Leo M. Frank, general superintendent of the National Pencil factory, was recalled to the witness stand Friday and subjected to a fresh round of questioning by the coroner, with jurors pressing him on details he had not addressed in prior testimony.
Questions About the Elevator
The coroner opened by turning Frank's attention to the factory elevator. He wanted to know the nature of the shaft door on the office floor. Frank described it as a heavy, solid door that slides up and down.
Where had the elevator been on Saturday, April 26, the day of the murder? Frank said he had not noticed. Where on Friday night? Again, he had not noticed. Had the door been open Saturday? He could not say.
When asked whether someone could fall into the open shaft, Frank noted there is a bar across the door. As for the elevator's position after the murder, he could only confirm it was at the office floor when he arrived Sunday morning.
The coroner then turned to the time-clock record. Frank said he removed the slip, marked the time on it, and handed it to an officer, though he could not recall which one.
The Party That Went Unmentioned
Questioned next about the gathering at his home on the night of the murder, an event his mother-in-law and father-in-law had already described from the stand, Frank confirmed a group of guests had been present.
Why had he not mentioned this in his earlier testimony?
"I wasn't asked," he replied.
When pressed to name those present, Frank corroborated what his in-laws had already said about who attended. He had paid them little attention, he said, greeting them briefly before returning to his reading in the front room.
"Didn't the guests have to pass you when they went to the dining room from the front door?"
"Yes," he said.
The Morning He Was Summoned
Asked about the Sunday morning officers came to bring him to the factory, Frank said he had told his wife he wanted something warm to drink. One of the officers remarked that something would do him good, the implication being whiskey. Frank was clear that he meant coffee.
On the question of the late-night telephone call, Frank repeated his earlier account: he had initially believed he dreamed the phone ringing, and only concluded it was real after being told officers had tried to reach him.
He was asked whether he saw Mary Phagan's body. He had, he said. He walked in, the light was turned on, and he recognized her as the girl he had paid the previous day.
When had he first heard her name?
He could not recollect.
Tells of Quinn's Visit
Frank said that Lemmie Quinn, a factory foreman, first mentioned his Saturday visit to the factory while Frank was at police headquarters. Quinn had said simply, "I was there at the office Saturday," and Frank recalled the episode when Quinn named the time.
