Newt Lee Tells of the Talk He Had at the Police Station Friday, May 9th, 1913

Newt Lee, the negro night watchman at the National Pencil factory, was recalled to the stand and asked to describe any conversation he had held with Leo M. Frank since both men came into police custody.

Lee said he had not spoken with Frank at the jail, but that the two had talked at the police station.

Frank came into the room where Lee was being held and greeted him. "How are you feeling, Newt?" he asked.

"Not so good, Mr. Frank," Lee replied.

Lee told Frank it was hard on him, an innocent man, to be sitting handcuffed to a chair. Frank responded that he knew Lee was innocent, but added that he believed Lee knew something about the murder.

Lee said he then told Frank that the officers believed the girl had been killed on the second floor, and that during his rounds of the building he passed through that very room every half hour. He would have known, he said, if the murder had been committed there.

Frank's response was brief. "Let's don't talk about that," he said. "Let that go."

An Unusual Greeting at the Door

Lee said the factory furnace had been fired on Friday but not on Saturday. He arrived for work shortly before 4 o'clock Saturday afternoon and called out his customary greeting as he came in.

"All right, Mr. Frank."

What happened next struck Lee as out of the ordinary. Frank came out of his office rubbing his hands and told Lee he was sorry he had been made to come in so early, that he could have slept two more hours. Lee said he had never known Frank to come out to meet him that way. On any prior occasion when Frank wanted to speak with him, Lee said, he was always called into the office.

Frank told Lee to go out, have a good time, and return at 6 o'clock.

Lee said the street door was unlocked when he arrived at 4 o'clock, though the double doors inside were locked. Those inner doors were usually open, he said. He had to use his pass key to get through them.

He did not remember whether the trap door leading to the basement was open or closed when he came to work. The fireman ordinarily used that door to access the basement, he noted.

The Clock, the Tape, and the Pencil

When Lee returned at 6 o'clock, Frank told him to wait before punching the time-clock. Frank wanted to put a new tape in first. Lee said no key was used to unlock the clock.

Asked about a pencil found inside the clock mechanism, Lee explained that he always kept one there as a check on himself, to remember which station he had last punched. He was certain, he said, that he had punched the clock every half hour from 6 in the evening through 3 in the morning on the Saturday night of the murder.

Lee also said he had not noticed any bloodstains on the second floor during his rounds. It was dark, he explained, and he had only his lantern for light.