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

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Reading Time: 3 minutes [364 words]

Here is the translated text as follows:

Gentlemen, if the assertions I have made are true, whatever the motives behind them may be, you cannot find me guilty. I believe it is impossible, if you consider the paper as a whole, to attribute its publication to malice. It is not voluntary but compelled by the force of circumstances. At the very outset of the paper, I spoke well of the President. I have been in the habit of thinking his intentions are right, though his public conduct is wrong. I believe I can even now bring enough proof from among my friends and neighbors to show that this has been the general tenor of my language and behavior.

Judge Chase: This is not necessary. It is your conduct, not your character, that is in question. If this prosecution were for a crime against the United States, you might provide evidence of your character and show that you have always been a good citizen. However, this is an indictment for a libel against the President, where your general character is not in question.

Mr. Cooper: I am satisfied. I shall not fatigue the jury any longer but will rest my defense here.

Mr. Rawle: Gentlemen of the jury, the defense you have just heard is one of the most extraordinary and unexampled I have ever witnessed in a court of justice. It is no less than a decision on whether Thomas Cooper, the defendant, or the President of the United States, to whom this country has entrusted its most important interests, is best qualified to judge whether the measures adopted by our government are calculated to preserve the peace and promote the happiness of America. However, this does not seem to me the real point you are to try. Therefore, under the direction of the court, I will proceed to state what I conceive to be the question you, gentlemen of the jury, are now called upon to determine. Thomas Cooper is charged in the indictment with having published a false, scandalous, and malicious libel, with the intent to defame the President of the United States, to bring him into contempt and disrepute, and to incite hatred against him.