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VfTE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NETWR
!TWELVE JURORS WITH WHOM LEO M. FRANK’S FATE RESTS
M.S. WOODWARD.
W. M...JEFFRIES.
M. JOHENNING.
F. E. WXNBDEN.
aJ,B06SHAEOTL
W. F. MEDOALF.
J. F. HIGDON.
A. L. WISBEY.
D. TOWNSEND.
F. Y. L. SMITH.
A. H. HENSLEE.
J. T. OSBURN.
ALIBI; CUBES PERJURY
Solicitor Dorsey in his closing address in the case against Leo
M. Frank delivered the masterpiece of his career and held a packed
courtroom agape with tense emotion.
Probably a more stirring, de
nunciatory, and at the same
time incisive and analytical ar
gument, has never been heard in
a Georgia court. Here it is as
the Solicitor delivered it:
Dorsey moved over to the railing
of the Jury box as he opened his
speech.
“Your honor and gentlemen of the
Jury,” he said, “I was .speaking to you
jesterday of the character of this de
fendant. This defendant has not a
good character. The conduct of trie
counsel in this case in failing to
cross-examine, in refusing to cross-
examine these twenty young ladies,
refutes effectively and absolutely the
claim of the defendant that he has
a good character.
Says Defense Had
Right to Refute Charge.
"As 1 said, if this man had a good
character, ns power on earth could
have kept him and his counsel from
asking those young girls where they
dence In their possession and they
fail to produce It, the strongest pre
sumption arises that it would be
hurtful If they did, and their failure
to produce evidence Is a circumstance
against them.
'You don’t need any lawbook to tell
you that. It’s plain common sense.
Recalls Case of
Oscar Wilde.
"Benedict Arnold was brave. He
enjoyed the confidence of all the peo
ple and those In charge of the Revo
lutionary War until he betrayed his
country. Since that day his name
has been a synonym for infamy. Os
car Wilde, an Irish knight, a bril
liant author, whose works will go
down through time, gave us ‘De Pro-
fundls,' which he wrote while In jjfil—a
remarkable work—yet when the Mar
quis of Queensberry discovered that
there was something wrong Detween
Wilde and his son, Wilde had the ef
frontery and the boldness to sue him
for damages. A suit in retaliation re
sulted in the conviction of Wilde for
criminal practices. Yet. wherever the
English language is spoken the ef
deal what- they
common sen.se i r
.“You know ks
to g.*t at the tru
ns* those hair
Mr Arnold call
about Frank’s eh
were afraid, and
rood as any th,
unimpeached an
Ann you tell roe
people come he
street an
lid. Now
»position.
twelve men seeking
ith that they did no:
brained fanatics, is
is theta, questions
taracter because they
i those witnesse
d are unitnpeachabl
that because the good
re from Washington
tifv to his good charac
ter is that he has one!
“!t vers often happens that a man’s
wife is the last person to know his
wrongdoing. Sometimes the man uses
charitable and religious organizations
to cover up and hide his evil self
Very often his guilty conscience turns
him that wav Many a man is a wolf
in sheep’s clothing.
"Many a man is a white sepulcher
on the outside and absolutely rotten
within. But suppose he has a good
character. David had a good char
acter until he put Uriah in the fore
front of battle that he might be killed
that he could get his wife. Judas Is
cariot had a good character among
those Twelve Men until he accepted
those pieces of silver.
"I have shown you that under th*
law they had a right to bring out all
those things. You saw they dared
not do it. Let’s see what the law
seys. I’ll read here from the Eighty-
laird Georgia Report:
“ ‘Whenever any persons have ©vi«
•xamination of this man—an effront
♦*ry typical of this sort (turning to
Frank)—will ahVays he a matter for
deep study for lawyers and ‘for peo
ple interested in that sort of degen
eracy.
lie had a wife and two children.
His shame probably never would have
put up, were I been brought to light but for the fact
that he had the effrontery and the
I boldness to start a suit. It ended in
his being sent to prison.
“And the prosecution of Oscar!
“He was a man who led the esthet
ic movement. He was a scholar and
j a literary man. His cross-examina
tion was a thing to be read with
( pride by every lawyer. The whole
world took notice of his prosecution,
and yet when Oscar Wilde was an
old man. gray-haired and tottering to
the grave, he confessed to his guilt.
Prominent? Why, he was one of the
most prominent men in the world!
Why, he came to America and found
ed the esthetic movement here. He
raised the sunflower from a weed 10
the dignity of a flower. He was
handsome—one of the handsomest
men to be found. He had moral
courage, yet he was a pervert, proved
and confessed.
“There was a handsome man in
San Francisco, a member of this de-
tendant’s sect—Abe Ruef, a man who
possessed all of the faculties of high
est Intelligence, yet he corrupted even
Smith, and his corruption of the pool
girU with whom he came in contact
brought him to the penitentiary. I
have already referred to Durant. His
character did net prevent the Jury
from convicting him. This defend
ant’s character, like Durant’s, is not
worth a cent when the case is proved.
"And crime Is alike with the rich
and poor, ignorant and learned. Take
an Ignorant man like Jim Conley. He
is the man who commits the petty
crimes, but take a man with high in
tellect, like this defendant—this intel
lect, when put to the right use. leads
to glorious accomplishments; but if
these facilities be put to the wrong
use, it brings ruin to the man in the
commission of the most diabolical
crimes. 1,00k at McCue, the Mayor
of Charlottesville, Va. He was a man
of broad Intellect and high education,
but, despite his intellect, despite his
splendid character, he tired of his
wife and shot her, and the Jury, com
posed of Virginia gentlemen, broad
minded and fair, despite McCue’s
good character, found him guilty and
sent him to a felon’s grave.
"Take the case of RIcheson, the
preacher of Boston. Here was a man
of highest intellect and with a bril
liant future. He was engaged to one
of the wealthiest and most beautiful
girls of Boston, but entanglements
with a poor little girl caused him u
fear for his good name and he so far
forgot his good character as to put
this poor little girl to death. Even
after his conviction in the last days
of his hope he committed an act upon
himself which he thought would draw
thp pity of the Governor and save his
life. But a Massachusetts Jury and a
Massachusetts Governor were cour
ageous enough to let that man’s life
go. They had the courage which will
make every right-thinking man rignt
by the laws of God and man and of
his country.
"Take Beattie—Henry Clay Beattie,
of. Richmond. He was of splendid
family, of wealth and proved a good
character, though he did not possess
it. He took the mother of his 12-
month-old baby out in an automobile
and shot her. He was cool, calm and
deliberate. He laughed and he Joked,
but he joked too much, and although
the detectives were maligned and
abused and a large slush fund was
used, a courageous, honest Virginia
jury upheld Justice and sent that man
to death. And he never confessed,
but he left a note saying he was
guilty.
Likens Frank
To Dr .Crippen.
"Crlppen, of England, a man of high
standing and recognized ability, killed
his wife because of Infatuation for
another woman. He hid her where
he thought she would not be found, as
this man (pointing to Frank) thought
the body of that little girl would not
be found. But murder will out. and
he It said to the glory of old England
this man paid the penalty of death.
"Gentlemen, you have an opportuni
ty that comes to few men. Measure
up to it. Will you do It? If not. let
your conscience say why not.
"But you say you’ve got an alibi.
Let’s examine that proposition. Here’s
an authority: ‘An alibi as a defense
Involves the impossibility of the pris
oner’s presence at the scene of the of
fense at the time of its commitment
and tbe range of evidence must be
such as reasonably to exclude the pos
sibility.’
“The burden of carrying this alibi
rests on the shoulders of this defend
ant. They must show to you that it
was impossible for this man to have
been at the scene of the crime—an
alibi, while the best kind of evidence
if properly sustained, otherwise Is ab
solutely worthless. I am going to
show you that this man’s alibi is
worse than useless. It is no defense
at all.
"I want to give you the definition
of an old darkv of an alibi. It illus
trates my point. Hast us asked old
Sam, ‘What is this hyar alibi I hear so
much about?’ Old Sam says, ‘An alibi
Is provin' that you was at the prayer
meeting where you wasn’t, to prove
you wasn’t at the crap game where
you was.’
"Let’s see the time table of the de
fense. I want to turn it around for
half a minute. Then I want to turn
it to the wall and let it stay forever.
“Frank’s Own Statement
Refutes Time Table.’’
“ ’One p. m.—Frank leaves the fac
tory.’ It looks mighty nice on the
chart. Turn that chart to the wall,
Mr. Sheriff. Let it stay turned to the
wall. That statement Is refuted by
the defendant himself when he didn’t
realize the importance of this time
proposition.
"Frank's statement at police head
quarters, taken by G. C. Febuary on
Monday, April 28, says, ‘I didn’t lock
tne door that morning. The mail was
coming up. I locked It when I started
home to lunch at 1:10 o’clock.’
"Up goes your alibi punctured by
your own statement when you didn’t
realize its importance. Yet these
honorable gentlemen for the purpose
of Impressing your minds print in big
letters on this chart he left the fac
tory at 1 o’clock. If he swore when
he was on the stand the other day
that he left the factory at 1 o’clock
It was because he saw the importance
of this time point and had to leave
there ten minutes earlier than he said
he had at the police station before he
had had time to confer with his law
yer, Mr. Luther Z. Rosser.
’’I quote: ’I left at 1:10/ Right
hero let me Interpolate. This man
never made an omission from the be
ginning to the end of this case. Where
he knew a person was aware that he
was in the* factory at a certain time
he admitted it. He proved, or at
least attempted to prove, an alibi by
the little Curran girl. They had her
get up on the stand and say that she
saw Frank at 1:10. Yet here is his
statement made to the police April 28
in the presence of his attorney, Mr.
Luther Z. Rosser, In which he said
that he did not leave the factory until
1:10.
“The saddest thing In this case—-I
don’t know who caused it, I don’t
know who introduced it, and I hope I
will go to my grave without ever
learning who brought this little Cur
ran girl Into this case—the saddest
thing in this case Is bringing in this
little girl who Is connected with Mon
tag's and placing her upon the stand
here to protect this red-handed mur
derer.
"Jurors are sworn, and his honor
has the right under the law to charge
you to consider the truthfulness or
the reasonableness of that which any
witness swears to. And, gentlemen
of the Jury, anyone who looked upon
that little girl noticed her bearing up
on the stand, the slightly unusual
manner and her connection with
Montags—consider the fact that this
little girl, like the little Bauer boy,
had been riding in Montag’s auto
mobile—and if you can not tell just
why and how she was brought here,
then I am unable to understand your
mental operations.
"If Frank locked that door at 1:10,
how could she have seen him at Ala
bama and Whitehall street at 1:10?
How could she be sg> positive that it
was. him, if she really saw anyone
there? For, mark you, she had never
seen him but once. She comes into
your presence and tells you the un
reasonable and absurd story of see
ing him, which is in direct contra
diction to Frank’s story.
"On this time proposition, I w'ant
to read you this. It made a wonder
ful impression on me / when I read it.
It’s from the speech of a wonderful
man. It’s from a man In whose pres
ence even lawyers of the type of Ar
nold and Rosser would take off their
hats.
"I refer to Daniel Webster and his
argument in the Knott case. ‘Tim© is
identical, days, hours, are not visible
to any of senses except to the school
ed. He w'ho speaks of days, hours
and minutes talks at random.’ It is
better than I could express it. W r hat
about this time? In this table here,
minutes are moved up and down, con
torted and twisted to protect this
man. They say he arrived at the
factory at 8:25. Frank himself in his
first statement said he arrived at 8:30,
and poor Jim Conley, lousy, filthy and
dirty, said he arrived at 8:30, carry
ing a raincoat, and they tried to make
it appear he didn’t have one. If the
truth is ever known, he tried to bor
row' that raincoat of Ursenbach’s to
create the same impression.
"Mattie Smith at 9:20 (quoting
from the table), and Frank and Mat-
tie Smith both say 9:30. He called
Schiff at 10 o’clock (reading again),
and yet this man writh all his mathe
matical precision and accuracy at
figures,, said he was at Montag’s at 10
o’clock. They say he arrived back at
11 o’clock, but in his first statement
he said it was 11:05. At 12:12 they
say Mary Phagan arrived at the fac
tory.
"Oh my, they have to do it. Like
the rabbit in Uncle Remus, they’re
‘just ’bleeged to do it.’ Move the min
utes up or back, for God’s sake, or
we are lost!
"But to crown k all! In the table
which Is now turned to the wall you
have Lemmie Quinn arriving not on
the minute, but, to suit your purpose,
at from 12:20 to 12:22. That evi
dence conflicts with the statements
of Miss Freeman and the other young
woman, who put him -there before 12
o’clock.”
Arnold—Your honor, I must inter
rupt. No such evidence w'as ever
brought out. Those young women
testified that they left the factory at
11:45 and that they saw Leminle
Quinn at the Busy Bee Cafe consid
erably after. Mr. Dorsey says they
saw him at the factory before 12
o'clock.
orsey—No. your honor. I didn’t say
any such thing. They uian t see him
there, and I don’t think anyone else
did.
The crowd laughed.
Arnold—Your hpftor, have we got to,
take this ..whole crowd into this case?
Judge Roan—Gentlemen, there
must be order or I will clear the
courtroom.
Dorsey—Find the records They
will show I am right. I have got
Lemmie Quinn's affidavit. I am just
arguing this case on the evidence.
"Jim Conley is a liar, is he? He
said Quinn was there and that he
was there before Mary Phagan came.
Frank had a mighty hard time re
membering w'hether Quinn was there.
When Quinn saw' him at the police
station and said he had been there,
Frank said*he would have to see his
lawyers before deciding whether or
not to make it public.
"Is Jim Conley telling the truth
or telling a lie? You can't go hot
and cold on him. Why was it Frank
wanted to consult his lawyers?”
Arnold—I will find the record.
Dorsey—Yes, you can find It. You
can find where Quinn swore half a
dozen w r ays. He was the most anx
ious witness I ever sa%v on a stand,
except for old man Holloway. He
would tell that he was there if Frank
said tell It. He would keep quiet if
Frank said no.
"Oh, gentlemen, let me read you
w'hat a great lawyer said on this sort
of evidence. I reacf the words of
Judge Lochrane:
“ T do not take the mere words of
witnesses. I take their acts.’
"And w'hile I am on this subject I
want to read you another opinion:
" ‘Evidence given by a witness has
inherent strength which a jury can
not disregard. But a statement has
none.’ ”
Arnold: “Now, your honor, I have
found the records and it bears out
Just w'hat I said.”
Arnold read from the testimony of
Miss Corlnthia Hall that she and Mrs.
Freeman went to the pencil factory
at 11:35 and left there at 11:46.
Arnold: "Mr. Dorsey asked her the
question, Tou saw Lemmie Quinn at
6 minutes to 12 o’clock?’ Answer: i
don’t remember w'hat time it waa He
told us he had been up to the factory
and saw Frank. He said he was go
ing to the matinee.’
"Lemmie Quinn swore several times
he w'as at the factory at 12:20,” Ar
nold continued, "and here it is that he
said that he was in a pool parlor at
12:30, just after leaving the factory.”
Judge Roan: "Mr. Dorsey, have you
anything in contradiction to that?”
Dorsey: "Yes, I have plenty; that
doesn’t scare anybody.”
Arnold: "I jut* want to call atten
tion 10 the glaring errors. The little
ones I don’t care anything about. I
won’t interrupt him except on glar
ing misstatements. Life is too short.”
Dorsey: “Yes, you will. You will
Interrupt me every time I am incor
rect. You are too shrew'd, too anx
ious to let anything go by. Don’t tell
this Jury you are going to let me say
things that are incorrect.
"Here is your table turned to the
wall, having the time of Lemmie
Quinn’s arrival at 12:20. I have an
affidavit here of this pet foreman of
the metal departawnt. He said he
got there at from 12 to 12:20. Those
girls went out of the factory at 11:4.')
o’clock. They walked up a block and
down a block to the Busy Bee Cafe.
There they saw Quinn.
"In the name of goodness, if Frank,
according to his own statement, could
leave the U.ctpr* at 1:10 o'clock and
get home at 1:20, Wouldn’t these girls
walk up a block and down a block
and see Quinn in fifteen minutes?
"I know It hurts, but this table
here w'hieh puts Lemmie Quinn at
the factory from 12:20 to 12:22 is a
fraud on its face. There is no greater
farce in this case than their straining
at this particular point, with the ex
ception of Billy Owens' pantomime.
And, oh, what a farce that w r as!
“Gentlemen of the jury, you need
not try to consider their attempts to
be accurate about the time Quinn;
says he was there, for Lemmie says
himself he could not be positive. He
says he thinks he got there some time
between 12:20 and 12:30.
Mentions Girl Who
Would Die for Frank.
"Ah, gentlemen of the Jury, when
ever a man gets to sw'earing too defi
nite and too specifically about time,
then the words of our friend Webster,
which I quoted to you, are right—
‘He is not to be relied upon.'
"And can you truly consider the
words of a man whom your reason
tells you is straining to set the exact
time?
"But let’s pass on from this. I will
not take the time to read you every
thing that Lemmie says he did. Let’s
pass on to the perjury charge which
Arnold has so flippantly made. You
saw these witnesses upon tha stand.
You heard their words. You noticed
their manner, their attitude and their
interest.
"Why, one of these ladles from the
factory wanted to die for this man
Frank.”
A titter of laughter Tan around the
room, and deputies were forced *0
rap for order.
"When did you ever know of an
employee being so enamoured of her
employer that she w'as willing to die
for him. if their friendship was pure
ly platonic? I know enough about
human nature—I know enough of the
passions which surge in the breast of
mortal man—to know that this poor
woman’s anxietLn to put her neck
Into the noose to save him were bom
of somethine besides platonic love.
"When you see a woman so pas
sionately devoted to her employer—
so anxious to dio for him—you may
know and you can gamble on it that
there is somethin'- stronger there than
platonic love. It must be a passion
bom of something beyond the relation
which should exist between a marrrl^d
man—an employer—and his woman
employee.
"Ah, gentlemen of the Jury, we
could have got witness after witness
who would have ~one upon the stand
and sworn things about this maa.
There were people who would have
perjured themselves. There were wit
nesses who came upon th.s stand for
the deefndant who on th© face of their
testimony perjured themselves
“Take this little Bauer boy. Re
member his testimony before he took
that automobile ride with Montag *.0
the office of Arnold & Arnold. Be
fore dinner he could remember earn
detail, but after dinner, after he had
taken that ride with old Sig Montag,
he had a lapse of memory. Old man
Sig must have told this little boy
about the Hard Shell preacher down
In South Georgia who h^d his con
gregation pray for rain. They prayed
and prayed, and after a while, like old
Sam Jones would have said, the Lord
sent a trash mover, a gully w&aher.
Boy Must Have
Overdone It.”
“It rained and It rained until they
had more water than they knew what
to do with. Then the old hardshell
preacher said: ‘Brethren, it looks like
we have a leetle overdone it.’ So
Montag must have whispered Into
Bauer’s ear, 'You have a leetle over
done it.’
“And, after dinner, this little boy
didn’t know anything. But was that
all? Why, gentlemen of the Jury, be
fore dinner that boy even remember
ed where his watch lay.
“Do you believe that? Talk ab<mt
perjury! Willful foolishness, because
an honest Jury knows that It was
not true. They brought in that ma
chinist Lee. He was willing to
swear to anything and there was not
a man in the sound of his voice that
didn’t know he was telling an un
truth. He wrote and signed a state
ment about Duffy’s injuries. I brought
It here and it was written In type
writing and didn’t even have hi*
name on it.
"They thought we could not find
Duffy and thought you didn’t have
sense enough to know the first thing
you do in a case like that is to wrap
something around it to stop the loss
of blood.
"I have never seen a case vet where
women were so suborned as in this.
Take^this woman Fleming, his ste
nographer. They put her up and
she swore Frank had a general good
character. She only swore to what
he had done in her presence when
they cross-examined her. We don’t
contend Frank tried to seduce every
girl in the factorwy. But he did pick
them out. He picked out Mary Pha
gan and w'as called.
"Gentlemen, he got the wrong girl
and he was called. And this stenog
rapher said she only knew what he
did to her. She testified that Frank’s
business Saturday morning was to
make out the financial sheet. Mr. Ar
nold said immediately he didn’t have
time and she jumped at it like a duck
at a June bug. Mr. Arnold was so
nervous he would not let me finish
the cross-examination, and interpo
lated that remark to guide her.
“It was unfair and not according
to law and practice. But he got
away with it. And then she turned
right around and in the next breath
said that she had never said Frank
was working on the financial sheet
Saturday morning.
Says Perjury Charge
Has Not Been Proved.
“Oh, gentlemen, can you let a poor
little girl go to her death and set her
murderer free on such evidence as
this? If you do, it is time to stop
going through the process of sum
moning a jury.
“Perjury! When did old man
Starnes and Pat Campbell stoop to
that. And suspicions! Why didn’t
we get old man Lee and Gantt In
stead of Frank? Why didn’t we get
Conley? We tried it, but there was
absolutely no case against either But
there is a perfect case against this
man. But, oh, you cried ‘Perjury/
But it Is not worth fifteen cents until
you put your fingers on something
specific.
"And here, gentlemen, right before
Continued on Page 3, Column 1.
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