Thursday, May 8th, 1913 Mr. Frank's Treatment of Girls Unimpeachable, Says Miss Hall

Factory employee testifies she encountered foreman Lemmie Quinn at nearby café around 12:30 on the day of the murder

Miss Corinthia Hall, an employee of the National Pencil Company, became the first of the factory's young women workers to offer testimony before the coroner regarding Mr. Frank's conduct and attitude toward his female employees.

She declared his behavior toward the women at the factory to be beyond reproach.

Miss Hall told the coroner that she works in the varnish department on the fourth floor of the pencil factory and resides at 19 Waverly Street in Kirkwood. She has been employed at the factory for approximately three years.

At about 11:45 on the morning of April 26th, she said, she left the pencil factory after spending roughly ten minutes there with Mrs. Emma Freeman, a bride of just one day and a former factory employee, who had come to retrieve her coat. Miss Hall recalled checking the clock as they departed. She and Mrs. Freeman spoke briefly with Mr. Frank, who greeted Mrs. Freeman by asking, "How's the bride?"

The coroner asked how Mr. Frank had known she was a bride. Miss Hall explained that Mrs. Freeman, who had been Miss Clark the day before, had slipped away from the factory to a minister to be married. Mr. Frank was standing in the doorway of his office at the time. Miss Hall noted that she also saw a stenographer and Mrs. White in the office. Frank asked her to pass word to Arthur White that his wife wished to see him downstairs.

Upon reaching the fourth floor, she encountered Arthur White, Henry Denham, and Mrs. Mae Barrett. The coroner pressed her with several questions about what Mrs. Barrett was carrying and whether she observed any crocus sacks nearby. The witness said she saw no crocus sacks in Mrs. Barrett's hands. Mrs. White did not come upstairs; instead, White went downstairs to her. Miss Hall retrieved Mrs. Freeman's coat, went downstairs, and was introduced by White to his wife.

Met Quinn in Café

The coroner asked whether the witness was acquainted with a Mr. Hays who worked in the office of A. P. Stewart, the tax collector. She replied that she knew Maybell Hays' father. When asked whether she had told Mrs. Hays anything about Mrs. Barrett and the crocus sacks, she said she had not.

Miss Hall then described her movements after leaving the factory. She walked a short distance to Harry Malsby's establishment and used the telephone there, then stopped at a nearby drug store before returning to Malsby's to try the call again, having not reached the person she was trying to contact. She and Mrs. Freeman then stepped into the Busy Bee café on the corner of Hunter Street for coffee and sandwiches.

Lemmie Quinn came in shortly after. Just before his arrival, Miss Hall had paid for the sandwiches with a five dollar bill and received a considerable amount of silver change. She asked Quinn to exchange some of the coins for bills.