J E DUFFY, Sworn In For The State, 161st To Testify

J. E. Duffy, witness for the State in rebuttal, at the Trial of Leo Frank in the Fulton County Superior Court of Atlanta, Georgia, in 1913 (Testimony Portion From July 28 - August 21, 1913; Closing Arguments August 21-25, 1913)
J. E. Duffy, a former metal department worker at the National Pencil Company, testified that he severely cut his left forefinger while operating a machine. The wound bled freely, and a few drops fell onto the floor directly at the machine. No blood dripped anywhere else, including near the ladies’ dressing room or water cooler. He wrapped the finger in cotton waste, then went to the office for treatment before proceeding to the Atlanta Hospital.
On cross-examination, Duffy reiterated that he saw no blood except at the machine itself.
This testimony was offered to explain the blood spots found near the ladies’ dressing room (identified by C. B. Barrett) as unrelated to Mary Phagan’s murder, attributing them instead to Duffy’s documented injury—thus undermining defense claims that the spots were Phagan’s blood and supporting the State’s argument that the murder occurred elsewhere (in the basement).