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IIEARST’S RUNDAY AMERICAN, ATLANTA, flA., SUNDAY, MAY 30. lflU
SAYS NOTES NEGRO WROTE SHOW HIS GUILT
Insists Lasting Shame Will Come to the State of Georgia if Leo M. Frank Is Sent to the Gallows
Continued from Preceding Page.
committed thie murder, it* meaning
will appear. The subsequent trans
actions ended at 1:30, when Conley
left, Frank being still In his office. He
went across the street to a beer sa
loon, examined and counted his
money, took a glass of beer, then took
another, called "a d ouble-header,”
then Invited a negro to take one with
him, and then looked at the clock, and
It was 1:40. If he had done these
things they would certainly have oc
cupied as much as ten minute# His
estimate, therefore, that he left the
offire at 1:30, the State must accept
as reasonable. If anything, he left
earlier From 12: F.6 to 1:30 was 34
minutes, and we have a basis for cal
culation, .
7. The Time Necessary to Fit.
If anyone should be told of the hid
ing of a body under like conditions,
the discussions that followed and the
accompanying transactions, and take
Into consideration the amount of in
evitable pausing and deliberation con
sistent with human experience, and
the amount of talking that would
necessarily be left out of the account,
and bo asked how much time they
required, he could hardly estimate It
at less than two hours In order tor
Conley's story to be credible. It must
havs taken place In 84 minutes, ir
that be Impossible, the story Is un
true.
The story, as told on May 33. ft -0 / 11
the point where he now says he
looked at the clock, to the point where
he left, can not be read aloud In less
than eight minutes, and It leaves out
the whole story about carrying and
hiding the body Interpolate this ac
count from the direct narrative of
May 23 and it takes four minutes
more to read. Here are incidents
narrated which it takes twelve min
utes to read There is not an Impor
tant thing stated that would not re
quire from 10 to 50 times as long to
do as to tell about For Instance, the
visit of Miss Hall and Mrs. Freeman
consumed, according to Conley, as
long as It takes to read the story, or
such part as was in the affidavit of
Mav 23. The descent of the elevator
from the time thev got on It Is told In
fourteen words. Yet the time it con-
srumes, after starting. Is 32 seconds.
The carrying of the body 136 feet is
told in five words.
It can not be reasonably doubted
that. In such transactions, if genuine,
there would have necessarily been
many pauses and much deliberation
not Included in the narrative and
manv words spoken that would not
be mentioned in giving an account of
the substance of what was sold.
Making no allowances for distances
walked or for words said to have
been spoken at times when no act was
In progress, the rest of the things
that Conley says were done, if done
with no Intervals of time whatever,
assigning to each separate act an ir
reducible minimum of time, would
A^nsume 22 minutes and 4D seconds,
shall furnish you a tabulated
' VlStement of these sets, though it is
* Ylong to set out here. In comput
ing this table, I have resolved Into
its necessary parts each act stated
bv Conley as happening.
Thus, whence tells of carrying the
bodv to the elevator and down to the
has»=rr ent, with the incidents there
oof ring, I have tabulated them
thus:
Seconds.
Depositing body on floor at ele
vator &
Time necessary, by actual ex
periment. in opening heavy
elevator door 12
Picking body up and moving it
into elevator and depositing
It there IB
Unsuccessful effort to start el
evator IB
Unlocking switchboard after
return from office And putting
on current Id
Re-entering elevator B
Starting elevator 8
Actual time for descent 32
97
Certainly a minute and a half for
this estimate is within reason. It
will be observed that the estimate In
cludes no time for walking SB feet to
get the kev and returning to the
switchboard The return was 42 feet
Estimating along these lines, making
no allowance anywhere for Inevitable
delays, the time wm as stated above.
If the fragmentary conversations
actually recorded he written out and
read, with no allowance for snoken
words not told of and none for de
liberation. it takes 2 minutes and BB
seconds to read them The total dis
tance walked, excluding short dls
tances of less than SB feet, was 948
feet Estimating an average gait of
8 1-Smiles ner hour, which 1s a ranld
gait, and making no allowance for f he
losses In starting and stopping hut
treating 1t as a continuous walk, the
necessary time would he 3 minutes
and 4 seconds This makes a total of
28 minutes and 4* seconds as the ab
solute minimum within which the
acts stated could possibly have boen j
done, exclusive of delavw. unrecorded
acts and word*, and the actual wri*-
ing of the notes.
7. Time Needed for the Writina.
The time needed for the writing
alone would have consumed more
than the 34 minutes. This statement
will be surprising and will not, at
first, be readily accepted. Experi
ments on the subject surprised me.
But it Is a matter capable of exact
demonstration.
Conley says It took him two and
cne-half or three minutes. When we
bear in mind that he says he wrote
the first note three times. I submit
that it would take a rapid penman
longer, and that is a matter that any
body can determine for himself by
experiment.
Illiterate people write very slowly,
and the notes in question give ample
evidence that they were painfully
written. We are not reduced entire
ly to the necessity for conjecture on
this subject. One of the detectives
tells us that Conley "writes quite"
slowly," He goes further. He dictat
ed to Conley eight words selected
from one of the notes, and It took Con
ley, according to this witness, MORE
than six or seven minutes to write
these words.
There were 113 words written, and
If the minimum of time estimated by
the witness be used (six minutes), it
required well over an hour and a quar
ter for nothing but the writing The
estimate may not have been extrava
gant; it Is possible, but I am disposed,
from experiment, to believe It was
probably excessive. Writing the words
myself, at a rate that I estimate, from
my observation of negroes as penmen,
such a writer would take, the hare
writing consumed something over 26
minutes. If reasonable allowance he
made for preparation, the dictation,
and occasional repetition of a word,
the erasure of the "s" and the neces
sary time taken by Crank in reading,
examining and testing each letter, to
Judge If It would answer, hh Conley
says was done, I am satisfied that the
34 minutes would have been entirely
consumed in these operations.
In the table above referred to I in
cluded the examination of and pass
ing Judgnnnt on each note, hut al
lowed only fifteen seconds to each, and
as many more for the erasure. It ac
tually requires fifteen seconds to read
the second note from type, with no al
lowance for weighing and considering
its merits and demerits for the pur
pose Intended.
The actual time for the bare writ
ing was not Included in the table, but
is in addition, making the entire time
consumed, according to Conley, by no
conceivable possibility less than 54
minutes. Measured by the standard
of common sense and human expe
rience, it could not have been less than
two hours. It has alreadyfl)een shown
that, according to Conley's story, they
could not possibly have been there
more than 34 minutes. The conclusion
that the story Is untrue Is irresistible.
8. McKnight’s Testimony.
Vile as McKnight’s character seems
to have been, and utterly as I repudi
ate him as a credible witness, the
State ought not to hang Frank on
part of what he says and repudiate the
rest There was no effort by Frank
to prove an alibi In the technical
sense, although the Solicitor calls it
that. He was at the factory at the
time the State says he committed the
< rime. He did introduce numerous
and respectable witnesses to prove his
whereabouts during the whole time
testified to by Conley. But the testi
mony of Conley is considered of more
worth than these, and I do not cite
what they say.
But the Solicitor indicates a high
opinion of McKnight. He was a wit
ness an important witness - for the
prosecution, believed by the Solicitor
and the Jury in preference to the oth
ers. And yet McKnight’s testimony
agrees with and sustains the white
witnesses perfectly on this question.
The evidence of McKnight was that
Frank was at home at 1:30, the very
hour that Conley says he left him at
the pencil factory. The testimony of
respectable white people on this sub
ject may not he worthy to be consid
ered beside that of the vile creature
who was telling a story to save his
own life. But I submit, In all fairness,
that McKnight was almost as degrad
ed as Conley. Which of these delecta
ble creatures is to be accepted?
The Solicitor did not meet this un
avoidable iKsue. On page 65 of his ar
gument he indicated his opinion that
the defense had failed to break down
the testimony of McKnight. On page
91 he reads from McKnight’s testimo
ny, "Yea, sir; he came in close to
1:30, I guess—something like that,"
and on page 93 he ascribes to Mc
Knight a statement, as made in gen
eral terms, that Frank came home be
tween 1 and 2 o’clock, but he express
ed no opinion on this: "Mr. Frank got
there not later than 1:30."
9. A Significant Change.
The great length to which this re
view is extending admonishes me that
I can not touch half of the vital
weaknesses of the case. There are
two that I must press on your atten
tion.
I have already called to mind the
ease with which the detectives ac
cepted Conley's statement of May 24,
arid the ridicule with which the pub
lic received it, because it implied pre
meditation, and have shown how, aft
er that weakness dawned on them,
they themselves tell us that they ex
plained to Conley that the statement
"showed premeditation and that
would not do." But they never did
see this clearly. Before this Inquiry
is ov»*r, the prosecution is going to
meet one deadly piece of evidence by
an explanation that will be open to
the same fatal defect.
Conley's statement of May 29 was
bas#*d on premeditation. He saw nei
ther Quinn nor Mary Phagan nor
Monteen Stover that day. His state
ment. then made, purports to be
merely a supplement to that of the
28th He concludes it by saying,
"And the rest is Just like I told It
before.” Now, what Is the story? He
says, In substance:
"I met Mr. Frank by accident at
Nelson street as I was going to the
laundry. At his request, I waited for
him there. Whan he came back he
told me to come to the factory and
I went with him. When we got back
he told me to wait downstairs till he
whistled. I raw various people come
and go. (Neither Quinn nor the two
girls were among those mentioned.)
When he whistled I went upstairs.
(There is nothing said about any
stamping, and nothing about any no
tice as why he was wanted.) Mr.
Frank was at the head of the step.?
and asked me if I wanted to make
some money. I said yes. and he told
me he had picked up a girl back there
and let her fall, and her head hit
something, and he didn’t know what
it was, and for me to move her, and I
hollered and told him she was dead,"
etc
And then followed the moving of
the body, and the writing of the notes,
and so on, with many variations from
what he finally testified.
Now, observe that while all this still
left a good deal of premeditation in it,
or probably In it, it took out the grosa
premeditation of thp Friday story.
But it put gn element of suspicion
that could not be ignored. The ques
tion would inevitably arise: If all
that waS true, why did Frank disclose
his crime?" Up to this time there
was no hint to Conley that Frank way
expecting a visitor, or that he wanted
a watch kept. Nothing was there
about locking the door or unlocking
it. There had never been a hint ir\
any of Conley's stories that Frank
had been guilty of shameful prac
tices, or »hat Conley had been h»s
abetter. Conley did not know, ac
cording to this story, why Frank,
wanted him; and, while the fact that
Frank did want him suggests pre
meditation w'hen we read the story,
there was nothing said to Conley, as
he tells it, that gave him the slightest
hint that a meeting was involved.
Why, then, if Frank had unwitting
ly committed a crime, did he confide
It to Conley? The story needed a
supplement that would explain the
savage atrocity of the murder by fix
ing on Frank degrading practices, and
at the same time explain his need
lessly confiding it to Conley. i
On the witness stand it was all pre
pared and ready. When he goes up
stairs it is after arrangements made
to watch, with full knowledge that a
liaison was intended, and full vision
of the entrance of the victim. So skill
fully was the story altered now that
instead of bluntly psoposlng to pay
him to be witness to a murder for
which he needed no witness. Frank
asks him, "Did you see a little girl."
etc. And Conley tells him, "I saw two
come up anfl only one go down."
Frank has now made sure, before con
fessing. that the witness would know,
anyhow', and he is obliged to confess
Had the story stayed as it was. there
could have been no explanation for
the confession. As it was. the new
story' is weak enough, but such as it
is, it was manifestly intended and
manufactured to fit* the emergency
and explain why confession was un
avoidable.
10. The Mute Evidence of the Paper.
1 have not time to elaborate further,
but I can not forbear to comment on
the fact, curiously overlooked at the
trial, that the paper on which the sec
ond note was written is mute but un
answerable evidence that Conley’s
w hole story was false. The crime was
committed in 1913. Conley says it
came off of a brow’nlsh scratch pad on
Frank’s desk. It has been in posses
sion of the State since the 27th of
April, 1913. It carries on Its face the
unanswerable proof that It was a car
bon sheet, one of the alternate yellow
slips that underlie the white order
sheets on the pad. Its date line,
"190—" is demonstration that it was
long out of date. It had been used
and tom off of the pad. The number
of the order is on it, and legible—as
deadly a piece of evidence as any wa
ter mark of a paper maker that ever
betrayed a forgery'.
"Order No. 1018."
The autograph of the man who
signed the order can still be deci
phered, "H. F. Becker." Becker left
the factory in 1912. He was the cus
todian of these temporary carbon
memoranda. The paper was an or
der to the Cotton States Belting and
Supply Company, and you can faintly
decipher the word “steel." The or
der w'as filled in September, 1909. The
old papers out of Becker’s desk were
emptied in the basement. By the tes
timony of Officer Dobbs, he found the
pad that the w'hite note came from,
but he found no pad foT the yelloir
sheet. On the trash pile In the base
ment he found loose sheets of papas
by the hat and slippers, and there he
found pencils also.
By the silent evidence of things
witnesses that can not lie, you read
the story of the notes, and see their
preparation by Conley In the base
ment, as clearly as though you saw
him write them. There is no answer
but unreasonable conjecture or PRHU
MEDITATION.
11. Conclusion.
I have finished the proof. These 9m
plenty more. But It Is enough.
Gentlemen of the board, as I under*
stand U. the defendant asks only cons-
mutation. He asks but an opportuni
ty to vindicate his honor. As a pri
vate eltlze.i of Georgia, deeply con
cerned for her honor, I think yom
ought to ad\ ise the Governor to grant
the commutation. If Leo Frank is
hanged, an innocent man will die, but
it is the State that will suffer the
shame, and the day will come when a
great revulsion of feeling will follow.
Grant his prayer. Advise the Gov
ernor in terms of wisdom, Justice and
moderation.
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In The Journal of the American
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