Thursday, May 8th, 1913 Stenographer in Factory Office on Witness Stand

Miss Hattie Hall testifies Frank was busy and behind on work when she left at noon

Miss Hattie Hall, the stenographer who worked at the National Pencil Factory on the morning of Saturday, April 26th, testified as follows.

She resides at 69 Luckie Street and works for the National Pencil Company out of the Montag Brothers office. That Saturday morning she arrived at the Montag Brothers office on Nelson Street at approximately 8 o'clock and left between 10:30 and 11, having spoken with Frank by telephone several times during the morning.

"The regular stenographer at the plant was off, I think on account of sickness," she said, "and I went over to the pencil factory to help Frank out. My work there consisted of acknowledging orders and writing some letters."

She estimated that acknowledging a single order took no more than a minute, if that. She also wrote approximately ten or twelve letters. She did not remember whether she had seen the day watchman Holloway near the clock, adding that she is nearsighted.

Tells of Callers at Office

Several people came into the office during the morning. Two men arrived to discuss trouble their sons, who worked at the factory, had gotten into. A woman who was the wife of one of the employees came up to see her husband, who was working that day. Two young women also came in, one of whom had recently been married, and one of them drew her pay.

Miss Hall said she made carbon copies of all the letters she wrote, each bearing her initials, and confirmed they could be identified as her work. She did not recall how long the letters had taken to write.

Frank Busy When She Left

She left the office at approximately noon. She realized she had forgotten her umbrella and went back to retrieve it, and heard the noon whistle blow as she was leaving again.

When she left, Frank was busy, she said, with the work running behind. She was not certain whether she had remained in the inner office with Frank except when he was dictating to her. She described him as quiet and judged from that that he was occupied. He had remarked at some point that he had a great deal of work to do.

She did not recall Frank making any remark about employees who had failed to collect their pay on Friday, and she had not heard him discussing with anyone the amount of pay owed. She had heard him speaking with the office boy about the amount of postage he believed was due him.

She did not remember seeing Frank work on the financial sheet. Mr. Darley was not present at any point during her time there.

The witness was excused and instructed to return at 2:30 o'clock.