitor Dorsey
endeavored to get from Mrs.
J. (1. Wardlow Monday.
Anticipating the nature of the ques-
tions the Solicitor was about to a si.
Mrs. Rae Frank, mother of the de
fendant. stopped her ears with her
fingers and then rushed from the
room. Attorneys for Frank at first
objected to the questions and the jury
Kills employed In the National Pencil
Company were called to tell what the.v
knew of Frank's character and what
had observed of his conduct
aboul the factory. All asserted that
they nev. r had know n personally of
any misconduct on the part of the
superintendent and never had heaid
of any.
Explains Looking
1 Into Dressing Room.
In a courtroom held silent by the thrill of expec
tancy, Leo M. Frank, charged with the murder of Mary Kipon* her “son
Phagan, began Monday afternoon, with a striking calm j went to the stand
ness that gave added weight to his words, his own de
fense. I great nervous tension as the crisis of the trial was reached. A
Step by Step he took up his movements that tragic big law book dropped, hitting a cuspidor with a clatter. The de
April 26 and talking slowly and distinctly he sought to
all day.
While outwardly calm, the two women were evidently under
impress upon the jury the falsity of every charge against
him and the utter impossibility of his having any con
nection with the attack and strangulation of the brave
little worker whose fate stirred Georgia as it has seldom
been stirred before.
To the twelve jurors who have his fate in their hands, Leo M.
fendant’s young wife jumped as though she had been struck.
Frank started his appeal at 2:05 o'clock in rather low but
distinct tones. Aside from a preparatory clearing of his throat
and a scarcely perceptible catch in his voice as he began his story,
be displayed no signs of nervousness or agitation.
Before Arnold started the questioning, Judge Roan said to
Frank:
'' I want to read you the law,' and read
"In all Criminal trials, the defendant has the right to make
was excused. It was at this moment
that Mrs. Frank made her dramath
fcxit. She was evidently fearful of
repeating her outburst of a few days
ago-
Mrs. Wardlaw denied that she ever
knew of such a circumstanet She
denied as well that she had been told
of it by Harmes Stanton or H. G.
Baker, street car men.
Another sensation was created
when the defense called to the stand
Miss Emmeline Mayfield, the young
woman whom the State maintains
was in the dressing room when Frank
looked in at one time. Miss Mayfield
j denied this was true.
Paving the way for the eagerly
J awaited statement of Frank, ttie law -
j vers for the defendant devoted Men-
| day morning to the gathering up of
itlie story ends of their ease, most of
ithe time being occupied with the tes-
| tirm ny of character witnesses.
More than a score of women <oui
Mrs. Mattie Thompson proved one
of the most important of the charac
ter witnesses. After testifying to
Frank’s good character, Mrs. Thomp
son declared that the girls on the
fourth floor were in the habit at one
time of flirting from the windows of
the dressing room. She said that the
practice became a matter of commapff
among the elder women on tho/foTirth
floor and that she Anally tool/it upon
herself to report it. Whereup/n order*
w< i • issued against it. f
The testimony of Mrs. Thompson
was produced to provide a basis for
the contention of the defense that
Frank had opened the dressing room
door on several occasions solely for
the purpose of determining if his or
ders w ere being carried out.
Miss M. E. Fleming, a stenographer,
said that she worked in Frank's office
from April to December. 1912, and tha^
she never had observed any, miscon
duct on the superintendent's part nor
had seen women visiting his office.
Godfrey Winecoff superintendent of
the lead plant of the National Pencil
Company, testified that it was his
custom to visit the pencil factory of
fice every other Saturday lafternoon
about ■> o'clock. He said p always
found. Frank or SuufC. Franks a*-