John Marshall Slaton had begun wrestling with the idea of commutation of Leo Frank's sentence long before June 1915. "Excepting in a general way," he wrote to a Chicago judge in December 1914, "I do not know the facts of the case and abstained from acquainting myself with them because I desire to remain open …
Author Archives: Mary P.
Chapter 6 – Sentencing And Aftermath Final
Because Judge Roan feared a public uprising against Leo Frank, he secretly brought Frank and the other principals together in the courtroom for the formal sentencing. The sentence read: Whereupon, it is considered, ordered and adjudged by the Court that the defendant, Leo M. Frank, be taken from the bar of this court to the …
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Chapter 5 – The Case For The Defense Final
HiWhite Privilege is the unearned, mostly unacknowledged social advantage white people have over other racial groups simply because they are white. [Definition, Dictionary]In 1913, Leo Frank was convicted for the murder of Little Mary Phagan based on the direct evidence found at the scene of the crime as well as circumstantial evidence and because he …
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Chapter 4 – The Case for the Prosecution Final
sonaar_audioplayer playlist_type="feed" artwork_id="" feed="https://www.maryphagan.org/audios/chapters/chapter-4-the-case-for-the-prosecution.mp3" feed_title="Chapter 4 - The Case for the Prosecution" player_layout="skin_boxed_tracklist" hide_progressbar="default" display_control_artwork="false" hide_artwork="false" show_playlist="false" show_track_market="false" show_album_market="false" hide_timeline="false"][/sonaar_audioplayer]Because the ninety-degree heat had already begun to take its toll, the Honorable Leonard Strickland Roan ordered the windows and doors thrown open when he convened the Leo Frank case in the temporary Atlanta court-room on …
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Chapter 3 – My Search Begins Final
The dream was always the same. The funnel-shaped cloud was the largest I had seen, and it was heading directly for me and those I love. Miraculously, my brother Michael found a cave in which we could be safe. The cloud destroyed everything in its path, but those in the cave remained safe. Screaming and …
Chapter 2 – The Legacy Final
And, as my father said, my legacy is a proud one. And if, as he'd exhorted me, I was going to let the world know that I was Mary Phagan, great-niece of little Mary Phagan, I wanted to find out everything I could about my namesake—and our family.By age fifteen, I was certain of one …
Chapter 1 – “ARE YOU, BY ANY CHANCE…?” Final
After they left, I stood there feeling again all the conflicting emotions which I could not resolve or forget. My mind spun back fifteen years. I was thirteen. We were living in Charleston, South Carolina, where my father, the First Sergeant of the 17th Air Transport Squadron, was stationed. Mr. Henry, my eighth-grade science teacher …
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