New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-06-30

looks you straight in the eye while he
talks.
"When it is over in September am
going back to Georgia and resume tn"
practice Of my profession-tha Of tine
/ law. For twenty-eight years | have
been at il. and il is because | am a
lawyer. because am lever Of justice,
because | believe in the law and in the
courts and in orderly procedure in all
things that acted as | did in the
Frank case" he declared, anticipating
my question.
IL did that which no lawyer could re-
fuse TO do.
Put to It again, say to you, sir,
that | would do the same thing 10000
times. Had done differently, feeling
as ! did, would have been murderer,
an assassin. | lost six nights sleep as
as it was. But better 10 lose those six
nights than TO be unable TO sleep :he
next forty if live that long.
There is only one thing that | re-
greet. That is the exaggerated reports
of the demonstrations in Atlanta that
have been allowed to circulate outside.
Those demonstrations were made by
the scum and refuse of the city, men
whose wives run boarding houses and
]
support them-ragged loafers who
spend their time discussing the in
CAPABILITIES of the law and thoughtless
boys.
There are good people in Georgia
who do not agree with me, who have
not approved my course-people just
as good as | am, but who will agree
with me when they understand the
fac}s The fact that they disapprove
of py action is a tribute TO their sense
of law and order, and when they under
sta,d the facts ! will be three times as
strong in Georgia as | ever was before.
"These good people, believing IN the
courts, ask: Why should the Governor
set aside the action Of the court? He
had a trial, his case was passed upon
/ by the Supreme Court of Georgia and
the Supreme Court of the United
! States. Why should the Governor
/ interfere"
/ when these realize that ! stood by
the verdict of the courts they will be
with me.
Mistake at Trial, He Says.
"The trial judge made a mistake.
Too late he realized it. Then he asked
me, the only man on earth who could
act. TO remedy his mistake. / did it.
81 am moot entitled TO any coo gratu-
/ lation for what | have done. II you
| tell me make a fine speech will feel
| fattered, perhaps pleased; tell ne that
| have pretty home. that ! have
shown rare taste in laying out my
/ gardens, and you may please me; but
when am praised for doing as | have
| in the Frank case, IL is no more of a
| compliment than II you should praise
me for not stealing your pocketbook II
| had the chance, or for not beating my
wife.
mo man who does his mere duty is
entitled to thanks for doing it,
THE only judge in position to pass
upon Franks guilt or innocence was
the trial judge. Orally he expressed
doubt of the mans guilt. Had ne ex-
/ pressed that in an opinion Frank could
not have been barred from a new trial.
/ But he did not. Under our law. the
law governing murder trials, the jury
can fix the penalty at death or life i'm
prisonment. In cases where there is
no direct proof, where the evidence is
wholly circumstantisl, the Judge has
/ the power TO sentence 10 life imprison
ment. Judge Roam, who presided at
the trial, overlooked this provision of
/ the law. IL
Later ht%rote me from the sana-
! forum where he died calling attention
TO his error and his doubts, declaring