E F HOLLOWAY, Sworn In For The State, 17th To Testify

E. F. HOLLOWAY, sworn for the State.

I am day watchman at the National Pencil factory-worked there two years. I was there on April 26th, from 6:30 a. m. till 11:45. I look after the elevator and freight that come in and out and people that come in and out. As to what I did to the elevator on that Saturday, I didn't do anything except that when Mr. White and Mr. Denham were working on the top floor, I started the elevator up and ripped up a plank for them. The elevator was locked when I sawed that plank for them, but when I left it was unlocked. I locked it Friday night when I left there. But I went off from there Saturday and forgot to lock it. When I made that affidavit for you on May 12th, 1913, I forgot to tell you that I did some sawing for Mr. White and Mr. Denham. The elevator was standing on the office floor when I left there Saturday. I left it standing right there. I had done some sawing for Mr. White and Mr. Denham just before I left and in talking to them I went off and forgot to lock it. In affidavit signed May 12th, 1913, in presence of Starnes, Campbell and others, in answer to question, "Is the power box left locked or unlocked?" I will say I locked it Friday when I left there. I don't remember saying in this affidavit that if the elevator box was kept unlocked on account of insurance companies requiring it that I never heard of it, that they always told me to lock it. I don't remember any questions being asked me about any keys. I read and signed my name to that paper before I signed It. don't remember stating that I locked it Saturday. I did say in that affidavit it is kept locked all the time. The reason I said at the coroner's inquest that the elevator box was always locked and that I left it locked on Saturday was because I forgot to tell about that sawing. I did that sawing just before I left there Saturday. Friday evening I never heard Mr. Frank say anything to Newt Lee. When I left the factory at 11:45 on Saturday Mr. Frank said to me "You can go ahead if you want to; we will all go at noon. " At about 9:30 Mr. Frank and Mr. Darley went over to Montag Bros. I have seen Gantt talking to Mary Phagan frequently. The stairs leading from the first floor into the basement are in good condition. They haven't been used this year. They have been nailed up all the year. The area on first floor around trap-door down there was cleaned up about two weeks after the insurance people came over and went through the building.

CROSS EXAMINATION.

Mr. Denham and Mr. White were working there Saturday, up on the fourth floor. They were up there when I left the building. Anybody could have walked from the fourth floor to the second floor all day long; there was no obstruction. A man at the stairway on the third floor can see the second floor in front of the clock. The front doors were unlocked all the morning and they were still unlocked when I left. When Mr. Denham and Mr. White asked me to saw some timber for them that morning, I went and got the key and unlocked the motor that runs the elevator. I left it unlocked after that. Anybody could have started the elevator running then by throwing in the switch. I am familiar with the floor back there in the metal department. It is a very dirty, greasy, stained up floor -there isn't a worse one in town. Whenever you walk along there you will fall down if you are not very particular. The floor has never been washed all the three years that I have been there. You see the analines and white stuff scattered all over the floor every day and the sweepers just sweep it along together. You see spots on the floor quite frequently. We work about 100 girls in the factory. Four or five of them work in the metal room. There is a ladies' dressing room right there where they chipped up the spots, and right across from there is the toilet, not over six feet from it. I have seen blood spots frequently ever since I have been working there around the ladies' toilets and the ladies' dressing rooms; the foreladies would always tell me about it and I have often noticed it when we were working or sweeping or anything of the kind, and I would know what it meant. I would go back and have it cleaned. These spots that Barrett claims to have found I don't recall having noticed before; they would not have attracted my attention. They were right on the way to the ladies' dressing room. Yes, this man Barrett discovered mighty near everything that was discovered in the building, hair, blood, and pay envelope. That is what he says. No, I have never seen Mr. Frank speak to Mary Phagan. I was at the factory at 6:30 Saturday morning. I was the first man that got there. Denham and White came in about 7 o'clock and went up on the fourth floor. They were doing some work up there. I had to saw that plank for them. They told me that it would take them until about 3 o'clock. The office boy, Alonzo Mann, 13 or 14 years old, came in next. Mr. Frank came in about 8:30 or 8:45. He went right in his office, unlocked his safe and got out his books and went to work on them. Mr. Darley was the next one that came in and Miss Mattie Smith the next. She stayed about 10 minutes and went out again. I met Miss Corinthia Hall and Miss Emma Clark at the corner of Hunter and Broad coming toward the factory just as I was leaving. Miss Clark asked me if anybody was there--said she wanted her wrap, it was turning cold, and I said, "Yes, Mr. Frank will let you have it. " There were several others came in that morning, but they came in while I was up stairs with Mr. White and Mr. Denham. There was no lock at all on the metal room door. Newt Lee closed up the building Friday. He looks after all the doors and windows plumb back to the back door in the basement. There were 7 or 8 negroes about the building, elevator boys and sweepers. On Saturdays they paid off at 12 o'clock, right at the clock. Mr. Frank would always be in his office attending to his books when they paid off. We put up a sign saying that the paying off would be done Friday night instead of Saturday, because Saturday was a holiday. We put four signs on every floor. Elevator shaft is closed by sliding doors. Anybody can raise them, they are not locked. It is very dark around the elevator shaft on the first floor, filled with boxes all around there. We have two clocks. One runs to 100 and the others runs from 100 to 200. Each employee has a number. That is the reason we have two clocks. When Miss Mattie Smith came in she discovered a mistake about her time by the time she reached the clock. Mr. Frank and Mr. Darley corrected it in the office and then she left. Mr. Frank got back from Montag's about 11 o'clock. He had with him the folder in which he carries his papers. Nobody was with him when he came back. He went right up into his office. The stenographer was in the outer office when he got there. These cords here are found laying around everywhere in the building. They come on every bundle of slats that come into the building. The pencils are tied up with those slats at the top floor, brought down by elevator, carried in the packing room and those strings are then put on them. They get in the trash every day and into the basement. It is impossible to keep them out. I did not see Mary Phagan or Monteen Stover. The negro Conley was familiar with the whole building, every part of it.

RE-DIRECT EXAMINATION.

White and Denham were working on the fourth floor about thirty feet from the elevator. On May 12, 1913, I told you that the elevator was locked because I forgot to tell you I done some sawing. I took the key out, left the elevator unlocked and took the key back and put it in the office. Mr. Darley got to the factory about 9 o'clock Saturday. Miss Mattie Smith got there about 9:10.

RE-CROSS EXAMINATION.

When I gave Mr. Dorsey that affidavit about locking the elevator I was telling more about my habit, the way I usually did it. I forgot to tell him about sawing those planks that Saturday morning and the fact that I sawed those planks makes me know that I left the elevator unlocked. The elevator makes a good deal of noise when it starts and when it stops.

RE-DIRECT EXAMINATION.

I was on the second floor when all of these people came in the factory. Mr. Frank worked on his books until he got ready to go to Montags, I think it was about an hour. I checked freight with a one-legged drayman about 10:30; his wagon was right in front of the door.