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

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Here is the translated text as follows:

254 X. AMERICAN STATE TRIALS.

The attitude of the accused toward his victim is evident in the tall, good-natured Jim Gantt, a friend of Mary. He asks Gantt, "You're pretty thick with Mary, aren't you?" This shows that he knew her and had his eye on her. What happened next? He wanted to get rid of Gantt. How did he go about it? You have seen that previously, he was bragging about Gantt and his ability as a workman. But, just as soon as his eye was set upon the pretty little friend of Gantt, he set plans to get rid of him. And, it came up about a dollar. He said it was something about money, hoping to lead you, gentlemen, to believe that Gantt was a thief. He would not let Gantt go into the building because he was a thief. Didn't he know that this long-legged mountaineer was coming back at him? Sure, he knew it. And, they parted company at once. Gantt was fired. What was he accomplishing by this? He was getting rid of the only man on either floor—in the whole factory—who knew Mary Phagan and who would raise a hand to protect her.

Then he set about laying plans. And those plans!

You will notice that the defense has pitched its every effort entirely on Jim Conley. I don't blame them. He was like Stone Mountain is to some highways in its vicinity. They couldn't get by him. We could have left him out and still had an excellent chain of circumstantial evidence. Without him, though, the defense couldn't move—they couldn't budge. You have sat and seen the biggest legal battle ever fought in a courthouse between skillful intellect and a witness, a negro. You have seen brainy eloquence pitted against the slow, incomprehensible dialect of a negro. You have seen a trained and speedy mind battling with blunt ignorance. And, what was the result? At the end of three and a half days, it came. That negro was asked questions about everything Rosser could conceive. His answers were hurriedly transcribed from the stenographer's notes and typed. Then, they were hurled back into Conley's face. But, it was like water poured onto a mill wheel. They received the same answers, the same story.

It was because, gentlemen, the negro was telling the truth.

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