672 Sheet – American State Trials 1918 Volume X Leo Frank Document

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640

X. AMERICAN STATE TRIALS.

The Court: Register your objection, and register the fact that it is overruled.

Cross-examined: I am in the real estate business, and the firm of Forrest and George Adair does a great deal of business for Mr. Candler. Mr. Candler has been a friend of my family for a great many years; for the past several years, we have done a great deal of business for him and with him. I don't think there is a man in the State of Georgia in whom I would take a greater interest or for whom I would do more than I would for Mr. Candler. This is the first time in many years that I am entirely out of Mr. Candler's debt. My first knowledge in connection with this case was when Mr. Candler called me to his office. I don't think I ever met Mrs. Hirsch before; I think I have seen Mr. Cook. I was called in by Mr. Candler; he did not want to get me to hush the matter up. He asked me the first question, what I thought of it. I told him I believed, from my experience with him and from other cases, that blackmailers considered him their legitimate prey. He did not call me for the special purpose of getting this matter hushed up; this is the sixth time it has been attempted on him. He said he would like to put the matter entirely in my hands. Mr. Candler has not hysteria on the subject of blackmail; on the contrary, I think he has more sense on the subject than any man I know of. But they have been after him so much that he knows blackmailers now by this time when he sees them; he is becoming an expert.

I didn’t say and don’t say I can look into a man’s face and tell whether he is a criminal or not—blackmail is a crime. I don’t say I can look in a woman’s face or look in Mrs. Hirsch’s face and tell whether she is a criminal or not, but I do say where all the earmarks show so plainly, it is easy to judge.

Mr. Cooper: I object to that; it is a matter of argument.

Mr. Adair: I think I made every engagement for a conference with Cook and Mrs. Hirsch. Mr. Cook never did call me up and make an engagement to talk about this matter. On the other hand, he insisted he didn’t want to talk to me; he wanted to talk to Mr. Candler directly.

I don’t know that Mr. Candler had ever seen Mrs. Hirsch or had a conference with her since the time it was claimed he was caught in the office. I could not say of my own knowledge, but I don’t believe he has seen her since that time. I have had this whole matter absolutely in my hands; Mr. Candler turned it over to me. I did not want to get this woman out of town. I did not lay a trap to catch this woman in. I did not persuade her or lead her to believe in all those conferences that I or we would pay her a big amount of money. I was treating with her, not to get her out of town but to develop her game. I was not treating with her on the different occasions on the idea of paying her to leave town in order to get this matter hushed up. I was telling her what Cook demanded in order to develop the scheme fully, the plot, and the game.

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