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

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Reading Time: 3 minutes [400 words]

Here is the translated text as follows:

800 X, AMERICAN STATE TRIALS

The import of the publication is significant since the offense is committed by the two coupled together.

First, let's address the publication.

The fact of writing and publishing is clearly proven; in fact, it is not denied. It is proven to have taken place at Sunbury, a considerable distance from the seat of government. Evidence shows that the traverser went to the house of a justice of the peace with this paper, whom, of all others, he ought to have avoided. He must have known that it was the duty of the justice of the peace to deliver it immediately to those who administer the government. He did so. It was indecent to deliver such a paper to a justice of the peace, and the manner in which it was delivered was even more outrageous. If it was done in jest, as the traverser would like to imply, it was still very improper. Yet, there was the same solemnity in his expression, "This is my name, and I am the author of this handbill," as if the traverser were going to part with an estate.

This conduct showed that he intended to dare and defy the government and to provoke them. His subsequent conduct satisfies my mind that such was his disposition. He justifies the publication in all its parts and declares it to be founded in truth. It is proven most clearly to be his publication. It is your responsibility to consider the intent as coupled with that and view the whole together. You must take that publication and compare it with the indictment. If there are doubts as to the motives of the traverser, he has removed them. For, though he states in his defense that he does not question the motives of the President, he has boldly avowed that his own motives in this publication were to censure the conduct of the President, which he believed deserved criticism.

Now, gentlemen, the motives of the President, in his official capacity, are not a subject of inquiry for you. Shall we say to the President, "You are not fit for the government of this country?" It is no apology for a man to say that he believes the President to be honest, but that he has done acts which prove him unworthy of the confidence of the people, incapable of executing the duties...