C E POLLARD, Sworn In For The Defendant, 40th To Testify

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C. E. Pollard, 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)
Expert accountant C. E. Pollard (15–16 years’ experience) timed himself replicating Frank’s financial sheet (Defendant’s Exhibit 2) using all provided data:

Minimum time: 3 hours 11 minutes—rapid, uninterrupted.
40 multiplications, 160 additions.
Two trivial errors:
1.5 gross discrepancy in 2,765.5 gross (from April 18–19—not Frank’s week).
50¢ miscalculation (791 gross × 50.1¢ = $396.29, Frank wrote $396.75).

Pollard: “Anybody works faster on their own books.” Interruptions would add time.
On cross-examination, Pollard confirmed:

Data pre-compiled—no research delays.
Errors immaterial; rest of sheet perfect.
Single multiplication caused 50¢ error.

Pollard’s stopwatch-proof 3-hour minimum—with zero interruptions—shredded the State’s claim Frank finished in “under an hour” to kill Phagan.
Two penny errors in 200 calculations proved meticulous honesty, not panic forgery.

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