Henry Hoffman — appeared on behalf of the State as the 173rd witness to give testimony

Henry Hoffman, witness for the State 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)
Streetcar inspector Henry Hoffman testified that motorman W. M. Matthews was under his supervision from 11:30 a.m. to 12:07 p.m. on April 26, 1913. Matthews’s English Avenue car was scheduled to arrive at Broad and Marietta at 12:07 p.m.—no such schedule as 12:07½ existed. Hoffman had ridden with Matthews when he cut off the Fair Street car (due at 12:05 p.m.). Their watches varied 20–40 seconds, but company policy required standard time. Hoffman had reprimanded Matthews once or twice for running early, noting motormen sometimes arrived ahead of schedule to secure relief for meals.
On cross-examination, Hoffman admitted he did not know Matthews’s exact arrival time on April 26. He had caught Matthews running early as far back as March 1913—once by 1½ minutes, and up to three minutes in spring 1912 on the 12:07 trip. However, he never formally reported Matthews, only verbally warned him. In five years of supervision, he had noted Matthews early only twice.
This testimony was offered to establish that Matthews habitually ran early, making a 12:03 p.m. arrival plausible, and to support the State’s timeline that Mary Phagan reached the factory vicinity by noon—while the cross-examination highlighted inconsistencies and lack of formal discipline to question the precision of the schedule enforcement.