00:00My husband is innocent, declares Mrs. Leo M. Frank in first public statement.
00:04Atlanta Journal, Thursday, June 5th, 1913.
00:07Wife of accused pencil factory superintendent, arraigned solicitor General Dorsey,
00:11for what she terms the torturing of witnesses into making desired affidavits,
00:16says treatment of her Negro cook by solicitor and detectives taxed patients, declares,
00:20Mr. Frank's demeanor has always been that of an innocent man,
00:23says many slanders have been circulated concerning the alleged unhappy married life of herself and her husband.
00:30He could not have been the good husband he has been to me if he were a criminal,
00:33asserts Mrs. Frank for the first time since her husband Leo M. Frank was arrested more than four weeks ago
00:39on suspicion of having murdered Mary Fagan, the pencil factory girl.
00:43The accused man's wife on Thursday broke her silence and issued a statement in which she vigorously attacks
00:48solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey and the city detectives for the methods which she charges they have employed
00:54in an effort to gather evidence against Mr. Frank.
00:57Mrs. Frank begins her statement by declaring,
01:00The action of the solicitor General in arresting and imprisoning our family cook
01:04because she would not voluntarily make a false statement against my innocent husband
01:08brings a limit to patience.
01:10She charges that witnesses are being tortured into furnishing the kind of affidavits
01:15desired by the solicitor and the detectives
01:17and states that it is hard to believe that practices of this nature
01:21will be countenanced anywhere in the world outside of Russia.
01:25Several times in the course of her statement, Mrs. Frank reiterates her full confidence in the innocence
01:30of her husband. Referring to Mr. Frank's movements on the day of the murder, she says,
01:34My husband was at home for lunch, and in the evening at the hours he has stated on the day
01:39of the murder.
01:40He spent the whole of Saturday evening and night in my company.
01:44Neither on Saturday, nor Saturday night, nor on Sunday, nor at any other time did my husband by word,
01:50or act, or in any other way, demean himself otherwise than as an innocent man.
01:55Mrs. Frank asserts that slanders have been circulated to the effect that the home life or herself and her husband
02:00was not a happy one. I know my husband is innocent. No man could make the good husband that he
02:05has been to me
02:06and be a criminal, she declares. As stated above, this is Mrs. Frank's first public statement since
02:12the arrest of her husband, and it will probably be her last. Under the Georgia laws, a woman is not
02:17permitted
02:17to testify for or against her husband. It was for this reason that Mrs. Frank was not summoned as a
02:23witness
02:23before the coroner's jury. Statement in full. Mrs. Frank's statement, which comes to the journal
02:28in the nature of a communication follows in full. Atlanta, Georgia, June 3, 1913. Editor, Atlanta
02:35Journal, Atlanta, Georgia. Dear Sir, the action of the Solicitor General in arresting and imprisoning
02:40our family cook because she would not voluntarily make a false statement against my innocent husband
02:45brings a limit to patience. This wrong is not chargeable to a detective acting under the necessity
02:50of shielding his own reputation against attacks in newspapers, but of an intelligent, trained lawyer
02:56whose sworn duty is as much to protect the innocent as to punish the guilty. My information is that
03:01this solicitor has admitted that no crime is charged against this cook and that he had no legal right
03:07to have her arrested and imprisoned. The following statement from the Atlanta Journal undertakes to
03:12give the history of the arrest up to the time the woman was carried to the police station in the
03:17patrol
03:17wagon, weeping and shouting in a hysterical condition. The Negress was arrested at the Selig residence
03:23shortly after noon Monday upon the order of Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey. She was carried to the
03:29Solicitor's office and that official with Detectives Campbell and Starnes examined her for more than an
03:35hour. The woman grew hysterical during the vigorous examination and finally was led from the Solicitor's
03:41office to the police patrol, weeping and shouting, I am going to hang and don't know a thing about it.
03:45They tortured her. They tortured her for four hours with the well-known third-degree process,
03:51in the manner and with the results stated in the Atlanta Constitution of June 4th as follows.
03:56Her husband, who was also carried to the police station at noon, was freed a short while before
04:02his wife left the prison. He was present during the third degree of four hours, under which she
04:07was placed in the afternoon. He is said to have declared, even in the presence of his wife, that
04:12she had told conflicting stories of Frank's conduct on the tragedy date. After she had been quizzed to a
04:17point of exhaustion, Secretary G.C. February, attached to Chief Lanford's office, was summoned
04:23to note her statement in full. It was the longest statement made by the woman since her connection
04:28with the mystery. It will be used probably in the trial. The Negress was calm and composed upon
04:34emerging from the examination. That the Solicitor, sworn to maintain the law, should thus falsely arrest
04:41one against whom he has no charge, and whom he does not even suspect, and torture her contrary
04:47to the laws. To force her to give evidence tending to swear away the life of an innocent man is
04:52beyond
04:52belief. Innocent sufferers. Where will this end? My husband and my family and myself are the innocent
04:59sufferers now, but who will be the next to suffer? I suppose the witnesses tortured will be confined to
05:04the class who are not able to employ lawyers to relieve them from the torture in time to prevent their
05:09being forced to give false affidavits, but the lives sworn away may come from any class. It will be
05:15noted that the plan is to apply the torture until the desired affidavit is wrung from the sufferer.
05:20Then it ends, but not before. It is to be hoped that no person can be convicted of murder in
05:26any
05:26civilized country on evidence wrung from witnesses by torture. Why then does the Solicitor continue to
05:32apply the third degree to produce testimony? How does he hope to get the jury to believe it? He can
05:38have
05:38only one hope, and that is to keep the jury from knowing the methods to which he has resorted. Of
05:43course,
05:44if he can torture witnesses into giving the kind of evidence he wants against my innocent husband in this
05:48case, he can torture them into giving evidence against any other man in the community in either this or any
05:54other case. I can see only one hope, and that is to let the public know exactly what this officer
05:59of the law is
06:00doing, and trust as I do trust, to the sense of fairness and justice of the people. It is not
06:06surprising that my cook should sign an affidavit to relieve herself from torture that had been applied
06:11to her for four hours, according to the Atlanta Constitution, to a point of exhaustion. It would be
06:17surprising if she would not, under such circumstances, give an affidavit. This torturing process can be used
06:23to produce testimony to be published in the newspapers to prejudice the case of anyone the
06:27solicitor sees fit to accuse. It is also valuable to prevent anyone stating facts favorable to the
06:33accused, because as soon as the solicitor finds it out, he can arrest the witness and apply the
06:38torture. It is hard to believe that practices of this nature will be countenanced anywhere in the
06:42world, outside of Russia. Corroborates. Husband. My husband was at home for lunch, and in the
06:49evening, at the hours he has stated on the day of the murder. He spent the whole of Saturday evening
06:54and night in my company. Neither on Saturday, nor Saturday night, nor on Sunday, nor at any other
06:59time did my husband, by word or act, or in any other way, demean himself otherwise than as an innocent
07:05man. He did nothing unusual, and nothing to arouse the slightest suspicion. I know him to be innocent.
07:11There is no evidence against him except that which is produced by torture. Of course, evidence of
07:16this kind can be produced against any human being in the world. I have been compelled to endure
07:21without fault, either on the part of my husband or myself, more than it falls to the lot of most
07:27women to bear. Slanders have been circulated in the community to the effect that my husband and
07:32myself were not happily married, and every conceivable rumor has been put afloat that would
07:37do him and me harm with the public, in spite of the fact that all our friends are aware that
07:42these
07:42statements are false. And all his friends and myself know that my husband is a man actuated by
07:48lofty ideals that forbid his committing the crime that the detectives and the solicitor are seeking
07:52to fasten upon him. I know my husband is innocent. No man could make the good husband to a woman
07:58that
07:58he has been to me and be a criminal. All his acquaintances know he is innocent. Ask every man that
08:04knows him
08:04and see if you can find one that will believe he is guilty. If he were guilty, does it not
08:09seem
08:09reasonable that you could find someone who knows him that will say he believes him guilty?
08:13Being a woman, I do not understand the tricks and arts of detectives and prosecuting officers,
08:17but I do know Leo Frank and his friends know him, and I know and his friends know that he
08:23is utterly
08:23incapable of committing the crime that these detectives and this solicitor are seeking to
08:28fasten upon him. Respectfully yours, Mrs. Leo M. Frank. Dorsey denies having sweated Negro cook
08:35solicitor Dorsey, when acquainted with Mrs. Frank's statement, said, The McKnight affidavit was not
08:40made in my office and was not made at my direction. Manola McKnight, the Negro cook of the Seeligs
08:45and Franks, was not sweated while she was in my office, nor was she sweated anywhere else that I
08:50know. Merely she was confronted here with her husband.
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