Watchman Swears Elevator Was Open; Changes Evidence
Atlanta Journal
August 1st, 1913
E. F. Holloway Angers Dorsey When He Testifies Contrary to Affidavit—Had Told Dorsey Elevator Switch Was Locked
Court adjourned at 4:58 o’clock until 9 o’clock Friday morning after a day of surprises in the trial of Leo M. Frank, charged with the murder of Mary Phagan, in the National Pencil factory building.
That the switch board which controls the motor used to operate the elevator in the National Pencil factory, where Mary Phagan was murdered was left unlocked Saturday morning when he left the building at 11:45 o’clock, and that anybody could have entered and run the elevator up and down the shaft during the balance of the day, was the statement of E. F. Holloway, one of the factory’s watchmen at the trial of Leo M. Frank late Thursday afternoon.
Although Holloway made an affidavit for Solicitor Hugh M. Dorsey, which he identified in the court room, swearing to the fact that he left the switch box locked on that Saturday, he positively declared on Thursday that he left it unlocked, and when confronted with his own signature answered, “I forgot.”
When Holloway took the stand he had hardly started his narrative when Solicitor Dorsey cut him short and addressed the court.
“I wish to state that I have been entrapped by this witness.” The solicitor’s remarks followed the statement of Holloway that he unlocked the switch box to operate the motor to cut some boards and ran the elevator up to the third floor for White and Denham, and left the box unlocked.
Dr. Claude Smith, city bacteriologist, was on the stand for a while and testified that stains upon certain chips which were brought to him by city detectives, presumably cut from the second floor of the pencil factory, contained blood corpuscles. He could not say, however, that it was human blood, he only knew that it was the blood of a mammal, and under cross-examination by Attorney Rosser, admitted that it might have been the blood of a mouse. Dr. Smith examined the shirt said to have been found in the house of Newt Lee and declared that the shirt was not soiled save for blood stains and that it appeared not have been worn recently, as there were no body odors on it.
Mary Phagan had been dead ten or fifteen hours when her body was examined by William A. Gheesling, of P. J. Bloomfield’s undertaking establishment, shortly after 4 o’clock on the Sunday morning her body was discovered in the basement of the pencil factory, according to Gheesling’s testimony given at the trial of Leo M. Frank during Thursday afternoon’s session. Thus according to the undertaker, the little girl met her death some time between the time that she entered the factory at 12:10 o’clock Saturday afternoon and 6 o’clock of the same day, not later than 6 o’clock.
MRS. APPELBAUM PRESENT.
Mrs. Callie Scott Appelbaum, whose trial and acquittal upon the charge that she murdered her husband in an Atlanta hotel, was a recent sensation in Atlanta, because one of the women spectators in the court room shortly after the afternoon session convened.
Under cross-examination by Attorney Arnold, Stanford testified that on Friday preceding the murder he had swept the floor of the entire metal room. The job took him about three hours, he said. He worked from 9 o’clock until 12. He swept beneath all of the machines and even removing boxes and barrels and other debris stored next to the women’s toilet. He swept under Mary Phagan’s machine and under the lathe used by Barrett. The area that he swept is as big as the court room, he said.
“Was it your duty to sweep this room?” asked Attorney Arnold.
“It was my duty to sweep part of it, where the concrete floor is.” That, he said, is little less than half of the total area.
“Why did you go on and sweep the wood floor when you were supposed to sweep only the concrete floor? Did you just start to sweeping and then couldn’t stop?”
“No, sometimes I sweep the whole floor.”
“Who told you to sweep this part?”
“Nobody.”
“A negro was paid to sweep this, wasn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“Wasn’t it a negro’s duty to sweep that same place that same day?”
“No, the negro usually swept it on Saturday.”
“Were you paid by the hour or by the piece?”
“By the hour.”
In sweeping this floor, said Stanford, he saw a few paint spots near the entrance of the women’s dressing room, and also near the door of the room where lacquer is kept.
“Will you swear that there were not half a dozen other spots in that room, of one kind or another?”
“Yes.”
Mrs. George W. Jefferson was called to the stand. She is an employe of the National Pencil factory. She was in the factory on April 23 and again on April 28.
She passed through the metal room on the 28th to the polishing room and didn’t notice any blood spots, but did see spots on the floor there Monday. She described the blood spots.
She works in the polishing room on the same floor with the metal room. In the polishing room about 50 feet from the blood spots, on a post a number of pieces of twine cord usually hang.
The color of the blood spots was dark, she said; but there was some whitish stuff spread over them. Picking up a cord, Solicitor Dorsey asked the witness if she had seen any cord like that in the factory.
“Yes,” she said. It was similar to lengths of cord that hung on the post.
“How long have you been working in the polishing room?”
“About five years.”
“Are there any paints kept in the polishing room?”
“Yes.”
“Any red paints?”
“Yes.”
“How many different shades of red paint are kept there?”
“Three—maroon red, red line and bright red.”
“Are you familiar with these paints?”
“Yes, I should be. I use them enough in polishing.”
“Those are all the paints there?”
“Yes.”
SPOT WAS NOT PAINT.
“Could you distinguish one of these paints from another?”
“Yes.”
“Could you tell whether or not the red spot had been made by one of the paints used in the polishing room?”
“It was not one of the paints.”
Attorney Rosser took up the cross-examination.
“How did you happen to discover those dory spots near the dressing room door?” he asked.
“Mr. Barrett and I discovered them together at about the same time.”
“Did you discover them or did Barrett call your attention to them?”
“I had been over to Mary Phagan’s machine and was on my way back to the polishing room where I worked when we saw the spot. I think Mr. Barrett saw it first.”
“Barrett was going around looking for spots, huh?”
“He made a search of the metal room.”
“The floor in the metal room is dirty and greasy, is it not?”
“Yes.”
“There are a good many dark spots on it?”
“I’ve seen greasy spots, but no spots like the one by the dressing room door.”
“Where were the paints kept?”
“In the polishing room.”
“Were there no paints in the metal room?”
“No.”
“After the coloring matter is mixed with the grease, it is difficult to tell the color, is it not?”
“I never tried that.”
“Did the white stuff hide the red spot?”
“No.”
“How many other red spots did you find around the metal room?”
“I didn’t find any others.”
“You say you knew Mary Phagan?”
“Yes, for about a year.”
SPOT CHIPPED UP LATER.
“How much of that white stuff was there?”
“It covered a place about as big as my fan.” The witness exhibited a palm leaf fan of ordinary size.
“This spot later was chipped up, was it not?”
“Yes.”
“Come down,” said Mr. Rosser.
Solicitor Dorsey told her to wait.
“Where are the pencils painted?” inquired the solicitor.
“On the third floor.”
“Where else are the paints used?”
“Nowhere, except on the third floor and in the polishing room on the second floor.”
“After the paints are carried into the polishing room, is there ever any occasion to take them out to the metal room?”
“No, sir.”
Mr. Dorsey sat down as if he had finished with the witness, and Mr. Rosser arose again.
“Mrs. Jefferson, these cords are scattered around all over the building, are they not?” inquired Mr. Rosser.
“No, sir, they are not supposed to be.”
“Well, where are they kept?”
“On the post in the polishing room.”
“Do you mean to say that there are none of these cords anywhere else about the building?”
CORDS IN POLISHING ROOM.
“As a matter of fact, don’t they sometimes fall on the floor and aren’t they sometimes carried in the sweepings to the basement?”
“I have never been to the basement have you?”
“No, sir.”
“You don’t know whether there are any cords down there or not?”
“No, sir.”
“As a matter of fact, Mrs. Jefferson, haven’t you within the past three months seen cords like this on the first floor of the factory?”
“No, sir, I have not.”
“Well where else have you seen them beside the polishing room and the third floor?”
“Nowhere else.”
Mr. Rosser sat down, and Mr. Dorsey questioned the witness.
“Do they have any need for cords in the basement?”
“None that I know of.”
HASLETT ON STAND.
City Detective B. B. Haslett was called to the stand.
He told of going to Frank’s house Monday morning at 7 o’clock to get him to go to the police station. Answering questions put by Solicitor Dorsey, he said that Frank was not arrested at this time, and was kept at detective headquarters only two or three hours.
Haslett said that they told Frank at his house that Chief Lanford wanted to see him. Frank appeared willing to accompany them and said: “Wait a minute and I’ll be with you.”
“Do you know when Frank was arrested?”
“No, sir, I do not.”
“Whom did you see at detective headquarters that morning?”
“I saw Mr. Rosser and Mr. Haas, after I had gone up the street and come back.”
Attorney Rosser cross-examined him.
“What time did you say you saw Mr. Haas and me there?” asked Mr. Rosser.
“I think it was about 8 o’clock, as nearly as I can recollect. I won’t swear to the exact time.”
Mr. Rosser asked for details about the detectives’ actions at Frank’s house, in an apparent effort to gain from Detective Haslett an admission that Frank was detained against his will.
“You know, don’t you, that Frank didn’t get away from detective headquarters until nearly 12, don’t you?”
“No, I didn’t stay there until 12.”
“As a matter of fact, when you went out to Frank’s house, it wasn’t a question of whether or not he wanted to go, was it?”
“I don’t suppose it was.”
“Why did they send two of you?”
“Well, we generally work two together.”
“Well, now, if Frank had resisted, Mr. Haslett, wouldn’t you have brought him anyhow?”
“Yes, I guess we would.”
UNDERTAKER TESTIFIES.
William A. Gheesling was called to the stand. He is an undertaker employed by P. J. Bloomfield.
Gheesling said that he went to the pencil factory at about 10 minutes to 4 o’clock on [t]he morning that the body was discovered and found the body lying face down on the ground on the spot where it was discovered. The cord and the loop of an undergarment strip still were around the neck said he. He put the remains in a basket and carried them to the undertaking establishment, said he.
The impression that the loop and the cord had left on the neck of the body was an eighth of an inch deep, said he.
“What was the state of the body as regards rigor mortis?” asked the solicitor.
DEAD 10 OR 15 HOURS.
The body was rigid, said the witness.
“How long would you estimate that she had been dead?”
“Ten or fifteen hours and maybe more,” answered Gheesling.
He said that the blood on her clothes had coagulated. Blood had settled in her face, her head being lower than the rest of the body. The solicitor asked him how long it takes usually for blood to settle. Sometimes it settles in a few minutes, said the witness.
“Did you examine her nails?”
“After Dr. Hurt.”
“What did you discover under her finger nails?”
“Only dust.”
“Did you observe anything about her eyes?”
There was a bruise over the right eye, said the witness. Evidently it had been made before death, for it had swelled.
“Were there any other wounds?” asked the solicitor.
“There were two on the back of the head.”
DESCRIBES WOUNDS.
“If you made an examination, tell the jury about it.”
The skull was not fractured, said the witness, but the scalp was broken.
“Were there any marks on the body that could have been made by dragging?”
“There was a scar over each eye about the size of a dime.”
“What was the condition of her nose?”
“I don’t know.”
“Were you present when Frank came to the undertaking place on the morning of Sunday, April 27?”
“Yes. I didn’t know who Frank was until afterward, though.”
“Did you observe his conduct particularly?”
“No.”
“Can you say whether or not he looked upon the body?”
“I cannoa [sic].”
“Can you say what caused the death of Mary Phagan?”
Before the witness could reply, Attorney Rosser objected on the ground that the witness was not competent, not being a physician. Judge Roan held that the solicitor would have to qualify the witness as an expert. The solicitor withdrew his question with the comment that he would prove that by somebody else.
ROSSER TAKES WITNESS.
The witness was cross-examined by Mr. Rosser.
“Was the blood under hair damp?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, if it had been damp an hour before you found the body, how long would you say that she had been dead?”
“Between ten and fifteen hours, I would say. I don’t go by the blood at all but by the status of the rigor mortis.”
Attorney Rosser brought out from the witness the statement that rigor mortis sets in more quickly in certain cases than in others.
The witness admitted that he had little experience with strangulation cases. He had embalmed the bodies of a couple of men who were hanged. They were the only cases that he remembered. The witness discussed the action of blood after death, and said that no blood would come from wound after the last heart action unless the body was moved or it was forced out by some pressure.
Attorney Rosser brought out that in embalming the body, Gheesling removed half a gallon of blood and put in a gallon of embalming fluid. The witness was asked the formula of the embalming fluid that he used, and asked the court that he be not made to answer as the formula is one of his own which it has taken him fifteen years to perfect. The attorney withdrew the question.
BODY NOT MUTILATED.
The most interesting fact brought out by the cross examination of Gheesling was that Mary Phagan’s body was in no way mutilated. Attorney Rosser brought out that Dr. Hurt had probed under the girl’s finger nails, but the witness did not know what he had found. The witness stated that Dr. Hurt made a post mortem examination of the body on Monday. The witness convulsed the court when in reply to Rosser’s questions as to whether the girl’s underclothes had been torn or cut, he replied he was no dressmaker and couldn’t tell.
Solicitor Dorsey asked the witness a final question:
“Had the girl lost much blood when you examined the body?”
“She couldn’t have lost much,” was the answer.
Dr. Claude Smith was called as the next witness. He is a physician, and is the Atlanta city bacteriologist and chemist.
FOUND BLOOD ON CHIPS.
Solicitor Dorsey handed to the witness some chips.
“Dr. Smith, have you made any tests on these chips? If so, when?”
“These chips appear to be specimens that the detectives brought to me at my office.”
“What was their condition?”
“They were very dirty, and there appeared to be a stain upon them. I examined several specimens, and one one specimen I found blood corpuscles.”
The chips were the ones exhibited previously as having been dug from the metal room floor.
“Could you tell whether it was human blood or not?”
“I could not.”
The shirt that the detectives claim to have found in the bar[r]el at Newt Lee’s house was handed to the witnes[s]. He was asked if he had seen it before. The shirt was one that the detectives had brought to him, said the witness. He started to repeat something that the detectives told him when they delivered the shirt. Mr. Rosser objected. “We don’t care anything about that. We want to hear what you know of your own knowledge.”
SHIRT NEVER WORN.
Solicitor Dorsey added, “Yes, just tell us what you found.”
The witness stated that he examined the stains on the shirt. They reacted under the chemical test and also under the miscroscope [sic]. The witness examined the arm pits of the sihrt [sic] and it was his opinion that it hadn’t been worn.
Mr. Rosser objected. “We don’t want your opinion on common place subjects,” said he. Dr. Smith continued that blood had been smeared over the inside of the shirt, and very little of it had penetrated outside. It was wadded together in some places as if it had been used to wipe something.
Again Mr. Ros[s]er objected, declaring that the witness merely was giving his own conclusion; that he was supposed to give the condition of the shirt, without surmise.
Judge Roan advised the witness to state just what condition the shirt was in when it reached him.
Solicitor Dorsey declared that the shirt had been produced by Mr. Rosser for the defense, and that he wanted the witness to tell the jury what its condition was when the detectives gave it to him. Mr. Rosser rejoined: “I was just showing what John Black had been doing—that he had been finding a shirt.”
“Go ahead, doctor, and tell us about the condition of the shirt,” said Mr. Dorsey.
“It was not soiled around the inside of the collar,” said the witness. “It had every appearance of having been washed, but not worn.” He said there was no odor to it.
Manifesting some impatience, Mr. Rosser jumped to his feet and asked that the witness’ reply be stricken from the record. He declared that the witness was not discussing a scientific matter, but a common place one, which did not require expert testimony.
“All this stuff about odors is not a medical question,” asserted Mr. Rosser. He ought to discuss only those things which the jury cannot determine for themselves.”
Solicitor Dorsey asked the witness to tell the condition of the shirt and omit his conclusions.
There was no odor to the shirt. There was no evidence of soiling on the inside of the collar. Most of the blood was on the inside of the shirt.
ROSSER’S EXAMINATION.
Mr. Rosser cross-examined the witness. He endeavored to make the witness admit that under some circumstances, such as the tail of the shirt being turned up, it could be soiled outwardly yet appear to have been soiled from the inside. Dr. Smith was inclined to dispute that theory. Again growing impatient, Mr. Rosser declared that the witness had been arguing ever since he came on the stand.
“You say there was no stain on the inside of the collar?”
“There was none.”
“There was a pungent odor of blood, wasn’t there?”
“Yes, there was some odor from the blood.”
“Then the blood odor might destroy the body odor, might it not?”
“Somewhat.”
“You say the odor of the shirt was that of a garment that had been washed and was fresh?”
“If a person had just worn this shirt a short while, there wouldn’t be much odor, would there?”
“Yes, there would be some odor.”
“If he had put it right on and taken it right off, you still count detect it?”
Mr. Rosser counted out four chips in the package and handed them to the witness. Dr. Smith admitted that he could not tell on which one of the four chips he found the blood.
Dr. Smith continued that blood corpuscles could remain on the floor or piece of wood for years if they were not disturbed in any way. He said, however, that they dissolved rapidly when water was put with them.
He had not examined the blood on the chips for quantity, said the witness, but admitted that all of the corpuscles that he saw—some four or five—could have been left there from one drop of blood. He could only tell that it was the blood of a mammal.
BLOOD OF A MOUSE?
He admitted that the blood might have been from a mouse, but refused to state that it was not the blood of an animal. Some experts could tell the difference between human and brute blood, but he could not.
Dr. Smith was asked a number of questions relative to rigor mortis, which, said he, usually starts very soon after death. It was complete in a number of instances in about ten hours, he said.
Mr. Rosser attempted repeatedly to make the witness say that a person taking off the shirt could have folded it so that the different blood spots would have been distributed upon it as they appeared in court; but the witness contended that it was hardly possible. Some of the blood on the inside of the shirt was only six inches from the arm pits, he said.
E. F. Holloway, watchman at the National Pencil factory, was called to the stand. In reply to questions by Solicitor Dorsey, he said that he worked in the pencil factory on the Saturday of the murder, from 6:20 a. m., until 11:45, and that among his duties was the supervision of the elevator.
“What do you do when you leave, usually?” asked the solicitor. “What did you do regarding the elevator when you left on Saturday?”
“I had cut two plans for White and Denham, and I started the elevator to the third floor, where they were working.”
Solicitor Dorsey addressed the court.
“I want to say right now that I have been entrapped by this witness straight-out.”
The solicitor addressed this question to the witness after taking some affidavits and papers from his table:
“On May 12, 1913, in the presence of E. S. Smith, stenographer, Detectives Starnes and Campbell, and myself, didn’t you say regarding the power box that enables you to run the elevator, that you kept it locked all the time?”
“I said I left it locked Friday night.”
“Where did you leave the elevator Friday night?”
“I left it on the second floor.”
“Was it there when you left the building that Friday night?”
“Yes.”
“On Saturday, where was the elevator when you left?”
SWITCH BOX UNLOCKED.
“I did some sawing for Mr. White and Mr. Denham and sent it up and left the switch box unlocked Saturday.”
“Didn’t you say you never heard of the insurance company ordering the switch box kept open all the time, one day in my office? And don’t you know that you said Mr. Darley had instructed you to keep it locked all the time? And isn’t it a fact that the box was locked Saturday morning at 11:45 when you left the building?”
“It was not.”
“Why then, did you tell me it was?”
“I forgot.”
“What was it Frank said to Newt Lee Friday night—you heard what he said, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t hear him say anything to Newt Lee.”
Solicitor Dorsey picked up an affidavit.
“You signed your name to this paper, didn’t you?”
The witness replied “Yes.”
“Why did you say the box was always kept locked?”
“I forgot.”
Holloway proceeded to testify that he saw Frank leave the pencil factory at 9:45 a. m. Sturdaya [sic], April 26, to go to Montag Brothers.
“Did you ever see Gantt speak to Mary Phagan while he was working in the factory?”
“No.”
The witness had misunderstood the question, he said, asking that it be repeated. The lawyers for the defense interposed that he was hard of hearing. Mr. Dorsey repeated the question.
“I saw him talking to her frequently.”
[several words missing] and where?”
“Around the time clock. [several words missing] would stop to register.
“What is the condition of the stairs that lead from the ground floor to the back of the basement?”
“It is good,” answered the witness.
“Are these stairs nailed up? If so, how long have they been nailed up?”
“All this year.”
“Were you there Monday morning after the murder?”
“I was.”
“What do you know about the insurance people going through the building?”
“I saw a crowd of men in the basement.”
“Do you know when that area down there was cleaned up?”
“About two weeks after the murder.”
That closed the direct examination, and the witness was turned over to Attorney Arnold.
“Mr. Holloway, all Saturday morning the front doors were unlocked, were they not?” began Mr. Arnold.
“Yes.”
“When those men, Denham and White, wanted you to saw those boards for them, you had to use the motor, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“That’s the same motor that runs the elevator, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“And you left the switch-box open when you left, did you?”
“Yes.”
ELEVATOR OPEN.
“Then anybody could run the elevator after that?”
“Anybody—yes.”
“Mr. Holloway, isn’t the floor of the metal department dirty and greasy?”
“There’s not a worse one in town.”
During the three years he has worked in the pencil factory, said the witness, the floor of the metal room has not been scoured once.
“Mr. Holloway, spots are not uncommon on this floor, are they?”
“No, sir.”
“Have you ever seen spots that looked like blood, around the ladies’ toilet?”
“Yes.”
“Did you ever see the spots that Barret[t] claims to have discovered, on the floor of the metal room?”
“I saw it late on Monday.”
“This man Barret[t] discovered mighty near everything that was found in the building, didn’t he?”
“So he claims,” said the watchman.
“Did you ever see Frank speak to Mary Phagan?”
“Did you see Newt Lee when he got there Monday?”
“Yes, he was just going out with the detectives.”
“Who came next?”
“Either White or Denham—I don’t know which. He went upstairs.”
“Who was the next to come in?”
“Alonzo Mann, the office boy.”
“Who next?”
“Mr. Frank, I think.”
“What did he do?”
“He opened the safe, got out the books and went to work.”
“Who came next?”
“Mattie Smith. She worked there.”
“Who came next?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Didn’t you see Corinthia Hall and another young woman come in?”
“No, I met them at Hunter and Broad streets after I left the factory. Miss Emma asked if there was anybody at the factory. She was getting cold and wanted to get a wrap, she said. I told her Mr. Frank was there and would let her in.”
“Who else came in the factory while you were there?”
“Graham and others came in while I was upstairs with White and Denham.”
“Are there double doors leading back to the metal room? Are they kept locked?”
“Yes, but they’re not kept locked. One stays closed and the other open. They couldn’t be locked. There’s not lock on them. The doors are there to keep the steam out of the packing department. One is kept closed all the time when the factory is working.”
“On the Friday before the murder, did you turn the building over to Newt Lee?”
“Yes.”
“Who closed up the building?”
“Lee.”
“He closes all doors and windows?”
“Yes.”
“On all the floors?”
“Yes.”
“It’s his duty to go to the basement and the back door of the basement?”
“Yes.”
“What other negroes are employed in the factory?”
“Knolys, the fireman; Jim Conley, the sweeper; Bill McKinley, Fred Howell, who sweeps the metal room, and Joe Williams.”
“Have you ever heard of Stanford sweeping up the cement floors and the wood floors around the metal room?”
“Yes, frequently. He’s done that all this year, when we’ve been short of hands.”
“The factory usually paid off on Saturdays at 12 o’clock?”
“Yes.”
“Where were the employes paid off?”
“Near the clock.”
“Frank didn’t usually pay off, did he?”
“No, sir.”
“When were the employes paid off on the Friday before the murder—what time?”
“About 5:45 or 6 o’clock.”
“Saturday was a holiday?”
“Yes.”
“You put up signs notifying the employes that they would be paid off on Friday night?”
“Yes, sir, I put signs up on every floor.”
“What time did you usually get to the factory in the mornings, to relieve the night watchman?”
“Always at 6:20 o’clock.”
“Did you ever come to the factory on Sundays?”
“No, sir.”
“Who was there on Sundays?”
“Nobody.”
“How was the elevator entrance closed?”
“By sliding doors.”
“Could anybody raise them?”
“Yes.”
“What is the condition on the first floor?”
“Very dark. There are always a lot of boxes piled around. Anybody coming from the light of the street would find it hard to see.”
“Could anybody raise the doors and get into the elevator shaft from the first floor?”
“Yes, these doors slide up and down on weights, like windows.”
“Were the same kind of doors on the elevator on the second floor?”
“Yes.”
“Did you see Mrs. White before you left the factory that Saturday morning?”
“No, sir; she came after I left.”
“You say there are two time clocks, one registering from 1 to 100, and the other from 101 to 200?”
“Yes. There are about 160 employes in the factory. Every one has a number. That makes it necessary to have two clocks.”
“Newt Lee, the night watchman, was expected to punch every half-hour to show he was there—twenty-four times every twelve hours?”
“Yes.”
“Was the shipping clerk at the factory that Saturday morning?”
“Yes, he was there about two hours. He came at 8 o’clock and stayed until 10 o’clock.”
“Where is the shipping department?”
“Just off from the packing department on the second floor.”
“When Mattie Smith was paid off, she found a mistake had been made in her pay, did she not?”
“Yes, she found it out just about the time she came out of the office and got as far as the clock. Darley accompanied her back into Mr. Frank’s office and corrected the mistake.”
“The stenographer, Miss Hattie Hall, came in during the morning, did she not?”
“Yes, I saw her at the typewriter in the outer office.”
“What time did Frank come back from Montag Brothers?”
“About 11 o’clock.”
“Did he have a paper in his hand, or a folder?”
“Yes, he always carried this folder over to Montag Brothers and brought it back with him.”
“When Frank returned from Montage Brothers, did he go right up to office?” continued Mr. Arnold.
“Yes.”
“The stenographer was still in the outer office?”
“Yes.”
“We have some cords here.” Mr. Arnold picked up a piece of cord. “You used these cords in various parts of the factory building, did you not?”
“Yes, everywhere in the building.”
“You can find them in various parts of the building?”
“Everywhere.”
“They come to the factory tied around bundles of slats, do they not?”
“And pencils are made out of these slats?”
“Yes.”
“These cords are hung about on nails and get into the trash every day, do they not?”
“Yes, it’s impossible to keep them from being scattered around.”
“Did you see Mae Barrett that Saturday morning?”
“Yes, I met her going up into the building.”
“Did you see Mary Phagan?”
“No, sir.”
“Did you see Mary Phagan’s body?”
“Yes.”
“Did you recognize it?”
“Yes.”
“You knew her by name?”
“Yes.”
“She was stout and stockily built?”
“Yes.”
“Was the negro Conley familiar with the metal room?”
“Yes, he was familiar with every part of the building.”
On re-direct examination. Solicitor Dorsey asked Holloway this question:
“In my office, did you not tell me that you locked the power box of the elevator on Saturday?”
“I don’t remember.”
Solicitor Dorsey took up a stenographic record and read this extract:
“Do you general[l]y keep the power box locked? Answer: Yes. Where do you keep the key? Answer: In the office. Did you lock the box on Saturday? Answer: Yes.’
“Did you read over this record before you signed it?” demanded the solicitor.
“Yes,” said the watchman. “I read it over, but I didn’t tell you anything about sawing wood on that Saturday, and I remembered that I left the box unlocked and put the key in the office, where I got it Monday.”
The solicitor grilled the witness on previous statements by himself in contrast with those offered there in court.
Attorney Arnold said to the witness:
“You forgot to tell him about sawing the planks and that reminded you about unlocking the elevator and then taking the key to the office, where it was left because there is a spring lock on the power box?”
“That’s right,” the witness said.
After the witness left the stand Solicitor Dorsey tendered in evidence that portion of the stenographic record of Holloway’s statement to him which referred to the power box, saying that the witness did not admit saying that he locked the box on Saturday. The attorneys for the defense contended that he did admit saying that he had locked the box, although he was mistaken about it.
The witness was called back to the stand, and then he clearly admitted that he had said to the solicitor that he had told him that he locked the box on Saturday.
Solicitor Dorsey then declared that he still wanted to put the stenographic record in record as it was highest and best evidence of the witness’ contradictory statement by which he, Dorsey, had been entrapped. To avoid a tedious argument, said the solicitor, he would waive the point inasmuch as he had secured the witness’ admission that he had contradicted himself.
Solicitor Dorsey called for Mrs. Arthur White as the next witness, but Judge Roan declared it was time to adjourn. Before adjourning, however, the court asked if any of the jurors had any complaint to make of treatment they were receiving.
Juror Winburn said they had had a complaint relative to their rooms, but he understood the matter would be rectified by the sheriff.