00:00Both sides called in conference by Judge. Trial set for July 28th, the Atlanta Georgian Tuesday,
00:06June 24th, 1913. Dorsey, Beavers, and Lanford summoned to appear June 30th with all affidavits
00:12they have secured relative to the Fagan slaying case. Just before the conference with both sides
00:17in the Frank case started, Judge Rohn intimated strongly that he would set the case for July 14th
00:22or July 28th and hold it in some more commodious courtroom than the one in which he sits on the
00:28fourth floor of the thrower building. Judge Rohn's personal inclination leans to a date in July,
00:33and it is not likely that the state or defense will object to acceding to his wishes.
00:38The date was definitely fixed for July 28th at the conference. The first important legal move by the
00:44defense in the battle for the life and freedom of Leo Frank, accused of the strangling of Mary Fagan,
00:50was made Tuesday in the issuance of subpenas duce tecum for the prime movers in the prosecution of
00:56the factory superintendent. The following have been subpoenaed to appear. Solicitor General Hugh M.
01:02Dorsey, who will prosecute the prisoner. Chief of Police James L. Beavers, who was the leader in
01:08obtaining incriminating affidavits. Pinkerton Detective Harry Scott, to whom is generally given
01:13credit for the admissions gained from Conley. All other city detectives who have worked on the case.
01:19All of them are ordered to produce any affidavits they may have bearing on the case in court June 30th,
01:24indicating that the defense will be prepared to go on with the trial at that time.
01:29Judge Rohn, however, had called a conference of the attorneys on both sides of the case for two
01:33o'clock in the afternoon, when he announced that he would set the date definitely after the attorneys
01:38had been given an opportunity to say whether or not their cases would be in shape to present,
01:43if the trial were called the last of this month, plan to use same evidence. The startling move on the
01:50part of the defense was taken to mean that Frank's lawyers proposed to use to free their client the
01:55very evidence the detectives and Solicitor General have collected to send him to the gallows.
02:00The most significant demand is made upon Chief Beavers, who is commanded to bring into court the
02:05famed series of affidavits made by the Negro sweeper Jim Conley. It is evident that attorneys
02:11Rosser and Arnold, who are conducting the defense, intend to tear the contradictory stories of the Negro to
02:17tatters, and make his statements so utterly ridiculous and improbable that the jury not only
02:23will refuse to accept them, but will interpret them as an effort of Conley to get from under the
02:28blame for a crime that he committed himself. Chief Beavers is asked to bring into court the written
02:33statement made by Conley May 18th in the presence of Detective John R. Black and Pinkerton Detective
02:38Harry Scott. Also, the affidavit sworn to by Conley before G.C. February in the presence of Chief
02:44Lanford and Detectives Black and Scott May 24th. The affidavit made by Conley May 28th. The affidavit
02:51made by the Negro May 29th in the presence of Lanford, Campbell, and Scott, and all other written
02:57statements of the Negro in the possession or control of the Chief. Girls also are called.
03:03Chief Beavers is asked in addition to bring all the statements of Newt Lee, the Negro night watchman,
03:08Monteen Stover, the girl who testified that Frank was not in his office when she went for her money,
03:14W.M. Matthews, and Miss Grace Hicks, the girl who first identified the dead body as that of Mary
03:20Fagan. The defense has persistently ridiculed the stories of Jim Conley and characterized them as
03:26cunning fabrications to shift the blame on Frank's shoulders. With the other affidavits, which for the
03:32most part are given credence by the defense, the attempt will be merely to show that the evidence
03:38which the prosecution holds to point toward the guilt of Frank only more firmly places it on the
03:44shoulders of the Negro sweeper, and that the state from time to time has shifted the ground on which
03:49it based its theory that Frank was guilty. Hooper calls move a trick. Frank A. Hooper, associated with
03:57solicitor Dorsey in the prosecution, branded the move of the defense as a thinly veiled trick to
04:03impeach the testimony of the witnesses called by the state, and said that it was not at all unlikely
04:08that the subpenies would be resisted. He intimated his belief that it was the intention of the defense
04:13to use the affidavits as a comparison with the testimony of the affiance when took the stand in an
04:19effort to pick out every discrepancy and thus seek to discredit the witnesses. Before the conference
04:25between Judge Roan and the attorneys on the opposing sides began in the afternoon, the judge
04:30announced that he would be the one who would set the date for the trial, after consulting the
04:35convenience of the attorneys. He said that he desired to preclude the possibility that the case
04:40would be called for June 30th, and the witnesses summoned, and then one or another of the attorneys
04:46ask for a postponement. He expressed it as his purpose to carry the case through to its completion
04:52once it was started. The judge said that he did not believe it right, in view of the warm weather,
04:57to call an umber of witnesses, and then delay the case further. He said that after the attorneys on
05:03the two sides had been heard, he would set the date himself. Arnold not decided. Reuben Arnold,
05:10one of the attorneys for the defense, said that he did not see how the defense could make any definite
05:15agreement on the date at this time because of the possible contingencies that might arise before the
05:20trial. Solicitor Dorsey has announced that he was prepared to go ahead with the trial at any time,
05:25that Leo M. Frank will go at once on trial for his life next Monday when he is brought before
05:30the
05:30court of the charge of strangling little Mary Fagan was the strong probability discussed in court circles
05:36Tuesday. The prosecution has announced that Fagan defense calls state's leaders, Frank's counsel
05:42Sue Pinas Dorsey, Beavers, and Lanford. Trick, says Hooper, continued from page one. Its case has been
05:49practically complete for days. The defense has said that all its vital witnesses have been found.
05:54There has been no intimation that a continuance will be asked unless it be for some contingency
06:00as the illness of Frank or of an important witness. The defense has been non-committal.
06:05The attorneys have not said that they would ask for a postponement. They also have refused to say
06:10that they would not seek a delay. Rosser-Reticent Luther Z. Rosser, Frank's attorney, has carefully
06:17avoided answering the direct question whether he would be ready for trial on that day.
06:21Ruben R. Arnold, associated with him, said the case was complete, but he too evaded a statement
06:27as to whether they would consent for the trial to begin next week. Solicitor Hugh M. Dorsey is making
06:33his preparations for the trial on the supposition that the defense will be ready, and he will urge
06:38before the court that the case be tried on the date set. He summoned the first witnesses Monday and
06:43Tuesday, and when court opens next Monday, he will have the corridors filled with persons who will
06:48testify against Frank. His preparations could not be more complete if he had received an announcement
06:54from the defense that no continuance would be asked. Both the prosecution and the defense will
06:59have at least twelve vital witnesses. The inability of one to attend the trial, unless by death or removal
07:06from the jurisdiction of the court, would necessitate a continuance until this witness could
07:11attend the trial. Arnold's stand. Attorney Arnold openly admitted that if one of his important
07:17witnesses was not able to appear in Frank's behalf when the case was called, he would move for a
07:22continuance and would not consider going to trial on the chance of the witness appearing later.
07:27J. M. Gant, one of the first to be arrested as a suspect, will be one of the most important
07:31witnesses for the state. Development, since he testified at the coroner's inquest, it is understood,
07:37have made his evidence of the utmost importance. He was one of the few witnesses to go before the
07:43grand jury when Frank was indicted, and he was closely questioned by the solicitor Monday afternoon
07:48when he finished questioning Conley. It is said that evidence that could have been given by him
07:53in the examinations before the Conley affidavit was made, but was considered of no relative importance
07:59then, is now of vital interest to the state and he will be one of the star witnesses.
08:04Jury panel drawn. Here is the first panel of jurors drawn.
08:08L. Knight, J. M. Clayton, C. G. Childs, J. S. Ball, Joseph H. Horacek, C. T. Neurl, T. J. Cheshire,
08:14C. L. Neer, W. T. Meters, T. L. Hindman, L. H. Walter, J. C. Roberts, L. P. Baker, H. D.
08:19Riley,
08:19C. T. Beaumar, J. D. Cloudman, G. H. Rowellator, W. G. Griffin, W. T. Waddell, T. C. Berggren,
08:24W. S. Reiser, W. F. Wesley, W. F. Stewart, W. R. Smith, H. S. Broadnax, D. A. White, J. Reid,
08:31J. R. Bailey,
08:31J. C. Clayton, H. C. Bentley, H. M. Robinson, E. M. Landrum, M. F. Rogers, Morris Frankel,
08:36W. W. Jones, R. S. Johnson, W. A. Wethington, A. R. Smith, Freeman Hiscox, John D. Wing, C. E. Long,
08:42W. T. McCullough, Leon McCandless, J. H. Rosie, L. Florence, G. H. Cathcart, L. H. Bartlett,
08:48P. Pound, S. W. Power, J. W. West, John C. Percy, J. C. McKenzie, J. T. Fair, D. T. Burson,
08:53T. F. Connelly, C. C. Bowling, J. C. Ball, C. W. Heary, W. M. Morgan, W. H. Patree,
08:58D. P. Pace, C. W. Puckett, J. A. Bankston, Johnston Miller, C. B. Mitchell, J. W. Delbeck,
09:03P. L. Sudan, H. M. Christie, At McNeely, John M. Green, W. W. Grabbit, J. H. Graham.
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