DR. J. W. HURT, sworn for the state.
I am County Physician. I saw the body of Mary Phagan on Sunday morning, the 27th of April. She had a scalp wound on the left side of her head about 2 and 1/2 inches long, about 4 inches from the top to the left ear through the scalp to the skull. She had a black contused eye. A number of small minor scratches on the face. The tongue was protruding about a half an inch through the teeth. There was a wound on the left knee, about 2 inches below the knee. There were some superficial scratches on the left and right elbow. There was a cord around the neck and this cord was imbedded into the skin and in my opinion she died from strangulation. This cord (Exhibit "C" for State) looks like the cord that was around her neck. There was swelling on the neck. In my opinion the cord was put on before death. The wound on the back of the head seemed to have been made with a blunt-edged instrument and the blow from down upward. The scalp wound was made before death. It was calculated to produce unconsciousness. The black eye appeared to have been made by some soft instrument in that the skin was not broken. I think the scratches on the face were made after death. I examined the hymen. It was not intact. There was blood on the drawers. I discovered no violence to the parts. There was blood on the parts. I didn't know whether it was fresh blood or menstrual blood. The vagina was a little larger than the normal size of a girl of that age. It is my opinion that this enlargement of the vagina could have been produced by penetration immediately preceding death. She had a normal virgin uterus. She was not pregnant. I made no examination of the blood vessels of the uterus or womb.
CROSS EXAMINATION.
The body looked as if it had been dragged through dirt and cinders. It is my impression that she was dragged face forward. If she had fallen on the corner of the floor that was sharp edged, or the corner of an elevator shaft with an edge, it might have produced the wound. I do not know of the kind of instrument that produced the wound. There was no contusion on the inside of the skull, but the skull wasn't fractured. Neither the brain nor the meningis were affected. There was a little contusion on the inner lining of the skull. There was no bleeding on the brain tissues. I don't know whether it would produce unconsciousness or not. I was never asked before to examine the inside of anybody's skull to determine the fact whether death or unconsciousness resulted from the wound. It is my impression that this lick did produce unconsciousness, but I won't swear it, I don't know. The hemorrhage which we discovered in the skull caused no pressure on the brain. That was no sign that unconsciousness resulted. When a person is strangled to death the lungs ought to show congestion.
