MRS J 0 PARMELEE, Sworn In For The Defendant, 136th To Testify

Mrs. J. O. Parmelee, witness for the Defendant 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)
Mrs. J. O. Parmelee, whose husband was a stockholder in the National Pencil Company, testified that Leo M. Frank’s general character was very good.
On cross-examination, she revealed she had visited Frank twice at the jail and had met him only once at the factory. Her high opinion stemmed from:

Her role on the Board of Sheltering Arms, where she heard Frank praised for charity work,
Social circles in which the Liebermans, Montags, Haases, Mrs. Bauer, Mr. Parmelee, and factory employees all spoke highly of him.

This testimony was offered to add a prominent society woman and stockholder’s wife to the defense’s character witnesses, broadening Frank’s praise beyond employees to Atlanta’s charitable and business elite, and countering the State’s portrayal of a man universally distrusted.