Trial of Clarence Norris, December 2, 1933 before Judge William Washington Callahan, for the defendant:
Direct Examination: I am a duly licensed physician, licensed to practice under the laws of the State of Alabama. I am a resident to Scottsboro and have been for a number of years. I am a general medical practitioner. I treat all kinds of medical cases that come to a medical doctor. I examined Mrs. Victoria Price on the 25th of March, 1931, on the day some trouble is said to have happened on a freight train. I saw her first at the jail house in Scottsboro. It was something around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, probably a little after. I saw her in the company with some other girl, Ruby Bates. I did not examine her there at all when I first saw them. I just saw two women. I told them to take them over to my office, where I could make a more private examination. When Victoria Price came to my office, I told her to undress herself. I removed her clothes from her waist down. From her waist up she had on her clothes. This was I my presence. After she removed her clothes, I gave her a physical examination. I don't remember seeing any cut on the top of her head from which any blood came. I did not find any bruises on the face. I don't remember finding any puffed up lips, or swollen lips. If I had seen that, I would have noticed it. We were looking for those things.
Q: Were you instructed by the authorities of Jackson County to make the examination?
Mr. Knight: That is objected to. Court: Sustain the objection.
I made an examination of the face. I didn't see anything. I didn't see any blood. I was examining her for the purpose of finding marks, if possible, and I made note of everything I saw. I don't remember finding any scratch on her face. I did not examine the chest of this woman n that day; I did the next day. I did examine her abdomen. There were no cuts on the chest nor any cuts on the abdomen. I examined her back. There were no cuts on the back from which blood would come; no cuts on her legs; no abrasions or skin rubbed off on the legs; no tears of the skin near the privates at all. The vagina was not torn in any way. I found a couple of scratches on the wrist of one arm, and on the forearm of the other. I knew these women were taken off a freight train. I heard that; I didn't know it. I did not find any lacerations of any kind outside the scratches on the wrist and forearm. When I examined this woman, her pulse was not fast; it was in the bounds of normal. The respiration was about normal, too. A person under excitement, as a rule, especially a woman, would show rapid pulse and rapid breathing. If a woman come into court and made believe she was fainting, threw herself over in this fashion, if she was just faking or shamming a faint, a doctor could, as a rule, find that out by felling her pulse, but not always. Then can fake it sometimes mighty well.
Q: Tell us, doctor, supposing a woman had been hit in the head with the butt end of a gun-- let me put it this way, suppose that a woman came into curt and testified, that is assuming a state of facts for the purpose of hypothetical question--assuming that a woman come into court and testified that she had been hit on the head with the butt end of a gun, the would from which bled-- Mr. Knight: I object to the question. Court: I will wait until he gets through.
Q: (Continued)---and supposing further that she states that she was seized ver violently, and states further that she was struck several blows in and about different parts of the body, including the face, and supposing that she was picked up and held over the sides of a gondola car by her legs, and then pulled back around, and thrown down on some rough material known as chert, and suppose then and there one of the assailants pushed her head, that is her face roughly, and supposing further that this man that threw her down had intercourse with her, and supposing that while the intercourse was going on, he tore at her breasts, taking hold of her in and about the breasts, and suppose that six men in succession had intercourse with this woman, against her will, while she was struggling and squirming, and resisting, on this rock, or chert, and suppose, doctor, that she lay on this rock or chert on her back and on her side for over an hour, screaming and struggling with these heavy men on top of her, and suppose after that, she was taken off, and suppose that she claimed that she was in a faint, for a few moments, and was taken to a nearby point to a doctor's office---what would you expect to find on her body--can you state with reasonable certainty what would be found on her body; would you not find more evidence of violence and assault than a mere couple of scratches on the wrist and forearm, or the throat?
Mr. Knight: We object to that. Court: The objection is well taken. The question is not based on the evidence. Mr. Leibowitz: We except.
Cross-Examination:
A: I testified at Scottsboro three years ago. Without the testimony I don't have a distinct recollection of saying that I saw bruises on her throat. In the afternoon when I examined her I examined her from the waist down. She had on her dress from the waist up. I examined her back the next morning. I found a small blue spot about like a pecan in the small of the back. She had some scratches. I can't be expected to remember every detail at this time. There might be a few little ones that I overlooked, something like that. I don';t remember how may cases I testified in in Scottsboro. I think in two of them. They did not bring the colored boys over to my office that day. I don't remember whether they were brought in the hospital room in the jail while I was there. I saw one of them in the court house. I don't know whether I saw the defendant in there. I don't know whether I saw the defendant in there. I don't know one of them by name.
Redirect Examination:
Q: You have been a witness in every case for the state, haven't you?
Mr. Knight: We object to that. Court: Sustain the objection. That he has appeared as a witness is enough. Mr. Leibowitz: We except.
Re-Cross Examination:
A: I stated to Mr. Leibowitz that her pulse was about normal when I examined her in my office. Q. Is it possible that a person who has gone through quite a strain could regain a normal pulse in a couple of hours after the strain?
Mr. Leibowitz: We object to that. Court: Overruled. Mr. Leibowitz: Exception.
A: In how long? Court: The question he has asked is, is it possible in a couple of hours? A. Yes, sir. Q. When you examined Victoria Price on the following day, was she not in a hysterical condition on that day?
Mr. Leibowitz: We object to her condition on the following day as immaterial. Court: Overrule the objection. Mr. Leibowitz: Exception.
A: Yes, sir. Q. I will ask you if it is not sometimes the case that where a woman is normal after going through great excitement, the following day she will be in a highly nervous condition?
Mr. Leibowitz: We object to that. Court: Overruled. Mr. Leibowitz: Exception.
A: Yes, sir. I don't remember seeing bruises on Victoria Price's throat at this time. I might have sworn that she did before. We forget in two and a half or three years. I don't remember.
Re-direct Examination:
A: I made some notes in my office at the time I examined her. I do not have them with me. I had them here the other day. The things I put down were things I found on the body, a history of it. I did not put down any cuts on the head; nor swollen nose; nor any battered or puffed-up lips; nor any skin torn on her. I don't remember putting down any injuries or wounds, but some scratches on the wrist and forearm and a blue place on the small of the back. It is possible that she might have had a cut on her lip that we overlooked, and a little blood, and it is possible she might have had her nose mashed that we overlooked, but if there were lacerations of the skin we ought to have seen them. Cuts on the skin would not disappear in an hour and a half.
Re-cross examination:
Dr. Lynch probably saw them more frequently than I did. He was county physician and health officer.