Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-07-06

Tense expects to give the State one
Of its very hardest nuts to crack.
Maybe the State can crack 1t,
all right!
That remains to be seen, and as
to that | venture no opinion.
Again, | take it the defense e1-
poets to strike straight from the
shoulder when 1t puts Franks
character in Issue
! do not KNOW that the defense
will do this. but from the tone Of
some OF the articles, particularly
Mrs. Franks remarkable interview,
given out recently by the defense,
or authorized by it, 1 SUSPECT
that is exactly what 1t will do.
This will be a bold stroke, too,
for unless the DEFENSE puts Leo
Franks character in issue, 1T CAN
NOT BE PUT IN ISSUE AT ALL
The State IS estopped, of its own
motion, from doing that.
Therefore, when the defense
DOES it, 1t is pretty apt to be
taken as an evidence that the de-
Tense is very confident of itself
Into the case at this point, then,
will come portion of the law of
Georgia that is most picturesque
and Significant portion that is
deCency and common sense, and
that throws about all observers Of
the law and about all right living
men protection as certain and as
sure as 1t is majestic and noble.
Character Good Evidence.
In respect of CHARACTER as
evidence OF innocence Of crime, l
find that Chief Justice Simmons,
in the 1920 Georgia, said this:
Evidence Of good character
is admitted as evidence Of a
positive fact, and may, Of it,
self, by tho creation Of a rea-
sonable doubt, produce acquit-
tall"
And, again, the same authority
"Of what avail is a good
character, which a man may
have boon a lifetime in acquir-
ing, il II is to benefit nothing
in the hour of periI7"
Chief Justice Simmons was a SUI
periOr Court judge for some TWEEN
ty years before he was elevated to
the Supreme bench, and a Supreme
Court justice for a like period.
He was one of the noblest men
that Georgia ever produced, and
one Of the most profound and ap-
proved students of the law
And he made good character the
very Rock of Gibraltar upon which
man attacked might depend in
time of peril!
Once the defense puts Leo
Franks character in issue, how
ever the State may attack il as
bitterly and as vehemently as 1t
likes.
This, it may be, the State is pre-
pared to do.
Unless the State does break down
Franks character, however, once 1t
10 put In issue by his own attor-
neys, the State Will be thereafter
at tremendous disadvantage,
think, particularly when the de-
Tense is undertaking to shoot the
character of Conley to pieces from
the other flank!
Character can not be broken
down in courtroom with whis-
pereo words and sinister gossip
Must Attack in Open.
Under the impersonnI rules of ev-
tdenCe and the law. character must
be attacked in the open-it must be
beaten down, If beaten down it be,
with weapons the Judge and the
jury may see, welded in fair play,
and IL must be a fight to finish.
True, II defendant deliberately
puts his own character in issue,
the burden is upon him to sustain
his character; but once the law nuts
that burden upon a defendant. It
holds in leash and sure control the
State in its attempts to demolish it.
| have written of crimes and of
criminals for fifteen years-of pet
ty sneak thieves and bank robbers,
of common baCk-alley DULLES and
murders, of brutes and degenerates.
of clever confidence men and clum-
sy bunglers.
l have seen the innocent made
victims of cruel circumstances and
the unquestionably guilty escape,
but l am Yet to see a case IN which
good character, firmly and frankly
set up, was not a tower of strength
TO the accused--a sure and abiding
benefit in his hour OF peril" as
Chief Justice Simmons says it
should be!
After all is said and done, char
aCter is tho corner stone upon
which civilization and society most
securely rests.
1t holds the business world to-
gether, and it differentiates the
wheat from the chaff in the profes-
sions.
Without 1t. the grand old name of
gentleman is a mockery and a sham
and. above all things, il best
marks the woman as fitted TO her
natural and noblest environment,
If Leo Frank puts his character
in issue, il will be a challenge full
and free to the State to do its
worst-it well may be expected
10 make or mar the defense of Leo
Frank. charged with the murder Of
Mary Phagan.