MINOLA MCKNIGHT C, Sworn In For The State, 49th To Testify

Reading Time: 4 minutes [677 words]

MINOLA Mc Knight (c), sworn for the Defendant.

I work for Mrs. Selig. I cook for her. Mr. and Mrs. Frank live with

Mr. and Mrs. Selig. His wife is Mrs. Selig's daughter. I cooked breakfast

for the family on April 26th. Mr. Frank finished breakfast a little

after seven o'clock. Mr. Frank came to dinner about 20 minutes after

one that day. That was not the dinner hour, but Mrs. Frank and Mrs.

Selig were going off on the two o'clock car. They were already eating

when Mr. Frank came in. My husband, Albert Mc Knight, wasn't in the

kitchen that day between one and two o'clock at all. Standing in the

kitchen door you cannot see the mirror in the dining room. If you move

up to the north end of the kitchen where you can see the mirror, you can't

see the dining room table. My husband wasn't there all that day. Mr.

Frank left that day sometime after two o'clock. I next saw him at half

past six at supper. I left about eight o'clock. Mr. Frank was still at

home when I left. He took supper with the rest of the family. After this

happened the detectives came out and arrested me and took me to Mr.

Dorsey's office, where Mr. Dorsey, my husband and another man were

there. I was working at the Selig's when they come and got me. They

tried to get me to say that Mr. Frank would not allow his wife to sleep

that night and that he told her to get up and get his gun and let him kill

himself, and that he made her get out of bed. They had my husband there

to bulldoze me, claiming that I had told him that. I had never told him

anything of the kind. I told them right there in Mr. Dorsey's office that

it was a lie. Then they carried me down to the station house in the patrol

wagon. They came to me for another statement about half past eleven

or twelve o'clock that night and made me sign something before they turned me loose, but it wasn't true. I signed it to get out of jail, because

they said they would not let me out. It was all written out for me before

they made me sign it.

CROSS EXAMINATION.

I signed that statement (State's Exhibit " J "), but I didn't tell you

some of the things you got in there. I didn't say he left home about three

o'clock. I said somewhere about two. I did not say he was not there at

one o'clock. Mr. Graves and Mr. Pickett, of Beck & Gregg Hardware

Co. came down to see me. A detective took me to your (Mr. Dorsey's)

office. My husband was there and told me that I had told him certain

things. Yes, I denied it. Yes, I wept and cried and stuck to it. When

they first brought me out of jail, they said they did not want anything

else but the truth, then they said I had to tell a lot of lies and I told them

I would not do it. That man sitting right there (pointing to Mr. Camp-

bell) and a whole lot of men wanted me to tell lies. They wanted me to

witness to what my husband was saying. My husband tried to get me to

tell lies. They made me sign that statement, but it was a lie. If Mr.

Frank didn't eat any dinner that day I ain't sitting in this chair. Mrs.

Selig never gave me no money. The statement that I signed is not the

truth. They told me if I didn't sign it they were going to keep me locked

up. That man there (indicating) and that man made me sign it. Mr.

Graves and Mr. Pickett made me sign it. They did not give me any more

money after this thing happened. One week I was paid two weeks' wages.

RE-DIRECT EXAMINATION.

None of the things in that statement is true. It's all a lie. My wages

never have been raised since this thing happened. They did not tell me

to keep quiet. They (the Seligs) always told me to tell the truth and it couldn't hurt.