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Atlanta Constitution
August 5th, 1913

Witness Had Gone to the Pencil Factory After Reading The Constitution Extra

L. O. Grice was the first witness put on the stand when court convened Monday morning. He was kept there but a few minutes. He stated that he is employed by W. H. Smith, auditor of the Atlanta and West Point railroad, and that he lives at 270 Houston street.

"Where were you on Sunday, April 27, about 8 o'clock?" Mr. Dorsey started out.

"I was in front of The Constitution building and I saw one of their extras and went on down to the National Pencil factory. I was going in that direction towards the office where I work, anyway," he replied.

"Did you go in the building?"
"Yes, sir."

Hadn't Been in Courtroom.

"Have you been in the courtroom during this trial?" interrupted Attorney Rosser. (Mr. Grice had not been among those witnesses first named by the solicitor.)

"No; I haven't been in here before this morning," said Grice.

"Did anything attract your attention down in the factory?" continued the solicitor when his opponent had subsided.

"Yes, sir; I saw Mr. Black, the detective, and a number of men."

"Did anybody attract your attention by showing nervousness?"
"Yes, sir."

"Who was it?"
"I didn't know him then."

"Is he the defendant, there?" said Mr. Dorsey, pointing to where Frank sat.

"Yes; he was the man," said Grice.

"Tell the jury what happened then."

"Well, Mr. Black and the others went on outside the factory, and Mr. Black said something about looking for a pin, and Mr. Frank began to walk around and look for it and he trembled so I couldn't help notice him. He did just this way," added the witness, and arose and showed the jury the sight of a man trembling as though his nerves were strained to the last point.

Mr. Rosser then took up the cross-examination. He went into a detailed questioning about the reasons for Grice's appearance on the stand and was told that the young man had told some friends about what he had noticed about Frank and they had advised him to go to the solicitor and tell about it.

Hadn't Seen Girl's Body.

Didn't you know Mr. Frank had just seen the murdered girl in the basement?" asked Mr. Rosser next.

"No, sir; he hadn't seen her there—they moved her before he came."

"Well, he had just seen the blood where her body had been found, hadn't he?"

"Well, I didn't see any blood there myself."

"You didn't attach any importance to this actions then?"
"Well, I thought about it, but, I didn't want to get mixed up in this case, and only when I told some friends about it and they urged me to do it, did I go to Mr. Dorsey."

Mr. Grice was then excused, having been on the stand for about 15 minutes.

* * *

Atlanta Constitution, August 5th 1913, "Frank Very Nervous, Testifies L. O. Grice," Leo Frank case newspaper article series
atlanta-constitution-august-05-1913-tuesday-18-pages

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