Sunday, 19th April 1914: Testimony He Gave At Trial Was True, Declares M’knight, The Atlanta Constitution

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Negro Witness for Prosecution Now Repudiates Affidavit He Gave to Leo M. Frank's Attorneys

Albert Mc Knight, a state witness in the Frank case, now repudiates his repudiation. He says that his testimony on the stand is true, and that his denial of it was false. He declares he signed his repudiation affidavit in order to "get rid of C. W. Burke, a private detective attached to the office of Luther Z. Rosser, senior member of the Leo Frank case."

Mc Knight is in police headquarters, occupying an entire corridor of cells, and has a special cot. His principal occupation is eating, sleeping, and awaiting developments. Last Wednesday he appeared at headquarters and asked Chief Beavers if the chief wouldn't put him in a cell so that he could enjoy the peace and tranquility that naturally accompany imprisonment.

He told the chief that he had been "pestered unmercifully" since having signed the repudiating document, and that he was so tired of it all that he was perfectly willing to go to jail and stay indefinitely. Last night he talked to reporters.

"I signed that affidavit that Mr. Burke brought me just because I wanted to get rid of him," the negro told a Constitution Reporter. "He had been coming around to my house time after time, and I finally put my name to the paper. I didn't think it meant as much as it really did. I'm sorry now, and I say it ain't true. What I said on the stand was the truth."

Mc Knight also admitted that the statements in the affidavit which pertain to alleged unfair methods on the part of Roy Craven and C. C. Pickett, the Beck & Gregg employees who brought Mc Knight in the case as a witness, were inserted in the affidavit after he had signed his name to it.

"I didn't think it would matter much," he explained. "I had done gone on and said a lot, and I didn't think that whatever else I said would make any more difference."

He was asked why he had asked protection from the police. "Folks were pestering me," he answered. "Mr. Burke commenced coming around again and I just got tired of it. I wanted to get away from it all, and the only safe place I knew of was the police station. Just as long as they'll feed me and protect me, I'll stay with 'em."

Mc Knight also stated that Minola Mc Knight, his wife, a former cook in the employ of the Frank household, had told him after the trial that the affidavit she had signed against Frank at police headquarters long before the trial which she denounced on the stand was true. She never explained, he stated, however, why she had told conflicting stories.

The negro witness declared to newspaper men that he had not been coerced into making the repudiating document and that he was not offered money nor given any for it. He declared that no offer whatever was made him.

"But I felt pretty sure, though," he supplemented, "that I'd get a better job after I had signed the thing. I didn't, though."

He likewise said that he had not disappeared when the last affidavit was made public. He declared that he had been in the vicinity of Atlanta all the while, and that he was working with a man who travelled for a patent medicine concern.

Mc Knight is the negro witness who testified for the prosecution that he was in the kitchen of the Frank home, on East Georgia Avenue, at noon on the day of the Mary Phagan murder, and that he had seen Frank come home at lunch time, go into the dining room and to the sideboard and presumably take a drink. He testified that Frank had not eaten lunch at home, as was stated by Frank and various members of his family, but had remained only a short while in the house, after which he departed, going to Washington street, where he caught a Washington street trolley car for town.

In February of this year, he made an affidavit to C. W. Burke, which repudiated his testimony, and which branded it false. The affidavit also accused Pickett and Craven of having framed the story which the negro told on the witness stand.

Chief Beavers stated to a Constitution Reporter last night that Mc Knight could remain at police headquarters just as long as the negro felt that he needed protection. Early last night, George Gordon, attorney for Mc Knight's wife, Minola, came to headquarters and asked for Mc Knight. This was the first that newspaper men knew of the witness's imprisonment.

Gordon interviewed the negro and asked him if he cared to leave the police station. Mc Knight answered that he was comfortably situated, and that he was satisfied with the life and protection of prison.

Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey is preparing to vigorously combat the fight of Leo Frank's defense to gain a new trial which will be waged before Judge Ben Hill next Wednesday morning at 10 o'clock. Wide speculation has been caused by rumors of evidence to contradict a number of the grounds of Frank's counsel, which is said to have been supplied the solicitor general by detectives from police headquarters, who have been at work on the case since the defense began its retrial battle.

Mr. Dorsey will not commit himself on the subject one way or the other. He will neither deny nor affirm the rumors of such evidence. Starnes and Campbell, two of Chief Lanford's star men, who were named as prosecutors of the convicted man, have been in charge of the investigation promoted by police headquarters.

Dan Lehon, lieutenant of the William J. Burns forces, stated last night that Burns would not return before Monday or Tuesday. His report will probably be submitted Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning. Mystery still surrounds this journey. Officials of his service have stated that his reason for not divulging the destination of his present trip is to avoid publicity and to prevent complications arising in the important angle on which he is working while out of the city.

Burns men denied, too, the report that he would not return to Atlanta. They declared positively that he would be back in time for the hearing before Judge Ben Hill Wednesday, and that his report would be submitted by that time if not before.

If Detective William J. Burns returns to Atlanta today as expected, it is likely that his report on the investigation of the Frank case will be submitted tonight and published Sunday morning. Nothing has been given out yet of the detective's mysterious out-of-town trip. Officials of his organization said yesterday, however, that he was expected back at any time Saturday.

PAGE 11, COLUMN 3

TRADE NEWS

W. H. Stentz, manager of the John Deere Plow Company , of Atlanta, leaves tonight for St. Louis, to be gone for about a week, to attend a special meeting of branch managers of the Company .

R. K. Rambo, buyer and salesmananger of John Silvey & Co., has returned from a ten days trip to New York, where he went to buy fall merchandise for the piece goods department. Mr. Rambo reports that people he met, when they learned that he was from Atlanta, invariably asked him two questions: “What about the regional bank to be located in Atlanta?” and “What about the Frank case?” Mr. Rambo states that people throughout the East are looking to the South for a greater business in future, and that it seems that country has at last realized it is about to come to pass, “A greater nation through a greater South.”

T. K. Johnson, division sales manager of the John Deere Plow Company , of Atlanta, has returned from a special trip to Knoxville, Tenn.

The Hirshberg Company has called in all their salesmen to spend a month in the house. They will spend this time getting together their line of samples for fall and familiarizing themselves with the line.

R. C. Jones, Frank H. Corey and George S. Smith, three of the efficient salesmen representing the John Silvey Company , are having an excellent fall business.

E. F. Geiselmann, central Georgia salesman for the John Dere Plow Company , of Atlanta, is in the city for a few days.

W. O. Stamps, of Fain & Stamps, has established a record of all records. He took a notion that he wanted a new automobile, a 1915 model it had to be, so he began scouting around to find a factory that would release ahead of time the model he desired. The White Company drew the lucky straw and now Mr. Stamps has a beautiful new 1915 model, five-passenger, White gas car. Some hurry-up perform ance this stunt.

J. D. Ivy, special gasoline engine expert with the John Deere Plow Company , is spending a few days in the city.

Mr. Ike Hirshberg, of the Hirshberg Company , leaves tonight on a month’s trip to points in the North and East. He will be accompanied by Mrs. Hirshberg.

W. Y. Bailey was a lone “in” at Fain & Stamps yesterday. Business is evidently on the right side of the fence, as the boys at Fain & Stamps are pretty certain to spend the week-end at home unless good business prevents.

J. R. England, of the E. L. Adams Company , was off his territory several days last week, taking Scottish Rite degrees.

R. E. Hutchinson, of the Fain & Stamps delegation, was in the house for a few minutes yesterday. He left town at 9 o’clock for LaGrange, Ga., to fill some special engagements with several of his customers.

J. A. Massey, of the E. L. Adams Company ’s staff, is another knight who was kept busy last week, taking Scottish Rite degrees.

E. S. Harrisch and J. R. Thornton reported “in” yesterday, according to the register at the S. P. Rich ards Company . They both report that spring business is better with them this season than ever before for the corresponding period.

W. A. (“Bill”) Quarles, of Fain & Stamps, had a mighty fine trade last week on the firm’s line of fancy groceries.

C. P. McDowell, with E. L. Adams Company , worked J. R. England’s territory last week, while Mr. England was undergoing Masonic degrees.

W. O. Stamps, of Fain & Stamps, untied himself from business duties last week to do service as a member of the entertainment committee during the Scottish Rite semi-annual conclave. The report goes that Mr. Stamps is “there” when it comes to duty in the kitchen and dining hall.

C. E. Mallett, of the Carmichael—Mallett Company , of Jackson, Ga., was a visitor at E. L. Adams Company last week.

The “ins” at Dougherty-Little-Redwine Company yes terday were H. L. Truett, J. O. Castleberry, A. S. Wilkins, J. M. McKibben, J. A. Woodliff and W. F. Seay.

O. E. Ready, looking after Macon territory for the Gramling-Spalding Company , sent in a fine bunch of orders for fall delivery on Premium Brand shoes. The orders were received yesterday morning and evidently represented some pretty good sales, as it was reported that last week represented the best week Mr. Ready had had so far this season.

J. R. Little, of Dougherty-Little-Redwine Company , left Friday afternoon for New York, where he will spend a week or ten days in the interest of the dry goods department of his firm. On his way up , Mr. Little will stop over at Baltimore to spend the day Sunday, with his brother, G. W . Little, who resides in that city.

Gramling-Spalding Company received some nice orders last week for Premium Brand shoes, from Frank Baker, covering territory in Southwest Georgia, and T. I. Landers, down around Heflin, Ga.

J. O. Chambers and C. D. Dickinson, of the Brown-Perryman-Greene Company , were, as usual, “in” yesterday morning.

Charles Babb and J. P. Womble constituted the list of “ins” at Gramling-Spalding Company yes terday. Incidentally, they both brought some pretty nice orders along with them.

Ridley-Williamson-Wyatt Company had with them yesterday morning the following members of their sales force: J. P. Armstrong, J. S. Cheek, D. L. Lassiter, J. L. Yates and R. B. McWhorter. They all enjoyed a good fill-in business last week, in addition to a splendid advance business.

The Dixie Pickle and Preserving Company is having a mighty fine trade from territory hereabouts, in addition to a very encouraging steady increase from new territory, taken on recently.

“Mack” Hirshberg is in town, been here about a week, going to be here about a month getting up his fall sample line. He came in from territory down along the Florida belt, where he has been more than putting things over during the past several months.

V. M. Hyatt, with John Silvey & Co., is still laid up with a bad eye, which was injured some several weeks ago. Mr. Hyatt expects to be able to again hit the road at an early date.

Springtime Brings Many Orders for Uncle Sam Bread

“Springtime has come and the busy housewife prefers to serve baker’s bread, rather than stand over the hot stove watching biscuits,” says Mr. M. B. Schlesinger, of the Schlesinger-Meyer Baking Company , of “Uncle Sam” fame.

“Our business is fine. Our force is kept busy night and day keeping up with orders. Our out-of-town trade is extra heavy and we are distributing something like thirty thousand loaves daily.”

The Schlesinger-Meyer Company covers a large territory, distributing “Uncle Sam” bread over the States of Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, and North and South Carolina.