DR WM OWENS, Sworn In For The Defendant, 102nd To Testify

Dr. Wm. Owens, 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)
Physician and real-estate dealer Dr. Wm. Owens staged a full-scale reenactment of Jim Conley’s entire murder-day narrative inside the empty pencil factory on a Sunday afternoon. Two stopwatches—Owens’s and baggage-agent Wilson—ran side-by-side.
Cast

Mr. Brent → Jim Conley
Mr. Fleming → Leo Frank
Mr. Haas read Conley’s exact testimony aloud

The script (Conley’s sworn words) was followed line-for-line:

12:56 — Conley fetches cloth, knots it, tries shoulder-carry, drops body.
“Mr. Frank, you have to help—she’s heavy!”
Frank races down stairs, grabs feet; they stagger backward, drop her twice.
Elevator stalls; Frank “unlocks” power box; descent.
Basement: body rolled out, hat/slippers/ribbon tossed by boiler.
Elevator fight—Frank “hits” Conley.
Office: hand-washing, wardrobe hiding (8 minutes skipped), cigarette gift, $200 roll, note dictation, “Why should I hang?” speech, 40-minute promise.

Results

18½ minutes for every physical move + dialogue.
+8 minutes (wardrobe).
+10 minutes (note-writing, per Conley).
Total: 36½ minutes—twice Conley’s sworn 18-minute claim.

Key impossibilities

107-lb sawdust “corpse” in tight sack never untied itself.
Elevator unlock was pure pantomime—real key takes longer.
Nervous trembling and double drops were rushed—real panic would add minutes.
Dragging 107 lbs across basement dirt was faster than carrying a floppy girl.

Owens mailed the Grand Jury a conscience-stricken letter (“I could not forego”) begging re-indictment of Conley—a plea born of watching the timeline collapse in real time.
Cross-examination backfired:

Every omitted second (wardrobe, notes) was added back—still 36½.
Sack stayed knotted; real limbs would have slowed them more.
Haas read while actors moved—no lost time.

Owens handed the jury two stopwatches and a sack of sawdust.
The State’s “18-minute murder” died in 36½ measured minutes—mathematically, physically, irrevocably impossible.