Nervousness, curiosity and excitement all plagued me as I awaited the arrival of the Tennessean staff. My mind flitted back and forth to questions I wanted to ask. I wondered what their response would be to me and whether they would push me to come forward with the statement that Mary Phagan's convicted murderer was innocent.
Why, I thought, was that young girl's murder never forgotten? My family and I never really fathomed the publicity and the generational trauma that continued almost unabated since her untimely death. And the media never once considered what the publicity did to the Phagan family. But Mary Phagan's legacy is a real part of all our lives— especially mine. It also occurred to me that my father was right in his assessment of the media's handling of the story: he had told me that the story of little Mary Phagan would never be forgotten and that every three to five years the story would reappear in some form in the media. He had also thought that the story would never be put to rest because the Jewish community would not be satisfied until Leo Frank's innocence could be established. And, with the Alonzo Mann story, that now seemed possible. T
The Tennessean had sent two staff reporters and a photojournalist to the house. I introduced myself as Mary Phagan and my confidence returned.
We discussed the Mary Phagan/Leo Frank case. They asked no probing questions. One of my questions was how the Alonzo Mann evidence had come to light. One of the reporters, Jerry Thompson, explained that he had been working undercover in the KKK for over a year, developing a story depicting the current KKK. When they discovered that he was a reporter, there were several threats made against his life. The newspaper hired guards to protect him and his house.
One of these guards was Bob Mann, who is Alonzo Mann's nephew. Bob told Jerry that his uncle had witnessed a murder in Atlanta in 1913, but he knew no other details.
Jerry was intrigued. He spoke with his publisher, who agreed to run a series of stories on the convictions of innocent people. At that time the series was considered to be low profile.
Jerry had never heard of Mary Phagan or Leo Frank. That began to change when, in working on the series, he called Alonzo Mann. A few weeks later, Jerry met a rabbi who happened to mention Leo Frank and it "clicked." Armed with what Alonzo Mann had told him, Jerry then met again with his publisher. The story was given top priority.
Why did Alonzo Mann wait until 1982? The staff told me that Mann's mother didn't want their name involved in the case and feared for their safety. Alonzo Mann liked Leo Frank and had been relieved that Frank's sentence was commuted. Mann had hoped that the truth would be found out during the appeals process. Leo Frank's lynching made that superfluous.
The newspaper staff asked me to comment on Mann's testimony. They said they'd be happy to send over any other materials I might need.
As they were leaving, they invited me to a press conference to be held at the Atlanta Jewish Community Center on April 1. I accepted, but asked to remain anonymous.
The Atlanta Jewish Community Center is on Peachtree Street, the most wellknown street in Atlanta. It is a low brick building that resembles those sprawling public schools I attended when we moved back to the States.
But it was months after the night before I saw it that distinctly. My surroundings were a blur the night I at-tended the press conference: for the first time I was participating—even though as an anonymous observer—in a public discussion of my greataunt's murder.
Bernard and I had decided that the best way to retain anonymity was to register as "Mr. and Mrs. Kean" Because of my family's silence, I was not emotionally prepared to come forward at a news conference. In fact, the Tennessean staff had agreed that anonymity would probably be best since I had doubts about making any sort of statement. And I had no idea what they were going to present to the Jewish community.
The room was a typical conference area. Seated around the table were reporters who were either asked to be present or who had an interest in the case. As we entered the room, the Tennessean staff asked me to sit near them. Reporters directed questions concerning all areas of the case to the Tennessean staff for approximately thirty to forty-five minutes. Of foremost interest, of course, was Alonzo Mann's affidavit and whether a posthumous pardon would be sought for Leo Frank. At the conference, I listened intently and watched the facial expressions of those present. What were these people thinking I wondered, and how did they come to their conclusions?
After all questions were discussed, we were ushered into a huge main room which was filled to capacity. My husband and I sat in the back row; I felt most comfortable there. The Tennessean staff reporters, Jerry Thompson and Robert Sherborne, publicly presented to the Jewish community the review of evidence for Leo Frank's innocence.
Then they answered questions. Most of the questions concerned the effect of Alonzo Mann's affidavit as the missing link of evidence to finally substantiate Leo Frank's innocence.
One question involved the Phagan family. An individual wanted to know the reaction of my family. Jerry Thompson stated that some Phagan family members upheld their belief in the convicted Leo Frank's guilt while others "were trying to be objective." I knew he was talking about me. I had my own opinion, but I wanted to hear what they had to say. I was trying to be objective, but, because of my emotional involvement, it was difficult for me. The meeting adjourned on the thought that the posthumous pardon for Leo Frank was likely to be an issue for the governor's race.
By the time we got to the car, tears were running down my face, and I didn't know quite why. In thinking over the conference the following day, I realized that while listening to Jerry Thompson and Robert Sherborne present their evidence to the Jewish community, I had thought how strange it was that they had asked me to be objective, since they themselves had decided that Alonzo Mann's conclusions were true and could not themselves be all that objective.
At the time, all I could see was my grandfather and my father telling me the story of little Mary Phagan, over and over again. They had always told me that Leo Frank was convicted of her murder. How could I not believe them and the evidence? They had never withheld the truth from me. Truth was valuable to them and to me.
How could I reconcile the two views?
On April 4, just three days after the news conference, my youngest brother, Michael, died.
I was the oldest and he the youngest. We were very close. He looked up to me, and I depended on him more than he ever knew.
Michael had a lot of difficult times in his life, but he always knew that the family supported him. We didn't always agree with what he did, but we never stopped loving him.
His death devastated me. I couldn't believe he wouldn't be around anymore. I couldn't believe we'd never talk again.
Michael was buried next to our grandfather. I placed flowers on each grave. For the first time I began to understand the depth of my grandfather's grief over his sister's death—and why he couldn't talk about it. I wished that I could tell him so; placing the red rose on his grave was my gesture to him that I finally understood. Some griefs can never be overcome. Like my father, I learned there are two things in life you can't share: grief and pain.
On April 6, the following article appeared in The East Cobb Neighbor, a neighborhood newspaper near Marietta:
JEWISH LEADERS SEEK EXONERATION FOR FRANK
Leaders of the Atlanta Jewish Community say they are seeking ways to obtain a posthumous exoneration of Leo Frank, the turn-of-the-century Atlanta businessman convicted of and lynched for the murder of a Marietta girl—a murder a witness in the case now says Frank did not commit.
And one of three Nashville, Tennessee newspaper reporters who broke the apparent new development in the sixty-nine-year-old case says he is ready to help clear Frank's name "not only historically but legally."
The statements came last week before two of the reporters, Jerry Thompson and Robert Sherborne of the Tennessean, told an audience at the Atlanta Jewish Community Center about their discovery of a possible turnaround in the Frank case.
In a package of copyright stories published last month, the Tennessean revealed that eighty-two-year-old Alonzo Mann of Bristol, Virginia, says an employee of Frank actually killed fourteen-year-old Mary Phagan.
The April 1913 murder of the girl at the National Pencil Company in Atlanta—where she, Mann, Frank, and Jim Conley, the man Mann says was the killer, worked—began one of the most sensational legal episodes of the century.
Frank, a Jew, was convicted on what even then was considered fuzzy evidence at a time of intense anti-Jewish feeling in the city. His death sentence was later commuted by Georgia's governor, but a mob pulled Frank from prison in 1914 and hanged him from a tree on Roswell Street in Marietta, just east of what is now Cobb Parkway.
Gerald Cohen, Vice President of the Atlanta Jewish Federation, said last week the new twist in the Frank case "has really set the Atlanta community back on its heels."
Sherry Frank (no relation to Leo Frank), area director of the American Jewish Committee, said Jewish leaders would like to make a possible exoneration of Frank an issue in the gubernatorial race this year. That time after Michael's death was the most difficult period of my life so far. Nothing mattered. For the first time, I could not get excited over—nor even care about—the burgeoning resurgence of interest in Mary Phagan's death. Then I received a letter from Sandra Roberts:
Dear Mary and Bernard: I am sending you the latest story that we have had on the Frank case. I am also enclosing copies of the letters on which the story was based. The original letters are in the Goldfarb Library of Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Seigenthaler [President, Editor and Publisher] told me this morning that the reaction to the Frank story continues to pour in from all over the world. Reporters and television people are trying their best to get Lonnie (Alonzo) Mann to tell his story again, but he seems more comfortable just dealing with Bob and Jerry. I believe that he is at peace with himself a last.
I must admit, Mary, that when I first received your letter, I was purely curious about your reaction to the section. However, since our visit I've tried to put myself in your place. I've wondered what I would do if I were Mary Phagan.
From the beginning this story has been fascinating, but it was merely another story to me. It is easy for me to remain objective as a researcher, since I have no personal involvement with the people, the races, the religions, or even the state concerned. It was simple for me to sit silently in the Jewish Community Center in Atlanta, and view the product of two conflicting cultures.
On one hand I witnessed a mass of people, totally convinced that one of their brothers was brutally and unjustly lynched. Moreover they have remained angry for seventy years because they believe he was lynched because he was Jewish.
On the other hand I saw one small woman who bears not only the name but also the face and figure of an aunt that she will never know. I felt your total devotion to a family and a legacy that will always bear the burden of the senseless slaughter of a beautiful young girl.
I honestly don't know what I would do if I were you, Mary, but the options seem clear. You could remain silent and let the past stay buried, or you could make a statement indicating your reaction to the resurgence of the PhaganFrank case.
When I spoke with Seigenthaler this morning he revealed his concern (and curiosity) about your reaction to the case. He assured me of a few things; if you should decide to make a public statement concerning the case, there will be immediate, world-wide response to it. The Tennessean would print any statement that you or your father would make. You could indicate your belief of Frank's guilt or innocence, or you could simply react to the new evidence of Alonzo Mann's testimony. Any statement that you make could be preceded by a visit with Mr. Mann (I think that might be really interesting). We would also let you read the story in full before its publication (I was quite surprised when John made the last suggestion. It flies in the face of a basic rule of journalism).
No matter what your decision is, I have another personal promise to you. I assure you that you have a new-found friend in Nashville who has tried very hard to feel this story through your heart. There are many times in this business that sensitivity and objectivity clash. Reporters must remind themselves that what is merely a story for the newspaper could be a thunderbolt in the existence of a human being. Maybe that is why I prefer the research end of journalism.
Best wishes,
Sandra
I read her letter again and again and realized that she was indeed a friend. Her letter stayed with me. Sandra felt compassion for me and I knew she would not ask anything from me that made me uncomfortable or some how uneasy. It made me feel good that she respected me as an individual. She knew that I was struggling inside.
Sandra's letter also made me see something else in myself: I was fighting my legacy at the Atlanta Jewish Community Center. I couldn't see it before reading and rereading her letter, but that was why I cried so abruptly and bitterly after the news conference. Now those feelings were over, gone. I could never deny or fight my legacy again. I would now be able to stand up and acknowledge that I am Mary Phagan.
My family's strength during my brother's death also proved to me that I could never forget who I was or where I came from. I was proud of my heritage.
On April 18 I wrote Sandra to tell her of my brother's death. I also reiterated that I would not make a public statement concerning Alonzo Mann's affidavit at that time. I still felt the past should stay buried.
Sandra responded on April 22 with yet another warm and sympathetic letter:
Dear Mary and Bernard:
Here is the long promised tape of the WRFG program. The producer, Chris Kuhn, did most of the research. The narrator, Sherry Conder, is a librarian at Georgia State Library and Archives. She did her Master's thesis on Governor Slaton—and she knows a lot about the case. You'd really enjoy her if you get to meet her.
Mary, I'm really sorry about Michael. I don't know the circumstances, if it was accidental or an illness, but I'm sure you were a great comfort to your parents.
Don't worry about the statement. I'll be honest with you—your statement would make a great story for this newspaper. Bob and Jerry and Seigenthaler really would like to have it—But, as I have reminded them, what is one great story for us could alter your life considerably. I'm sure that the chances are good that other news people may track you down (if they haven't already). So all I'm asking is—if and when you decide to say something, please let the Tennessean have a little warning. I hope your healing is swift and as painless as possible. Let me know when you need anything that I can help you with.
Best wishes,
Sandra
While reading through the newspaper articles I'd collected, I came across the name Mike Wing, a member of the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles. Another big first step: why not call him, introduce myself, and let him know about my family?
When I told him that my name was "Mary Phagan," and of my relationship to little Mary Phagan, he reacted with utter shock. Mike Wing, like countless others, never knew that there were surviving Phagan family members.
I wanted the Board to know, I told him, that there were indeed surviving close family members of Mary Phagan and that the family was anxious to be notified of any information brought before the media. I asked to be informed if an application for a posthumous pardon for Leo Frank was received. At the very least, this would ensure that if the story broke, I'd know ahead of time.
He was responsive. During the conversation, he was curious about the fact that the Phagan family had never publicly acknowledged themselves. I explained that the murder had been a deeply traumatic event whose reverberations we still felt and that we had never seen the need to say anything. It had been, we hoped, best to keep a "vow of silence" among ourselves.
He said he felt certain an application would be filed. He took my address and phone number and those of my father.
After that, I wasn't scared anymore. I was glad that I had called Mike Wing and felt confident that if he did indeed receive a posthumous pardon application for Frank, he would inform me. But my brother's death continued to cloud my life. I began to ask myself some difficult questions—including why he died and what the true value and purpose of my, life was. I and other close family members learned once again the importance and significance of family, and how vital it was that we continue being loving and caring to one another always.
Then, in August, a happy event: I was the matron of honor in Amy's wedding. Amy and I had remained close friends after I left Florida. Like most good friends, we had our good and fun times, and also had some "conflicts." It didn't matter, though: we always resolved them. Amy was there for me when Michael died, too. She kept in close contact, since she knew me well and knew I was having a difficult time adjusting. The wedding was a beautiful Jewish ceremony and I learned many new things. Her family became my family and I became a part of her family. The love and happiness we all shared was a healing force for me.
At the end of February 1978, my coworkers at Griffin CESA jokingly told me I was on the front page! Silence fell over the room. The look in my face must have told them something: it couldn't be. Why was it on the front page now? It seemed I could never escape.
I picked up the newspaper. It was the Atlanta Constitution. The banner headline read: "THE MURDER OF MARY PHAGAN" by Celestine Sibley. A preface before the story indicated that they were doing a series on famous murders in Georgia. My father and I found several inaccuracies in the articles on Mary Phagan and felt we had to voice our opinion to the author.
My father called Celestine Sibley, but the call was never returned. He was surprised.
Several other Phagans were quite upset by the articles. John Phagan Durham, son of Lizzie Mary Etta Phagan, who made little Mary's dress, and first cousin of little Mary Phagan, went to Mr. Sears, the Managing Editor of the Atlanta Constitution and asked that the articles be stopped. He said that Mr. Sears replied: "We cannot stop the articles, and if we have caused hard feelings with the Phagan family we apologize. And if you would correct the factual inaccuracies, we would correct them." Phagan Durham informed Mr. Sears that he, Phagan Durham, would not make the corrections because the series appeared on the front page, and he was certain the corrections would not appear on the front page. People would not see them. He left, frustrated.
The series rekindled interest concerning the murder of little Mary Phagan and its aftermath. Principals, teachers, students, optometrists, and ophthamologists in the eight counties my work covered asked me that question: "Are you, by any chance, related to little Mary Phagan?"
The questions became more intense: people wanted details on the trial and the lynching and wanted to know if any of the Phagans were involved with the lynching. I wanted the truth to be known.
I wanted the inaccuracies corrected. I became more articulate in discussing the case, and I felt a sense of confidence since I knew the story well and could answer most of the questions.
I had plans to marry in June of that year. Bernard knew nothing of the story of little Mary Phagan. I had never told him. He, like most, had read the series in the newspapers, and one night he mentioned that a girl was murdered who had my name; then he, too, wanted to know: "Are you, by any chance, related to her?"
"Yes," I said, "I am."
Why, he wanted to know, had I never told him?
"You never asked," I said.
Then I told him: I told him the story and why the Phagan family had remained silent. But, I told him, we had something to say now, and my father agreed and was beginning to let it be known that there were close relatives of little Mary Phagan who were still living.
Daddy hadn't gone so far as to publicly acknowledge our existence but had let certain individuals know in nonchalant ways.
Bernard asked if I had ever been to the grave. I hadn't.
I was bothered that my name was on a tombstone. Right then we determined to go.
We drove to Marietta. I was extremely quiet, and Bernard responded with silence. It was time: I felt the desire to go to the grave.
It was a beautiful day—sunny, with a light breeze. As we neared the cemetery, I began to feel sick to my stomach. Now I wasn't quite sure if I wanted to see the grave.
"We're here," Bernard said suddenly.
I hesitated. "Are you all right?" he asked. Somehow, I felt inner strength. "I'm ready,"
I told him softly.
The plot was located in the wealthy section of the cemetery. There, beside little Mary, were other Phagan family members, including William Jackson Phagan and Angelina O'Shields Phagan.
Little Mary Phagan's grave was like none other that I had seen before. It had a marble tombstone which bore her name and an inscription the length of the burial place in marble. It was a beautiful inscription and was written by Tom Watson. I immediately memorized it.
Bernard and I took photos for the scrapbook about Mary I had begun assembling. A middle-aged couple approached us and asked if we knew where the grave of little Mary Phagan was. The articles in the newspaper had once again revived interest in her.
A sense of sadness for my relatives, especially those who had lived through the horrible ordeal, came over me. And I admired them for not seeking publicity and wishing to remain anonymous.
That year, 1978, proved to be full of beginnings and firsts for me. It was the first time my father had acknowledged our relationship to Mary by contacting a reporter; the beginning of a scrapbook of little Mary Phagan; my first visit to the grave of little Mary Phagan; and my first car accident—which turned out to have a connection to Mary Phagan.
A few days after the accident I decided to check on the elderly lady who had struck my car and to find out if she had turned in the insurance papers. She was a wealthy, prominent member of the community in which she lived. Her house was extraordinarily beautiful. When she answered the door, I explained that I was the individual involved with her in the accident, and I was checking to see if she had turned in the insurance papers. She welcomed me inside her home and told me that she was becoming blind and deaf and did not have anyone to help her fill out the forms. She asked me if I would help. I filled out the paperwork, and, with a magnifying glass, she read it to correct the errors. When she came to my name, she abruptly turned to me and asked me that question: "Are you, by any chance, related to little Mary Phagan?"
When I said "Yes," she hugged and kissed me. Then she related her memories of it.
She and her husband drove their horse and buggy to Atlanta and saw the crowd of people waiting to hear the trial. Apparently it had been an overwhelming sight. The majority of the people at that time felt that Leo Frank was guilty, she said, and she believed it too. She still believed it. She excitedly told me about life in that era and how many changes she had seen in her ninety-two years. She liked some of the changes, but others she disliked. I had a wonderful time, and she invited me to have lunch with her. She had found that I listened to her attentively, and nowadays it seemed that no one really listened anymore.
The next day, I received another invitation for lunch. For the rest of the school year, I would lunch with her on Mondays. We became very close.
In 1980, Bernard and I moved to Cobb County, where my family had begun. Since the travel was too far and too much for me, I resigned my position at Griffin CESA and began employment for the Cherokee County Board of Education in Canton, Georgia as the itinerant teacher for the blind and visually impaired.
When school began in August, my supervisor introduced me to the principals for whom I would be working. Several of them asked me that recurrent question: "Are you, by any chance, related to little Mary Phagan?"
At one of the schools the principal was not available to meet me, but as we were leaving, he ran out after us and asked me my name and what position I held for the county. He took out his pen from his shirt pocket, and as I told him my name, he wrote it on the palm of his hand. He stared at it and asked me that question.
I told him "yes."
He erased my name from his hand and told me he would never forget my name. From that moment on, Mr. Tippens called me "little Mary Phagan," and introduced me as such. I didn't mind.
ALONZO MANN
On Saturday, March 6, 1982, Sue Youngblood, one of the secretaries where I worked, called. She was very upset. She had been watching television and heard a promotional late news headline, something to the effect of: "An eyewitness says Leo Frank was not guilty of the murder of little Mary Phagan. More details on the eleven o'clock news.
Stunned and bewildered, I waited for the hours to pass. How could there be a witness alive?
The local news provided a report from two reporters, Colin Sedor from Georgia, and Jerry Thompson from Tennessee. They discussed the era of the crime and the basic facts of the case. Then they showed an interview with Alonzo Mann, a man who said he had seen Jim Conley with the body of Mary Phagan. Mann, now eighty-three years of age and living in Virginia, appeared calm and competent as he spoke of these events.
Alonzo Mann claimed that he had attempted to relate what he had seen for years—and that no one seemed interested. After a while, he told reporters, he had given up.
He told reporters of the Tennessean that as a soldier during World War I he'd engendered a heated argument with another soldier—who happened to be from Georgia—when he said that he knew that Leo Frank did not kill Mary Phagan.
Over the years he told his wife, his relatives, and his closest friends his story. During the 1950s, he told it to a reporter of an Atlanta newspaper. But, Mann stated, the reporter said he didn't want to stir up the anti-Semitism that had engulfed Atlanta during the trial and at the time of the commutation. "Mrs. Frank is still alive," the reporter had also said, "and we wouldn't want to do anything to cause her any more grief."
At about the time he gave his testimony to the media, Mann agreed to a polygraph test and a psychological stress analysis.
The psychological stress analysis electronically measures and charts, with a needle and graph, the stress in the voice in response to questions: the greater stress there seems to be, the greater the probability that the subject is not telling the truth.
The polygraph, broadly used by law enforcement personnel across the United States, tests whether the subject is telling the truth by measuring the respiratory rate, blood pressure, skin reaction, and pulse rate.
In both procedures, the subject responds to questions and a pattern is printed out on graph paper connected to the machines which are connected to the subject's body.
Alonzo Mann, according to both tests, told the truth consistently.
Alonzo Mann's story was a new twist on the facts presented since 1913. He said that Jim Conley had said to him, "If you ever tell anyone, I'll kill you." He had gone home and repeated what he had seen and what he'd been told by Conley to his mother. She told him to be quiet, and he had been.
Now, after almost seventy years of silence, he decided to come forward to be at peace in his heart.
I wasn't the only one who was stunned. And I could not believe that Alonzo Mann would wait seventy years to reveal his eyewitness testimony. My father and I discussed at length the plausibility of Alonzo Mann's statements. We decided to remain silent until the sensationalism of the story quieted down.
It didn't.
On March 7, 1982 the Nashville Tennessean ran a special supplement which bore the headline, "AN INNOCENT MAN WAS LYNCHED." The copy began, "Leo Frank, convicted in 1913 and lynched in 1915, in one of the most notorious cases in American history, was innocent, according to sworn testimony by a witness in the case."
Nashville Tennessean Special News Edition March 7, 1982
The section contained quotations of the letters Leo Frank wrote his family from prison, Alonzo Mann's statement—and the print-out of the polygraph test he had taken. It contained photos of him at Mary Phagan's grave. The supplement was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
Between the publication of that special supplement and Alonzo Mann's appearance before the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, reporters on the staff of the Tennessean initiated plans for a book, and had even spoken to the producer of the television miniseries, "Winds of War." Pardon Board Chairman Mobley Howell was quoted as saying that the entire affair had taken on a "showman quality."
Also, on March 7, 1982 Cassandra Clayton, another local reporter, reported an interview with Bernie Dukehart, brother of one of the members of the lynching mob, in which Dukehart said that Alonzo Mann's statements changed nothing and that his brother always felt that Leo Frank was guilty. On the same newscast there was an interview with Jasper Yeomans, the son of Leo Frank's defense attorney. The reporter also spoke briefly with Stuart Lewengrub of the Anti-Defamation League, who expressed the desire that a posthumous pardon be granted. It was also reported that the Phagan family members denied the station's request for an interview and were tired of their name being dragged through the mud. The Phagan family member who denied the interview was John Phagan Durham.
Ironically, at this point no one in the media knew that either my father or I existed. And several older Phagan's who had lived through the murder and its aftermath had also kept silent, even though the media contacted them. They did not discuss the case with even their closest friends.
On March 8, 1982 a review of the story appeared, with the conclusion that a posthumous pardon for Leo Frank was unlikely.
Alonzo's testimony read:
IN THE STATE OF TENNESSEE, COUNTY OF SULLIVAN
The undersigned, being duly sworn, deposes as follows:
My name is Alonzo McClendon Mann. I am eighty-three years old. My father was Alonzo Mann, who was born in Germany. My mother was Hattie McClendon Mann. When I was a small boy my family moved to Atlanta where I spent most of my life.
In 1913 I was the office boy for Leo M. Frank, who ran the National Pencil Company. That was the year Leo Frank was convicted of the murder of Mary Phagan. I was fourteen years old at the time. I was called as a witness in the murder trial. At that time I was put on the witness stand, but I did not tell all that I knew. I was not asked questions about what I knew. I did not volunteer. If I had revealed all I knew it would have cleared Leo Frank and would have saved his life.
I now suffer from a heart condition. I have undergone surgery to implant a pacemaker in my heart. I am making this statement because, finally, I want to have the record clear. I want the public to understand that Leo Frank did not kill Mary Phagan.
Jim Conley, the chief witness against Leo Frank, lied under oath. I know that. I am certain that he lied. I am convinced that he, not Leo Frank, killed Mary Phagan. I know as a matter of certainty that Jim Conley—and he alone—disposed of her body.
Jim Conley threatened to kill me if I told what I knew. I was young and I was frightened. I had no doubt Conley would have tried to kill me if I had told that I had seen him with Mary Phagan that day.
I related to my mother what I had seen there at the pencil factory. She insisted that I not get involved. She told me to remain silent. My mother loved me. She knew Conley had threatened to kill me. She didn't want our family's name to be involved in controversy or for me to have to be subjected to any publicity. My father supported her in telling me to remain silent. My mother repeated to me over and over not to tell. She never thought Leo Frank would be convicted. Of course, she was wrong. Even after he was convicted my mother told me to keep secret what I had seen.
I am sure in my own mind that if the lawyers had asked me specific questions about what I had seen the day of Mary Phagan's death I would have told the whole truth when I testified at Frank's trial.
Of course they didn't suspect what I knew. They asked me practically nothing. I was nervous and afraid that day. There were crowds in the street who were angry and who were saying that Leo Frank should die. Some were yelling things like "Kill the Jew!"
I was very nervous. The courtroom was filled with people. Every seat was taken. I was interested mostly in getting out of there.
I spoke with a speech impediment and had trouble pronouncing the "r" in Frank's name in those days. The lawyers put their heads together and said that it was obvious I knew nothing and since I was so young they would let me off the stand. It was not an easy place for a young boy to be, there in court like that.
I never fully realized until I was older that if I had told what I knew Leo Frank would have been acquitted and gone free. Instead he was imprisoned.
After he was convicted my mother told me there was nothing we could do to change the jury's verdict. My father agreed with her. I continued to remain silent. Later, Frank was lynched by a mob from Marietta, Georgia. I know, of course, that because I kept silent Leo Frank lost his life.
I have spent many nights thinking about that. I have learned to live with it.
I now swear to the events I witnessed that fatal day, Confederate Memorial Day, 1913, when Mary Phagan, who was just about my age, fourteen, was killed.
I came to work on time that morning, at about eight o'clock. I rode the streetcar from my home, on South Gordon Street, and when I walked into the building Jim Conley, the janitor, who also was called a "sweeper," was sitting under the stairwell on the first floor of the building. Although it was early in the morning, Conley had obviously already consumed considerable beer. He drank a lot, even in the mornings.
He spoke to me. He asked me for a dime to buy a beer. A dime could buy a good-sized beer in those days.
I told Jim Conley I didn't have a dime. That was not the truth. I had some money in my pocket, but I had let Conley have a nickel or a dime for beer before. He never paid me back.
I didn't like to be around Jim Conley.
After I told Conley I didn't have any money I went up the stairs to the second floor where my desk was located in the office of Leo Frank.
My job required that I open the mail, file papers, keep the office orderly, run errands, and the like. Leo Frank arrived in the building that morning shortly after I did. He came into the office and spoke to me. I always called him "Mister Frank" and he referred to me by my given name, "Alonzo." I do not know whether Leo Frank had seen Jim Conley on the first floor when he came into the building that morning.
A substitute secretary worked for Leo Frank that morning. As I remember, it was a routine Saturday morning for me at the office. Because of Memorial Day the factory part of the company was closed. But sometimes on Saturday mornings people who had worked at the factory during the week would come to the pay window in the office and collect their salaries. Girls who worked in the factory made about twelve cents an hour.
I did not know Mary Phagan by name, but I had seen her at the factory and knew her face. We were just about the same age.
I was supposed to meet my mother that day about noon and go to the Confederate Memorial Day parade. When I left the premises, just before noon, Mary Phagan had not come to the pencil factory. She apparently came to pick up her pay shortly after I left to go meet my mother.
Sometime after 11:30, and perhaps as late as quarter to twelve, I told Mr. Frank that my mother wanted me to meet her so that I could go to the parade with her. I didn't care all that much about seeing the parade, but my mother wanted me to go.
Mr. Frank agreed for me to leave at that time. I told him I would return to the office and complete my filing work later in the afternoon. He said he expected he would still be there.
When I left the company premises, just before noon, Mary Phagan had not come to collect her pay. When I left the building, down the stairs and out the first floor front door, Jim Conley, the janitor, was sitting where I had seen him when I came to work: in the darkened area of the stairwell.
I walked to the point where I was supposed to meet my mother. It was a short distance—perhaps a block and a half. We had agreed to meet in front of a store on Whitehall Street. My memory is that my mother had planned to buy a hat that day. I stopped and bought a hotdog on the way to meet her. However, when I arrived, she was not there. She had told me that if she was unable to come, for me not to worry. I waited for her for a few minutes. Since I didn't care that much about seeing the parade, I went back to work.
I can't be sure as to exactly how long I was gone, but it could not have been more than a half hour before I got back to the pencil factory.
I had no idea that I was about to witness an important moment in a famous murder case—a moment that has not been made public until now; that I was about to become a witness to tragic history.
I walked into the building by the front door.
Inside the door, I walked toward the stairwell. I looked to my right and I was confronted by a scene I will remember vividly until the day I die.
Jim Conley was standing between the trapdoor that led to the basement and the elevator shaft. I have an impression that the trapdoor was partially open, but my eyes were fixed on Jim Conley.
He had the body of Mary Phagan in his arms. I didn't know it was Mary Phagan. I only knew it was a girl.
At that moment I couldn't tell if she was alive. She appeared to be unconscious, or perhaps dead. I saw no blood.
He was holding her with both arms gripping her around the waist. I can't remember the color of her clothes but I have an impression that she had on pretty, clean clothes. She was extremely short and her head was sort of on his shoulder, or over it. Her hair was streaming down his back. Her hair was not in braids when I saw her. It was hanging loose. I saw no blood on the part of her neck that was exposed. I do not know if she was dead, but she was at least unconscious. She was limp and did not move. Her skirt had come up to about her knees.
It was as I suddenly barged into the first floor, prepared to go up the stairs to the office that I en-countered Conley with the body of Mary Phagan.
Conley was close to the trapdoor that led down into the basement by way of a ladder. I believe that from the direction he was headed and the attitude of the body that he was preparing to dump Mary Phagan down the trapdoor. I have no clear memory of whether the elevator had stopped on the first floor, but if it was not on that floor, the shaft would have been open. Conley could have dumped her down the empty elevator shaft. I believe for some reason Jim Conley turned around toward me. He either heard my footsteps coming or he sensed I was behind him. He wheeled on me and in a voice that was low but threatening and frightening to me, he said:
"If you ever mention this I'll kill you."
I turned and took a step or two—possibly three or four steps—up toward the second floor, but I must have worried about whether the office upstairs was closed. I did hear some movement upstairs, but I can't be sure who was on the floors above. I was fearful that the office might be closed, and so I turned back toward Conley. I wanted to get out of there quick. He got to within eight feet of me. He reached out as if to put one arm or hand on me. I ran out of the front door and raced away from that building.
I went straight home. I rode the streetcar.
Once at home I told my mother what I had just seen. I told her what Jim Conley had said to me about killing me. I didn't know for sure that the girl in his arms was dead.
My mother was very disturbed by what I told her. She told me that I was never, never to tell any-body else what I had seen that day at the factory. She said she didn't want me involved, or the family involved, in any way.
She told me to go on about my business as if nothing had happened and that sometime soon I would have to quit working there. From then on, whenever I was at work I steered clear of Jim Conley. I kept away from him and he did the same.
When my father came home my mother explained to him what I had seen and what Conley had said to me. My father told me to forget it and never mention it.
My mother was a very strong-willed woman who was thirty years younger than my father and he said to me what she wanted him to say.
Later on he told me that Frank would never be convicted.
I have wished many times that my mother hadn't taken that attitude and that either she had told the authorities or that she had encouraged me to tell somebody—perhaps Leo Frank—what I had seen.
When the detectives later questioned me I told only the part of the story up to the time I left that day to go meet my mother. I did not tell that I had come back into the building and saw Conley with the body.
When Frank went on trial and I was called as a witness, my mother told me I would have to go and testify. She told me to keep to myself what I had seen. She said if I were not asked a specific question I did not have to give a specific answer.
Jim Conley was the chief witness against Leo Frank. He testified that Frank had called him to his office a little after noon that day and told him that Mary Phagan's body was in the Metal Room on the second floor.
He testified that Frank told him to get the body and take it on the elevator down to the basement. He swore that he tried to carry the body to the elevator but dropped Mary Phagan because she was too heavy for him to carry. According to Conley's testimony, Frank picked up her legs, while Conley lifted the upper part of her body. Conley said that Frank had pulled the rope to start the elevator down and that they went with the body directly to the basement, past the first floor without stopping there.
Conley claimed that Frank dragged the body from the elevator to a point in the rear of the building. Conley contended during the trial that after Frank dragged the body away from the elevator, Conley ascended in the elevator and Frank came back up-stairs by way of the trapdoor to the first floor, and then came on up the stairway from the first to the second floor.
I know that all of that testimony was false. It was Conley who had the body on the first floor. He was alone with the body. Frank was not there on the first floor. Conley did not tell the truth when he said the body was taken from the second floor to the basement. He had the body on the first floor.
I know from what I read of the case that Mary Phagan had come into the building shortly after I went out to meet my mother. She went upstairs to the second floor. Leo Frank had given her her pay envelope. I understand that she had worked one day that week and she was entitled to about $1.20.
I am convinced that she had left the pay window and was coming down the stairs or had reached the first floor when she met Conley, who had been looking for money when I came in that morning. I am confident that I came in just seconds after Conley had taken the girl's money and grabbed her. I do not think sex was his motive. I believe it was money. Her pay was never found in the building after she died.
Many times I have thought since all of this occurred almost seventy years ago that if I had hollered or yelled for help when I ran into Conley with the girl in his arms that day that I might have saved her life. I might have. On the other hand, I might have lost my own life. If I had told what I saw that day I might have saved Leo Frank's life. I didn't realize it at the time. I was too young to understand.
As the years have gone by I have told this "secret" to a number of other people. I told it when I was in the Army in World War I. In fact, I had a fight with another soldier who became angry when I said Leo Frank did not kill the girl, but that Conley did. I have told other people. I told my late wife. She urged me not to make it public because she felt it wouldn't do any good. She said it would not bring back Leo Frank and it would not bring back Mary Phagan. And I told other relatives and friends. On one occasion, I believe in the 1950s, when I was operating a restaurant, I discussed this with a reporter in Atlanta. But the reporter said that since Leo Frank's wife was still alive it was not a matter the newspaper wanted to open up.
Leo Frank was convicted by lies heaped on lies. It wasn't just Conley who lied. Others said that Leo Frank had women in the office for immoral purposes and that he had liquor there. There was a story that he took women down in the basement. That cellar was filthy. It was filled with coal dust. I was in the basement twice and remember the dirt and filth there. That was all false.
Leo Frank was a good office manager. He was always proper with people who worked for him. There were witnesses who told lies and I remained silent.
Now I am finally making all this public. I have found reporters, Jerry Thompson and Bob Sherborne, who have heard my story and who understand that it is a case that is important to history. I am glad to have it all come out.
At last I am able to get this off my heart.
I believe it will help people to understand that courts and juries make mistakes. They made a mistake in the Leo Frank case. I think it is good for it all to come out, even at this late date.
Alonzo McClendon Mann
Sworn to and subscribed before me this 4th day of March, 1982.
Charles M. Gore - Notary Public
My Commission expires:
May 18, 1985
There will be some people who will be angry at me because I kept all this silent until it was too late to save Leo Frank's life. They will say that being young is no excuse. They will blame my mother. The only thing I can say is that she did what she thought was best for me and the family. Other people may hate me for telling it. I hope not, but I am prepared for that, too. I know that I haven't a long time to live. All that I have said is the truth. When my time comes I hope that God understands me better for having told it. This is what matters.
On March 19, 1982 my father and I went to the Woodruff Library at Emory University to research the case again and learn more about the role of Alonzo Mann. This was the first time my father and I had gone together to research the case.
When we signed in, the librarian observed us curiously as we checked out more information.
She asked my father, "What did you think of little Mary Phagan?"
My father replied, "Young lady, I wasn't even a gleam in my father's eye in those years!"
We both laughed, and the librarian relaxed. When we told the librarian what we were looking for, she directed us to a copy of the Tennessean, since one of the Tennessean's reporters had been instrumental in breaking the story of Alonzo Mann's confession.
From our research, we learned that Alonzo Mann was indeed Leo Frank's office boy. Mann had begun working April 1, 1913, and had worked two Saturdays before the murder occurred. And he testified that he had left the factory "at half past eleven." Before we left that day, the librarian gave us the name and address of the Tennessean librarian.
On March 23, 1982, I wrote a letter to Sandra Roberts, the Tennessean librarian:
Your name was given to me by the librarian at the Woodruff Library at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. My father and I were researching the Mary Phagan/Leo Frank case. She showed us a copy of the Tennessean. We would like two copies if possible.
My father and I are very interested in this case because we are direct descendants of little Mary Phagan. My grandfather, William Joshua Phagan, was Mary's brother. My father is a nephew and I am a great-niece.
We would pay for the cost of the newspaper.
On March 26 Sandra Roberts called. She told me that the newspaper staff would be in Atlanta on March 31. She asked if they might drop by and hand deliver the newspapers.
Before this time, my father was always the one who dealt with anyone inquiring about the Phagans. He had always represented our family's opinion.
I called my father to let him know about the meeting and to see if he could be there to meet the staff, too. I had never spoken any of my feelings about the murder, and I could sense his concern. He didn't think he'd be able to be there, but he wanted to make sure that either a friend, my husband, or another family member would be.
Nashville Tennessean changes the narrative of the original newspaper account to promote that "Mobs" were present during the trial of Leo Frank and to promote Anit-Semitism
Alonzo Mann's Movements and Alonzo Mann: Then and Now: 1913, 1982
Page 9, Pinkerton Report: Frank Case Asst. Supt. H.S. reports: Atlanta, Ga., Tuesday, May 6, 1913
On our arrival at the factory we interviewed Alonzo Mann, the office boy who resides at #109 S Gordon St. He has been employed at the factory for only one month and stated that he arrived at the factory on Saturday, April 26th, at 7:30 A.M. and found Mr. Holloway inside of the factory; that he left the factory at 11:30 A.M. leaving Mr. Frank and Miss Hall, the stenographer inside of the office. After leaving the factory, he went to the Vaudette Motion Picture Theater, where he met his mother at 12:00 noon and during the afternoon he watched the Memorial Day Parade and visited a number of Moving Picture Shows, and met his brother about 5:00 P.M. and went to his home, arriving there at about dark.
Page 14, Pinkerton Report: Frank Case Statement of Alonzo Mann, of Atlanta, Ga., Made to F.C.P., of Atlanta, Ga., at the National Pencil Company, Atlanta, Ga, on Wednesday May 7th 1913. I then went direct to the National Pencil Company factory, where I arrive[d] at about 7:00 A.M. The front door was open and I went upstairs to the office. I do not remember who was in the office when I entered same. However, soon after my [arrival] there, I saw Mr. Holliway, Mr. Irby, and “Mack”, the drayman, who took some rubbers and an umbrella that belonged to Mr. Schiff and left. Mr. Hollaway and Mr. Irby remained in the office for about thirty minutes, perhaps longer, and we all three talked. Later on, I believe it was about 8:10 AM, Mr. Leo M. Frank came in. I do not think that Messrs. Holliway and Irby were there when Mr. Frank arrived, however, I do not remember, but I am sure that they were not in the office proper, for when Mr. Frank entered, he spoke to me and remarked “There is not any one here but you and me”, and I replied “No”. I do not remember what took place at the office after that. I do not remember who came in or went out. Sometime during the morning, Mr. Frank went out I supposed to Montag Brothers, but I do not know, and I cannot recall how long he was gone, but it did not seem to be long. I cannot say whether it was thirty minutes or one hour, - I do not remember. I know that he came back that morning before I left. I left the office at 11:30 AM, and went to the Vaudette Theatre on Whitehall St., where I was to meet my mother at twelve o’clock. I met my mother just at twelve o’clock noon, as she came out of the theatre, and then went to Thompsons’ Printing Company, on Marietta St., where my [brother] was employed. We remained about that place for about five or ten minutes and we then went down Marietta St. to Peachtree St., where I left her. I retraced my steps on Marietta St. on my way to the Gas office. At the Bijou Theatre, I met a boy by the name of Philip, whose last name I do not know, and he went with me to the Gas office, which we found was closed. This was at about 12:35 PM. On leaving the Gas office, Philip and I went to a haberdasher’s store on Marietta St., where I purchased a cap, remaining there for about five minutes. On leaving that place, Philip and I separated, and I went to a [nearby] barbershop, it being on Viaduct Place, and I had to wait some time before I could be served. The Barber took some time in cutting my hair, and I was in the shop for about twenty-five or thirty minutes.
With today’s centennial of the death by lynching of Leo Max Frank, public attention has been fixed once again on the remarkable dual murders of Mary Phagan and Leo Frank. As is fairly well-known at this point, 13-year-old Mary Phagan was murdered in the National Pencil Factory in Atlanta on April 26, 1913. Leo Frank, her boss and last person to admit seeing her alive, was convicted of the murder.
His appeals went up to the Supreme Court of the United States and his conviction upheld at every level. Frank’s appeals to the administrative agencies of the State of Georgia also brought no change. Only when Governor John Slaton, a law partner of the Frank defense team, commuted the sentence to life imprisonment was Frank’s life apparently spared. But the outrage felt in Georgia over the impropriety of the Governor pardoning a client of his own law firm on his last day in office (and widely suspected of being bribed) resulted in a band of leading Marietta men planning and executing a daring break-in at the State Prison in Milledgeville, abducting Frank and driving over the primitive dirt roads of Georgia all night to hang him in Marietta at sunrise the next day.
The astonishing murder of Leo Frank has tended to soften the public’s view of his guilt in the murder of Mary Phagan.
Was Frank guilty of the murder of Mary Phagan?
His own subsequent murder is not material in establishing his innocence in the matter. It represents what might be called the “Ox-Bow Incident” mentality. We so dislike vigilante justice that we have a tendency to give the benefit of the doubt to the victims of such lynchings. Even in a case like this where Frank’s guilt was upheld at every level of the appellate legal system, we recognize his subsequent murder as an assault on the entire legal system.
Francis X. Busch, a renowned trial attorney of a half century ago, pointed out one of the most powerful pieces of evidence against Leo Frank. “As has been argued in support of the jury’s verdict, that in the passage of nearly forty years since Frank’s brutal execution, not a single additional fact pointing to his innocence has come to light.”1 Busch went on to worry if Frank may have been the victim of “one of the most flagrant miscarriages of justice in American criminal annals.”
The Phagan family conducted a full and complete interview in 1934 with Jim Conley, the star witness of the State against Leo Frank. Conley was also the man the Frank defenders settled on as the most likely murderer instead of Leo Frank. The Phagan relatives’ interview with Conley convinced them that Conley was telling the truth about Mary’s murder. Mary Phagan Kean wrote “[t]here is no way my father would have let Jim Conley live if he believed that he had murdered little Mary.”2
Thus it came as something of a shock to the general public that in 1982 newspaper attention suddenly focused on the elderly Alonzo Mann. Mr. Mann was about the same age as Mary Phagan at the time of her death and had testified as a defense witness for Frank in his capacity as Frank’s office boy at the murder trial. Now Mann emerged from the shadows with the startling revelation that he had actually seen Conley carrying the apparently lifeless body of Mary Phagan down the front staircase when he re-entered the Pencil Factory on April 26, 1913. Jerry Thompson,3Nashville Tennessean veteran reporter and anti-Klan investigator, worked up Mann’s story and brought before the public.
Mann was given lie detector tests and passed them. “Lie detectors” are not admissible in court in Georgia — unless all parties agree. They are of limited effectiveness because pathological liars and the very best of con artists often pass while persons of a more nervous disposition fail — even when the latter are telling the truth.
The Georgia Courts have mocked “lie detector” tests as follows:
There is simply no “lie detector,” machine or human. The first recorded lie detector test was in ancient India where a suspect was required to enter a darkened room and touch the tail of a donkey. If the donkey brayed when his tail was touched the suspect was declared guilty, otherwise he was released. Modern science has substituted a metal electronic box for the donkey but the results remain just as haphazard and inconclusive.4
On the national level the United States Supreme Court ruled in 1998 in United States v. Scheffer,5 that courts could bar the admission of the results of polygraph examinations in all cases without violating an accused’s constitutional rights. The Court did so because it noted that there is no consensus in the scientific community on the reliability of the “lie detector.” In short, the highest court in the land holds the “lie detector” to be “junk science.”
Mann’s ability to pass such a questionable test at best implies that he either completely believed his story or was an excellent story teller.
The Nashville Tennessean article was a tremendous hit; it was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and picked up by newspapers all over the nation. On television and radio programs commentators gleefully announced that Mann’s testimony erased all doubts — baseless though they might have been — that Frank was actually innocent of the murder of Mary Phagan. As the Tennessean’s headline for the special supplement of March 7, 1982, shouted: “AN INNOCENT MAN WAS LYNCHED.” Books, docudramas and prizes for investigative journalism rained down on the heads of the crusading scribblers.6
Mann’s story was significant in that it directly contradicted Conley’s testimony of how Conley got the body of Mary Phagan to the basement of the factory after the killing. As the reader may recall, Conley was definitive in his testimony that he used the elevator to transport the corpse. The elevator had always interested the Frank partisans and Mann emerged as the last living witness to the case to discuss this exact issue.
The affidavit executed by Mann may be summarized as follows:
He was called as a witness for Frank, but he did not then reveal to any lawyer about his knowledge contained in the affidavit. Now, he was coming forward after the lapse of seventy years. “I want the public to understand that Leo Frank did not kill Mary Phagan.” He blamed his parents, his speech impediment and his fear of the crowds outside the trial “yelling things like ‘Kill the Jew!’” for his reluctance to speak up. Mann stated he was too young at the tender age of 14 to have realized that if he told what he saw that Frank would have been found innocent.
Here is what Mann claimed he saw the day Mary Phagan died. When Mann arrived at the factory at 8:00 a.m, Conley was seated under the stairwell of the first floor of the Pencil Factory. Conley had already consumed a lot of beer. Mann ignored Conley’s request for money and went up the stairway to assume his duties as Frank’s office boy. Frank arrived shortly afterward. Mann worked till before noon when Frank permitted him to leave to join his mother for the Confederate Memorial Day parade. Mann promised Frank he would return after the parade and Frank allowed that he would probably still be at the Pencil Factory.
Leaving shortly before noon, Mann had not seen Mary Phagan come to collect her pay. Conley was still lounging in the stairwell when Mann left the factory. Mann did not pinpoint his departure time. He states he could have left between 11:30 or 11:45.
He stated, “[I]t could not have been more [emphasis added] than a half-hour before I got back to the pencil factory.” In other words, Mann returned somewhere between 12:00 and 12:15 based on his statement. Mann entered by the front door again, and looking to his right, saw Conley with Mary Phagan’s limp body (although he didn’t know Mary’s name at the time) standing between a trap door that led to the basement and the elevator shaft. He observed no blood or wound on the body of this limp, short white girl dressed in “pretty, clean clothes.” Mann was of the impression that Conley was about to dump the body down the trapdoor. He could not recall if the elevator was on the first floor; if it was not, then the shaft would have been open as well. “…[I]n a voice that was low but threatening and frightening to me he [Conley] said: ‘If you ever mention this I’ll kill you.’”
Mann started up the stairs to the second floor. He thought he heard movements up there, but thought better of it, turned and fled out the front door. Conley reached out for him, but Mann “raced away from the building.” Arriving at home, he told his mother — whom he was to have met at the parade — what he had seen. She immediately advised him never to tell a soul. “She told me that I was never, never to tell anybody else what I had seen that day at the factory. She said that she didn’t want me involved, or the family involved, in any way. She told me to go on about my business as if nothing had happened and that sometime soon I would have to quit working there. From then on, whenever I was at work, I steered clear of Jim Conley. I kept away from him and he did the same.”
“When my father came home my mother explained to him what I had seen and what Conley had said to me. My father told me to forget it and never mention it.”
Later, when questioned by detectives, Mann never told them about his return to the Pencil Factory building. At Leo Frank’s trial, while testifying as a witness for Frank, Mann only answered the questions he was asked. He, following the advice of his mother and father, did not volunteer any further information. Mann offered his opinion that Conley was after Mary’s pay; he was not planning a sexual assault.
“Many times I have thought since all this occurred almost seventy years ago that if I had hollered or yelled for help when I ran into Conley with the girl in his arms that day I might have saved her life. I might have. On the other hand, I might have lost my own life. If I had told what I saw that day I might saved Leo Frank’s life. I didn’t realize it at the time. I was too young to understand.”
Family members continued to tell Mann not to tell anyone his story for years afterwards. An Atlanta newspaperman unnamed by Mann (but said by others to have been Ralph McGill, another crusading, Pulitzer Prize-winning liberal journalist) was disinterested in his story.
Mann also contradicted the testimony of the female factory employees who accused Frank of bringing women into the factory for immoral purposes. Mann never witnessed any such conduct.7 (Mann did not mention that he began working for Frank on April 1, 1913 so he had only been at the factory for twenty-six days at the time of murder.)
The Mann affidavit reopened the drive of the Jewish community for a “posthumous pardon” for Leo Frank. At a press conference at the Atlanta Jewish Community Center on April 1, 1982, the drumbeat began again. Jerry Thompson, at the press conference, was asked about the Phagan family’s reactions to all this information. “Jerry Thompson stated that some Phagan family members upheld their belief in the convicted Leo Frank’s guilt while others ‘were trying to be objective.’”8 “Sherry Frank (no relation to Leo Frank), area director of the American Jewish Committee, said Jewish leaders would like to make a possible exoneration of Frank an issue in the gubernatorial race this year.”9
Alonzo Mann, possibly because of his age and infirm heart, refused to respond to any questions except through his handlers at the Nashville Tennessean. This author contacted the Tennessean and was so informed at the time the news broke. Mary Phagan Kean was given the same answer, but because of her family connections she was finally able to meet Mr. Mann and form some impressions about him. She thought him “a fine gentleman; he believed what he had seen to be evidence of the truth.”10
Since Mann was never subjected to any cross-examination nor, evidently, even tough questioning about these matters, we are left with three possibilities concerning the worth of his testimony on an historical basis. It has long been held in Anglo-Saxon law that trial by affidavit is worthless and the cross-examination of a witness is essential to establish the truth or falsity of a proposition. So while Alonzo Mann’s affidavit is valueless from a legal standpoint, it does have historical significance and must be so analyzed as we find it.
Mann’s recollections could be (1) completely accurate and factual; or (2) weakened by seventy years of guilt and blurred memories, but basically accurate; or (3) a complete fabrication drawn up either by himself or with the assistance of other parties for a number of plausible reasons.11
Since Mann cannot be examined, having answered to the highest tribunal on March 19, 1985, let us look more closely at the statement itself.
First of all, Mann states that mobs were shouting things like “Kill the Jew” outside the trial. The most careful writers on the subject all agree that this is an urban myth with no basis in fact. Steve Oney, the most recent author on the subject, points out that there is no contemporary evidence for such a statement.12Governor Slaton in his commutation order denied that Frank had been tried by a mob. But, like the typical urban myth, the legend persists. It is probably propelled by later events after the Slaton commutation and the assault of the “Knights of Mary Phagan” on the State Prison in Milledgeville.
In the statement, Mann put himself as leaving the factory between 11:30 and 11:45. In his trial testimony, as recorded in the brief of evidence, Mann testified twice that he departed at 11:30.13 Since his testimony was given closer in time to the event in issue, we may presume that at least he was inaccurate in the later affidavit as to the time of his departure unless he was fudging on that topic when testifying for Frank at trial. So Mann’s affidavit is clearly at variance in this important matter with his own trial testimony given relatively shortly after the event. Given the heavy emphasis the defense attached to the timing of the assault on Mary, this is significant to say the least. It would seem highly unlikely that the skilled interrogation by Frank’s attorneys failed to unearth the later departure time (to say nothing of Mann’s return to the factory) given their theory of the case turned on the time element so heavily.
It is also noteworthy because of the importance attached to the timing of the arrival of Mary at the Pencil Factory. The defense made much of the testimony of streetcar operators that Mary could not have possibly arrived at the factory prior to 12:12 p.m. Although Dorsey seriously damaged this theory in his cross-examination, the defense steadfastly held to this narrative. If Mann’s recollections are correct, then pressing his affidavit times to the furthest, most favorable limit for Frank, the latest Mann could arrive back at the factory on the fatal day is 12:15 p.m. Under Mann’s time constraints, Mary had to be able to ascend the staircase, obtain her pay envelope from Frank, ask about work on Monday and descend the staircase, be attacked by Conley either upstairs or downstairs (without Frank hearing any struggle or screams in the otherwise quiet factory, as it was a holiday) be lifted up and carried by Conley to the point where he was seen by Mann next to the “hole” and elevator shaft. All this had to occur within an absolute maximum of three minutes. If Mann’s statement that he was away from the factory for not more than one-half hour is true, then in order to get Mary to the factory after Monteen Stover testified she arrived, Mann’s departure time had to change.
Stover’s unimpeached testimony is that she was in Frank’s outer office from 12:05 until 12:10 by the clock on the wall in the office. Frank was absent from his office and not a sound was heard by Stover. Consequently, the defense always asserted that Mary arrived two minutes after Monteen left — just enough time for the two of them to miss each other on the staircase and the street outside the factory. If Mann was gone for no more than thirty minutes, then his departure time must be shifted forward from his trial testimony or else he returns before Mary, by Frank’s testimony and the elaborate defense calculations, could have even arrived at the factory. No Frank defender has offered any explanation for the new time problems created for the defense by Mann’s affidavit.
Consider the plausibility of the affidavit statements concerning the response of Mann’s parents to the news that their son had witnessed what was doubtless the most sensational murder of their lifetimes. Conley returned to work on Monday, April 28th after the murder. Mann evidently returned to work as well according to his affidavit. Conley would continue to report to work until his arrest on May 1.
Can we believe that a fourteen-year-old lad would report to work alongside a black man who he had every reason to believe had committed the murder of Mary Phagan? Mann would have permitted an innocent man, the black night watchman Newt Lee, to languish in the jail while the sweeper Jim Conley, whom he feared — now with better reason than ever before — looked malignantly at him each day. Is that believable — even in present day America?
Gentle reader, life in 1913 Atlanta was considerably rougher. Keep in mind what Mann asked us to believe. Once he eluded Conley’s outstretched hand, he was on the sidewalk outside the factory. The streets of Atlanta were teeming with crowds attending the Confederate Memorial Day parade. If he raised his voice to call for help, a crowd would have quickly responded. The life expectancy for Mr. Jim Conley would have been very short if a crowd of 1913 whites found a black man holding the limp (and possibly dead) body of an adolescent white girl in that time and in that place. Yet Mann didn’t know what to do; he didn’t alert any policeman he may have chanced to meet nor the trolley crewmen on his way home. He didn’t speak to anyone till he got home. He raced straight home where his missing mother had already arrived. His parents, certainly not made of stern stuff, advised silence. Even after Frank was arrested the Mann clan remained mum.
The most amazing part of the affidavit is Mann’s statement that his loving parents, worried about the family getting involved in all this, still advised him to return to work where he would be in close proximity to the purported murderer, Jim Conley. Did it never occur to any of them that Conley could just as easily silenced the only witness to see him with the girl’s body? Why advise their beloved son to return to the zone of danger and yet remain silent?
But suppose all of this was true. The Manns thought Conley so dangerous to Alonzo’s safety that they remained silent and let their son go back to work with a homicidal maniac. Once Conley was in police custody that problem was resolved. What was more, a reward was offered for evidence leading to the conviction of the murderer. Did the Manns have no interest in talking about a murderer now in police custody with the additional attraction of a cash reward?
Conley is thought to have died about 1962. Why didn’t Mann come forward then? Surely he didn’t fear the powers of Conley to do him harm extended beyond the grave.
Finally, we come to Conley, “the Prince of Darktown.” To listen to the Frank defenders recite their narrative, Conley was a criminal mastermind who was able to outwit and frame poor Leo Frank and thereafter to withstand the pounding and intense cross-examination of the finest criminal defense attorneys in Georgia of their day. All the time, the criminal mastermind was well-aware that a white boy of fourteen had seen him with the body! Under these circumstances, would Conley have shown up at the National Pencil factory on the Monday after the murder insouciant and confident? Clearly, Conley appeared because he believed he was safe and protected from whatever role he had in this homicide. If Mann saw him on the first-floor landing and Conley knew it, why would he loiter at the plant until he was arrested on May 1, 1913? Reason and experience with criminal defendants dictates that had the incident occurred as Mann related, Conley would have caught the first freight train headed out of Atlanta and “rode the rods” to any distant geographical point to escape the accusing finger of Mann and the pursuing lynch mob. If Conley did choose to remain in town, wouldn’t he have taken more effective steps to silence a witness than simply warning Mann to shut up?
Furthermore, why would the Moriarty criminal mastermind of Conley not incorporate the Mann incident into his statement and confession to the police? If Conley’s confession was concocted, why would he go to the trouble of inventing the tale of the elevator knowing that Mann stood able to give him the lie? He could have even used Mann to bolster his story by claiming that he carried Mary’s body down the steps at Frank’s direction and dropped it down the trapdoor. Furthermore, Mann could verify that story! “Bring in the office boy and question him!” Conley could have challenged Mann and turned an uncertainty into supporting evidence.
Conley, though, stuck to his version of how the body was transported to the elevator and never volunteered that Mann was a possible witness.
Conley was bringing Mary down the stairs. Where had they been? Why had Frank heard nothing if the assault took place virtually in his office? Additionally, the condition of Mary Phagan’s body when found was quite different than described by Mann. This can only be accurate if Mary was unconscious and then revived when Conley got her to the basement. When Mary’s body was found it was filthy, her dress was torn and she was so blackened by soot and dirt that some of the police could not tell what race she was. (Which could lead to a third explanation for her death. That explanation, unexamined by all the Frank apologists, is that Frank assaulted Mary in the metal room. She was knocked against a machine and fell unconscious. Frank thought her dead and summoned Conley. Conley then finished the job after she came to in the basement. Before dying, Mary apparently put up a real struggle. This explains some of the irregularities in both Frank’s and Conley’s stories. But the preference is to depict Frank as a martyr, a real mensch. This alternative doesn’t please the Frank community. Frank would still be a murderer under the law of almost every state in the union and in 1913 would have gotten the death penalty.)
One member of the Pardons and Parole Board considering Mann’s affidavit pointed out that Mann dropped out of school to work against his parents’ wishes. “Why would a man who wouldn’t obey his parents about school,” [Michael] Wing wondered, “obey them when it came to potentially letting an innocent man hang?”14
Furthermore, Mann showed no concern that day about Leo Frank, a man for whom he expressed respect in later years. Frank, after all, should have still been in the building when Mann returned to find Conley toting a dead girl in his arms. Mann stated he thought he heard movement upstairs. He evidently never considered the fact that Frank — whom he believed to be in his office upstairs — or anyone else still in the factory could have been in peril even decades later when reviewing the case.
And we have the issue of the defense attorneys and police investigators. Evidently, none of them were able to pierce the veil Mann and his family cast about his covert knowledge. This young lad was able to fool even trained investigators who were desperately trying to either free their client or uncover the real story. The defense attorneys interviewed him and decided to use Mann as a witness for Leo Frank. Nevertheless, this naive lad of 14, who had no idea that his information could save an innocent man’s life and who quaked in terror of the now incarcerated Conley, never gave his secret away.
Given the huge problems with the 1982 Mann statement on its face, it is impossible to believe that Mann told the truth in that document. All human experience runs directly contrary to the behavior he attributes to almost every participant in his affidavit.
The Phagan case was cursed from the very beginning with people volunteering “tips” and “clues.” It appears most likely that Alonzo Mann was merely the last of many to offer a fanciful solution to the case.
Since his solution was superficially suited to the Frank defenders’ longstanding press campaign to exonerate Frank, it has received fabulous coverage. Many articles and news statements flatly assert that it closes the case entirely.
As helpful as the Mann statement appeared to be at first blush to the Frank defenders, it does have a major defect; it merely disputes Conley’s testimony about how the body was transported to the place it was found. It does not establish whether Conley or Frank was the murderer.15 After all, Frank was still upstairs when Mann says Conley was carrying the body from that location. What was Frank doing upstairs when Mary Phagan was attacked?
Thus because of these shortcomings and infelicities in Mann’s statement, the document was not of sufficient gravitas or credibility outside of press newsrooms to create the expected popular groundswell which would impel the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to issue a pardon or other exoneration of Frank from culpability in the murder of Mary Phagan.
But the shortcomings outlined above did not give serious pause to the Frank camp.
Because it disputed the Conley testimony, it was immediately ballyhooed, without close consideration, as a complete exoneration of the Leo Frank.
It does no such thing.
1 Busch, Francis X., Notable American Trials: Guilty or Not Guilty (London: Arco Publications, 1957), 74.
2 Phagan (Kean), Mary. The Murder of Little Mary Phagan (Far Hills, NJ: New Horizon Press, 1987), 28.
3 Thompson had worked as an informant infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan for the paper and afterwards became an ardent Frank advocate insofar as Leo Frank’s guilt in the Phagan murder was concerned.
4State v. Chambers, 240 Ga. 76, 81, 239 S.E. 2d 324 (1977). While written in dissent, this language has been adopted by the Supreme Court in subsequent cases such as Carr v. State, 267 Ga. 701, 482 S.E. 2d 314 (1997). The author has had personal experience with “lie detectors” as well. He was unable to convince an examiner that while he had been a union member, he was not a labor organizer when required to take a test for employment. The job was denied. Georgia will admit lie detector tests if both sides agree, but the reader can envision the value of testimony that both sides see as helpful. Basically, the “lie detector” seeks to “bolster” the credibility of a witness. It is not admissible in most American courts. More recent concern about national security following the terrorist episodes of September 11, 2001 has further eroded the credibility of “lie detectors.” A CBS News, “Not Close Enough for Government Work,” report dated October 8, 2002, reported the National Research Council as stating “National security is too important to be left to such a blunt instrument.”
9The East Cobb Neighbor of April 6, 1982 as quoted in Phagan, The Murder of Little Mary Phagan, 264–265. Indeed, it did become an issue. Candidate and eventual victor Joe Frank Harris stated he would pardon Frank — even though the governors of Georgia had no legal or constitutional authority to do so.
11 Neuroscience is pressing forward on the issue of memory function. Suggestibility in interrogation, memory distortion in the aging process and abuse of substances (such as alcohol) are all at issue in Mann’s recollections. Memories of traumatic events have been shown to change with time and it has been convincingly demonstrated that in some cases that physic phenomena in the nature of memories are often created for traumatic events that did not actually happen. These are all problems with honest witnesses, let alone witnesses that may have been influenced by a desire for fame, notoriety or mere lucre.
12 See Steve Oney, And the Dead Shall Rise (New York: Pantheon, 2003). An example would be at page 343. There were times when the audience would laugh or applaud, but the jury, when out of the courtroom, were not sure for whom the demonstrations were intended. In newspaper interviews and public appearances Oney flatly states there were no “Kill the Jew” chants.
13 Brief of Evidence contains the entire direct testimony of Alonzo Mann in 16 sentences, most of which deal with who was in the factory. The cross-examination was but three sentences dealing with the time Mr. Frank was out of the office.
Brief of the Evidence. In the Supreme Court of Georgia, Fall Term, 1913, Leo M. Frank, Plaintiff in Error vs. the State of Georgia, Defendant in Error, 123.
14 Clark J. Freshman, “By the Neck Until Dead: A Look Back At a 70 Year Search for Justice,” American Politics, January 1988, 31.
15 Logic would follow that disproving a critical part of Conley’s testimony does and should create doubt about other parts of his testimony: Falsum in unum, falsum in omnibus. But the same maxim applies to Mann’s statement — which was not exposed to days of grueling cross-examination by skilled attorneys.
The Vigilance Committee of Mary Phagan stood guard for at least one day and one night at the tree from which they had hung Leo Frank, apparently expecting that someone—perhaps souvenir hunters or someone on the orders of Governor Harris, who had offered a reward for the conviction of any of the lynch party—might cut it down.
Two months after the lynching, a group climbed to the top of Stone Mountain, outside Atlanta, and burned a large cross. They say it was visible all over Atlanta.
On October 26, 1915, William J. Simmons, an ex-Methodist minister and a member of at least eight fraternal orders, gathered together thirty-four men, including members of the Vigilance Committee of Mary Phagan and three former Ku Klux Klan members, and signed an application to the State of Georgia to charter the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
On November 25, Thanksgiving Day, Simmons again convened this group and they again ascended Stone Mountain and formally inaugurated the new Invisible Empire of the Ku Klux Klan. They again burned a large cross.
The original Ku Klux Klan, founded in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1867, was a secret society opposed to the Reconstruction policies of the radical Republican Congress and whose purpose was the re-establishment of white supremacy in the South. General N. B. Forrest, well known Confederate cavalry leader, was the first Grand Wizard of the Empire. The Empire immediately began a campaign of terror against ex-slaves and whites who involved themselves in black causes. They operated at night, their identities obliterated under white sheets. Their methods were flogging, torture, and lynching. They usually planted a burning cross on the property of someone whom they felt they had to threaten. It was their calling card.
As whites regained control of state governments in the South the Klan's power faded. In 1869 General Forrest ordered the abandonment of the Klan and resigned as Grand Wizard. But local organizations continued, some for many years.
The release, in 1915, of D. W. Griffith's "Birth of a Nation" further fueled the fires of the new Invisible Empire, which added to its motto of "white supremacy" anti-Catholicism and anti-Semitism. Its appeal, therefore, was wider than that of the original Klan. In the early 1920s, with the help of experienced promoters and fundraisers Edward Y. Clarke and Elizabeth Tyler, the Klan began exercising strong control over local politics throughout the South and spread rapidly into the North, especially Oregon, Oklahoma, Indiana, Maine, and Illinois. In 1922, 1924, and 1926, it elected many state officials and a number of Congressmen. At one point the Invisible Empire claimed a million members.
For ten years after its inauguration—or re-inauguration—the Klan exercised a career of terror. Then the death of another girl destroyed its power. In 1926, David C. Stephenson, who had ousted William Simmons from the leadership of the Klan and was at that time Imperial Wizard, was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of Madge Oberholtzer, whom, in consort with other Klansmen, he had kidnapped, raped, and abducted to Chicago from Irvington, Indiana. The case, which included some revolting perversions, created a widespread revulsion against the Ku Klux Klan. Throughout the 1930s its influence weakened irreparably. In 1944 it was formally dissolved.
Five years later, however, groups from six Southern states met to attempt to reform a national organization. During the Civil Rights era, the Klan again raised its head. It has never really died. It is recruiting members today. It recently attempted to involve my family.
In the months following the hanging of Leo Frank, August 17, 1915; it was alleged that there was a "mass exodus of Jews". The Alleged Jewish Exodus NEVER OCCURRED.
Daniel Boorstin
Joseph Boorstin, a distinguished historian who served as the Librarian of Congress for more than a decade, was born in Atlanta on October 1, 1914, to Dora Olsan and Samuel Aaron Boorstin, Russian- Jewish immigrants. His father was an attorney who served on Leo Frank's defense team. *After Frank's lynching in 1915, Boorstin's father moved his family to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in part to escape anti-Semitism. *Boorstin moved his family from Atlanta in 1917 two years after the lynching of Leo Frank. This again shows the manipulation of facts that Georgia Jews were victims of anti-Semitism and exodus of Jews occurred after the lynching.
Memo of Known Facts, October 12, 1953
American Jewish Archives
*Samuel Boorstin was former secretary to Governor John Slaton; practiced law in Atlanta from 1907 to 1917. Boorstin moved his family from Atlanta in 1917 two years after the lynching of Leo Frank. This shows the manipulation of facts that Georgia Jews were victims of anti-Semitism and exodus of Jews occurred after the lynching.
Memo of Known Facts, October 12, 1953
American Jewish Archives
Harry Golden, A Little Girl is Dead, 1965 wrote:
“By noon, all the Jewish businessmen had closed shop, and on the South Side people had sent their colored servants home. Jews locked their homes and, in the afternoon, began checking into the hotels, the Winecoff, the Kimball House, the Georgia Terrace, and the Piedmont. Many of the Jewish men took their families to the railroad station and sent their wives and children to relatives outside the state.”
On January 5, 2021, the noted presidential historian Michael Beschloss, tweeted the false and thoroughly debunked fiction that Jews fled the state of Georgia as a result of the lynching of Leo Frank on August 17, 1915. There is no evidence of this alleged exodus and none of the serious historians of Jewish history will back the claim. Several notable scholars correct Beschloss on that issue:
Strangers within the Gate City: The Jews of Atlanta, 1845-1915 (Philadelphia, 1978)
Steven Hertzberg
Page 213:
“Harry Golden has written that all Jewish businessmen closed shop, locked their homes, and checked into hotels, most remaining for several days. However, while Jews undoubtedly preferred the safety of hotel rooms and a few send their families out of the state, there was no dramatic exodus or panic. The Jews were frightened, but most went about their business as usual, and no serious incidents occurred.”
The Jew Accused, 1991
Albert S. Lindemann
Page 270:
“Earlier accounts of this period, particularly Golden’s A Little Girl is Dead, presented a picture of Jewish panic, of exodus from the city but a more recent and careful scholar [Hertzberg] has concluded that ‘there was no dramatic exodus or panic [Jews]. The Jews were frightened, but most went about their business as usual and no serious incidents occurred.”
Page 275:
“Even when is Atlanta, where the Jewish community was deeply shaken by the Frank Affair and where Jewish leaders long opposed efforts to rehabilitate Frank because of the hostility such efforts might revive, Jews continued to move into the city in numbers no less impressive than before the Frank Affair.”
Page 217:
“From 4,000 in 1910, the Jewish population rose to 10,000 in 1948, 16,500 in 1968, and 21,000 in 1976.”
“The Community Grows Despite the fears stemming from the Frank lynching, Atlanta’s Jewish community continued to grow. In 1910 there had been 4,000 Jews, by 1937 there were 12,000.”
The Secret Relationship Between Blacks & Jews, 2016; Vol. 3 “This claim is patently false. The only Jewish exodus from Georgia occurred in 1740, when England banned slavery there. According to historian RabbiJacob R. Marcus, Jews left because ‘Negro slavery was prohibited, the liquor traffic was forbidden.’”
1921 Jewish Year Book This chart shows a Jewish population INCREASE in Georgia of 13,114!
Those who remained—and particularly those in Atlanta—were financially crippled by a huge boycott of Jewish businesses. The Jewish community, or at least some of its more prominent members, had felt, in fact, an increasing anti-Semitism for the previous three decades or so. This feeling mounted as resentment of the monies which poured in from Jewish organizations around the country—particularly in the North—to aid in Leo Frank's defense and subsequent appeals soared.
Mary Phagan's death and Leo Frank's hanging gave impetus to the formation of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith.
At the time of his arrest, Leo Frank was president of the Atlanta chapter of B'nai B'rith, the Jewish fraternal order which had been founded in 1843. There were plans for the organization of its Anti-Defamation League, to combat anti-Semitism in the United States and "to work for equality of opportunity for all Americans in our time," as their charter reads, but it took the condemnation of Leo Frank to galvanize it into being. The League was established four weeks after Leo Frank's trial ended. As Dave Schary, the fourth national chairman of the League has stated, "Certainly the B'nai B'rith would have founded the League sooner or later, but the story of Leo Frank struck the American Jewish community like nothing be-fore in its experience. It was Frank's destiny to give the League a sense of urgency that characterizes its operations to this day."
At the founding ceremonies of the League, Adolph Kraus, then national president of B'nai B'rith, commenting on the widespread prejudice and discrimination, said:
Remarkable as it is, this condition has gone so far as to manifest itself recently in an attempt to influence courts of law where a Jew happened to be a party to the litigation. This symptom, standing by itself, while contemptible, would not constitute a menace, but forming as it does but one incident in a continuing chain of occasions of discrimination, it demands organized and systematic effort on behalf of all right-thinking Americans to put a stop to this most pernicious and un-American tendency.
The Anti-Defamation League practically from its inception vigorously opposed all lynchings. It, along with the NAACP, works to correct falsehoods in all forms of media and to distribute information correcting misconceptions about Judaism. It owes its genesis to Leo Frank. And to Mary Phagan.
After Leo Frank's death, Lucile Frank became a pillar of the Atlanta Jewish community. She worked in one of the better women's clothing shops, never remarried, and until she died, in 1957, signed all her checks and papers "Mrs. Leo M. Frank." Her will specifically expressed that she not be buried in New York next to Leo Frank and that she be cremated. [historyatlanta.com > lucille-frank].This fact is something Leo Frank's activist defenders do not wish to highlight in their efforts to bias our understanding of these related events
The Obituary of Lucille Selig (1888 - 1957) the wife of Leo Frank, published in Georgia's AC on Wednesday, April 24th, 1957.
Obituary:
Mrs. Leo Frank Is Dead at 69; Widow of 1915 Lynch Victim. The Atlanta Constitution (1946-1984); April 24, 1957; page 5.
[Lucille Selig Is Dead at 69; Widow of 1915 Lynch Victim Leo Frank]
Mrs. Leo M. (Lucile S.) Frank of 710 Peach Tree St., NE, died Tuesday [April 23, 1957], at an Atlanta hospital after a brief illness [(actually heart disease)]. She was 69. Mrs. Frank was the widow of Leo M. Frank, who was lynched in an outbreak of mob violence in 1915 as a result of the slaying of Mary Phagan, a 15-year-old [(actually 13-year-old)] Marietta girl who worked in an Atlanta pencil factory of which Frank was superintendent.
Frank was tried and convicted of murder in 1913. He was sentenced to hang but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by then Governor John M. Slaton [(John Slaton was actually the law partner of Leo Frank's lead trial attorney Luther Z. Rosser at the time)]. A gang of masked men kidnapped Frank from the State Prison Farm at Milledgeville and transported him to Cobb County near Marietta, where he was hanged from an oak tree in August 1915.
Mrs. Frank was a lifelong Atlantan. She was the former Lucile S. Selig.
She was a member of The Temple, and was she was formerly a member of the Standard Town and Country Club, and the Progressive Club.
Funeral services will be held at 1:00 p.m. Wednesday at Spring Hill. Rabbi Jacob Rothschild will officiate.
Mrs. Frank is survived by a sister, Mrs. Sara S. Marcus, and two nephews, Alan Marcus and Harold E. Marcus of Atlanta.
Errors and Typos: The correct spelling of her first name is believed to be Lucille with two lowercase 'L's, instead of just one as is printed within the obituary. Mary Anne Phagan was thirteen years old at the time of her murder by Leo Frank on Saturday, April 26, 1913, not 15 years old as the article mistakenly wrote.
Author-journalist Steve Oney has stated during several scheduled lectures [dates] and dialogues about the Leo Frank case that the family of Lucille Selig wanted to keep her death a secret so as to not stir up any old resentments, but the exact opposite is true with the publication of her passing away in the most widely read newspaper in Atlanta at the time, including information on where the public could visit to pay their final respects to the deceased.
In March 1916 Fannie Phagan Coleman sued the National Pencil Company for damages. It was settled out of court and she was awarded several thousand dollars. She died in August 1947 at age seventy-five. She was buried beside Mary.
Tom Watson was indicted and tried in the United States District Court for sending obscene matter through the mail and was acquitted in 1916. Initially he supported Hugh Dorsey in the gubernatorial race. Dorsey won and remained governor of Georgia until 1921. In 1920 Dorsey ran for the United States Senate, but Watson himself ran and won. Two years later he died from a bronchial attack. One of the memorials on his grave was a cross, eight feet high, made of roses. The Ku Klux Klan had sent it.
Jim Conley served less than a year of his sentence on a chain gang.
Some months after that, he was convicted of breaking and entering a business establishment in the vicinity of the Fulton County courthouse, and was sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment, which he served. It was after that that he and my grandfather and my aunt had the famous (in our family) conversation about little Mary Phagan. Then he apparently disappeared. In 1941 he was among a group picked up for gambling by the Atlanta police.
In 1947 he was again arrested—on a charge of drunkenness.
He died in 1962. Rumors of a deathbed confession of his having killed Mary Phagan have grown increasingly more persistent.
Did Jim Conley give a deathbed confession?
On April 6, 1987 my father and I spoke with three members of the Anti-Defamation League—Stuart Lewengrub, Regional Director of the Southeast Office; Betty Canter, Assistant Regional Director of the Southeast Office; and Charles Wittgenstein, Counsel for the Southeast Office. The League, we felt, would certainly have tracked down and confirmed this rumor. All three were emphatic: the rumor had no basis in truth.
Publications, films and plays concerning the Mary Phagan-Leo Frank case began even before Leo Frank was hung:
1913-1914-Georgia Reports, Supreme Court of the State of Georgia at the October Term, 1913, and march Term.,1914. Volume 141, Stevens & Graham
1914—The Frank Case: Inside Story of Georgia's Murder, published by Atlanta Publishing Company. Argument of Hugh Dorsey, Solicitor for Fulton County, published.
1915—C. P. Connolly reported the trial in Collier's Weekly and then published a book, The Truth About the Frank Case.
1922—The French journalist, Van Paassen, claims that the teeth marks on Mary Phagan's head and shoulders do not match the X-rays of Leo Frank's teeth. He publishes his findings in the book, ToNumber Our Days, in 1964.
1936—Death in the Deep South by Ward Greene published.
1937—"They Won't Forget," a movie based on Ward Greene's novel and starring Lana Turner as little Mary Clay appears.
1938—Tom Watson: Agrarian Rebel by C. Vann Woodward published.
1943—I Can Go Home Again by Arthur Powell published.
1952—Guilty or Not Guilty by Francis X. Busch published.
1956—Night Fell on Georgia by Charles and Louise Samuels published.
1959—Confessions of a Criminal Lawyer by Allen Lumpkin Henson published.
1962—"Profile in Courage" series is aired by NBC. One deals with John M. Slaton.
1965—A Little Girl is Dead by Harry Golden published.
1967—A five-part series on the trial appears in the Atlanta Constitution, and the play, "Night Witch" has a short run.
1968—The Leo Frank Case by Leonard Dinnerstein published, reissued in 1987,1991, 2008
1986- Fiddlin" Georgia Crazy: Fiddlin" John Carson, His Real World,and the World of His Songs, Gene Wiggins
1987 -Mary Phagan, The Murder of Little Mary Phagan
1988-Robert Seitz Frey and Nancy Thompson-Frey, The Silent and the Damned: The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank
1991-Albert S. Lindemann, The Jew Accused
1997-David Mamet, The Old Religion
2000-Jeffrey Melnick, Black-Jewish Relations on Trial: Leo Frank and Jim Conley in the New South
2003-Steve Oney, And the Dead Shall Rise: The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank
2008-Leonard Dinnerstein, The Leo Frank Case, reissue
2009-Matthew H. Bernstein, Screening a Lynching
2010-Elaine Marie Alpin, An Unspeakable Crime
2016-Nation of Islam, The Secret Relationship Between Black & Jews, Volume 3; The Leo Frank Case, The Lynching of a Guilty Man
2017- R. Barri Flowers, Murder at the Pencil Factory
There have been innumerable murders in Georgia since April 26, 1913, when little Mary Phagan was murdered. None have continued to fascinate the public as my great-aunt's tragedy has. Students, writers, and the curious continue yearly to visit the Georgia Department of Archives, Georgia State University, and Emory University to study the case. And many people still pay tribute to little Mary Phagan by visiting her grave. It is the history of Georgia. It is my history.
Leo Frank's removal from Fulton Tower to the Milledgeville Prison Farm was carried out with the utmost secrecy and efficiency.
A car pulled up in front of the main doors of the prison and kept its motor running. Reporters kept watch over it; they could not get information in any other way: the telephone lines into the prison had been disconnected. Meanwhile, Frank was removed from his cell, taken to the basement, and from there to a back alley where another car waited. That car took Frank and the sheriff and deputies escorting him to Atlanta's main railroad station, where they caught a train to Macon. They arrived in Macon at approximately 3:00 a.m. and drove the remaining twenty-five miles or so to Milledgeville.
Frank had lost a substantial amount of weight during his two years in Fulton Tower, and the general dankness there had undermined his health. At Milledgeville, he was put to work in the fields, and his health, along with his spirits, improved.
The warden at Milledgeville, James T. Smith, informed newsmen that he did not need the assistance of troops: he would be able to defend his prison against attack.
Within two weeks of Frank's arrival at Milledgeville, Georgia newspapers gave prominent coverage to the unveiling of Mary Phagan's monument.
Shortly afterwards, the Vigilance Committee met near her grave. They vowed to avenge little Mary's death. A few days later, there were rumors of a plan to kidnap and lynch Leo Frank. Governor Harris put the state police on alert. The plan was, for the moment, thwarted.
Compared to the previous two years, life in Milledgeville was comfortable for Leo Frank. His daily chores, which took place outside, usually took up only four or five hours; the rest of the day he spent in voluminous correspondence. Among those with whom he corresponded was Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, and to him, as to others, Frank expressed his expectation that "right and justice would hold complete sway," and that he would be completely exonerated.
The idyll didn't last. On the night of July 17, approximately four weeks after Frank's sentence had been commuted to life, William Creen, a twice-convicted murderer, slashed Frank's throat with a butcher knife, nearly severing the jugular vein. Frank probably would have died, had not Warden Smith summoned J. W. McNaughton, a physician who was also serving a life sentence at Milledgeville. Creen told the authorities he meant to kill Frank because he wanted to keep the other inmates safe from mob violence, that Frank's presence was a disgrace to the prison, and that he felt he would be pardoned if he killed Frank.
Frank hovered near death for about two weeks. Two letters, one to his mother on August 4, and one to his brother, written the day before, give some idea of Leo Frank's state of mind:
Dear Mother: Just a few words to let you know that I am improving daily and that my dear Lucille is well and on the job. We let the night nurse go, and the day nurse will take her place, dear Lucille holding the fort in the daytime. I hope you did not yesterday or today hear the rumor I heard — viz: that I was dead. I want to firmly and decisively deny that rumor. I am alive by a big majority. You know by my yesterday's letter that the head surgical brace story is also another fabrication. I had a short nice letter today from Simon Wolf. He has taken a great interest in me since I am here. With much love to you and all the folks, I am devotedly your son, Dear Lucille ins me in fond greetings to all.
Dear Chas: Lucille got the package OK and I thank you for the cigars. Lucille wants to know the price of the whole wheat crackers as they will be paid for by the man for whom they were bought. I trust that this finds you and all at home well. Dear Lucille is OK and I am continually progressing to the goal of health. The wound continues to heal rapidly. Tomorrow, we let one of the nurses go and by the end of the week, the other will be unnecessary. My appetite continues fine. We get the fresh Elberta peaches and watermelons here, grown on the Farm. The apples are stewed for me, I also sleep well. It is now just a matter of fully regaining my strength. I sit up in bed, but it will be some time before I can walk about. You know I lost a large quantity of blood which must be regenerated and made up. The piece that I understand was in the Constitution about my having my head in a surgical brace is a lie out of the whole . . . In fact, I haven't now even adhesive plaster on my neck or head. Just a bandage of gauze about my neck (Please phone about this to Herbert Haas). I can move my head reasonable well now, and in time will have use of neck as before. The wound will heal up well and leave only a reasonable scar which will not show much. I look forward to seeing you the end of the week. Lucille joins me in much love to you and all the folks. Devotedly your brother Leo M. Frank
The incident put the carefully laid plans of the Vigilance Committee to abduct Frank on hold.
Also, during August, Tom Watson thoroughly and completely "reviewed" the governor's commutation order in Watson's Magazine. Watson's words undoubtedly further inflamed the feelings against the order—and against Slaton himself. Watson said:
It was the snob governor of high society, gilded club life, and palatial environment that proved to be the rotten pippin in our barrel. With splendid integrity our whole legal system withstood the attacks of Big Money until at length nothing was left but the perfidy of a governor who, in the interest of his client, betrayed a high office and great people. Our grand old Empire has been raped. We have been violated, and we are ashamed . . . The Great Seal of State was gone, like a thief in the night, to do for an unscrupulous law firm, a deed of darkness which dared not bask in the light of the sun.
Watson reminded the public that Slaton had been a partner in Luther Rosser's law firm since May 1913, and that the governor had had a secret midnight conference with Rosser before he issued his order: "The noble Rosser went up a back street in his automobile late at night, stopped it a block or two away from the Governor's; and footed it through the alley," he wrote, "like an impecunious person who desired to purloin the portable property of an unsuspecting fellow creature.
"Rosser went into the home of Slaton, and remained for hours, and until after midnight."
According to Henry Bowden, [1945 Study Paper on Leo Frank] everyday citizens were more than willing to act as informers in the case. Telephone operators, switchboard girls, elevator operators, telegraph clerks, and many others kept the phones to Dorsey's home and office busy with little facts they picked up through their jobs. One morning at 6:00 a.m. Dorsey found a streetcar motorman sitting on his doorstep with full information as to the time that Luther Rosser arrived it Governor Slaton's home the night before he issued his commutation order, how long he stayed, and who was with him.
Watson stated that Governor Slaton did not cross-examine Leo Frank or Jim Conley. Watson argued the following points, quoting from the official record at some times in his arguments and at others giving his own views:
THE UNMASHED EXCREMENT IN THE ELEVATOR SHAFT There were only two ways of getting into the basement, the elevator and a ladder. The ladder rested on the dirt floor and it ran up to a hole which was covered by a trap door. The hole was two feet square and witnesses said that it was difficult for one person to pass through the hole and descend the ladder.
Governor Slaton went to the factory and travelled up and down the elevator. He claimed that the body of Mary Phagan could not have been transported to the basement because there was excrement in the elevator shaft which was unmashed.
The bottom of the shaft was uneven so the elevator could rest upon the dirt on one part and not touch it at others; elevators at that time did not always stop exactly at the bottom.
NO BED-TICK IN THE PENCIL FACTORY Even though Governor Slaton argued there was no use for cloth or sacks at a pencil factory, Herbert Schiff, Assistant Superintendent and sworn for the defendant, indicated in his evidence that "empty sacks are usually moved a few hours after they are taken off the cotton."
HAIR ON SECOND FLOOR
Barrett discovered hair on the handle of his bench lathe early Monday morning and the hair was almost immediately recognized as Mary Phagan's, as there was only one other girl who had hair like Mary's, Magnolia Kennedy. Magnolia Kennedy had not been in the factory after Friday and she testified that the hair "was not hers and looked like Mary's."
Governor Slaton gave the public the understanding that Dr. Harris destroyed the value of that part of the State's case.
Ten days after her death, the grave of Mary Phagan was opened and hair was taken from her head. Gheesling, the undertaker, in preparation of the body, cleansed her hair by washing it with tar soap.
Dr. Harris did make a microscopic examination of the hair — one found on the handle of the bench lathe and the other from Mary Phagan's exhumed body. He said: "Affiant further says that the two specimens were so much alike that it was impossible for him to form any definite and absolute opinion as to whether they were from the head of the same person or not." His examination failed to reveal any decided difference in color, size, and texture between the two stands. The conclusion had to be made that it was Mary's hair because the defense could not prove it to be anybody else's.
BLOOD ON SECOND FLOOR Mell Stanford, who had worked for Frank for two years, testified that he swept up the whole floor in the Metal Room on Friday, April 25th. "I moved every-thing and swept everything; I swept under Mary's and Barrett's machines. On Monday thereafter, I found a spot that had some white haskoline over it, on the second floor, near the dressing room, that wasn't there Friday when I swept. The spot looked to me like it was blood, with dark spots scattered around." Herbert Schiff, Assistant Superintendent and sworn for the defendant, testified that he had seen the spots as well as other witnesses.
Governor Slaton admitted that the white sub-stance, haskoline, was found spread over the splotches.
CONLEY'S AFFIDAVITS
Conley was reluctant to betray his boss, a white man, and denied all knowledge of the crime. He admitted that he did not tell the truth when he finally confessed, he asked to be taken to see Frank. Frank refused to face Conley because his lawyer was out of town.
BLOOD ON MARY'S DRAWERS
The Testimony set forth by Doctors Harris and Hurt said that there was blood caked in Mary Phagan's thick hair; she had blood on her drawers, and blood on her vagina. Evidence indicated some sort of violence and penetration in the vagina which appeared to have been made prior to death.
Governor Slaton's contention was that the blood stains came from her "monthly sickness." Mary Phagan was not filthy in her personal hygiene habits and there was no evidence such as a "bandage" which would have indicated that she had "monthly sickness."
ANNIE MAUD CARTER NOTES William Burns, the celebrated private detective, obtained an affidavit from Annie Maud Carter in which she claimed that Jim Conley wrote her notes. She later refuted her affidavit and both Conley and Carter swore that "their letters had been changed and that the unprintable filth put in them had been forged."
WHERE THE NOTES WERE WRITTEN
Not only did Philip Chambers swear that the order blanks were "in the office next to Frank's office" but Herbert Schiff, the Assistant Superintendent and sworn for the defendant, testified that the paper the notes were written on "can be found all over the plant," not just in the basement.
MONTEEN STOVER'S TESTIMONY, THE TIME QUESTION
Frank was accurate in fixing the time his stenographer left "about 12:00 or a little after" and of the time of Mary Phagan's arrival "between 12:05 and 12:10, maybe 12:07." Frank did not know that Mon-teen Stover had come to his office and claimed that he was in his office "every minute." In his attempt to excuse his absence when Monteen Stover came to his office he stated that he might have "inadvertently left to answer a call of nature."
Governor Slaton argued that Frank must have been in the second office while Monteen Stover waited five minutes for him even though she swore that she looked for Frank in both the outer and inner offices and that "the door to the metal room was closed." Where was Mary, that "Monteen Stover could not see her, when Monteen was in the office, from 12:05 to 12:10?
BLOODY FINGERPRINTS ON DOOR
Why did Frank's lawyers not require Jim Conley, the State's star witness, to make an imprint of his fingers?
May 20, 1913: P. A. Flak, a fingerprint expert from New York, visited the Mary Phagan crime scene with Solicitor Hugh Dorsey. Later, Flak took fingerprints from both Newt Lee and Leo Frank.
Tuesday, April 29th, 1913
Murderer of Mary Phagan Probably Left Factory by the Rear Door
A bloody thumb print, found Tuesday afternoon on the rear door to the basement of the National Pencil factory, leads the police to the theory that the murderer of Mary Phagan left the factory building by that door after he had deposited the girl’s body in the basement.
This theory is still further strengthened by the fact that when the murder was discovered Sunday morning it was found that a staple had been drawn from the fastening on the rear door.
R. B. Piron, said to be an employe [sic] of the pencil factory, came across the bloody thumb print while making an examination of the factory premises. He chiseled off the bloody spot and took it to Detective Chief Newport A. Lanford, who will have it analyzed to determine whether the stain is human blood.
Piron also brought along a woman’s handkerchief and a sharpened pencil, which he says he found in the basement near the spot where Mary Phagan’s body lay.
Governor Slaton said that Judge Roan requested a commutation. This statement is false, Judge Roan continued to say, notably to his pastor and daughter, that the evidence unquestionably demonstrated Frank's guilt; and not until Judge Roan had been dead more than two months was a *forged letter presented which stultified Judge Roan's record and contradicted his judicial declarations of record in this case. [*See Chapter 6 for letters]
DOUBTS OF THE JUDGES
The twenty-three grand jurors, four of whom were Jews, thought Frank guilty, the twelve trial jurors thought so, Judge Roan at least thought the jury was satisfied in its opinion, for he refused to disturb the verdict, and none of the four appellate judges had expressed doubt, simply dissents, as to legal procedure. The Prison Commissioner was not satisfied with the sentence.
Watson's frenzied views on the facts and conjectures about the case further fanned the fears, prejudices, and anger of those in Atlanta, especially the working class, who felt so strongly about the tragedy of Mary Phagan's death.
In a July editorial of the Jeffersonian, Tom Watson mentioned the name, Vigilance Committee and in each subsequent issue of the newspaper, declared the great "Invisible Power" of the Vigilance Committee.
He wrote that lynch mobs were a necessary tool in a democracy and were acceptable as "guardians of liberty." In the August 12, 1915, issue he wrote, "The next Jew who does what Frank did is going to get the same thing we give Negro rapists."
By then a group of about two dozen men from the Vigilance Committee had been selected to reactivate the mission to abduct Leo Frank. Each was a husband and father, a wage-earner, and a church-goer. They all bore well-known Cobb County names. There were no heavy drinkers, no hotheads, no braggarts, and they were mostly older men. Each took a vow never in his lifetime to reveal the name of any participant.
There was an *individual who knew all the vigilante group members names and has told them to me. [Bill Kinney known authority of Leo Frank lynching dies February 21, 2016]
No Phagan was involved in the lynching.
*According to Bill Kinney: in the fall of 1972, he had gotten a call from Judge Manning to come to his home. Judge Manning was a lifelong friend. After dinner, he started off the conversation by saying: 'I've had two heart attacks and soon I am going to die. I want to relate to you a confession given to me by the last of the lynchers of Leo M. Frank. Judge Manning said: 'I have agonized for months whether to pass this information along, or let it die.'
Judge Manning said the person, the youngest of the lynchers, had come to his office after recovering from a severe heart attack. Judge Manning quoted the man as crying: 'Judge, I'm going to hell for helping lynch Leo Frank. I need to get it off my conscious.' The lyncher related his story of the lynching to Judge Manning.
Manning told the old man that there was no corroborating evidence. All the lynchers except him were dead, along with the lawyers and witnesses. 'Go home', Judge Manning told him, and' live with your conscious and don't hurt anyone else. The lyncher dies shortly afterwards as did Judge Manning in 1974.'
May 5, 2004, Flagpole publishes Steve Oney's List of the Leo Frank Lynchers
The mission was prepared like a military operation. An experienced electrician was selected to cut the prison wires; auto mechanics were selected to keep the cars running. The group also included a locksmith, a telephone man, a medic, a hangman, a lay preacher: each was chosen for a reason.
The route the abductors would take had been travelled, measured, and timed. Alternate routes were selected and a timetable set. D-Day was August 16, 1915. The weather was perfect.
Lucille Frank had visited her husband the day before, Sunday, August 15. She started back to Atlanta the morning of the 16. That afternoon the eight cars of the vigilance party left Marietta one by one—inconspicuously. They arrived at the prison shortly before midnight on the 16th. They first cut the phone wires. Then they split into four groups: One went to the garage and emptied the gas out of all the cars. One forced themselves into the home of Warden Smith and handcuffed him. "We have come for Leo Frank," they said. "You will find him tomorrow on Mary Phagan's grave. You can come with us, if you want."
"Damned if I go any place with you," Smith answered. Another group went to Superintendent Burke's house and handcuffed him, and then forced him to lead them to the administrative office, where they overpowered the guard.
The fourth group rushed to Frank's cell to awaken him, shackle his hands behind him, and remove him to the back seat of one of the cars.
Within the prison, only the leader of the abductors spoke, and he did so briefly. The men who entered the prison said not a word and neither did the frightened Frank, clad in a monogrammed nightshirt.
It all took eighteen minutes. Frank's captors had a blueprint of the prison, and where his cell was located as well as where guard stations, phones, and electric wires were. No effort was made to resist the group that whisked Frank away. Actually, many guards were sympathetic to the abductors.
Everything went as planned except for two incidents. The man assigned to guard the warden was left behind. There was a delay while some abductors returned to the warden's residence to bring out their companion.
The other incident involved the failure to cut a long distance line to Augusta. This line was used to alert sheriffs in county seats along the possible routes to Marietta. From several of these places, the local sheriff replied: "The parties have just passed through on their way north in automobiles."
The motorcade on the seven-hour, one hundred fifty-mile trip travelled through small towns and back roads as they returned to Marietta via Roswell Road. Forty-nine years before, General William T. Sherman had gone that way from Marietta on his march to the sea.
Along the way, the group experienced tire trouble as the rough roads took their toll. One car had to be abandoned, but the others were repaired. By then the group was aware that they had missed a telephone wire—and that officials probably knew what they were up to.
The original plan was to hang Frank either from a tree in the Marietta City Cemetery, where Mary Phagan was buried, or in the Marietta Square. But dawn was breaking when the group reached Marietta's outskirts. Too much time had been lost, and knowing they would be seen, they wen+ to a more remote side of town.
Frank, frightened but apparently reconciled to his fate, said little. When asked if he wished to confess to the murder of Mary Phagan before being hanged, he is re-ported to have said "I think more of my wife and mother than I do of my life."
"Mr. Frank, we are going to do what the law said to do, hang you by the neck until you are dead," the leader said to Frank, asking if he had any last request. Frank asked that his gold wedding band be removed and re-turned to his widow.
In the grove hidden from Roswell Road at Frey's Gin Mill (where developer Roy Varner's Professional Building now stands), they prepared Leo Frank to be hanged. A piece of brown khaki cloth was tied around Frank's waist, since he had been taken from prison wearing only a nightshirt. A white handkerchief was fastened over his eyes. He was placed on a table. A three-quarter-inch rope tied by the hangman was lowered over a tree branch and around his neck.
The table was kicked from under his feet. Frank was lifted high in the air. The drop from the makeshift gallows opened the wound on his neck. The time was about 7:00 a.m., on August 17, 1915.
The word spread fast that Leo Frank had been hanged. Scores of people raced to the hanging site on foot, via bicycles, by horseback, and in what few autos then were available.
One of the first to arrive was a prominent young Mariettan who had been rejected as a lyncher because of his high temper and drinking habits. "We thank you, God, for allowing these men to do this grand and glorious deed," the rejected lyncher shouted, "but damn their souls for not letting me help. They won't put any monument over you (Frank). They are not going to get a piece of you as big as a cigar."
People with cameras snapped Frank's picture as his body swayed in the breeze. Picture post cards of the lynching were sold for years as souvenir items in Georgia stores. Pieces of Frank's clothing were cut away, the tree stripped of many low-hanging limbs, and the rope cut up and taken as souvenirs.
Postcard of Leo Frank Lynching FlickLynching of Leo Frank
Marietta hardware stores sold out of rope after the hanging. Enterprising citizens bought the rope, cut in into pieces, and sold it as mementoes.
When Frank's body was cut down, a citizen tried to grind his shoe into Frank's face. Newt A. Morris, a former judge of the Blue Ridge Circuit, stepped forward to stop him and to quiet the crowd.
"Whoever did this thing left nothing more for us to do," Morris told the crowd. "Little Mary is vindicated; her foul murder is avenged. Now I ask you, I appeal to you as citizens of Cobb County, not to do more. I appeal to you to let this undertaker take it."
Morris soon was joined by Canton attorney John Wood, who later became a congressman, in appealing to the crowd. He helped Morris load the body into a basket and place it in a W. J. Black Funeral Home wagon that hauled it to the National Cemetery gate where it was placed in Wood's car and rushed to Atlanta.
At Ashby and Marietta Streets, an ambulance from Greenberg & Bond met Wood's wagon and took the body.
A crowd gathered around the funeral home, demanding to see the dead man's body. Fearing violence, police persuaded Mrs. Frank to consent. The crowds were allowed to view the body.
Later, Leo Frank's body was shipped to his parents' Brooklyn home and buried on August 20th in Mount Carmel Cemetery. Carved on his tombstone is the Latin phrase Semper Idem—which means "always the same, nothing changes."
Before the day's end, Fiddling John Carson was wailing on the courthouse steps:
Little Mary Phagan went to town one day,
And went to the pencil factory to see the big parade.
She left her home at eleven,
And kissed her mother good-bye,
Not one time did that poor child think T
hat she was going to die. Leo Frank met her, with a brutely heart we know,
He smiled and said, "Little Mary, Now you will go home no more."
He sneaked along behind her,
Till she reached the metal room,
He laughed and said, "Little Mary
you have met your fatal doom."
Ex-Governor Slaton and Mayor Woodward, of Atlanta, were in San Francisco on the day of the lycnhing.
On August 18 Slaton addressed the California Civic League and declared he preferred to have Frank lynched by a mob rather than by judicial mistake because "one reached the soul of civilization, the other merely reached the body."
Mayor Woodward addressed the California State Assessors' Association and declared that Frank had suffered a "just penalty for an unspeakable crime."
A Cobb County coroner's jury met on August 24, heard witnesses, and ruled that Frank was "hanged by persons unknown." A Cobb grand jury investigated the hanging for several days but said it couldn't identify any of the men involved. Several lynchers reportedly were members of the grand jury. No lyncher was ever arrested. The question lingers: why didn't Albert Lasker, main financial supporter, Adloph Ochs, owner of the New York Times, Louis Marshall President of the American Jewish Committee and Jacob Schiff, Wall Street Financier who spent thousands and thousands to promote Frank's innocence ever pursue justice against the Vigilance Committee members?
Tom Watson sent the following telegram to Mariettan Robert E. Lee Howell: "There's life in the old land yet." He applauded the hanging: "In putting the sodomite murderer to death, the vigilance committee has done what the sheriff would have done, if Slaton had not been of the same mould as Benedict Arnold . . . Georgia is not for sale to rich criminals."
In the Jeffersonian, he raged:
The ominous triune combination which has so rapidly given our country a foreign complexion, is made up of Priest, Capitalist, and Jew. The Priest wants the illiterate papal slave of Italy, Poland and Hungary; the Capitalist wants cheap labor; and the Jew wants refuge from the race-hatred which he himself has engendered throughout Europe.
As yet, the South has not been deluged by the foreign flood; as yet, our native stock predominates, and the old ideals persist. With us, it is, as yet, dangerous for an employer of young girls to assume that he buys the girl, when he hires her. A Jew from the North, coming South to act as boss over one hundred girls, may fall into a fatal mistake by forgetting that he is no longer in Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, or New York. When such a Jew comes to Georgia, he is sure to run into trouble if he acts as though he believed he had a right to carnally use the persons of the girls who work for him.
That was the mistake made by Leo Frank, and it cost him his life.
And the mistake made by Jews throughout the Union, was that they made Frank's case a race issue in total, contemptuous and aggressive disregard of the question of guilt. They arrogantly asserted, and kept on asserting, that he had not had a fair trial, without ever offering a scintilla of evidence to prove it.
They tried to "run over" the people and the courts of Georgia, and we wouldn't let them do it.
That's all.
Leo Frank's wedding ring was delivered to O. B. Keeler, Marietta reporter for the Atlanta Georgian, at his Marietta home the following evening.
On Thursday, August 19, Keeler's account of the incident was published in the Atlanta Georgian. Some idea of the importance attached to the story may be gained from the prominence given the story.
The banner headline read "FRANK'S WEDDING RING RETURNED" across the top of page one. A two-column, three-line readout said "DYING WISH OF MOB'S VICTIM CARRIED OUT BY UNKNOWN MESSENGER," beneath the banner headline. The story was in twelve-point type; it occupied the two right-hand columns of page one and continued on page two, where it filled two more columns.
Keeler's first-person account read:
Old Books say if you put beneath your pillow an object that has been associated with tragedy, or any scene of great stress and profound emotional excitement—if such an object be placed near you while you sleep—you will dream the thing that gave the object its most terrible significance; the scene will be reconstructed for you, and the act reenacted.
This is not true. Not always true, at least. For in my pillow last night was the wedding ring of Leo M. Frank. And I dreamed of nothing that could concern him in any way.
And if any object in this world today has been close to tragedy and aligned with horror, it is the wedding ring of Leo M. Frank.
Keeler, who had covered every session of the trial for the Atlanta Georgian, then told of the many times he had seen the ring on Frank's finger during the trial and during Frank's stay of nearly two years in the Fulton County Tower.
Whatever is the truth of April 26, 1913, Leo M. Frank wore that ring at the National Pencil Factory that. And Leo Frank wore that ring on the dreadful ride to his doom, in the oak grove just outside of Marietta. And who will say the supreme moment of his agony was not when he took off that ring and stood up to die?
If ever an object was charged with tragedy, it is the wedding ring of Leo M. Frank. And it was in my pillow Wednesday night. And I dreamed a ridiculous little dream of being a kid again, at dancing school, and the waltz they were playing was "Beaming Eyes." So I should say there is not much to the old idea of psychic dream-influences.
Keeler related how the ring came into his possession:
It was a little later than 8:00 Wednesday evening, and I was in the front room of my small house at No. 303 Polk Street in Marietta [Today it is at the southwest corner of Polk Street and Powder Springs Connector].
I had just started the Victrola on a selection passionately adored by the two young members of my family - "The Robert E. Lee Medley," by a lively band. It is very lively and ragged.
The band had just got into full swing then there was a step on the veranda outside the open door, then a knock. I went to the door, opened the screen, and stepped out.
There was a man on the veranda. He had something white in his hand. The following dialogue took place:
"Is this Mr. O.B. Keeler?"
"It is."
"I have a note for you,'
That was all. He spoke clearly and deliberately. He handed me an envelope. He turned and walked down the steps and away in the dark. He wasted no time, but he was not in a hurry.
Keeler opened the envelope, which contained the ring and a typewritten note. He took the note to the dining room where there was a light at the table. The note read:
Frank's dying request was that his wedding ring be given to his wife. Will you see that this quest is carried out?
This note will be delivered to you by a man who you do not know and who does not know you. Make no effort to find out his identity.
Keeler wrote, "I am making no effort to find out his identity. And I am undertaking to deliver the ring to Mrs. Leo Frank. It is a trust."
On the following day, Keeler delivered the ring to Mrs. Frank in Atlanta. She denounced Keeler roundly, and accused him of being among the group of men who hanged her husband.
Keeler said that he had accepted the trust with mingled emotions. "It was because of something else—another circumstance, which I will tell too, because the outside world may find it of interest and perhaps of information concerning the county and town in which I live—Cobb County and Marietta—in which county and near which place Leo M. Frank was hanged at 7:05 o'clock the morning of Tuesday, August 17."
Keeler said he knew what bad things were being said by the newspapers of the state and he had an idea of what would be said by newspapers outside of it.
He related:
I am a newspaper man. But I am not writing this as a newspaper man. I am writing this as a man who has lived in Cobb County for twenty-five years. And I am telling it to the limit of my ability as a reporter and observer of some little experience.
In our home when the ring came was a guest—a young woman from Kansas City, Missouri. She had arrived the evening before, from the North. She had never been in the South before. She had read stories of the Frank Case in the Kansas City newspapers—which in the end made a great effort to show Frank's innocence.
This guest, you might say, was a "stranger within our gates." And the experience of the ring, following so closely the tragedy of the day before, had a tremendous effect on her. I sought an unbiased view. I found it—and the intelligent one.
She was saying:
"Why it is something out of a book—I can't believe such things happen, really. But . . . why—I SAW the man, myself . . . and the ring. I can't believe it, but I know it is so." I said: "What do you think about it now?"
And she told me: "I read about the Frank lynching coming down on the train from Nashville. And I wondered: What am I getting into—what sort of people are these? I knew it took place quite near where I was going. And it frightened me."
I said: "You reached this town exactly twelve hours after the hanging. Did it look like that kind of a town to you then?" She said: "It did not. I thought it was the quietest, most peaceful-looking little place I ever was in. I never met more kindly or hospitable or friendly people than at the party this afternoon. Why, I just know they are good people."
Of course, she hadn't met them all, having been in Marietta only twenty-five hours. But I have lived here the same number of years. And our opinions agreed exactly.
Explaining what he meant by "agreeing exactly," Keeler said: I know what was done to Leo M. Frank, in that oak grove, the morning of August 17. It is said that men of Cobb County did it. I do not know about that. But I do know what was done that morning.
Also I know what the people of Marietta did for me and my family when I lay near death from pneumonia last spring.
And then you see, I have lived among these people for twenty-five years.
And I know they are good people.
One of the "young members" Keeler referred to was his son, George Keeler. George Keeler related to me the events that occurred. He told me: "My father, the late O. B. Keeler, was on the staff of the Atlanta Georgian in 1913 and reported every session of the Frank trial for that newspaper, and he said many times there was never any doubt in his mind as to Frank's guilt. He said the defense did everything it could to lay the blame on the Negro janitor, Jim Conley.
"He said, 'Conley, an illiterate Negro, could not possibly have made up the complicated story he told of Frank's sexual adventures, a story the defense lawyers could not shake after days of hammering on him.' And, my father pointed out, Frank had the best lawyers in the state that money could buy.
"Two years later, and well into the night of August 16, 1915, a telephone call from the Georgian informed my father the paper had received a report that a group of men was headed for the State Prison at Milledgeville with the intention of seizing Frank and taking him to Marietta and there to hang him over the grave of Mary Phagan.
My father was instructed to go to the cemetery and await developments. "My father went to the cemetery, and when nothing happened by dawn, he proceeded to the Cobb County Courthouse on the City Square. Shortly after my father arrived at the Courthouse, a farmer came in and said, 'There's a bunch of men at Frey's Gin and they're up to something.' This was early morning of August 17, 1915.
"The next evening, about dusk, a stranger appeared at the Keeler home on Polk Street and handed my father an envelope. The envelope contained a typewritten note and a wedding ring. The note said the ring was Frank's, and requested my father to deliver the ring to his wife.
"The next day, August 19, 1915, my father delivered the ring to Mrs. Frank and wrote the account of how the ring had come into his possession and what he had done with it—in a story that was published that day in the Georgian under an eight-column banner headline on page one.
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 minded until the case comes before me, if it ever does." By April, 1915, however, he strongly doubted that anything to do with Frank would reach him before he left office in June. Only a week before he convened the extraordinary clemency hearing at his offices, he told people that he didn't think the case would reach him before he left office.
He received over one hundred thousand letters favoring commutation or pardon for Frank, and the Georgia as well as the national press reminded him— and the public—of his power of pardon and his responsibility to use it. Atlanta Constitution editors prepared a cartoon of a yellow chicken with Slaton's head with the caption, "Showing his yellow feathers," to be used in the event Slaton declined to hear Frank's commutation request.
Several governors and senators supported the request for Frank's pardon, but the support of prominent persons for pardons was—and is—far from unusual. Perhaps more unusual was that the effort on behalf of Leo Frank came from leaders in every part of the country.
The North-South resentments and hostility revived with a vengeance. Newspapers throughout the country picked up on this development. Most outside Georgia were sympathetic to Leo Frank, and reopened their attacks on Georgia's anti-industrialist and anti-Semitic feelings, as well as its police incompetence. The Baltimore Sun termed the case "the American counterpart of the Dreyfus [affair]"; many newspapers reiterated that the jury had merely followed the vociferous demands of the crowds who stayed outside the courtroom during the trial. And of course they called for a pardon—or, at least, a commutation.
Georgians, and Atlantans particularly, resented this renewed intrusion into an affair in which they felt justice had been done. They became adamant against reexamining the conclusions of the trial.
When the Supreme Court rejected Frank's plea in April, 1915, his lawyers began working for executive clemency. They of course wanted a complete pardon, but in view of the series of court decisions, probably felt it wise to seek a commutation to life imprisonment.
And they undoubtedly felt that if and when Frank's innocence was established, sometime in the future, a complete pardon might be feasible.
They were advised that Frank's chances for commutation were better with the incumbent, Governor John Marshall Slaton, than with his successor, who would take over on June 26, 1915. John M. Slaton was highly regarded politically. He was said to be the most popular governor Georgia had since the Civil War. In 1914, while in office, he ran for the U.S. Senate. Judge Newt A. Morris and Solicitor Clay were looking ahead. They predicted that Slaton would end up with the Frank case and might commute his sentence.
Judge Morris, through the Cobb Democratic Executive Committee, alleged that Slaton was a member of the law firm defending Frank. Slaton had been a name partner of the Rosser, Brandon, Slaton & Phillips law firm since May of 1913 and is so listed in the newspaper announcements of the day. This law partnership name was also listed in the Atlanta City Directories of 1914, 1915, and 1916, even though Slaton was then serving as governor. This conflict was readily seized upon by Tom Watson who said:
You must keep in your mind the astounding fact that he [Slaton] joined Rosser's firm, after that firm had been employed to defend Frank, and had publicly taken part in this case.
A Governor cannot practice law openly and in June, 1913, John M. Slaton was to be inaugurated for a term of two years. Why, then, did he, in May, join a firm in which he could not openly act, until after June, 1915? And why did Rosser, in May, 1913, take a partner whom he could not openly use, during the next two years?
The Cobb Democratic Executive Committee publicly called on Slaton to resign as governor or assure Georgians he would not commute Frank's sentence.
Slaton declined to do either, and his statement made state headlines. Slaton lost the Senate election to Thomas W. Hardwick.
Frank was now scheduled to hang on June 22, 1915. Slaton was to be succeeded by Nat Harris on June 26, 1915. Slaton could have granted a reprieve and let Harris determine the petition for commutation, a move which many had anticipated. However, he, and others, felt that Harris would deny the petition.
While speculations raged in Atlanta, Slaton retired to his home outside the city, carrying the full printed record of the trial with him. He requested the Supreme Court ruling on the question of mob influence at the trial along with Justice Holmes's dissent. He requested specific citations to the trial record. He researched the official judgments of other appellate courts while trying to reach a balance between Georgia's judiciary integrity and mob rule.
In visiting the pencil factory, Slaton determined that Conley must have lied about using the elevator to carry Mary Phagan's body from the second floor to the basement: though Conley testified that he had defecated at the bottom of the shaft on Saturday morning, the detectives, while at the factory, found the *excrement (along with an umbrella) uncrushed at the bottom of the shaft.*Shit in Shaft
Much has been made of Conley’s admission that he defecated in the elevator shaft on Saturday morning, and the idea that, because the detectives crushed the feces for the first time when they rode down in the elevator the next day, Conley’s story that he and Frank used the elevator to bring Mary Phagan’s body to the basement on Saturday afternoon could not be true — thus bringing Conley’s entire story into question. But how could anyone determine with certainty that the “crushing” was the “first crushing”? And nowhere in the voluminous records of the case — including Governor Slaton’s commutation orderin which he details his supposed tests of the elevator — can we find evidence that anyone made even the most elementary inquiry into whether or not the bottom surface of the elevator car was uniformly flat.
Furthermore, the so-called “shit in the shaft” theory of Frank’s innocence also breaks down when we consider the fact that detectives inspected the floor of the elevator shaft before riding down in the elevator, and found in it Mary Phagan’s parasol and a large quantity of trash and debris. Detective R.M. Lassiter stated at the inquest into Mary Phagan’s death, in answer to the question “Is the bottom of the elevator shaft of concrete or wood, or what?” that “I don’t know. It was full of trash and I couldn’t see.” There was so much trash there, the investigator couldn’t even tell what the floor of the shaft was made of! There may well have been enough trash, and arranged in such a way, to have prevented the crushing of the waste material when Frank and Conley used the elevator to transport Mary Phagan’s body to the basement. In digging through this trash, detectives could easily have moved it enough to permit the crushing of the feces the next time the elevator was run down.
Though this could have been used at the trial to show Conley's perjury, it was not until Slaton personally rode the elevator, determining that it indeed hit the bottom, that this evidence was brought to light. Slaton spent a great deal of time and attention studying the elevator. Much of the best evidence for Frank, Slaton later stated in his official commutation order, came out after the trial, including that uncovered by himself.
Slaton shut himself in his library for the entire day on June 20, 1915, working on the Frank case. He had listened to Hugh Dorsey's and to Leo Frank's lawyers' arguments, as well as to a Marietta delegation headed by former Governor Joseph M. Brown.
It is said that he worked until 2:00 a.m. on June 21. His wife had stayed awake, waiting for him, and when he emerged from the library, asked him if he'd reached a decision.
"Yes," he is said to have replied, "and it may mean my death or worse, but I have ordered the sentence commuted."
Mrs. Slaton is said to have responded, "I would rather be the widow of a brave and honorable man than the wife of a coward."
He had taken the precaution of having Leo Frank removed from the Fulton Tower to the railroad station at one minute after midnight and onto a train to Macon, then by car to the Milledgeville Prison Farm.
Partly through his own detective work, and partly through his readings of the extensive documentation of the crime, John Slaton came to believe that Leo Frank was innocent. However, in public John Slaton made no declarations about Frank's innocence; he expressed his "doubts."
Slaton had in mind, also, that Judge Roan had publicly written to him: "It is possible that I showed undue deference to the jury in this case, when I allowed the verdict to stand," and that Roan asked Slaton to commute the sentence.
Later that day Slaton gave his statement to the press, announcing he was commuting Frank's sentence to life imprisonment.
The statement was very carefully worded to stand as nothing more substantial than the correction of a trial judge's error, to deny any extra-legal issues surrounding the case, and to assure the public that there was no mob influence on the trial, but that the atmosphere merely reflected the "disclosing of a horrible crime."
Executive Minutes June 21st, 1915
In Re Leo M. Frank, Fulton Superior Court, Sentenced to be Executed, June 22, 1915.
Saturday, April 26th, 1913, was Memorial Day in Georgia and a general holiday. At that time Mary Phagan, a white girl, of about fourteen years of age was in the employ of the National Pencil Company located near the corner of Forsyth and Hunter Streets in the City of Atlanta. She came to the pencil factory a little after noon to obtain the money due her for her work on the preceding Monday, and Leo M. Frank, the defendant, paid her $1.20, the amount due her and this was the last time she was seen alive.
Frank was tried for the offense and found guilty the succeeding August. Application is now made to me for clemency.
This case has been the subject of extensive comments through the newspapers of the United States and has occasioned the transmission of over one hundred thousand letters from various states requesting clemency. Many communications have been received from citizens of this state advocating or opposing interference with the sentence of the court.
I desire to say in this connection that the people of the State of Georgia desire the esteem and good will of the people of every state in the Union. Every citizen wishes the approbation of his fellows and a state or nation is not excepted. In the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote that "When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and Nature's God entitles them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."
Many newspapers and multitudes of people have attacked the State of Georgia because of the conviction of Leo M. Frank and declared the conviction to have been through the domination of a mob and with no evidence to support the verdict. This opinion has been formed to a great extent by those who have not read the evidence and who are unacquainted with the judicial procedure in our state.
I have been unable to even open a large proportion of the letters sent me, because of their number and because I could not through them gain any assistance in determining my duty.
The murder committed was a most heinous one. A young girl was strangled to death by a cord tied around her throat and the offender deserves the punishment of death. The only question is to the identity of the criminal.
The responsibility is upon the people of Georgia to protect the lives of her citizens and to maintain the dignity of her laws, and if the choice must be made between the approbation of citizens of other states and the enforcement of our laws against offenders, whether powerful or weak, we must choose the latter alternative.
MOBS
It is charged that the court and jury were terrorized by a mob and the jury were coerced into their verdict.
I expect to present the facts in this case with absolute fairness and to state conditions with regard only to the truth.
When Frank was indicted and the air was filled with rumors as to the murder and mutilation of the dead girl, there was intense feeling and to such extent that my predecessor, Governor Brown, stated in argument before me that he had the military ready to protect the defendant in the event any attack was made. No such attack was made and from the evidence that he obtained none was contemplated.
Some weeks after this, the defendant was put on trial. Georgia probably has the broadest provisions for change of venue in criminal cases that exist in any state. Our law permits the judge to change the venue on his own motion, in the event he thinks a fair trial cannot be given in any county. The defendant can move for a change of venue on the same ground, and if it be refused, the refusal of the judge is subject to an immediate appeal to the Supreme Court, and in fact, the entire genius of our law demands a fair trial absolutely free from external influence.
Frank went to trial without asking a change of venue and submitted his case to a jury that was acceptable to him. He was ably represented by counsel of conspicuous ability and experience.
During the progress of the case, after evidence had been introduced laying the crime with many offensive details upon Frank, the feeling against him became intense. He was the general superintendent of the factory and Mary Phagan was a poor working girl. He was a Cornell graduate and she dependent for her livelihood upon her labor. According to a witness, whose testimony will subsequently be related more completely, when this girl came to get her small pay, since she only worked one day in the week, because of lack of material, this general superintendent solicited her to yield to his importunities and on her refusal slew her.
The relation of these facts anywhere and in any community would excite unbounded condemnation.
If the audience in the courtroom manifested their deep resentment to Frank, it was largely by this evidence of feeling beyond the power of a court to correct. It would be difficult anywhere for an appellate court, or even a trial court, to grant a new case which occupied thirty days, because the audience in the courtroom upon a few occasions indicated their sympathies. However, the deep feeling against Frank which developed in the progress of the evidence was in the atmosphere and regardless of the commission of those acts of which the court would take cognizance, the feeling of the public was strong.
Since Governor Brown has related secret history in his public argument before me, I may state that Friday night before the verdict was expected Saturday, I had the sheriff call at the Mansion and inquire whether he anticipated trouble. This was after many people had told me of possible danger and an editor of a leading newspaper indicated his anticipation of trouble. The sheriff stated he thought his deputies could avert any difficulty. Judge Roan telephoned me that he had arranged for the defendant to be absent when the verdict was rendered. Like Governor Brown, I entered into communication with the Colonel of the Fifth Regiment, who stated he would be ready if there were necessity.
I was leaving on Saturday, the day the verdict was expected, for Colorado Springs to attend the Congress of Governors, and did not wish to be absent if my presence was necessary. I have now the original order prepared by me at the time, in the event there were a necessity for it. I became convinced there would be slight change for any use of force and therefore filled my engagement in Colorado.
Judge Roan, in the exercise of precaution, re-quested that both counsel and defendant be absent when the verdict was rendered, in order to avoid any possible demonstration in the event of acquittal.
The jury found the defendant guilty and, with the exception of demonstration outside the court room, there was no disorder.
Hence, it will be seen that nothing was done which courts of any state could correct through legal machinery. A court must have something more than an atmosphere with which to deal, and especially when that atmosphere has been created through the process of evidence in disclosing a horrible crime.
Our Supreme Court, after carefully considering the evidence as to demonstrations made by spectators, declared them without merit, and in this regard the orderly process of our tribunal are not subject to criticism.
RACIAL PREJUDICE
The charge against the State of Georgia of racial prejudice is unfair. A conspicuous Jewish family in Georgia is descended from one of the original Colonial families of the state. Jews have been presidents of our Boards of Education, principals of our schools, mayors of our cities, and conspicuous in all our commercial enterprises.
THE FACTS IN THE CASE
Many newspapers and nonresidents have declared that Frank was convicted without any evidence to sustain the verdict. In large measure, those giving expression to this utterance have not read the evidence and are not acquainted with the facts. The same may be said regarding many of those who are demanding his execution.
In my judgment, no one has a right to an opinion who is not acquainted with the evidence in the case, and it must be conceded that the jury who saw the witnesses and beheld their demeanor upon the stand are in the best position as a general rule to reach the truth.
I cannot, within the short time given me to decide the case, enter into the details outlined in thousands of pages of testimony. I will present the more salient features, and have a right to ask that all persons who are interested in the determination of the matter, shall read calmly and dispassionately the facts.
THE STATE'S CASE
The state proved that Leo M. Frank, the general superintendent of the factory, was in his office a little after 12:00 o'clock on the 26th day of April, 1913, and he admitted having paid Mary Phagan $1.20, being the wages due her for one day's work. She asked Frank whether the metal had come, in order to know when she could return for work. Frank admits this and so far as is known, he was the last one who saw her alive. At three o'clock the next morning (Sunday), Newt Lee, the night watchman, found in the basement the body of Mary Phagan strangled to death by a cord of a kind kept generally in the Metal Room, which is on Frank's floor. She had a cloth tied around her head which was torn from her underskirt. Her drawers were either ripped or cut and some blood and urine were upon them. Her eye was very black, indicating a blow, and there was a cut two and one-half inches in length about four inches above the ear and to the left thereof, which extended through the scalp to the skull. The County Physician who examined her on Sunday morning declared there was no violence to the parts and the blood was characteristic of *menstrual flow *[The autopsy report May 5, 1913; the Brief of Evidence 1913, Newspaper accounts show that Mary Phagan’s blood was not her menses and she was raped/sexually assaulted.] There were no external signs of rape. The body was not mutilated, the wounds thereon being on the head and scratches on the elbow, and a wound about two inches below the knee.
The State showed that Mary Phagan had eaten her dinner of bread and cabbage at 11:30 and had caught the car to go to the pencil factory which would enable her to arrive at the factory within the neighborhood of about thirty minutes. The element of exact time will be discussed later.
Dr. Harris, the Secretary of the State Board of Health, and an expert in this line, examined the contents of Mary Phagan's stomach ten days after her burial and found, from the state of digestion of the cabbage and bread, that she must have been killed within about thirty minutes after she had eaten the meal.
Newt Lee, the Negro night watchman, testified that Frank had "told me to be back at the factory at four o'clock Saturday afternoon," and when he "came upstairs to report, Frank, rubbing his hands," met Newt Lee and told him to "go out and have a good time until six o'clock," although Lee said he would prefer to lie down and sleep. When Lee returned, Frank changed the slip in the time clock, manifesting nervousness and taking a longer time than usual. When Frank walked out of the front door of the factory, he met a man named Gantt, whom he had discharged a short time before. Frank looked frightened, his explanation that he anticipated harm. Gantt declared he wished to go upstairs and get two pairs of shoes, which permission Frank finally granted, stating that he thought they had been swept out.
About an hour after this occurrence, Frank called up Lee over the telephone, a thing he had never done before, and asked him if everything was all right at the factory. Lee found the double inner doors locked, which he had never found that way before. Subsequently, when Lee was arrested and Frank was requested by the detectives to go in and talk to him in order to find what he knew, Lee says that Frank dropped his head and stated, "If you keep that up, we will both go to hell."
On Sunday morning at about three o'clock, after Newt Lee, the night watchman, had telephoned the police station of the discovery of the dead body and the officers had come up to the factory, they endeavored to reach Frank by telephone, but could not get a response. They telephoned at seven o'clock Sunday morning and told Frank that they wanted him to come down to the factory, and when they came for him, he was very nervous and trembled. The body at that time had been taken to the undertakers, and according to the evidence of the officers who took Frank by the undertaker's establishment to identify the girl, he (Frank) showed a disinclination to look at the body and did not go into the room where it lay, but turned away at the door.
Frank had made an engagement on Friday to go to the baseball game on Saturday afternoon with his brother-in-law, but broke the engagement, as he said in his statement, because of the financial statement he had to make up, while before the Coroner's Jury, he said he broke the engagement because of threatening weather.
The contention of the State, as will hereafter be disclosed, was that Frank remained at the factory Saturday afternoon to dispose of the body of Mary Phagan, and that that was the reason he gave Newt Lee his unusual leave of absence.
The cook's husband testified that on Saturday, the day of the murder, he visited his wife at the home of Mr. Selig, the defendant's father-in-law, where Frank and his wife were living, and that Frank came in to dinner and ate nothing. The Negro cook of the Seligs was placed upon the stand and denied that her husband was in the kitchen at all on that day. For purposes of impeachment, therefore, the State introduced an affidavit from this cook taken by the detectives, and, as she claimed, under duress, which tended to substantiate the story of her husband and which affidavit declared that on Sunday morning after the murder, she heard Mrs. Frank tell her mother that Mr. Frank was drinking the night before and made her sleep on a rug and called for a pistol to shoot himself, because he (Frank) had murdered a girl. This affidavit was relevant for purposes of impeachment, although, of course, it had no legal probative value as to the facts contained therein. On the stand, the cook declared that she was coerced by her husband and detectives under threat of being locked up unless she gave it, and it was made at the Station House. The State proved it was given in the presence of her lawyer and said that her denial of the truth of the affidavit was because her wages had been increased by the parents of Mrs. Frank. No details are given as to where the conversation occurred between Mrs. Frank and her mother, nor is there any explanation as to how she happened to hear the conversation. It will be easily seen that the effect of the affidavit upon the jury might be great.
It is hard to conceive that any man's power of fabrication of minute details could reach that which [Jim] Conley showed, unless it be the truth.
The evidence introduced tended to show that on Sunday morning Frank took out of the time clock the slip which he had admitted at that time was punched for each half hour, and subsequently Frank claimed that some punches had been missed. The suggestion was that he had either manipulated the slip to place the burden on Lee, or was so excited as to be unable to read the slip correctly.
The State introduced a witness, Monteen Stover, to prove at the time when Mary Phagan and Frank were in the Metal Room, she was in Frank's office and he was absent, although he had declared he had not left his office. The State showed that the hair of Mary Phagan had been washed by the undertaker with pine tar soap, which would change its color and thereby interfere with the ability of the doctor to tell the similarity between the hair on the lathe and Mary Phagan's hair.
The State further showed that a cord of the character which strangled Mary Phagan was found in quantities on the Metal Room floor, and was found in less quantities and then cut up in the basement. As to this, Detective Starnes testified: "I saw a cord like that in the basement, but it was cut up in pieces. I saw a good many cords like that all over the factory."
Holloway testified: "These cords are all over the building and in the basement."
Darley testified to the same effect.
However, this contradicts the testimony that was presented to the jury for the solution.
The State claimed to the jury that witnesses for the defendant, under the suggestion of counsel in open court, would change their testimony so that it might not operate against the defendant.
I have not enumerated all the suspicious circumstances urged by the State, but have mentioned what have appeared to me the most prominent ones. Where I have not mentioned the more prominent ones, an inspection of record fails to maintain the contention.
It is contended that a lawyer was engaged for Frank at the Station House before he was arrested. This is replied to by the defense that a friend had engaged counsel without Frank's knowledge, and the lawyer advised Frank to make a full statement to the detectives.
JIM CONLEY
The most startling and spectacular evidence in the case was that given by a Negro, Jim Conley, a man of twenty-seven years of age, and one who frequently had been in the chain gang. Conley had worked at the factory for about two years and was thoroughly acquainted with it. He had worked in the basement about two months and had run the elevator about a year and a half.
On May 1st [1913] he was arrested by the detectives.
Near the body in the basement had been found two notes, one written on brown paper and the other on a leaf of a scratch pad. That written on white paper in a Negro's handwriting showed the following:
"He said he wood love me and land doun play like night witch did it but that long tall black negro did buy hisslef." On the brown paper, which was the carbon sheet of an order headed "Atlanta, Ga.——, 190——," which hereafter becomes important, was written in a Negro's handwriting the following:
"Mam that negro hire doun here did this i went to make water and he push me doun that hole a long tall negro black that hoo it was long sleam tall negro i wright while play with me."
The detectives learned about the middle of May that Conley could write, although at first he denied it. He made one statement and three affidavits which are more fully referred to in stating the defendant's case. The affidavits were introduced by the defendant under notice to produce.
By these affidavits there was admitted the substance of the evidence that he delivered on the stand, which in brief was as follows:
Conley claimed that he was asked by Frank to come to the factory on Saturday and watch for him, as he previously had done, which he explained meant that Frank expected to meet some woman and when Frank stamped his foot Conley was to lock the door leading into the factory and when he whistled, he was to open it.
Conley occupied a dark place to the side of the elevator behind some boxes, where he would be invisible.
Conley mentioned several people, including male and female employees, who went up the steps to the second floor where Frank's office was located. He said that Mary Phagan went up the stairs and he heard a scream and then he dozed off. In a few minutes Frank stamped and then Conley unlocked the door and went up the steps. Frank was shivering and trembling and told Conley "I wanted to be with the little girl and she refused me and I struck her and I guess I struck her too hard and she fell and hit her head against something, and I do not know how bad she got hurt. Of course, you know I ain't built like other men."
Conley described Frank as having been in a position which Conley thought indicated perversion, but the facts set out by Conley do not demand such conclusion.
Conley says that he found Mary Phagan lying in the Metal Room some two hundred feet from the office, with a cloth tied about her neck and under the head as though to catch blood, although there was no blood at the place.
Frank told Conley to get a piece of cloth and put the body in it and Conley got a piece of striped bed tick and tied up the body in it and brought it to a place a little way from the dressing room and dropped it and then called on Frank for assistance in carrying it. Frank went to his office and got a key and unlocked the switchboard in order to operate the elevator, and he and Conley rolled the body off the cloth. Frank returned to the first floor by the ladder, while Conley went by the elevator and Frank on the first floor got into the elevator and went to the second floor on which the office is located. They went back into Frank's private office and just at that time Frank said, "My God, here is Emma Clark and Corinthia Hall," and Frank then put Conley into the wardrobe. After they left Frank let Conley out and asked Conley if he could write, to which Conley gave an affirmative reply. Frank then dictated the letters heretofore referred to. Frank took out of his desk a roll of green-backs and told him, "Here is two hundred dollars," but after a while requested the money back and got it.
One witness testified she saw some Negro, whom she did not recognize, sitting at the side of the elevator in the gloom. On the extraordinary motion for new trial, a woman, who was unimpeached, made affidavit that on the 31st of May, through the newspaper report, she saw that Conley claimed he met Frank by agreement at the corner of Forsyth and Nelson Streets on the 26th of April, 1913, and she became satisfied that she saw the two in close conversation at that place on that date between ten o'clock and eleven o'clock.
Frank put his character in issue and the State introduced ten witnesses attacking Frank's character, some of whom were factory employees, who testified that Frank's reputation for lasciviousness was bad and some told that he had been seen making advances to Mary Phagan, whom Frank had professed to the detectives either not to have known, or to have been slightly acquainted with. Other witnesses testified that Frank had improperly gone into the dressing room of the girls. Some witnesses who answered on direct examination that Frank's reputation for lasciviousness was bad, were not cross-examined as to details, and this was made the subject of comment before the jury.
The above states very briefly the gist of the State's case, omitting many incidents which the State claims would confirm Frank's guilt when taken in their entirety.
DEFENSE
The defendant introduced approximately one hundred witnesses as to his good character. They included citizens of Atlanta, collegemates at Cornell, and professors of that college.
The defendant was born in Texas and his education was completed at the institution named.
The admission of Conley that he wrote the notes found at the body of the dead girl, together with the parts he admitted he played in the transaction, combined with his history and his explanation as to both the writing of the notes and the removal of the body to the basement, make the entire case revolve around him. Did Conley speak the truth?
Before going into the varying and conflicting affidavits made by Conley, it is advisable to refer to some incidents which cannot be reconciled to Conley's story. Wherever a physical fact is stated by Conley, which is admitted, this can be accepted, but under both rules of law and of common sense, his statements cannot be received, excepting where clearly corroborated. He admits not only his participation as an accessory, but also glibly confesses his own infamy.
One fact in the case, and that of most important force in arriving at the truth, contradicts Conley's testimony. It is disagreeable to refer to it, but delicacy must yield to necessity when human life is at stake.
The mystery in the case is the question as to how Mary Phagan's body got into the basement. It was found one hundred and thirty-six feet away from the elevator and the face gave evidence of being dragged through dirt and cinders. She had dirt in her eyes and mouth. Conley testified that he and Frank took the body down to the basement in the elevator on the afternoon of April 26, 1913, and leaves for inference that Frank removed the one hundred and thirty-six feet toward the end of the building, where the body was found at a spot near the back door which led out towards the street in the rear. Conley swears he did not return to the basement, but went back up in the elevator, while Frank went back on the ladder, constituting the only two methods of ingress and egress to the basement, excepting through the back door. This was between one and two o'clock on the afternoon of April 26th.
Conley testified that on the morning of April 26th, he went down into the basement to relieve his bowels and utilized the elevator shaft for the purpose. On the morning of April 27th at three o'clock, when the detectives came down into the basement by way of the ladder, they inspected the premises, including the shaft, and they found there human excrement in natural condition.
Subsequently, when they used the elevator, which everybody, including Conley, who had run the elevator for one and one-half years, admits only stops by hitting the ground in the basement, the elevator struck the excrement and mashed it, thus demonstrating that the elevator had not been used since Conley had been there. Solicitor-General Dorsey, Mr. Howard, and myself visited the pencil factory and went down on this elevator and we found it hit the bottom. I went again with my secretary with the same result.
Frank is delicate in physique, while Conley is strong and powerful. Conley's place for watching, as described by himself, was in the gloom a few feet from the hatchway, leading by way of ladder to the basement. Also he was [with]in a few feet of the elevator shaft on the first floor. Conley's action in the elevator shaft was in accordance with his testimony that he made water twice against the door of the elevator shaft on the morning of the 26th, instead of doing so in the gloom of his corner behind the boxes where he kept watch.
Mary Phagan in coming downstairs was compelled to pass within a few feet of Conley, who was invisible to her and [with]in a few feet of the hatch-way. Frank could not have carried her down the hatchway. Conley might have done so with difficulty. If the elevator shaft was not used by Conley and Frank in taking the body to the basement, then the explanation of Conley, who admittedly wrote the notes found by the body, cannot be accepted.
In addition there was found in the elevator shaft at three o'clock Sunday morning, the parasol, which was unhurt, and a ball of cord which had not been mashed.
Conley in his affidavits before the detectives testified he wrapped up the body in a crocus sack at the suggestion of Frank, but in the trial he testified he wrapped up the body in a piece of bed-tick "like the shirt of the Solicitor General." The only reason for such a change of testimony, unless it be the truth, was that a crocus sack, unless split open, would be too small for that purpose. If he split open the crocus sack with a knife, this would suggest the use of a knife in cutting the drawers of the girl.
So the question arises, whether there was any bed-tick in the pencil factory, and no reason can be offered why bed-tick should be in the pencil factory. It has no function there. Had such unusual cloth been in the factory, it certainly must have been known, but nobody has ever found it.
Conley says that after the deed was committed, which everybody admits could not have been before 12:05, Frank suddenly said: "Here comes Emma Clark and Corinthia Hall," and put Conley in a wardrobe.
The uncontradicted evidence of these two witnesses, and they are unimpeached, was they reached the factory at 11:35 a.m. and left it at 11:45 a.m., and therefore this statement of Conley can hardly be accepted.
Conley says that when they got the body to the bottom of the elevator in the basement, Frank told him to leave the hat, slipper, and piece of ribbon right there but he'd "taken the things and pitched them over in front of the boiler" which was fifty-seven feet away.
Conley says that Frank told him when he watched for him to lock the door when he (Frank) stamped and to open the door when he whistled. In other words, Frank had made the approach to the girl and had killed her before he had signaled Conley to lock the door.
Conley says, "I was upstairs between the time I locked the door and the time I unlocked it. I unlocked the door before I went upstairs." This explanation is not clear, nor is it easy to comprehend the use of the signals which totally failed their purpose.
It is curious during the course of the story that while Frank explained to Conley about striking the girl when she refused him and Conley found the girl strangled with a cord, he did not ask Frank anything about the use of the cord, and that subject was not mentioned.
The wound on Mary Phagan was near the top of the head and reached the skull. Wounds of that character bleed freely. At the place Conley says he found blood, there was no blood. Conley says there was a cloth tied around the head as though to catch the blood, but none was found there.
One Barrett says that on Monday morning he found six or seven strands of hair on the lathe with which he worked and which were not there on Friday. The implication is that it was Mary Phagan's hair and that she received a cut by having her head struck at this place. It is admitted that no blood was found there. The lathe is about three and one-half feet high and Mary Phagan is described as being chunky in build. A blow which would have forced her with sufficient violence against the smooth handle of the lathe to have produced the wound must have been a powerful one since the difference between her height and that of the lathe could not have accounted for it. It was strange, therefore, that there was a total absence of blood and that Frank, who was delicate could have hit a blow of such violence.
Some of the witnesses for the State testified the hair was like that of Mary Phagan, although Dr. Harris compared Mary Phagan's hair with that on the lathe under a microscope and was under the impression it was not Mary Phagan's hair. This will be the subject of further comment.
Barrett and others said they thought they saw blood near the dressing room, at which place Conley said he dragged the body.
Chief of Police Beavers said he did not know whether it was blood.
Detective Starnes said, "I do not know that the splotches I saw were blood." Detective Scott says: "We went to the Metal Room where I was shown some spots supposed to be blood spots."
A part of what they thought to be blood was chipped up in four or five chips and Dr. Claude Smith testified that on one of the chips he found, under a microscope, from three to five blood corpuscles, a half drop would have caused it.
Frank says that the part of the splotch that was left after the chips were taken up was examined by him with an electric flash lamp, and it was not blood.
Barrett, who worked on the Metal floor, and who several witnesses declare claimed a reward because he discovered the hair and blood, said the splotch was not there on Friday, and some witnesses sustained him.
There was testimony that there were frequent injuries at the factory and blood was not infrequent in the neighborhood of the ladies' dressing room. There was no blood in the elevator.
Dr. Smith, the City Bacteriologist, said that the presence of blood corpuscles could be told for months after the blood had dried. All of this bore upon the question as to whether the murder took place in the Metal Room, which is on the same floor of Frank's office. Excepting near the Metal Room at the place mentioned where the splotches varied, according to Chief Beavers' testimony, from the size of a quarter to the size of a palm leaf fan, there was no blood whatever. It is to be remarked that a white substance called haskoline used about the factory was found spread over the splotches.
CONLEY'S AFFIDAVITS
The defense procured under notice one statement and three affidavits taken by the detectives from Conley and introduced them in evidence.
The first statement, dated May 18, 1913, gives a minute detail of his actions on the 26th day of April and specifies the saloons he visited and the whiskey and beer he bought, and minutely itemizes the denomination of the money he had and what he spent for beer, whiskey, and pan sausage. This comprehends the whole of Affidavit #1.
On May 24, 1913, he made for the detectives an affidavit in which he says that on Friday before the Saturday on which the murder was committed, Frank asked him if he could write. This would appear strange, because Frank well knew he could write, and had so known for months, but according to Conley's affidavit Frank dictated to him practically the contents of one of the notes found by the body of Mary Phagan. Frank, then, according to Conley's statement, took a brown scratch pad and wrote on that himself, and then gave him a box of cigarettes in which was some money and Frank said to him that he had some wealthy relatives in Brooklyn, and "Why should I hang?"
This would have made Frank guilty of the contemplated murder on Friday which was consummated Saturday and which was so unreasonable, it could not be accepted.
On May 28, 1913, Conley made for the detectives another affidavit, which he denominates as "second and last statement." In that he states that on Saturday morning after leaving home he bought two beers for himself and then went to a saloon and won ninety cents with dice, where he bought two more beers and a half pint of whiskey, some of which he drank, and he met Frank at the corner of Forsyth and Nelson Streets and Frank asked him to wait until he returned.
Conley went over to the factory and mentioned various people whom he saw from his place of espionage going up the stairs to Mr. Frank's office. Then Frank whistled to him and he came upstairs and Frank was trembling and he and Frank went into the private office when Frank exclaimed that Miss Emma Clark and Corinthia Hall were coming and concealed Conley in the wardrobe. Conley said that he stayed in the wardrobe a pretty good while, for the whiskey and beer had gotten him to sweating. Then Frank asked him if he could write and Frank made him write at his dictation three times and Frank told him he was going to take the note and send it in a letter to his people and recommend Conley to them. Frank said, "Why should I hang?"
Frank took a cigarette from a box and gave the box to Conley, and when Conley got across the street, he found it had two paper dollars and two silver quarters in it, and Conley said, "Good luck has done struck me." At the Beer Saloon he bought one-half pint of whiskey and then got a bucket and bought fifteen cents' worth of beer, ten cents' worth of stove wood, and a nickel's worth of pan sausage and gave his old woman $3.50. He did not leave home until about twelve o'clock Sunday. On Tuesday morning Frank came upstairs and told him to be a good boy. On Wednesday Conley washed his shirt at the factory and hung it on the steam pipe to dry, occasioning a little rust to get on it. The detectives took the shirt and, finding no blood on it, returned it.
On the 29th of May, 1913, Conley made another affidavit, in which he said that Frank told him that he had picked up a girl and let her fall and Conley hollered to him that the girl was dead, and Frank told him to go to the cotton bag and get a piece of cloth, and he got a big wide piece of cloth and took her on his right shoulder, when she got too heavy for him and she slipped off when he got to the dressing room. He called Frank to help and Frank got a key to the elevator and the two carried the body downstairs and Frank told him to take the body back to the sawdust pile, and Conley says he picked the girl up and put her on his shoulder, while Frank went back up the ladder.
It will be observed that the testimony and the appearance of the girl indicated that she was dragged through the cinders and debris on the floor of the basement, yet Conley says he took her on his shoulder.
The affidavit further states that Conley took the cloth from around her and took her hat and slipper, which he had picked up upstairs, right where her body was lying, and brought them down and untied the cloth and brought them back and "throwed them on the trash pile in front of the furnace." This was the time that Conley says Frank made the exclamation about Emma Clark and Corinthia Hall.
An important feature in this affidavit is as follows:
Conley states in it that Mr. Frank said: "Here is two hundred dollars," and Frank handed the money to him.
All of the affidavit down to this point is in typewriting; the original was exhibited to me. At the end of the affidavit in handwriting is written the following: "While I was looking at the money in my hands, Mr. Frank said, 'Let me have that and I will make it all right with you Monday, if I live and nothing happens,' and he took the money back and I asked him if that was the way he done, and he said he would give it back Monday."
It will be noticed that the first question which would arise would be, what became of the two hundred dollars? This could not be accounted for. Therefore, when that query presumably was propounded to Conley, the only explanation was that Frank demanded it back.
The detectives had Conley for two or three hours on May 18th trying to obtain a confession; and he denied he had seen the girl on the day of the murder. The detectives questioned him closely for three hours on May 25th, when he repeated this story. On May 27th, they talked to him about five or six hours in Chief Lanford's office.
Detective Scott, who was introduced by the State, testified regarding Conley's statement and affidavits as follows:
"We tried to impress him with the fact that Frank would not have written those notes on Friday, that that was not a reasonable story. That it showed premeditation and that would not do. We pointed out to him why the first statement would not fit. We told him we wanted another statement. He declined to make another statement. He said he told the truth.
"On May 28th, Chief Lanford and I grilled him for five or six hours again, endeavoring to make clear several points which were farfetched in his statement. We pointed out to him that his statement would not do and would not fit, and he then made the statement of May 28th, after he had been told that his previous statement showed deliberation and could not be accepted. He told us nothing about Frank making an engagement to stamp and for him to lock the door, and told nothing about Monteen Stover. He did not tell us about seeing Mary Phagan. He said he did not see her. He did not say he saw Quinn. Conley was a rather dirty Negro when I first saw him. He looked pretty good when he testified here.
"On May 29th, we talked with Conley almost all day. We pointed out things in his story that were improbable and told him he must do better than that. Anything in his story that looked to be out of place, we told him would not do. We tried to get him to tell about the little mesh bag. We tried pretty strong. He always denied ever having seen it. He denied knowing anything about the matter down in the basement in the elevator shaft. He never said he went down there himself between the time he came to the factory and went to Montag's. He never said anything about Mr. Frank having hit her, or having hit her too hard, or about tiptoes from the Metal Department. He said there was no thought of burning the body.
"On May 18th we undertook in Chief Lanford's office to convince him he could write, and we under-stood he said he could not write and we knew he could. We convinced him that we knew he could write and then he wrote."
In his evidence before the jury in the redirect examination, Conley thought it necessary to account for the mesh bag, and for the first time, said that "Mary Phagan's mesh bag was lying on Mr. Frank's desk and Mr. Frank put it in the safe." This is the first mention of the bag.
The first suggestion that was made of Frank being a pervert was in Conley's testimony. On the stand, he declared Frank said, "He was not built like other men."
There is no proof in the record of Frank being a pervert. The situation in which Conley places him and upon Conley's testimony must that charge rest, does not prove the charge of perversion if Conley's testimony be true.
On argument before me, asked what motive Conley would have to make such a suggestion and the only reason given was that someone may have made him the suggestion because Jews were circumcised.
Conley in his evidence shows himself amenable to a suggestion. He says, "If you tell a story, you know you have got to change it. A lie won't work and you know you have got to tell the whole truth."
Conley, in explaining why his affidavits varied, said: "The reason why I told that story was I do not want to know that these other people passed by me for they might accuse me. I do not want people to think that I was the one that done the murder."
AUTHOR OF THE NOTES
Conley admits he wrote the notes found by the body of Mary Phagan. Did Frank dictate them? Conley swears he did. The State says that the use of the word "did" instead of "done" indicates a white man's dictation. Conley admits the spelling was his. The words are repeated and are simple, which characterizes Conley's letters. In Conley's testimony, you will find frequently that he uses the word "did" and according to calculation submitted to me, he used the word "did" over fifty times during the trial.
While Conley was in jail charged with being an accessory, there was also incarcerated in the jail a woman named Annie Maud Carter, whom Conley had met at the courthouse. She did work in the jail and formed an acquaintance of Conley, who wrote to her many lengthy letters. These letters are the most obscene and lecherous I have ever read. In these letters, the word "did" is frequently employed. It will be observed that in Conley's testimony, he uses frequently the word "Negro," and in the Annie Maude Carter notes, he says: "I have a Negro watching you."
The *Annie Maud Carter notes, which were powerful evidence in behalf of the defendant, and which tended strongly to show that Conley was the real author of the murder notes, were not before the jury. The word "like" is used in the Mary Phagan notes, and one will find it frequently employed in Conley's testimony. The word "play" in the Mary Phagan notes, with an obscene significance, is similarly employed in the Annie Maud Carter notes. The same is true as to the words "lay" and "love."
In Conley's testimony, he used the words "make water" just as they are used in the Mary Phagan notes.
In Conley's testimony he says the word "hisself" constantly.
It is urged by the lawyers for the defense that Conley's characteristic was to use double adjectives.
In the Mary Phagan notes, he said "long tall negro, black," "long slim, tall negro."
In his testimony Conley used expressions of this sort. "He was a tall, slim build heavy man." "A good long side piece of cord in his hands."
Conley says that he wrote four notes, although only two were found. These notes have in them one hundred twenty-eight words, and Conley swears he wrote them in two and one-half minutes. Detective Scott swore he dictated eight words to Conley and it took him about six minutes to write them.
The statement is made by Frank, and that statement is consistent with the evidence in the record, that the information that Conley could write came from Frank when he was informed that Conley claimed he could not write. Frank says he did not disclose this before, because he was not aware Conley had been at the factory on the 26th of April, and therefore the materiality of ether Conley could write any more than any other Negro employee, had not been suggested to him. Frank says that he gave the information that Conley had signed receipts with certain jewelers, with whom Conley had dealings.
WHERE WERE THE NOTES WRITTEN
At the time of the trial, it was not observed that the Death Note written on brown paper was an order blank, with the date line "Atlanta, Ga.——, 190——." Subsequently, the paper was put under a magnifying glass and in blue pencil, it was found that one Becker's name was written there. He had been employed at the factory on the fourth floor. Investigation was made and Becker testified that he worked for the pencil factory from 1908 until 1912, and the order blank was #1018. During that entire time, he signed orders for goods and supplies. The brown paper on which the Death Note was written bears his signature, and at the time he left Atlanta in 1912, the entire supply of blanks containing the figures 190——, had been exhausted, and the blanks containing the figures 191——, had already been put in use. Becker makes affidavit that before leaving Atlanta, he personally packed up all of the duplicate orders which had been filled and performed their functions, and sent them down to the basement to be burned. Whether the order was carried out, he did not know.
In reply to this evidence, the State introduced on the extraordinary motion, the testimony of Philip Chambers, who swears that unused order blanks entitled "Atlanta, Ga. ——, 191——," were in the office next to Frank's office and that he had been in the basement of the factory and found no books or papers left down there for any length of time, but some were always burned up.
This evidence was never passed upon by the jury and developed since the trial. It was strongly corroborative of the theory of the defense that the Death Notes were written, not in Frank's office, but in the basement, and especially in view of the evidence of Police Sergeant Dobbs, who visited the scene of the crime on Sunday morning, as follows:
"This scratch pad was also lying on the ground close to the body. The scratch pad was lying near the notes. They were all right close together. There was a pile of trash near the boiler where this hat was found, and paper and pencils were down there, too."
Police Officer Anderson testified: "There are plenty of pencils and trash in the basement."
Darley testified: "I have seen all kinds of paper down in the basement. The paper that note is written on is a blank order pad. That kind of paper is likely to be found all over the building for this reason, they write an order and sometimes fail to get a carbon under it, and at other times, they change the order and it gets into the trash. That kind of pad is used all over the factory."
Over the boiler is a gas jet.
Another feature which was not known at the trial and which was not presented to the jury, but came up by extraordinary motion, was regarding the hair alleged to have been found by Barrett on the lathe. The evidence on the trial of some of the witnesses was that the hair looked like that of Mary Phagan. It was not brought out at the trial that Dr. Harris had examined the hair under the microscope and by taking sections of it and comparing it with Mary Phagan's hair, thought that on the lathe was not Mary Phagan's hair, although he said he could not be certain of it. This, however, would have been the highest and best evidence.
The evidence as to the probability of the blank on which the death note was written being in the basement, and the evidence as to the hair, would have tended to show that the murder was not committed on the floor on which Frank's office was located.
THE TIME QUESTION
The State contended that Mary Phagan came to the office of Leo M. Frank to get her pay at some time between 12:05 and 12:10 and that Frank had declared that he was in his office the whole time.
It is true that at the coroner's inquest held on Thursday after the murder, he said he might have gone back to the toilet, but did not remember it. However, in some of his testimony, Frank said he had remained the whole time in his office. Monteen Stover swears that she came into Frank's office at 12:05 and remained until 12:10, and did not see Frank or anybody. She is unimpeached, and the only way to reconcile her evidence would be that she entered Frank's office, as she states, for the first time in her life, and did not go into the inner room, where Frank claimed to have been at work. If Frank were to work at his desk, he could not be seen from the outer room. Monteen Stover said she wore tennis shoes and her steps may not have attracted him.
However, the pertinency of Monteen Stover's testimony is that Mary Phagan had to come to get her pay and Frank had gone with her back to the Metal Room and was in process of killing her while Monteen Stover was in his office, and this was at a time when he had declared he was in his office.
The evidence loses its pertinency if Mary Phagan had not arrived at the time Monteen Stover came. What is the evidence?
The evidence, uncontradicted, discloses that Mary Phagan ate her dinner at 11:30, and the evidence of the streetcar men was that she caught the 11:50 car, which was due at the corner of Forsyth and Marietta Streets at 12:07 and one-half. The distance from this place to the pencil factory is about one-fifth of a mile. It required from four to six minutes to walk to the factory, and especially would the time be enlarged, because of the crowds on the streets on Memorial Day.
While the streetcar men swear the car was on time, and while George Epps, a witness for the State, who rode with Mary Phagan, swears he left her about 12:07 at the corner of Forsyth and Marietta Streets, there is some evidence to the effect that the car arrived according to custom, but might have arrived two to three minutes before schedule time. If so, the distance would have placed Mary Phagan at the pencil factory sometime between 12:05 and 12:10. Monteen Stover looked at the clock and says she entered at 12:05. A suggestion is made that the time clocks, which were punched by the employees, might have been fast. This proposition was met by W. W. Rogers, who accompanied the detectives to the scene of the murder on Sunday morning, and who testified, "I know that both clocks were running, and I noticed both of them had the exact time." Therefore, Monteen Stover must have arrived before Mary Phagan, and while Monteen Stover was in the room, it hardly seems possible under the evidence, that Mary Phagan was at that time being murdered.
Lemmie Quinn testifies that he reached Frank's office about 12:20 and saw Mr. Frank. At 12:30, Mrs. J. A. White called to see her husband at the factory where he was working on the fourth floor, and left again before one o'clock.
At 12:50, according to Denham, Frank came up to the fourth floor and said he wanted to get out. The evidence for the defense tends to show that the time taken for moving the body' according to Conley's description, was so long that it could not have fitted the specific times at which visitors saw Frank. It will be seen that when Mrs. White came up at 12:30, the doors below were unlocked.
Another feature of the evidence is that the back door in the basement was the former means of egress for Conley, when he desired to escape his creditors among the employees. On Sunday morning, April 27th, the staple of this door had been drawn. Detective Starnes found on the door the marks of what he thought were bloody fingerprints, and he chipped off two pieces from the door, which looked like "bloody fingerprints." The evidence does not disclose further investigation as to whether it was blood or not.
The motive of this murder may be either robbery, or robbery and assault, or assault.
There is no suggestion that the motive of Frank would be robbery. The mesh bag was in Mary Phagan's hands and was described by Conley, in his redirect examination, at the trial for the first time. The size of this mesh bag I cannot tell, but since a bloody handkerchief of Mary Phagan's was found by her side, it was urged before me by counsel for the defense, that ladies usually carried their handkerchiefs in their mesh bags.
If the motive was assault, either by natural or perverted means, the physician's evidence, who made the examination, does not disclose its accomplishment. Perversion by none of the suggested means could have occasioned the flood of blood. The doctors testified that excitement might have occasioned it under certain conditions. Under the evidence, which is not set forth in detail, there is every probability that the virtue of Mary Phagan was not lost on the 26th of April. Her mesh bag was lost, and there can be no doubt of this. The evidence shows that Conley was as depraved and lecherous a Negro as ever lived in Georgia. He lay in watch and described the clothes and stockings of the women who went to the factory.
His story necessarily bears the construction that Frank had an engagement with Mary Phagan, which no evidence in the case would justify. If Frank had engaged Conley to watch for him, it could only have been for Mary Phagan, since he had made no improper suggestion to any other female on that day, and it was undisputed that many did come up prior to twelve o'clock, and whom could Frank have been expecting except Mary Phagan under Conley's story? This view cannot be entertained, as an unjustifiable reflection on the young girl.
Why the Negro wrote the notes is a matter open to conjecture. He had been drinking heavily that morning, and it is possible that he undertook to describe the other Negro in the building so that it would avert suspicions.
It may be possible that his version is correct.
The testimony discloses that he was in the habit of allowing men to go into the basement for immoral purposes for a consideration, and when Mary Phagan passed by him close to the hatchway leading into the basement and in the gloom and darkness of the en-trance, he may have attacked her. What is the truth we may never know.
JURY'S VERDICT
The jury which heard-tie evidence and saw the witnesses found the defendant, Leo M. Frank, guilty of murder. They are the ones, under our laws, who are chosen to weigh evidence and to determine its probative value. They may consider the demeanor of the witness upon the stand and in the exercise of common sense will arrive with wonderful accuracy at the truth of the contest.
JUDICIARY
Under our law, the only authority who can review the merits of the case and question the justice of a verdict which has any evidence to support it, is the trial judge. The Supreme Court is limited by the Constitution and the correction of errors of law. The Supreme Court found in the trial no error of law and determined as a matter of law, and correctly in my judgment, that there was sufficient evidence to sustain the verdict.
But under our judicial system, the trial judge is called upon to exercise his wise discretion, and he cannot permit a verdict to stand which he believes to be unjust. A suggestion in the order overruling a motion for a new trial, that the judge was not satisfied with the verdict, would demand a reversal by the Supreme Court.
In this connection Judge Roan declared orally from the bench that he was not certain of the defendant's guilt—that with all the thought he had put on this case, he was not thoroughly convinced whether Frank was guilty, or innocent—but that he did not have to be convinced—that the jury was convinced and that there was no room to doubt that—that he felt it his duty to order that the motion for a new trial be overruled.
This statement was not embodied in the motion overruling new trial.
Under our statute, in cases of conviction of murder on circumstantial evidence, it is within the discretion of the trial judge to sentence the defendant to life imprisonment (Code Section 63).
The conviction of Frank was on circumstantial evidence, as the Solicitor General admits in his writ-ten argument.
Judge Roan, however, misconstrued his power, as evidenced by the following charge to the jury in the case of the State against Frank:
"If you believe beyond a reasonable doubt from the evidence in this case that the defendant is guilty of murder, then, you would be authorized in that event to say, 'We, the jury, find the defendant guilty.' Should you go further, gentlemen, and say nothing else in your verdict, the court would have to sentence the defendant to the extreme penalty of murder, to wit: 'To be hanged by the neck until he is dead.' "
Surely if Judge Roan entertained the extreme doubt indicated by his statement and had remembered the power granted him by the Code, he would have sentenced the defendant to life imprisonment.
In a letter written to counsel he says: "I shall ask the Prison Commission to recommend to the Governor to commute Frank's sentence to life imprisonment. It is possible that I showed undue deference to the jury in this case, when I allowed the verdict to stand. They said by their verdict that they had found the truth. I was in a state of uncertainty, and so expressed myself. After many months of continued deliberation, I am still uncertain of Frank's guilt. This state of uncertainty is largely due by the character of the Conley testimony, by which the verdict was largely reached.
"Therefore, I consider this a case in which the Chief Magistrate of the State should exert every effort in ascertaining the truth. The execution of any person, whose guilt has not been satisfactorily proven, is too horrible to contemplate. I do not believe that a person should meet with the extreme penalty of the law, until the court, jury, and Governor shall have all been satisfied of that person's guilt. Hence, at the present time, I shall express and enlarge upon these views, directly to the Prison Commission and Governor.
"However, if for any cause I am prevented from doing this, you are at liberty to use this letter at the hearing."
It will thus be observed that if commutation is granted, the verdict of the jury is not attacked, but the penalty is imposed for murder, which is provided by the state and which the judge, except for his misconception, would have imposed. Without attacking the jury, or any of the courts, I would be carrying out the will of the judge himself in making the penalty that which he would have made it and which he desires it shall be made.
In the case of Hunter, a white man, charged with assassinating two white women in the City of Savannah, who was found guilty and sentenced to be hung, application was made to me for clemency. Hunter was charged together with a Negro with having committed the offense, and after he was convicted the Negro was acquitted. It was brought out by the statement of the Negro that another Negro who was half-witted committed the crime, but no credence was given to the story, and he was not indicted.
The Judge and Solicitor General refused to recommend clemency, but upon a review of the evidence, and because of the facts and at the instance of the leading citizens of Savannah, who were doubtful of the guilt of the defendant, I commuted the sentence, in order that there should be no possibility of an innocent man being executed. This action has met with the entire approbation of the people of Chatham County.
In the case of John Wright in Fannin County, two men went to the mountain home of a citizen, called him out and shot him and were trampling on his body, when his wife, with a babe in her arms, came out to defend her husband. One of the men struck the babe with his gun and killed it. Wright was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death. Evidence was introduced as to his borrowing a gun. His threats, his escape after the shooting occurred at the time he was an escapee from the Fannin County Jail under indictment for felony.
I refused to interfere unless the Judge, or Solicitor, would recommend interference, which they declined to do. Finally, when on the gallows the Solicitor General recommended a reprieve, which I granted, and finally, on recommendation of the Judge and Solicitor General, as expressed in my Order, I reluctantly commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. The doubt was suggested as to the identity of the criminal and as to the credibility of the testimony of a prejudiced witness. The crime was as heinous as this one and more so. In the Frank case three matters have developed since the trial which did not come before the jury, to wit: the Carter notes, the testimony of Becker, indicating that the death notes were written in the basement, and the testimony of Dr. Harris, that he was under the impression that the hair on the lathe was not that of Mary Phagan, and thus tending to show that the crime was not committed on the floor of Frank's office.
While defense made the subject an extraordinary motion for a new trial, it is well known that it is almost a practical impossibility to have a verdict set aside by this procedure.
The evidence might not have changed the verdict, but it might have caused the jury to render a verdict with the recommendation to mercy.
In any event, the performance of my duty under the Constitution is a matter of my conscience. The responsibility rests where the power is reposed. Judge Roan, with that awful sense of responsibility, which probably came over him as he thought of that Judge before whom he would shortly appear, calls to me from another world to request that I do that which he should have done. I can endure misconstruction, abuse, and condemnation, but I cannot stand the constant companionship of an accusing conscience, which would remind me in every thought that I, as Governor of Georgia, failed to do what I thought to be right. There is a territory "beyond A REASONABLE DOUBT and absolute certainty," for which the law provides in allowing life imprisonment instead of execution. This case has been marked by doubt. The trial judge doubted. Two judges of the Court of Georgia doubted. Two judges of the Supreme Court of the United States doubted. One of the three Prison Commissioners doubted.
In my judgment, by granting a commutation in this case, I am sustaining the jury, the judge, and the appellate tribunals, and at the same time am discharging that duty which is placed on me by the Constitution of the State.
Acting, therefore, in accordance with what I believe to be my duty under the circumstances of this case, it is ORDERED: That the sentence in the case of Leo M. Frank is commuted from the death penalty to imprisonment for life. This 21st day of June, 1915. /s/John M. Slaton Governor
The reaction to the commutation was immediate and vociferous. Mass meetings of indignation were held in Cobb, Fulton, and other counties.
In Marietta a group hanged effigies of both Frank and Slaton in the city park. They put the sign "Our Traitor Governor" on the governor's effigy; he was labelled the "King of the Jews."
The first issue of Tom Watson's Jeffersonian proclaimed: "Our grand old Empire State HAS BEEN RAPED!" and went on in a no less ferocious vein of condemnation and denunciation of John Slaton.
According to Henry Bowden:
Soon after the governor had commuted the sentence a mob formed and marched to the State Capitol seeking the governor ostensibly to do him bodily harm. When they reached the Capitol they gathered in the house of representatives. Judge John J. Hart, brother-in-law of our own Federal Judge Samuel Sibley, tried to talk to them as a pacifist, but they howled him down. It so happened that Slaton was not in his office at the time and the crowd soon broke up and departed.
Still later a mob formed in Atlanta with the idea of marching on the Governor at his home. Governor Slaton did not occupy the Governor's mansion which was then located on the site of the present Henry Grady Hotel, but being a native Atlantan he resided in his own home in which he now lives located at 2962 Peachtree Road, NW. Fearing violence, the governor called out the Governor's guards, part of the state militia. Capt. Stokes was the officer in charge while one of the Lts. in the outfit was Walter W. Foote who is a kinsman of Pollard Turman's wife Laura Troutman and who now lives in Decatur, Georgia at 239 Kings Highway. The troops stationed themselves around the governor's home at a respectable distance. Jefferson Davis McCord, ex-athletic director at Emory University, was a private in the militia stationed there. A dead line was drawn in the street in front of the house. Finally the marching mob reached the line of troops. Lt. Foote got up and tried to make a speech to the mob in an effort to discourage them from carrying out their apparent purpose of doing bodily harm to the governor. He was hit with a beer bottle. One smart aleck in the mob stepped across the dead line and the soldier stationed nearest to that point flattened his nose to his face with the butt of his rifle, but other than that there were no blows struck nor shots fired. During the entire proceedings the Governor was sitting on his porch playing cards with Messrs. Robert F. Maddox, J. K. Orr and John Eagan, his friends. The mob, which numbered about 1000 men, soon saw the situation and dispersed, although the militia remained on guard for about three days.
Slaton insisted on attending Nat E. Harris's inauguration, despite threats on his life. The state floor house booed, hissed, and gave loud catcalls as Slaton handed over the seal of Georgia and commented, "Governor Harris, I know that during my term of Governor this great seal of our state has not been dishonored."
Slaton slipped out of Georgia, unharmed, the following week. He and his wife vacationed in the Adirondacks in New York, then embarked on an odyssey through the country—the Northeast, the Midwest, the far West—which lasted for years. They were, in effect, exiles. Many years went by before it was considered safe for the Slaton's to return to Georgia.
Fannie Phagan Coleman and J.W. Coleman letter to Tom Watson written in theJeffersonian, Page 9; July 15, 1915 regarding Slaton Commutation of Leo Frank
Transcription of Letter:
The Mother and the Stepfather of Mary Phagan Write
To the Hon. Thos. E. Watson:
Dear Sir: As the mother and father of Mary Phagan, our poor daughter, we feel it our duty to write you a letter expressing our sincere thanks for your noble efforts in the publishing in your paper the truth about the Frank case.
While we know our advantages in life have been limited, and we are not wise and foreseeing as some folks, we do know that we are correct in the assertion that the great daily newspapers in Atlanta and elsewhere in the State have deliberately failed and refused to speak out the truth in the Frank case concerning the tragic death of our precious little daughter. These papers, of course, have been controlled by the rich Jews who advertise in their papers, and they have dared not to publish to the world anything that was calculated to fix this crime on Leo M. Frank, where it unquestionably belongs. And in our sorrow we feel that you are the only one that we can turn to for an expression of truth, and we find consolation in the fact that one man, through one paper, has bravely held up for our cause and has exposed the dirty work of deception and perjury, as it has appeared all along in the progress of the case.
We are sorry that our former governor, J. M. Slaton, has seen fit to override the judgement of twelve impartial, honest jurors, the judgments of the courts, both high and low, and also the judgment of the great masses of the people. We feel sorry that he should do this when we take into consideration the fact that for two years after his trial not a scintilla of evidence was brought forward in his defense, although he had numerous men employed to work on the case, and all that they could bring forward was some alleged affidavits, which one of their number swore to be false.
We are sorry to say, but the spirit in our souls compel us to say, that that which could not be done in front of the twelve honest men, nor through the courts all the way to the United States Supreme Court, has been done by the Governor through Jew money and influence.
We are sorry to the that man whom we supported for Governor of Georgia was so weak and so little succumb to these influences, and we pray to God that Georgia shall never have another such man to sit in her executive chair.
It appears to us if Slaton thought the rich Jew, whom his partner represented was innocent, why in the name of God didn't he free him altogether? Why should he only commute his sentence? To our minds there was no middle ground whatsoever. We can't possibly see why a man guilty of so heinous offense should have his sentence mitigated.
We both were in attendance at the trial each day, we heard the evidence, we noticed Frank's attitude and his actions all through the trial, and we know beyond any question of a doubt that Leo M. Frank is the guilty man.
If we had any doubts as to Frank's guilt at any stage during the trial, we would have been the first to so declare. While personally we wanted the murderer of our young daughter punished, we wanted it more so for the fact that if the offender of this heinous crime was brought to sure and swift punishment it would deter others.
We had hoped that by the sure and certain punishment of Frank that no other young Georgia girl, budding into womanhood, would die a horrible death defending her virtue against a rich, depraved, sodomite Jew.
We feel that justice delayed has been justice denied.
We cannot but help feel that the man, be rich or poor, who unquestionably murdered our daughter, while she was defending her virtue and honesty, the principle of which we had been so careful in teaching her from childhood, should pay the death penalty.
We cannot help but believe Slaton, who by his acts as an official, has been a traitor to the people of Georgia, a traitor to law and justice, and a traitor to the womanhood of Georgia.
In conclusion we will say, that while the flowers bloom about the last resting place of our dear, innocent child and we are left to tread the balance of our life the dreary path of sorrow, we must declare our deep feeling of gratitude to you, Mr. Watson, for your brave and patriotic attitude in this case, and it does seem to us that you, along with the fearless and noble Georgian, Hugh M. Dorsey, deserve the unlimited and everlasting admiration for your loyalty to a cause that involves the great issue between money and fair play with the common people of our State.
Respectfully yours,
MR. AND MRS. J. W. COLEMAN.
Thirty years later, when his wife died, John Slaton again expressed his belief in Frank's innocence in a letter to his cousin: March 15th, 1945
Dear Cousin Lamar:
I am deeply appreciative of your letter of condolence. Few people could have written such a letter. It was so descriptive of Sallie.
After forty-seven years I can say to you she never thought an evil thought or did an evil thing. When the mob threatened my home and my life, on account of the Frank case, she was my strength and my fortress. If I heard a light step back of me, it was hers. She wished to be by my side.
She received multitudes of letters and anonymous telephone communications that if I prevented the execution of Frank I would be killed, and she said to me: "I would rather be the widow of an honorable man than the wife of a dishonorable one."
In my judgment Frank was as innocent as I, and it was a question whether through political ambition I should shirk my duty as Governor and allow the State to commit a murder.
Sallie went with me to all the meetings of the American Bar Association, and Judge Arthur Powell said of her that she was the Queen of that Body.
I received telegrams and letters from all over the United States, from judges and leading members of the Bar, expressing appreciation of Sallie's wonderful character, her sweetness and dignity. One letter came from Portland, Maine, and another from Portland, Oregon.
She made her debut at Greenbriar, White Sulphur Springs, and her sponsor and chaperon with Miss Mildred Lee, the daughter of Robert E. Lee. My wife represented the tender grace of a day which I fear is fast fading.
I have that faith that makes me believe we shall meet in a reunion where there is no separation.
I have written you this letter because of the remarkable sweetness and tenderness of yours. It would have made Sallie so happy to have read it in life. Affectionately, (signed) John M. Slaton Give my love to Cousin Bessie. (signed) J.M.S.
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 common jail of the county of Fulton, and that he be safely there kept until his final execution in the manner fixed by law. It is further ordered and adjudged by the Court that on the 10th day of October, 1913, the defendant, Leo M. Frank, shall be executed by the Sheriff of Fulton County in private, witnessed only by the executing officer, a sufficient guard, the relatives of such defendant and such clergymen and friends as he may desire, such execution to take place in the common jail of Fulton County and that said defendant, on that day, between the hours of ten o'clock a.m. and two o'clock p.m., be by the Sheriff of Fulton County hanged by the neck until he shall be dead, and may God have mercy on his soul. In Open Court, this 26th day of April, 1913.
Frank addressed the Court: "Your Honor, I say now as I have always said, I am innocent. Further than this, my case is in the hands of my counsel."
The trial of Leo Frank had been the longest and most expensive trial in Georgia history at that time. The steno-graphic record itself was 1,080,060 words. The state's star witness, Jim Conley, had been on the witness stand longer than any other witness in state history, and it was the first time that a black man's testimony helped to convict a white man.
Upon its conclusion Rosser and Arnold said: "We deem it not amiss to make a short statement, as the attorneys of Leo M. Frank to the public.
"The trial which has just occurred, and which has resulted in Mr. Frank's conviction, was a farce and not in any way a trial. In saying this, we do not make the least criticism of Judge Roan, who presided. Judge Roan is one of the best men in Georgia and is an able and conscientious judge." (Judge Roan was Rosser's senior law partner from 1883 to 1886.)
"The temper of the public mind was such that it invaded the courtroom and invaded the streets and made itself manifest at every turn the jury made; and it was as impossible for this jury to escape the effects of this public feeling as if they had been turned loose and had been permitted to mingle with the people.
"In doing this we are making no criticism of the jury. They were only men and unconsciously this prejudice rendered any other verdict impossible.
"It would have required a jury of stoics, a jury of Spartans, to have withstood this situation.
"The time ought to come when this man will get a fair trial, and we profoundly believe that it will.
"The final judgment of the American people is a fair one. It is sometimes delayed in coming, but it comes.
"We entered into this case with the profound conviction of Mr. Frank's innocence. The result has not changed our opinion. Every step of the trial has intensified and fortified our profound conviction of his innocence."
A series of appellate moves followed.
Frank's lawyers began to prepare their appeal immediately after the sentencing. One hundred and three points were covered in this appeal, including affidavits about the alleged prejudice toward Leo Frank of two members of the jury, A. H. Henslee and M. Johenning. "They are going to break that Jew's neck," Henslee was quoted as saying to Dr. W. L. Ricker, who later swore an affidavit filed with Judge Roan prior to the trial. "He stated that Frank was guilty of murder," Ricker's testimony continued. The family of H. C. Lovenhard swore that on meeting Marcellus Johenning on the street before the trial he had told them "I know he is guilty."
Other points raised included the jurors being influenced by the crowd's demonstrations outside the court-room, that Conley's allegation of Frank's immoral activities should not have been allowed into evidence, and that the evidence did not support the verdict.
Solicitor-General Dorsey argued that the trial had been fair and countered with affidavits from eleven jurors who swore they did not hear or see demonstrations from crowds outside the courtroom and had reached their decisions solely because of the weight of the evidence. Both jurors who had been deemed prejudiced by the defense denied the charges.
Rosser and Arnold made a final plea to Judge Roan. Arnold said "It is the most horrible persecution of a Jew since the death of Christ."
On October 31, 1913, Judge Roan denied the defense's motion for a new trial, but he commented: "I am not convinced of the guilt or innocence of the defendant, but I do not have to be convinced. The jury was convinced and that was enough."
The ruling was affirmed by the Georgia Supreme Court on February 17, 1914, by a unanimous decision. However, two judges, Beck and Fish, dissented on the question of admissibility of Jim Conley's testimony as to Frank's sexual perversion, but did not find the evidence in question sufficient cause to alter the guilty verdict.
Not long after the Georgia Supreme Court decision, the Atlanta Journal reported that the state biologist who examined the body of Mary Phagan had concluded after microscopic analysis that the hair found on the lathe which the prosecution had cited as a major factor in its case was not Mary Phagan's. The biologist told Solicitor-General Dorsey, who when later confronted by the Journal's reporters said "I did not depend on the biologist's testimony. Other witnesses in the case swore that the hair was that of Mary Phagan, and that sufficed to establish my point."
Several prosecution witnesses retracted their original testimony. The first was Albert McKnight, who now said he hadn't seen Frank the day of the murder; Mrs. Nina Formby related that the police had filled her with liquor and unduly influenced her to invent the story that Frank had phoned her on the murder night asking for a room for himself and a girl. A third, George Epps, Jr., a friend of Mary Phagan's, now said he and Mary had not had a conversation aboard the trolley she rode to the factory on the day of her murder. Other witnesses conveyed that they had invented or lied about evidence because of the pressure brought by police detectives and/or Solicitor Dorsey. Later many of these same people repudiated their retractions.
In addition to repudiated testimony, the defense lawyers restudied every aspect of the Frank case. Henry Alexander, one of the defense team, made a study of the murder notes allegedly written by Conley at Frank's direction in an eight-page pamphlet “Some Facts About the Murder Notes in the Phagan Case.”; March 8, 1914, during the appellate review to the Supreme Court. Since these were written on old carbon pads, Alexander studied the dateline which read 190-. He concluded that the pads were at least four years old. They had been placed in the basement in 1912 along with the records of H.F. Becker, the master of machinery who signed them and was no longer employed by the company.
Did Alexander alter the numbers on the notepads by changing the pad number and then photocopying in order to support his theory?
Alexander claimed that the pads were pre-printed and had a numerical sequence and did not follow the pads used by Frank. The state had photographed the notes and also had in possession the used plates. Photographer H.M. Defore stated that Alexander told him the print he used that was in the pamphlet had been retouched in the lab. The implication was clear- Alexander tampered with the evidence.[ Footnote 16 -Oney ATDSR pages 412-413]
"However, evidence presented at the trial indicated that the note pads were never in the basement . Philip Chambers, Frank's former office assistant prior to the murder had stated that Frank's desk along with note pads were brought to the second floor from the basement and stated that an order of the fire insurance inspector [Atlanta Journal, May 4, 1914] that no paper and trash had been stored in the basement as these were burned consistently.
Mr. Alexander also alleged that the words *"night witch" in the note beside Mary Phagan's body, which had been interpreted to mean night watch or watchman by those who believed the notes had been written under the direction of a white man, actually referred to a Negro folk tale "when the children cry out in their sleep at night, it means that the night witches are riding them and if you don't go and wake them up, they will be found next morning strangled to death with a cord around their necks." This was the theory introduced in an attempt to clarify the note Jim Conley said Frank dictated to him. There is no evidence of such a negro folk tale but interestingly there is a German tale from the 15th century written lore that night-witch was a reality and a concept among the German people. Leo Frank was German. [Footnote 17: Norman Cohn, Europe's Inner Demons: A Enquiry Inspired by the Great Witch-Hunt (New York: New American Library, 1977]
However, at the time the notes were discovered and read in the factory basement early in the morning of April 27, when the detectives read the words "night witch" on two separate occasions, Newt Lee brightly volunteered "that's me." In addition, when Conley was directed to write "night watchman" by police during his interrogation, he promptly wrote down "nigt witch," reciting that that was his nickname for the night watchman whom Conley had never met, and thus could not know that he was in fact a tall, slim black Negro.
On March 7, 1914, Frank was resentenced to die. The scheduled date was April 17, 1914. The day before he was to hang, a stay of execution was obtained on an extraordinary motion for a new trial which was based on newly found evidence. Three witnesses said the state's star witness, Jim Conley, the black floor sweeper, was the killer. They were Conley's ex-girlfriend, a federal prisoner, and Conley's own lawyer. The celebrated private detective, William Burns, got an affidavit from Annie Maud Carter in New Orleans.
This affidavit stated that Jim Conley told her he had called Mary Phagan over as she left Frank's office with her pay envelope, hit her over the head, and pushed her over a scuttle hole in the back of the building. Annie Maud Carter also said Conley told her he wrote the notes found by the body of Mary Phagan to put the suspicion on Newt Lee, the night watchman. She gave the Burns agency some love letters from Conley which the Constitution said were "so vile and vulgar" that they couldn't be published in the newspaper. The defense contended these love letters showed that Conley had "perverted passion and lust." Among the lines pointed to by the defense as evidence of Conley's perversion were: Give your heart to God and your ass to me. Now baby if you don't get out on no bond or if you do get out on bond you have that right hip for me cause if you hold your fat ass on the bottom and make papa go like a kittycat then you have won a good man, that's me. I will try to give you this world, but if you let papa put his long ugly dick up your fat ass and play on your right and left hip, just like a monkey playing on a trapeze, then Honey papa will be done played hell with you. Solicitor-General Dorsey returned Annie Maud Carter to Atlanta and put her in jail. Several days later she refuted the affidavit given to the Burns agency and said that her whole story was a lie. However, it was later alleged that Conley had definitely written the letters.
ANNIE MAUD CARTER, Sworn for the State.
I was in the Fulton County Jail 6 months. I went there Last October and Jim Conley was in jail when I was put in jail. Whenever Mr. Roberts would go downstairs to empty the slops I would go around to see Jim Conley and give him things to eat, and I think I went the first Sunday in December. I wrote him two or three letters, and he sent them back because he said he couldn’t read them. No, I wrote him three and he wrote me two to my knowing. There was nothing vulgar in either one of the letters he wrote me, and I sent the letters back to him by Fred Ferguson because I couldn’t real [sic] all of them, and I sent them back to him and went down there at 12 o’clock to see what he wanted and he wanted me to let him have ten cents to get a piece of bread and some sardines, and if there is anything vulgar in any of those letters he wrote, it has been put in there since he wrote them to me by somebody else. Jim Conley told me this last gone Tuesday when I was up there to see Asa McFarland. He asked me if any of Mr. Burns’ men had been to see me, he said first did I know this other girl, where she lived, that had been coming there, and I said I know where she lives, but I don’t know her name, I knew her sister but I don’t know her, and he says I know where she lives, and he said somebody told the sheriff about me talking to Jim and they looked me up about it and I stayed there a week and they found I wasn’t down there at the time they said I was and Mr. Roberts had the sheriff turn me out again, and Jim told me Tuesday that someone took those letters I wrote him and the ones he wrote me and I sent back. I asked him if he had them and he said no that somebody took them sometimes in January, but that he just hated to tell me. I said don’t forget to take those letters out with you, for he told me he was going to get out in May, and then he told me that somebody got them. During Christmas, I was due to go in at 7 o’clock and Mr. Gillem would let me stay out until nine and nine thirty. One day Jim Conley said “are you going to let her come in here Mr. Gillem” and Mr. Gillem said he could not do it then that I had better wait until another time, and I said I don’t want to go in there, and Jim said, “if he will let you in here it will be satisfactory won’t it” and I says “I don’t think that much of you and Jim says “you haven’t been corresponding with me all this time and don’t think that much of me, do you”. But Mr. Gillem told me he would give me $2.00 himself if I would go in there and see Jim Conley. Go. Wren wrote a letter and give it to me, he dropped it first, he said you are going downstairs now and I said yes, and he said you go downstairs and give it to Jim Conley and tell him it just come in through the mail, and I took it down there and Jim said you know I can’t read, maybe it is from my mother and I thought it was devilment in it, and it said in the letter, “Now you know you know all about this, why don’t you tell the truth about it, for you know you are in the hands of your enemies, and I will do this and that to you, and if you don’t tell the truth about it you will be hung by an enemy that is bitterly against you”, and right after that I goes to Mr. Suttles, he can remember the time, he was going down and Jim Conley hid from him because he thought he was a Jew. He went back and got another man, I think it was “Mr. Owens, and he said, “here is another Jew Conley and laughed, and Jim Conley said “I thought you all were Jews at first. Mr. Gillem says to me, “You go in there and talk with him for he will tell you anything, and I went in there one evening at 3 o’clock and stayed until 7:30 and Mr. Gillem told me to find all I could from him. Of course, he said he didn’t believe him was guilty but he believe he knew something. I asked Conley, I said “I want you to tak[e] an oath and swear to me if you know anything about it” and he said “Yes I knoew [sic] Mr. Frank killed that girl” and I said “what else did he do” and he said “I don’t know but he killed her and made me take her downstairs” and I sais “Is that all” and he said “yes” but he would tell me other things about Mr. Frank being with these different women at the office, and I come out and told Mr. Gillem this, and he said “that is the same thing he tells everybody.” Mr. Gillem tried to get me to go in there, he said “you are not obliged to be with him, I just want to see if he will try to fool with you with his mouth or his privates.” I have asked Conley and he said he wouldn’t do anything like that. I asked him which he done it and he told me and said he never did anything but in the natural way. I saw him stark naked one day just like he was born, and he looked alright to me, and I asked Mr. Gillem who said Conley was a cock sucker, and he said “Oh, that son of a gun can do it as good as any man. The first Sunday in December, I was sitting on the second floor, and a Jew came up. Mr. Frank was out there and three or four more Jews. Mr. Pappenheimer was there with him too. This Jew asked me was I out all the time, and I said yes, and he said I want to see you, and I said all right and he said do you know how to get rich right quick, or have you as want, or more than you will ever be able to dispose of. Do you ever go to talk with Jim Conley, and I says I am on my way there now. And he said I want you to do something for me and state your price. It is dangerous; don’t let get about your food. I want you to take this little vial and put a drop in his food and give it to him and I will guarantee you will have a pot of money and will be a free girl before tomorrow night, and I said he ain’t done nothing to me and he said I know, but it is our man he has got and what do you care about a negro hanging, all you want is money, and I said I don’t want the money and he said if you refuse the money you are a damn fool and walked off. I don’t know his name, but he comes up there with Klein boys. He has black hair and his hair stands up and his hat pulled down on one side.
In 1914, Leo Frank supporters tried to hire a black woman named Annie Maude Carter to slip James Conley some poison while he was in jail waiting to testify at Frank’s hearing for a new trial. She identified the would-be assassins in open court as prominent members of the Jewish community. The plot was exposed in the May 6, 1914 edition of the New York Times.
A black prisoner named *Freeman told his story to the prison doctor who reported that Conley was the killer. Freeman said he and Conley were playing cards in the basement of the pencil factory and that Conley left to go up the ladder to the main floor. Freeman said he had heard some muffled screams, saw Conley wrestling with someone, and became so scared that he fled. He later claimed that he saw Conley with a mesh bag containing the amount of Mary Phagan's pay, $1.20.
The Leo Frank Case; Leonard Dinnerstein, Appendix C
*Freeman’s Tale
An alternate explanation for the murder of Mary Phagan was published in 1923 when alleged data about Jim Conley's participation in the mystery came to light. The information had been received eight years earlier by Governor Slaton, from a questionable, but perhaps important, source. In 1915 a Negro prisoner, identified only by the name "Freeman," thought that he was dying in the federal penitentiary located in Atlanta, and revealed what he claimed to have know about Mary Phagan's death. Freeman made his statement to a prison doctor, who relayed it to Governor Slaton.
The narrated story follows: Freeman recalled playing cards with Jim Conley in the basement of the pencil factory on the day of the murder. Shortly before noon Conley went up the ladder to the main floor. After a short while Freeman heard muffled screams. Inquisitive, he climbed to the first floor and saw Conley struggling with someone. Frightened, Freeman returned to the basement and left the building through a rear door. Later that afternoon, Conley went to Freeman's home and said that he needed $3 but was short $1.80. In return for the money, Conley offered his friend a woman's mesh handbag. Freeman obliged. The following day, however, he read about the murder and Mary Phagan's missing mesh bag which contained her $1.20 wage. Fearing involvement, Freeman gave the mesh bag to a friend and ad- monished her to hide it in a safe place. He then fled the city. Within two months, however, he was convicted of a federal crime and imprisoned in Atlanta.*
The Baltimore Sun, October 2, 1923, "Frank's Prophesy of Vindication Come True 10 Years After Georgia Mob Hangs Him as Slayer" The JewishAdvocate (Boston), XLII (October 18, 1923), 20; AJ clipping, n.d, probably October 1 or 2, 1923, Frank Papers, Brandeis.
Why newspapers published Freeman's story for the first time in 1923, or how they obtained this information, was never explained. But former Governor Slaton, the ex-prison doctor, and one of the Georgia Prison Commissioners verified, in 1923, that they had heard the tale in 1915.* An Atlanta Constitution report noted "that proven inaccuracies in [Freeman's] story had discredited it." Unfortunately, the Constitution did not elaborate.
Amazingly, The Atlanta Georgian had also received part of Freeman's tale, although not identified as such, in June, 1913, before Frank had gone to trial. On June 6, the Georgian headlined a front-page account: "REPORT NEGRO WHO SAW PHAGAN ATTACK," and related how a federal prisoner was about to be returned to Atlanta by a Pinkerton detective. The Negro in question, according to the Georgian, had allegedly been shooting craps with Conley in the factory basement on the day of the murder. Conley, having lost his money and in a half- drunken stuper, then allegedly left the basement and attacked Mary Phagan, who had just come down from Frank's office after collecting her pay. The Georgian could not verify the report and subsequently dropped the story.
Additional corroboration for Freeman's tale came in 1959 when an Atlanta attorney published his memoirs. Relating how he knew of Frank's innocence, the attorney, A. L. Henson, claimed that Conley had confessed to his lawyer that he had been drinking in the factory basement on the day of the murder. According to Henson, Conley had also recalled having seen a girl approach him on the main floor, remembered struggling with her, and then his mind went blank. When Conley revived he was sitting opposite a dead girl in the factory basement, but he could not remember anything that had transpired in the previous few hours. Henson's narrative fits well with Freeman's tale and the story published in the Georgian.
* AC, October 2, 1923, p. 7.
Ibid.
X AG, June 6, 191 3, p. 1; June 10, 191 3, p. 1.
§ Allen Lumpkin Henson, Confessions of a Criminal Lawyer (New York, 1959) *P- 63. Other facts reported by Henson vary from contemporary reports, and I cannot vouch for his accuracy. In an interview with Samuel A. Boorstin, on October 12, 1953, John Slaton admitted that he had been told by one of Hugh Dorsey's law partners that Jim Conley's lawyer believed that Conley committed the murder. Memorandum of a conversation had by Boorstin with Slaton, Anti-Defamation League files, Leo Frank folder, New York City. * Allen Lumpkin Henson does not mention the name Freeman in his story and it does not match the newspaper accounts
Conley's court-appointed attorney, William Smith, thought Frank was innocent and made a public statement on October 2, 1914, saying so. He said that Conley's testimony was "a cunning fabrication," and thought Conley himself was probably the murderer. This extraordinary revelation, which went against the lawyer-client confidentiality privilege, was extolled by those who believed in Frank's innocence and castigated as being caused by bribery by those who believed him guilty. Smith revealed no new facts to support his beliefs but instead tried to show how the already known facts had been misinterpreted because of Conley's lies. It has been said that Jim Conley confessed to William Smith, and a confession statement, allegedly by Conley, has been published, in, for one, Confessions of a Criminal Lawyer by Allen Lumpkin Henson, who worked in the Georgia Attorney General's office at the time of the Leo Frank trial.
The chapter of Henson's book dedicated to the Frank case contains a thirdhand, or perhaps fourth-hand, account of Conley's supposed confession.
However, Walter Smith, William Smith's son, in an article by Bob Montgomery for the Atlanta Journal in 1932 about Smith's father, denied the authenticity of Conley's "confession," but brought to light facts which had been previously undisclosed regarding William Smith's relationship to his client.
William Smith was reputed to be a very conscientious and ethical lawyer. His prime obligation was to his client. If he was charged to defend a man, he did his best to do so. And he did so in the case of Jim Conley. Smith had been appointed to defend Conley by the court and he worked very closely with the prosecutor, Hugh Dorsey. From the beginning, Smith believed in Frank's guilt, as did just about everyone else. Before Jim Conley went on trial, Smith visited him in his cell and coached him in how to react in the courtroom when he was cross-examined by Frank's defense. Smith acted out the style and gyrations of Luther Rosser to Conley so well, that when the actual trial was in session and Rosser began yelling at Conley and shaking his fist in Conley's face, Conley was not rattled in the least, but, on the contrary, seemed amused. Smith went to great lengths to defend Conley and to dig up facts against Frank.
At some point in the course of the trial, Smith began to doubt that his client had been telling the truth. Because he had an obligation to defend Conley, Smith tried to get him the lightest sentence possible. Conley was convicted as an accessory to the fact and sentenced to one year on the chain gang. Smith, having fulfilled his obligation to his client, and remembering the double jeopardy clause, which assured him that Conley could never be tried for the same crime again, felt morally and legally free to do some investigating and probing on his own. He increasingly felt that Frank was innocent, and that he himself was much responsible for Frank's conviction. And he tried to convince others of Frank's innocence. He felt that he had the blood of an innocent man on his hands.
He launched a thorough investigation which totally convinced him that Frank was innocent, and that Conley was guilty. Smith went to Governor Slaton with his conclusions, and it is quite probable that Smith's story was important in helping Slaton reach the decision to commute Frank's sentence. Smith's conclusions were not made public for some time, but, when they were, he was not very popular. Public opinion went against Smith and his family. William Smith carried a gun for protection when he walked the streets of Atlanta. Smith's life was threatened in so many ways that he and his family were forced to leave Georgia, not to return for many years. He gave up criminal law completely, and for many years worked in a shipyard in New York as a detective for the Burns Agency. Many years later, he practiced civil law.
In the last years of his life, Smith's vocal cords were paralyzed and he could not speak. He carried a pad of paper on which to write messages. In the hospital room just before he died, William Smith was very weak, but he picked up a pad and scrawled the following letters: "In articles of death, I believe in the innocence and good character of Leo M. Frank."
None of this evidence was considered by the Superior Court because in 1906 a constitutional amendment had been passed that the only grounds for reversal of verdicts in the higher court of Georgia were errors of law. Ruling that new evidence was not an indication of procedural errors, on May 8, 1914, Superior Court Judge Ben H. Hill denied the defense motion for a new trial. This denial was affirmed unanimously on October 14, 1914, by the Georgia Supreme Court.
Even before Leo Frank's trial had ended, certain Jewish organizations and groups raised the issue of religious prejudice. Appeals for funds for Frank's defense were made through mailing circulars and newspaper advertisements throughout the country and particularly in the North. This aggravated the already strong feelings against Frank in Atlanta. And it resulted in a virtual reenactment of the Civil War between Northern and Southern newspapers, which increased in intensity as the trial progressed.
At Frank's conviction and death sentence, virtually every Northern newspaper proclaimed a travesty of justice. Detectives and well-known attorneys were sent to Atlanta by some of the Northern newspapers to "review and investigate" the case: many concluded that Leo Frank was innocent, that the trial had been no trial at all.
It is interesting to note that New York Times nor any other newspaper outside of Georgia DID NOT provide daily coverage of the Leo Frank Trial. During the trial, New York Times only printed 6 newspaper articles regarding the case: the trial started July 28, 1913 and ended August 25, 1913.
Was it because that in the Atlanta newspapers, Leo Frank was listed as Leo Frank, superintendent? No mention of Leo Frank being Jewish in the original Atlanta newspapers of the day. Media outlets today always state that Leo Frank was Jewish and anti-Semitism was the reason he was convicted and hung.
The New York Times became interested in the case after the conviction of Leo Frank, but they were admonished to print nothing "which would arouse the sensitiveness of the Southern people and cause the feeling that the North is criticizing the courts of the people of Georgia." The New York Times and Collier's Weekly called for a new trial.
Mass rallies were held in United States cities and in London, Paris, and Frankfurt, calling for Frank's life to be spared. Thousands of letters, petitions, and telegrams were sent to Governor Slaton and soon-to-be Governor Nat Harris.
However, the vitriolic exchanges between the Northern and Southern press helped to make the conviction of Frank an article of faith for Southerners. At the same time, the belief in Frank's innocence became the litmus test in the Jewish community of Atlanta for anti-Semitism.
Did Leo Frank have a fair trial?
Monday, August 18, 1913, Night edition of The Atlanta Georgian. Evening Extra. James Nevin
Consideration has been shown the defendant, the members of his family, and the warm friends constantly in attendance upon him.
The spectators have been orderly, even the hours observed by the court have been adjusted to the accommodation of the lawyers, the defendant, and the jury.
So far as human ingenuity and law can make it so, therefore, the trial of Leo Frank has been fair, I think—as fair as could be asked. And when I say that I mean fair to both the defense and the State.
The presiding judge let in one big, significant line of evidence supposedly unfavorable to the defense. It so happens, however, that later he left in another line supposedly as unfavorable to the State.
There was no possible connection, really, between these two things, of course, for the judge did exactly the thing he though was right in both instances. It merely is a fact that his two biggest rulings cut evenly between the State and the accused—and to that extent is noticeable, in that it makes an even break.
I make the foregoing observation now because looking at the case from the present point of view, in advance of the verdict, I feel that [t]he observation is true—and whatever the outcome of the trial, I for one shall not feel that the case has been unfairly tried.
Judicial error may have crept in—it certainly is not for laymen to say as to that. It perhaps is not right and proper even to speculate upon such a thing.
Whatever judicial error has crept in, however, if any has, it maybe corrected upon review before a court higher up. Either that or the error will redound to the defendant's benefit—for once acquitted, he never can be tried again for the murder of Mary Phagan.
There is on advantage that has come of the long drawn out battle perhaps, and that is in the time it has given the public to weigh carefully and discriminatingly every bit of evidence as it has fallen from the line of witnesses.
There is no reason why any person able to read the English language should be unfamiliar with any detail of the trial.
The newspapers certainly have done their part in spreading the story, as told by each side, before the public from day to day.
On March 10, 1914, the Atlanta Journal editorially called for a new trial- a year after the conviction. The Journal piece was titled "Frank Should Have a New Trial," and it said: . . .
The Journal cares absolutely nothing for Frank, or for those who were engaged in his defense or prosecution. If Frank is found guilty after a fair trial, he ought to be hanged and his case should be made a horrible example to those who would destroy human life, for generations to come.
Leo Frank has not had a fair trial. He has not been fairly convicted and his death without a fair trial and legal conviction will amount to judicial murder.
We say this with a full understanding of the import of our words and the responsibility that rests upon us in making this appeal. We do so, not in disrespect for the court or the lawyers or the jury. They did the best they could with the lights before them. We honor them for faithfully performing a most unpleasant duty as they saw it.
But this we do say without qualification: it was not within the power of human judges and human lawyers and human jurymen to decide impartially and without fear the guilt or innocence of an accused man under the circumstances that surrounded this trial.
The very atmosphere of the courtroom was charged with an electric current of indignation which flashed and scintillated before the very eyes of the jury. The courtroom and streets were filled with an angry, determined crowd, ready to seize the defendant if the jury had found him not guilty. (When the jury returned the guilty verdict, Frank was not in the courtroom. He was at the Fulton Tower.) Cheers for the prosecuting counsel were irrepressible in the courtroom throughout the trial, and on the streets unseemly demonstrations in condemnation of Frank were heard by the judge and jury. The judge was powerless to prevent these outbursts in the courtroom and the police were unable to control the crowd outside.
So great was the danger that the Fifth Regiment of the National Guard was kept under arms throughout a great part of the night, ready to rush on a moment's warning to the protection of the defendant. The press of the city united in an earnest request to the presiding judge to not permit the verdict of the jury to be received on Saturday as it was known that a verdict of acquittal would cause a riot such as would shock the country and cause Atlanta's streets to run with innocent blood. Under such indescribable conditions as these, Frank was tried and convicted. Was a fair trial, under these circumstances, possible?
The evidence on which he was convicted is not clear (the evidence was circumstantial, but on the strong side). Suppose he is hanged and it should develop that the man was innocent as he claims? The people of this state would stand before the world convicted of murdering an innocent man by refusing to give him an impartial trial. Such a horrible thing is unthinkable. And yet it is possible; yea, an absolute certainty, that we are going to do that very thing unless the courts interfere. Ought Frank to have a new trial? The question carries its own answer: Let Justice be done, though the Heavens fall.
The outbursts in the courtroom and that the police were unable to control the crowds outside were events that all three newspapers had not printed during the trial. The Journal remained quiet about these events for a year. The AtlantaGeorgian, which also was silent during the trial, later called for a new trial.
This sudden announcement by the Journal brought Tom Watson into the controversy. Watson had been defeated for Vice President of the United States on the Populist ticket in 1896 and afterwards devoted most of his time to writing history and editing his weekly newspaper, the Jeffersonian, and his monthly publication, Watson's Monthly Magazine. He immediately launched a scathing attack against those criticizing the results of the Frank case. Watson referred to Frank as being a "Jew pervert." More of his vitriol was directed to Frank's being a member of and having access to wealth, thereby denying, he said, justice to the family of a "poor factory girl," a view shared by a substantial number of Georgia's population. In fact, an informal poll indicated that four out of five individuals believed in Frank's guilt.
The fact that the Atlanta Journal was edited by Watson's political enemy, Hoke Smith, did not endear its editorial opinions to Watson, and he claimed the paper's demand for a new trial was an effort by Smith to drag the case into politics. Repeatedly, Watson asked the questions, "Does a Jew expect extraordinary favors or immunities because of his race?" and "Who is paying for all this?" Watson described Mary Phagan as "a daughter of the people, of the common clay, of the blouse and overall, of those who earn bread in the sweat of the face and who, in so many instances, are the chattel slaves of a sordid commercialism that has no milk of human kindness in its heart of stone."
Employment of Burns Detective Agency by Frank supporters after the trial further inflamed Georgians. Burns offered a thousand-dollar reward to anyone who could provide evidence that Frank was a sexual pervert. No one came forward. The reward was increased to five thousand dollars. No one came forward. Burns also brought forth evidence given to him by the Reverend C.B. Ragsdale, pastor of the Atlanta Baptist Church, who told the story of overhearing two black men, one of whom confessed to killing "a little girl at the factory the other day." Later Ragsdale repudiated his statement.
A Burns' operative, Mr. Tobie, had earlier been retained by members of the Phagan family and their neighbors to investigate the murder and discover the murderer. After several weeks of investigating, Tobie at length re-signed from the matter, but announced that he, like Scott of the Pinkerton Agency, the detectives of the Atlanta Police Department, and Dorsey's staff, had concluded that Frank was the guilty party.
Dorsey alleged in court that Burns tried to bribe witnesses to give false testimony and finally Burns' connection was dropped.
The hearing on extraordinary motion for a new trial was based on the absence of Frank at the reception of the verdict. This absence was agreed on by the defense, prosecutors, and Frank. This motion was denied on June 6, 1914, and the denial was affirmed unanimously by the Georgia Supreme Court on November 14, 1914. On December 7, 1914, a writ of error was taken to the United States Supreme Court and was denied.
On December 9, 1914, Frank was sentenced to be hanged on January 22, 1915. Frank's attorneys then filed an application for a writ of habeas corpus to the United States Supreme Court. On April 19, 1915, this was dismissed by a seven-to-two vote and was the last judicial avenue for Frank. The two justices who dissented were Oliver Wendell Holmes and Charles Evans Hughes. They dissented on the basis that a lower court hearing should have been held to determine the validity of the defense affidavits asserting mob pressure on the jury. "The impression at the time created by the publicity given to Justice Holmes dissent which was out of all proportion to that accorded the majority opinion that Frank had been the outset been the marked victim of mob terrorism." [Guilty or Not Guilty, Francis X. Busch; 1952 page 69-70]
Justice Holmes wrote: "The single question in our minds is whether a petition alleging that the trial took place in the midst of a mob savagely and manifestly intent on a single result is shown on its face. . . . This is not a matter for polite presumptions. We must look the facts in the face. Any judge who has sat with juries knows that in spite of forms they are extremely likely to be impregnated by the environing atmosphere. And when we find the judgement of the expert on the spot, of the judge whose business it was to preserve not only form but substance, to have held that if one juryman yielded to the reasonable doubt that he himself later expressed in court as the result of most anxious deliberation, neither prisoner nor counsel would be safe from the rage of the crowd, we think the presumption overwhelming that the jury responded to the passions of the mob.
Of course we are speaking only of the case made by the petition, and whether it ought to be heard. Upon allegations of this gravity in our opinion it ought to be heard, whatever the decision of the state court may have been. . . . It may be that on a hearing a different complex-ion would be given to the judge's alleged request and expression of fear. But supposing the alleged facts to be true, we are of opinion that if they were before the Supreme Court [of Georgia] it sanctioned a situation upon which the Courts of the United States should act, and if for any reason they were not before the Supreme Court, it is our duty to act upon them now and to declare lynch law as little valid when practiced by a regularly drawn jury as when administered by one elected by a mob intent on death."
The only hope left for Frank was Governor John Slaton. Frank's attorneys appealed to Slaton for a commutation of his sentence from hanging to life imprisonment. Slaton referred this request to the State Prison Commission and asked them to pass their recommendation to the governor. Meanwhile, Frank's attorneys filed an appeal for a clemency hearing before the three-man Georgia Prison Commission. The hearing date was scheduled for May 31, 1915.
On May 31, 1915, out-of-state and in-state delegations appeared to plead for Frank's life. They asked that his life be spared in the name of Georgia's honor, decency, and God. They had submitted voluminous documents to convince the Commission an error had been made. Included was a letter by Presiding Judge Leonard Roan written shortly before his death on March 23, 1915.
Tom Watson commented that Roan was "out of his mind." Some members of Roan's family doubted the authenticity of the letter for years. They indicate that at the time the letter was written, Judge Roan's physical and mental state were critical. They also stated that one of Frank's lawyers went to the sanitorium and it was at this time that the letter was written and signed by Roan. The family also felt that since Judge Roan refused Frank a new trial, the letter causes some questions. However, Roan's rational mental state was attested to by Dr. Wallace E. Brown, owner of the Berkshire Hills Sanitorium:
Nov. 29, 1914
Judge Roan, who presided over Leo Frank’s trial and is now dying of cancer in a Massachusetts hospital, dictates a letter recommending that Frank’s sentence be commuted to life imprisonment, saying: “I wish to say that at the proper time I shall ask the prison commission to recommend and the governor to commute Frank’s sentence to life imprisonment.... “It is possible that I showed undue deference to the opinion of the jury in this case, when I allowed their verdict to stand. They said by their verdict that they had found the truth. I was still in a state of uncertainty and so expressed myself.... “After many months of continued deliberation I am still uncertain of Frank’s guilt. This state of uncertainty is largely due to the character of the Negro Conley’s testimony, by which the verdict was evidently reached. The execution of any person whose guilt has not been satisfactorily proven to the constituted authorities, is too horrible to contemplate. I do not believe that a person should meet with the extreme penalty of the law until the Court, Jury, and Governor shall all have been satisfied of that person’s guilt.”
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
Berkshire, ss: Personally appeared before the undersigned authority, Wallace E. Brown, who being duly sworn, deposes and says on oath, that he is owner and proprietor of the Berkshire Hills Sanitorium, that he has been a resident of North Adams, Massachusetts, practically all his entire life; that he is now serving his third term as mayor of the city of North Adams.
Deponent says that on Sunday, November 29, 1914, Judge L.S. Roan, of Atlanta, Ga., dictated to Mrs. Wallace E. Brown, who was then Miss Jane Dadie, a letter, a copy of which herinafter follows:
North Adams, Mass.
December, 1914
Rosser & Brandon & R.R. Arnold,
Attys. for Leo M. Frank.
Gentlemen:— After considering your communication, asking that I recommend executive clemency in the punishment of Leo M. Frank I wish to say, that at the proper time, I shall ask the Prison Commission to recommend, and the Governor to commute Frank's sentence to life imprisonment. This, however, I will not do until the defendant's application shall have been filed and the Governor and Prison Commission shall have had opportunity to study the record in the case.
It is possible that I showed undue deference to the opinion of the jury in this case, when I allowed their verdict to stand. They said by their verdict that they had found the truth. I was still in a state of uncertainty, and so expressed myself. My search for the truth, though diligent and earnest, had not been so successful. In the exercise of judicial discretion, restricted and limited, according to my interpretation of the decisions of the reviewing courts, I allowed the jury's verdict to remain undisturbed. I had no way of knowing it was erroneous. After many months of continued deliberation I am still uncertain of Frank's guilt. This state of uncertainty is largely due to the character of the Negro Conley's testimony, by which the verdict was evidently reached.
Therefore I consider this a case in which the chief magistrate of the state should exert every effort in ascertaining the truth. The execution of any person, whose guilt has not been satisfactorily proven to the constituted authorities, is too horrible to contemplate. I do not believe that a person should meet with the extreme penalty of the law until the Court, Jury, and Governor shall all have been satisfied of that person's guilt. Hence, at the proper time, I shall express and enlarge upon these views directly to the Governor and Prison Commission.
However, if for any cause, I am prevented from doing this, you are at liberty to use this letter at the hearing. Very truly yours,
:SEAL L.S. Roan
Deponent heard Judge Roan dictate the letter hereinbefore copied and saw him read and sign the same. Prior to the time Judge Roan dictated and signed said letter he had stated to deponent that he was not convinced of Frank's guilt, and that if executive clemency should ever be asked for Frank that he intended to recommend commutation.
Deponent says that Judge Roan became a patient in his sanatorium on the tenth day of July, 1914, and remained there as such until the twenty-first day of February, 1915.
During the entire time Judge Roan was a patient in said Sanatorium, there was positively no doubt that Judge Roan was mentally responsible in every respect.
Deponent is a practising physician of twenty-five years, having graduated from Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York City, and is now a resident of North Adams, Massachusetts.
(Signed) Wallace E. Brown
Subscribed and sworn to before me, this fourth day of August, 1915, at North Adams, Massachusetts.
(Signed) C.T. Phelps :
SEAL Notary Public
No one had spoken against commutation of Frank's sentence. Finally, the defense's long, hard fight seemed won. But the next morning, some fifty determined-looking prominent men from Cobb County, where Mary Phagan's family lived, marched into the Prison Commission office and demanded the hearing be reopened.
Included in the group were:
Marietta Mayor E. P. Dobbs
Fred Morris, lawyer, former UGA football and track star.
Bolan G. Brumby, president of the Marietta Chair Company.
R.A. Hill, president of the Merchants and Farmers Bank.
Joe Carter, editor of the Marietta Daily Journal.
W.J. Frey, former Cobb County sheriff.
Former Governor Joseph M. Brown.
W.J. Phagan, Mary Phagan's grandfather (died in 1914)
John T. Dorsey, lawyer.
Gordon B. Gann, lawyer, Marietta Mayor.
J.Z. Foster, lawyer.
Bernard Awtrey, lawyer.
W. N. Gantt, businessman.
A.A. Bishop, former Cobb sheriff.
Herbert Clay, solicitor of the Blue Ridge Circuit.
*These 15 prominent Mariettans would form the nucleus of the small group that would later plan Frank's abduction and subsequent lynching. Only two of these men were involved in the lynching. [Bill Kinney, Associate Editor, Marietta Daily Journal, known authority of Leo Frank lynching, guest speaker 1990 Marietta Rotary Club]
Clay spoke for hours against commutation, that Georgia would be dishonored for all time if Frank were spared for his alleged abominable crime. The newspapers reported that "there was no doubting that they really believed with all their hearts" that Frank was guilty.
The Commission re-opened the hearing. The commissioners listened intently and said nothing. At the end of the reopening, they issued a statement that they would offer their recommendation to Governor Slaton in a week.
By a two-to-one vote, on June 9, 1915, the commissioners refused to recommend commutation to Governor Slaton. It was now up to the governor.
Governor Slaton held a lengthy hearing for executive clemency.
"Representing Cobb County were former Governor Brown, Solicitor Herbert Clay, and Moultrie Sessions. Governor Brown was the principal speaker, Brown delivered an impassioned argument, buttressed by Scripture, asking for Frank's execution. His ideas was the court, which had condemned Frank to death, was a divine institution for justice and that no single man ----Governor Slaton----had the right to interfere. The defense argued that the weakness in Governor Brown's argument was that the same document ---The Constitution--- that empowered the courts, also gave the governor pardoning power. He asked Frank be shown no mercy." [Bill Kinney]
The Appeals of Leo Frank 1913, 1914, and 1915
Leo M. Frank had fully and completely exhausted every possible court appeals process concerning every level of the United States Federal and State Appellate Tribunal System.
Majority and Unanimous Decisions during the Appeals Process Affirm the Murder Conviction Given by the Trial Jury including “extraordinary motion for new trial!”
Slaton, also suggested, that the Jewish Communities charge of race hatred as being the reason Frank was convicted was unfair, as it was certainly not true, because numerous other legal tribunals reviewed the evidence and testimony, and felt it was strong enough to convict Leo M. Frank. None of the appeals courts could be falsely accused of being mob terrorized or antisemitic, as the Jewish community put such false accusations and slander against the murder trial Jury.
After the Leo Frank murder trial ended August 21, closing arguments began and then ended on August 25 at noon. The jury rendered its decision on August 25 at 4 p.m., and August 26 at 10:00 a.m., the trial judge Leonard Strickland Roan affirmed the jury’s decision. Frank’s lawyers immediately appealed on August 27, 1913.
The appellate process slowly wended its way through the Fulton County Superior Court, Georgia Supreme Court, United States District Court, and United States Supreme Court, more than once. Every court meticulously sifted the murder trial testimony and evidence, and every court affirmed the trial was fair and the jury was not mob terrorized, with only four dissenting judges out of more than a dozen affirming judges. The verdict rendered by Leo Frank’s trial jury was not disturbed at the conclusion of the appeals.
August 27 to October 31, 1913
As a result of normal procedure during the appeals process, Leo Frank’s execution date set for October 10, 1913, was stayed, pending a retrial hearing. On Friday, October 31, 1913, Judge Leonard Strickland Roan denied the motion by Leo M. Frank’s council for a new trial.
Another motion for a new trial was denied by the Georgia Supreme Court in February 1914 after careful review.
On Tuesday, February 17, 1914, the Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed the verdict of the lower court by a vote of 4 to 2.
On Wednesday, February 25, 1914, the Supreme Court of Georgia unanimously overruled a motion for rehearing the Leo Frank case.
The Presiding Judge Leonard Strickland Roan of the Leo Frank Trial Accused of Strangling Mary Anne Phagan on Saturday, April 26, 1913
1914:
April 22, 1914: Judge B. H Hill, former chief justice of the Court of Appeals, who had succeeded to the Judgeship of Fulton Superior Court, denied the extraordinary motion for a new trial.
April 25, 1914: The day before the anniversary of Mary Phagan’s death, Frank’s sanity was examined and he was declared sane.
Motion to Set the Verdict Aside as a Nullity
Beginning in June 1914, Frank’s defense appealed to the Fulton County Superior Court to set aside the guilty verdict. Fulton County Superior Court denied the appeal, as did the Georgia Supreme Court (December 1914).
November 14, 1914: The Georgia Supreme Court again denied a new trial, basically saying that the original verdict of guilty was correct and still stands.
November 18, 1914: The Georgia Supreme Court refused a writ of error.
November 23, 1914: Mr. Justice Lamar of the Supreme Court of the United States refused a writ of error.
November 25, 1914: Mr. Justice Holmes of the United States Supreme Court also refused a writ.
December 7, 1914: The full bench of the United States Supreme Court refused a writ of error.
December 9, 1914: Frank was resentenced to death to hang on January 22, 1915.
December 21, 1914: United States District Judge W. T. Newman of Georgia refused a writ of habeas corpus.
December 28, 1914: Mr. Justice Lamar granted an appeal and certificate of reasonable doubt to the United States Supreme Court.
1915:
April 15, 1915: The Supreme Court of the United States voted 4 to 2, with Mr. Justices Holmes and Hughes dissenting, and dismissed the appeal.
November 17, 1915: Judge W.D. Ellis, of the Fulton County Superior Court, heard the Pinkerton Detective Agency's lawsuit against the National Pencil Company (NPC) for nonpayment for services rendered. It appears that the NPC did not want to pay the Pinkertons because one of their detectives, Harry Scott, was convinced of Leo Frank's guilt, and clearly, wasn't doing his job right per NPC.
Harry Scott: "There is not a doubt that the negro [Conley] is telling the truth and it would be foolish to doubt it. The negro couldn't go through the actions like he did unless he done this just like he said...We believe we have at last gotten to the bottom of the Phagan mystery. Conley's confession fits exactly in with our theory."
Ultimately, Leo M. Frank had completely exhausted every possible court appeals process concerning every level of the United States Federal and State Appellate Tribunal System.
There was only one option left: Executive clemency from the gubernatorial level of the Great Georgia State, but before that could happen, the Georgia Prison Commission would have to review the case.
Georgia Prison Commission Division
As five courts upheld the original decision of the jury in Leo Frank’s case by not disturbing their verdict, Frank then applied for clemency with the Georgia Prison Commission to commute his sentence from death to life in prison.
White 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 was a “sexual deviant/degenerate” with a long history of sexually molesting his female employees.
Leo Frank and his defense team used “White Privilege” as a tool to play on white fears about stereotypes of “Negroes” being savage beasts and pathological liars. [Footnote 12: Documented Sources]
Scholars of the case have admitted that Leo Frank and his supporters actually relied on racism to defend himself against charges they knew were true. Jewish historian Theodore Rosengarten bluntly asserted that “Readers who wish to find a progressive Jewish social ethic at work in the Frank camp will be sorely disappointed. Frank’s lawyers played the race card for all it was worth.” [Footnote 13: Theodore Rosengarten, "The Haunting Questions of a Murder and Lynching," NYT, Dec 19, 2003, E43]
Frank’s own racist thinking is reflected in an Atlanta Constitution frontpage headline on May 31, 1913:
Mary Phagan's Murder was Work of a Negro, Declares Leo M. Frank
The newspaper quoted Frank: “Here is a negro, not alone with the shiftless and lying habits of an element of his race, that is common to the South…. No white man killed Mary Phagan. It’s a negro’s crime, through and through. No man with common sense would even suspect I did it.”
Documented Sources: White Privilege and Leo Frank’s Racism
Charles and Louise Samuels, Night Fell on Georgia (1956), pages 158, 159: “Again it should be noted that the men defending Frank, while protesting the [nonexistent] prejudice against Jews, saw no reason why anyone should object to their own often expressed prejudice against Negroes.” “‘Who is Conley?’ [the defense lawyer Luther Rosser] demanded. ‘Who was Conley, as he used to be and as you have seen him? He was a dirty, filthy, black, drunken, lying nigger.’”
Harry Golden, A Little Girl is Dead (1965), p. xv: “Until the mid-1960s, let alone in1913, no white man in any of the old Confederate States had ever been convicted of a capital offense on the testimony of a Negro.”
Robert Seitz Frey and Nancy Thompson-Frey, The Silent and the Damned (1988), p. 109: “Leo Frank was convicted on the strength of a black man’s testimony—truly a rare event in the South in the early years of the twentieth century. Certainly, the words of a black man were almost never taken over those of a white man. And Frank was convicted by an all-white jury.”
Albert S. Lindemann, The Jew Accused, (1991), page 245: “Frank resorted to racial stereotypes in his own defense. He insisted that Mary must have been killed by some sort of violent, primitive brute—in short, a Black, not a Jew. Frank’s lawyers wereenergetic in insisting that murder of this sort was not a Jewish crime, and they did not hesitate to exploit anti-Black bigotry. They referred to Jim Conley…as a ‘dirty, filthy, black, drunken, lying nigger’...” “There was something... hypocritical about such men, denouncing the bigoty against Jews that they asserted was responsible for the charges against Frank, yet resorting to a far more explicit and vicious bigotry against Blacks in his defense. Significantly, the prosecution avoided racial stereotyping, at least of this blatant sort.”
Nancy MacLean, “The Leo Frank Case Reconsidered -Gender and Sexual Politics in the Making of Reactionary Populism; The Journal of American History, Vol. 78, No. 3 (Dec., 1991), pp. 924-925.
Characterizes Frank’s defense as: “a virulent racist offense against the only other suspect Jim Conley.”... “When Frank’s attorneys based their case on the most vicious antiblack stereotypes of the day on outspoken appeals to white solidarity, blacks rallied around Jim Conley for the same reasons Jews rallied around Frank."
Jeffrey Melnick, Black-Jewish Relations on Trial: Leo Frank and Jim Conley in the New South (2000), pages xi, 8, 37, 43, 61, 100, 111: “…Frank and his supporters used racist language to demean Conley and took refuge in what they understood to be the privilege of Jewish whiteness.”
“This represented the first capital case in postbellum southern history in which a ‘white’ defendant was condemned by the testimony of an African American.” “…Jews like Leo Frank were much more likely to take up whiteness as a self-concept and mode of behavior than their northern counterparts…” “Frank considered himself to be white and enjoyed the privileges thereof, including African American domestic help and control over a large number of poor southerners—white and African American.” “Another of Frank’s lawyers referred to Conley as a ‘dirty, filthy, black, drunken, lying nigger.’” “…Frank’s people tried to establish Frank’s ‘whiteness’ (and I mean that doubly here to signify his racial standing and his innocence) by demonstrating his distance from even the most trivial constituent of American culture that might be traceable to African Americans.” “Frank’s lawyers employed racial epithets at every turn, and... capitalized on much the same sort of racist thinking that helped to turn public opinion against their man.”
Steve Oney, And the Dead Shall Rise (2003), page 148: “For one thing, Leo Frank had already made the grounds of the impending legal battle clear. ‘No white man killed Mary Phagan,’ the factory superintendent had reportedly told a prison attaché upon hearing of Conley’s affidavits. ‘It’s a negro crime, through and through.’ The Negro to whom Frank was referring was, of course, poor Jim, and as [attorney William] Smith later phrased it, the accused was going to use every bit of his ‘great influence and unlimited financial means to bring the point home to a jury.”
Nation of Islam, The Secret Relationship Between Blacks & Jews, Vol 3 (2016), pages 125, 362: “Frank’s attorneys seized upon the state’s extraordinary blurring of the color line to make their stand. They looked beyond the murder of Mary Phagan and took the position that Frank’s conviction would in fact undermine sacred Southern racial traditions and set in motion a racial upheaval far more significant than Frank’s actual guilt or innocence.” “Today’s believers in the innocence of Leo Frank have continued the tactic pursued in the courtroom by his lawyers, who assigned all manner of dishonesty to James Conley: Frank’s attorneys variously called Conley ‘a dirty, filthy, black, drunken, lying nigger’; ‘a dirty negro crook’; a ‘beastly, drunken, filthy, lying nigger’; a ‘filthy, criminal, lying negro’—being careful to pair untruthfulness and uncleanliness with the Black race.”
R. Barri Flowers, Murder Chronicles: Murder at the Pencil Factory, (2017); Page 31. “Racism and stereotyping had been part of the defense strategy throughout the trial, asFrank’s attorneys portrayed Conley as being ‘especially disposed to lying and murdering because of his race.’”
Dr. Stuart Rockoff, director of the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience: “Thus, their defense of Frank was largely an asserting of his and, by extension, their own whiteness.” ["Jewish Racial Identity in Pittsburg and Atlanta, 1890-1930" (PhD, Univ. of Texas at Austin, 2000), 275.)]
Phagan Family Position Paper, June 2019, pages 7-9: “Leo Frank’s lawyers argued to the jury of twelve white men that murder, rape, and robbery were ‘negro crimes’ and thus Frank, a white man, could not have committed the murder of Mary Phagan. One defense attorney said that ‘the murder was the unreasoning crime of a negro,’ that ‘It isn’t a white man’s crime.’”
Leo Frank’s supporters then and now have played the White Privilege race card and falsely represent an African American man as the “real killer.” For 111 years James “Jim” Conley has been scapegoated in nearly all the literature on the case. He was a sweeper in the factory on the day of the murder who was ordered by his boss Leo Frank to help move the dead body of Mary Phagan. When Conley confessed to his accessory-after the-fact role, Frank and his supporters tried (and continue to this day) to smear Conley as a devious criminal who got away with murder, but Conley’s very detailed confession corroborated by the physical evidence at the crime scene—was so convincing that it became central to the prosecution’s case. (At trial, Leo Frank refused to be cross-examined by prosecutors, but James Conley withstood nearly 16 hours of cross-examination—under oath.) Before he accused James Conley of the crime, Leo Frank worked overtime to pin the murder on the African American night watchman who found Mary Phagan’s body, Newt Lee. Frank hired private detectives who planted a blood-soaked shirt in the innocent black man’s home, and then Frank told the police where they could find that damning “evidence.” When the newspapers reported that a bloody shirt was found at Lee’s home, it almost caused an innocent man to be lynched. Luckily for Lee, Frank’s private detectives did such a sloppy job at planting the shirt that the police were not fooled at all, and it only increased their suspicion of Leo Frank. That is the point when the people of Atlanta came to believe—and rightly so— that Leo Frank was the murderer of Little Mary Phagan.
Leo Frank: “Sexual Pervert” According to Dr. Jeffrey Melnick, “The perversion charge merits special attention because it formed the emotional core of the prosecution’s case against Frank, and also became the most important constituent in public feeling against him.” So, according to the Nation of Islam, “The Frank team strategy was to stress the act of rape in Mary Phagan’s murder, and in so doing the Frank team felt they could convince a predisposed white America that only a Black man could be responsible for the brutal killing of this white girl.”
Dr. Stuart Rockoff concurs: “Frank’s trial lawyers also relied upon the stereotype of the black rapist to argue that Conley was the one most likely guilty of the crime.” [Footnote: 14 Stuart, Allen Rockoff, "Jewish Racial Identity in Pittsburgh and Atlanta, 1890-1930" (Ph.D diss, Univ. of Texas at Austin, 2000.]
By the time of his hanging in 1915 many people—including his Jewish supporters—not only were repelled by Leo Frank’s abrasive personality but also believed he was in fact the murderer of Mary Phagan. Chicago icon Albert Lasker, a Jewish philanthropist and the “father of modern advertising,” paid millions (in today’s money) for Frank’s defense, but he privately admitted that he was not even convinced that Leo Frank was innocent. It was Lasker who financed all of Frank’s post-conviction appeals and orchestrated his international public relations campaign that involved media outlets across the nation, including the New York Times. Lasker recalled the meeting in Frank’s jail cell: “It was very hard for us to be fair to him, he impressed us as a sexual pervert. Now, he may not have been—or rather homosexual or something like that…” According to Lasker’s biographer, the men with him during that encounter took “a violent dislike to him.” Lasker “hated him,” and said, “I hope he [Leo Frank] gets out…and when he gets out I hope he slips on a banana peel and breaks his neck.” [Footnote: 15 Albert D. Lasker, Interview by Boyden Sparkes, transcript, 1937]
The fact is Leo Frank was a sexual predator—the Harvey Weinstein/Jeffrey Epstein of his era. He, like those convicted pedophiles, used the factory he managed and the position he held to pressure little girls into sexual situations where he ruthlessly took advantage of them. And that is exactly what he did on Saturday, April 26, 1913, to thirteen-year-old Mary Phagan, who came to her place of employment to collect her pay of $1.20 from her boss Leo Frank.. And just like Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein, B’nai B’rith president Leo Frank used the opportunity to lure Little Mary Phagan to a back area of the factory and attempted to sexually assault her. Evidence shows that Mary resisted Frank with all of her might and in the struggle he struck her and then strangled her to death.
At his murder trial twenty of Leo Frank’s own female employees bravely took the witness stand and testified to Frank’s history of sexual deviance and harassment. They testified that he “got too familiar,” put his hands on” them, tried to corner them, and proposed sexual acts to them for money. Fourteen-year-old Nellie Pettis recounted how Frank had propositioned her for sex and 16-year-old Nellie Wood testified that Frank pushed himself against her and touched her breast. Several male employees also described how they had witnessed Frank rubbing himself against young female workers.
The testimony was so explicit that the judge had to clear the courtroom of women.
These young girls were the real pioneers of today’s #MeTooMovement.
Leo Frank’s lawyers did not even attempt to cross-examine any of the girls who testified at his trial. Instead, the defense attorneys told the jury that Frank’s behavior was: “a sign that we are getting more broad-minded... Deliver me from one of these prudish fellows that never looks at a girl and never puts his hands on her.... He’s the kind that I wouldn’t trust behind the door.”
Defense Team Theory: Jim Conley Assaulted Mary Phagan on the first floor lobby of the National Pencil Company and then threw her down the elevator shaft or scuttle hole two feet by two feet and three inches-or about four and one-half square, feet. Time theory. Clark Woodenware theory.
At the Trial of Leo Frank, the Defense suggested the theory that Jim Conley may have assaulted and then thrown an unconscious Mary Phagan, 14 feet down the elevator shaft, or through the scuttle hole at the side of the elevator or crowded back into the former location of the Clark Woodenware Company that had departed January 17, 1913 from its first floor office space that was locked off. The problem with the three defense theories, was that had Phagan at 4’11” tall and 107lbs, had been thrown down the 14 foot elevator shaft or scuttle hole while she was unconscious, there would have been clear identifiable forensic medical evidence of it on her body to indicate as such, and it would have been reported by the defense and prosecution examining physicians. But no physical evidence was found on Mary Phagan to suggest when she was alive, if and when her body was theoretically thrown down the elevator shaft or scuttle hole. Moreover, the drag marks found on the basement floor, beginning at the entryway of the elevator shaft, had tended to rule-out the scuttle hole. The Clark Woodenware theory was ruled out because the door to their area had been locked by the owner of the building, and no one but him had access to that area. The National Pencil Company was a rented building. Interestingly enough, the lobby entry door to the former Clark Woodenware company was broken open 4 days after the murder, so that the Frank defense could use it as one of their three theories of how Jim Conley could have murdered Phagan.
The location of the trap door, and its distance from the second floor and Frank's office, is also important. That door is just behind the elevator box or shaft, and about eight (8) feet to the right of the bottom step of the stairs. It is just across the little hallway there from the steps, and not in front of the steps. This hatchway or scuttle hole, is two feet by two feet and three inches-or about four and one-half square, feet. It closes with a door that fits into the floor and that can be easily lifted up. From this, down to the dirt floor of the basement, is a ladder-not stairs-made of two scantlings and a great number of rungs or rounds. The basement is deep-the ladder about twelve feet long. The basement has a dirt floor. It is very dirty from the coal dust, ashes, cinders-almost anything that makes dirt in such a place. This is where Dalton says he went with a woman- while Jim Conley watched for him-"a mighty nasty, place to take a woman." Yet, while some people are depraved themselves, they are still in favor of social equality-want to put everybody on a level-and having no desire to rise up themselves, would pull every-body else down to their level. At every single time he says he went down that scuttle, that floor, back and front, was occupied by the Wooden Ware Company.
Now the much-discussed scuttle hole has a trap door that fits down close over it. This is just back of elevator shaft and about 8 feet from where one would come down the stairs from the second floor.
Blunt force trauma will be the most common, although it could be other things.
There will almost certainly be massive skeletal damage, and internal bleeding, that can be enough. But depending on the fall, the organs are probably too damaged to continue functioning - with or without blood.
A fall from 14 feet can cause serious injuries or even death, depending on various factors such as the surface landed on, the position of the body upon impact, and the age and health of the person. Some potential injuries from a fall include fractures, sprains, head injuries, and internal organ damage. The autopsy report indicated none of these injuries.
Perhaps the most important element of Leo Frank's defense concerned time. If, as Jim Conley testified, Mary Phagan had come to the pencil factory before Monteen Stover, she had to arrive there before 12:05. Ms. Stover testified that was the time she arrived. But the motorman and conductor of the trolley asserted that Mary Phagan had gotten off at 12:10. Either Conley or Stover was incorrect. Most witnesses, including Conley, agreed that it would have taken, at best, one half hour for the murder and movement of the body to the cellar, the writing of the murder notes, and Conley's hiding in the wardrobe, to occur. But there were only thirty to 45 minutes, between 12:00 and 12:45, that Frank's time was not accounted for.
Had Frank enough time to commit the murder and move the body? It was a question that many people, including me, asked themselves over and over again.
Thinking over that anomaly, I felt weary. How difficult it was seventy years later to understand the meaning of these inconsistencies. Yet, difficult as it was, I was determined to go on to try to piece together from the newspapers' accounts, the trial transcript, and the evidence my family had gathered the real truth about my great-aunt's death.
Making that resolution once again, I returned to the transcript and Leo Frank's contentions.
According to his pre-trial statements, Frank claimed that he was in his office continuously from noon to 12:35 on the day of the murder, but a witness friendly to Frank, 14-year-old Monteen Stover, said Frank’s office was totally empty from 12:05 to 12:10 while she waited for him there before giving up and leaving. This was approximately the same time as Mary Phagan’s visit to Frank’s office and the time she was murdered. On Sunday, April 27, 1913, Leo Frank told that Mary Phagan came into his office at 12:03 PM. The next day, Frank made a deposition to the police, with his lawyers present, in which he said he was alone with Mary Phagan in his second-floor business office between 12:05 and 12:10, maybe 12:07 according to Leo Frank in State's Exhibit B, given to the police on Monday, April 28,1913. At the Coroner's Inquest Frank stated that Mary Phagan arrived on his second-floor business office at 12:10 PM on April 26, 1913.
Leo Frank contradicted his own testimony when he finally admitted on the stand that he had possibly "unconsciously" gone to the Metal Room bathroom between 12:05 and 12:10 PM on the day of the murder.
Frank had gotten to the factory on the day of the murder at 8:30 a.m. At approximately 9:40, he had gone to Montag Brothers and returned to the factory at 10:55. He left the factory at 12:45 or 12:50, going home for lunch. At about 3:00 he returned, staying at the factory until 6:00. Upon going home at 6:25, he had dinner, was visited by some friends, and went to sleep about 10:30. He learned of the murder the next morning.
The defense called more than twenty witnesses to corroborate Frank's version of when the murder happened, where Frank had been, and at what time.
The first two witnesses, W. H. Matthews, motorman, and W. T. Hollis, conductor of the English Avenue car, testified that Mary Phagan got on at Lindsey Street at about 11:50 and was alone. The scheduled arrival time was seven and a half after twelve and the car was running on time on April 26.
On cross-examination, Hollis admitted that the English Avenue car time schedule was a hard one to maintain and that the company could suspend men for running ahead of time.
Then Herbert Schiff, assistant superintendent of the pencil factory, testified to the system of business, the preparation of the financial sheet, the procedure for paying off employees, and how the pencils are made. He remembered paying off Helen Ferguson and said he was the one, not Frank, who paid off on Friday, April 25. "Helen Ferguson did not ask for Mary Phagan's pay Friday, April 25." He also stated, "There was no bed, cot, lounge, or sofa anywhere in the building." And later said, "I have never seen Mr. Frank talk to Mary Phagan." On cross examination, Schiff said that "On Monday, Mrs. White claimed she saw a Negro man."
Among the witnesses to testify about Frank's action on that Saturday were:
Miss Mattie Hall, stenographer for Montag, the company Frank alleged he visited on Saturday morning, who testified that "I finished my work, left around 12:02 and punched the clock."
Although she admitted she testified differently at the inquest, she testified that Frank did not make up the financial sheet that Saturday morning.
Miss Corinthia Hall swore that she was the forelady for the factory and got there Saturday around 11:35 a.m. with Mrs. Emma Clark Freeman. Frank was in his office when they left around 11:45. On cross-examination she testified that she and Mrs. Freeman met Lemmie Quinn at the Greek Cafe. He told then that he had just finished seeing Frank.
Mrs. Freeman's testimony gave evidence to the same effect.
Miss Magnolia Kennedy swore that she was behind Helen Ferguson and Helen Ferguson did not ask for Mary Phagan's pay envelope.
On cross-examination, she stated: "Barrett called my attention to the hair. It looked like Mary's. My machine was right next to Mary's. Mary's hair was a light brown, kind of sandy color." She did not see the blood spots on the floor, but, she said, "You could plainly see the dark spots and white spot over it ten or twelve feet away."
Wade Campbell, another employee, was the brother of Mrs. White, who told him about seeing the Negro on Saturday. "I saw the spots they claim was blood. I couldn't say whether it was blood or not."
On cross-examination, he said, "It is not unusual to see spots all over the metal room floor." Further, he stated, "I have never seen Frank talk to Mary Phagan."
Lemmie Quinn, foreman of the factory, testified that one hundred women worked at the factory: "We have some blood spots quite frequently when people get their hands cut." However, he said, "I noticed the blood spots at the ladies' dressing room on Monday." Further, he declared, "I was in the office and saw Mr. Frank between 12:20 and 12:25."
Several witnesses later testified that Quinn advised them he had visited Frank prior to noon in the factory the Saturday of the murder.
Harry Denham, one of the carpenters on the fourth floor, testified that he was hammering about forty feet from the elevator. "I am sure that the elevator did not run that day, as I could have seen the wheels moving and heard the noise." He completed his work about 3:00 p.m. and left.
A testimony that caused further speculation was that of Minola McKnight, the cook for the Selig's, who testified:
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 twenty minutes after one that day. That was not the dinner hour, but Mrs. Frank and Mrs. Selig were going off to the two o'clock car. They were already eating when Mr. Frank came in. My husband, Albert McKnight, wasn't in the kitchen that day between one and two o'clock at all. Standing in the kitchen door you can-not 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 an-other 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 bull-doze 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 stationhouse 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.
On cross-examination she was shown a copy of her original statement and said:
I signed that statement, 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 [Hugh 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. Campbell] 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 week's wages.
Finally, when the defense requestioned her, she declared:
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 Selig's] always told me to tell the truth and it couldn't hurt.
Mrs. A. P. Levy testified that she saw Frank get off the trolley car on Memorial Day between one and two o'clock. Her cross-examination stated that it was definitely 1:20 because she was looking at the clock.
Mrs. M. G. Michael of Athens testified that she saw Frank at two o'clock that day and observed nothing unusual about him. Her husband, Jerome Michael, stated that he saw Frank between one and two o'clock and noticed absolutely nothing unusual about him. "No scratches, bruises, marks, and no nervousness."
Mrs. Hennie Wolfsheimer swore to the same thing. She was Frank's aunt and was corroborated by Julian Loeb, a cousin to Mrs. Frank, as well as by Cohen Loeb and H. J. Hinchey.
Emil Selig, Frank's father-in-law, testified to Leo Frank's natural conduct:
My wife and I live with Mr. Frank and his wife. The kitchen in our house is next to the dining room. There is a small passageway between them. The sideboard in the dining room is in the same position now as it has always been. Mr. Frank took breakfast before I did on April 26th and left the house before I breakfasted. I got back home to dinner at about 1:15. My wife and Mrs. Frank were eating then. They told me in the morning to come home a little sooner, that they wanted to go to Grand Opera that afternoon and have dinner a little earlier than usual, and I came home a little earlier. Mr. Frank came in after I did, about 1:20. There was nothing unusual about him. No scratches or bruises about him. He sat down to his meal. The ladies left us while he was still eating. I don't know what Mr. Frank did after dinner. I went out to the chicken yard. Mr. Frank was still in the hall when I got back. I laid down and went to sleep. I did not see him when he left. I saw him about 6:30 that evening. Mrs. Frank and Mrs. Selig had not yet gotten back. They came in a short while. We ate supper about seven o'clock. I noticed nothing unusual about him at supper. We finished supper about seven twenty-five. Mr. Frank sat in the hall and read. A party of our friends came to the house and played cards after supper. Frank and his wife did not play. They don't play poker. They play bridge. He was reading in the hall while we were playing. He came in one time while we were playing and said he read a story about a baseball umpire's decision, and he was laughing. Frank answered the doorbell several times that evening when the guests came. He and his wife went to bed before the company left, about ten or ten-thirty. He came to the door and told us goodnight and went upstairs. His wife went up shortly afterwards.
Mrs. Rhea Frank, Frank's mother, took the stand. On cross-examination, she stated, "Leo does not have any rich relatives in Brooklyn." Later she said,
As to what my means of support are, we have about $20,000, out at interest, my husband and I, at six per cent. We own the house we live in. We have a $6,000 mortgage on it. The house is worth about $10,000. My husband is doing nothing. He is not in good health. Up to a year ago he was a traveling salesman. These are the only relatives my son has in Brooklyn. Mr. Moses Frank, my brother-in-law, generally spends a Sunday with us in Brooklyn, before he sails for Europe. He spends Sunday with us in Brooklyn and has dinner with us. He was not in Brooklyn on April 26th. He is supposed to be very wealthy. I don't know how much cash my husband has in [the] bank. A few hundred dollars possibly. My husband is 67 years old. He is broken down from hard work and in very poor health. He was too unwell to come down here.
C. F. Urssenbach, Frank's brother-in-law, said he had an engagement with Frank to go to the ballgame on Saturday, but Frank called and cancelled it.
L. Strauss testified that he was at the Selig home Saturday night playing cards and that Frank sat in the hall reading.
Sig Montag, the treasurer of the factory, testified to Frank's coming to him Sunday morning after the murder and he looked all right. He went to the pencil factory that morning, and he called Mr. Haas, his personal counsel.
In total, the defense produced nearly two hundred witnesses, all white and principally from Atlanta, who largely corroborated Frank's version of what had happened the day of the murder and to discredit the state's witnesses. In addition, so as to offset the testimony concerning sexual liaisons in the factory as well as Frank's alleged misconduct with female employees, the defense was determined to establish Frank's good character, which, of course, carried with it the opportunity for the prosecution to introduce subsequent evidence as to Frank's alleged bad reputation and character.
Jim Conley's reputation and past experiences, including his drinking habits, problems with the law, and history of petty theft and disorderly conduct, were heavily attacked by the defense lawyers and witnesses. The core of this focus was the question: could Jim Conley be believed?
Mrs. Rebecca Carson, a forelady at the pencil factory, testified that the elevator was noisy when it ran and that Jim Conley told her on Monday he was so drunk the previous Saturday he did not know where he was or what he did. She also stated that she overheard Jim say that "Frank is innocent as an angel; and when my mother said 'The murderer will be the Negro Mrs. White saw sitting on a box at the foot of the stairs,' Jim dropped his broom quick and didn't finish sweeping."
Mrs. E. M. Carson testified that she saw blood spots around the ladies dressing room three or four times later she recalled that Conley said, "Mr. Frank is as innocent as you is, and I know you is." She told Conley that "Whenever they find the murderer of Mary Phagan it's going to be the 'nigger' that was sitting near the elevator when Mrs. White went upstairs." "Further," she said, "I would not believe Conley on oath."
Miss Mary Pirk, another forelady at the factory, testified "I talked with Jim Conley the Monday after the murder. I accused him of the murder and he took his broom and walked right out of the office." She swore that she wouldn't believe Jim on oath.
On cross-examination, Miss Pirk stated that she did not tell Frank of her suspicions and that she suspected Jim "because he looked and acted so differently."
I accused Jim before I saw the blood at the ladies' dressing room. It was all smeared over with some kind of white stuff. It covered about two feet in area. I mentioned it to the girls before Jim was arrested. I am not sure whether it was before or after. It was after the Coroner's inquest. I have seen several spots in the factory that looked like that spot many times. All kinds of spots. I have seen spots before that looked like that. I don't know exactly when. My opinion is that Mr. Frank is a perfect gentleman. I always found him to be one in my dealings with him. I have never heard any of the girls say anything about him.
Another important defense witness was Daisy Hopkins. She had been named by Jim Conley as one of the girls Dalton and Frank brought to the factory for immoral purposes:
I am a married woman. I worked in the factory from October 1911 to June 1st, 1912. I worked in the packing department on the second floor. Mr. Frank never spoke to me when he would pass. I never did speak to him. I've never been in his office drinking beer, Coca-Cola, or anything else. I know Dalton when I see him. I never visited the factory with him, I never have been with him until I went to his to see Mrs. Taylor, who lived with him then. That was the only place I have ever seen him. I never have been to the factory on Saturday or any other day. I never introduced him to Mr. Frank. There isn't a word of truth in that. I have never gone down in the basement with this fellow, Dalton. I don't even know where the basement is at all. I have never been anywhere in the factory, except at my work.
It was brought out under cross-examination by Dorsey that Mrs. Hopkins had been arrested but not tried for fornication. She said:
I have never been in jail. Mr. W.W. Smith got me out of jail. Somebody told a tale on me, that's why I was put in jail. I don't know what they charged me with, they accused me of fornication.
On redirect examination, she stated:
I never was tried. I never had to pay anything except my lawyer's fee, which I paid to Mr. William Smith. I never was taken to court.
Miss Dora Small testified that she worked at the factory and saw Jim Conley on the fourth floor Tuesday. "I did not see Frank talk to Conley," she said. Later, she said, "Jim worried me with money so he could buy a newspaper, and every time he heard a newsboy yell 'Extra!' Jim would go to me and beg to see the paper before I finished reading." She continued by stating that Conley's reputation for truth and veracity was bad.
Miss Julia Fuss said, after being sworn in, "I work on the fourth floor of the factory and I talked to him (Conley) Wednesday morning after the murder. He told me he believed Mr. Frank was just as innocent as the angels from heaven." Further she said, "Jim was never known to tell the truth."
On cross-examination, she testified that Frank came up the stairs Tuesday where Conley was but she did not see them talking.
In all, forty-nine women employees at the pencil factory testified that Leo Frank's general reputation and his reputation for moral rectitude was good.
No one realized when Alonzo Mann, Frank's office boy, testified that it would be his revelations sixty-nine years later which brought the Leo Frank-Mary Phagan murder case once again into national prominence.
I am office boy at the National Pencil Company. I began working there April 1, 1913. I sit sometimes in the outer office and stand around in the outer hall. I left the factory at half past eleven on April 26th. When I left there Miss Hall, the stenographer from Montag's, was in the office with Mr. Frank. Mr. Frank told me to phone Mr. Schiff and tell him to come down. I telephoned him, but the girl answered the phone and said he hadn't got up yet. I telephoned once. I worked there two Saturday afternoons of the weeks previous to the murder and stayed there until half past three or four. Frank was always working during that time. I never saw him bring any women into the factory and drink with them. I have never seen Dalton there. On April 26, I saw Holloway, Irby, McCrary and Darley at the factory. I didn't see Quinn. I don't remember seeing Corinthia Hall, Mrs. Freeman, Mrs. White, Graham, Tillander, or Wade Campbell. I left there eleven-thirty. [See Chapters 10 and 12 for complete testimony of Alonzo Mann]
Despite Jim Conley's allegations that Leo Frank had said, "You know I ain't built like other men;" several physicians who examined Frank during his incarceration testified that he was anatomically normal. Other physicians tried to ascertain more precisely the exact time of Mary Phagan's death by giving their opinions on the digestive processes entailed after Mary's last meal, but they were largely unsuccessful as there was much difference of opinion.
Fifty-six associates of Frank at Cornell University, in Brooklyn, and in Atlanta testified as to his general good character as an upright and law-abiding citizen.
Georgia law in 1913 stipulated that no defendant could be sworn to testify for himself. Judge Roan read Frank the law: "In criminal procedure the prisoner will have the right to make to the court and jury such statement in the case as he shall deem proper in his defense. It shall be not under oath and shall have such force as the jury shall think right to give it. They may believe it in preference to sworn testimony. The prisoner shall not be compelled to answer any questions on cross-examination. He should feel free to decline to answer. Now you can make such statements as you see fit."
Concluding the defense's case, Frank submitted a lengthy statement on the stand August 18, 1913, and he refused to be cross-examined. He spoke for four hours:
"Gentlemen of the Jury: In the year 1884, on the 17th day of April, I was born in Paris, Texas. At the age of three months, my parents took me to Brooklyn, New York, and I remained in my home until I came South, to Atlanta, to make my home here. I attended the public schools of Brooklyn, and prepared for college at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York. In the fall of 1902, I entered Cornell University, where I took the course in mechanical engineering, and graduated after four years, in June, 1906. I then accepted a position as draftsman with the B.F. Sturtevant Company, of High Park, Massachusetts. After remaining with this firm for about six months, I returned once more to my home in Brooklyn, where I accepted a position as testing engineer and draftsman with the National Meter Company of Brooklyn, New York. I remained in this position until about the middle of October, 1907, when, at the invitation of some citizens of Atlanta, I came South to confer with them in reference to the starting and operation of a pencil factory, to be located in Atlanta. After remaining here for about two weeks, I returned once more to New York, where I engaged passage and went to Europe. I remained in Europe nine months. During my sojourn abroad, I studied the pencil business, and looked after the erection and testing of the machinery which had been previously contracted for. The first part of August, 1908, I returned once more to America, and immediately came South to Atlanta, which has remained my home ever since. I married in Atlanta, an Atlanta girl, Miss Lucile Selig. The major portion of my married life has been spent at the home of my parents-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. E. Selig, at 68 East Georgia Avenue. My married life has been exceptionally happy—indeed, it has been the happiest days of my life. . . .
On my arrival at the factory, I found Mr. Holloway, the day watchman, at his usual place, and I greeted him in my usual way; I found Alonzo Mann, the office boy, in the outer office. I took off my coat and hat and opened my desk and opened the safe, and assorted the various books and files and wire trays containing the various papers that were placed there the evening before, and distributed them in their proper places about the office. I then went out to the shipping room and conversed a few minutes with Mr. Irby, who at that time was shipping clerk, concerning the work which he was going to do that morning, though, to the best of my recollection, we did no shipping that day, due to the fact that the freight offices were not receiving any shipments, due to its being a holiday. I returned to my office and looked through the papers, and assorted out those which I was going to take over on my usual trip to the General Manager's office that morning. . . . Of all the mathematical work in the office of the pencil factory, this very operation, this very piece of work that I have now before me, is the most important, it is the invoices covering shipments that are sent to customers, and it is very important that the prices be correct, that the amount of goods shipped agrees with the amount which is on the invoice, and that the terms are correct, and that the address is correct, and also in some cases, I don't know whether there is one like that here, there are freight deductions, all of which have to be very carefully checked over and looked into, because I know of nothing else that exasperates a customer more than to receive invoices that are incorrect; moreover, on this morning, this operation of this work took me longer than it usually takes an ordinary person to complete the checking of the invoices, because usually one calls out and the other checks, but I did this work all by myself that morning, and as I went over these invoices, I noticed that Miss Eubanks, the day before, had evidently sacrificed ac-curacy to speed, and every one of them was wrong, so I had to go alone over the whole invoice, and I had to make the corrections as I went along, figure them out, extend them, make deductions for freight, if there were any to be made, and then get the total shipments, because, when these shipments were made on *April 24th, which was Thursday, this was the last day of our fiscal week, it was on this that I made that financial sheet which I make out every Saturday after-noon, as has been my custom, it is on this figure of total shipments I make that out, so necessarily it would be the total shipments for the week that had to be figured out, and I had to figure every invoice and arrange it in its entirety so I could get a figure that I would be able to use. . . .*Analysis of Defense Exhibits in Brief of Evidence: Exhibit 9: Financial Sheet for November 25,1909-April 24, 1913; Exhibit 46: Financial Sheet for January 18, 1913-April 24, 1913; Exhibit Dates for orders, etc. April 21, 1913: 4c; April 22, 1913; 27, 28; April 23, 1913: 25; April 24, 1913: 2, 3, 4a (3 sheets), 4b, 5, 6, 11, 25, 29, 30, 31, 43, 45; April 25, 1913: 32, 33, 34, 25, 1913. No financial records/house books for April 26, 1913, were submitted by the Defense.
Question: Should we include items submitted during trial?
Atlanta Journal, May 6, 1913
Coroner asked Leo Frank:
"When did you work on the house books?" he was asked.
"Not on Saturday," he said. [Leo Frank answered]
I started on this work, as I said, and had gone into it in some detail, to show you the carefulness with which the work must be carried out. I was at work on this one at about nine o'clock, as near as I remember, Mr. Darley and Mr. Wade Campbell, the inspector of the factory, came into the outer office, and I stopped what work I was doing that day on this work, and went to the outer office and chatted with Mr. Darley and Mr. Campbell for ten or fifteen minutes, and conversed with them, and joked with them, and while I was talking to them, I should figure about nine fifteen, a quarter after nine, Miss Mattie Smith came in and asked me for her pay envelope, and for that of her sister-in-law and I went to the safe and unlocked it and got out the package of envelopes that Mr. Schiff had given me the evening before, and gave her the required two envelopes, and placed the remaining envelopes that I got out, that were left over from the day previous, in my cash box, where I would have them handy in case others might come in, and I wanted to have them near at hand without having to jump up and go to the safe every time in order to get them; I keep my cash box in the lower drawer on the left hand side of my desk. After Miss Smith had gone away with the envelopes, a few minutes, Mr. Darley came back with the envelopes, and pointed out to me an error in one of them, either the sister-in-law of Miss Mattie Smith, she had gotten too much money, and when I had deducted the amount that was too much, that amount balanced the payroll, the error in the payroll that I had noticed the night before, and left about five or ten cents over; those things usually right themselves anyhow. I continued to work on those invoices, when I was interrupted by Mr. Lyons, Superintendent of Montag Brothers, coming in, he brought me a pencil display box that we call the Panama assortment box, and he left it with me, he seemed to be in a hurry, and I told him if he would wait for a minute I would go over to Montag Brothers with him, as I was going over there; and he stepped out to the outer office, and as soon as I come to a convenient stopping place in the work, I put the papers I had made out to take with me in a folder, and put on my hat and coat and went to the outer office, when I found that Mr. Lyons had already left. Mr. Darley left with me, about nine thirty-five or nine forty, and we passed out of the factory, and stopped at the corner of Hunter and Forsyth Streets, where we each had a drink at Cruickshank's soda fount, where I bought a package of favorite cigarettes, and after we had our drink, we conversed together there for some time, and I lighted a cigarette and told him good-bye, as he went in one direction, and I went on my way then to Montag Brothers where I arrived, as nearly as may be, at ten o'clock, or a little after; on entering Montag Brothers, I spoke to Mr. Sig Montag, the General Manager of the business, and then the papers which I collected, which lay on his desk, I took the papers out and transferred them into the folder, and distributed them at the proper places at Montag Brothers. I don't know just what papers they were, but I know there were several of them, and I went on chatting with Mr. Montag, and I spoke to Mr. Matthews, and Mr. Cross, of the Montag Brothers, and after that I spoke to Miss Hattie Hall, the pencil company's stenographer, who stays at Montag Brothers, and asked her to come over and help me that morning; as I have already told you, practically every one of these invoices was wrong, and I wanted her to help me on that work, and in dictating the mail; in fact, I told her I had enough work to keep her busy that whole afternoon if she would agree to stay, but she said she didn't want to do that, she wanted to have at least half a holiday on Memorial Day. I then spoke to several of the Montag Brothers' force on business matters and other matters, and after that I saw Harry Gottheimer, the sales manager of the National Pencil Company, and I spoke at some length with him in reference to several of his orders that were in work at the factory, there were two of his orders especially that he laid special stress on, as he said he desired to ship them right away, and I told him I didn't know how far along in process of manufacture the orders had proceeded, but if he would go back with me then I would be very glad to look for it, and then tell him when we could ship them, and he said he couldn't go right away, he was busy, but he would come a little later, and I told him I would be glad for him to come over later that morning or in the afternoon, as I would be there until about one o'clock, and after three. I then took my folder and returned to Forsyth Street alone. On arrival at Forsyth Street, I went to the second or office floor, and I noticed the clock, and it indicated five minutes after eleven o'clock. I saw Mr. Holloway there, and I told him he could go as soon as he got ready, and he told me he had some work to do for Harry Denham and Arthur White, who were doing some repair work up on the top floor, and he would do the work first. I then went into the office, I went into the outer office, and found Miss Hattie Hall, who had preceded me over from Montag's, and another lady who introduced herself to me as Mrs. Arthur White, and the office boy; Mrs. Arthur White wanted to see her husband, and I went into the inner office, and took off my coat and hat, and removed the papers which I had brought back from Montag Brothers in the folder, and put the folder away. It was about this time that I heard the elevator motor start up and the circular saw in the carpenter shop, which is right next to it, running. I heard it saw through some boards, which I supposed was the work that Mr. Holloway had referred to. I separated the orders from the letters which required answers, and took the other material, the other printed matter that didn't need immediate attention. I put that in various trays, and I think it was about this time that I concluded I would look and see how far along the reports were, which I use in getting up my financial report every Saturday afternoon, and to my surprise I found that the sheet which contains the record of pencils packed for the week didn't include the report for Thursday, the day the fiscal week ends; Mr. Schiff evidently, in the stress of getting up, figuring out, and filling the envelopes for the payroll on Friday, instead of, as usual, on Friday and half the day Saturday, had evidently not had enough time. I told Alonzo Mann, the office boy, to call up Mr. Schiff, and find out when he was coming down, and Alonzo told me the answer came back over the telephone that Mr. Schiff would be right down, so I didn't pay any more attention to that part of the work, because I expected Mr. Schiff to come down any minute. It was about this time that Mrs. Emma Clark Freeman and Miss Corinthia Hall, two of the girls who worked on the fourth floor, came in, and asked permission to go upstairs and get Mrs. Freeman's coat, which I readily gave, and I told them at the same time to tell Arthur White that his wife was downstairs. A short time after they left my office, two gentlemen came in, one of them a Mr. Graham, and the other the father of a boy by the name of Earle Burdette; these two boys had gotten into some sort of trouble during the noon recess the day before, and were taken down to police headquarters, and of course didn't get their envelopes the night before, and I gave the required pay envelopes to the two fathers, and chatted with them at some length in reference to the trouble their boys had gotten into the day previous. But just before they left the office, Mrs. Emma Clark Freeman and Miss Corinthia Hall came into my office and asked permission to use the telephone, and they started to the telephone, during which time these two gentlemen left my office. But previous to that, when these two gentlemen came in, I had gotten Miss Hattie Hall in and dictated what mail I had to give her, and she went out and was typewriting the mail; before these girls finished the typewriting of these letters and brought them to my desk to read over and sign, which work I started. Miss Clark and Miss Hall left the office, as near as may be, at a quarter to twelve, and went out, and I started to work reading over the letters and signing the mail . . .
Miss Hall left my office on her way home at this time, and to the best of my information there were in the building Arthur White and Harry Denham and Arthur White's wife on the top floor. To the best of my knowledge, it must have been from ten to fifteen minutes after Miss Hall left my office, when this little girl, whom I afterwards found to be Mary Phagan, entered my office and asked for her pay envelope. I asked for her number and she told me; I went to the cash box and took her envelope out and handed it to her identifying the envelope by the number. She left my office and apparently had gotten as far as the door from my office leading to the outer office, when she evidently stopped and asked me if the metal had arrived, and I told her, no. She continued on her way out and I heard the sound of her footsteps as she went away. It was a few moments after she asked me this question that I had an impression of a female voice saying something; I don't know which way it came from; just passed away and I had that impression. This little girl had evidently worked in the metal department by her question and had been laid off owing to the fact that some metal that had been ordered had not arrived at the factory; hence, her question. I only recognized this little girl from having seen her around the plant and did not know her name, simply identifying her envelope from her having called her number to me.
She had left the plant hardly five minutes when Lemmie Quinn, the foreman of the plant, came in and told me that I could not keep him away from the factory, even though it was a holiday; at which I smiled and kept on working. He first asked me if Mr. Schiff had come down and I told him he had not and he turned around and left. I continued work until I finished this work and these requisitions and I looked at my watch and noticed that it was a quarter to one. I called my home up on the telephone, for I knew that my wife and my mother-in-law were going to the matinee and I wanted to know when they would have lunch. I got my house and Minola answered the phone and she answered me back that they would have lunch immediately and for me to come right on home. I then gathered my papers together and went upstairs to see the boys on the top floor. This must have been, since I had just looked at my watch, ten minutes to one. I noticed in the evidence of one of the witnesses, Mrs. Arthur White, she states it was twelve thirty-five that she passed by and saw me. That is possibly true; I have no recollection about it; perhaps her recollection is better than mine; I have no remembrance of it; however, I expect that is so. When I arrived upstairs I saw Arthur White and Harry Denham who had been working up there and Mr. White's wife. I asked them if they were ready to go and they staid they had enough work to keep them several hours. I noticed that they had laid out some work and I had to see what work they had done and were going to do. I asked Mr. White's wife if she was going or would stay there as I would be obliged to lock up the factory, and Mrs. White said, No, she would go then. I went down and gathered up my papers and locked my desk and went around and washed my hands and put on my hat and coat and locked the inner door to my office and locked the doors to the street and started to go home.
Now, gentlemen, to the best of my recollection from the time the whistle blew for twelve o'clock until a quarter to one when I went upstairs and spoke to Arthur White and Harry Denham, to the best of my recollection, I did not stir out of the inner office; but it is possible that in order to answer a call of nature or to urinate I may have gone to the toilet. Those are things that a man does unconsciously and can not tell how many times not when he does it. Now, sitting in my office at my desk, it is impossible for me to see out into the outer hall when the safe door is open, as it was that morning, and not only is it impossible for me to see out, but it is impossible for people to see in and see me there.
I continued on up Forsyth to Alabama and down Alabama to Whitehall where I waited a few minutes for a car, and after a few minutes a Georgia Avenue car came along; I took it and arrived home at about one twenty. When I arrived at home, I found that my wife and my mother-in-law were eating their dinner, and my father-in-law had just sat down and started his dinner. I sat down to dinner and before I had taken anything, I turned in my chair to the telephone, which is right behind me and called up my brother-in-law to tell him that on account of some work I had to do at the factory, I would be unable to go with him, he having invited me to go with him out to the ballgame. I succeeded in getting his residence and his cook answered the phone and told me that Mr. Ursenbach had not come back home. I told her to give him a message for me, that I would be unable to go with him. I turned around and continued eating my lunch, and after a few minutes my wife and mother-in-law finished their dinner and left and told me goodbye. My father-in-law and myself continued eating our dinner, Minola McKnight serving us. After finishing dinner, my father-in-law said he would go out in the back yard to look after his chickens and I lighted a cigarette and laid down. After a few minutes I got up and walked up Georgia Avenue to get a car. I missed the ten minutes to two car and I looked up and saw in front of Mr. Wolfsheimer's residence, Mrs. Mickle, an aunt of my wife who lives in Athens, and there were several ladies there and I went up there to see them and after a few minutes Mrs. Wolfsheimer came out of the house and I waited there until I saw that I could catch the car. I got on the car and talked to Mr. Loeb on the way to town. The car got to a point about the intersection of Washington Street and Hunter Street and the fire engine house and there was a couple of cars stalled up ahead of us, the cars were waiting there to see the memorial parade; they were all banked up. After it stood there a few minutes as I did not want to wait, I told Mr. Loeb that I was going to get out and go on as I had work to do. So I went on down Hunter Street, going in the direction of Whitehall and when I got down to the corner of Whitehall and Hunter, the parade had started to come around and I could not get around at all and I had to stay there fifteen or twenty minutes and see the parade.
Then I walked on down Whitehall on the side of Mr. M. Rich & Bros. Store towards Brown and Allens; when I got in front of M. Rich & Bros. store, I stood there between half past two and a few minutes to three o'clock until the parade passed entirely; then I crossed the street and went on down to Jacobs and went in and purchased twenty-five cents worth of cigars. I then left the store and went on down Alabama Street to Forsyth Street and down Forsyth Street to the factory. I unlocked the street door and then unlocked the inner door and left it open and went on upstairs to tell the boys that I had come back and wanted to know if they were ready to go, and at that time they were preparing to leave. I went immediately down to my office and opened the safe and my desk and hung up my coat and hat and started to work on the financial report, which I will explain. Mr. Schiff had not come down and there was additional work for me to do.
In a few minutes after I started to work on the financial sheet, which I am going to take up in a few minutes, I heard the bell ring on the time clock outside and Arthur White and Harry Denham came into the office and Arthur White borrowed $2.00 from me in advance on his wages. I had gotten to work on the financial sheet, figuring it out, when I happened to go out to the lavatory and on returning to the office, the door pointed out directly in front, I noticed Newt Lee, the watchman, coming from towards the head of the stairs, coming towards me. I looked at the clock and told him the night before to come back at four o'clock for I expected to go to the baseball game. At that time Newt Lee came along and greeted me and offered me a banana out of a yellow bag which he carried, which I presume contained bananas; I declined the banana and told him that I had no way of letting him know sooner that I was to be there at work and that I had changed my mind about going to the ballgame. I told him that he could go if he wanted to or he could amuse himself in any way that he saw fit for an hour and a half, but to be sure and be back by half past six o'clock. He went off down the stair-case leading out and I returned to my office. Now, in reference to Newt Lee, the watchman, the first night he came there to watch, I personally took him around the plant, first, second, and third floors and into the basement, and told him that he would be required, that it was his duty, to go over that entire building every half hour; not only to completely tour the upper four floors but to go down to the basement; and I specially stressed the point that that dust bin along here was one of the most dangerous places for a fire and I wanted him to be sure and go back there every half hour and to be careful how he held his lantern. I told him it was a part of his duty to look after and lock that back door and he fully understood it, and I showed him the cut-off for the electric current and told him in case of fire that ought to be pulled so no fireman coming in would be electrocuted. I explained everything to him in detail and told him he was to make that tour every half hour and stamp it on the time card and that that included the basement of the building. . . . Now, on one of these slips, Newt Lee would register his punches Saturday night, and on Sunday night he would register his punches on the other. His punches on Monday night would be registered on two new slips that would be put into the clock on Monday night. As I was putting these time slips into the clock, as mentioned, I saw Newt Lee coming up the stairs, and looking at the clock, it was as near as may be six o'clock—looking straight at the clock; I finished putting the slip in and went back to wash up, and as I was washing, I heard Newt Lee ring the bell on the clock when he registered his first punch for the night, and he went downstairs to the front door to await my departure; after washing, I went downstairs—I put on my hat and coat—got my hat and top coat and went downstairs to the front door. As I opened the front door, I saw outside on the street, on the street side of the door, Newt Lee in conversation with Mr. J. M. Gantt, a man that I had let go from the office two weeks previous. They seemed to be in discussion, and Newt Lee told me that Mr. Gantt wanted to go back up into the factory, and he had refused his admission, because his instructions were for no one to go back into the factory after he went out, unless he got contrary instructions from Mr. Darley or myself. I spoke to Mr. Gantt, and asked him what he wanted, he said he had a couple of pairs of shoes, black pair and tan pair, in the shipping room. I told Newt Lee it would be all right to pass Gantt in and Gantt went in, Newt Lee closed the door, locking it after him—I heard the bolt turn in the door. I then walked up Forsyth Street to Alabama, down Alabama to Broad Street, where I posted the two letters, one to my uncle, Mr. M. Frank, and one to Mr. Pappenheimer, a few minutes after six, and continued on my way down to Jacobs Whitehall and Alabama Street store, where I went in and got a drink at the soda fount, and bought my wife a box of candy. I then caught the Georgia Avenue car and arrived home about six twenty-five. I sat looking at the paper until about six-thirty when I called up at the factory to find out if Mr. Gantt had left. I called up at six-thirty because I expected Newt Lee would be punching the clock on the half hour and would be near enough to the telephone to hear it and answer it at that time. I couldn't get Newt Lee then, so I sat in the hall reading until seven o'clock, when I again called the factory; this time I was successful in getting Newt Lee and asked him if Mr. Gantt had gone again; he said, "Yes," I asked if everything else was all right at the factory; it was, and then I hung up. . . .
The next day, Sunday, April 27th, I was awakened at something before seven o'clock, by the telephone ringing. I got out of bed—was tight asleep, it awakened me—but I got out of bed, put on a bathrobe and went down to answer the telephone, and a man's voice spoke to me over the phone and said—I after-wards found out this man that spoke to me was City Detective Starnes—said "Is this Mr. Frank, Superintendent of the National Pencil Company?" I said, "Yes, sir," he says, "I want you to come down to the factory right away," I says, "What's the trouble, has there been a fire?" He says, "No, a tragedy, I want you to come down right away," I says, "All right," he says, "I'll send an automobile for you," I says, "All right," and hung up and went upstairs to dress. I was in the midst of dressing to go with the people who should come for me in the automobile, when the automobile drove up, the bell rang, and my wife went downstairs to answer the door. She had on—just had a night dress with a robe over it. I followed my wife—I wasn't completely dressed at that time—didn't have any trousers and shirt on—I went downstairs— followed my wife in a minute or two. I asked them what the trouble was, and the man who I afterwards found out was Detective Black, hung his head and didn't say anything. Now, at this point, these two witnesses, Mr. Rogers and Mr. Black, differ with me on the place where the conversation occurred—I say, to the best of my recollection, it occurred right there in the house in front of my wife; they say it occurred just as I left the house, in the automobile; but be that as it may, this is the conversation: They asked me did I know Mary Phagan, I told them I didn't, they said to me, "Didn't a little girl with long hair hanging down her back come up to your office yesterday sometime for her money—a little girl who works in the tipping plant?" I says, "Yes, I do remember such a girl coming up to my office, that worked in the tipping room, but I didn't know her name was Mary Phagan." "Well, we want you to come down right away with us to the factory," and I finished dressing; and as they had said they would bring me right away back, I didn't have breakfast, but went right on with them in the automobile, made the trip to the undertaking establishment very quickly—I mean, they made the trip downtown very quickly, and stopped at the corner of Mitchell and Pryor Streets, told me they were going to take me to the undertaker's first, that they wanted me to see the body and see if I could identify the little girl. I went with them to the undertaking establishment and one of the two men asked the attendant to show us the way into where the body was, and the attendant went down a long dark passageway with Mr. Rogers following, then I came, and Black brought up the rear; we walked down this long passageway until we got to a place that was apparently the door to a small room—very dark in there, the attendant went on and suddenly switched on the electric light, and I saw the body of the little girl. Mr. Rogers walked in the room and stood to my right, inside of the room. I stood right in the door, leaning up against the right facing the door, and Mr. Black was to the left, leaning on the left facing, but a little to my rear, and the attendant, whose name I have since learned was Mr. Chessling, [sic] was on the opposite side of the little cooling table to where I stood—in other words, the table was between him and me; he re-moved the sheet which was covering the body, and took the head in his hands, turned it over, put his finger exactly where the wound in the left side back of the head was located—put his finger right on it; I noticed the hands and arms of the little girl were very dirty—blue and ground with dirt and cinders, the nostrils and mouth—the mouth being open—nostrils and mouth just full of sawdust and swollen, and there was a deep scratch over the left eye on the forehead; about the neck, there was twine—a piece of cord similar to that which is used at the pencil factory and also a piece of white rag. After looking at the body, I identified that little girl as the one that had been up shortly after noon the day previous and got her money from me. We then left the undertaking establishment, got in the automobile, and rode over to the pencil factory. Just as we arrived opposite the pencil factory, I saw Mr. Darley going into the front door of the pencil factory with another man, whose name I didn't know; we went up to the second floor, the office floor, I went into the inner office, hung up my hat, and in the inner office, I saw the night watchman, Newt Lee, in the custody of an officer, who I think was Detective Starnes—the man who had phoned me. I then unlocked the safe and took out the payroll book and found that it was true that a little girl by the name of Mary Phagan did work in the metal plant, and that she was due to draw $1.20, the payroll book showed that, and as the detective had told me that someone had identified the body of that little girl as that of Mary Phagan, there could be no question but that it was one and the same girl. The detectives told me then they wanted to take me down in the basement and show me exactly where the girl's body was found, and the other paraphernalia that they found strewed about; and I went to the elevator box—the switch box, so that I could turn on the current, and found it open. . . . However, I turned on the switch, started the motor, which runs the elevator, then Mr. Darley and half dozen more of us and the detectives got on the elevator; I got on the elevator and I started to pull the rope to start the elevator to going, and it seemed to be caught, and I couldn't move it, I couldn't move it with a straight pull, and couldn't get it loose, so I jumped out, we all got off, and I asked Mr. Darley to try his hand—he's a great deal larger man and a great deal stronger man than I was—so he was successful in getting it loose—it seemed like the chain which runs down in the basement had slipped a cog and gotten out of gear and needed somebody to force it back; however, Mr. Darley was successful in getting it loose, and it started up, and I got on and the detectives got on and I caught hold of the rope and it worked all right. In the basement, the officers showed us just about where the body was found, just beyond the partition of the Clark Woodenware Company, and in behind the door to the dust bin, they showed us where they found the hat and slipper on the trash pile, and they showed us where the back door, where the door to the rear was opened about eighteen inches. After looking about the basement, we all went upstairs and Mr. Darley and myself got some cords and some nails and hammer and went down the basement again to lock up the back door, so that we could seal the factory from the back, and nobody would enter. After returning upstairs, Mr. Darley and myself accompanied Chief Lanford on a tour of inspection through the three upper floors of the factory, to the second floor, to the third floor and to the fourth floor, we looked into each bin, and each partition, and each dressing room and looked into that very dressing room that has figured so prominently in this trial, and neither Mr. Darley nor myself noticed anything peculiar on that floor, nor did Sergeant Lanford, Chief of the Atlanta detectives, notice anything peculiar. . . . Now, gentlemen, I have heard a great deal, and have you, in this trial, about nervousness, about how nervous I was that morning. Gentlemen, I was nervous, I was completely unstrung, I will admit it; imagine, awakened out of my sound sleep, and a morning run down in the cool of the morning in an automobile driven at top speed, without any food or breakfast, rushing into a dark passageway, coming into a darkened room, and then suddenly an electric light flashed on, and to see that sight that was presented by that poor little child; why, it was a sight that was enough to drive a man to distraction; that was a sight that would have made a stone melt; and then it is suspicious, because a man who is ordinary flesh and blood should show signs of nervousness. Just imagine that little girl, in the first blush of young womanhood, had had her life so cruelly snuffed out, might a man not be nervous who looked at such a sight? Of course I was nervous; any man would be nervous if he was a man. We went with the officers in the automobile, Mr. Rogers was at the driving wheel, and Mr. Darley sat next to him, I sat on Mr. Darley's lap, and in the back was Newt Lee and two officers. We rode to headquarters very quickly and on arrival there Mr. Darley and I went up to Chief Lanford's office where I sat and talked and answered every one of their questions freely and frankly, and discussed the matter in general with them, trying to aid and to help them in any way that I could. It seemed that, that morning the notes were not readily accessible, or for some other reason I didn't get to see them, so I told them on leaving there that I would come back that afternoon, which I ultimately did; after staying there a few minutes, Mr. Darley and myself left, and inasmuch as Mr. Darley hadn't seen the body of the little girl, we went over to Bloomfield's on Pryor Street and Mitchell, and when we went into the establishment, they told us somebody was busy with the body at that time and we couldn't see it, and we started to leave, when we met a certain person with whom we made arrangements to watch the building, because Newt Lee was in custody at that time... .
I was working along in the regular routine of my work, in the factory and about the office, and a little later Detectives Scott and Black came up to the factory and said: "Mr. Frank, we want you to go down to headquarters with us," and I went with them. We went down to headquarters and I have been incarcerated every since. We went down to headquarters in an automobile and they took me up to Chief Lanford's office. I sat up there and answered any questions that he desired, and I had been sitting there sometime when Detective Scott and Detective Black came back with a bundle under their arm. They showed me a little piece of material of some shirt, and asked me if I had a shirt of that material. I looked at it and told them I didn't think I ever had a shirt of that description. In the meantime they brought in Newt Lee, the night watchman, brought him up from a cell and showed him the same sample. He looked at it and immediately recognized it; he said he had a shirt like that, but he didn't remember having worn it for two years, if I remember correctly, that is what he said. Detectives Scott and Black then opened the package they had and disclosed the full shirt [State's Ex. F] of that material that had all the appearance of being freshly stained with blood, and had a very distinct odor. Newt Lee was taken back to the cell. After a time Chief Lanford came over to me and began an examination of my face and of my head and my hands and my arms. I suppose he was trying to hunt to see if he could find any scratches. I stayed in there until about twelve o'clock when Mr. Rosser came in and spoke to the detectives, or to Chief Beavers. After talking with Chief Beavers he came over to me and said to me that Chief Beavers thought it better that I should stay down there. He says: "He thinks it better that you be detained at headquarters, but if you desire, you don't need to be locked up in a cell, you can engage a supernumerary policeman who will guard you and give you the freedom of the building." I immediately acquiesced, supposing that I couldn't do anything else, and Mr. Rosser left. Now, after this time, it was about this time they took me from up-stairs down to the District Sergeant's desk and detective Starnes— John N. Starnes, I think his name is—came in and dictated from the original notes that were found near the body, dictated to me to get a sample of my handwriting. I wrote this note at the dictation of Mr. Starnes [State's Ex. K], which was given to me word by word, and of course I wrote it slowly. When a word was spelled differently they usually stopped—take this word "buy" for instance, the detective told me how that was spelled so they could see my exact letters, and compare with the original note. Now I had no hesitation in giving him a specimen of my handwriting. Now, this photograph is a reproduction of the note. You see, J. N. Starnes in the corner here, that is detective Starnes, and then is dated here. I put that there myself so I would be able to recognize it again, in case they tried any erasures or anything like that. It is a photographic reproduction of something that was written in pencil, as near as one can judge, a photographic reproduction of the note that I wrote. Detective Starnes then took me down to the desk sergeant where they searched me and entered my name on the book under a charge of suspicion. Then they took me back into a small room and I sat there for awhile while my father-in-law was arranging for a supernumerary police to guard me for the night. They took me then to a room on the top of the building and I sat in the room there and either read magazines or newspapers and talked to my friends who came to see me until—I was about to retire at midnight. I had the cover of my cot turned back and I was going to bed when Detective Scott and Detective Black, at midnight, Tuesday, April 29th, came in and said: "Mr. Frank, we would like to talk to you a little bit. Come in and talk to us." I says, "Sure, I will be only too glad to." I went with them to a little room on the top floor of the headquarters. In that room was Detective Scott and Detective Black and myself. They stressed the possibility of couples having been let into the factory at night by the night watchman, Newt Lee. I told them that I didn't know anything about it, that if I had, I certainly would have put a stop to it long ago. They said: "Mr. Frank, you have never talked alone with Newt Lee. You are his boss and he respects you. See what you can do with him. We can't get anything more out of him, see if you can." I says: "All right, I understand what you mean; I will do my best," because I was only too willing to help. Black says: "Now put it strong to him, put it up strong to him, and tell him to cough up and tell all he knows. Tell him that you are here and that he is here and that he better open up and tell all he knows about happenings at the pencil factory that Saturday night, or you will both go to hell." Those were the detective's exact words. I told Mr. Black I caught his meaning, and in a few minutes afterwards Detective Starnes brought up Newt Lee from the cell room. They put Newt Lee into a room and hand-cuffed him to a chair. I spoke to him at some length in there, but I couldn't get anything additional out of him. He said he knew nothing about couples coming in there at night, and remembering the instructions Mr. Black had given me I said: "Now, Newt, you are here and I am here, and you had better open up and tell all you know, and tell the truth and tell the full truth, because you will get us both into lots of trouble if you don't tell all you know," and he answered me like an old Negro: "Before God, Mr. Frank, I am telling you the truth and I have told you all I know." And the conversation ended right there. Within a minute or two afterwards the detectives came back into the room, that is, Detective Scott and Detective Black, and then began questioning Newt Lee, and then it was that I had my first initiation into the third degree in Atlanta police department. The way that fellow Black cursed at that poor old Negro, Newt Lee, was something awful. He shrieked at him, he hollered at him, he cursed and did everything but beat him. Then they took Newt Lee down to a cell and I went to my cot in the outer room. . . .
Gentlemen, I know nothing whatever of the death of little Mary Phagan. I had no part in causing her death nor do I know how she came to her death after she took her money and left my office. I never even saw Conley in the factory or anywhere else on that date, April 26th, 1913.
The statement of the witness Dalton is utterly false as far as coming to my office and being introduced to me by the woman Daisy Hopkins is concerned. If Dalton was ever in the factory building with any woman, I didn't know it. I never saw Dalton in my life to know him until this crime. . .
The statement of the Negro Conley is a tissue of lies from first to last. I know nothing whatever of the cause of the death of Mary Phagan and Conley's statement as to his coming up and helping me dispose of the body, or that I had anything to do with her or to do with him that day, is a monstrous lie.
The story as to women coming into the factory with me for immoral purposes is a base lie and the few occasions that he claims to have seen me in indecent positions with women is a lie so vile that I have no language with which to fitly denounce it.
I have no rich relatives in Brooklyn, New York. My father is an invalid. My father and mother together are people of very limited means, who have barely enough upon which to live. My father is not able to work. I have no relative who has any means at all, except Mr. M. Frank who lives in Atlanta, Georgia. Nobody has raised a fund to pay the fees of my attorneys. These fees have been paid by the sacrifice in part of the small property which my parents possess.
Gentlemen, some newspaper men have called me "the silent man in the tower," and I kept my silence and my counsel advisedly, until the proper time and place. The time is now, the place is here, and I have told you the truth, the whole truth.
On rebuttal, the state called more than seventy witnesses. A friend of Minola McKnight's husband and the maid's attorney, George Gordon, testified that Minola said she made a complete and true statement to the police of everything she knew. Her damaging affidavit referred to Frank's drinking on the night of the murder, sleeping restlessly, and threatening to kill himself with a pistol.
Two witnesses, O. Tillander and E. K. Graham, who had come to the factory to obtain their sons' money, testified they saw a Negro about the same size as Conley at the stairs on the first floor but swore they could not positively identify him.
Fourteen witnesses testified that Dalton's reputation for truth was good. In a prosecution attempt to rebut Daisy Hopkins's assertion that she did not know Frank and had never been to the factory with Dalton, eight witnesses testified that the woman's reputation for truth and veracity was bad.
Three witnesses testified that they had seen Frank talk to Mary Phagan frequently and call her by her first name. Others testified to seeing him touch her and attempt to intercept her for conversation. Testimony was introduced that her machine was just a few feet from the men's second floor restroom on the same floor as Frank's office.
At the climax of the prosecution's rebuttal, twenty women, former employees of the pencil company, testified that Frank's reputation for lascivious conduct was bad. None were cross-examined so their testimony went unchallenged. Since they were not cross-examined, Dorsey was unable to examine them as to the details on which they based their conclusions as to Frank's bad character. Three residents of homes for unwed mothers, formerly employees of the factory, had been called by the state to testify as to Frank's bad character, but Judge Roan did not permit the jury to hear their testimony. An example of the testimony by Nellie Wood: Q. Do you know Mr. Frank? A. I worked for him two days. Q. Did you observe his conduct toward the girls? A. His conduct didn't suit me very much. Q. You say he put his hands on you; is that all he ever did? A. Well, he asked me, one evening—I went into his office, and he got too familiar and too close. Q. Did he put his hands on you? A. Well, I did not let him complete what he started. I resisted him. Q. Did he put his hands on your breast? A. No, but he tried to. Q. Well, did he make any attempts on your lower limbs? A. Yes, sir. Q. And on your dress? A. Yes, sir.
Defense Attorney Arnold argued to the jury: "We are not trying this case on whether you or I or Frank have been perfect in the past. This is a case of murder. Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." But this evidence provided the motive for the crime.
Analysis of Frank's Conduct with Girls:
Coroner’s Inquest: 4 girls, 1 male
FRANK’S CONDUCT WITH GIRLS: Nellie Pettis, Lillie Pettis, Mrs. C. D. Donegan, Nellie Wood,Thomas Blackstone
Nellie Pettis: Page 10, Introduction to Coroner’s Inquest
Nellie Pettis, of 9 Oliver Street, declared that Frank had made improper advances on her.
She was asked if she ever had been employed at the pencil factory. “No,” she answered. Q. Do you know Leo Frank?—A. I have seen him once or twice. Q. When and where did you see him?—A. In his office at the factory whenever I went to draw my sister-in-law’s pay. Q. What did he say to you that might have been improper on any of these visits?—A. He didn’t exactly say—he made gestures. I went to get sister’s pay about four weeks ago and when I went into the office of Mr. Frank I asked for her. He told me I couldn’t see her unless “I saw him first.” Says He Winked at Her. “I told him I didn’t want to ‘see him.’ He pulled a box from his desk. It had a lot of money in it. He looked at it significantly and then looked at me. When he looked at me, he winked. As he winked he said: ‘How about it?’ “I instantly told him I was a nice girl.” Here the witness stopped her statement. Coroner Donehoo asked her sharply: “Didn’t you say anything else?” “Yes, I did! I told him to go to h—l! and walked out of his office.”
Thomas Blackstock, who said that he was employed at the factory about a year ago testified as follows: Tells of Frank’s Conduct. Q. Do you know Leo M. Frank?—A. Yes. Q. How long have you known him?—A. About six weeks. Q. Did you ever observe his conduct toward female employees of the pencil factory?—A. Yes. I’ve often seen him picking on different girls. Q. Name some.—A. I can’t exactly recollect names. Q. What was the conduct you noticed particularly? The witness answered to the effect that he had seen him place his hands with undue familiarity upon the person of girls. Q. See it often?—A. A half dozen times, maybe. He generally was seen to become that familiar while he was touring the building. Q. Can’t you name just one girl?—A. Yes. Magnolia Kennedy. Q. Did you see him act with undue familiarity toward her?—A. No. I heard talk about it. Q. Before or after the murder?—A. Afterward. “Girls Tried to Avoid Him.” Q. When did you observe this misconduct of which you have told?—A. A year ago. Q. Did you hear complaints around the plant?—A. No. The girls tried to avoid him.
Mrs. C. D. Donegan said she was connected with the pencil plant for three weeks. Her capacity was that of forelady. She resides at 165 West Fourteenth Street with her husband. Her testimony follows:
“State your observations of Frank’s conduct toward the girls and women of the plant.” “I have noticed him smile and wink at the girls in the place. That was two years ago.” “Did you make a statement to the detectives of undue familiarity you had witnessed?” “I told them that I had seen Frank flirt with the girls and women—that was all I said.”
Nellie Wood: Page 13-14: Introduction to Coroner’s Inquest
Nellie Wood, 8 Corput Street, testified that Frank had attempted familiarities with her in his office, and had put his hands on her and had tried to persuade her to remain with him in his office.
In brief it was this: Q. Do you know Leo Frank?—A. I worked for him two days. Q. Did you observe any misconduct on his part?—A. Well, his actions didn’t suit me. He’d come around and put his hands on me when such conduct was entirely uncalled for. Q. Is that all he did?—A. No. He asked me one day to come into his office, saying that he wanted to talk to me. He tried to close the door, but I wouldn’t let him. He got too familiar by getting so close to me. He also put his hands on me. Q. Where did he put his hands?—A. He barely touched my breast. He was subtle with his approaches, and tried to pretend that he was joking but I was too wary for such as that. Quit His Employ. Q. Did he try further familiarities? —A. Yes. Q. When did this happen?—A. Two years ago. Q. What did you tell him when you left his employ? —A. I just quit, telling him that it didn’t suit me.
Grace Hix (Hicks): Coroner’s Inquest: see Atlanta Journal May 7, 1913
Newspaper Accounts:
Atlanta Constitution Friday, May 9th, 1913 page 270-274
Frank’s Conduct Discussed.
The final two hours of the inquest were occupied in examining witnesses whose testimony pertained to the suspected superintendent’s alleged misconduct with female employees of the plant. These witnesses were Mrs. C. D. Donegan, Tom Blackstock, Nellie Wood and Nellie Pettis. It was the first time such testimony had been introduced, and came as a surprise. The statement of the Pettis girl was the most interesting. She lives at 9 Oliver street and is apparently 18 or 19 years old.
Testifies to Improper Conduct. She first was asked if she ever had been employed at the pencil factory. “No,” she answered. “Do you know Leo Frank?” “I have seen him once or twice.” “When and where did you see him?” “In his office at the factory whenever I went to draw my sister-in-law’s pay.” What did he say to you that might have been improper on any of these visits?” “He didn’t exactly say—he made gestures. I went to get sister’s pay about four weeks ago, and when I went into the office of Mr. Frank, I asked for her. He told me I couldn’t see her unless ‘I saw him first.’ “I told him that I didn’t want to ‘see him.’ He pulled a box from his desk. It had a lot of money in it. He looked at it significantly and then looked at me. When he looked at me, he winked. As he winked he said: ‘How about it?’
“I instantly told him I was a nice girl.” Here the witness stopped her statement. Coroner Donehoo asked her sharply: “Didn’t you say anything else?” “Yes, I did! I told him to go to h—l! and walked out of his office.”
Mrs. C. D. Donegan was next called to the stand. She was connected with the pencil plant for three weeks. Her capacity was that of forelady. She resides at 165 West Fourteenth street with her husband. “Frank Flirted With Women.” Her testimony follows: “State your observations of Frank’s conduct toward the girls and women of the plant.” “I have noticed him smile and wink at the girls in the place. That was two years ago.” “Did you make a statement to the detectives of undue familiarity you had witnessed?” “I told them that I had seen Frank flirt with the girls and women—that was all I said.”
The testimony of Nellie Wood, a young girl of 8 Corput street came next.
In brief it was this: “Do you know Leo Frank?” “I worked for him two days.” “Did you observe any misconduct on his part?” “Well, his actions didn’t suit me. He’d come around and put his hands on me, when such conduct was entirely uncalled for.” “Is that all he did?” “No. He asked me one day to come into his office, saying that he wanted to talk to me. He tried to close the door, but I wouldn’t let him. He got too familiar by getting so close to me. He also put his hands on me.” “Where did he put his hands?” “He barely touched my breast. He was subtle with his approaches, and tried to pretend that he was joking, but I was too wary for such as that.” “Did he try further familiarities?” “Yes.” “When did this happen?” “Two years ago.” “What did you tell him when you left his employ?” “I just quit, telling him that it didn’t suit me.”
Monteen Stover: Coroner’s Inquest; Atlanta Constitution Saturday, GIRL WILL SWEAR OFFICE OF FRANK DESERTED BETWEEN 12:05 AND 12:10May 10th, 1913 pages 282-285
Testimony Considered Important by Officers Because Frank at the Inquest Stated on Stand That He Did Not Leave Between Noon on Saturday and 12:25. When Quinn Came to See Him. SHE WENT TO FACTORY TO GET PAY ENVELOPE – POSITIVE OF THE TIME New Evidence, Just Submitted to Detective Department, Leads Chief Lanford to Believe That Mary Phagan Was Murdered in the Basement — Woman Says She Heard Screams on Saturday Afternoon. A new and important witness has been found in the Mary Phagan murder mystery. She is Monteen Stover, a girl of 14 years, a former employee of the pencil factory. After already having attested to an affidavit now in possession of the solicitor general, she will testify before the grand jury that on the day of Mary Phagan’s disappearance, she entered the pencil plant at 12:05 o’clock in the afternoon and found the office deserted. Also, that she remained five minutes, during which time no one appeared. The building seemed empty of human occupants, she declares, and no sounds came from any part. Expecting to have found the superintendent, she says she went through both the outer and inner offices in search of Frank. Testimony Important Declare Police. The police say that this is valuable evidence because of the testimony of Frank at the inquest to the effect that he remained in his office throughout the time between 12 noon and the time at which Quinn arrived, 35 minutes after 12. Also, they recount his statement that Mary Phagan entered the building at 12:05, the time the Stover girl says she arrived. The latter states she went to draw her pay envelope. She is positive of the time at which she appeared in the office, because she looked at the timeclock on the wall fronting the entrance to the outer office. She was anxious, she says, to ascertain if it was time to draw the pay for which she had come.
In telling of the value of the Stover girl’s testimony, the police refer to Frank’s testimony, which was recorded as follows: “What time did Miss Hall, the stenographer, leave the office Saturday, April 26?” “About 12 noon. I recollect the time because I heard the noon whistles blow.” “What did you do when she departed?” “Started work on my books.” “Were you alone? “So far as I knew.” “Did anyone come in later?” “Yes. Shortly after 12 o’clock, the little girl who was killed entered my office.” When Mary Phagan Reached Office. “Can’t you estimate the time?” “Yes, it was about five minutes after twelve.” “How did you fix the time?” “It seemed that late.” “What time do you say Lemmie Quinn arrived?” “About 12:25 o’clock.” “Were you out of the office from the time the noon whistles blew until Quinn came?” “No.”
Monteen Stover was seen by a Constitution reporter last night at her home, 171 South Forsyth street. She is a daughter by first marriage of Mrs. Homer Edmondson, a boarding housekeeper of that address. She is now employed with a Whitehall street department store as salesgirl. The detectives discovered her last Saturday, when she came again to the pencil factory to draw the pay she had missed on the previous weekend. As she and her mother entered the office, they were questioned by two officers who were stationed in the plant to procure whatever evidence they might find. Monteen told them of her visit on Memorial Day and gave them her name and address. Monday morning she was taken to the office of the solicitor general, where an affidavit was attested to. Went to Factory To Get Her Pay. “I went to the pencil factory that Saturday,” she told the reporter, “to draw my pay. The front door and the door leading to the second floor were unlocked. The whole place was awfully quiet, and kinder scary as I went up the steps. “The minute I got to the office floor I looked at the clock to see if it was time to draw my pay. I would have looked at it, anyhow, I suppose, as it was always customary for me to punch it the first thing upon entering the place to go to work. “It was five minutes after twelve. I was sure Mr. Frank would be in his office, so I stepped in. He wasn’t in the outer office, so I stepped into the inner one. He wasn’t there, either. I thought he might have been somewhere around the building, so I waited. When he didn’t show up in a few minutes, I went to the door and peered further down the floor among the machinery. I couldn’t see him there. “I stayed until the clock hand was pointing exactly to ten minutes after twelve. Then I went downstairs. The building was quiet and I couldn’t hear a sound. I didn’t see anybody. As I walked from the building out to the street I saw four young boys standing close to the entrance. When I first came into the place they were standing on the corner of Forsyth and Hunter streets. They were only young boys.”
Atlanta Georgian, Thursday, May 8, 1913 page 131-132
Testimony along a new line will be given, it is understood by Miss Nellie Wood, 8 Corput Street; Miss Nellie Pettis, 9 Oliver Street, and Mrs. Lilie Pettis, 9 Oliver Street. All three young women will assert that Frank sought to treat them in a familiar manner.
Atlanta Georgian Friday Girls Testify Against Frank., May 9th, 1913 pages 151-155
The most damaging testimony against Frank in regard to his treatment of employees at his factory was saved until the last hours of the hearing. Girls and women were called to the stand to testify that they had been employed at the factory or had had occasion to go there, and that Frank had attempted familiarities with them.
Nellie Pettis, of 9 Oliver Street, declared that Frank had made improper advances on her. She was asked if she ever had been employed at the pencil factory. “No,” she answered. Q. Do you know Leo Frank?—A. I have seen him once or twice. Q. When and where did you see him?—A. In his office at the factory whenever I went to draw my sister-in-law’s pay. Q. What did he say to you that might have been improper on any of these visits?—A. He didn’t exactly say—he made gestures. I went to get sister’s pay about four weeks ago and when I went into the office of Mr. Frank, I asked for her. He told me I couldn’t see her unless “I saw him first.
Says He Winked at Her. “I told him I didn’t want to ‘see him.’ He pulled a box from his desk. It had a lot of money in it. He looked at it significantly and then looked at me. When he looked at me, he winked. As he winked he said: ‘How about it?’ “I instantly told him I was a nice girl.” Here the witness stopped her statement. Coroner Donehoo asked her sharply: “Didn’t you say anything else?” “Yes, I did! I told him to go to h—l! and walked out of his office.”
Mrs. C. D. Donegan said she was connected with the pencil plant for three weeks. Her capacity was that of forelady. She resides at 165 West Fourteenth Street with her husband. Her testimony follows: “State your observations of Frank’s conduct toward the girls and women of the plant.” “I have noticed him smile and wink at the girls in the place. That was two years ago.” “Did you make a statement to the detectives of undue familiarity you had witnessed?” “I told them that I had seen Frank flirt with the girls and women—that was all I
Charges Familiarities.
The testimony of Nellie Wood, a young girl of 8 Corput Street, came next. In brief it was this: Q. Do you know Leo Frank?—Q. Is that all he did?—A. No. He asked me one day to come into his office, saying that he wanted to talk to me. He tried to close the door, but I wouldn’t let him. He got too familiar by getting so close to me. He also put his hands on me. Q. Where did he put his hands?—A. He barely touched my breast. He was subtle with his approaches, and tried to pretend that he was joking but I was too wary for such as that. Quit His Employ. Q. Did he try further familiarities?—A. Yes. Q. When did this happen?—A. Two years ago. Q. What did you tell him when you left his employ?—A. I just quit, telling him that it didn’t suit me.
Atlanta Georgian, May 11, 1913 page 163
FRANK’S CONDUCT WITH GIRLS.
Nellie Pettis, 9 Oliver Street, testified that Frank had made improper advances to her when she went to get her sister-in-law’s pay at the factory. She said he pulled out a box of money from a drawer and looked at her and then the money and asked: “How about it?”
Mrs. C. D. Donegan, 165 West Fourteenth Street, said she had seen Frank smile and flirt with the girls in his employ.
Nellie Wood, 8 Corput Street, testified that Frank had attempted familiarities with her in his office, and had put his hands on her and had tried to persuade her to remain with him in his office.
TWO NEW WITNESSES IN PHAGAN MYSTERY TO TESTIFY THURSDAY Atlanta Journal Wednesday, May 7th, 1913 page 355.
One of the witnesses is Miss Grace Hix (Hicks), of 100 McDonough road, daughter of James E. Hix. Miss Hix worked at the same machine with Mary Phagan but has not been to the factory since the latter was slain. Miss Hix was closeted for two hours with the detectives Tuesday evening, but it is not known just what her testimony will be. [Appears to be missing words in the printing—Ed.] day Mary Phagan was killed, but did not see her, according to a statement she made to a Journal reporter Wednesday afternoon at 2:45 o’clock. “The last time I saw Mary Phagan was on the Monday before she was killed,” said Miss Hix. “That was the day she got layed off. I was uptown Saturday, the day she was killed, but I did not see her.”
Atlanta Journal Thursday, May 8th, 1913 Phagan Inquest in Session; Six Witnesses are Examined Before Adjournment to 2:30
Page 372
Miss Alice Wood, of 8 Corput street; Miss Nellie Pitts, of 9 Oliver street, and Mrs. C. D. Dunnegan [sic], of 165 West Fourteenth street.
Page 375-376
He (Woods White. [Boots] Roger went to 100 McDonough road, said he, to get Miss Grace Hix (Hicks), a relative of his own, whom he knew to be employed in the factory. He brought Miss Hix back with him in the automobile, and she identified the body as that of Mary Phagan. Miss Hix sought first to telephone to Mary’s mother, Mrs. J. W. Coleman, but there was no phone in the Coleman home, so she telephoned instead to the home of another girl, Miss Ferguson, and got Mrs. Ferguson, and asked her to go over and break the news to Mrs. Coleman.
Atlanta Journal Friday, May 9th, 1913 page 380
CHARACTER WITNESSES ARE CALLED IN THE CASE BY CITY DETECTIVES
Miss Nellie Wood, of 8 Corput street, said that she didn’t know Mr. Frank very well. She had worked at the factory two days about two years ago, she said. Miss Wood said that she was employed as a forelady. Mr. Frank would come to her and put his hands on her “when it was not called for,” she said. “Any other girls?” the coroner asked. “No, sir, not that I saw,” she said. “Is that all he did?” the coroner asked. “No, that’s not all,” the witness replied, “He asked me into his office to talk business on the second day I was there. The subject of the conversation was whether I was going to stay there. He wanted to close the door. I objected and he said, ‘Don’t worry. No one is coming.’ He was too familiar. I didn’t like it.” The witness said that Mr. Frank attempted familiarity and then tried to pass it off as a joke, but that she told him she was “too old for that.”
Mrs. C. D. Donegan, of 165 West Fourteenth street, said that she worked at the factory about three weeks two years ago. She said that Mr. Frank had smiled and winked at the girls, but never more than that. She denied that she had told Detective Scott anything more than this.
Atlanta Journal Saturday, May 10th, 1913 page 399
IMPORTANT WITNESS. Monteen Stover, a fourteen-year-old girl of 171 South Forsyth street, has made an affidavit declaring that she went to the office of Superintendent L. M. Frank, of the National Pencil factory, at 12:05 o’clock on last Memorial Day, and remained there until 12:10 o’clock without seeing any person in the building. The young girl, who is a former employee of the factory, is regarded as one of the state’s most important witnesses, and her testimony will be used to help strengthen the state’s case, when the Phagan murder mystery is investigated by the grand jury. Mr. Frank testified at the inquest that he remained in his office from the time the stenographer, Miss Hall, left as the noon whistles blew until the arrival of Lemmie Quinn at 12:25 o’clock. He also declared that Mary Phagan entered the office about 5 minutes after 12 o’clock, the time Miss Stover says that she came to the office and found it empty. According to Miss Stover she walked up the steps at 12:05, and looked at the clock, which she was accustomed to punch, and went straight to the office. There was no one in the outer office, so she went to Mr. Frank’s private office and found it empty. She waited for five minutes, she says, and having heard no one in the building, left. The detectives found this witness last Saturday when she returned to the factory to get the pay envelope, which she failed to get on her trip to the factory the week before. She was with her mother on this second trip and they told of the former visit, when the officers, who were stationed at the door of the factory, stopped them. Miss Stover is a daughter of Mrs. Homer Edmondson, a boarding housekeeper, and she is now employed as salesgirl at a local store. She worked at the pencil factory for about a year, she says.
Brief of Evidence/Trial: Monteen Stover (Page 41-42), Myrtie Cato (Page 344-345), Maggie Griffin (Page 344-345), Mamie Kitchens (Page 344) [mentions Irene Jones and Howard but not called], Nellie Pettis (Page 344), Mrs. C.D. Donegan (Page 344), Dewey Howell (Page 345), Marie Carst (page 344), Mary Davis(Page 344), Mrs. Mary E. Wallace (Page344), Estelle Winkle (Page 344), Carrie Smith( Page 344), Rebecca Carson (Page 345), Irene Jackson(259-260), Ruth Robinson (Page 344), Daisy Hopkins(Page 210-211)
Page 25- 26
Miss Grace Hicks (aka: Hix), Sworn for the State.
I knew Mary Phagan nearly a year at the pencil factory. She worked on the second floor. I identified her body at the undertakers Sunday morning, April 27th. I know her by her hair. She was fair skinned, had light, blue eyes and was heavy built, well developed for her age. I worked in the metal room the same room she worked in. Mary’s machine was right next to the dressing room the first machine there. They had a separate closet for men and a separate one for ladies on that floor. There was just a partition between them. In going to the office from the closets they would pass the dressing room and Mary’s machine within two or three feet. Mr. Frank, during the past twelve months, would pass through the metal department looking around every day. Sometimes I would see him talking to some of the men in the office at the clocks. He came back to the metal room to see how the work was getting on. The metal is kept within a little closed back under the stair steps. I asked Mr. Quinn, not Mr. Frank, if the metal had come. Saturday at twelve o’clock is the regular payday, but the week of April 26th, most of the employees got paid off Friday night between six and seven o’clock. I hadn’t worked there since Wednesday. Mr. Quinn called me up and told me that payday would be Friday. The metal had not come from Monday to Saturday. Mary didn’t work after Monday of that week.
Cross Examination:
Standing at the time clock you can’t see into Mr. Frank’s private office. A person wouldn’t see form Mr. Frank’s office any one coming in or out of the building. I worked at the factory five years. In that time, Mr. Frank spoke to three times. Mary Phagan worked at the factory with me for about a year in the same department and I never say Mr. Frank speak to Mary Phagan or Mary Phagan speak to Mr. Frank. When Mr. Frank came through the metal department, he never spoke to any of the girls; just went through and looked around. The three times Mr. Frank spoke to me were as follows. He was showing a man around and I was laying on my arm mighty near asleep and he says you can run this machine asleep can’t you, and I said, “Yes, sir.” Then another time I asked him for a quarter, and he loaned me a quarter. The next time I met him on the street he tipped his hat to me. Mr. Frank knew my face or he wouldn’t have spoken to me on the street. The floor in the metal room department is awful dirty. The white stuff that they use back there gets all over the floors. Mr. Darley is General Manager and Foreman who employs the help. Mary Phagan’s hair was darker than mine. She weighed about 115 pounds. Some times we sit over at them chairs and comb our hair and some times when I want to curl my hair with a poker or anything, I go over there to the table right by the window and light the gas end curl my hair. Magnolia Kennedy’s hair is nearly the color of Mary Phagan’s. The pay is given employees from a window in the packing department. There is paint in the polishing room, just across from the dressing room. The door of the polishing room is a few feet across from the dressing room. No paint is kept in the metal room. I have drops of paint on the floor. I have seen it leading from the door straight across from the dressing room out the cooler where the women came out to get water. The floor all over the factory is dirty and greasy. And after two or three days you can’t hardly tell what is on the floor after it gets mixed with the dirt and dust. I saw Helen Ferguson Friday, April 25, when we were paid off.
Page 41-42
Miss Monteen Stover, sworn for the State.
I worked at the National Pencil Company prior to April 26th, 1913. I was at the factory at five minutes after twelve on that day. I stayed there five minutes and left at ten minutes after twelve. I went there to get my money. I went in Mr. Frank’s office. He was not there. I didn’t see or hear anybody in the building. The door to the metal room was closed. I had on tennis shoes, a yellow hat and a brown raincoat. I looked at the clock on my up, it was five minutes after twelve and it was ten minutes after twelve when I started out. I had never been in his office before. The door to the metal room is sometimes open and sometimes closed.
Cross-Examination:
I didn’t look at the clock to see what time it was when I left home or when I got back home. I didn’t notice the safe to Mr. Frank’s office. I walked right in and walked right out. I went through into the office and turned around and came out. I didn’t notice how many desks were in the outer office. I didn’t notice any wardrobe to put clothes in. I didn’t know ow many windows are in the front office. I went through the first office into the second office. The factory was still and quiet when I was there. I am fourteen years old and I worked on the fourth floor of the factory. I knew paying =off time was twelve o’clock on Saturday and that is why I went there. They don’t pay off in the office, you have to to a little window they open.
Re-direct Examination:
The door to the metal room is sometimes closed and sometimes open. When the factory isn’t running, the door is closed.
Page 344
Miss Mamie Kitchens, Sworn for the State in rebuttal.
I have worked at the National Pencil Company for two years. I am on the fourth floor. I have not been called by the defense. Miss Jones and Miss Howard have also not been called by the defense to testify. I was in the dressing with Miss Irene Jackson when she was undressed, Mr. Frank opened the door, stuck his head inside. He did not knock. He just stood there and laughed. Miss Jackson said “Well, we are dressing, blame it,” and then he shut the door.
Cross Examination:
Yes, he asked us if we didn’t have any work to do. It was during business hours. We didn’t have work to do. We were going to leave. I have never met Mr. Frank anywhere, or any time for any immoral purposes.
Mrs. C.D. Donegan, Miss Nellie Pettis, sworn for the defendant, testified that they formerly employed at the National Pencil Company and worked in the factory for a period varying from three days to three and a half years; that Leo M. Frank’s character for lasciviousness was bad.
Page 345
Miss Dewey Howell, sworn for the State in rebuttal.
I stay in the Home of the Good Shepard in Cincinnati. I worked at the Pencil Factory four months. I quit in March 1913. I have seen Mr. Frank talk to Mary Phagan two or three times a day in the metal department. I have even seen him hold his hand on her shoulder. He called her Mary. He would stand pretty close to her. He would lean over in her face.
Cross Examination:
All the rest of the girls were there when he talked to her. I don’t know what he was talking to her about.
August 21, 1913, Atlanta Constitution
Frank’s Character Bad Declares Many Women and Girls on Stand
Mrs. C. D. Donegan, Mrs. H. R. Johnson, Marie Karst, Nellie Pettis, Mary Davis, Mrs. Mary E. Wallace, Estelle Winkle, Carrie Smith
August 21, 1913, Atlanta Constitution
Girl’s Testify to Seeing Frank Talking to Little Mary Phagan with Hands on Her Person
Ruth Robinson, Dewey Howell, Willie Turner
August 21, 1913, Atlanta Constitution
Girls Testify to Seeing Frank Enter Dressing Room with Women
Myrtle Cato, Maggie Griffin, Rebecca Carson
August 24, 1913
Dorsey Closing Arguments: Solicitor Reasserts His Conviction of Bad Character and Guilt of Frank
States “Twenty Young Ladies”, Mentions Maime Kitchens, Rebecca Carson, Irene Jackson, Daisy Hopkins, Willie Turner
October 1913 Affidavits:
Miss Rachel Prater
Mrs. Lillie Mae Pettis: Coroner’s Inquest
Miss Mamie Kitchens; Trial
Dewey Howell: Coroner’s Inquest
November 1914 Affidavits:
Nellie Wood: Coroner’s Inquest
In their closing arguments, Frank's counsel asserted that Frank could not have committed the murder, moved the body, and dealt with Jim Conley as the sweeper alleged in the thirty to forty-five minutes Frank was unable to account for. For three and one-half hours, defense attorney Luther Rosser pleaded for Frank's life:
Gentlemen, take a look at this spectacle, if you can. Here is a Jewish boy from the North. He is unacquainted with the South. He came here alone and without friends and he stood alone.
This murder happened in his place of business. He told the Pinkertons to find the man, trusting to them entirely, no matter where or what they found might strike. He is defenseless and helpless. He knows his innocence and is willing to find the murderer. They try to place the murder on him. God, all merciful and all powerful, look upon a scene like this.
The thing that arises in this case to fatigue my imagination is that men born of such parents should believe the statement of Conley against the statement of Frank. Who is Conley? Who was Conley as he used to be and as you have seen him? He was a dirty, filthy, black, drunken, lying nigger. Who was it that made this dirty nigger come up here looking so slick? Why didn't they let you see him as he was? They shaved him, washed him, and dressed him up. Gentlemen of the jury, the charge of moral perversion against a man is a terrible thing for him, but it is even more so when that man has a wife and mother to be affected by it. Dalton, even Dalton did not say this against Frank. It was just Conley.
Gentlemen, I want only the straight truth here, and I have yet to believe that the truth has to be watched and cultivated by these detectives and by seven visits of the Solicitor General. I don't believe any man, no matter what his race, ought to be tried under such testimony. If I was raising sheep and feared for my lambs, I might hand a yellow dog on it. I might do it in the daytime, but when things got quiet at night and I got to thinking, I'd be ashamed of myself. You have been overly kind to me, gentlemen. True, you have been up against a situation like that old Sol Russell used to describe when he would say, "Well, I've lectured off and on for forty years, and the benches always stuck it out, but they was screwed to the floor." You gentlemen have been practically in that fix, but I feel, nevertheless, that you have been peculiarly kind, and I thank you.
Reuben Arnold then addressed the jurors:
"If Frank hadn't been a Jew, there never would have been any prosecution against him," he said, and called the case against Frank "the greatest frame-up in the history of the state." He then compared the case with the case of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, the French soldier and Jewish descendant who had been condemned to Devil's Island through a racial conspiracy.
There were two witnesses who quoted anti-Semitic remarks of others. T.Y. Brent, sworn for the defendant in sur-rebuttal, said: "I have heard George Kendley on several occasions express himself very bitterly towards Leo Frank. He said he felt in this case just as he did about a couple of 'niggers' hung down in Decatur: that he didn't know whether they had been guilty or not but somebody had to be hung for killing those street car men and it was just as good to hang one nigger as another, and that Frank was nothing but an old Jew and they ought to take him out and hang anyhow." S.L. Asher, sworn for the defendant in sur-rebuttal, said: "About two weeks ago I was coming to town between five and ten minutes to one on the car and there was a man who was talking very loud about the Frank case and all of a sudden he said, 'They ought to take that damn Jew out and hang him anyway.' I took his number down to report him."
Solicitor-General Hugh Dorsey's summation was much longer. He spoke until court adjourned, six more hours on Saturday and three Monday morning. Dorsey said:
I say to you here and now that the race from which that man comes in as good as our race. His ancestors were civilized when ours were cutting each other up and eating human flesh; his race is just as good as ours—just as good but no better. I honor the race that produced a Disraeli—the greatest prime minister that England has ever produced. I honor the race that produced Judah P. Benjamin—as great a lawyer as ever lived in America or England, because he lived in both places.
I honor the Strauss brothers—Oscar, the diplomat, and the man who went down with his wife by his side on the Titanic. I roomed with one of his race at college; one of his race is my law partner. I served with old man Joe Hirsch on the Board of Trustees of the Grady Hospital. I know Rabbi Marx but to honor him, and I know Doctor Sonn, of the Hebrew Orphans Home, and have listened to him with pleasure and pride.
But, on the other hand [he then related crimes that had been committed by Jews] these great people are amenable to the same laws as you and I and the black race. They rise to heights sublime, but they sink to depths of degradation.
Gentlemen, every act of that defendant proclaims him guilty. Gentlemen, every word of that defendant proclaims him responsible for the death of this little factory girl. Gentlemen, every circumstance in this case proves him guilty of this crime. Extraordinary? Yes, but nevertheless true, just as true as Mary Phagan is dead. She died a noble death, not a blot on her name.
She died because she wouldn't yield her virtue to the demands of her superintendent. I have no purpose and have never had from the beginning in this case that you oughtn't to have, as a honest, upright citizen.
In the language of Daniel Webster, I desire to remind you "that when a jury, through whimsical and unfounded scruples, suffers the guilt of escape, they make themselves answerable for the augmented danger to the innocent."
Your honor, I have done my duty. I have no apology to make. There can be but one verdict, and that is: We the jury find the defendant, Leo M. Frank, guilty, GUILTY! GUILTY!
As Dorsey uttered these words, the noon church bells tolled and the factory whistles blew, reminding all of the hour of Mary Phagan's death.
Before Fulton Superior Court Judge L.S. Roan charged the jury, he asked to see all counsel in his chambers where he showed them letters from the editors of three of Atlanta's newspapers predicting the results of Leo Frank's acquittal. "Gentlemen," said Roan, "I think we know. The defendant would be lynched." He requested that both counsel agree that the defendant not be present in the courtroom when the jury told their verdict in case of acquittal. The state militia was alerted. The defense counsel agreed to Frank's absence a well as their own. Solicitor-General Dorsey gave his consent only after Rosser and Arnold agreed that this absence would not be used as a basis for appeal.
Leo Frank Trial
Within four hours, the jury returned a guilty verdict. Dorsey wept as he polled the jury. A wild demonstration was begun by the large crowd outside the courtroom, but inside there was little demonstration. J. W. Coleman, little Mary's stepfather, walked over to the jury box with tears streaming down his face, and silently thanked each man on the jury with a grip of his hand.
He then turned to Judge Roan, and shaking his hand, thanked him for the pains he had taken with the trial and for his fair dealing with all parties concerned.
He made the following statement to a Constitution reporter: I want to say that I am entirely satisfied with the manner in which the trial has been conducted and also with the verdict returned.
I knew by looking at the faces of the jurors as they were chosen that they were all men who could be relied upon to give fair and careful consideration to each point and that they were of the high type of character who would give their best efforts as citizens of this commonwealth without thought of themselves to determine the guilt or innocence of Leo Frank.
I would not, for any consideration, like to see an innocent man pay the death penalty, but I feel sure that anyone in the world who has kept up with the trial in all its phases and with every scrap of evidence submitted, would have found Frank guilty as these honorable gentlemen have done. I am deeply grateful to them and to Judge Roan.
Hugh Dorsey, upon emerging from the courtroom building, was seized by the laughing, cheering, rejoicing crowd and passed bodily over the heads of the crowd to his office across the street.
Later, Fannie Phagan Coleman, who had been unable to attend court that day, told another Constitution reporter, I could not begin to tell you how glad and relieved I feel now that it is all over. For weeks I have felt that I just could not sleep another wink for thinking of that man Frank, and the possibility that he might escape the consequences of his crime. I have felt satisfied all the time that he was guilty, and the verdict of the jury is no surprise to me. They are good, noble men, and should be commended by all for doing their duty as they have done. I do not see how anyone who has read all the evidence could possibly think there is the smallest doubt as to Frank's guilt.
I have not been well for the last week, and my mother also has been sick, so you see I could not attend all the sessions of the court, but I have gone as often as possible, and I have read every line regarding the progress of the trial published in the papers. I hope that they will not be hard on that Conley Negro. Although he lied a great deal at first, he did turn round and tell the whole truth at last, and in my opinion, he should be let off with a light sentence.
The only real regret I feel about the entire trial is that I was unable to attend court this afternoon, and shake hands with each member of the jury and with Judge Roan. I will take the first opportunity of seeing every one of them and thanking them for the patient, careful consideration they have shown to everything connected with the trial any way.
Rabbi Marx sat with Frank and his wife at the Fulton Tower awaiting the verdict. A friend told Frank the verdict. Unbelievingly he exclaimed: "Guilty? My God, even the jury was influenced by mob law. I am as innocent as I was a year ago."
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Judge Leonard Roan
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 July 28, 1913, at 10:00 a.m. The two hundred and fifty seats in the courtroom were packed full. Outside, crowds milled, spilling over onto Pryor and Hunter Streets.
Twenty officers guarded the courtroom. Judge Roan, an experienced and able jurist, who had served as the presiding judge in almost all of the murder trials in the Stone Mountain area, was determined that strict decorum would be observed inside his courtroom. Although various accounts tell that the words "Hang the Jew"* were shouted by the crowd outside, jurors, bailiffs, clerks, and court officials claimed that there were no disturbances or crowd noises until the verdict was announced.
Was "Hang the Jew "or "we'll hang you" shouted by the crowds? Did the Atlanta newspapers emphasize sensationalism over facts with "Yellow Journalism"?
July 2021 Phagan Family Position Paper:
"It has been claimed that “anti-Semitism” and the “hatred of Jews” motivated Leo Frank’s conviction and hanging. And yet, incredibly, there was no anti-Semitism expressed by police, detectives, prosecutors, jurors, judge, or reporters! There was no “prejudicial trial” or “mob rule” or anti-Jewish bigotry of any kind.
The first account comes on December 22, 1914 from *C.P. Connolly, The Truth About the Frank Case, page 11. *C. Connolly of Collier’s Weekly was hired by Albert Lasker to present Leo Frank’s case.
Page 11:
On the last day I was in Atlanta I went to the office of one of Frank’s lawyers to say good-bye. The telephone rang. *“If they don’t hang that Jew, we’ll hang you,” came the message. The lawyer tried to learn the name of his unknown menacer, but without success. After Frank had been convicted, and even before his trial, scores of such anonymous messages came by letter and telephone to his lawyers.”
In 2003, Steve Oney [And the Dead Shall Rise; 2003 page 453] listed as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) expert] made it clear: “[I]t didn’t happen. It was something that someone wrote a couple years after the crime, and then it got stuck into subsequent recountings of the story…. Jews were accepted in the city, and the record does not substantiate subsequent reports that the crowd outside the courtroom shouted at the jurors: ‘Hang the Jew or we’ll hang you.’”
Gov. John Slaton in his commutation order also addressed the false claim of an “anti-Semitic mob” surrounding the courtroom pressing to lynch Leo Frank: “No such attack was made and…none was contemplated.” Gov. John Slaton countered the false claim of an “anti-Semitic” atmosphere by reminding Leo Frank supporters that Jews were highly respected and appreciated in Georgia because they had been “conspicuous” contributors to the history and development of the state.
In the book Night Fell on Georgia, 1956, by Charles and Louise Samuels they write: “Leo Frank was a Jew, but at the time there was little, if any anti-Semitism in Atlanta.” [Footnote 11]
Most people are unaware that the prosecutor Hugh Dorsey first brought his case against Leo Frank before a *23-member grand jury that included five prominent members of the Jewish community (including at least two from Frank’s own synagogue), and all the grand jurors signed the bill of indictment against Leo Frank. *Two grand jurors were excused and brought the total to 21 and four prominent Jewish members-Sol. Benjamin; George A. Gershon; Albert L. Guthman; Albert Boylston]
The trial judge, Leonard Roan, was once a law partner of one of Frank’s defense attorneys, Luther Rosser and, according to a confidential ADL memo: “In general, the rulings of the trial Judge had been favorable to the defense.” Leo Frank’s defense attorney even declared after the trial: “[W]e do not make the least criticism of Judge Roan, who presided [over the trial]. Judge Roan is one of the best men in Georgia and is an able and conscientious judge.”
The false claims of anti-Semitism before, during, and after the trial of Leo Frank are simply unfounded and untrue. The detailed daily accounts by the three Atlanta newspapers —the Constitution: editor Jacob D. Gortatowsky, the Georgian: editor Michael D. Clofine and the Journal: editor John S. Cohen, had Jewish editors—reflected no anti-Jewish bias at all. Leo Frank’s religion is only alluded to when it is reported that he is the president of 'B’nai B’rith, and he is written of with the utmost respect for his prominence in the community.
In fact, a University of Georgia study showed that the reportage by Atlanta’s three dailies was openly pro-Leo Frank and exhibited a pronounced pro-Frank bias. Steve Oney, listed by the Anti-Defamation League as an expert on the Leo Frank case, reported: “To the extent that there was bias in the coverage, it was mostly in Frank’s favor…” He goes on to state that Atlanta’s newspapers, “evincing the prejudices of the time, ridiculed the state’s star witness—a black factory janitor named Jim Conley…”
Though there is no record of “anti-Semitism” on the part of the crowd, the courtroom audience, the press, or the prosecutors, that doesn’t mean it was non-existent. As the evidence of his guilt became overwhelming, Leo Frank and his lawyers tried desperately to insert “anti-Semitism” into the trial as a diversionary tactic. They actually staged a courtroom confrontation with a prosecution witness: George Kendley over his alleged previous “anti-Semitic” statements. This officially brought “anti-Semitism” into the trial for the first time. Turns out that witness, T.Y. Brent was working for the Leo Frank defense and was planted to promote their “anti-Semitism” agenda.
Leo Frank’s Trial Defense was one of the most RACIST in American History!
Though “anti-Semitism” was not a factor in his trial, Leo Frank’s racism certainly was: Frank’s defense attorneys used the word “nigger” and other racist slurs dozens of times in court. His main attorney told the jury: “If you put a nigger in a hopper, he’ll drip lies.”
Leo Frank argued in court that the many black witnesses that testified against him should not be believed—simply because they were black—and that “negro testimony”—as they referred to it—was by definition inferior and unreliable. At trial Leo Frank’s attorney castigated the white jurors for even considering the testimony of the black witnesses:
“They would rather believe the negro’s word….Oh, how times have changed. I hope to God I die before they change any worse than this…”
Leo Frank’s lawyers argued to the jury of twelve white men that murder, rape, and robbery were “negro crimes” and thus Leo Frank, a white man, could not have committed the murder of Mary Phagan. One defense attorney said that “the murder was the unreasoning crime of a negro,” that “It isn’t a white man’s crime.”
Leo Frank’s own racist thinking is reflected in an Atlanta Constitution front-page headline on May 31, 1913: “Mary Phagan’s Murder Was Work of a Negro Declares Leo M. Frank.” The newspaper quoted Leo Frank:
“Here is a negro [James Conley], not alone with the shiftless and lying habits of an element of his race, that is common to the South….No white man killed Mary Phagan. It’s a negro’s crime, through and through. No man with common sense would even suspect I did it.”
Leo Frank tried to pin his crime on 2 innocent black men.
Leo Frank’s supporters then and now have played the race card and falsely represent an African-American man as the “real killer.” For over 111 years James “Jim” Conley has been scapegoated in nearly all the literature on the case. He was a sweeper in the factory on the day of the murder who was ordered by his boss Leo Frank to help move the dead body of Mary Phagan. When James Conley confessed to his accessory-after-the-fact role, Frank and his supporters tried to pin his crime on Conley. Leo Frank’s supporters continue to this day to smear James Conley as a devious criminal who got away with murder, but Conley’s very detailed statement—corroborated by the physical evidence at the crime scene—was so convincing that it became central to the prosecution’s case. (At trial, Leo Frank refused to be cross-examined by prosecutors, but James Conley withstood 16 hours of cross-examination—under oath.)
Before he accused James Conley of the crime, Leo Frank worked overtime to pin the murder on another factory employee—the African-American night watchman who found Mary Phagan’s body, Newt Lee. Leo Frank hired private detectives who planted a blood-soaked shirt in the innocent black man’s home, and then Leo Frank’s attorney hinted to the police where they might find that damning “evidence.” When the newspapers reported that a bloody shirt was found at Newt Lee’s home, it almost caused an innocent man to be lynched. Luckily for Newt Lee, Leo Frank’s private detectives did such a sloppy job at planting the shirt that the police were not fooled at all, and it only increased their suspicion of Leo Frank. That is the point when the people of Atlanta came to believe that Leo Frank was the murderer of Little Mary Phagan.
“HANG THE JEW, HANG THE JEW” is what the Anti-Defamation League promotes today. Besides the ADL, FORMER GOVERNOR ROY BARNES AND RABBI STEVEN LEBOW CONTINUE THIS BIG LIE for their push to exonerate Leo Frank.
The Breman Museum in Atlanta Georgia stopped making the false claim of anti-Semitic chants. "
The jurors, all white men and Atlanta residents, were chosen within three hours of the first morning of the trial. One hundred and forty-four people were drawn. Fifty-four were excused; thirty-seven because they confessed an already formed opinion, three because they were over sixty, fourteen because they opposed capital punishment. The defense used eighteen of its twenty strikes without a cause while the prosecution used seven of the ten it was allowed. The twelve men chosen were: C.J. Basshart (Pressman), A.H. Henslee (Head Salesman, Buggy Co.), J.F. Higdon (Building Contractor), W.N. Jeffries (Real Estate), M. Johenning (Shipping Clerk), W.F. Medcalf (Mailer), J.T. Ozburn (Optician), Frederic V.L. Smith (Paying Teller), D. Townsend (Paying Teller), F.E. Windburn (Railroad Claims Agent), A.L. Wiseby (Cashier), M.S. Woodward (Cashier, King Hardware). They were lodged at the Old Kimball House and not allowed to read the newspapers or talk with their families concerning the trial.
Prosecutor Hugh Dorsey
The chief prosecutor, Solicitor-General Hugh A.Dorsey, according to the newspapers, was handsome and forceful. At forty-two, he was Solicitor General for the Fulton County courts. Fully convinced of Frank's guilt, he was assisted by Frank Arthur Hooper, a successful corporate attorney who had volunteered his services, and Edward A. Stephens, Assistant Solicitor General.
Leo Frank was defended by Atlanta's two well-known trial lawyers, Luther Z. Rosser who, according to the Atlanta Constitution, was the "most persuasive and most domineering lawyer in Atlanta in the art of examining witnesses" and Reuben Arnold, "best known attorney in Georgia," and "one of the ablest criminal lawyers in the South," according to the Atlanta Journal. They were assisted by Stiles Hopkins and Herbert Haas.
In his opening argument for the prosecution, Special Assistant Solicitor Hooper described the state's case against Frank. According to his outline, Mary Phagan had died as a result of a premeditated rape by the defendant, Leo Frank. It was alleged that Frank had seduced and taken liberties with other young factory girls and had made unsuccessful advances to Mary Phagan. Several surviving family members have said that Frank harassed Mary Phagan and that she went home and told her mother. Several former National Pencil Company employees who are still living, but wish that their names not be disclosed, have also alleged that they heard Frank sexually harass Mary Phagan.
According to the state, Frank expected Mary Phagan to come to the factory on the Saturday she died, because a fellow employee had asked Frank for Mary's pay envelope earlier and he refused to give it to her. The state contended that Jim Conley had previously acted as a lookout for Frank, so Frank's immoral activities would not be discovered, and Frank had told Conley to work on April 26. Assistant Solicitor Hooper then sketched in the state's contention that Frank was alone in the office, gave Mary Phagan her pay envelope, whereupon she asked him if the metal for her work had come. Saying he didn't know, Frank followed Mary to the metal room and made sexual overtures to her. She repulsed him and he knocked her down and, while she was unconscious, raped her. Then, fearful of the consequences, he strangled her. Thereafter, he went up to the fourth floor to get the workers out of the building and called Conley, confessing "that he guessed he had struck her too hard." With Conley, Frank dragged the body to the basement and made plans for Conley to burn it later. He gave Conley two dollars and fifty cents and then two hundred dollars, but later had Conley return the money, promising he would give it back to Conley after Conley disposed of the body.
As Hooper went over the outline of the rest of the state's case, he singled out the expected testimony of Monteen Stover, who he claimed would contradict Frank's contention that he had been in his office continuously from 12:00 p.m. to 12:45 p.m.
Testimony began that Monday afternoon as Mrs. J.W. Coleman (Fannie Phagan Coleman), the mother of little Mary Phagan, testified. Dressed in a black mourning dress and heavy veil which she threw back, she spoke in a low voice, telling that she last saw her daughter alive on April 26, 1913, at their residence, 146 Lindsey Street, about a quarter to twelve, before Mary went to the pencil factory to get her pay. Tearfully, she described her daughter and the clothing she was wearing.
A court officer drew forth a suitcase which had been hidden behind several chairs.
Standing in front of the mother, he undid the satchel and lifted out the dress and shoes that Mary Phagan had worn when her mother last saw her. The officer first laid the dress upon the witness stand, almost under the mother's feet and placed the shoes beside it. Everyone had leaned forward when the satchel had been brought from behind the chairs; everyone, the lawyers, the audience, the jury, waited as the torn clothing and shoes were placed close to Mary's mother for her identification.
After the most hurried glance at the clothing, which almost touched the hem of her dress, Mrs. Coleman covered her eyes with a palm fan and began to sob. This was how Fannie Phagan Coleman, without speaking, identified the clothing of her murdered daughter.
At that time, few women attended a court trial except for those who were related either to the victim or to the defendant. Fannie Phagan Coleman and Ollie Mae Phagan, little Mary's sister, as well as her brothers, all attended the trial, as did Lucille Selig Frank, Frank's wife, and Mrs. Rae Frank, his mother. When asked for her thoughts by a reporter for the Atlanta Journal on the first day's proceedings of the trial, Fannie Phagan Coleman said: "I would rather not talk about it . . . I don't want to express an opinion." It was this profession of silence which caused the rest of the Phagan family not to speak of the trial for the next seventy years.
On that day, Ollie Mae Phagan agreed: "I'm like my mother in not wanting to talk about the trial. The trial is almost more than my mother can bear. She was the youngest of us—Mary, I mean—she was the life of our home. Now everything is different."
Among the testimonies that proved especially damaging to Frank was that of Newt Lee, the night watchman who usually worked weekdays from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., but on Saturdays began work at 5:00 p.m. He reported that on the Saturday of the murder he got to the factory at 4:00 p.m.:
On the 26th day of April, 1913, I was night watchman at the National Pencil Factory. I had been night watchman there for about three weeks. When I began working there, Mr. Frank carried me around and showed me everything that I would have to do. I would have to get there at six o'clock on weekdays, and on Saturday evenings I have to come at five o'clock. On Friday the 25th of April, he told me "Tomorrow is a holiday and I want you to come back at four o'clock. I want to get off a little earlier than I have been getting off." I got to the factory on Saturday about three or four minutes before four. The front door was not locked. I pushed it open, went on in and got to the double door there. I was paid off Friday night at six o'clock. It was put out that everybody would be paid off then. Every Saturday when I got off he gives me the keys at twelve o'clock, so that if he happened to be gone when I get back there at five or six o'clock I could get in, and every Monday morning I return the keys to him. The front door has always been unlocked on previous Saturday afternoons. After you go inside and come up about middle ways of the steps, there are some double doors there. It was locked on Saturday when I got there. Have never found it that way before. I took my key and unlocked it.
When I got upstairs I had a sack of bananas and I stood to the left of that desk like I do every Saturday. I says like I always do "Alright Mr. Frank," and he come bustling out of his office. He had never done that before. He always called me when he wanted to tell me anything and said "Step here a minute, Newt." This time he came up rubbing his hands and says, "Newt, I am sorry that I had you come so soon, you could have been at home sleeping. I tell you what you do, you go out in town and have a good time." He had never let me off before that. I could have laid down there in the shipping room and gone to sleep, and I told him that. He says, "You need to have a good time. You go down town, stay an hour and a half and come back your usual time at six o'clock. Be sure and be back at six o'clock." I then went out the door and stayed until about four minutes to six. When I came back the doors were unlocked just as I left them and I went and says, "Alright Mr. Frank," and he says, "What time is it?" and I says, "It lacks two minutes of six." He says, "Don't punch yet, there is a few worked today and I want to change the slip." It took him twice as long this time than it did the other times I saw him fix it. He fumbled putting it in, while I held the lever for him and I think he made some remark about he was not used to putting it in. When Mr. Frank put the tape in I punched and I went on down-stairs. While I was down there Mr. Gantt came from across the street from the beer saloon and says, "Newt, I got a pair of old shoes that I want to get upstairs to have fixed." I says, "I ain't allowed to let anybody in here after six o'clock." About that time Mr. Frank come busting out of the door and run into Gantt unexpected and he jumped back frightened. Gantt says, "I got a pair of old shoes upstairs, have you any objection to my getting them?" Frank says, "I don't think they are up there, I think I saw the boy sweep some up in the trash the other day." Mr. Gantt asked him what sort they were and Mr. Frank says "tans." Gantt says, "Well, I had a pair of black ones too." Frank says, "Well, I don't know," and he dropped his head down just so. Then he raised his head and says, "Newt, go with him and stay with him and help him find them," and I went up there with Mr. Gantt and found them in the shipping room, two pair, the tans and the black ones. Mr. Frank phoned me that night about an hour after he left, it was sometime after seven o'clock. He says, "How is every-thing?" and I says, "Everything is all right so far as I know," and he says, "Goodbye." No, he did not ask anything about Gantt. Yes, that is the first time he ever phoned to me on a Saturday night.
There is a light on the street floor just after you get in the entrance to the building. The light is right up here where that partition comes across. Mr. Frank told me when I first went there, "keep that light burning bright, so the officers can see in when they pass by." It wasn't burning that day at all. I lit it at six o'clock myself. On Saturdays I always lit it, but weekdays it would always be lit when I got there. On Saturdays I always got there at five o'clock. This Saturday he got me there an hour earlier and let me off later. There is a light in the basement down there at the foot of the ladder. He told me to keep that burning all the time. It has two little chains to it to turn on and turn off the gas. When I got there on making my rounds at seven o'clock on the 26th of April, it was burning just as low as you could turn it, like a lightning bug. I left it Saturday morning burning bright. I made my rounds regularly every half hour Saturday night. I punched on the hour and punched on the half and I made all my punches. The elevator doors on the street floor and office floor were closed when I got there on Saturday. They were fastened down just like we fasten them down every other night. When three o'clock came I went down the basement and when I went down and got ready to come back I discovered the body there. I went down to the toilet and when I got through I looked at the dust bin back to the door to see how the door was and it being dark I picked up my lantern and went there and I saw something laying there which I thought some of the boys had put there to scare me, then I walked a little piece towards it and I seen what it was and I got out of there. I got up the ladder and called up [the] police station. It was after three o'clock. I carried the officers down where I found the body. I tried to get Mr. Frank on the telephone and was still trying when the officers came. I guess I was trying about eight minutes. I saw Mr. Frank Sunday morning at about seven or eight o'clock. He was coming in the office. He looked down on the floor and never spoke to me. He dropped his head right down this way. Mr. Frank was there and dint say nothing while Mr. Darley was speaking to me. Boots Rogers, Chief Lanford, Darley, Mr. Frank and I were there when they opened the clock. Mr. Frank opened the clock and said—the punches were all right, that I hadn't missed any punches. I punched every half hour from six o'clock until three o'clock, which was the last punch I made. I don't know whether they took out that slip or not. On Tuesday night, April 29th, at about ten o'clock I had a conversation at the station house with Mr. Frank. They handcuffed me to a chair. They went and got Mr. Frank and brought him in and he sat down next to the door. He dropped his head and looked down. We were all alone. I said, "Mr. Frank, it's mighty hard for me to be handcuffed here for something I don't know anything about." He said, "What's the difference, they have got me locked up and a man guarding me." I said, "Mr. Frank, do you believe I committed that crime," and he said, "No, Newt, I know you didn't, but I believe you know something about it." I said, "Mr. Frank, I don't know a thing about it, no more than finding the body." He said, "We are not talking about that now, we will let that go. If you keep that up we will both go to hell." Then the officers both came in. When Mr. Frank came out of his office that Saturday he was looking down and rubbing his hands. I have never seen him rubbing his hands that way before.
When Defense Attorney Rosser cross-examined Lee, the witness said that the locked double doors inside the entrance to the building were unlocked when he came back.
Next the prosecution called to the stand Sergeant L.S. Dobbs. He testified:
On the morning of April 27, about 3:25, a call came from the pencil factory that there was a murder up there. We went in Boots Rogers's automobile and when we arrived, the door was locked. We knocked and in about two minutes the Negro came down the steps and opened the door and said a woman was murdered in the basement. We went through a scuttlehole, a small trapdoor. The Negro led the way back in the basement about 150 feet to the body. The girl was lying on her face, not directly lying on her stomach, with the left side up just a little. We couldn't tell by looking at her whether she was white or black, only by her golden hair. They turned her over, and her face was full of dirt and dust. They took a piece of paper and rubbed the dirt off her face, and we could tell then that it was a white girl. I pulled up her clothes, and could tell by the skin of the knee that it was a white girl. Her face was punctured, full of holes, and swollen and black. She had a cut on the left side of her head as if she had been struck, and there was a little blood there. The cord was around her neck, sunk into the flesh. She also had a piece of her underclothing around her neck. The tongue was protruding just the least bit. The cord was pulled tight, and had cut into the flesh, and tied just as tight as it could be. The underclothing around the neck was not tight.
There wasn't much blood on her head. It was dry on the outside. I stuck my finger under the hair, and it was a little moist.
This scratch pad was lying on the ground, close to the body. I found the notes under the sawdust, lying near the head. The pad was lying near the notes. They were all right close together.
On cross-examination, Dobbs testified:
Newt Lee told us it was a white woman.
There was a trash pile near the boiler, where this hat was found, and paper and pencils down there, too. The hat and shoe were on the trash pile. Everything was gone off it, ribbons and all.
The place where I thought I saw someone dragged was right in front of the elevator, directly back. The little trail where I thought showed the body was dragged, went straight on down where the girl was found. It was a continuous trail.
It looked like she had been dragged on her face by her feet. I thought the places on her face had been made by dragging. That was a dirt floor, with cinders on it, scattered over the dirt.
Back door was shut, staple had been pulled. The lock was locked still. It was a sliding door, with a bar across the door, but the bar had been taken down. It looked like the staple had been recently drawn.
I was reading one of the notes to Lee, with the following words, "A tall, black negro did this; he will try to lay it on the night," and when I got to the word "night," Lee says, "That means the night watchman."
On Dorsey's re-direct examination, Dobbs testified that "A man couldn't get down that ladder with another person. It is difficult for one person to get through that scuttle hole [the scuttle hole was 2 feet by 2.5 feet]. The back door was shut; staple had been pulled.
"The sign of dragging . . . started east of the ladder. A man going down the ladder to the ear of the basement, would not go in front of the elevator where the dragging was. "The body was cold and stiff. Hands folded across the breast.
"I didn't find any blood on the ground, or on the sawdust, around where we found the body."
Further re-direct examination revealed that Dobbs had found the handkerchief on a sawdust pile, about ten feet from the body. When he was shown the handkerchief on re-cross examination, he stated: "It was bloody, just as it is now." Later recalled for the state, Dobbs revealed that "The trap-door leading up from the basement was closed when we got up there."
City Officer John N. Starnes was the next important state's witness. He testified,
I reached the factory between five and six o'clock on April 27th. I called up the superintendent, Leo Frank, and asked him to come right away. He said he hadn't had any breakfast. He asked where the night watchman was. I told him to come, and if he would come, I would send an automobile for him.
I didn't tell him what had happened, and he didn't ask me.
When Frank arrived at the factory, a few minutes later, he appeared to be nervous, he was in a trembling condition. Lee was composed at the factory, he never tried to get away.
That first morning of the trial, Starnes stated that "I saw splotches that looked like blood about a foot and a half, or two feet, from the end of the dressing room, some of which I chipped up. It looked like splotches of blood and something had been thrown there and in throwing it had spread out and splattered.
"I chipped two places off the back door, which looked like they had bloody fingerprints.
"It takes not over three minutes to walk from Marietta Street, at the corner of Forsyth, across the viaduct, and through Forsyth Street, down to the factory."
Starnes further testified, "I could not give the words of the telephone conversation between me and Frank be-cause I could be mistaken as to the words he used."
Concerning the splotches, he said, "I don't know if they were blood."
Another witness, W. W. ("Boots") Rogers testified:
After Starnes's telephone conversation, John Black and I went to Frank's residence where Mrs. Frank answered the door. Mr. Black asked, 'Is Frank in?' Mr. Frank stepped into the hall through the curtain partly dressed and asked if anything happened at the factory. When Mr. Black didn't answer, Mr. Frank said, 'Did the night watchman call up and report anything to you?'
Mr. Black then asked him to finish dressing and go to the factory to see what had happened.
Frank said that he thought he dreamt in the morning, about three o'clock, about hearing the telephone ring.
Frank seemed to be extremely nervous and was rubbing his hands and asked for a cup of coffee. After we got in the automobile, one of the officers asked Frank if he knew a little girl named Mary Phagan.
Frank asked, "Does she work at the factory?"
Then I said, "I think she does," and Frank stated,
"I cannot tell whether she works there or not, until I look at my payroll book. I know very few of the girls that work there. I pay them off, but I very seldom go back in the factory."
Frank's references to not knowing Mary Phagan were later to take on added significance.
We went to the undertaking establishment but I did not see Frank look at the corpse, I did see him step away into a side room. After the morgue, we went to the pencil factory where Frank opened the safe, consulted his time book and said: "Yes, Mary Phagan worked here. She was here yesterday to get her pay. I will tell you about the exact time she left here. My stenographer left about twelve o'clock, and a few minutes after she left, the office boy left, and Mary came in and got her pay and left."
He then wanted to see where the girl was found. Mr. Frank went around to the elevator, where there was a switch box on the wall, and put the switch in. The box was not locked. As to what Mr. Frank said about the murder, I don't know that I heard him express himself, except down in the basement.
The officers showed him where the body was found, and he made the remark that it was too bad, or something like that.
On re-cross examination, Rogers stated that "No one could have seen the body at the morgue unless he was somewhere near me. I was inside and Mr. Frank never came into that little room, where the corpse lay." On re-direct examination he stated that, "When the face was rued toward me, Mr. Frank stepped out of my vision in e direction of Mr. Gheesling's sleeping room."
John Black was sworn and stated:
We didn't know it was a white girl or not until we rubbed the dirt from the child's face, and pulled down her stocking a little piece. The tongue was not sticking out; it was wedged between her teeth. She had dirt in her eye and mouth. The cord around her neck was drawn so tight it was sunk in her flesh, and the piece of undershirt was loose over her hair.
She was lying on her face with her hands folded up. One of her eyes was blackened. There were several little scratches on her face. A bruise on the left side of her head, some dry blood in her hair.
There was some excrement in the elevator shaft. When we went down on the elevator, the elevator mashed it. You could smell it all around.
He had come with Boots Rogers to Frank's residence:
Mrs. Frank came to the door; she had on a bathrobe. I stated that I would like to see Mr. Frank and about that time Mr. Frank stepped out from behind a curtain. Frank's voice was hoarse and trembling and nervous and excited. He looked to me like he was pale. He seemed nervous in handling his collar; he could not get his tie tied, and talked very rapid in asking what had happened. He kept insisting on a cup of coffee.
When we got into the automobile, Mr. Frank wanted to know what had happened at the factory, and I asked him if he knew Mary Phagan, and told him she had been found dead in the basement. Mr. Frank said he did not know any girl by the name of Mary Phagan, that he knew very few of the employees. [This was the second time, according to testimony at the trial, that Frank had denied knowing Mary Phagan].
In the undertaking establishment, Mr. Frank looked at her; he gave a casual glance at her, and stepped aside; I couldn't say whether he saw the face of the girl or not. There was a curtain hanging near the room, and Mr. Frank stepped behind the curtain.
Mr. Frank stated, as we left the undertaker's that he didn't know the girl, but he believed he had paid her off on Saturday. He thought he recognized her being at the factory Saturday by the dress that she wore.
At the factory, Mr. Frank took the slip out, looked over it, and said it had been punched correctly.
On Monday and Tuesday following, Mr. Frank stated that the clock had been mispunched three times.
I saw Frank take it out of the clock and went with it back toward his office.
When Mr. Frank was down at the police station, on Monday morning Mr. Rosser and Mr. Haas were there. Mr. Haas stated, in Frank's presence, that he was Frank's attorney. This was about eight, or eight thirty Monday morning. That's the first time he had counsel with him.
On Tuesday night, Mr. Scott and myself suggested to Mr. Frank to talk to Newt Lee. They went into a room, and stayed about five or ten minutes, alone. I couldn't hear enough to swear that I under-stood what was said. Mr. Frank said that Newt Lee stuck to the story that he knew nothing about it.
Mr. Frank stated that Mr. Gantt was there on Saturday evening, and that he told Lee to let him get the shoes, but to watch him, as he knew the surroundings of the office. [After this conversation Gantt was arrested.]
Mr. Frank was nervous Monday; after his release, he seemed very jovial.
On Tuesday night, Frank said at the station house, that there was nobody at the factory at six o'clock but Newt Lee, and that Newt Lee ought to know more about it, as it was his duty to look over the factory every thirty minutes.
On cross-examination, Black said, "After the visit to the morgue, the party went to the factory, where Frank got the book, ran his finger down until he came to the name of Mary Phagan, and said: 'Yes, this little girl worked here and I paid her $1.20 yesterday.'
"We went all over the factory. Nobody saw that blood spot that morning."
Frank's attorney, Mr. Haas, told Black to go out to Frank's house, and search for the clothes he had worn the week before and his laundry as well. Frank went with them and showed them the dirty laundry.
Black went on: "I examined Newt Lee's house. I found a bloody shirt at the bottom of a clothes barrel there, on Tuesday morning, about nine o'clock."
On re-direct examination by Dorsey, Black stated that Frank said, "After looking over the time sheet, and seeing that it had not been punched correctly, that it would have given Lee an hour to have gone out to his house and back."
The next person to take the stand had been arrested by the police in their preliminary investigation of the murder. J. M. Gantt testified that he was shipping clerk at the pencil factory and that Frank discharged him on April 7 for an alleged shortage in the payroll.
"I have known Mary Phagan since she was a little girl, and Mr. Frank knew her too.
"One Saturday afternoon, she came in the office to have her time corrected, by me, and after I had gotten through with her, Mr. Frank came in and said: 'You seem to know Mary pretty well.' "
On two occasions after Gantt was discharged, he went back to the factory where, he said, "Mr. Frank saw me both times. He made no objections to my going there.
"One girl used to get the pay envelope for another, with Frank's knowledge." Gantt swore that Mr. Frank discharged him because he refused to make good the $2.00 shortage in the payroll which he said he knew nothing about. He then described Frank's behavior Saturday when he went for his shoes:
I stood at the front door and when Frank saw me he kind of stepped back, like he was going to go back, but when he looked up and saw I was looking at him, he came on out, and I said, "Howdy, Mr. Frank," and he sorter jumped again.
I asked permission to get my shoes. Frank hesitated, inquired the kind of shoes, was told they were tans, and stated that he thought he had a Negro sweep them out. I said I left a black pair as well and Frank studied a little bit and told Newt to go with me, and stay with me till I got my shoes. Mr. Frank looked pale, hung his head, and kind of hesitated and stuttered, like he didn't like me in there, somehow or another.
On cross-examination Gantt revealed that when he testified at the coroner's inquest he did not testify about Frank having known Mary Phagan very well.
Mrs. J. R. White, whose husband worked at the factory, testified that she went to the factory at 11:30 to see her husband and stayed until 11:50. She returned about 12:30 and, she said, "Mr. Frank was in the outside office standing in front of the safe. I asked him if Mr. White had gone back to work; he jumped, like I surprised him, and turned and said, 'Yes.' I then went upstairs to see Mr. White. At about one o'clock, Frank came up to the fourth floor and told me that if I wanted to get out by three o'clock, I had better come down as he was going to leave the factory and that I had better be ready to leave as soon as he got his coat and hat.
"As I was going down the steps, I saw a Negro sitting on a box, close to the stairway on the first floor.
"Mr. Frank did not have his coat or hat on when I passed out." In a later statement about which there was much conjecture, Mrs. White swore "I saw a Negro sitting between the stairway and the door, about five or six feet from the foot of the stairway. I wouldn't be able to identify him."
Harry Scott was sworn in. "I am the superintendent of the local branch of the Pinkerton Detective Agency and work with John Black, city detective. I was employed by Frank for the National Pencil Company. On Monday, April 28th, I witnessed, along with Mr. Darley and a third party, Frank telling his detailed accounts of his movements the Saturday before. He told of going to Montag and the coming of Mrs. White to the factory."
Scott related that Frank said that Mary Phagan came into the factory at 12:10 p.m. to draw her pay. She had been laid off the Monday previous, and she was paid $1.20. "He paid her off in his inside office, where he was at his desk, and when she left his office and went into the outer office she had reached the outer office door leading into the hall, and turned around to Mr. Frank, and asked if the metal had come yet. Mr. Frank replied that he didn't know. Mary Phagan, he thought, reached the stairway, and he heard voices, but he couldn't distinguish whether they were men or girls talking."
Harry Scott's next words about Leo Frank created a stir in the courtroom.
He (Frank) stated during our conversation with him that Gantt knew Mary Phagan very well, that he was familiar and intimate with her. He seemed to lay special stress on it at the time. He said that Gantt paid a good deal of attention to her. As to whether anything was said by any attorney of Frank's as to our suppressing any evidence as to this murder, it was the first week in May when Mr. Pierce and I went to Mr. Herbert J. Haas's office in the Fourth National Bank Building and had a conference with him as to the Pinkerton Agency's position in the matter. Mr. Haas stated that he would rather we would submit our reports to him first before we turned it over to the police and let them know what evidence we had gathered. We told him we would withdraw before we would adopt any practice of that sort, that it was our intention to work in hearty co-operation with the police.
I saw the place near the girls' dressing room on the office floor, fresh chips had already been cut out of the floor.
After Frank was arrested Scott asked Frank to see if he could use his influence with Newt Lee since he was his employer and try to get Lee to tell what he knew. Lee and Frank were put in a private room and:
When about ten minutes was up, Mr. Black and I entered the room and Lee hadn't finished his conversation with Frank; and was saying: "Mr. Frank, it is awful hard for me to remain handcuffed to this chair," and Frank hung his head the entire time the Negro was talking to him, and finally, after about thirty seconds, he said, "Well, they have got me, too." After that, we asked Mr. Frank if he had gotten any-thing out of the Negro and he said, 'No, Lee still sticks to his original story.'
Mr. Frank was extremely nervous at that time. He was very squirmy in his chair, crossing one leg after the other, and didn't know where to put his hands; he was moving them up and down his face, and he hung his head a great deal of the time while the Negro was talking to him. He breathed very heavily, and took deep swallows, and hesitated somewhat. His eyes were about the same as they are now.
That interview between Lee and Frank took place shortly after midnight, Wednesday, April 30th. On Monday afternoon, Frank said to me that the first punch on Newt Lee's slip was 6:33 p.m., and his last punch was 3 a.m. Sunday. He didn't say anything at that time about there being any error in Lee's punches. Mr. Black and I took Mr. Frank into custody about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 29th.
His hands were quivering very much, he was very pale. On Sunday, May 3rd, I went to Frank's cell at the jail with Black, and I asked Mr. Frank if, from the time he arrived at the factory from Montag Bros., up until 12:50 p.m., the time he went upstairs to the fourth floor, was he inside of his office in the entire time, and he stated, "Yes." Then I asked him if he was inside his office every minute from twelve o'clock until 12:30, and he said, "Yes."
I made a very thorough search of the area around the elevator and radiator, and back in there. I made a surface search; I found nothing at all. I found no ribbons or purse, or pay envelope, or bludgeon or stick. I spent a great deal of time around the trap door, and I remember running the light around the doorway, right close to the elevator, looking for splotches of blood, but I found nothing.
When Luther Rosser questioned him, Scott admitted that he did not give the defense attorney the details in his reports of Mr. Frank's movements, about his statement about Gantt being familiar with Mary Phagan, and told the attorney that he did not hear Lee but stated now that he did hear the last words of Lee, and the description of Frank's extreme nervousness.
After Lee, the next damaging testimony was given by Monteen Stover, a pretty girl with dark hair who was about the same age as Mary Phagan. Her allegations contradicted Frank's claim about being in his office continually Mrs. Stover swore:
I worked at the National Pencil Company prior to April 26, 1913. I was at the factory at five minutes after twelve on that day. I stayed there five minutes and left at ten minutes after twelve. I went there to get my money. I went in Mr. Frank's office. He was not there. I didn't see or hear anybody in the building. The door to the metal room was closed. I had on tennis shoes, a yellow hat, and a brown rain coat. I looked at the clock on my way up, it was five minutes after twelve and it was ten minutes after twelve when I started out. I had never been in his office before. The door to the metal room is sometimes open and sometimes closed.
On cross-examination she revealed:
I didn't look at the clock to see what time it was when I left home or when I got back home. I didn't notice the safe in Mr. Frank's office. I walked right in and walked right out. I went right through into the office and turned around and came out. I didn't notice how many desks were in the outer office. I didn't notice any wardrobe to put clothes in. I don't know how many windows are in the front office. I went through the first office into the second office. The factory was still and quiet when I was there. I am fourteen years old and I worked on the fourth floor of the factory. I knew the paying-off time was twelve o'clock on Saturday and that is why I went there. They don't pay off in the office, you have to go up to a little window they open.
Albert McKnight, the husband of Frank's cook, Minola McKnight (whose statement to the police concerning Frank's condition the night of the murder had further aroused police suspicions of Frank), testified that "Between one and two o'clock on Memorial Day I was at the home of Mr. Frank to see my wife. He came in close to one thirty. He did not eat any dinner. He came in, went to the sideboard of the dining room, stayed there a few minutes and then he goes out and catches a car. Stayed there about five or ten minutes."
On cross-examination, McKnight stated that he saw Frank in the mirror in the corner and that you could look through the mirror and see in the sitting room and in the dining room. He did not see the Seligs, but heard Mr. Selig talking and he did not see Mrs. Frank or Mrs. Selig through the mirror. He couldn't tell who was in the dining room without looking through the mirror.
Miss Helen Ferguson, a friend of the murdered girl, testified that she saw "Mr. Frank Friday, April 25, about seven o'clock in the evening and asked for Mary Phagan's money. Mr. Frank said, 'I can't let you have it,' and before he said anything else I turned around and walked out. I had gotten Mary's money before, but I didn't get it from Mr. Frank."
On cross-examination, Miss Ferguson stated that she had gotten Mary's money before and she did not remember if Mr. Schiff was in the office or not when she asked Frank for Mary's money and that it had been some time since she asked for Mary's pay by number.
Three medical experts were sworn in. Doctors Claude Smith, J. W. Hurt, and F. H. Harris, had very different contentions about the question of Mary Phagan's rape. All agreed there had been a savage struggle after which the girl was strangled.
According to the undertaker, W. H. Gheesling, "There was a two and one-half inch wound on the back of the victim's head exposing part of the skull. Her hair was clotted with blood, and a tight cord indenting the flesh was drawn around the neck. Blood, urine, and some discharge stained her panties which had been cut or torn at the seam."
The county physician, Dr. J. W. Hurt, testified, "The head wound was induced by a blunt-edged instrument and occurred before death. She died of strangulation."
Although Dr. Hurt said he found blood on her genitals, he contended there was no evidence of violence to the vagina.
This finding was in direct contradiction to that of Dr. H. F. Harris, the medical examiner. He stated, "Besides a ruptured hymen, Mary Phagan's vagina showed evidence of violence before death due to the internal bleeding. The epithelium was pulled loose from the inner walls and detached in some places. Dr. Harris stated that this violence occurred before death. [Autopsy Report 1913]
Having examined Mary's stomach contents, Dr. Harris asserted that she had eaten her last meal of bread and cabbage approximately one half to three quarters of an hour before she died.
C.B. Dalton, the man whom Jim Conley alleged brought women, with Leo Frank, to the factory for immoral purposes, took the stand:
I know Leo M. Frank, Daisy Hopkins, and Jim Conley. I have visited the National Pencil Company three, four, or five times. I have been in the office of Leo M. Frank two or three times. I have been down in the basement. I don't know whether Mr. Frank knew I was in the basement or not, but he knew I was there. I saw Conley there and the night watchman, and he was not Conley. There would be some ladies in Mr. Frank's office. Sometimes there would be two, and sometimes one. May be they didn't work in the mornings and they would be there in the evenings.
Later, on cross-examination, he mentioned Daisy Hopkins again:
I don't recollect the first time I was in Mr. Frank's office. It was last fall. I have been down there one time this year but Mr. Frank wasn't there. It was Saturday evening. I went in there with Miss Daisy Hopkins. I saw some parties in the office but I don't know them. They were ladies. Sometimes there would be two and sometimes more. I don't know whether it was the stenographer or not. I don't recollect the next time I saw him in his office. I never saw any gentle-men but Mr. Frank in there. Every time I was in Mr. Frank's office was before Christmas. Miss Daisy Hopkins introduced me to him. I saw Conley there one time this year and several times on Saturday evenings. Mr. Frank wasn't there the last time. Conley was sitting there at the front door. When I went down the ladder Miss Daisy went with me. We went back by the trash pile in the basement. I saw an old cot and a stretcher.
On re-direct examination, Dalton stated that "Frank had Coca-Cola, lemon and lime, and beer in his office. When re-cross examined, he admitted that he had served time in the chain gang in 1894 for stealing. But he claimed in later redirect testimony that it had been almost twenty years since he had been in trouble.
Mell Stanford, who had worked for Frank for two years, testified that he swept the whole floor in the metal room on Friday, April 25. "On Monday thereafter, I found a spot that had some white haskoline over it, on the second floor, near the dressing room that wasn't there Friday when I swept. The spot looked to me like it was blood with dark spots scattered around."
On cross-examination, Stanford said that he "moved everything and swept everything. I swept under Mary's and Barrett's machine."
Finally, it was the testimony of the state's star witness, Jim Conley, a short, stocky black man who was a sweeper at the factory, that stunned the jury with his findings. He testified:
I had a little conversation with Mr. Frank on Friday, the 25th of April. He wanted me to come to the pencil factory that Friday morning, that he had some work on the third floor he wanted me to do . . . Friday evening about three o'clock Mr. Frank came to the fourth floor where I was working and said he wanted me to come to the pencil factory on Saturday morning at eight thirty; that he had some work for me to do on the second floor. I had been working for the pencil company a little over two years . . . I got to the pencil factory about eight-thirty on April 26th. Mr. Frank and me got to the door at the same time. Mr. Frank walked to the inside and I walked behind him and he says to me, "Good morning," and I says, "Good morning, Mr. Frank." He says, "You are a little early this morning," and I says, "No sir, I am not early." He says, "Well, you are a little early to do what I wanted you to do for me, and I want you to watch for me like you have been doing the rest of the Saturdays." I always stayed on the first floor like I stayed the 26th of April and watched for Mr. Frank, while he and a young lady would be up on the second floor chatting. I don't know what they were doing. He only told me they wanted to chat. When young ladies would come there, I would sit down at the first floor and watch the door for him. I couldn't exactly tell how many times I have watched the floor for him previous to April 26th, it has been several times that I watched for him, but there would be another young man, another young lady during the time I was at the door. A lady for him and one for Mr. Frank. Mr. Frank was alone there once, that was Thanksgiving Day. I watched for him. Yes, a woman came there Thanks-giving Day, she was a tall, heavy-built lady. I stayed down there and watched the door just as he told me the last time, April 26th. He told me when the lady came he would stomp and let me know that was the one and for me to lock the door. Well, after the lady came and he stomped for me I went and locked the door as he said. He told me when he got through with the lady he would whistle and for me then to go and unlock the door. That was last Thanksgiving Day, 1912. On April 26th, me and Mr. Frank met at the door. He says, "What I want you to do is to watch for me today as you did other Saturdays," and I says, "All right." I said, "Mr. Frank, I want to go to the Capital City Laundry to see my mother," and he said, "By the time you go to the laundry and come back to Trinity Avenue stop at the corner of Nelson and Forsyth Street until I go to Montag's." I don't know exactly what time I got to the corner of Nelson and Forsyth Streets but I came there sometime between ten o'clock and ten thirty. I saw Mr. Frank as he passed by me, I was standing on the corner, he was coming up Forsyth Street toward Nelson Street. He was going to Montag's factory. While I was there on the corner he said, "Ha, ha, you are here, is yer." And I says, "Yes, sir, I am right here, Mr. Frank." He says, "Well, wait until I go to Mr. Sig's, I won't be very long, I'll be right back." I says, "All right, Mr. Frank, I'll be right here." I don't know how long he stayed at Montag's. He didn't say anything when he came back from Montag's but told me to come on. Mr. Frank came out Nelson Street and down Forsyth Street towards the pencil factory and I followed right be-hind. As we passed up there the grocery store, Albert-son Brothers, a young man was up there with a paper sack getting some stuff out of a box on the sidewalk, and he had his little baby standing by the side of him, and just as Mr. Frank passed by him, I was a little behind Mr. Frank, and Mr. Frank said something to me and by him looking back at me and saying some-thing to me, he hit up against the man's baby, and the man turned around and looked to see who it was, and he looked directly in my face, but I never did catch the idea what Mr. Frank said. Mr. Frank stopped at Curtis' Drug Store, corner Mitchell and Forsyth Street, went in to the soda fountain. He came out and went straight on to the factory, me right behind him, when we got to the factory, we both went on the inside, and Mr. Frank stopped me at the door, and when he stopped me at the door, he put his hand on the door and turned the door and says, "You see, you turn the knob just like this and there can't no-body come in from the outside," and I says, "All right," and I walked back to a little box back there by the trash barrel. He told me to push the box up against the trash barrel and sit on it, and he says, "Now there will be a young lady up here after awhile, and me and her are going to chat a little," and he says, "Now, when the lady comes, I will stomp like I did before," and he says, "That will be the lady, and you go and shut the door," and I says, "All right, sir." And he says, "Now, when I whistle I will be through, so you can go and unlock the door and you come upstairs to my office then like you were going to borrow some money from me and that will give the young lady time to get out." I says, "All right, I will do just as you say," and I did as he said. Mr. Frank hit me a little blow on my chest and says, "Now, whatever you do, don't let Mr. Darley see you." I says, "All right, I won't let him see me." Then Mr. Frank went upstairs and he said, "Remember to keep your eyes open," and I says, "All right, I will Mr. Frank." And I sat there on the box and that was the last I seen of Mr. Frank until up in the day sometime. The first person I saw that morning after I got in there was Mr. Darley, he went upstairs. The next person was Miss Mattie Smith, she went on upstairs, then I saw her come down from upstairs. Miss Mattie walked to the door and stopped, and Mr. Darley comes on down to the door where Miss Mattie was, and he says, "Don't you worry, I will see that you get that next Saturday." And Miss Mattie came on out and went up Alabama Street and Mr. Darley went back upstairs. Seemed like Miss Mattie was crying, she was wiping her eyes when she was standing down there. This was before I went to Nelson and Forsyth Street. After we got back from Montag Brothers, the first person I saw come along was a lady that worked on the fourth floor, I don't know her name. She went on up the steps. The next person that came along was the Negro drayman, he went on upstairs. He was a peglegged fellow, real dark. The next I saw this Negro and Mr. Holloway coming back down the steps. Mr. Holloway was putting on his glasses and had a bill in his hands, and he went out towards the wagon on the sidewalk, then Mr. Holloway came back up the steps, then after Mr. Darley came down and left, Mr. Holloway came down and left. Then this lady that worked on the fourth floor came down and left. The next person I saw coming there was Mr. Quinn. He went upstairs, stayed a little while, and then came down. The next person that I saw was Miss Mary Perkins, that's what I call her, this lady that is dead, I don't know her name. After she went upstairs I heard footsteps going towards the office and after she went in the office, I heard two people walking out of the office and going like they were coming down the steps, but they didn't come down the steps, they went towards the metal department. After they went back there, I heard the lady scream, then I didn't hear no more, and the next person I saw coming in there was Miss Monteen Stover. She had on a pair of tennis shoes and a rain coat. She stayed there a pretty good while, it wasn't so very long either. She came back down the steps and left. After she came back down the steps and left, I heard somebody from the metal department come running back there upstairs, on their tiptoes, then I heard somebody tiptoeing back towards the metal department. After that I dozed off and went to sleep. Next thing I knew Mr. Frank was up over my head stamping and then I went and locked the door, and sat on the box a little while, and the next thing I heard was Mr. Frank whistling. I don't know how many minutes it was after that I heard him whistle. When I heard him whistling I went and unlocked the door just like he said, and went up the steps. Mr. Frank was standing up there at the top of the steps and shivering and trembling and rubbing his hands like this. He had a little rope in his hands and a long wide piece of cord. His eyes were large and they looked right funny. He looked funny out of his eyes. His face was red. Yes, he had a cord in his hands just like this here cord. After I got up to the top of the steps, he asked me, "Did you see that little girl who passed here just a while ago?" and I told him I saw one come along there and she come back again, and then I saw another one come along there and she hasn't come back down, and he says, "Well, that one you say didn't come back down, she come into my office awhile ago and wanted to know something about her work in my office and I went back there to see if the little girl's work had come, and I wanted to be with the little girl, and she refused me, and I struck her and I guess I struck her too hard and she fell and hit her head against something, and I don't know how bad she got hurt. Of course you know I ain't built like other men." The reason he said that was, I had seen him in a position I haven't seen any other man that has got children. I have seen him in the office two or three times before Thanksgiving and a lady was in his office, and she was sitting down in a chair, and she had her clothes up to here, and he was down on his knees, and she had her hands on Mr. Frank. I have seen him another time there in the packing room with a young lady lying on the table, she was on the edge of the table when I saw her. He asked me if I wouldn't go back there and bring her up so that he could put her somewhere, and he said to hurry that there would be money in it for me. When I came back there, I found the lady lying back flat on her back with a rope around her neck. The cloth was also tied around her neck and part of it was under her head like to catch blood. I noticed the clock after I went back there and found the lady was dead and came back and told him. The clock was four minutes to one. She was dead when I went back there, and I came back and told Mr. Frank the girl was dead and he said, "Sh, sh." He told me to go back there by the cotton box, get a piece of cloth, put it around her, and bring her up. I didn't hear what Mr. Frank said and I came on up there to hear what he said. He was standing on the top of the steps, like he was going down the steps, and while I was back in the metal department I didn't understand what he said, and I came back there to understand what he did say, and he said to go and get a piece of cloth to put around her, and I went and looked around the cotton box and got a piece of cloth and went back there. The girl was lying flat on her back and her hands were out this way. I put both of her hands down, they went down easily, and rolled her up in the cloth and taken the cloth and tied her up, and started to pick her up, and I looked back a little distance and saw her hat and piece of ribbon laying down and her slippers and I taken them and put them all in the cloth and I ran my right arm through the cloth and tried to bring it up on my shoulder. The cloth was tied just like a person that was going to give out clothes on Monday, they get the clothes and put them on the inside of a sheet and take each corner and tie the four corners together, and I run my right arm through the cloth after I tied it that way and went to put it on my shoulder, and I found I couldn't get it on my shoulder, it was heavy and I carried it on my arm the best I could, and when I got away from the little dressing room that was in the metal department, I let her fall, and I was scared and I kind of jumped, and I said, "Mr. Frank, you will have to help me with this girl, she is heavy," and he came and caught her by the feet and I laid hold of her by the shoulders, and when we got her that way I was backing and Mr. Frank had her by the feet, and Mr. Frank kind of put her on me, he was nervous and trembling, and after we got her a piece from where we got her at, he let her feet drop and then he picked her up and we went on the elevator, and he pulled down on one of the cords and the elevator wouldn't go, and he said, "Wait, let me go in the office and get the key," and he went in the office and got the key and come back and unlocked the switch box and the elevator went down the basement, and we carried her out and I opened the cloth and rolled her out there on the floor, and Mr. Frank turned around and went on up the ladder, and I noticed her hat and slipper and piece of ribbon and I said, "Mr. Frank, what am I going to do with these things?" and he said, "Just leave them right there," and I taken the things and pitches them over in front of the boiler, and after Mr. Frank had left I goes on over to the elevator and he said, "Come on up and I will catch you on the first floor," and I got on the elevator and started it on to the first floor, and Mr. Frank was running up there. He didn't give me time to stop the elevator, he was so nervous and trembly, and before the elevator got to the top of the first floor Mr. Frank made the first step on to the elevator and by the elevator being a little down like that, he stepped down on it and hit me quite a blow right over about my chest and that jammed me up against the elevator and when we got near the second floor he tried to step off before it got to the floor and his foot caught on the second floor as he was stepping off and that made him stumble and he fell back sort of against me, and he goes on and takes the keys back to his office and leaves the box unlocked. I followed him into his private office and I sat down and he commenced to rubbing his hands and began to rub back his hair and after a while he got up and said, "Jim," and I didn't say nothing, and all at once he happened to look out of the door and there was somebody coming, and he said, "My God, here is Emma Clark and Corinthia Hall," and he said, "Come over here, Jim, I have got to put you in this wardrobe," and he put me in this wardrobe, and I stayed there a good while and they come in there and I heard them go out, and Mr. Frank come there and said, "You are in a tight place," and I said, "Yes," and he said, "You done very well." So after they went out and he had stepped in the hall and had come back he let me out of the wardrobe, and he said, "You sit down," and I went and sat down, and Mr. Frank sat down. But the chair he has was too little for him, or too big or it wasn't far enough back or something. He reached on the table to get a box of cigarettes and a box of matches, and he takes a cigarette and a match and hands me the box of cigarettes and I lit one and went to smoking and I handed him back the box of cigarettes, and he put it back in his pocket and then he took them out again and said, "You can have these," and I put them in my pocket, and then he said, "Can you write," and I said, "Yes, sir, a little bit," and he taken his pencil to fix up some notes. I was willing to do anything to help Mr. Frank because he was a white man and my superintendent, and he sat down and I sat down at the table and Mr. Frank dictated the notes to me. Whatever it was it didn't seem to suit him, and he told me to turn over and write again, and I turned the paper and wrote again, and when I done that he told me to turn over again and I wrote on the next page there, and he looked at that and kind of liked it and he said that was all right. Then he reached over and got another piece of paper, a green piece, and told me what to write. He took it and laid it on his desk and looked at me smiling and rubbing his hands, and then he pulled out a nice little roll of greenbacks, and he said, "Here is two hundred dollars," and I taken the money and looked at it a little bit and I said, "Mr. Frank, don't you pay another dollar for that watchman, because I will pay him myself," and he said, "All right, I don't see what you want to buy a watch for either, that big fat wife of mine wanted me to buy an automobile and I wouldn't do it." And after awhile Mr. Frank looked at me and said, "You go down there in the basement and you take a lot of trash and burn that package that's in front of the furnace," and I told him all right. But I was afraid to go down there by myself, and Mr. Frank wouldn't go down there with me. He said, "There's no need of my going down there," and I said, "Mr. Frank, you are a white man and you done it, and I am not going down there and burn that myself." He looked at me then kind of frightened and he said "Let me see that money" and he took the money back and put it back in his pocket, and I said "Is this the way you do things?" and he said, "You keep your mouth shut, that is all right." And Mr. Frank turned around in his chair and looked at the money and he looked back at me and folded his hands and looked up and said, "Why should I hang, I have wealthy people in Brooklyn," and he looked down when he said that and I looked up at him, and he was looking up at the ceiling, and I said, "Mr. Frank what about me?" and he said, "That's all right, don't you worry about this thing, you just come back to work Monday like you don't know anything, and keep your mouth shut, if you get caught I will get you out on bond and send you away," and he said, "Can you come back this evening and do it?" and I said, "Yes, I was coming to get my money." He said, "Well, I am going home to get dinner and you come back here in about forty minutes and I will fix the money," and I said, "How will I get in?" and he said, "There will be a place for you to get in all right, but if you are not coming back let me know, and I will take those things and put them down with the body," and I said, "All right, I will be back in about forty minutes." Then I went down over to the beer saloon across the street and I took the cigarettes out of the box and there was some money in there and I took that out and there was two paper dollar bills in there and two silver quarters and I took a drink, and then I bought me a double header and drank it and I looked around at another colored fellow standing there and I asked him did he want a glass of beer and he said "No," and I looked at the clock and it said twenty minutes to two and the man in there asked me was I going home, and I said "Yes," and I walked south on Forsyth Street to Mitchell and Mitchell to Davis, and I said to the fellow that was with me, "I am going back to Peters Street," and a Jew across the street that I owed a dime to called me and asked me about it, and I paid him that dime. Then I went on over to Peters Street and stayed there awhile. Then I went home and I taken fifteen cents out of my pocket and gave a little girl a nickel to go and get some sausage and then I gave her a dime to go and get some wood, and she stayed so long that when she came back I said, "I will cook this sausage and eat it and go back to Mr. Frank's," and I laid down across the bed and went to sleep, and I didn't get up no more until half past six o'clock that night, that's the last I saw of Mr. Frank that Saturday. I saw him next time on Tuesday, on the fourth floor when I was sweeping. He walked up and he said, "Now remember, keep your mouth shut," and I said, "All right," and he said, "If you'd come back on Saturday and done what I told you to do with it down there, there wouldn't have been no trouble." This conversation took place between ten and eleven o'clock Tuesday. Mr. Frank knew I could write a little bit, because he always gave me tablets up there at the office so I could write down what kind of boxes we had and I would give that to Mr. Frank down at his office and that's the way he knew I could write. I was arrested on Thursday, May 1st, Mr. Frank told me just what to write on those notes there. The girl's body was lying somewhere along there about #9 on that picture [State's Exhibit A]. I dropped her somewhere along #7. We got on elevator on the second floor. The box that Mr. Frank unlocked was right around here on side of elevator. He told me to come back in about forty minutes to do that burning. Mr. Frank went in the office and got the key to unlock the elevator. The notes were fixed up in Mr. Frank's private office. I never did know what became of the notes. I left home that morning about seven or seven-thirty. I noticed the clock when I went from the factory to go to Nelson and Forsyth Streets, the clock was in a beer saloon on the corner of Mitchell Street. It said nine minutes after ten. I don't know the name of the woman who was with Mr. Frank on Thanksgiving day. I know the man's name was Mr. Dalton. When I saw Mr. Frank coming towards the factory Saturday morning he had on his raincoat and his usual suit of clothes and an umbrella. Up to Christmas I used to run the elevator, then they put me on the fourth floor to clean up. I cleaned up twice a week on the first floor under Mr. Holloway's directions. The lady I saw in Mr. Frank's office Thanksgiving Day was a tall built lady, heavy weight, she was nice looking, she had on a blue looking dress with white dots on it and a graying looking coat with kind of tails to it. The coat was open like that and she had on white slippers and stockings. On Thanksgiving Day Mr. Frank told me to come to his office. I have never seen any cot or bed down in the basement. I refused to write for the police the first time. I told them I couldn't write.
Defense Attorney Rosser spent three days attacking Conley's testimony. Conley never changed his story and cheerfully admitted to having lied on numerous occasions, including those statements submitted to police prior to his full confession in late May. Conley also admitted to a number of arrests that had resulted in fines of nominal amounts for drunkenness or disorderly conduct and one sentence of thirty days for an altercation with a white man. Rosser was able to show that Conley had a poor memory about everything except the murder and was repeatedly denounced by those who knew him as a "dirty, filthy, black, drunken, lying nigger."
Those who believe Leo Frank guilty of the murder of little Mary Phagan are convinced that Jim Conley could not have possibly fabricated the involved, detailed account of what had happened, as well as withstood the hours of cross-examination.
O.B. Keeler, a native Mariettan, reporter, and journalist who covered the trial for the Atlanta Georgian, claimed it would have been impossible for Conley to invent such testimony, and the Atlanta Constitution reported: "No such record has ever been made in a criminal court case in this country. Conley may be telling the truth in the main, or he may be lying altogether. He may be the real murderer or he may have been an accomplice after the fact.
"Be these things as they may, he is one of the most remarkable Negroes that has ever been seen in this section of the country. His nerve seems unshakable. His wit is ever ready. As hour by hour the attorneys for the defense hammered away and failed to entrap the Negro, the enormity of the evidence became apparent.
"Finally came the virtual confession of the defense that they had failed to entrap the Negro and they asked that the evidence be stricken from the records. The Negro withstood the fire and Frank's attorneys are seeking to have the evidence expunged from the records."
As I continued to read the evidence, I realized that the long litany of witnesses called by the state was to be superseded only by the long litany of witnesses called by the defense. Indeed, some witnesses seemed to be called by the wrong side. One state witness, Holloway, gave testimony which supported defense contentions. Holloway testified, "I am the day watchman for the factory and I forgot to lock the elevator on Saturday when I left at 11:45." He admitted that he had previously sworn twice that he did leave the elevator locked: once in the affidavit he gave to Solicitor-General Dorsey and at the coroner's inquest.
On cross-examination, he stated "Frank got back from Montag's at about eleven o'clock and he was in his office on the books. When I was leaving at eleven forty-five, I saw Corinthia Hall and Emma Clark were coming toward the factory.
"I had seen blood spots on the floor but I did not remember having seen the blood spots Barrett found."
Holloway went on, "I have never seen Frank speak to Mary Phagan." Further, he said, "The cords like that used to strangle Mary Phagan could be found all over the place. They came on the bundles of slats that are tied around the pencils. It was Barrett who discovered the blood, hair, and pay envelope."
His explanation of the difference between his former testimony about the elevator and that at the trial was: "I sawed a plank for Mr. Denham and Mr. White on the fourth floor and forgot about it. When I remembered that I sawed the plank, I recollected I had forgotten to lock the elevator."
Startling Testimony of Conley Feature of Trial’s Second Week
Atlanta Constitution August 10th, 1913
IMPORTANT WITNESSES HEARD
The resting by the state of the its case against Leo M. Frank, charged with the murder of Mary Phagan, came on Thursday and the defense is at present setting forth its evidence in rebuttal.
Since last Sunday much that is regarded as important has been introduced by both sides and a number of bitter fights have been waged over evidence.
James Conley, the negro sweeper, who makes accusations that Frank told he had struck the girl too hard, and who also told of Frank’s having women in his office for immoral purposes and also swore to alleged habits of degeneracy on the part of the superintendent, was put on the stand Monday, and it was not until during the middle of the day Wednesday that the negro was excused. He had been on the stand something like fifteen hours and had established a record for Georgia courts.
Of the time he was on the stand, he was subjected to about thirteen hours of grueling cross-examination by Attorney Luther Z. Rosser, but despite every attack, stuck to the principal part of his charges, although he admitted he had previously lied on many occasions.
On Wednesday, also, the court refused finally to strike from the records the negro’s testimony in regard to Frank’s alleged habits and also in regard to his previous actions with women before the Saturday of the murder.
Despite these few contradictions at this point, I could not help feeling that my family's assessment of Leo Frank's guilt was true. But I turned my attention to the defense's case and promised myself I would be fair in assessing the evidence.
Word Count: 139254 Words, Reading Time: 468Minutes
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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 sweating, I would awaken with my heart palpitating—and then realize that it was only a dream. But I became afraid to sleep for fear that the dream would come back. And it did. Again and again.
The story of little Mary Phagan had indeed followed me to Florida.
A history professor asked me, "Are you, by any chance, related to little Mary Phagan?" Then several classmates quizzed me about the story.
I decided that I had to know the answers to the questions that haunted me. I just had to know. I couldn't be Mary Phagan without this shadow of my past. It was my history, my legacy. And I had to answer those questions.
I became friends with Amy. Amy was Jewish, and, as with all friends, religion came up between us. Amy and I exchanged our beliefs and answered the "why's" of our faiths. There were no barriers between us. Once a group of us were talking, and someone asked me in front of Amy that question: "Are you, by any chance, related to little Mary Phagan?"
"Yes," I replied. "Wasn't Leo Frank a Jewish man?" she persisted.
I told her "yes," again. But Amy never mentioned the story of little Mary Phagan, and I never told her. I never felt obliged to tell her more; it didn't have anything to do with our friendship. We were best friends[even to this day]and that was that.
My family delighted in my friendship with Amy and her family. During one Christmas vacation my dad related to me how he had become part of a Jewish family. For the first time I realized why I had always called this particular couple Grandma and Grandpa—and still do.
It happened around Christmastime in 1952. My Dad had just been promoted to Staff Sergeant and was flying out of the Larson Air Force Base in Moses Lake, Washington.
"As Christmas approached, we geared up to make flights back east to provide transportation for all the Military Services," he explained. "Plans were made that each flight would make certain strategic stops to drop off troops and pick them up after Christmas and bring them back to Larson Air Force Base. On December 20, 1952, there was a fatal crash that took the lives of about eighty-seven young military men. It was the worst military air disaster in history.
"Airplane crashes are terrible in more ways than one: they create havoc in the loss of lives and materials, and they put men to a test that they cannot survive. The dead men must be escorted home for burial. The escorts are called Color Guards. They are hand-picked as a rule, versed in the nature of life at its worst. Each family that has lost a loved one will have a thousand questions to ask the Color Guard. He will have no answers and must rely on his own ability to handle the situation. And no two will be the same. Some Color Guards will break under the pressure, particularly if they were friends. One of the crew members on the flight was my close friend, Robert Jacobs. He was a radio operator whose position was on the flight deck with the pilot, co-pilot, navigator, and flight engineer. All of these crew members perished in that crash. I knew them all. Tears still come to my eyes when I think about it and how many lives it claimed.
"Brigadier General H.W. Bowman, commander of the 62nd Troop Carrier Wing (H), and Lt. Colonel Roland K. McCoskrie, commander of 7th Troop Carrier Squadron, suffered only as commanders can suffer when they lose men in a tragic accident.
"As in any accident, the clean up crew was mostly volunteers; these men are true heroes. At times some even risk their lives in trying to save others. It took over three days just to recover all the bodies. And then there was the horrible task of identifying some of the bodies. Preparations and transportation arrangements were made, and then came the selection of the Color Guards. There was no Jewish man to escort our radio operator. One would have to be selected from another squadron, someone who did not even know his name, unless someone in our squadron would step forward to be his Color Guard. With head held high, tears in my eyes, my heart about to burst, I took that step forward. I could not allow a stranger to escort my friend and fellow crew member home to his parents. In my mind, that would hurt them even more.
"I felt that I would break under that pressure when I presented the American flag to Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs at the gravesite. I did! When I presented the flag to them, I could hardly talk for the tears rolling down my cheeks: 'This flag is presented to you by a grateful nation in remembrance of your loved one.' For one moment, time stood still for three broken hearts, the parents and mine became one in grief. They invited me home to say the Kaddish, a memorial prayer, for their son. I became an adopted 'son,' and to this day I call them Mom and Dad and you children call them Grandma and Grandpa. Every Mother's Day, I send flowers to my friend's mother. She's a very special person.
"They asked me questions I had no answers for, except the simple truths and personal knowledge that I had of their son. Of course they wanted to know 'why.' I explained that their son was one of the best and the best always are selected for the tough flights. I don't think that I would have the guts to do that job again. I was to receive four letters of appreciation and commendation: one from the Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.; one from Brigadier General H.W. Bowman, Commanding General 62nd Troop Carrier Wing (H); one from Colonel Richard Jones, Commanding Officer 62nd Troop Carrier Group (H); and one from Lt. Colonel Roland K. McCoskrie, Commanding Officer 7th Troop Carrier Squadron (H). These letters are still in my personal folders today.
"Life takes a pause and then continues on!"
Plane Crash December 20, 1952. Letter from Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.; Commander Mike Swatrzman January 17, 1953
J
Letter from Colonel Brigadier General H.W. Bowman, 62nd Troop Carrier Wing (Heavy).
Letter from Colonel Richard Jones, Commanding Officer 62nd Carrier Group (Heavy).; Lt. Colonel Roland K. McCoskrie, Commanding Officer 7th Troop Carrier Squadron (Heavy). January 27, 1953
After two years at Flagler, both Amy and I felt that it wasn't offering the programs that we needed for our careers. We both transferred to Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida, during the summer of 1974.
I worked hard, and in August of 1977, I received my Master of Science in the College of Education Program at Florida State University with honors. And what was even more exciting was I already had a job: I was to be the Consultant/Itinerant Teacher for the Visually Impaired for the Griffin Cooperative Educational Service in Griffin, Georgia. I would be going back home.
I began at the agency the first week of September. I was introduced to the various superintendents of the systems in which I would be responsible for setting up the vision program. Several of the superintendents asked me that question: "Are you, by any chance, related to little Mary Phagan?" One of them privately called me in his office and sang me "The Ballad of Mary Phagan" by Fiddling John Carson of Blue Ridge, Georgia: Little Mary Phagan went to town one day, And went to the pencil factory to see the big parade. She left her home at eleven, And kissed her mother goodbye, Not one time did the poor child think that she was going to die. Leo Frank met her, with a brutal heart we know, He smiled and said, "Little Mary, Now you will go home no more." He sneaked along behind her, Till she reached the metal room, He laughed and said, "Little Mary, you have met your fatal doom." She fell upon her knees, and to Leo Frank she pled, He took his stick from the trash pile And hit her across the head. The tears rolled down her rosy cheeks, While the blood flowed down her back, But still she remembered telling her mother What time she would be back. He killed little Mary Phagan-- it was on a holiday-- And he called on Jim Conley to take her body away. He took her to the basement, She was bound hand and feet, And down in the basement little Mary lay asleep.
Newt Lee was the watchmen— when he went to wind his key, Down in the basement, little Mary he could see. He called for the officers—their names I do not know. They came to the pencil factory Says "Newt Lee, you must go." They took him to the jailhouse, They locked him in a cell, But the poor innocent negro Knew nothing for to tell. I have a notion in my head that when Frank comes to die, And stands the examination in the courthouse in the skies, He will be astonished at the questions The angels are going to say of how he killed little Mary on one holiday. Come all you good people wherever you may be, And supposing little Mary belonged to you or me. Her mother sat a weeping—she weeps and mourns all day— She prays to meet her darling in a better world some day. Little Mary is in Heaven, while Leo Frank is in jail, Waiting for the day to come when he can tell his tale. Judge Roan passed the sentence And you bet he passed it well; Solicitor Hugh M. Dorsey sent Leo Frank to hell. Now, God Bless her mother.
He told me that his mother had sung the ballad throughout his childhood. He had never forgotten a word. While he was singing the ballad, I realized that little Mary Phagan was me too—not a separate entity—and I could not evade our relationship. Nor did I want to.
I was ready to search for answers to those haunting questions. Now I had to know if what my father taught me was accurate and factual. I began extensive research. I looked again at the Brief of Evidence, reference books, and the newspaper accounts in a different way, a critical way. I read everything I could find on the economic, political, social and psychological climate of the South in 1913.
By the time little Mary Phagan was murdered, the Civil War had been over only forty-eight years. Today, other parts of the country accuse Southerners of "still fighting the Civil War." To an extent that is true. It was true to an even greater extent in 1913.
The focus of Southern society was tradition—which also meant opposition to change. And the commitment to tradition was often manifested in a loyalty on the part of Southerners to "their own kind" which usually resulted in a paranoid suspicion of outsiders.
Another strong part of this tradition is the esteem in which white women, and particularly young white girls, are held. Southerners have always had a fear— whatever its origins—of assaults upon women.
The industrialization which began in the last part of the nineteenth century centered on the cities, and it was in the rural areas that the commitment to tradition held most strongly. But life in rural areas was difficult—very difficult for most of the poorer people. So, they emigrated to urban areas.
Apparently, life wasn't much better in the cities, although the opportunities to make money were far greater, and it was especially dreary in Atlanta. Those who came in from the country to find work in the mills and factories were white tenant farmers and they lived for the most part in the bleak factory slums which surrounded Atlanta's industrial sections. Just as Grand-mother Fannie Phagan Coleman was preparing to move her fatherless children from Alabama back to Atlanta/ Marietta around 1908 or 1909, about a third of Atlanta's population had no water mains or sewers. Two years before little Mary Phagan was slain, between fifty and seventy-five percent of the schoolchildren of Atlanta suffered from anemia, malnutrition, and heart disease. In 1906, 22,000 out of a population of 115,000 were held by the police for disorderly conduct or drunkenness. That year, one of the worst race riots in memory broke out in Atlanta, and the newspapers seized upon stories—true or not—of Negro assaults on white women.
Wages were low in the mills and factories and the normal workday began at 6:00 a.m. and ended at 6:00 p.m. Mary Phagan had earned only ten cents an hour at the National Pencil Company. Children were exploited—especially in the cotton mills. I thought of my father's description of his mother Mary Richards Phagan, whom the factory bosses would hide from the labor inspectors.
It was probably inevitable that family and community ties, another bulwark of tradition, began to weaken, despite people's struggles to hold onto them, and they grew increasingly resentful of those whom they considered to be their exploiters.
I realized, as my research began to clarify a lot of things for me, that little Mary Phagan, white, pretty, well-liked, just short of fourteen, a laborer in a factory or "sweat shop," came to stand for what was good, pure, sweet and exploited about the South. And that Leo Frank, a Northerner, a Jew, superintendent, part owner of the factory, and well-to-do, would have fit perfectly the idea of the outsider which Southerners traditionally held in such suspicion and the exploiter of whom they were growing increasingly resentful. The entire family believed that he killed Mary Phagan. So did I.
On April 28, 1913, Leo Frank sent a telegram to Adolph Montag in New York: Atlanta, Ga. Apr. 28, 1913 Mr. Adolph Montag, c/o Imperial Hotel, New York. You may have read in Atlanta papers of factory girl found dead Sunday morning in cellar of pencil factory. Police will eventually solve it. Assure my uncle I am all right in case he asks. Our company has case well in hand. On April 29, 1913, three days after little Mary Phagan's body was discovered, the Atlanta Georgian reported that four suspects were being held. The headline read: "IS THE GUILTY MAN AMONG THOSE HELD?" These men were:
1. A black night watchman, who is thought to know much more about the crime than he has told, but who has not been regarded as the perpetrator.
2. A former streetcar conductor for whom a strong alibi has never been established, and from whom suspicion is shifting.
3. A black elevator boy, who has never been held as a material witness, but against whom no evidence has been obtained.
4. A former employee of the National Pencil Company was located at the Plant Saturday and identified as being the "man with a little girl on Saturday night."
In neither the conductor's nor the elevator boy's case do police place much dependence on the so-called identifications. All of these men were cleared. At that time, neither Leo Frank, the factory superintendent, nor Jim Conley, the pencil factory janitor, appeared on the list. Leo Frank was at police headquarters that day but police were quoted as saying, "Frank is not under arrest," but that "he was under police guard for his own personal safety," and that "there are no charges against him." What led to the eventual arrest of Leo Frank, the factory superintendent? When Newt Lee, the night watchman who discovered the body of little Mary Phagan, was questioned by the police, he stated that he had been at the factory on April 26, 1913, and that when he began working at the pencil factory, Mr. Frank had told him to report at 6:00 p.m. on weekdays and at 5:00 p.m. on Saturdays. He said that, on Friday, the 25th of April, Leo Frank told him, "Tomorrow is a holiday and I want you to come back at four o'clock. I want to get off a little earlier than I have been getting off." Frank had plans to go to the baseball game with his brother-in-law. The game started at 4:00 p.m. Newt Lee said that he arrived at the factory at about three or four minutes before four. He then told the detectives: The front door was not locked. I pushed it open, went on in and got to the double door there. I was paid off Friday night at six o'clock. It was put out that everybody would be paid off then. Every Saturday when I get off, he gives me the keys at twelve o'clock, so that if he happened to be gone when I get back there at five or six o'clock, I could get in, and every Monday morning I return the keys to him. The front door had always been unlocked on previous Saturday afternoons. After you go inside and come up about middle ways of the steps, there are some double doors there. It was locked on Saturday when I got there. Have never found it that way before. I took my key and unlocked it. When I went upstairs, I had a sack of bananas and I stood to the left of that desk like I do every Saturday. I says like I always do "Alright Mr. Frank" and he come bustling out of his office. He had never done that before. He always called me when he wanted to tell me anything and said, "Step here a minute, Newt." This time he came up rubbing his hands and says, "Newt, I am sorry that I had you come so soon, you could have been at home sleeping, I tell you what you do, you go out in town and have a good time." He had never let me off before that. I could have laid down in the shipping room and gone to sleep, and I told him that. He says, "You needs to have a good time. You go downtown, stay an hour and a half, and come back your usual time at six o'clock." I then went out the door and stayed until about four minutes to six. When I came back the doors were unlocked just as I left them and I went and says, "Alright, Mr. Frank," and he says, "What time is it?" and I says, "It lacks two minutes of six." He says, "Don't punch yet, there is a few worked today, and I want to change the slip." It took him twice as long this time than it did the other times I saw him fix it. He fumbled putting it in, while I held the lever for him and I think he made some remark about he was not used to putting it in. When Mr. Frank put the tape in I punched and I went downstairs. While I was down there Mr. Gantt came from across the street from the beer saloon and says, "Newt, I got a pair of old shoes that I want to get upstairs to have fixed." I says, "I ain't allowed to let anybody in here after six o'clock." About that time Mr. Frank come bustling out of the door and run into Gantt unexpected and he jumped back frightened. Gantt says, "I got a pair of old shoes upstairs, have you any objection to my getting them?" Frank says, "I don't think they are up there, I think I saw the boy sweep some up in the trash the other day." Mr. Gantt asked him what sort they were and Mr. Frank says "tans." Gantt says, "Well, I had a pair of black ones too." Frank says, "Well, I don't know," and he dropped his head down just so. Then he raised his head and says, "Newt, go with him and stay with him and help him find them" and I went up there with Mr. Gantt and found them in the shipping room, two pair, the tans and the black ones. Mr. Frank phoned me that night about an hour after he left, it was sometime after seven o'clock. He says, "How is everything?" and I says, "Everything is all right so far as I know," and he says "Goodbye." There is a light on the street floor just after you get in the entrance to the building. The light is right up here where that partition comes across. Mr. Frank told me when I first went there, "Keep that light burning bright, so the officers can see in when they pass by." It wasn't burning that day at all. I lit it at six o'clock myself. On Saturday I always lit it, but weekdays it would always be lit when I got there. On Saturdays I always got there at five o'clock. This Saturday he got me there an hour earlier and let me off later. There is a light in the basement down there at the foot of the ladder. He told me to keep that burning all the time. It has two little chains to it to turn on and turn off the gas. When I got there on making my rounds at seven o'clock on the 26th of April, it was burning just as low as you could turn it, like a lightning bug. I left it Saturday morning burning bright. I made my rounds regularly every half hour Saturday night. I punched on the hour and punched on the half and I made all my punches. The elevator doors on the street floor and office floor were closed when I got there on Saturday. They were fastened down just like we fasten them down every other night. When three o'clock came I went down the basement and when I went down and got ready to come back I discovered the body there. I went down to the toilet and when I got through I looked at the dust bin back to the door to see how the door was and it being dark I picked up my lantern and went there and I saw something laying there which I thought some of the boys had put there to scare me, then I got out of there. I got up the ladder and called up the police station. It was after three o'clock . . . I tried to get Mr. Frank on the telephone and was still trying ... I guess I was trying about eight minutes. L. S. Dobbs, Sergeant of Police, and J. N. Starnes, City Officer, went to the National Pencil Factory after receiving the call from Newt Lee. They discovered the notes under the sawdust, a hat without ribbons on it, paper and pencils, and a shoe near the boiler; a bloody handkerchief about ten feet further from the body towards the rear on a sawdust pile. While Dobbs was reading the notes—"A tall black negro did this, he will try to lay it on the night"—when he said the word "night," Lee said, "That means the night watchman." J. N. Starnes finally reached Frank by telephone around 6:30 a.m. and sent Boots (W.W.) Rogers with John R. Black after him. The earlier calls made by Lee and the police had not been answered. Boots Rogers and Mr. Black said they found Frank extremely nervous and that he asked to eat his breakfast before leaving—a request the police denied him. Frank also denied knowledge of a little girl named Mary Phagan.
They then took Frank to the morgue. They stated that he scarcely looked at the body and would not enter the room where it lay. He continued to be agitated and nervous. Upon arriving at the factory, he consulted his time book and reported, "Yes, Mary Phagan worked here, and she was here yesterday to get her pay." He then told the police, "I will tell you about the exact time she left here. My stenographer left about twelve o'clock, and a few minutes after she left, the office boy left, and Mary came in and got her money and left." Further questioning revealed that Frank maintained he was inside his office "every minute" from noon to 12:30. On Sunday, he confirmed to the police that the time slips punched by Newt Lee were correct, but the next day he said the time slips contained errors. Frank appeared at police headquarters on Monday morning with his attorneys Luther Z. Rosser and Herbert Haas, who evidently had been contacted on Sunday.
Frank advised police that Newt Lee and J. M. Gantt had been at the factory and that Gantt "knew Mary Phagan very well." This led to their arrests. On Monday morning, April 28, when the factory opened, R. P. Barrett, a machinist, reported that he found blood spots near a machine at the west end of the dressing room on the second floor which had not been there Friday. Hair was also found on the handle of a bench lathe and strands of cords of the type that were used to strangle Mary Phagan were hung near the dressing room. Leo Frank was arrested on Tuesday, April 29, and incarcerated in the Fulton Tower. The police said his hands were quivering and that he was pale. He again reported that Mary Phagan came in "between 12:05 and 12:10, maybe 12:07, to get her pay envelope, her salary." He stated, "I paid her and she went out of the office." Later that evening Frank had a conversation with Newt Lee, who was handcuffed to a chair. Newt Lee reported that when Frank came in, he dropped his head and looked down. They were all alone and Lee said, "Mr. Frank, it's mighty hard for me to be handcuffed here for something I don't know anything about." Frank said, "That's the difference, they have got me locked up and a man guarding me." Lee then asked, "Mr. Frank, do you believe I committed that crime," and he said, "No, Newt, I know you didn't, but I believe you know something about it." Lee then said, "Mr. Frank, I don't know a thing about it, no more than finding the body." Frank said, "We are not talking about that now, we will let that go. If you keep that up we will both go to hell." The police had also learned that Frank refused to send Mary Phagan's pay home with Helen Ferguson, a friend. Then, not too long after Leo Frank's indictment and Jim Conley's statements, the police also obtained a statement from Minola McKnight, the black cook in the Frank home. She reported that when Frank came home that Saturday, he was drunk, talked wildly, and threatened to kill himself, thus forcing his wife to sleep on the floor. Minola's sworn statement was witnessed by her lawyer, George Gordon. Yet, three days later Mrs. McKnight publicly repudiated her affidavit, claiming that she had signed it to obtain release from the police. It seems that while her original statement made the front page of the newspapers, her repudiation was printed unobtrusively on an inside page. Other questions nagged at me. My family maintained that Mary Phagan had been violated. What did the medical evidence disclose? Was the blood found on her legs and underwear the result of rape or menstrual blood? Was undisputable evidence of rape found?
According to my great-grandmother, “Mary had not reached puberty even though she was large and well formed, appearing to be sixteen years of age.” . [Footnote 5] Mary did not have a menstrual cycle as she did not reach the age of complete puberty. If Mary was on her menstrual cycle, some indication of personal hygiene such as a menstrual cloth attached with pins would have been found on her body.
Brief of Evidence, 1913
The Brief of Evidence testimony of Dr. H. F. Harris, Sworn for the State state that he made an examination on May 5, 1913 (Autopsy Report) stated he made a” microscopic examination of the vagina and uterus. Natural menses would cause an enlargement of the uterus, but not of the vagina. In my opinion the menses could not have caused any dilation of the blood vessels and discoloration of the walls. Dr. Harris also stated that the “violence to the private parts might have been produced by the finger or by other means, but I found evidence of violence. It takes a rather considerable knock to tear epithelium off to the extent that bleeding would occur. I found the epithelium completely detached in places and in other places it was not detached. A digital examination means putting the finger in. The swelling and dilation of the blood vessels can only be seen by a microscope. It is impossible to say how much they were swollen.”
The examination included the privates of Mary Phagan: “I found no spermatozoa. On the walls of the vagina there was evidences of violence of some kind. The epithelium was pulled loose, completely detached in places, blood vessels were dilated immediately beneath the surface and a great deal of hemorrhage in the surrounding tissues. The dilation of the blood vessels indicated to me that the injury had been made in the vagina some little time before death. Perhaps ten to fifteen minutes. It had occurred before death by reason of the fact that these blood vessels were dilated. Inflammation had set in and it takes an appreciable length of time for the process of inflammatory change to begin. There was evidence of violence in the neighborhood of the hymen.”
Governor John M. Slaton chose to ignore the autopsy report in his Commutation (Chapter 7) and reported findings of "Dr. Hurt who declared there was no violence to the parts and the blood was characteristic of mensural flow. There were no external signs of rape. The body was not mutilated, thereon being on the head and scratches on the elbow, and a wound about two inches below the knee."
The autopsy report as well as the Brief of Evidence show that Mary Phagan’s blood was not her menses and she was raped/sexually assaulted.
Autopsy Report
Never Before Published Mary Phagan Autopsy Photo, Released 2013
The Battered Clothing of Mary Phagan, who was murdered at around noon on Saturday, April 26, 1913
DR. H. F. HARRIS, Sworn for the State, August, 1913.
I am a practicing Physician. I made an examination of the body of Mary Phagan on May 5th [1913].
[Skull and Head]
On removing the skull I found there was no actual break of the skull, but a little hemorrhage under the skull, corresponding to point where blow had been delivered, which shows that the blow was hard enough to have made the person unconscious. This wound on the head was not sufficient to have caused death.
[Strangulation]
I think beyond any question she came to her death from strangulation, from this cord being wound around her neck.
[Left Fist Punches the Victims Right Eye]
The bruise around the [right] eye was caused by a soft instrument, because it didn’t show the degree of contusion that would have been produced by a hard instrument. The outside cuticle of the skin wasn’t broken. The injury to the [right] eye and scalp were caused before death.
[Stomach]
I examined the contents of the stomach, finding 160 cubic centimeters of cabbage and biscuit, or wheaten bread. It had progressed very slightly towards digestion. It is impossible for one to say absolutely how long this cabbage had been in the stomach, but I feel confident that she was either killed or received the blow on the back of the head [From the solid iron handle of the bench lathe found in the metal room] within a half hour after she finished her meal [(According to Mrs. Coleman, 11:30 a.m. is when Mary Phagan ate her last meal)]. I have some cabbage here from two normal persons. Here was same meal taken of cabbage and wheaten bread by two men of normal stomach, and contents taken out within an hour. We found there was very little cabbage left.
[Genitals]
I made an examination of the privates of Mary Phagan. I found no spermatozoa. On the walls of the vagina there was evidences of violence of some kind. The epithelium was pulled loose, completely detached in places, blood vessels were dilated immediately beneath the surface and a great deal of hemorrhage in the surrounding tissues. The dilation of the blood vessels indicated to me that the injury had been made in the vagina some little time before death. Perhaps ten to fifteen minutes. It had occurred before death by reason of the fact that these blood vessels were dilated. Inflammation had set in and it takes an appreciable length of time for the process of inflammatory change to begin. There was evidence of violence in the neighborhood of the hymen.
[Rigor Mortis]
Rigor mortis varies so much that it is not accurate to state how long after death it sets in. It may begin in a few minutes and may be delayed for hours.
[Estimated Range for Time of Death Based on 11:30 a.m. Meal Digestion: Twelve Noon to 12:15 p.m. on Saturday April 26, 1913]
I could not state from the examination how long Mary Phagan was dying. It is my opinion that she lived from a half [noon] to three-quarters of an hour [12:15 p.m.] after she ate her [brunch] meal [at 11:30 a.m. according to Mrs. Coleman, Mary’s biological mother who testified she served her daughter a meal, before she left].
[Sexual Violence: Rape]
The evidence of violence in the vagina had evidently been done just before death.
[Forensics of Strangulation]
The fact that the child was strangled to death was indicated by the lividity, the blueness of the parts, the congestion of the tongue and mouth and the blueness of the hands and fingernails.
[Lungs]
The lungs had the peculiar appearance which is always produced after embalming when formaldehyde is used. I am of the opinion that the wound on the back of the head could not have been produced by this stick (referring to: Defendant’s Exhibit 48, Leo Frank Trial Brief of Evidence, 1913).
[(Exhibit 48 was a bloody stick planted on the first floor of the National Pencil Company factory, by associates of the Leo Frank legal defense team, nearly three weeks (20 days) after the crime, and discovered by Detective McWorth of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. The significance of the bloody stick planted in the lobby, was that 3 weeks after the murder, other evidence like a pay envelop was put at the lobby where Conley had sat on Saturday, April 26, 1913. The stick was another failed effort to develop forensic evidence that Phagan was assaulted by Jim Conley in the lobby, when she walked down the stairs from the second floor, this planted evidence was in contradiction to all the forensic evidence suggesting Leo Frank murdered Mary Phagan in the metal room at the rear of the second floor. The stick was discovered by Detective McWorth around May 15th, 1913. Detective McWorth was relieved of his services in the Mary Phagan murder investigation after he kept on discovering planted evidence in the lobby of the National Pencil Company, three weeks after Atlanta Police had meticulously searched the building for clews.)]
[Microscope Analysis to Determine if Menstruation Could have Caused the Evidence of Violence to the Vagina]
I made a microscopic examination of the vagina and uterus. Natural menses would cause an enlargement of the uterus, but not of the vagina. In my opinion the menses could not have caused any dilation of the blood vessels and discoloration of the walls.
[Stomach and Digestion Analysis]
From my own experiments I find that the behavior of the stomach after taking a small meal of cabbage and bread is practically the same as taking some biscuit and water alone. I examined Mary Phagan’s stomach. It was normal in size, normal in position, and normal in every particular.
I made a microscopic examination of the contents in Mary Phagan’s case. It showed plainly that it had not begun to dissolve, or only to a very slight degree, and indicated that the process of digestion had not gone on to any extent at the time that this girl was rendered unconscious. I found that the starch she had eaten had undergone practically no alteration. The contents taken from the little girl’s stomach was examined chemically and the result showed that there were only slight traces of the first action of the digestive juices on the starch. It was plainly evident that none of the material had gone into the small intestines. As soon as food is put in the stomach the beginning of the secretion of the hydrochloric acid is found.
It is from the quantity of this acid that the stomach secretes that doctors judge the state and degree of digestion. In this case the acid had not been secreted in such an excess that any of it had become what we call free. In this case the amount of acid in this girl’s stomach was combined and was 32 degrees. Ordinarily in a normal stomach at the end of an hour it runs from 50 to 70 or 80. I found none of the pancreatic juices in the stomach which are usually found, about an hour after digestion starts.
CROSS EXAMINATION BY DEFENSE:
I don’t remember when Mr. Dorsey first talked to me about making this autopsy. As long as the heart was beating you could have put a piece of rope around the neck of this little girl and produced the same results as I found. I took about five or six ounces altogether out of the stomach. It was all used up in making my experiments. I know of no experiments made as to the effect of gastric juices where the patient is dead. The juices of the body after death gradually evaporate. The chemical analysis of each cabbage varies, not only in the plant but from the way it is cooked. It is a very vague matter as to what influences may retard digestion. Every individual is almost a law unto himself. To a certain extent different vegetables affect different stomachs different ways, but the average normal stomach digests anything that is eaten within reason. Some authorities claim that exercise will retard digestion. I don’t know that mental activity would have very much effect in retarding the digestion.
It is the generally accepted opinion that food begins to pass out of the stomach through the pyloris in about a half an hour. A great many things pass out of the stomach that are not digested. The juices of the stomach make no change in them. The stomach does not emulsify a solid. I never knew a normal man who could digest a solid. The science of digestion is rather a modern thing. I did not call in any chemist in making this examination. I said it was impossible for any one to say absolutely how long the cabbage had been in the stomach of Mary Phagan before she met her death, not within a minute or five minutes, but I say it was somewhere between one-half an hour and three-quarters. I am certain of that. Of course, if digestion had been delayed this time element would change.
[Penis, Finger or Object?]
The violence to the private parts might have been produced by the finger or by other means, but I found evidence of violence. It takes a rather considerable knock to tear epithelium off to the extent that bleeding would occur. I found the epithelium completely detached in places and in other places it was not detached. A digital examination means putting the finger in. The swelling and dilation of the blood vessels could be seen only with a microscope. It is impossible to say how much they were swollen.
A scalp wound is very prone to bleed.
-End of Witness Testimony Concerning the Mary Phagan Autopsy, Leo Frank Trial Brief of Evidence, 1913
Testimony of Dr. Harris:
Startling Statements Made During Testimony of Dr. Harris
Atlanta Constitution August 2nd, 1913
Making the startling declaration that Mary Phagan had been killed within thirty or forty-five minutes after she had eaten dinner, Dr. Roy F. Harris, state chemist, took the stand during the afternoon session yesterday.
It was Dr. Harris who made the autopsy upon the body when it was disinterred in Marietta on May 5. He brought with him into court specimens of predigested cabbage which had been removed from the slain girl’s stomach.
He also testified to the effect that the girl had suffered violence before death and recited the condition in which he had found blood vessels and tissues of the girl’s organs.
He was questioned first by Solicitor Dorsey.
“What is your occupation?”
“I am a physician.”
“How long have you been a physician?”
“Since 1889.”
“Give the jury a brief history of your career.” “I was graduated in Atlanta in 1839 and in Philadelphia in 1890. I was professor of chemistry in the medical college at Philadelphia, and later became assistant professor of bacteriology in the Jefferson Medical college. I was professor in the Atlanta College of Medicine, and have been director of laboratory in the state board of health since the inauguration of the board.”
“Did you examine the body of Mary Phagan?”
“Yes. On May 5.”
“What did you discover, if anything?”
“Several discolorations. One was on the forehead, one on an arm and one on each of the left and right legs. A huge discoloration was on the right eye.” “What did the discoloration of the right eye seem to have been inflicted by?”
“By a fist.” “Was there another wound?”
“Yes. One on the head about an inch and a half in length. On removing the skull I found no break, but discovered signs of hemorrhage beneath—a hemorrhage which would have rendered the victim unconscious.”
Death Caused by Strangulation.
“What was the cause of death?”
“There was a ridge in the throat apparently made by a stout cord. It was very deep. Strangulation, beyond a doubt, was the cause.” “Why do you say, doctor, that a fist caused the discoloration of the eye?” “Because the discoloration was swollen and didn’t show any degree of contusion that an instrument or hard substance would have caused.”
“Do you think that this and the other injuries were made before death?”
“Unquestionably.”
“What did you find in her stomach upon its removal?” “One hundred and sixty-six cubic centimeters of cabbage and biscuits.” “Was this substance digested?”
“No.” Here the witness took from his satchel a small vial containing fluid preservative, in which floated a small amount of cabbage.
“This,” he said, “is some of what I removed from the stomach.”
“How long was this substance in her stomach before death?” “She was either killed or received the blow upon the head thirty or forty-five minutes after her last meal.”
Evidences of Violence.
Dr. Harris then testified that in examining the organs of the girl’s body he had discovered evidences of violence.
“How long does it take a corpse to begin rigor-mortis?”
“It varies so much in different cases that it is impossible to determine.”
“Are you able to say how long it was before Mary Phagan died?” “No. I can’t say.”
“How long did she live after eating her last meal?”
“Thirty or forty-five minutes.” “How much blood did she lose?”
“That, I cannot say.”
It was upon this last answer that Dr. Harris suffered the collapse. He was assisted from the stand by Deputy Sheriff Plennie Miner before the defense was able to being its cross-examination.
Mary Phagan Was Strangled Declares Dr. H. F. Harris
Atlanta Constitution August 7th, 1913
Dr. Roy F. Harris, the pathologist, head of the state board of health, and the expert who exhumed and examined the body of Mary Phagan, went on the stand at the close of the argument over Judge Roan’s reserved decision to continue the testimony from which he was interrupted Friday by a fainting spell in the courtroom.
He still suffered from weakness and was allowed to sit in a heavily-upholstered armchair.
He was questioned first by Solicitor Dorsey.
“Dr. Harris, what is your particular branch of medicine?” “My usual line is pathology, chemistry and chemical work, as well as diagnosis.”
“Can you indicate the signs of what you saw on Mary Phagan’s body which showed strangulation?”
Died by Strangulation.
“It was out of the question that her death was caused by a blow on the head—it was not sufficient to even produce noticeable pressure. The only thing evident from which death could have resulted was the deep indentation along the throat, obviously inflicted during life. There were other signs as well—the protruding tongue, congested blood in the face and hands, all of which indicated that strangulation had caused death.”
“Did you notice the larynx?”
“Yes; there seemed no damage done.”
“Did you see the windpipe?” “Yes.”
“Did you take it out?”
“No; there seemed but little damage to it. I did not remove it because I did not want to mutilate the poor child any more than necessary.”
“Did you see the lungs?” “Yes, but the lungs were congested, due to the use of formaldehyde used in embalming.”
The solicitor asked the defense for the bloody stick found by Pinkertons on May 10 in the pencil factory. It was produced and shown to the physician.
“Do you think the blow you found on the child’s head could have been inflicted by a cudgel like this?” “In my opinion, I would think not—the gash evidently was inflicted with some sharp instrument.”
“Did you make a scientific examination of the female organs?”
Violence Before Death.
“Yes; I made a microscopic examination.”
Dr. Harris at this point testified as to the condition of the organs of the girl to show that violence of some sort had been done her.
Following these questions Dr. Harris was asked regarding certain experiments he had made on digestive organs relative to their action upon cabbage. He had started to detail a test he had made twelve years ago, when Rosser objected to his personal experience being put before the jury.
“This witness is testifying to a science which directly concerns this case,” said the solicitor, “and I submit that it is absolutely relevant and admissible.
“There is no doubt that if Dr. Harris was the only man in the world who had made this experiment there would be an objection to his stating it by the defense.”
“You can give the results of your experiment or authority in the subject,” ruled Judge Roan.
Only One to Make Experiment.
“I know of none other who have made this experiment,” said the doctor, “and therefore I decided to make it myself. The stomach frees itself quickly of cabbage and bread. It frees itself as quickly of cabbage as it does of a mixture of the two.
“As soon as I saw the peculiar relation of cabbage to this case, I knew the girl had come to her death or to unconsciousness at the time digestion was stopped.”
At this juncture the witness was stopped by Mr. Rosser, who declared that the expert must give, or detail, the science of his statement.
“If that cabbage had been on my stomach,” said the attorney, “it would stay there until tomorrow.”
The solicitor protested to the objection, saying that Dr. Harris had already stated he was the only man who had ever made such an experiment.
It was following this assertion that the first injection of the Grace case was made into the Frank trial. Attorney Hooper brought comparison by reminding Judge Roan of a decision he had made in the famous case following an experiment by two marksmen with revolvers at police headquarters during course of the trial.
“Two men, who were not experts,” said Mr. Hooper, “went to police headquarters and, with pistols, determined the distance required to inflict powder marks upon a white cloth. There were no experts in the test, but there was an experiment, on which your honor ruled favorably.”
“You can give the science of your experiment, Dr. Harris,” ruled Judge Roan, “without disclosing the process by which your knowledge was gained.”
Girl’s Stomach Normal.
Following which came a declaration by Dr. Harris that the girl’s stomach was normal.
The defense frequently asked Judge Roan for rulings to objections which they made. In each instance it was specifically requested that particular note be made of it in the records. It was obvious that foundation was being laid for appeal for new trial.
During the course of an argument which followed an objection to certain parts of the expert’s testimony Attorney Rosser accused the witness of being intensely argumentative.
Dr. Harris continued:
“I recently experimented with four persons with cabbage cooked by Mrs. Coleman and in each case the effect upon them was the same, that is, pertaining to digestion. The results also were the same as found in Mary Phagan’s body.”
At this Dr. Harris attempted to display the vials of cabbage removed from the stomachs of the man on whom he had made the experiment. Attorney Rosser voiced objection.
“I want to show,” argued the solicitor, “that the stomach of Mary Phagan was normal, and that the cabbage discovered in her body was undigested. It is possible that this expert cannot explain his experiment and to show comparisons revealing that this cabbage was cooked alike, swallowed alike, and chewed alike by the men on whom Dr. Harris made the experiment.”
He was sustained.
Dr. Harris continued:
“Mary Phagan’s stomach was normal in size, development and position—in fact, it was normal in every particular.”
Believes Doctors Are Guessing.
At this, Mr. Rosser insisted that Dr. Harris tell his reasons for knowing these facts.
“I don’t know what the doctor means about this and about that,” he said, “for I think all these doctors are guessing most of the time.”
Judge Roan cautioned the witness to tell purely all he found in his explanation.
“I found in Mary Phagan’s case,” he said, “that even the particles finely chewed were not digested at all. Digestion had not gone on to any extent at the time of death or unconsciousness.”
It was while he was attempting to explain one of his own theories relating to this condition Dr. Harris was interrupted by Mr. Rosser, who said:
“You should not give your opinion, doctor, nor make any stump speeches.”
“It was clear that this cabbage had not entered the smaller intestines,” continued the witness, “which showed that the contents of the stomach had not been pressed into the intestines at the time of death.
“Also the amount of gastric juice in this case was less than would have occurred in an hour in an ordinary case. Hydrochloric acid forms at certain periods of digestion, and had not formed in this case of Mary Phagan. There was no free hydrochloric acid, but there were 32 degrees of combined hydrochloric acid.
Girl Dead in Forty Minutes.
“In this case, the combined hydrochloric was about the amount one would suppose to exist within thirty or forty minutes. I have assumed that the girl, after she ate, was dead within that length of time—thirty or forty minutes.
“Another question is the pancreatic juice would make its appearance in the stomach and intestines within that period. It was absent in this case.”
“Was failure to digest cabbage due to its condition?” asked the solicitor.
“No, the digestive fluid was there.”
“Was there any obstruction in the flow of the stomach’s contents?” “None.”
“Would a blow or struggle check the process of digestion?” “Yes.”
“Had digestion up the time of death progressed favorably?” “Yes. Her digestion was normal.”
“Dr. Harris, will you please give the jury some idea of the power of magnification your microscope projected upon the stomach in your examination?” “My microscope is the finest made. It could have enlarged objects thousands of times.”
“How did the state of bread correspond to the state of cabbage?” “Just the same.”
“Suppose it had been chewed up entirely, would that have had any effect?” “No; the effect would have been the same.”
At this point Attorney Arnold took up the cross-examination.
“Where did Mr. Dorsey first talk to you about this matter?” he asked.
“I don’t recall.”
Asked Him to Keep Silent.
“Did Mr. Dorsey request you not to make the result of this examination public?” “Yes, sir. I told him I would take the case and go into it thoroughly. There were some suggestion of poison, and I made an examination for poison, but none was found.”
“Couldn’t a man be dying and all the appearance in this case be produced by putting a cord around his throat?” “I think not.”
“A man might be dying from strangulation for an hour, mightn’t he?” “Yes.”
“Having explained, doctor, that death by strangulation was more the result of the body retaining poisons than from the failure to get oxygen, you still state that his correct, eh?”
“Yes.”
“If breath was cut off completely, how long before a man would die?” “No one has ever been able to ascertain definitely.”
“You say your first intention was to examine Mary Phagan’s body for poison?” “Yes.”
“What kind of poison?” “Alcolaid.”
“What else?” “Strychnine or morphine.”
“Was there any arsenic in Gheesling’s embalming formula?” “Yes.”
Made the Opium Test.
“What test did you make for poison?” “The opium test.”
“Did you test for mercury?” “Not directly.”
“For what mineral poisons did you test?” “I did not test for mineral poisons.”
“Did you make the poison tests before you made the others?” “I made them all at the same time.”
“In how many parts did you divide the contests [sic] of the stomach?”
“I divided them into all parts necessary; I do not recollect the exact number.”
“How many tests did you make?” “Six or eight in all, all of which were necessary.”
“What was the first test?” “To determine various quantities.”
“What was the second?” “For hydrochloric acid.”
“How do you measure hydrochloric acid?” “By degrees.”
“How many drops would 32 degrees form?” Dr. Harris figured for several minutes on his notebook, multiplying, dividing, saying finally:
“About a drop and a half.”
Only Chemical Acids.
“What are the properties of free acid?” “Chemical acid only.”
“Hydrochloric acid is a powerful property, isn’t it?” “Very powerful.”
“The average man has how many degrees?” “Fifty-five or sixty degrees—three or four drops.”
“What is the next juices of importance to the digestive organs?” “Pepsin.”
“How much pepsin should there be to correspond with 32 degrees hydrochloric acid?” “Unfortunately we have no accurate way of determining the measurements of pepsin.”
“Do different stomachs and glands produce various quantities of pepsin and hydrochloric acid?”
“Yes, there has been much argument on the subject.”
“Where does the pepsin come from that we get at soda founts?” “From cows and animals.”
“it is purely an animal substance, then?” “Yes.”
“What becomes of the juices in the body after death?” “They evaporate gradually.”
“Embalming removes most of the fluids, doesn’t it?” “Yes.”
Come From the Stomach.
“Gastric juices all come from the stomach, don’t they?” “Yes.”
“How long, doctor, is the small intestine of which you speak?” “About twenty-five feet.”
“Did you find any of the cabbage in Mary Phagan’s body to have been [e]mulsified?”
“Yes, I’ve already explained that.”
“What were the proportionate parts in her stomach?” “Ninety per cent water, 10 per cent solid.”
“The important constituents, then, are in the solid, as the fluid amounts to but little?” “Yes.”
“Is cabbage nourishing?”
“About as much as any other vegetable. No vegetable has any great amount of nourishment.”
“What gastric juice is created by the mouth?” “Saliva.”
“Is that a digestive property?” “Yes.”
“What chemical properties are in saliva?”
“It helps to digest the starch that goes into the stomach.”
Here Dr. Harris became slightly ill, and, at his request, was removed from the stand.
Had she been bitten on the breasts? X-rays of her body had apparently shown teeth indentations on her neck and shoulder. Where were the X-ray records? Were the marks made by Leo Frank's teeth? Did Solicitor Dorsey have Mary's body exhumed a second time to check the marks against X-rays of Leo Frank's teeth?
American *Jewish-Revisionists Scholars the Leo Frank Case (Oney,[ And the Dead Shall Rise, 2003, pages 617-618] *Dinnerstein,[ The Leo Frank Case, 1991 Special , page 158] *Golden, [ A Little Girl is Dead, 1965, pages 53-54; 256-257] *Alphin,[ An Unspeakable Crime, 2010; pages 11, 46, 132] *Melnick, [ Black-Jewish Relations on Trial; Leo Frank and Jim Conley in the New South, 2000; page 68], *Wilkes [Flagpole Magazine, May 5, 2004; page 7] and others) have cited that Mary Phagan had bitemarks on her neck and shoulder and state that this as factual evidence and indicates Leo Frank is innocent and should be exonerated.
In 1913, Kodak produced the first prepackaged dental x-ray film. The packet of waxed waterproof paper contained two pieces of single-coated film. This film basically was still photographic film. In 1919, Kodak produce the first true dental x-ray film, designed for direct exposure by x-rays.
First Court case in Georgia when dental x-rays were used:
"Both physicians [Dr. Harris, Dr. Hurt] and the undertaker agree that there were no beastly and unspeakable mutilations about the dead girl’s body, such as street rumor and gossip originally attributed to the perpetrator of the crime."
Mary Phagan was embalmed by William Gheesling at P.J. Bloomfield's Mortuary on late morning of April 27, 1913, and Dr. Hurt completed a post-mortem. Dr. Harris did an autopsy on May 5, 1913. None of these experts who examined the body of Mary Phagan ever reported bitemarks on her neck and shoulder, or anywhere on her body for that matter.
Mary Phagan was exhumed when a rumor that a girl that looked similar to her appeared to be on drugs, during the evening of the murder April 26, 1913. No bitemarks were ever reported anywhere on her embalmed body, during further examinations, or after exhumation on the morning of May 5, 1913.
During the trial of Leo Frank, numerous physicians' witnesses for both the State's prosecution and Defense team never mentioned bitemarks on Mary Phagan's neck and shoulder. Newspaper reports from the Atlanta Journal, Atlanta Constitution, and the Atlanta Georgian from 1913-1915 never mentioned bitemarks or photos of the teeth marks on her body did not correspond with Leo Frank's set of teeth of which several photos were taken. Governor John M. Slaton Commutation states does not mention evidence of bitemarks on Mary Phagan's shoulder, neck or anywhere else on her body [Chapter 7] and states "The body was not mutilated." Nowhere in the testimony can it be found that Mary Phagan was bitten on her breast.
Where did these claims come from? The report of such a bite surfaced many years later when in 1964, Pierre Van Passen*, who had studied the evidence and X-rays of the Frank case in 1922, reported that he found X-ray pictures showing the girl had been bitten on the left shoulder and neck before strangulation, and that, moreover, those indentations did not correspond to the X-rays of Leo Frank's teeth.
*Pierre Van Passan published his book in 1964, To Number our Days. [Footnote 7] where he recollects memories back to 1922 when he was living and working at the capital in Georgia for the AtlantaConstitution. He claimed he found a file at the Fulton County Courthouse and found an envelope with a "sheaf of papers and number of x-ray photos showing teeth indentures."
To Number our Days
Pierre van Paassen, 1964; Pages 237-238
“The Jewish community of Atlanta at that time seemed to live under a cloud. Several years previously one of its members, Leo Frank, had been lynched as he was being transferred from the Fulton Tower Prison in Atlanta to Milledgeville for trial on a charge of having raped and murdered a little girl in his warehouse which stood right opposite the Constitution building. Many Jewish citizens who recalled the hanging were unanimous in assuring me that Frank was innocent of the crime.*Leo Frank was not hung as he was being transferred from the Fulton Tower Prison in Atlanta to Milledgeville. Slaton commutated his sentence on June 21, 1915 where he was moved to Milledgeville. Leo Frank was in Milledgeville until he was lynched on August 17, 1915.
“I took to reading all the evidence pro and con in the record department at the courthouse. Before long I came upon an envelope containing a sheaf of papers and a number of X-ray photographs showing teeth indentures. The murdered girl had been bitten on the left shoulder and neck before being strangled. But the X-ray photos of the teeth marks on her body did not correspond with Leo Frank’s set of teeth of which several photos were included. If those photos had been published at the time of the murder, as they should have been, the hanging would probably not have taken place.
“Though, as I said, the man died several years before, it was not too late, I thought, to rehabilitate his memory and perhaps restore the good name of his family. I showed Clark Howell the evidence establishing Frank’s innocence and asked permission to run a series of articles dealing with the case and especially with the evidence just uncovered. Mr. Howell immediately concurred,* but the most prominent Jewish lawyer in the city, Mr. Harry Alexander, whom I consulted with a view to have him present the evidence to the grand jury, demurred. He said Frank had not even been tried. Hence no new trial could be requested. *Frank was arrested, tried and convicted of Mary Phagan’s murder on August 25, 1913. Moreover, the Jewish community in its entirety still felt nervous about the incident. If I wrote the articles old resentments might be stirred up and, who knows, some of the unknown lynchers might recognize themselves as participants in my description of the hanging. It was better, Mr. Alexander thought, to leave sleeping lions alone. Some local rabbis were drawn into the discussion and they actually pleaded with Clark Howell to stop me from reviving interest in the Frank case as this was bound to have evil repercussions on the Jewish community.
“That someone had blabbed out of school became quite evident when I received a printed warning saying: ‘Lay off the Frank case if you want to keep healthy.’ The unsigned warning was reinforced one night or, rather, early one morning when I was driving home. A large automobile drove up alongside of me and forced me into the track of a fast-moving streetcar coming from the opposite direction. My car was demolished, but I escaped without a scratch….”
Did Pierre Van Paassen fabricate this claim as he did others including his personal life?
If you would like to read Van Paassen books, you can find them in the Hekman Library at Calvin University.
*Put in Appendix Article Below:
November 19, 2019
THE STRANGE CAREER OF PIERRE VAN PAASSEN
Pierre Van Paassen lived a life of contradictions. He was a pacifist who set aside his principles to serve in the Canadian military and later returned to pacifism of a sort. He was a journalist who made up stories and bounced around jobs from Canada to the United States, Europe, and Palestine. The longest continuity in Van Paassen’s work was his support for Zionism and the new state of Israel. What can we make of a life like his?
Life started for Van Paassen in a militant Calvinist household in Gorinchem, Netherlands. He wrote about his upbringing in numerous books, including one of his bestsellers, The Forgotten Ally. In 1911, Van Paassen immigrated to Toronto, Canada, where he left behind the Reformed Christianity of his parents to become a Methodist pastor. In 1914, he married Ethel Ann Russell, before separating from her and remarrying, this time a Gorinchem native named Cornelia Machelina Sizoo.
A writer more than anything else, Van Paassen spent much of his career in journalism. He worked for several newspapers, most notably as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star. Many of his stories were about war and racial violence. He penned articles about the dangers of National Socialism, comparisons between the Nazi party and KKK, and Nazi brutality towards Jews. Late in life, he wrote about the injustices faced by African Americans. Ironically, given his opposition to racial bigotry, the Toronto Star fired him in 1936 for his anti-Catholic, left-wing biases.
Van Paassen discovered his passion in the 1930s when he began to devote much of his time and energy to the Zionist cause. He found himself entranced by the trials and triumphs of the ancient Israelites. He became a Zionist activist, believing that Zionism was the “Social Gospel of Judaism” and that the Jewish people would create a model state.
To support the cause Van Paassen spoke to Christian and Jewish congregations. He joined the short-lived Pro-Palestinian Federation in the United States and served as chairman for the Committee for a Jewish Army for Stateless and Palestinian Jews. Van Paassen found himself writing letters and statements to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill on behalf of Zionist Committees. His sympathy for the persecuted Jewish population and the state of Israel never wavered throughout his life.
For all his activism, Van Paassen remained a writer at heart. He became an independent author after the Toronto Star let him go. His main interests were Zionism and his hometown of Gorinchem. His first book, the autobiographical Days of our Years (1939), was an instant bestseller. The Forgotten Ally (1943), about the contributions of Jews to the war effort, also reached bestseller status. His desire to tell vivid stories led him to make up material and commit factual errors, however. Earth Could be Fair (1946), ostensibly about Gorinchem during the war and based on family letters, was totally fabricated, for example.
Although Van Paassen’s writings were marred by errors and fabrications, readers loved them. “Van Paassen was a prolific writer who used his journalistic skills to warn against the dangers of National Socialism and to speak on behalf of the persecuted Jews,” Gerlof Homan concluded in his Origins article in 2014. “Unfortunately, much of his other writing has limited historical value as he tended to fictionalize events and individuals including aspects of his own life.” The flaws in Van Paassen’s books do not negate Van Paassen’s intuitive understanding of what interested readers or his impact as a supporter of Zionism.
After the war, Van Paassen returned to the church. In 1946 he became an ordained Unitarian minister. He criticized Christianity that looked to the afterlife for comfort and instead advocated a “militant Christianity” that promoted the Kingdom of God in the here and now. Perhaps Van Paassen’s life is best seen as that of a man in search of the right pulpit. He might have left behind his parents’ Calvinism, but not their inclination to support righteous causes.
Caleb Ackerman is a student at Calvin University.
************
Winter 2021, The Breman Museum Presents: Atlanta Jewish History Talks THE TRAGIC CASE OF LEO FRANK THURSDAY JAN 28th | 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Join Steve Oney, the foremost historian on the Leo Frank case, as he discusses a devastatingly tragic case of Anti-Semitism in America and a pivotal moment in Atlanta’s Jewish history. The class will be moderated by founding archivist of The Breman, Sandra Berman, who devoted her career to collecting original historic items from the case and curated an in-depth exhibition that traveled around the country.
It was surprising that Steve Oney and Sandra Berman suggested the Autopsy Report did not exist and pushed the narrative of Pierre Van Passen that Mary Phagan was bitten on the neck and shoulder. Oney states in his book, And the Dead Shall Rise, The Murder of Mary Phagan and the hanging of Leo Frank, [pages 91-93; 233-234; 257-258] the "autopsy report" which never mentions the bitemarks. To still use this reference today as proof of Leo Frank's innocence is a deliberate effort of misrepresenting historical sources.
Was Leo Frank a "pervert," as the state attempted to establish? The state had certainly enough people to state on the witness stand that he'd made sexual overtures to the female employees at the factory. But does that mean—did the answers to any of my questions mean—that Leo Frank killed Mary Phagan?
On the Saturday following the murder, Monteen Stover, a fellow worker at the factory with Mary Phagan, came forward to tell the police that she had come for her pay on April 26 but was unable to collect it because Frank was absent from his office.
Monteen informed the police that "it was five minutes after twelve. I was sure that Mr. Frank would be in his office, so I stepped in. He wasn't in the outer office, so I stepped into the inner one. He wasn't there either. I thought he might have been somewhere around the building so I waited. I went to the door and peered further down the floor among the machinery. I couldn't see him there. I stayed until the clock hand was pointing to ten minutes after twelve. Then I went downstairs. The building was quiet, and I couldn't hear a sound. I didn't see anybody."
On April 30, 1913 coroner's inquest began.
*Note: In 2013 on the 100th anniversary of Mary Phagan’s sexual assault and murder, a full unexpurgated digital record of all the contemporary reports about the Coroner’s Inquest which took place in the wake of the murder of Mary Phagan became available.
The full text of every single article from the AtlantaGeorgian, the Atlanta Constitution, and the Atlanta Journal that dealt with the 1913 Coroner’s Inquest is reproduced in Part 2. It was at the Coroner’s Inquest that Mary Phagan’s death was legally declared to be a result of willful murder and that official suspicion was first leveled at the last person to see her alive: Leo Frank, factory superintendent.
When a person is killed under unusual or suspicious circumstances in the United States, the first investigation into what may well be a crime is conducted by the coroner of the county where the death took place and is called an inquest. Presiding over the inquest and its investigations is the coroner, who is assisted in reaching a decision by a coroner’s jury. At an inquest, witnesses may be called and examined, documents may be offered into evidence, expert medical and other opinion may be taken, and suspects may be questioned. Such was the case in Fulton County, Georgia, when Mary Phagan’s tragic death occurred on April 26, 1913. A coroner’s inquest can render verdicts of, for example, natural death, accidental death, misadventure, suicide, or murder. If the verdict is murder, the jurors will often recommend that a certain person or persons be held on suspicion of committing the crime. The responsibility for continuing the case then falls to the criminal justice system.
Leo Frank being taken from the Tower to the Coroner’s Inquest (from the Atlanta Georgian, Monday, May 5, 1913). He was accompanied by Chief of Detectives Lanford (left) and Police Chief Beavers (cut off on the right in this photograph)
.
Presided over by the Fulton County Coroner Paul V. Donehoo were a half-petit jury of prominent White men from the community, who opened the Coroner’s Inquest on Wednesday morning, April 30, 1913.
The inquest began shortly after nine o’clock after the jury members were sworn. The empaneled tribunal in total consisted of seven men — Coroner Donehoo and the six jurymen: 1. H. Ashford, foreman; 2. Glenn Dewberry; 3. J. Hood; 4. C. Langford; 5. John Miller; 6. C. Sheats; and 7. Judge of the Inquest Jury, The Fulton County Coroner, Paul Donehoo.
Paul Donehoo — who made up for the fact that he was legally blind with his brilliant logical mind and quick insight into human character and motivations — quickly began to focus on certain contradictions and oddities in the testimony he’d heard.
Never used the bathroom?
In Donehoo’s two examinations of Leo Frank, Frank repeatedly and unequivocally stated under oath that he did not use the second floor bathroom in his factory at all on the day of the murder, even though he spent almost all of that day in his office on the same floor. Frank did not state that he didn’t remember — but rather that he did not use that bathroom (the one he customarily would use) on April 26, 1913. There were no other bathrooms on the second floor of the National Pencil Company, except in the metal room (see Brief of Evidence, 1913 Defendant’s Exhibit 61). This was originally thought by many to be a “throw away” detail, but later it became one of the most profound links in the case.
The visit that wasn’t — and then was
A controversial new development occurred during the inquest concerning Leo M. Frank’s alibi for the 45 minutes after Mary Phagan visited him in his office at noon. Frank said he never left his office on the day of the murder between noon and 12:45 PM, but there was no way to even remotely corroborate this. But then Leo Frank said he had forgotten for the entire first week of the murder investigation to bring forward his employee Lemmie A. Quinn, the foreman of the metal room, who then testified at the Coroner’s Inquest that he had returned to the factory and seen Frank in his office around 12:20. Quinn also testified that he had not mentioned this before because he had wanted to give Frank a chance to ask his attorneys if such testimony would be “helpful.” (Much later, after Frank’s conviction and during the appeals process, Quinn was criminally impeached when it was discovered he was offering bribes to witnesses to change their stories.)
Lemmie Quinn signed an affidavit for Solicitor Dorsey one week before the Coroner’s Inquest, stating he had gone to play billiards after he left the National Pencil Company factory at a quarter to noon (11:45am), and he does not ever mention coming back to the factory. He changed his story at the inquest, stating he had come back to the factory at 12:20pm to speak with Leo Frank. When Coroner Donehoo asked Leo Frank why he waited a week to bring forward this critical alibi witness to the police, Leo Frank said he wanted to wait for his lawyers’ “permission” first.
Quinn told the Coroner’s Inquest jury that he went back to the pencil factory and specifically into Leo M. Frank’s office at 12:20 to 12:25 PM for the purpose of talking about a baseball bet with the factory’s head clerk, Mr. Herbert George Schiff. But Schiff was not at the factory, and was not even supposed to be at the factory at all that day, because it was a State holiday and everyone was given the day off.
Herbert G. Schiff stated at the later Leo Frank trial that he took pride in the fact that he had never missed a day of work in five years (Brief of Evidence, Herbert Schiff, 1913) — except once, unintentionally, during a disastrous flood. Leo Frank, however, gave the false impression that Schiff unexpectedly missed work that day — in order to make Quinn’s suddenly-remembered appearance seem less improbable.
Some of the questions to and about Quinn and his visit were quite pointed:
Did you tell any of the officers that you had not been at the factory since Friday?—A [Quinn]. No.
You didn’t tell Officer Payne?—A. No.
You didn’t tell Detective Starnes?—A. No.
. . .
Did you talk to Frank about your being in the office on Saturday?—A [Quinn]. I refreshed his memory of my being there.
When?—A. I don’t remember the exact date. It was after he had been locked up.
How did you refresh his memory?—A. We were discussing the supposition of the girl having never left the factory. I told him: “Why I was there Saturday after the time you say Mary Phagan was.” He said he remembered me being there, but wasn’t sure of the time. I told him what time it was and he said he would tell his lawyers. I told him I did not want to be drawn into the case, but if it would help him I would do so.
Were you alone with Frank when you talked of this?—A. Yes.
. . .
Coroner Donehoo tried to get Quinn to admit that he previously had told officers who interviewed him that he was not at the factory between Friday and the following Sunday.
. . .
An effort was made without avail to break down the story of Lemmie Quinn that he was at the factory and talked to Frank between 12:10 and 12:20 the Saturday afternoon of the tragedy. Coroner Donehoo tried to get Quinn to admit that he previously had told officers who interviewed him that he was not at the factory between Friday and the following Sunday.
. . .
Detectives declared that Quinn had told them and other persons that he did not visit the factory at all Saturday and that he was not there from the time he left Friday until the following Monday.
. . .
A stormy scene is said to have ensued during the interrogation to which he [Quinn] was subjected at headquarters. To a reporter for The Constitution, he last night declared that Scott and Solicitor Dorsey charged him with having accepted a bribe from Frank’s counsel for the story he was telling of the visit to the factory.
. . .
Detective Black contradicted the testimony given at the morning session by Lemmie Quinn by saying that Quinn had told him the Monday after the tragedy that he had not been to the pencil factory the Saturday before.
“Quinn made the statement in my presence two or three times,” said the witness. “On one occasion Detectives Starnes and Campbell questioned him in the basement of the pencil factory and he said he had not been there.”
Herbert Schiff: In an effort to help Frank, Lemmie Quinn claimed he returned to the factory to talk to Schiff. But why would he do that on a day when Schiff was expected to be absent?
Lemmie Quinn signed an affidavit for Solicitor Dorsey one week before the Coroner’s Inquest, stating he had gone to play billiards after he left the National Pencil Company factory at a quarter to noon (11:45am), and he does not ever mention coming back to the factory. He changed his story at the inquest, stating he had come back to the factory at 12:20pm to speak with Leo Frank. When Coroner Donehoo asked Leo Frank why he waited a week to bring forward this critical alibi witness to the police, Leo Frank said he wanted to wait for his lawyers’ “permission” first. (Excerpt from State’s Exhibit S shown)
It was, doubtless, obvious to Donehoo and the Coroner’s Inquest jury that the testimony of Quinn was meant to shrink the plausible time Leo M. Frank would have to bludgeon, rape, and strangle Mary Phagan by 15 minutes — from, formerly, 12:02 PM to 12:35 PM to, if Quinn was to be believed, 12:02 PM to 12:19 PM. Ultimately, Quinn’s testimony as regards his alleged visit had little if any helpful effect for Leo Frank. If anything, it called into question the veracity of Frank and his defenders and ultimately the innocence of Frank himself:
Would an innocent man resort to such devices?
Improper behavior toward teenage girl employees
Also significant in Donehoo’s view was Frank’s efforts at promiscuous sexual advances toward some of the girls he employed, as evidenced by this reported testimony:
Girls Testify Against Frank.
The most damaging testimony against Frank in regard to his treatment of employees at his factory was saved until the last hours of the hearing. Girls and women were called to the stand to testify that they had been employed at the factory or had had occasion to go there, and that Frank had attempted familiarities with them.
Nellie Pettis
Nellie Pettis, of 9 Oliver Street, declared that Frank had made improper advances on her. She was asked if she ever had been employed at the pencil factory.
“No,” she answered.
Do you know Leo Frank?—A. I have seen him once or twice.
When and where did you see him?—A. In his office at the factory whenever I went to draw my sister-in-law’s pay.
What did he say to you that might have been improper on any of these visits?—A. He didn’t exactly say—he made gestures. I went to get sister’s pay about four weeks ago and when I went into the office of Mr. Frank I asked for her. He told me I couldn’t see her unless “I saw him first.”
Says He Winked at Her.
“I told him I didn’t want to ‘see him.’ He pulled a box from his desk. It had a lot of money in it. He looked at it significantly and then looked at me. When he looked at me, he winked. As he winked he said: ‘How about it?’
“I instantly told him I was a nice girl.”
Here the witness stopped her statement. Coroner Donehoo asked her sharply:
“Didn’t you say anything else?”
“Yes, I did! I told him to go to h—l! and walked out of his office.”
Thomas Blackstock, who said that he was employed at the factory about a year ago testified as follows:
Tells of Frank’s Conduct.
Do you know Leo M. Frank?—A. Yes.
How long have you known him?—A. About six weeks.
Did you ever observe his conduct toward female employees of the pencil factory?—A. Yes. I’ve often seen him picking on different girls.
Name some.—A. I can’t exactly recollect names.
What was the conduct you noticed particularly?
The witness answered to the effect that he had seen him place his hands with undue familiarity upon the person Q. See it often?—A. A half dozen times, maybe. He generally was seen to become that familiar while he was touring the building.
Can’t you name just one girl?—A. Yes. Magnolia Kennedy.
Did you see him act with undue familiarity toward her?—A. No. I heard talk about it.
Before or after the murder?—A. Afterward
“Girls Tried to Avoid Him.”
When did you observe this misconduct of which you have told?—A. A year ago.
Did you hear complaints around the plant?—A. No. The girls tried to avoid him.
Mrs. C. D. Donegan said she was connected with the pencil plant for three weeks. Her capacity was that of forelady. She resides at 165 West Fourteenth Street with her husband.
Her testimony follows:
“State your observations of Frank’s conduct toward the girls and women of the plant.”
“I have noticed him smile and wink at the girls in the place. That was two years ago.”
“Did you make a statement to the detectives of undue familiarity you had witnessed?”
“I told them that I had seen Frank flirt with the girls and women—that was all I said.”
Charges Familiarities.
The testimony of Nellie Wood, a young girl of 8 Corput Street, came next.
In brief it was this:
Do you know Leo Frank?—A. I worked for him two days.
Did you observe any misconduct on his part?—A. Well, his actions didn’t suit me. He’d come around and put his hands on me when such conduct was entirely uncalled for.
Is that all he did?—A. No. He asked me one day to come into his office, saying that he wanted to talk to me. He tried to close the door, but I wouldn’t let him. He got too familiar by getting so close to me. He also put his hands on me.
Where did he put his hands?—A. He barely touched my breast. He was subtle with his approaches, and tried to pretend that he was joking but I was too wary for such as that.
Quit His Employ.
Did he try further familiarities?—A. Yes.
When did this happen?—A. Two years ago.
What did you tell him when you left his employ?—A. I just quit, telling him that it didn’t suit me.
Several employees also testified that they had never seen such advances themselves, and that as far as they knew Frank’s conduct toward his teenage workers was “unimpeachable” — but Donehoo and the jurors doubtless took into consideration the likelihood that such behavior would seldom be done openly where all could witness it.
Three different Mary Phagan arrival times — later to become four
According to Leo Frank:
Mary Phagan arrived in his second floor business office at 12:03 PM on April 26, 1913; this information was given to detectives on Sunday, April 27, 1913, in Leo Frank’s office.
Mary Phagan arrived in his second floor business office at “12:05 PM to 12:10 PM, maybe 12:07 PM” according to Leo Frank in State’s Exhibit B, given to the police on Monday, April 28, 1913.
Mary Phagan arrived in his second floor business office at 12:10 PM on April 26, 1913; this information was given at the Coroner’s Inquest.
At the time of the Coroner’s Inquest, Leo Frank had provided three different and separate times for Mary Phagan’s arrival in his office. Later, he would shift her arrival time yet again. But the three inconsistent times already given were surely enough to raise Coroner Donehoo’s eyebrows.
Detectives Black of the city (left) and Scott, of the Pinkertons (right); at the center is a scene from the inquest; at bottom is a portrait of night watchman Newt Lee — on whom the pro-Frank forces were trying to throw suspicion in the early days of the case. Witnesses arrive for the inquest
*Plants? [faker or framed up evidence to the benefit the Defense] Bloody Shirt? Time Slips?
At the time of the Coroner’s Inquest there were only two serious suspects for Mary Phagan’s murder: 1) factory superintendent Leo Frank, the last person known to have seen Mary alive; and 2) night watchman Newt Lee, who discovered the body in the factory’s basement. Lee, being black, probably would have been easy to convict in 1913 Atlanta had there been any even marginally credible evidence against him.
Around the same time frame as the inquest, some person or persons unknown went to a great deal of effort to implicate Newt Lee as the murderer. When police searched Lee’s home they discovered one of his shirts hidden at the bottom of a barrel. The shirt was heavily stained with blood.
Closer examination revealed, however, that the shirt had not been worn since it was last washed, and furthermore the pattern of the blood stains indicated that it was not being worn when the stains were made.
The curious case of the morphing time slip, plant by defense?
Another and even more transparent effort to implicate Newt Lee was the legerdemain involving Lee’s time slip for his watchman’s rounds on the evening and night following the murder. Lee’s duty was to make his rounds punctually and prove that he had done so by placing his paper slip in the time clock after each round, where it would be marked, or “punched,” with the correct time.
When detectives brought Leo Frank back to the factory on the morning after the murder, one of the first things they did was ask him to inspect Newt Lee’s time slip for his rounds the previous night. Frank inspected the slip, which was also seen by W.W. “Boots” Rogers, one of the men with the police when they brought Frank back. Both confirmed that all the punches were made at appropriate times and none were missing. Then a serious lapse in police work took place — Leo Frank was allowed to retain possession of the slip.
When the slip was later demanded by investigators, Frank produced a slip readily enough. But the slip he gave to the detectives was very different from the one that had been seen that first Sunday morning after Mary Phagan had been killed: Now the time slip was missing punches, enough of them to have given Newt Lee ample time to commit the murder, go home to change his clothes, return to the factory, and notify police of the body.
As the Atlanta Journal stated on May 8th, 1913, discussing the testimony of Rogers before the inquest:
Mr. Frank asked repeatedly if the officers were through with him, saying he wanted to go out and get a cup of coffee, but no opportunity to get the coffee arose. After a while, said the witness, after Mr. Frank had been through the building with Chief of Detectives Lanford, Mr. Frank suggested that they change the tape in the time clock. Mr. Frank took a key to the clock, which he wore on a ring at his belt, and opened the clock with it and removed the time slip and laid it down by the clock. He then went back into his office and got a blank slip. He asked one of the officers standing near to hold back a little lever while he inserted this slip. The lever knocked against a little pencil in the clock. Newt Lee, the negro, was standing near. Mr. Frank turned to the negro and asked, “What is this pencil doing in the hole?” Lee said he had put it there so his number would be sure to register every time he rang. Mr. Frank put the key back at his belt and dated the slip which he had taken from the clock with a pencil which he took from his pocket. The witness thought Mr. Frank wrote the date “April 26, 1913,” on it, but he wouldn’t be sure about that, he said.
Mr. Frank, after examining the slip, stated that it was punched correctly, said the witness. He also looked at the slip. The first punch started at 6 p. m., and it was punched every half hour, the witness thought, up to 2:30 o’clock. At 2:30 was the last punch. Mr. Frank took the slip into his own office, said the witness, and the witness said he did not know what became of it after that.
The Atlanta Georgian reported on May 11th, 1913:
W. Rogers, former county policeman, who carried the officers in his automobile to the scene of the murder and later to get Frank, testified that Frank, when he saw the officers, began to ask them if “anything had happened at the factory?” and if the night watchman had “found anything” when nothing had been told him at that time as to the tragedy.
Rogers said he saw Frank remove the time slip from the time clock which Lee had punched. Rogers said that there were no “skips” on it, but that it was punched regularly every half hour from 6:30 in the evening until 2:30 the next morning. It was shortly after 2:30 o’clock that Lee told the officers he had found the body. The time slip which later was turned over to Chief Lanford by Frank had three “skips” in it.
Lee testified that Frank had told him the Sunday the body was found that the clock was punched all right and later contradicted himself by saying there were three “skips” in it, and that it “looked queer.”
The implications of such not-so-skillful sleight of hand would not have gone unnoticed by the jurymen, nor by the astute Donehoo.
Conclusion of the Coroners’ Inquest
The week-long inquest and the testimony provided there under oath provided ample grounds for a very strong suspicion to be directed upon Leo M. Frank. On Thursday, May 8th, 1913, the Mary Phagan inquest drew to a close.
At 6:30 PM, the jury went into executive session to hear the testimony of Dr. J. W. Hurt, county physician, on what had happened to Mary Phagan shortly before her death and what was the likely cause of her death. The doctor addressed the inquest jury for twenty minutes.
Donehoo convened the jury one last time to hear its findings:
We, the coroner’s jury, empaneled and sworn by Paul Donehoo, coroner of Fulton County, to inquire into the death of Mary Phagan, whose dead body now lies before us, after having heard the evidence of sworn witnesses, and the statement of Dr. J. W. Hurt, County Physician, find that the deceased came to her death from strangulation. We recommend that Leo M. Frank and Newt Lee be held under charges of murder for further investigation by the Fulton County grand jury.
(signed)
Homer C. Ashford, Foreman Dr. J. W. Hurt, County Physician
Coroner Donehoo approved the unanimous finding of the inquest jury.
The Coroner and his six jurymen together voted unanimously 7 to 0, recommending Leo M. Frank (and Newt Lee, who was the subject of the underhanded “bloody shirt” and “missing time slip punches” plants[ Footnote 7] , and who would soon be completely cleared) be bound over for murder and investigated further by the grand jury. (The grand jury of 23 men, which included four Jews, would eventually indict Leo Frank for murder. Jim Conley, the factory sweeper, would eventually be charged also, as an accessory after the fact.)
*Plants by Leo Frank Defense:
The Frank Case: Inside Story of Georgia’s Greatest Murder Mystery. Atlanta, GA: Atlanta Publishing Company, 1913.
"CHAPTER XIII. Plants Charged to Frank.
About the middle of June both sides commenced making preparations for Frank's trial, and it was even then a safe guess that it would be the South's greatest legal battle.
Solicitor General Dorsey announced that he had retained Frank A. Hooper to assist him in the prosecution. Felder had dropped out of the case after the dictograph* Hooper was a recent comer to Atlanta and had never been pitted against the city "big " lawyers. However, he was for twelve years the solicitor of the Southwestern Circuit, and had made quite a reputation. Dorsey's ability had been recognized a year before, when he prosecuted Mrs. Daisy Grace, who was defended by John W. Moore and by Rosser. Although he lost the case, he handled it in a masterly manner.
Reuben R. Arnold, probably the South's greatest criminal lawyer, was retained to assist in the defense. It is said that his fee was $12,500. Rosser remained as leading counsel and is alleged to have received a fee of $15,000.
The trial was originally set on the superior court calendar for June 30th, but on June 24th Judge L. S. Roan called the attorneys before him and frankly told them that he had promised to go to the seashore with Mrs. Roan during the first week in July, and suggested postponing the case. Both sides said they were ready (although they were not), but agreed after some discussion to a postponement, and the date of July 28th was fixed for the trial.
The defense by this time had let it be known that its theory of the case was that Conley had killed the girl on the first floor and chucked her down the scuttle hole. To bear out this theory a more or less important discovery is alleged to have been made.
On May the 10th, L. P. McWorth and a man named Whitefield, both Pinkerton operatives, who have since been discharged, were making a search of the factory. On the first floor near the point Jim Conley claims he sat and waited for Frank's call, they found the corner of a pay envelope, bearing the name Mary Phagan, and the parts of two numerals.
Also they found a bludgeon, with stains, which looked like blood, on it. Near the scuttle hole alleged blood stains had been found before., and near the point where the part of a pay slip was found were several pieces of twine, knotted just like those found around Mary Phagan's neck. Ott, field chief of the Pinkertons during the investigation. Reports were made at once to the defense, but not a word was said about the matter to the city police, to whom the Pinkertons had faithfully promised to make reports before they made them to the defense. The finds were made during the absence from the city of Harry Scott.
On the return of Scott to the city he learned that the pay envelope, but nothing more, had been found, and he immediately informed the city police.
The fact did not become public for some weeks, but when it was learned that the envelope had been found Chief Lanford dismissed it with the cry plant, declaring that his men had searched the factory from top to bottom and would have found it had it been in the place the first few days after Mary Phagan was murdered. The place had been thoroughly cleaned, in addition, he said, by the factory officials.
65 A week or two after the part of a pay envelope was found, finger print experts examined it, but after they had used all known methods announced that they were unable to find any trace of a finger print on it.
It was several weeks later that it became known that the bludgeon was also discovered near the place where Conley admitted lying in wait.
Chief Lanford declared that he was in ignorance of the discovery of the bludgeon, but it was also dismissed as a plant. *[Defendant’s Exhibit 48, Leo Frank Trial Brief of Evidence, 1913; Autopsy Report]
*[(Exhibit 48 was a bloody stick planted on the first floor of the National Pencil Company factory, by associates of the Leo Frank legal defense team, nearly three weeks (20 days) after the crime, and discovered by Detective McWorth of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. The significance of the bloody stick planted in the lobby, was that 3 weeks after the murder, other evidence like a pay envelop was put at the lobby where Conley had sat on Saturday, April 26, 1913. The stick was another failed effort to develop forensic evidence that Phagan was assaulted by Jim Conley in the lobby, when she walked down the stairs from the second floor, this planted evidence was in contradiction to all the forensic evidence suggesting Leo Frank murdered Mary Phagan in the metal room at the rear of the second floor. The stick was discovered by Detective McWorth around May 15th, 1913. Detective McWorth was relieved of his services in the Mary Phagan murder investigation after he kept on discovering planted evidence in the lobby of the National Pencil Company, three weeks after Atlanta Police had meticulously searched the building for clews.)]
Lanford severely criticized H. B. Pierce, superintendent of the Pinkerton agency for not acquainting the city officials of the alleged find. Before the trial commenced Pierce had left the city and the Pinkertons have now discharged him. The assertions of the city detectives that evidence was being planted caused another wave of sentiment against Frank.
There was one other development of importance before the trial. W. H. Mincey, an insurance agent and school teacher, made an affidavit to the defense that on Saturday, April 26th, Conley confessed to him that he had murdered a girl that morning.
Mincey asserted that late in the afternoon he was at the corner of Electric avenue and Carter streets, near the home of Conley, when he approached the black, asking that he take an insurance policy.
The negro told him, he said, to go along, that he was in trouble.
Asked what his trouble was, Mincey swore that Conley replied he had killed a girl.
"You are Jack the ripper, are you? " said Mincey.
"No," he says Conley replied, " I killed a white girl and you better go along or I will kill you."
After some words, Mincey says he left the belligerent Negro. The substance of Conley's affidavit became public only a short time before the trial commenced, and while Mincey was teaching school at Rising Fawn, in North Georgia.
Chief Lanford remembered that. Mincey had called at police headquarters while Conley was making one of his sensational statements and asked to see him on the pretext that he wanted to identify a drunken negro he had seen the Saturday of the tragedy. He made no intimation then, the chief asserts, of a confession, and after looking at Conley said that he could not identify him. 66 It suffices to say that Mincey, although brought to Atlanta on a subpoena, was never called upon by the defense to take the witness stand.
It is said that Dorsey was "loaded for him" and had twenty-five witnesses who would try to impeach him.
Mincey, it is said, has written several books on "mind reading" and the solicitor had copies of the books, ready to use them in his cross examination.
The general value of expert testimony is shown by an incident of the case. Jim Conley had never admitted writing but one of the notes, so the solicitor continued to have both of them examined by experts. Six so-called experts were ready to go on the witness stand and swear that Frank, not Conley, had written both notes. Finally, in desperation, Dorsey took them to New York, where one of the country's best known experts declared that Jim Conley wrote both of them. On his return the solicitor forced the confession from the negro that he did write both notes."
Dictograph Incident
Atlanta Journal Friday, May 23rd, 1913
Affidavit, Detailing Conversation Which Is Alleged to Have Occurred in Col. Felder’s Office, Is Given Below
“GO AND GET EVIDENCE,’ COL. FELDER IS QUOTED
“Lanford Couldn’t Detect an Elephant at Five Points,” He Is Alleged to Have Said, Both Chiefs Are Denounced
The city detectives have in their possession an affidavit sworn to by G. C. Febuary, secretary to Chief Lanford, and A. S. Colyar, a private investigator, detailing the alleged conversation which it is claimed took place between Colonel T. B. Felder, Colyar, and Feburary [sic], on Monday night at Colonel Felder’s office in the Equitable building.
So much of the affidavit as can be printed in a newspaper like The Journal is given below:
“STATE OF GEORGIA,
COUNTY OF FULTON.
Personally appeared before me, a Notary Public in and for the above State and County, A. S. Colyar and G. C. February, who being duly sworn, deposes and says:
“We met Mr. Felder in his office Monday night at eight o’clock p. m. and Mr. Felder said, ‘I know who killed Mary Phagan. That d—d Jew Frank killed her, and I have known it for three weeks. And another thing I want Lanford to know,” the affidavit quotes Mr. Felder as saying, “I have had a Burns man here for three weeks, I know when she was killed, and how she was killed. She was murdered thirty minutes after she reached that building, on the second floor, and then the body was lowered to the basement. And I know who wrote those notes that were found by her body, Frank wrote them, and Frank pulled that staple out of the door……. He was afraid her family would kill him or send him to prison …. And he murdered her.”
“This d—d fellow Lanford, who could not detect a stud elephant at Five Points, knows that Frank killed this girl, but he has sold out to the Jews for big money which he is getting and has got, and he is trying to discredit the solicitor general, Hugh M. Dorsey, and myself, in his effort to protect this d— Jew. …. I have traced his record back, d— him, from H— to breakfast. I want Lanford to know that he can’t clear this d— Jew through graft and make a goat of an innocent negro. He has had that poor negro Ed [sic] Connally [sic] locked up for three weeks without a warrant, and he knows it, and he can be impeached from office for it; he knows there is no evidence against Newt Lee, and yet he holds him. I would expose Lanford and Beavers right now, but I don’t want to detract attention from the Phagan case or mix their case up with the Phagan case.”
“Beavers is a — — —, but I came pretty near catching him one day last week, but when we do catch him, we are going to put the d—d reform — in a two-horse wagon, naked, and drive him through the streets of Atlanta with a sign on him. “Here is Atlanta’s Reform Chief of Police.” Lanford is a d—d drunkard and keeps a quart of whiskey in his desk all of the time, and the people of this town are indignant at the conduct of those flunkeys down there; I am receiving at least twenty letters every day, and as many telephone calls, telling me that the people are behind me in this fight to impeach those — —. Right here on my desk is a letter (getting letter from his desk and reading aloud) from one of the most prominent women in the city of Atlanta, commending my course.
ATTACKS BOTH CHIEFS.
The affidavit then continues, “The Colonel then said, ‘I want the evidence to impeach both Beavers and Lanford.’ The remark was made that we might get in jail, and Colonel Felder said, ‘There are only two ways of getting to the jail; one is through the mayor and the other is through the governor; and if you get arrested by the policemen, Jim Woodward, with whom I had a long interview this afternoon, will make those …. down there jump a rope to turn you loose, and I don’t give a d— who the governor is, whether it is Joe Brown or Jack Slaton, I will have any man turned loose that will get me the evidence that will impeach those ….. If they arrest you, call on me and see if I don’t come with the bond at any hour. I can call a mass meeting tomorrow afternoon through the papers and have ten thousand of the best citizens in this town meet at Five Points tomorrow night and go to the station house and hang Beavers and Lanford to telephone poles, the two corrupt grafters and thieves.”
GET THE EVIDENCE.
“’Now, I want to say to you further (talking to February). You go and get me the evidence in the Phagan case, and that Coleman affidavit, and bring it to me, and I will give you one thousand dollars in cash for it. And if you lose your job I will place you in a government position in Washington or a job in New York; and if I fall down on that I will give you a job here in my office.’ It was suggested to Colonel Felder that we would have to steal the papers, for no one knew the combination in the safe except Chief Lanford and Mr. Febuary, and in reply to this, Colonel Felder sad, ‘Go ahead and get them and I will pay you one thousand dollars.’ And we then stated to Colonel Felder that this would larceny after trust, and Colonel Felder said, ‘Larceny H—. It is not larceny to steal a perjured affidavit and forged statements and other crooked papers that a d— thief like Lanford has gathered against an innocent man; and you get them and I will stand behind you and pay the money. I have such men as James G. Woodward, C. C. Jones, Robert F. Maddox, Sam Inman, J. W. English, and the best men in this town behind me, and who are determined to put that gang … to the bad, and they will stand behind you gentlemen with their money and their lives.”
“Colonel Felder further stated that Lanford and Beavers were feasting and fattening off of the rich graft they were getting out of certain disorderly houses they were shielding, after they had had people to believe that they had closed them up, and c[e]rtain blind tigers and gamblers that were favored by these grafters; and upon being asked how much they got, Colonel Felder replied that the amount was colossal.”
The above is the sum and substance of a conversation between Colonel T. B. Felder, A. S. Colyar and G. C. Febuary, held in the office of Colonel Felder, in the Equitable building, on Monday night, May 19, 1913, at about 8:15 p. m.
A. S. COLYAR,
G. C. FEBUARY
Sworn to and subscribed before me this 21st day of May, 1913.
W. W. BROWN.
Notary Public Fulton County, Georgia.”
Leo Frank repeated his story concerning his whereabouts on April 26. A point of contention between the police, the coroner, and Frank was Frank's physical location when the whistles blew. Since Saturday was Confederate Memorial Day, police argued that no whistles blew. Leo Frank had difficulty establishing his whereabouts during that time frame.
Monteen Stover repeated the testimony which she had reported to the police at the coroner's inquest. On May 8, 1913 the jury returned a verdict of murder at the hands of a person or persons unknown. Both Frank and Lee were returned to the Fulton Tower.
Why did people feel it was Leo Frank, rather than Newt Lee, who was responsible for the murder?
Some who have studied the Mary Phagan case seem to feel that many people in Atlanta—including the police and the Fulton County Solicitor-General, Hugh Dorsey—demanded Leo Frank's indictment and conviction because of his status as an outsider.
Moreover, the Atlanta Police Department had a series of unsolved murders on their hands and were desperate for a conviction. They were also pressured by the public, who vociferously demanded that Mary Phagan's assailant be discovered.
Then there was Jim Conley. On rounding up witnesses from the National Pencil Company, they apparently paid special attention to Jim Conley, who had been seen washing a shirt at a faucet in the factory, thereby causing an anonymous informer to suggest to the police that there could have been blood on the shirt.
Conley apparently began by lying: he told the police he could neither read nor write, but he could do both. Over the next few weeks he gave four affidavits—the last of which helped convict Leo Frank—each of which told a different version than the previous one. Yet it was largely on his testimony that Leo Frank was found guilty of murder. Could Jim Conley have been the culprit?
It would have been easy to convict Jim Conley, a semi-literate, poor, friendless Negro with a chain gang record. Leo Frank, on the other hand, a white man with allegedly rich relatives, would be another story: he could raise sufficient funds to defend himself vigorously and effectively. Why did they home in on Leo Frank?
Some Jewish American Revisionists/authors, such as Harry Golden in his book A Little Girl Is Dead, feel that many *Atlantans were grossly anti-Semitic and accused Frank of the murder because he was Jewish.
Luther Otterbein Bricker, who was the pastor of the First Christian Church in Bellwood where Mary Phagan went to Bible school, described the high feelings which ran through Atlanta regarding the murder of little Mary Phagan in a letter to a friend dated May 26, 1942 which he allowed to be published in 1943.
The letter states his impression upon hearing of the murder:
But, when the police arrested a Jew, and a Yankee Jew at that, all of the inborn prejudice against the Jews rose up in a feeling of satisfaction, that here would be a victim worthy to pay for the crime.
From that day on the newspapers were filled with the most awful stories, affidavits and testimonies, which proved the guilt of Leo M. Frank beyond the shadow of a doubt. The police got prostitutes and criminals, on whom they had something, to swear anything and everything they wanted them to swear to. And reading these stories in the paper day by day, there was no doubt left in the mind of the general public but that Frank was guilty. And the whole city was in a frenzy. We were all mad crazy, and in a blood frenzy. Frank was brought to trial in mob spirit. One could feel the waves of madness which swept us all.
Had I been a member of the jury that tried Frank I would have assented to the verdict of guilty, for the jury did exactly as I wanted it to and I applauded the verdict. It has also been said that Solicitor-General Hugh Dorsey had strong feelings about Leo Frank's guilt, and through the years there has been much speculation on what brought about Dorsey's certainty that Frank was guilty.
In a 1948 study of the Mary Phagan-Leo Frank case, Henry L. Bowden reported a discussion with Hugh Dorsey that seems to shed light on the prosecutor's feelings about Leo Frank. Bowden had, in conversation with Dorsey, asked him just what it was that had made him suspicious of Frank, and Dorsey reportedly replied that someone had planted a bloody shirt* in a well on the property where Newt Lee lived, and that as he and several of the force, including Boots Rogers, the local detective who according to Dorsey was the best detective around, were riding out to the property to check on the shirt, Rogers described to Dorsey Leo Frank's "extreme" uneasiness and nervousness when confronted with the murder at the factory. This, Dorsey related, had led him to be suspicious of Frank.
Dorsey stated further to Bowden that he had arranged that all the detectives and operatives on the case reported to him directly rather than to the police force, and that the two advantages of this were that the papers were not informed of every little thing that the investigation disclosed and, moreover, that defense counsel were kept in complete ignorance as to what Dorsey's evidence consisted of and were therefore unable to prepare defenses in advance to such evidence.
Dorsey sought Frank's indictment for the following reasons: Frank had sent Newt Lee away at 4:00 p.m. and then called the factory at 7:00 p.m. (which Lee claimed Frank had never done before) to check that things were all right. Frank had not answered Newt Lee's or Captain Starnes's telephone calls. He hadn't wanted to come to the factory. He had said he couldn't tell if Mary Phagan worked at the factory since he didn't know the names of most of the factory girls (later at the office he was able to tell the exact time Mary had come for her pay on Saturday). Frank had then accused J. M. Gantt of being intimate with Mary Phagan, although earlier Frank had said he hadn't known her. The police officers who had taken Frank to the mortuary recalled his extreme nervousness. They now considered this emotional agitation important, as well as the fact that Frank had inquired about their finding Mary Phagan's pay envelope.
At the inquest, J. W. Coleman stated: "Mary often said things went on at the factory that were not nice and that some of the people there tried to get fresh. She told most of those stories to her mother." Yet the defense for Frank never asked Fannie Phagan Coleman any direct questions about this. Of course, the state had other witnesses and perhaps chose not to upset the mother any more than was necessary.
Additional information which seemed to point to Leo Frank's guilt was his failure to throw suspicion on Conley who testified that he helped Frank dispose of the body and his concealment of his ballgame date.
Most importantly, Dorsey felt that Frank's cook, Minola McKnight's, first statement was true:
Sunday, Miss Lucile said to Mrs. Selig that Mr. Frank didn't rest so good Saturday night; she said he was drunk and wouldn't let her sleep with him, and she said she slept on the floor on the rug by the bed because Mr. Frank was drinking. Miss Lucile said Sunday that Mr. Frank told her Saturday night that he was in trouble, and that he didn't know the reason why he would murder, and he told his wife to get his pistol and let him kill himself. I heard Miss Lucile say that to Mrs. Selig, and it got away with Mrs. Selig mighty bad, she didn't know what to think. I haven't heard Miss Lucile say whether she believed it or not. I don't know why Mrs. Frank didn't come to see her husband, but it was a pretty good while before she would come to see him, maybe two weeks. She would tell me "Wasn't it mighty bad that he was locked up." She would say: "Minola, I don't know what I am going to do."
The affidavit of Monteen Stover following the coroner's verdict added credence to Dorsey's suspicions that Frank was the murderer, since Miss Stover reported that she got to the office at 12:05 p.m. to get her pay, and Frank wasn't there. This contradicted Frank, who had said he was continuously in his office from 12:00 noon on.
Dorsey also weighed heavily the record and comments of the jury which pointed to their theory that the murder took place on an upper floor of the factory and that the body was taken to the basement with the intention of burning it. There were other comments by jury members on the factory being used by Frank for immoral purposes and his relations with some of the female employees.
Not yet sure of whom the actual murderer was, Dorsey had indictment forms drawn up for both Leo Frank and Newt Lee. On May 24, however, after the last testimony was heard, he asked for a true bill against Frank. The jury complied and returned an indictment charging Leo Frank with first degree murder.
Police delivered the news to Leo Frank and Newt Lee
Newt Lee slumped his head dejectedly when the bad news was delivered to him.
Deputy Plennie Minor delivered the unanimous verdict of the Coroner’s Inquest jury to Leo M. Frank who was being held in the infamous Atlanta Police Tower. Frank was sitting, perusing a local daily newspaper, the Atlanta Constitution, at the time. Minor approached Leo M. Frank and told him about the unanimous verdict of the jury, which had ordered that Frank be held for murder and for a more thorough investigation by the grand jury. In contrast to Lee’s dejection at the news, Leo Frank insolently replied that it was no more than he had expected — and continued crackling away and folding the big sheets of his newspaper.
In total more than two hundred witnesses, factory workers, and affiliates had been subpoenaed, providing sworn testimony at the inquest.
Judge W. D. Ellis of the Superior Court on Monday, May 5, 1913, ordered the May grand jury to investigate the Mary Phagan Murder .
Grand Jury: A Decisive Moment in the Case of Mary Phagan
On Saturday, May 24, 1913, the grand jury members were to vote after an exhaustive review of testimony and evidence concerning the Mary Phagan murder investigation presented to them after the decision against Leo Frank the coroner’s inquest rendered at 6:30 p.m., on Thursday, May 8, 1913 through to Saturday, May 24, 1913. [Footnote 9] However, two grand jurors were not attending on the day of the vote–one, a Jewish member, traveled to New York City and M. Beutell had a significant occasion that he was unable to miss. As these two men were out of town, they were not permitted to vote by absentee ballots. This, therefore, reduced the grand jury from twenty-three to twenty-one voting men. The importance of this reduction was that only a majority of eleven signature votes were necessary to indict, instead of the former twelve, in this nail-biting moment for the police and prosecution, who had spent a month building their case.
Even though Leo Frank was a businessman partly responsible for employing more than a hundred people and most of the grand jurors were businessmen as well, they were unsympathetic in their voting, primarily because the evidence was overwhelmingly strong against Leo Frank. With twenty-one men remaining, some may wonder if the vote was straddling the fence in either direction — to indict or not indict — and question whether the majority of eleven out of twenty-one would emerge to provide signatory votes requisite for an indictment.
Was the Leo Frank Grand Jury Vote a Close Call?
The result that set another powerful tone for the future of the Frank-Phagan case, just as the coroner’s inquest jury vote had done. The grand jury voted unanimously, signing twenty-one to zero in favor of indicting Leo M. Frank for the murder of Mary Phagan. With four Jews [Sol Benjamin voting unanimously with the seventeen men to indict Frank, one experiences intense skepticism regarding the veracity of the Jewish community’s historical and contemporary claims over the last one hundred years that Leo Frank went to trial because he was Jewish–an innocent Jew railroaded and framed by racist Southerners who are innately anti-Jewish and that the whole affair was a widespread anti-Semitic conspiracy.
Countering the Jewish position of the case, Southerners and European-Americans at large are curious about why Frank supporters must resort to making false smears against them for the last one hundred years, when the evidence against Leo Frank was strong during the Phagan murder investigation and every level of the U.S. legal system sided with the trial jury that they were not mob terrorized and Leo Frank had a fair trial.
The Indictment of Leo Frank
The indictment read as follows:
In the name and behalf of the citizens of Georgia, charge and accuse Leo M. Frank, of the [Fulton] County and State [of Georgia] aforesaid, with the offense of Murder, for that the said Leo M. Frank in the County aforesaid on the 26th day of April in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and thirteen, with force and arms did unlawfully and with malice aforethought kill and murder one Mary Phagan by then and there choking her, the said Mary Phagan, with a cord place around her neck contrary to the laws of said State, the good order, peace and dignity thereof.
American Jewish* Revisionists/authors like Steve Oney, *Dinnerstein, and other *Jewish activists, claim that the entire question of Leo Frank’s guilt can be reduced to the word of Jim Conley vs. the word of Leo Frank. However, the unanimous indictment of Leo Frank for the murder of Mary Phagan had absolutely nothing to do with Jim Conley, because Conley was not present to testify during the grand jury. Frank’s indictment resulted from compelling evidence (without Jim Conley) being presented to the grand jurymen.
The following twenty-one grand jurymen, of which four were Jews, unanimously signed the bill of indictment against Leo Frank (Atlanta Journal, May 1913; Leo Frank Georgia Supreme Court records, Bill of Indictment, 1913; Atlanta Publishing Company, The Frank Case 1913; and Phagan Kean 1987).
The Twenty-One Members of the Grand Jury Unanimously Voting to Indict Leo Frank
J. H. Beck, Foreman,
A. D. Adair, Sr.,
F. P. H. Akers,
B. F. Bell,
J. G. Bell,
Sol. Benjamin, [Jewish]
Wm. E. Besser,
C. M. Brown,
C. A. Cowles,
Walker Danson,
G. A. Gershon, [Jewish]
S. C. Glass,
A. L. Guthman, [Jewish]
Chas. Heinz,
H.G. Hubbard, [Jewish]
R. R. Nash,
W. L. Percy,
R. A. Redding,
R. F. Sams,
John D. Wing,
Albert Boylston.[Jewish]
After the grand jurymen unanimously signed the murder indictment of Leo M. Frank, he was scheduled to be tried before a cohort of thirteen men–a judge and a petit jury–to decide his ultimate fate. [Footnote 10]
Grand Jury Indictment of Leo Frank May 24, 1913
In Part 2 which follows, we reproduce for the first time in digital form all of the contemporary articles on the Coroner’s Inquest published in the Atlanta newspapers — first those from the Atlanta Georgian in chronological order, then all those from the Atlanta Constitution in chronological order, followed, also in chronological order, by those from the Atlanta Journal.
PART 2: COMPLETE PRESS COVER- PUT IN APPENDIX
ALL NEW IMFORMATION
Full text of articles relating to the Coroner’s Inquest in the case of the murder of Mary Phagan
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10,000 Throng Morgue to See Body of Victim
Atlanta Georgian
Monday, April 28th, 1913
Coroner’s Jury inspects remains and scene of tragedy, then waits until Wednesday
Lying on a slab in the chapel of the Bloomfield undertaking establishment, with the white throat bearing the red marks of the rope that strangled her, the body of Mary Phagan was viewed by thousands this morning.
No such gathering of the morbidly curious has ever before been seen in Atlanta. More people were attracted than by any crime in the history of the city. The crowds came in droves, and a steady procession passed before the slab on which lay the little body. Old men and young men, women with babies in their arms and women who tottered with age, little friends of the dead child and little children who had be raised in the arms of their mothers before they could see the white faces of their dead playmate — crowded into the little chapel.
Crowd Before Daybreak
Long before daylight the crowd began to form in front of the undertaking establishment. By 6 o’clock several hundred had come, and were awaiting with tense eagerness for the opening of the doors. Factory girls and laboring men, passing on their way to work, were caught by the lure of the tragedy and crowded into the line. A number of fashionably dressed women alighted from their automobiles, and with veils drawn over their faces pressed against the plate glass windows of the chapel.
By 8 o’clock there were more than 1,000 persons gathered around the morgue. The jam at the doorway was so great that extra policemen were called. When the doors were opened the crowd was permitted to pass in one by one and view the form.
An old man, who had known the Phagan family for years and had rocked the dead child on his knees, was the first to view the remains. For more than three minutes he stood with bared head beside the body.
It is estimated that 10,000 people have viewed the body of the child since it was found in the basement of the building on Forsyth Street. All day yesterday thousands of people crowded into the little chapel, and P.J. Bloomfield declared that no less than 4,000 persons entered his place during the day.
This morning the crowd was even greater, and since 6 o’clock it is estimated that between 6,000 and 7,000 have passed in silent review before the dead child.
Inquest Is Begun
At 10 o’clock, when Coroner Donehoo began the inquest, the chapel was cleared of the spectators and the body of the child removed to a private room. The men impaneled to inquire into the death of the child were:
Homer C. Ashford, foreman; John Miller, J.C. Hood, C.Y. Sheets, Glenn Dewberry and Clarence Langford.
No witnesses were examined this morning by the Coroner’s jury. The six men viewed the remains and were shown by physicians the manner in which the child met her death, after which they visited the plant of the National Pencil Company, where the murder occurred. There they made a thorough examination of the basement where the child’s body was found, inspected the tip plant on this second floor, where the bloody strands of hair were found, and followed the trail of blood through the building to the scene of the crime.
At noon Coroner Donehoo dismissed the jury until Wednesday morning at 9 o’clock, when the examination of witnesses will take place. The Coroner refused to give out a list of the persons he had summoned before the jury.
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Boy Sweetheart Says Girl Was to Meet Him Saturday
Atlanta Georgian
Wednesday, April 30th, 1913
G. W. Epps, Jr., 14 years old, of 248 Fox Street, who lives just around the corner from Mary Phagan, and who was her boy sweetheart, testified before the Coroner’s Jury this afternoon that Mary Phagan had asked him to come down by the factory and go home with her a few days ago. She told him, he said, that Mr. Frank had been in the habit of going down to the front door and waiting there until she came out and looked suspicious at her and winked. He was asked:
Q. When did you see Mary Phagan last?—A. Saturday morning. We came to town on the car together. We got to town at 12 o’clock. When we got off the car she told me that she was going to the pencil factory to get her pay and would meet me at the (Falkin?) Drug Store at Five Points to see the parade at 2 o’clock. I looked for her all around at that time. I could not find her. I stayed there until about 4 o’clock selling papers. She never appeared. There wasn’t much of a crowd and I would have seen her if she had come.
Q. Where did you go at 4 o’clock?—A. I went to the ball game.
Q. Where did you go after that?—A. I went home, reaching there at 7 o’clock.
Q. Did you go over to Mary’s house?—A. Yes, I went over there immediately.
GREAT CROWD AT PHAGAN INQUEST
NEW ARRESTS LIKELY; LEO FRANK STILL HELD; CASE AGAINST NEGRO
Atlanta Georgian
Wednesday, April 30th, 1913
Mary Phagan
Inquest Into Slaying of Factory Girl Begins, and Flood of New Light Is Expected To Be Thrown on the Tragedy—Lee Maintains His Story.
The Phagan inquest began to-day at police headquarters. It seemed likely when this edition of The Georgian went to press that a flood of light would be thrown on the murder mystery before the day was over.
Notwithstanding what the police said yesterday—that the mystery had been solved—it does not appear at this time as though it had been solved at all. Various statements have been made by the police officials, that so far have not been borne out by actual facts.
Chief of Detectives Lanford seems to think that there is more evidence against the night watchman, Lee, than any other person, although new mystery is added to this phase of the case with the announcement that other arrests would be made to-day.
Frank is still held by the police.
Every effort to break Lee down and make him confess has failed so far.
Handwriting experts declare that Lee is the author of the mysterious letters that were found.
The bloody stained shirt that belonged to Lee is one of the most important pieces of evidence yet discovered. There has been some doubt expressed as to whether this garment really belonged to Lee.
The inquest at 9 o’clock at the police station. The witnesses and jurors were summoned to meet there instead of at Bloomfield’s undertaking establishment at the request of Chief of Detectives Lanford.
Many persons, thinking that the original plan would be carried out, congregated in excited and curious groups outside the Bloomfield building. When the news was spread that a change had been made there was a rush for the police station.
Coroner Donehoo had on hand practically every witness who is known to have any knowledge of Mary Phagan, of the persons on whom suspicion has been cast or of the circumstances which might have been connected with her presence in the National Pencil Factory and her foul murder.
L. J. Dewberry, of 302 Cooper Street, came to the inquest with the marks of an exciting experience in a fire early this morning upon him.
Dewberry was at the home of his brother-in-law, F. J. Coll, last night. Early this morning the building took fire and Dewberry escaped by the narrowest of margins. He was able to save his clothes and watch, but left his wallet in the flames. The remainder of the occupants did not save their clothes.
Excitement was high when the taking of testimony, but there were no signs of disorder nor of a demonstration against any of the prisoners.
Light will be thrown on the reason for the detention of Leo Frank in the police station all of yesterday afternoon and last night with the detectives insisting that he was not under actual arrest.
The detectives have been reluctant to say anything of the results of the severe grilling's they have given both Lee and Frank. They will tell of these to-day when the Coroner’s jury sits and decides who shall be held for an investigation by the Grand Jury.
Mary Phagan and her mother
The detectives are not satisfied with the centering of the damaging evidence on Lee. They are working this morning on new clews which may connect others with the crime.
It is almost as certain that two of the prisoners who have been held in custody since the round-up of suspects began will be released to-day, as it is that the negro Lee will be held.
The men who are practically assured of their freedom are Arthur Mullinax, former conductor, and J. M. Gantt, employed at the National Pencil Factory until three weeks ago.
The detectives have been able to fix no strong evidence upon them. So weak was the case against them that they were entirely ignored by the detectives yesterday. They were not “sweated.” They were not even questioned. They simply were left in their cells to themselves, visitors being denied them for the most part. Late in the afternoon Gantt was delivered over into the charge of the Sheriff.
Practically every witness who has been able to throw any light on Atlanta’s gripping crime mystery has been summoned to appear before the jury to-day. A few will be only briefly questioned, but others whose knowledge of some of the phases of the mystery is believed to be important will be subjected to a more searching examination.
Practically every witness who has been able to throw any light on Atlanta’s gripping crime mystery has been summoned to appear before the jury to-day. A few will be only briefly questioned, but others whose knowledge of some of the phases of the mystery is believed to be important will be subjected to a more searching examination.
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Handwriting of Notes is Identified as Newt Lee’s
Atlanta Georgian
Wednesday, April 30th, 1913
F. M. Berry, one of the most important witnesses of the afternoon, identified the handwriting on the notes found near Mary Phagan’s body as practically the same as that of Newt Lee, who wrote a test note for the detectives.
Mr. Berry said that he had been connected with the Fourth National Bank for 22 years and is at present assistant cashier. During these 22 years he said that he had studied handwriting continually. He was given both notes found by the body of the girl and was asked if they were written by the same person. He said they were.
He then was given another of other notes and asked to pick out the one written by the same person that had written the notes found by the body of the dead girl. He selected two and said that they had been written by the same person that had written those discovered beside the girl. Berry was dismissed and Detective Starnes called.
Detective Starnes picked up the notes that Berry had picked out of the collection and said that they had been written by Lee. He said that he had dictated one and that another detective had dictated the other.
He said that he dictated one of the notes found except the last word “slef,” which he was unable to decipher. He showed the note to Lee and asked him to write that last word. Starnes said that he wrote it readily, spelling it again s-l-e-f. Starnes was dismissed and R. P. Barrett was recalled.
Q. Who worked at the plant Saturday afternoon?—A. Two boys worked on the top floor. One of them named Harry was crippled. I don’t know what the name of the other one was.
Q. Were you at the factory at all Saturday?—A. No.
Q. Have you ever heard of anyone using the place at night?—A. Yes, sir.
Q. Who used it?—A. Mr. Calloway said that he saw young girls, boys and men go in there at night.
(Coroner Donehoo asked the detectives to get Mr. Calloway. His initials or employment were not mentioned by the witnesses, but some of the persons present thought the witness meant E. F. Holloway, timekeeper in the pencil plant.)
Q. When did Mr. Calloway tell you this?—A. To-day.
Q. Had you heard it before?—A. Yes, sir.
Q. Has the night watchman always been a negro?—No, we used to have a white man.
Q. Did Calloway tell you how these people went in that place?—A. No, sir.
Q. Did he say who let them in?—A. No, sir.
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Machinist Tells of Hair Found in Factory Lathe
Atlanta Georgian
Wednesday, April 30th, 1913
R. P. Barrett, 180 Griffin Street, a machinist at the National Pencil Company, was one of the witnesses of the late afternoon.
He was asked:
Q. How long have you worked at the National Pencil Company?—A. Seven weeks the last time. I worked there about two years ago.
Q. Did you know Mary Phagan?—A. Yes.
Q. What did she do?—A. She ran a “tipping” machine.
Q. When did you last see her?—A. A week ago Tuesday.
Q. Did she work last week?—A. No.
Q. You say you worked in the same department with Mary Phagan? Were your machines close together?—A. Yes.
Q. When did you go to work?—A. Monday morning.
Found Spots on Floor.
Q. Did you find anything unusual?—A. When I went in I was told that Mary had been murdered in the plant and I saw spots on the floor that I thought were (?) used by blood. It looked as though someone had tried to sweep them away, and as though whitewash had been poured over them. I called Mr. Quinn, the foreman, and he notified the detectives. The blood spots were chipped up off the floor and taken to the police station.
Q. Did you find anything on any of the machines?—A. Mr. Quinn gave me some work to do and I started to work on one of the hand lathes. I started to lathe and some hair tangled in the machine, got twisted in my fingers. I called Mr. Quinn and all the girls came up and identified the hair as that of Mary Phagan.
Q. Whose hair do you think it was?—A. It looked to me like Mary’s.
Q. How long have you known Mary?—A. Six weeks.
Q. Was she quiet?—A. Mary was a very nice, quiet girl, and I never had seen her in any misconduct.
Q. Have you ever seen any men with Mary?—A. No. I have seen Mr. Gantt come through and speak to all the girls, but I never saw him speak to Mary in particular.
Q. How large was the place that seemed marked over with whitewash?—A. It was a spot four or five inches in diameter.
Girls Feared Frank.
Q. Did you see traces of blood around the elevator?—A. No, sir.
Q. How far was it from the elevator?—A. Fully two hundred feet.
Q. Was Mr. Frank familiar with the girl?—A. Not that I know of.
Q. Did you ever see them together?—A. I never have. I have heard the girls singing at their work, and when Mr. Frank would come they would stop. They were afraid of displeasing him.
Q. In what condition was the hair that you found?—A. Tangled and torn.
Q. How many hairs were there altogether?—A. About a dozen.
At this point Mr. Barrett was dismissed, and F. M. Berry, assistant cashier of the Fourth National Bank was called to the stand.
Newt Lee on Stand at Inquest Tells his Side of Phagan Case
Atlanta Georgian
Wednesday, April 30th, 1913
Describes finding of body of slain girl and events at Pencil Factory before and at time of discovery of crime
Newt Lee, watchman at the National Pencil Company’s factory, who notified the police of the discovery of Mary Phagan’s body, told his complete story on the stand at the coroner’s inquest to-day.
Lee was on the stand for more than an hour and was plied with questions intended to throw light on the tragedy. He replied to questions in a straightforward way, and in detail his story is substantially the same as he has made to the reporters ever since his arrest.
His most significant answers concerned his employer, Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the factory. Lee said that when he reported at 4 o’clock for work, Frank told him to go home until 6. He declared that Frank seemed excited, but added that he attributed that excitement to the fact that Frank had just discharged John Gantt, and might have feared trouble. He said he reported back for work at 6 o’clock and that a few hours later Frank called him up by phone from his home to ask him if things were all right. The witness testified that his employer had never done this before.
Chief of Police Beavers said that Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the National Pencil Company, would go on the stand before the coroner’s jury probably late this afternoon.
The Chief said he could not force him to testify as he was in the nature of a defendant, but Attorney Rosser said there would be no objection.
E.L. Sentell, on the stand this afternoon, reiterated that he had seen Mary Phagan with Arthur Mullinax at midnight Saturday night. His testimony and that of other witnesses is printed on page 4.
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Newt Lee’s Testimony as He Gave It at the Inquest
Atlanta Georgian
Wednesday, April 30th, 1913
Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, was questioned as follows:
Q. What is your name? A. Newt Lee.
Q. Where do you live? A. Rear of 40 Henry Street.
Q. What do you do? A. Night watchman at the National Pencil Company.
Q. What kind of work do you do? A. Watch and sweep up the first floor.
Q. What time do you go to work? At what time? A. Six o’clock. If it is not quite 6 o’clock I go around and see if the windows are down. If it is at 6 I punch the clock and then go around.
Q. What else do you do? A. I go around all over the upstairs floors. If I have time I go in the basement, but if not, I go in the basement afterward. It takes me 25 minutes to make my rounds upstairs when I hurry. I punch every half hour.
Frank Sent Him Away.
Q. How many keys have you to the building? A. I had but one key which unlocks the building.
Q. What time did you get to the building Saturday? A. Four o’clock.
Q. Why did you get there at that time? A. Friday was pay day, and Mr. Frank told me to come at 4 o’clock Saturday, as it was Memorial Day. When I came in he sent me away again. When I went in he came out of the outer office, rubbing his hands, and told me he was sorry he had brought me down so early, as I could have been sleeping. He told me to go back out in town and not to get back later than the usual time of 6 o’clock.
Q. What’s on the first floor? A. Just boxes; they don’t use it.
Doesn’t Use Elevator.
Q. Where was the elevator when you went in at 4 o’clock? A. I don’t know, cap, because the elevator doors were shut and you can’t tell where the elevator is. But the elevator is supposed to stay on the first floor, they told me.
Q. Is there a door in the basement at the elevator? A. Yes. There’s one that slides up, too.
Q. Do you ever use the elevator? A. No, sir.
Q. Does the machinery have to be used for the elevator to be running? A. I think so.
Q. When you went upstairs and opened the doors on the stairway you made some noise, didn’t you? A. Yes.
Q. Where was Mr. Frank when you went in? Did you hear him come out of his office? A. I just saw him come out. I said, “All right, Mr. Frank,” like I always do and he came out of the outer office.
Q. Could anyone be in the office and you not see them? A. Yes, sir.
Heard No One in Office.
Q. Did you hear any one talking in his office? A. No, sir.
Q. Where did you go when he told you that you could go? A. I went right down and out the door. I went up to Alabama Street to Broad, and over to near Decatur Street and Central Avenue and looked at a medicine show a fat man was giving for negroes.
Q. What time did you go back? A. Just a few minutes before 6.
Q. Did you punch at 6 o’clock? A. Just at 6. Mr. Frank came on out and put cards in the clock. He then went back in the office and I went downstairs.
“While I was there Mr. Gantt came from across the street and said he wanted to get a pair of shoes. I told him I couldn’t let him in, and he asked if Mr. Frank was there. I told him yes, and that I would go get him.
Frank Looked Frightened.
“At this time Mr. Frank came down and looked a bit frightened. I think he looked that way because Mr. Frank had discharged Mr. Gantt and thought Mr. Gantt might start some trouble.
“Mr. Gantt told him he wanted his shoes and Mr. Frank, after talking a few minutes, told me to go up there with them. I did, and we found the shoes where he had said they were. He asked me for some paper and twine and wrapped the shoes up. He asked me if he could use the telephone. He called up some lady and said he wouldn’t be out until 9 o’clock. He then went downstairs and out of the building. I locked the door behind him and saw him go up the street.
Watched Gantt Go Out.
Q. What did you do then? A. I watched Gantt as he went out and then I punched the clock for 6:30.
Q. Did you see Gantt at 4 o’clock? A. No.
Q. When Mr. Frank came and met Gantt, did you go right upstairs? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Where was Mr. Frank? A. I don’t know.
Q. Did you lock the door? A. I unlocked the door and let Gantt out.
Q. Where were you when Mr. Frank came? A. We were all on the outside when Mr. Frank gave Gantt permission and I went in with Mr. Gantt.
Q. Did you go to the toilet and machinery room at 4 o’clock? A. No, sir.
Q. Is there a carpet or a rug on the floor in Mr. Frank’s office? A. No, sir.
Frank Was Rubbing His Hands.
Q. When you went upstairs at 4 o’clock and said, “All right, Mr. Frank,” and Mr. Frank came out, was he excited? A. Yes, sir; he was rubbing his hands.
Q. Was that unusual? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Have you ever seen him do that before? A. No, sir.
Q. When did Mr. Frank tell you to watch Mr. Gantt? A. When they turned him off.
Q. Did you know why Gantt was discharged? A. No, sir.
Q. How long have you worked in the pencil factory? A. Three pay days.
Q. How often do they pay you? A. Every Saturday.
Q.—Have you told me everything that was said by you and Mr. Frank before he left the factory? A.—Yes, sir; only I offered him some bananas and he wouldn’t take them.
Saw Frank Leave Also.
Q.—How long did it take Mr. Gantt to find his shoes? A.—Very little time. He found his shoes and went out of the building after he talked over the telephone.
Q.—Do you know whether Mr. Frank left the building during that time? A.—He went outside. I don’t know whether he came back in or not.
Q.—Did you see Mr. Frank walk away? A.—Yes.
Q.—Where did he go? A.—He went up Forsyth Street toward Alabama.
Q.—How long have you worked for Mr. Frank? A.—Just three paydays.
Q.—How long have you known him? A.—Just since I have been there.
Q.—When did you see that all of the windows of the plan were drawn? A.—When I made the rounds just before making my 7 o’clock punch.
Gas Light Changed.
Q. What did you do then? A. I went into the basement a few minutes after 7 o’clock.
Q. What is on the top floor? A. A whole world of machinery.
Q. Where were Gantt’s shoes? A. In the shipping department, near the front.
Q. How do you get to the basement? A. Through a scuttle hold.
Q. What part of the basement did you go to? A. To a light near the ladder only a few feet from the ladder.
Q. Did you light the gas in the basement? A. No, sir. It was lighted, but it wasn’t like I left it that morning. It was turned down like a lightning bug.
Q. What time Saturday night did you get a telephone call? A. I don’t remember the exact time.
Q. Who called? A. Frank.
Q. Was that the only call? A. Yes, sir.
Frank Telephoned Him.
Q. What did you do when the phone rang? A. I took down the receiver and said, ‘Hello!’ He said, ‘Hello,’ and said it was Mr. Frank. I said, ‘Is this you, Mr. Frank?’ Then he said, ‘How is everything, Newt?’ I told him everything was all right and he hung up.
Q. Had Frank ever called you before over the phone? A. No, sir, he never had.
Q. Did he say where he was? A. No, sir.
Q. Did you punch your clock every half-hour Saturday night? A. Yes, sir; every half-hour from 6 o’clock until I found the body.
Q. What did Mr. Frank say to you Sunday morning? A. He said the clock had been punched all right.
Q. Did he say the clock had been punched regularly? A. Yes, sir.
Q. You say you pushed the clock every half-hour? Did you go to the toilet that night? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Where did you go? A. Upstairs.
Q. When did you go to the toilet again? A. Almost 3 o’clock. I waited because I wanted to go into the basement on my rounds, so I waited and went into the toilet in the basement.
Q. How did you get down into the basement? A. I went down the ladder and went back to the toilet. I set the ladder on the floor against the side of the toilet. I came out of the toilet and stepped up a few feet. I don’t know just how far. I looked to see if the back door was all right, and to see if there was any fire in the basement. Then I saw the body.
At this juncture Lee’s testimony began to differ materially with that of the officers, who said that the body was lying face downward.
Thought It Was Trick.
Lee continues: “I thought it was something some devilish boys had put there to scare me. I went over and saw it was a body and I got scared. Then I called the police. I tried to get Mr. Frank.”
Q. Whom did you call first? A. The police.
Q. What did you say? A. I was scared and I don’t know what I said. I tried to tell them that I had found a dead body.
Q. How did you know the number of the police station? A. Mr. Frank gave it to me and told me to call it if anything ever happened around the plant.
Q. How was the girl lying when you found her? A. On her back. (Officers had testified that they found her on her face.)
Q.—How did you happen to see her? A.—I saw her when I walked out to look for a fire.
Didn’t See Whole Body.
Q.—Did you walk beyond that partition in the basement? A.—No, sir. I just saw parts of her. I saw her legs.
Q.—Did you put your hands on her? A.—No, sir.
Q.—What kind of an examination of the body did you make? A.—None; I just looked and saw that it was a dead body.
Q.—Was her head toward you? A.—No, sir. I couldn’t see her head until I had walked around.
Q.—Did you see any bruises on her? A.—No, sir, I just saw blood and lots of dirt.
Q.—How did you find her? A.—On the flat of her back.
Waited for the Police.
Q. How was the head? A. On one side.
Q. You didn’t touch her or make any examination? A. No, sir; I didn’t touch her.
Q. After you called the police, did you go down into the basement before they came? A. No, sir.
Q. How did you come to turn her over? A. I didn’t turn her over.
Q. How did you know she was dead? A. I knew she was dead because she was there. There ain’t no white woman going to be there if she ain’t dead. She was all dirt and bloody. I knew she was dead, boss.
Q. Was Mr. Frank at the plant Sunday morning when the police took you back there? A. No, sir.
Didn’t Come in at Once.
Q. Did he come after you got there? A. Yes, sir, they sent an automobile for him.
Q. Was he excited when he came in? A. He didn’t come in right away.
Q. Who have keys to the plant? A. Me and Mr. Frank and Mr. Darley. I don’t know who else.
Q. Did you ever let anyone in after 6 o’clock? A. No, sir.
Q. Did you lock the door at 6 o’clock? A. Yes, sir.
Q. When do the fireman and the elevator man leave? A. I don’t know. They’re all gone when I get there.
Q. Who stays in the plant from half past 5 to 6 o’clock when you’re not there? A. Mr. Frank and the bookkeeper, and sometimes the lady who stays in the office.
_____
No One There After 6 o’Clock.
Q. Was anyone working there after 6 o’clock Saturday night? A. Not that I know of. There were no lights and all the windows were like I left them.
Q. Did you see blood in the machinery room on Saturday night? A. No, sir; I had to go through the room where they say the lady was killed, but I never saw no blood.
Q. Where are the dressing rooms? A. Why, there’s dressing rooms all over the building, boss.
Q. Did Mr. Frank say the clock was punched all right? A. Yes, sir; on Sunday morning he said I had never lost a punch.
Q. When did you first tell any one that Frank sent you away from the factory Saturday afternoon? A. I don’t know when I told it, boss.
Went to Basement Every Hour.
Q. Did Mr. Frank ever tell you that the clock was not punched regularly last Saturday night? A. Yes, sir; he told me on Monday morning that the clock was not punched right.
Q. How often did you go to the basement Saturday night? A. Every hour, but only a few feet from the ladder.
Q. Could anyone have used the elevator and you not know it? A. No, sir.
Q. How was the body lying when you went back with the officers? A. Like I found it.
Q. On its face or on its back? A. The same way, boss.
Q. When did you turn out the gas? A. I didn’t turn it out.
Q. Was it burning when the officers came? A. Yes, sir.
Q. What kind of a lantern did you have? A. Just an ordinary lantern, boss.
Q. Was the lantern dirty? A. Yes, sir.
Knew It Was White Girl.
Q. Could you tell by the light of the lantern whether the woman was white or black? A. Yes, sir; I could tell by the skin and by the hair.
Q. Was the head the only skin of the girl you saw? You didn’t see her legs or her body? A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know any of the operatives? A. No, sir; they’re always gone when I get there.
Q. What is the back door for—the one in the basement? A. I don’t know.
Q. Did you ever see it open? A. Yes, sir; last Friday morning.
Had No Back Door Key.
Q. Did you have a key to the back door? A. No, sir; the fireman had one.
Q. Was the fireman supposed to be there at night? A. No; he leaves when I get there.
Q. What’s his name? A. Knox.
Q. Is he a negro? A. Yes.
Lee was excused and J.M. Gantt, who was in the factory Saturday afternoon to get a pair of shoes he had left there, was called to be questioned by Coroner Donehoo and others.
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Sergeant Brown Tells His Story of Finding of Body
Atlanta Georgian
Wednesday, April 30th, 1913
Sergeant R. J. Brown, the second witness at the inquest, corroborated Anderson’s story of the finding of the body. Brown, who was in charge of the morning watch, was one of the four men who answered the call of the negro night watchman, Newt Lee.
Brown was interrogated as follows:
“How did you get to the factory?”
“Call Officer Anderson answered the phone call, and Anderson, Sergeant Dobbs, myself and a man named Rogers—we call him ‘Boots’—went in Mr. Rogers’ car to the factory.”
“Who met you when you got there?”
“We got to the building and shook the door and a negro came and let us in. We asked where the body was and the negro said: ‘Come this way.’ We went to an opening in the floor near the elevator and we went down a ladder into the basement. Sergeant Dobbs and I were in front with the negro, striking matches and looking around.
Negro Carried Lantern.
“The negro was with us, carrying a dim lantern. We found the body lying face downward, the arms folded underneath. I looked at the body and said: ‘For Heavens’ sake; It is only a child.’ I turned the body over and it was cold and stiff. I couldn’t tell whether it was white or colored. I rubbed the dirt and trash and cinders from her face with a piece of paper, and then I said that she was a white girl and others said she was colored. It was not determined until Call Officer Anderson pulled her stocking down and looked at her leg. Then we saw that she was white.”
“Did you see any indications of the body having been dragged?”
“There was an impression on the pathway over which we had come as though something had been dragged along there, but the light was very dim and it was hard to tell.”
“Did you find any paper?”
“A couple of notes were picked up. I think one was found by Sergeant Dobbs and one was found by me.”
“Was the inside of the girl’s mouth clean?”
“It was covered with dirt.”
“Was her mouth open?”
“Her mouth was open and the tongue was hanging down toward the chin. The lips and corners of her mouth were covered with dirt.”
“Was her face imbedded in the ground?”
“I didn’t notice.”
“Could the dirt in her mouth have come from lying down?”
“Not all of it.”
“Did you see a cord around her?”
“Yes, a cord was around her neck and a piece of her underskirt was tied around her neck.”
“Did you go to the back of the building?”
“I did.”
“What did you find?”
“I saw that the staple and lock on the back door had been unfastened.”
“Was the door open?”
“No; it was unlocked, though, and the staple was pulled.”
“Could the staple have been pulled from the outside?”
“No, sir.”
“What kind of lantern did the negro have?”
“An ordinary lantern with a dirty globe.”
How Negro Found Body.
“What did Lee say to you?”
“He said he knew nothing of the girl’s death. He said he rarely went into the basement and that on this occasion he went to use the toilet. He said after he had used the toilet he saw the girl’s body lying over there.”
“Did he say how far she was from the toilet?”
“Not in figures, but the toilet is 25 feet from where the body lay.”
“Did he say how the body was lying?”
“No, sir, not to me.”
“Did he say he had touched the body?”
“Not in my presence.”
“Did you call Mr. Frank over the telephone?”
“No, I guarded Lee while Anderson called him.”
“How long did Anderson wait on Mr. Frank?”
“He waited some time. He asked central to hurry the call. He told central that a woman had been murdered there and that he was very anxious to get Mr. Frank.”
“What kind of clothing did the girl wear?”
“A kind of a purple dress.”
Body Not Obscured.
“Could you see the body from where the negro, Lee, was standing when he said he saw it?”
“I can’t say, but to do that one would have to look right close.”
“Did the corner of the little room obstruct the view of the body from the toilet?”
“I think it would have, of the head and shoulders, not of the legs.”
“Was the cord around her neck tied in front or behind?”
“I think it was looped in the rear.”
“Did you see evidence of a struggle?”
“I don’t know that I did. We went down into the basement hurriedly and right up to where the negro said the body was.”
“Did you start an investigation?”
“We looked around as much as we could, and then notified Chief Lanford, and his men came and took charge of it.”
“Did you go upstairs?”
“No, sir.”
“Were the gas jets in the basement lighted?”
“No.”
“Did you use the elevator?
“No, we used the ladder altogether.”
“Did the negro say that the elevator had been used during the evening?”
“No.”
“Was anything found upstairs when you went up to telephone?”
“No, we didn’t look around there much. We had no light.”
“How far did the girl’s tongue protrude from her mouth?”
“This far.” (The witness measured about an inch and a half on his fingers.)
“Was the body cold?”
“Yes, and a bubbly streak was coming from her nostrils. Blood was running from her ears and her mouth.”
Dr. J. W. Hurt, county physician, who performed the autopsy on the dead girl, asked the witness several questions relating to the condition of the body below the shoulders.
He asked:
“When the stocking was pulled down, did you loosen any strappings to do so?”
“No, the supporter from the corset was loose.”
“Was the catch on the supporter broken, or only unfastened?”
“I don’t think it was broken.”
“Did Anderson loosen the supporter?”
“No.”
“Did he use any violence in examining the body?”
“No.”
Dr. Hurt then turned the witness back over to the jury.
Draw Knot About Neck.
“How was the cord tied about her neck?”
“It was looped and tied with a draw knot.”
“What else was around her neck?”
“Two pieces of her underskirt had been torn away, tied together and bound around her neck.”
“How tight was the cord drawn?”
“Tight enough to have choked her to death.”
“Which was tied on first?”
“I think the cord was.”
“What do you think caused her death?”
“Strangulation.”
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Tells Jury He Saw Girl and Mullinax Together
Atlanta Georgian
Wednesday, April 30th, 1913
Edgar L. Sentell, the man who identified Mullinax as being the man he saw with Mary Phagan Saturday night was the first witness to take the stand when the coroner’s jury convened at 2:30 o’clock.
The witness said that he worked at Kamper’s grocery store, starting to work there last Thursday. He was questioned as follows:
Q. How late did you work Saturday night? A. To about 10:30 o’clock.
Q. What is your work? A. I drive a wagon.
Q. What time did you get in with your wagon Saturday night? A. About 9:30 or 10 o’clock.
Q. What did you do after that? A. I stayed about the store for a little while, then went down to the drug store on the corner.
Saw Girl and Mullinax.
Q. How late did you stay there? A. I do not know exactly. I started walking to town and when I reached the Carnegie Library, I waited for a Magnolia street car. I think I waited about ten minutes and then found that the cars had quit running.
Q. Did you see Mary Phagan Saturday night? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Was she with any one? A. She was with this fellow Mullinax.
Q. What time was it? A. I do not know exactly. It was some time between 11:30 and 12:30 o’clock. I think it was nearer 12:30 o’clock, as the cars had quit running.
Q. Where did you see them? A. On Forsyth Street, near Hunter.
Q. What were they doing? A. They were walking toward me.
Q. Were they together? A. They were not exactly together.
Q. Just how were they? A. She as on one side of the sidewalk and Mullinax was on the other.
Q. Did she wear a hat? A. No.
Certain of Identity.
Q. Could you swear that it was Mary Phagan?—A. Yes.
Q. Are you sure that it was Mullinax?—A. I could, not say positively, but it was a man who looked like him, and I have not seen anyone who looks so much like the man I saw as Mullinax does.
Q. How long have you known Mullinax?—A. I have just known his name since Sunday.
Q. Did you know him before?—A. I used to see him around the car barns when I worked there last June, but I did not know his name.
Q. What were you doing around the car barns?—A. I worked there.
Q. When did you first hear of the death of the girl?—A. About 10 o’clock Sunday morning when I was on the car on my way to my aunt’s.
Q. How did you know it was Mary Phagan?—A. I heard the street car men talking. They said the dead girl’s name was Phagan, and I thought it might be Mary Phagan, as I had seen her out late the night before.
Q. When did you first tell of seeing her?—A. I went right on out to the Phagan home instead of going to my aunt’s to find if it was Mary, and told them at the house that I had seen her.
Q. Where is your home?—A. My people live at East Point, but I board at 82 Davis Street.
Q. What work did you do before going with the Kamper Grocery firm?—A. I was in the Navy.
Q. When did you quit that work?—A. April 18.
Q. How long were you there?—A. About three months.
Q. Why did you quit?—A. I was discharged on account of weak eyes.
Q. What was the trouble with your eyes?—A. I could not see the targets.
Q. Do your eyes trouble you ordinarily?—A. No, sir.
Q. Are you quite sure they did not fail you when you met this girl Saturday night?—A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you drink?—A. Sometimes, but I have never been drunk.
Q. Had you been drinking Saturday night?—A. No, sir.
_______
Tells of Watchman Lee ‘Explaining’ the Notes
Atlanta Georgian
Wednesday, April 30th, 1913
Sergeant L. S. Dobbs was the third witness. He said he answered the call to the pencil company plant Sunday morning.
Q.—Did you find an umbrella? A.—No. Lassiter did.
Q.—Did you find the notes there? A.—One of them.
He then identified the two notes.
Q.—Were you at the plant when Lassiter found the umbrella? A.—No; he found them about 7 o’clock.
Q.—Where did you find the body? A.—About 150 feet from the elevator shaft.
Q.—Did you examine the body?
“Yes. When I turned the body over I found the face full of dirt, and could not tell if it was a white girl or negro. We examined the legs and found it was a white woman.
“I became suspicious of the negro and questioned him. I said: ‘You know something about this,’ and he became very much excited. We read the notes, and without anyone making comment the negro said the word ‘night’ meant the night watchman.
Body Had Been Dragged.
“I asked him why he went downstairs and he said to use the toilet. I asked why he didn’t use the toilet on the second floor and he said white folks didn’t like for negroes to use their toilet.
“I had Williams to lie down on the ground. Unless one looked directly at the body it could not have been seen from the toilet.
“In going back to the scene after daybreak, we discovered traces showing a body had been dragged from where the umbrella was found at the elevator to where it was found.”
Q.—Could an ordinary man have taken a body down the ladder? A.—I don’t think so.
Q.—Had the elevator been used that night? A.—There was no way to use it. The watchman did not know how to run it.
Q.—Did the scratching on the ground show that a person might have stopped with the body? A.—No. It was continuous.
Shoe Found in Path.
Q.—Was the shoe found directly on the line in which the body had been dragged? A.—Yes; just a little to one side, and also the hat.
Sergeant Dobbs described the location of the body, which coincided with other testimony.
Q.—Was her clothing brighter than any boxes that were around? A.—No.
Q.—Was there any warmth in body? A.—No. I could work the fingers slightly.
Q.—Have you had much experience in handling dead bodies? A.—No.
Sergeant Dobbs said the negro told him no one had been in the building since 6 o’clock.
Q.—After the negro had gone upstairs after you found the body, did he go back downstairs? A.—Yes.
Q.—Did you notice any opening in the partition when you first went down? A.—No. I thought it was a solid wall.
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Went Down Scuttle Hole on Ladder to Reach Body
Atlanta Georgian
Wednesday, April 30th, 1913
Previous to Watchman Newt Lee’s testimony, three police officers, who were called to the pencil factory when Mary Phagan’s body was found, testified. Their testimony, with the exception of such parts as were unfit to print, follows:
W. T. Anderson, police call officer on duty Sunday morning, was first witness.
“We went over in an automobile to the pencil factory and the negro took us into the cellar where the body was found,” he said.
Anderson told of the location of the scuttle hole, from which a ladder led to the basement, and of the location of the body.
“At the foot of the ladder I did not find anything,” he went on. “On the left of the basement is a partition part of the way, forming a room. The body was at the lower end of the partition, a few inches from the partition and about six feet from the outside wall of the building. Her head was toward the front of the building. She was lying on her face. The cellar was very dark.
“I did not see the body until I reached it. There is a toilet on the opposite side of the basement, on the right side next to the boiler. There was rubbish, shavings and the like. I did not see any white trash lying about.
“Sergeant Dobbs picked up one of the notes while I was there. Think I could identify them.”
On being shown several papers Anderson selected one of the papers as one of the notes found. It was the note written on yellow paper.
“We also found a tablet and a pencil. There were four or five of us there, and I do not know who found it.
“Right in front of the body on the right side, I found her left shoe and hat. She was dressed in a dark colored dress. She had no shoe on her left foot. Her clothes were up to her knees.
“Her left leg just below the knee the stocking was torn and her leg skinned. There was blood on her head, while her eyes were bloodshot. A piece of wrapping cord and her underskirt band were tied around her neck. There was a cut on the back side of her head by the left temple. Her mouth and eyes were filled with dirt and sawdust. She was covered with so much dirt that I could not tell whether she was white or black, and had to pull down one of her stockings to tell whether she was white. Her legs below her knees were also covered with dirt and sawdust.
Staple Pulled From Door.
“There was a staple pulled out of the lock at the back door. It is a side door. It has a bar with a hasp. There was a lock in the staple, but the door was closed. There was a lock in the staple, but the door was closed. Sergeant Dobbs and Brown were there before me.”
“There was blood on her head, stomach and legs. I had a flashlight with me. The watchman had an ordinary lantern, the globe of which was smoked. It did not give much light.
“It was about 25 or 30 feet from negro’s toilet to where the body was lying. I could not see the body from there with his lantern, could not see over 10 or 12 feet with it.
“She had on a white underskirt. Her head was in line with the corner of the partition. A flashlight would have shown the body. It struck me that she would have been too far behind the partition for the lantern light to show her.
What Negro “Thought at First.”
“The negro watchman told me when he saw the body at first he thought some one had placed something there to scare him. He said he did not go down there very much, going down that time to the toilet.
“I questioned the negro at length. He said the toilet in basement was for negroes.
“After questioning the negro, I called Frank at his residence, but could not get him. I then called Mr. Haas, of the National Pencil Company. One of the women members of the family talked to me. Sergeant Brown instructed me to call some of the head men of the pencil company.”
Officer Anderson identified the clothing worn by the girl when he found her in the basement. He was then dismissed.
Officer Anderson was called in again and asked to identify the dead girl’s clothing. In answer to a question, he said the girl’s stocking supporters were unfastened.
Q.—Did the negro say it was a white woman or a negro when he telephoned? A.—He said: “A white woman has been killed up here.”
Q.—Did he tell you how she was lying? A.—He said she was on her back.
Negro Was Excited.
Q.—Was he excited? A.—Yes.
Q.—How long do you think the girl had been dead? A.—I don’t know much about that, but she was not much right.
Q.—Were there any signs of a scuffle? A.—Behind where she was lying there were evidence of a struggle. We found a bloody handkerchief seven or eight feet from the body.
Q.—Did you see a handbag? A.—I did not. I did not see any evidences of her pay envelope.
Q.—What kind of investigation did you make? A.—The first thing we did was to look for the left shoe. We did not make any investigation on the second floor.
_______
Witness Saw Slain Girl and Man at Factory Door
Atlanta Georgian
Wednesday, April 30th, 1913
J. G. Spier followed Newt Lee on the stand. He lives at Cartersville, Ga.
Q. Were you about the National Pencil Company plant? A. Yes, sir; we walked over to the Terminal station from the Kimball House. I was with a friend. I left the Terminal station at 10 minutes of 4, then walked back there, going back Forsyth Street. I passed the pencil factory about 10 minutes after 4 o’clock. I noticed a young girl and a young man, a Jew of about 25, talking.
Q. Were they excited? A. My impression was that they were. The girl seemed excited and the man nervous.
Q. Was his face flushed? A. He had the appearance of having had a drink. That was my impression.
Q. Did you come back by there later?
Couple Still There.
A.—Yes; I came back to the Western Union to see a friend. The same couple was there.
Q.—Are you sure they were the same couple?
A.—I judge they were.
Q.—Were they in the same position?
A.—The girl had moved to the outer edge of the sidewalk.
Q.—Did you see the girl again?
A.—Yes, the next morning I saw her in the Bloomfield undertaking place. It was the dead girl.
Q.—Have you seen the man since?
A.—I think I did. I saw a man at the pencil factory Sunday whom I was told was Mr. Frank, but I have been told since then that it was not him.
Q.—When did you learn of this?
A. Sunday morning when I was on a car continuing a private investigation of another matter for which I was here. I bought an extra, put it in my pocket and did not read it until I got on the car. I was looking for a Fair-Street car.
Q. What time did you catch a car?
A. About 8 o’clock. I got off the car at Broad Street and talked to a policeman. We walked down to the pencil factory and I told him all I knew.
Q. What was the complexion of the man you saw Saturday?
A. I couldn’t say.
Q. You are sure he was a Jew?
A. Yes.
Q. How tall?
A. About to my shoulder.
Q. How was the girl dressed?
A. I think her clothes were a little dark.
Q. Did she have ribbon on her hair?
A. I think so. I think she had her hair hanging down her back.
Q. You can’t remember the man, but you remember the girl?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you know whether she was bareheaded?
A. I can’t say.
___
STATE ENTERS PHAGAN CASE; FRANK AND LEE ARE TAKEN TO TOWER
Atlanta Georgian
Thursday, May 1st, 1913
Watchman and Frank Go on Witness Stand This Afternoon—Dorsey, Dissatisfied, May Call Special Session of Grand Jury To-morrow.
Coroner Donohuoo [sic] late to-day issued a commitment against Leo M. Frank, superintendent at the National Pencil Company, and Newt Lee, night watchman, charging them with being suspected in connection with the death of Mary Phagan and remanding them to the custody of the sheriff. They were later taken to the Tower.
Arthur Mullinaux [sic], held since Sunday, was released.
Frank’s commitment read as follows:
To Jailor:
You are hereby required to take into custody the person of Leo M. Frank, suspected of the crime of murdering Mary Phagan, and to retain the said Leo M. Frank in your custody pending the further investigation of the death of the said Mary Phagan, to be held by the Coroner of said county.
Coroner Donohoo [sic] adjourned the inquest into the death of Mary Phagan this afternoon until 2 o’clock Monday, without the taking of any testimony. The Coroner said the adjournment was taken for the purpose of obtaining more clearly defined evidence.
The delay is believed to be the result of a request from the police department and is interpreted to mean that the detectives are on the trail of new and important evidence not previously brought to light.
The State made its first move in the Mary Phagan case to-day when Solicitor General Dorsey called into conference Chief of Detectives Lanford and Chief of Police Beavers.
Mr. Dorsey wanted to know just what the police have done in the case, and it was for this reason he questioned Lanford and Beavers.
A new arrest was made in the Phagan case this afternoon. Detectives arrested James Conolley [sic], a negro employed at the National Pencil Company factory.
Connolly [sic] is a sweeper in the factory. The arrest was made on private information given over the telephone to the police that Connolly [sic] had been seen washing some clothing in the factory. He is about 30 years old.
Connolly [sic], at the police station, told the detectives that he was washing his shirt because he was summoned to the inquest this afternoon. The police were inclined to attach little importance to his arrest.
Newt Lee, the night watchman at the National Pencil Company’s factory, will again go on the witness stand to supplement his testimony. Lee is said to have given important information to the detectives after a two – hours cross-examination this morning.
Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the factory, also will be a witness this afternoon.
Calls Inquiry Hesitating.
“The investigation has been hesitating,” said Mr. Dorsey, before his conference with the police officials. “All leads given the police have not been followed closely and there is much more to this thing that has not been brought out. Unless some decisive action is taken quickly the mystery will remain unsolved.”
At the end of the conference, Solicitor Dorsey and he had not fully made up his mind about taking over the case, but it was probable he would reach a decision in time to present the matter to the Grand Jury to-morrow if necessary. He told Chief Beavers and Chief Lanford that the handwriting evidence, what he considered the best possible clue, had been very badly handled by the police, particularly so in permitting Lee to copy the note instead of dictating it to him. He said the handwriting tests had been far from thorough. He criticized two police officials for laxity in one or two other features of the case.
Chief of Detectives Lanford, following the examination of Lee, declared that the watchman had made no confession, or part of one, implicating himself, but that he had divulged facts which will tend to lift the veil of mystery from the murder.
The police say that Lee’s new testimony will relate directly to a conversation that the watchman and Frank held in Lee’s cell on Monday.
Talk With Frank Is Basis.
According to the detectives, Lee will testify that Frank commanded him to stick to his story or “they would both go to —-.”
A conversation Lee had with a fellow prisoner last night in his cell, Chief Lanford said, resulted in the questioning of Lee to-day.
This conversation was reported to the detectives and, working on the new lead, Lee was brought to the detectives’ room at 9:30 o’clock this morning.
Chief Beavers, Chief Lanford, Harry Scott, of the Pinkertons, and Detective John Black questioned him for an hour, with the result that it was agreed to again put him on the witness stand.
Lee, accompanied by John Black and Scott, was brought out of the conference shortly after 11 o’clock and removed to a cell.
Police Spurred to Action.
“Now, Lee,” said Black and Scott, as they locked him up, “don’t you talk about this case to anybody but us hereafter, do you hear?”
Orders were given to allow no one but the two detectives to see or talk with the watchman, and visitors, lawyers and persons of all description were barred from the corridors leading to his cell.
The announcement that the State, through Solicitor Dorsey, might intervene and take charge of the investigation unless the mystery was cleared at once spurred the police to further effort late to-day.
“Weed Out” False Clews.
Detective Starnes and Campbell continued throughout the day breaking down the stories of the persons who have testified that they saw Mary Phagan on the street Saturday after she had drawn her pay at the pencil factory at noon.
Chief Lanford said positively that the hunt was near its conclusion and with the completion of the inquest the truth would be established.
Mr. Dorsey was vehement in his denunciation of the manner in which the case had been handled.
Dorsey Voices His Protest.
“The burden of convicting the perpetrator of this horrible crime whoever he may be, will fall directly upon my shoulders,” said Dorsey, “and I don’t propose, for that reason, if not for the many others, to let it drift along.
“No effort has been made to establish if the shirt said to have been found in the ash barrel back of Lee’s home was Lee’s.
“The handwriting tests on the notes have not been exhausted by the police—in fact, hardly touched upon.
“The marks on the [3 words, illegible]
FRANK TO TESTIFY TO-DAY AT PHAGAN CASE INQUEST
lead to an extensive investigation that has never been made.
“People have been let go and come at will in various places who should have been locked up and guarded until the investigation was completed.
“The matter must be sifted to the bottom, and if it isn’t not done soon the State will assume charge and the Grand Jury will be put to work on it.”
Features of Testimony.
The principal features of the testimony that have been brought out so far are as follows:
J. G. SPIER, of Cartersville, Ga., testified—
That he saw a girl and a man standing in front of the pencil factory at 4:10 Saturday afternoon; that the girl was the one whose body he had viewed Monday morning at Bloomfield’s undertaking establishment.
F. M. BERRY, assistant cashier of the Fourth National Bank, testified—
That the handwriting of the notes found by Mary Phagan’s body and that of test written by Lee indicated that they were written by the same person.
J. M. GANTT, in the factory about twenty minutes on Saturday night, testified—
That Frank appeared nervous and apprehensive when he saw him at the factory at about 6 o’clock.
NEWT LEE, the night watchman, testified—
That Frank showed signs of nervousness by rubbing his hands, something he had never seen him do before. That Frank called him on the phone about 7 o’clock in the evening to see if everything was “all right,” something he never had done before.
HARRY DENHAM, one of the two men in the office Saturday afternoon, testified—
That Frank did NOT seem nervous when he saw him at 3 o’clock; that Frank had a habit of rubbing his hands.
GEORGE W. EPPS, JR., 246 Fox Street, boy friend of Mary Phagan, testified—
That Mary Phagan had told him once that Leo M. Frank had stood at the factory door when she left and had winked at her and tried to flirt. That he rode uptown with Mary last Saturday; that she left him to get her money at the factory, with an engagement to meet him at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, but never appeared.
E. S. SKIPPER, 224 1-2 Peters Street, testified—
That Frank was NOT one of the three men he saw with a girl resembling Mary Phagan about midnight Saturday; that the girl he saw Saturday night he was almost certain was the same one whose dead body he saw in the morgue Monday morning.
EDGAR L. SENTELL, an employee of Kamper’s grocery firm, testified—
That he saw, without a possibility of a mistake, none other than Mary Phagan walking on Forsyth Street, near Hunter, between 11:30 and 12:30 Saturday night, with a man. The man was Mullinax, he was almost positive. That he said, “Hello, Mary,” and that she responded, “Hello, Ed.”
R. M. LASSITER, policeman, testified—
That he had inspected the basement and had found plain signs of a body being dragged from the elevator to the place where the body of Mary was found. That a parasol was at the bottom of the elevator shaft.
SERGEANT R. J. BROWN, of the police department, testified—
That it would have been almost impossible to see the body from the point the negro told him he first saw it.
SERGEANT L. S. DOBBS, of the police department, testified—
That Lee, without anyone else making any comment, said that the words “night witch” meant “night watchman,” in the notes that were found by the side of the dead girl.
CALL OFFICER ANDERSON testified—
That he attempted to get Frank at his residence by phone right after the body was found, but was unable to get him.
Gantt Says Frank Was Nervous.
Gantt’s testimony was in the main corroboration of what he told The Georgian when he was arrested. His most striking testimony came when he declared that Frank was nervous when he called at the factory for his shoes. He said when Coroner Donehoo asked him to tell of his movements Saturday night:
“I went to the factory to get my shoes and met Mr. Frank at the door and got permission to come in. When he saw me he appeared very nervous and started back into his office; then he came out again. He told the night watchman to go with me to get the shoes and to stay with me.”
Gantt testified that while in the factory he telephone his sister, Mrs. F. C. Terrell, of 284 East Linden Street, that he would be home about 9 o’clock, and then he left the factory, the negro accompanying him to the door. He said he, together with Arthur White and C. G. Bagley, went to the Globe pool room, where they remained until 10:30 o’clock. Then, he said, he went home and stayed there till 2 o’clock Sunday afternoon, when he left and came downtown. He called on a girl friend Sunday night, he testified, and stayed at her home till 11 o’clock. He said he didn’t know the officers came to his home Sunday night; that he was not told of their visit by his sister. He said he left his sister’s home at 8 o’clock Monday morning and started to Marietta to visit his mother, who lives on a farm six miles east of the town.
Was Discharged by Frank.
Gantt testified that he had known Mary Phagan since she was 3 years old, and that he knew her when he was timekeeper at the pencil factory. He said Frank discharged him from the factory because of a personal difference. Asked as to the nature of this difference, he said that there was a shortage of $2 in his payroll and that Frank told him he must either make the amount good or be discharged.
Gantt testified that he had never heard Mary Phagan complain of her treatment at the factory and that he had never heard her say she could not trust Frank.
While he was on the stand Gantt also threw new light on the wages paid the girls who work at the pencil factory. He said he paid off the girls, and had paid Mary Phagan every Saturday, while he handled the payroll. He said her weekly salary was $4.05. Asked how this was computed, he declared she received 7 1-11 cents an hour for 55 hours’ work. Coroner Donehoo called attention to the fact that this did not figure up $4.05, but nothing more was said about the matter by either the witness or the jurymen.
E. G. Skipper 224 1-2 Peters Street, declared positively that Leo Frank was not one of the men he had seen on Trinity Avenue, near Forsyth Street, pushing a reeling girl along Saturday night about 11 o’clock. Skipper described the dress worn by the girl he had seen and declared it looked very much like the one that Mary Phagan wore when she was murdered. He was then asked to give a description of the three men who were with the girl. Frank was then brought in and Skipper was asked if Frank was one of the men. He said that Frank did not resemble any of them.
Tells of Mother’s Worry.
Skipper testified that he had seen the body of Mary Phagan at Bloomfield’s morgue, and said she looked like the girl he had seen on Trinity Avenue. He said he recognized her by her dress, parasol and the hair hanging down her back. He said he didn’t follow the girl and the three men Saturday night because it is a common occurrence to see things like that in Atlanta on Saturday night.
J. W. Coleman, the stepfather of the dead child, told a pathetic story of her mother’s worry over her continued absence from home Saturday night. He said he left home Saturday morning before Mary awoke, and that he had not seen her alive since last Friday night.
“I got home Saturday afternoon at 4 o’clock,” testified Mr. Coleman, “and Mary had not come home; but we paid little attention to her absence then, as she often went to a moving picture show after work. I went downtown and came back about 7:20 o’clock and Mrs. Coleman met me at the door. She said Mary had not come home yet, and we were shocked and began to worry. My wife said for me to eat supper and then we’d see if we could not find her. I went downtown and tried to find Mary. I went to all the picture shows, and everywhere I could think of, but could not find her.
“I went back home about 10 o’clock, and Mrs. Coleman was nearly crazy with worry and anxiety. I thought maybe Mary had gone to Marietta with her aunt, Mattie Phagan, and that she had telephone to a neighbor that she would not be home. I went to all the neighbors who had telephones, but none of them had heard from her. We sat up nearly all night trying to figure out what had become of the girl, and decided to get up early and try to find her.
Child Brings News of Crime.
“As we were getting up the next morning little Ellen Ferguson came running up the steps. My wife was excited and exclaimed that something had happened to Mary. The Ferguson girl ran into the house and cried that Mary had been murdered. Then she began screaming and my wife fainted. I caught a car and went downtown. I was with a friend. We passed detectives leading a handcuffed negro, and we followed them to the pencil factory. The man there was not going to let me in until I told him who I was. Then I went in and did all I could to help in the investigation which the detectives had started.”
Mr. Coleman testified that he had several times heard Mary speak of her employers but had paid little attention to her statements. He didn’t remember whether she had ever said anything about Frank. He said she had often said that things went on at the factory that were not nice, and that some of the people there tried to get fresh. “She told most of those stories to her mother,” said Mr. Coleman.
The examination of J. A. White, 58 Bonnie Brae Avenue, one of the two men who worked at the pencil factory Saturday afternoon, brought out for the first time the fact that in Frank’s private office there is a wardrobe or closet large enough for a person to hide in. He testified that the closet was about 9 feet high and 4 feet wide, and was directly behind the door in Frank’s office. He said he went into Frank’s office when he left the factory Saturday to borrow $2, but didn’t notice the closet. The office door, he testified, was opened and resting against it. He said he didn’t notice whether Mr. Frank was excited.
Didn’t Know of Basement Room.
White testified that he had no knowledge of the small room which was found in the basement. He said the employees of the plant sometimes drank cans of beer in the basement, but said he had never heard of any women being brought in there.
Other witnesses called during the afternoon session of the jury included Detective J. R. Black, who is in charge of the police who are working on the case, and Guy Kennedy, 203 Bellwood Avenue. Black testified that Skipper had made a statement to him about seeing three men and a girl on Trinity Avenue late Saturday night. He said Skipper told him the girl he saw wore white shoes and stockings.
Kennedy, who is a street car conductor on the English Avenue line, had previously told detectives and reporters that he had seen Mary Phagan Saturday afternoon. He told the Coroner’s jury that he was mistaken; that the girl he saw was not Mary Phagan. He said he thought she was until he had seen the body of the murdered girl at the morgue.
_______
Police Still Puzzled By Mystery Of Phagan Case
Atlanta Georgian
Friday, May 2nd, 1913
200 Witnesses To Be Called When Inquest Into Slaying of Factory Girl Is Resumed Next Monday—Felder to Aid State.
The exact facts in the Phagan case as this edition of The Georgian goes to press can be stated as follows:
First. The Coroner’s inquest is not yet ended. It has been adjourned until Monday afternoon next; and until it is ended the State is not likely to take hold of the case except in so far as Solicitor General Dorsey may deem it necessary to acquaint himself with facts that may aid him when the Coroner’s jury renders its verdict. After this is done the case is turned over to the Solicitor General, as the chief prosecuting officer of Fulton County.
SECOND—It is reported that a large number of witnesses—200—are to be subpoenaed by the Coroner’s jury, and that both Lee and Frank will testify.
THIRD—The functions of a Coroner’s jury consist of hearing preliminary testimony, and holding persons under suspicion for the Grand Jury, which is the legal body that finds indictments against those accused of crime. Investigation before the Grand Jury is on evidence and is much more complete than before the Coroner’s jury.
FOURTH—Solicitor – General Dorsey’s conference with Chief of Police Beavers and Chief of Detectives Lanford yesterday was not to express dissatisfaction with the police, but to acquaint himself more fully with facts not yet made public.
FIFTH—Officials of the jail declared to-day that visitors will not be allowed to see either Frank or Lee, but, of course, counsel will have free access to them.
SIXTH—The absurd report that State troops were to be called out, of course, has no foundation in facts. This rumor was published in some of the State papers and by an unimportant morning daily of limited circulation.
SEVENTH—The report that William J. Burns is to come to Atlanta is of doubtful origin. The last heard of Mr. Burns he was in Europe.
EIGHTH—Friends of Frank are coming forward in his defense and are making a vigorous defense for him. It is reported that M. Frank, an uncle, who is very wealthy, will employ the ablest legal talent to defend Frank.
Rosser Asked for Transfer.
The transfer of the prisoners from the police station was made on the request of Luther Z. Rosser, who declared that the authorities had no legal right to keep the prisoners at the police station when they were being held under suspicion of a State crime.
Asked if he would seek to have orders given that no one should talk with the prisoners, as was done in the Grace and Appelbaum cases, Attorney Rosser said to-day that he, of course, would not consent to having the prisoners harassed continually by friends and curiosity seekers, but that he would have no objections at all to the visits of the detectives.
Frank and Lee were removed from the police station to the Tower quietly and without any show of demonstration, effectually disposing of the report that the people of the city had been wrought up to a pitch of excitement where they were anxious to take the law into their own hands.
Curious Crowd Avoided.
The usual crowd of curious persons had gathered in front of the police station, but the officers avoided them by taking the two men out the rear way and hurrying them over to the jail in automobiles. The groups of persons who were encountered in the brief trip made no comments, but looked on in silence. It was evident that the public mind comprehended the uncertainty of the guilt of either of the two men and that the person responsible for the death of Mary Phagan might even be still at large.
Frank was the first out of his automobile and hurried into the jail to avoid the photographers. Lee seemed more calm and undisturbed, stopping before he entered the jail doors to pose at the request of a camera man.
The transfer of the men came after it had been decided to adjourn the inquest, which had been called for 4:30 o’clock in the afternoon. Coroner Donehoo was informed of important evidence that had not yet been presented and which still was in an indefinite state. It was his opinion that the interests of the investigation would best be served by postponing further questioning of witnesses until Monday.
Girl Not on Streets After Noon.
The result of the last 24 hours of the work of the detectives has been to prove quite conclusively that Mary Phagan was not seen on the streets of Atlanta either in the heart of the city or near her home, after noon Saturday when she went to the pencil factory to obtain her pay envelope.
A half dozen persons were on hand soon after the death of the girl to testify that they had seen her at one place or another at some time after she was known to have gone into the factory.
Their stories conflicted so greatly with the probabilities of the case that the story of each man was run down carefully by the detectives who gave their whole time to this phase of the investigation.
In each case the witness was found either positively or quite probably to be mistaken, and the detectives were able to go back to their original theory that the girl did not leave the building after drawing her pay.
Felder to Aid Prosecution.
To aid in the investigation, Thomas B. Felder, member of the law firm of Felder, Anderson, Dillon & Whitman, has been engaged to assist the Solicitor General in the prosecution. He was retained by a committee of the citizens from the Bellwood community in which was the dead girl’s home.
Mr. Felder said to-day that he already had started a private investigation when he was retained and that he would have an abundance of evidence within a few days. He refused to discuss the report that Burns detectives had been employed.
_______
Dorsey Puts Own Sleuths Onto Phagan Slaying Case
Atlanta Georgian
Friday, May 2nd, 1913
200 Witnesses To Be Called When Inquest Into Slaying of Factory Girl Is Resumed Next Monday—Detectives Are Busy.
Coroner Declares Inquiry Will Not Be Made Hastily—Every Clew To Be Probed Thoroughly. Lee and Frank Are in Tower.
Grand Jury Meets, but Considers Only Routine Matters—Was No Truth in Report That Militia Had Been Ordered to Mobilize.
Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey this afternoon engaged private detectives to run down clews which have not as yet been fully developed by the men already working on the Phagan case.
The detectives are to investigate certain phases of the mystery which have previously received little attention and which he thinks may be of importance.
Mr. Dorsey had conferences to-day with the city detectives and with Miss Hattie Barnett, of the Pinkertons. The new Grand Jury which meets Monday may consider the Phagan case.
The Grand Jury met this morning and considered only routine matters. The Phagan case was not taken up at all.
The report that the National Guard had been mobilized originated because Adjutant-General Nash requested some of the officers of the Fifth Regiment to be within call in case of trouble. A few members of the Fifth Regiment were at the Armory last evening, but all had returned home by midnight.
Inquest To Be Thorough.
Coroner Donehoo said to a Georgian reporter that the mystery which surrounds the killing of Mary Phagan is by no means solved, and that the investigation would be carried on as long as there is a thread of evidence to be unraveled.
“I would not be holding this jury,” said the Coroner, “if I were satisfied or were reasonably certain as to the facts in our possession. A case like this, so deeply wrapt in mystery, cannot be solved in a day, and if there is anybody in Atlanta who is not pleased with the progress being made, his public spirit should make him come forward and lend his assistance. No pride of office certainly will keep me from taking any reasonable suggestion and following it for all it is worth. It is up to the people to help all they can.
Following Every Clew.
“And why should the public demand such great haste? It requires weeks and sometimes months before some of these mysteries can be cleared. Investigation of the Holland killing out at the ice house here, I recall, went on about six weeks before anything definite was found out. It is only in the magazines that solutions are forthcoming in a day.
“It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that the body of Mary Phagan will be exhumed for a further examination.
The Coroner was informed to-day of another clew which he deems worthy of investigation, and in all probability will subpoena an important witness for the hearing on Monday.
“The new clew which we have may be a good one,” he said. “We are following everyone we can find, of course. This one may solve the mystery; who knows?”
Newest Facts in Case.
The exact facts in the Phagan case as this edition of The Georgian goes to press can be stated as follows:
FIRST—The Coroner’s inquest is not yet ended. It has been adjourned until Monday afternoon next; and until it is ended the State is not likely to take hold of the case except in so far as Solicitor General Dorsey may deem it necessary to acquaint himself with facts that may aid him when the Coroner’s jury renders its verdict. After this is done the case is turned over to the Solicitor General, as the chief prosecuting officer of Fulton County.
SECOND—It is reported that a large number of witnesses—200—are to be subpoenaed by the Coroner’s jury, and that both Lee and Frank will testify.
THIRD—The functions of a Coroner’s jury consist of hearing preliminary testimony, and holding persons under suspicion for the Grand Jury, which is the legal body that finds indictments against those accused of crime. Investigation before the Grand Jury is on evidence and is much more complete than before the Coroner’s jury.
FOURTH—Solicitor – General Dorsey’s conference with Chief of Police Beavers and Chief of Detectives Lanford yesterday was not to express dissatisfaction with the police, but to acquaint himself more fully with facts not yet made public.
FIFTH—Officials of the jail declared to-day that visitors will not be allowed to see either Frank or Lee, but, of course, counsel will have free access to them.
SIXTH—The absurd report that State troops were to be called out, of course, has no foundation in facts. This rumor was published in some of the State papers and by an unimportant morning daily of limited circulation.
SEVENTH—The report that William J. Burns is to come to Atlanta is of doubtful origin. The last heard of Mr. Burns he was in Europe.
EIGHTH—Friends of Frank are coming forward in his defense and are making a vigorous defense for him. It is reported that M. Frank, an uncle, who is very wealthy, will employ the ablest legal talent to defend Frank.
In regard to the arrest of Leo Frank, Milton Klein has furnished the following:
“Leo Frank, the superintendent and general manager of one of Atlanta’s largest and most promising industries, spends two hours in his office on a holiday after generously relieving the watchman during these hours. His habits are regular and industrious, and his life while in Atlanta is perfectly blameless in every respect.
“The terrible crime committed in his plant calls forth the closest scrutiny of Mr. Frank’s relations with his 300 workmen and women. Only the highest words of praise and confidence in his character are heard on all sides.
“I have worked with Mr. Frank for years in various charitable organizations and have ever found him the most polished of gentlemen, with the kindest of heart and the broadest of sympathy. To such an extent it is recognized among his fellow lodgemen that we have honored him with the office of president, which is the highest rank in our organization.
Best Work in Factory.
“He is a liberal supporter of many worthy enterprises. But his greatest work has been among his own employees at his factory. The first to report in the morning and the last to leave at night, every day and holidays, he has labored to build up a factory that in spirit and efficiency is second to none south of the Mason and Dixon line.
“After the magnificent work he has done in his adopted home, shall we, without consideration, emphasize every bit of gossip which unjustly and groundlessly connects him with this awful tragedy? No one seeks more fervently to discover the real perpetrator of this atrocious crime than Mr. Frank.”
Miner Asks for Calmness.
Deputy Sheriff Plennie Miner makes the following plea for calm consideration of the Phagan case:
“While a crime of a most revolting nature has been committed in our midst, and our people are naturally excited and incensed over the deplorable affair, there are things that we need to consider coolly and carefully.
“Every possible effort is being put forth by the officers and the public generally to apprehend the guilty party or parties. Nothing is being left undone, no clew is being overlooked that would lead to a solution of the mysterious tragedy.
“But this is not a time for us to become too excited or too hasty in our efforts to ferret out the criminal. Above all things, and especially at this time, it is absolutely necessary for us to keep perfectly cool, to work carefully and quietly, running down every possible clew with caution.
“I respectfully ask that the public be patient, refraining from criticism of the unceasing efforts on the part of the officers or private individuals who are working so generously and faithfully on the case. And I would as respectfully ask that the daily papers refrain from printing anything calculated to unduly inflame the public mind; and from using such headlines as are calculated to arouse undue indignation.
“And you may rest assured if faithful and persevering work counts for anything, justice will be done. I have known, during my several years of experience as an officer and in criminal cases, undue haste in matters of this kind, brought on by excitement and enthusiasm to produce a miscarriage of justice. But I have never known a cool and systematic investigation of a tragedy, backed up by an earnest public sentiment demanding the apprehension of the real perpetrator of a crime like this, to fail of attaining the desired end.”
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ANALYSIS OF BLOOD STAINS MAY SOLVE PHAGAN MYSTERY
Atlanta Georgian
Saturday, May 3rd, 1913
Three Former Employees at Pencil Factory Are Summoned to Testify. Expected That Frank and Watchman Will Be Questioned Further.
It was reported to-day that three young women, former employees of the National Pencil Factory, will be important witnesses for the Coroner’s jury in the Phagan case on Monday.
Dr. Claude Smith, city bacteriologist, was asked by the police to-day to make a chemical analysis of the bloodstains on the shirt found in the back yard of the home of Lee.
The garment was given to Dr. Smith by Detective Rosser. The detectives are hopeful that by scientific tests and comparisons it will be determined whether the garment was a ‘plant’ or not. Dr. Smith said that he could not make his examination until some time next week.
Solicitor Dorsey and Chief of Detectives Lanford were closeted for two hours to-day in a discussion of the cases. At the conclusion neither would make a public announcement.
$1,000 Fund is Rumored.
It was said that an effort would be made to have the county appropriate $1,000 for a private investigation.
The inquest will be resumed at 2 o’clock. Leo M. Frank has not yet given any testimony before the Coroner’s jury, and it is planned for him to be heard on Monday. It is also likely that Lee, the night watchman, will be examined further.
The police and detectives are still busily at work on the case, but so far as is known they have secured nothing of importance.
Await Coroner’s Verdict.
When the Coroner’s jury verdict is rendered the case automatically goes to the Grand Jury. Solicitor Dorsey and the Grand Jury will not take up the case officially until the Coroner’s jury has concluded its investigation.
Many wild reports, absolutely without basis in fact, are in circulation. It is emphatically declared by the police that no confessions have been made by anybody in the case. This should put an end to the report that Lee has confessed and implicated Frank.
It is not likely that the body of the unfortunate girl will be exhumed. County Physician Hurt says that no further examination is necessary, and the evidence on this point is very clear and exact.
Visitors Are Barred.
Visitors are not allowed to see either Frank or Lee, although counsel has full access to the Tower to confer freely with the men.
A score of employees of the factory are under subpoena to testify before the Coroner’s jury, but their testimony is not considered likely to be of great importance.
The release of Arthur Mullinax and J. M. Gantt indicates that the detectives have abandoned the theory that the girl left the pencil factory after receiving her pay on Saturday. The detectives now are of the opinion that she was not seen on the streets again after she entered the factory.
May Be Held for Jury.
Without seeming to forecast what the Coroner’s jury will do, it is more than likely that both Frank and Lee will be held for the Grand Jury, where the testimony or evidence will be weighed carefully under the supervision of Solicitor General Hugh Dorsey.
The only statement that the lawyers for Frank make is that he is still vehement in the declaration that he knows nothing whatever about the crime.
Mr. Rosser says that not a word of evidence had been produced against his client.
_______
_
CROWDS AT PHAGAN INQUEST
Grand Jury Instructed to Probe Deeply
Atlanta Georgian
Monday, May 5th, 1913
Evidence Secured by Detectives May Not Be Presented at Coroner’s Inquest—Lee and Frank to Testify. Many Other Witnesses Are Ready.
The Phagan inquest began at 2 o’clock Monday afternoon at police headquarters.
There was a great throng of witnesses in attendance.
A large force of police was on hand to keep the crowd of curiosity seekers in order.
Frank and Lee were taken from the Tower to police headquarters in charge of Deputy Sheriff Minor. A small crowd congregated about the jail in anticipation of the transfer and another crowd even larger was in front of headquarters when the two prisoners were brought in.
There was no demonstration, and the brief trip was made without event.
It is said, but without authority, that a great deal of very important evidence has been accumulated, but that it will not be presented at the Coroner’s inquest. Instead, it will go directly into the hands of Solicitor Dorsey, who, as the chief prosecuting officer of Fulton County, is really in charge of the case now, although it has never been the duty of a prosecuting officer to interfere with the functions of the Coroner.
May Hold Both Lee and Frank.
It seems probable that both Frank and Lee will be held for the Grand Jury. The testimony brought out at the Coroner’s inquest will be turned over to Solicitor Dorsey, who will study it carefully and make such further investigations as he may deem necessary, using the detective force of the city for that purpose.
Judge Ellis of the Superior Court on Monday instructed the May Grand Jury to investigate the mystery in a thorough manner. It is not likely, however, that the Grand Jury will take up the case for several days. The matter of presenting evidence on which indictments may be found is in the hands of Solicitor Dorsey. He has charge of the Grand Jury, and it is he who presents the evidence and who frames the indictments, and it may take him several days to strengthen certain links in the chain of evidence, so that when indictments are brought they will be found to be legally correct and will leave no opportunity for the lawyers engaged by the accused to make objections in court.
It is the intention of Solicitor Dorsey to keep secret all evidence in his possession until the matter has been passed upon by the Grand Jury, indictments found and the case brought to trial.
Frank Maintains His Innocence.
Everything depends upon what transpires at the Coroner’s inquest. Frank’s testimony may make necessary an entirely new deal of the cards. He still maintains his innocence, and Lawyer Rosser, his counsel, declares that there is no evidence by which to connect him with the case.
Coroner Donehoo will hold a conference with Chief of Detectives Lanford and Solicitor Dorsey before the inquest to decide upon the witnesses who will be asked to testify.
In addition to Lee and Frank, the detectives will have on hand persons they have been interrogating since the inquest adjourned last Thursday. Several of these are said to have made disclosures of great importance.
Dorsey’s Action Misconstrued.
There seems to be a misapprehension in the public mind about the attitude of Solicitor Dorsey. Rumors on the streets and gossip in newspapers that he “has taken the Phagan case out of the hands of the police and out of the control of the Coroner” is not true, for the very simple reason that Mr. Dorsey is the chief prosecuting officer of Fulton County, superior to the police, the detectives and the Coroner. He may act with them or independently of them. As Solicitor he is the most important official in the county government, more powerful than the Mayor or the Police Commission.
The Phagan case is in the hands of Mr. Dorsey now, as it has been from the beginning.
The function of the Coroner’s office is simply to gather testimony and evidence that is turned over to the Solicitor for him to act upon.
Statement by Solicitor.
Solicitor Dorsey made this statement:
“Mr. Scott, of the Pinkertons, has given to this office valuable information. The policy of the Pinkertons is to establish the truth. They recognize that this office will receive from them to that end any information they have, but under no circumstances do they expect to get any information we have gathered from other sources.”
The Grand Jury did not take up the Phagan case Monday. After passing on a number of routine matters it adjourned until Friday, but in the meantime will hold itself in readiness to a call from the Solicitor should he deem it necessary.
Mr. Dorsey said he was agreeably satisfied with the progress he had made in the case, and he was developing every clew that was of importance. He has given over his entire time to directing the investigation, he said, and would see anyone to-day except on matters relating to it.
Deputies from his office and private detectives in the county’s employ have made search after search of the building. Many articles that were left there by the police have been brought to his office, and will be kept there until examined. Monday a dirty, grease-soaked broom and the lantern that was in the cellar, were brought to his office. He will have them examined for blood stains and finger prints.
He said that to the best of his knowledge the coroner’s inquest would be resumed Monday afternoon.
Coroner Donehoo said that practically all of the employees of the pencil factory would be at the inquest this afternoon ready to testify if called upon.
With the employees of the paper factory where Mary Phagan worked before she went to the pencil factory the witnesses will total nearly 100.
The detectives say that all of these persons, a large number of whom were on the streets the Saturday afternoon of the tragedy, already have been questioned and that none of them saw Mary Phagan after she is known to have gone to the pencil factory for her money Saturday noon.
Chief Lanford was authority for the statement to-day that probably some of the most important evidence would be disclosed at the inquest, but would reserved and presented before the Grand Jury.
“We are not showing our full hand yet,” said one of the detectives. “We will submit sufficient evidence before the coroner’s jury to warrant holding the two men now in custody, but we do not deem it advisable to tell everything until we present it to the grand jury. Three or four of our most im-
FRANK LIKELY TO TESTIFY AT INQUEST TODAY
Important witnesses will be saved until after the case goes to the Grand Jury.”
Rumor of New Important Witness.
A rumor is in circulation that among the witnesses for whom the detectives have been searching is a young woman who is said to have been with Mary Phagan when Mary went to get her pay envelope Saturday noon at the pencil factory. The identity of the mysterious girl has not been disclosed. The report is that she was overheard to remark that she waited outside the factory while Mary was in getting her envelope and that after she had waited about half an hour a man came out and told her she needn’t wait any longer, as Mary would be detained by some work she had to do.
The detectives immediately started a search for the young woman in the hope that she would be able to give a good description of the man who told her she need wait no longer. Miss Beulah Daniel, daughter of G. T. Daniel, of Mableton, Ga., was in a Marietta store when she overheard the conversation, but little importance was attached to it until she repeated it to her father. He then notified the authorities and the search was taken up.
Bloodstain Tests Kept Secret.
Dr. Claude A. Smith, City Bacteriologist, to whom the shirt found in a barrel at Lee’s home was given for an analysis of the bloodstains, would not make public the result of his investigation this forenoon. Chief Lanford said that he would receive this report later.
Chief Lanford’s secretary, G. C. February, was occupied this forenoon in compiling all of the statements made thus far to the detectives and in making a review of all the clews that had been received and followed to their original source. The compilation will be added to as new developments occur.
Efforts to Trap Lee Fail.
Hoping to catch Newt Lee in some admission that will signify that he has more knowledge of the killing of Mary Phagan than he has been willing to tell, Deputy John Owen, who has been stationed at the jail nights, has kept a very close watch on the prisoner and has questioned him repeatedly.
After talking with Lee for some time last night, Owen posted a man behind the watchman’s cell to learn what he would say to his cellmate, Dewberry, who is waiting to hang for murder.
“They seem to think you know more about the murder than you have told them,” Dewberry was heard to say to Lee.
“I’ve told them everything I know,” was the reply.
“They seem to think you’re trying to protect some man,” Dewberry continued.
“I declare, if I knew who did it, I would tell quick enough and get myself out of this,” Lee said.
_______
FRANK ON WITNESS STAND
MAKES STATEMENT UNDER OATH; NERVOUS, BUT REPLIES QUICKLY
Atlanta Georgian
Monday, May 5th, 1913
Leo Frank, center, being brought to testify by Detective Lanford, left, and Police Chief Beavers, right
Phagan Inquest, Starting Late Monday Afternoon, Attracts Throng—200 Girls and Women Summoned As Witnesses, at Police Station.
The Coroner’s inquest into the Phagan mystery did not really begin until 3 o’clock on Monday afternoon, instead of 2 o’clock, the hour set for the hearing.
Leo M. Frank and Newt Lee left the jail in charge of Chief of Police Beavers, Detectives Lanford and Starnes and entered the patrol wagon for the trip to police headquarters.
A curious crowd waited around the jail doorway to get a look at the two prisoners.
Both men appeared nervous. Frank walked with a quick step between Beavers and Lanford. He was freshly shaved, wore a dark suit and a derby hat. Starnes followed with Lee. Neither man was handcuffed.
[The following is the opening paragraph of later article in the same newspaper on Tuesday, May 6th, 1913 that covered the questioning of Leo Frank.—Ed.]
Leo M. Frank, Superintendent of the National Pencil Factory, was a witness late Monday afternoon in the Coroner’s inquest into the death of Mary Phagan.
There was a sensation when it was learned for the first time from the lips of Frank that another man was in the factory aside from those already known after Mary Phagan drew her pay, shortly after noon on the Saturday she met her death. The man was Lemmie Quinn, foreman of the tipping department.
Frank told in detail all he knew about Quinn and his work in the factory.
Frank was cool and collected. He answered the questions shot at him by the Coroner without hesitation and his utterance was distinct. He seemed absolutely sure of himself.
Solicitor Dorsey and Luther Z. Rosser, attorney for Frank, occupied prominent places, but Solicitor Dorsey did not interpose any questions during the early part of the inquiry. None of the questions directed at Frank were objected to by his attorney. Coroner Donehoo’s questioning was uninterrupted.
Another significant point in Frank’s testimony was that he says he heard Mary Phagan talking with another girl as the two left the building.
This gives strength to the report that another girl actually accompanied Mary to the factory.
Where is this girl now?
The detectives have reported nothing of the discovery of the girl who is said to have waited at the factory door for Mary to come out and finally left when some one from the factory told her that Mary would be detained for a half hour with some work.
Factory girls called as witnesses were excused at 5:30 o’ clock, indicating that the inquest would be adjourned with the conclusion of Frank’s testimony or the testimony of the Selig’s who follow him. [End of revised opening paragraph—Ed.]
Crowd Fills Police Station.
They arrived at police headquarters five minutes later and were greeted by 700 or 800 persons, who packed the corridors and stairways of the police station.
Both Frank and Lee were taken directly to the detectives’ room through a rear entrance, where the inquest was held.
It was necessary for the officers to cut a passageway through the jam of humanity. Into this narrow lane Frank, with Chief Lanford’s hand on his arm, entered, looking neither to the right nor the left. He walked with a hurried step and appeared to be relieved when the room, where the inquest is being held, was reached.
Lee seemed less concerned and walked carelessly along from the rear door, up the stairs and through the packed corridors.
Bar Merely Curious From Room.
The inquest room was closed to all but those who could prove that they had actual business inside. Sergeant Maddox stood at the doorway and denied admittance to several hundred persons who were eager to hear the testimony.
Nearly 200 women and young girls, most of whom are employees either of the pencil factory, or of the paper factory where Mary Phagan formerly worked, were herded into the large roll-call room on the first floor to await the time when they should be called upon to testify.
Just before the inquest was called Coroner Donehoo was closeted in a conference with Solicitor Dorsey, Detective Lanford, Chief Beavers and the detectives who had been working on the case.
Newt Lee Taken From Room.
Chief Lanford held subpoenas for two more witnesses whom it was decided to call at the last moment.
Before the first witness, Leo Frank was called, the coroner requested that Lee be taken from the room.
Frank took his stand at 2:50 o’clock. He was sworn by Coroner Donehoo. His testimony follows:
Q. What is your name? A. Leo M. Frank.
Q. Where do you live? A. No. 68 East Georgia Avenue.
Q. What connection have you with the National Pencil Company? A. General superintendent.
Q. How long have you been with them? A. Since August, 1908.
Q. What was your business prior to that time? A. I was abroad buying machinery for the National Pencil Company.
Q. Where did you live before coming to Atlanta? A. At 152 Underhill Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Q. Who were you with then? A. Immediately prior to coming to Atlanta, I was with the National Meter Company.
Q. What time did you come to Atlanta? A. I came to Atlanta at once and talked with the men who were getting up the pencil factory.
Q. What did you do next? A. I went back to New York and left New York the first week of November 1907 to go abroad.
Q. How long did you remain abroad? A. Until August 1908.
Q. What is your exact business with the National Pencil Company? A. Looking after the purchasing of material and the inspection of factory cost.
Leo Frank
Tells of Actions Saturday Morning.
Q. What time did you get up Saturday morning, April 26? A. Just after 7 o’clock.
Q. Are you married? A. Yes.
Q. Have you ever been married before? A. No.
Q. Who lives with you besides your wife? A. My father-in-law and mother-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Emil Selig.
Q. Have you servants around the place? A. One.
Q. What is her name? A. Her first name is Minola. She is a colored woman.
Q. What time does she get there? A. About 6:30.
Q. Was she there when you got up? A. Yes.
Q. What time did you leave the house? A. Around 8 o’clock.
Q. Whom did you see before you left the house? A. My wife
FRANK TELLS HIS OWN STORY ON STAND AT PHAGAN CASE INQUEST
and the servant.
Q. Did you see Mr. or Mrs. Selig? A. I did not see Mrs. Selig. I am not sure whether I saw Mr. Selig or not.
Q. How did you come to town? A. On the car.
Q. Which line? A. I have the choice of two lines. I do not remember the one I took.
Q. What lines are there? A. The Washington Street and the Georgia Avenue lines. I don’t recall which one I used.
Q. Did you talk to any one on the car? A. I don’t remember.
Q. What time did you arrive at the factory? A. About 8:25.
Q. Who was at the factory? A. Holliway, the day watchman, and the office boy, whose name is Alonzo Mann.
Q. Was the front door locked? A. No.
Q. Where was Holliway? A. By the time clock on the second floor, his usual place.
Q. Were Holliway and the office boy the only persons there? A. From all I remember.
Q. Do you remember that any one was back about the machinery? A. I don’t know of any one being there.
Tells of Employees’ Arrival.
Q. How long after you arrived was it before others came in? A. I don’t know exactly, but think it was about half an hour. Several persons came in for pay envelopes. One man came in for his son’s envelope and another for his step-son’s envelope. One was Jimmy Graham’s father.
Q. Was it a half or a whole holiday? A. It was Memorial Day and the factory force had been granted a whole holiday. The office force was to report for the handling of orders.
Q. Did any girls come in for their pay envelopes? A. Nettie Smith got hers and her sister’s.
Q. Did you wait on them? A. Yes.
Q. Were there any others in the office at the time? A. I don’t remember.
Q. Was there a clerk in the office? A. The place of the clerk is vacant, but it was being taken by one of the salesmen, Herbert Schiff. I do not remember whether or not he was at the office at the time I paid Nettie Smith.
Q. Was Schiff in the office at the time you paid these envelopes? A. No, sir.
Q. Who occupies the outer office? A. The stenographer.
Q. Was there any one in the outer office at the time? A. I don’t know.
Q. Who is the stenographer? A. Miss Eubanks.
Q. Do you know her given name? A. No.
Describes Morning’s Work.
Q. How long after you went there before some one else connected with the place came in? A. About half an hour.
Q. Who was it that came in? A. Mr. Darley, Wade Campbell and several others.
Q. Can you tell us what you did during the morning? A. Went over the mail and took up various matters with the managers and made up some orders.
Q. Then what did you do? A. Went to the manager’s office.
Q. What time was that? A. About 10 o’clock.
Q. Did any one go with you? A. No.
Q. What did you do before this? A. I talked several minutes with Darley and Campbell.
Q. Did you do anything at all on the financial sheet? A. No.
Delves Into Business Details.
Coroner Donehoo here questioned Frank at length on each detail of his work in the office at the factory during the forenoon of Saturday, April 26, and as to the manner the financial sheets and cost sheets of the company were made up.
Coroner Donehoo asked:
“Did you make out the financial sheets Saturday?” A. Yes.
[ The following is a continuation of Leo Frank’s questioning from a later news article on the next day, Tuesday May 6th, 1913.—Ed.]
Q. In your own handwriting? A. Yes.
Q. When did you make it out? A. Saturday afternoon.
Q. What date would that sheet bear? A. Thursday.
Q. Why didn’t you make it out Thursday? A. Didn’t know the pay roll.
Q. Why didn’t you make out the financial sheet in the morning? A. There were too many other things to be done.
Q. How many orders were there on April 26? A. I think about eleven.
Q. Did you go to Montag Brother’s Saturday? A. Yes.
Q. How long were you there? A. Until about 11 o’clock.
Denies Drinking With Darley.
Q. Did any one go with you? A. No.
Q. Didn’t Mr. Darley go down to Cruikshank’s and have a drink with you? A. No.
Q. Who was at the office when you returned? A. Miss Hall, the stenographer, and the office boy.
Q. How old is the office boy? A. About 15 or 16.
Coroner Donehoo asked Frank:
Q. After Mary Phagan left Saturday, did any one come into the office? A. Yes, there was one person whom I have not mentioned up to this time. In fact, I did not remember it until I had thought over the matter considerably. I knew that he had been in the office, but could not recall until a day or two ago the exact time.
Visited by Lemmie Quinn.
Q. Who was this? A. Lemmie Quinn.
Q. Is this the first occasion you have thought of it? A. No, I have thought of it several times.
Q. What did he do? A. He came into the office and said: “Good morning.” He said: “You see you can’t keep me away from the factory even on holidays.” I merely said: “Yes,” or something like that. He said he saw I was, quite busy, or that he wouldn’t detain me or something like that. Then he went out.
Q. What were you doing at the time he came in? A. Transcribing orders.
Q. What time was he there? A. About 12:25.
Q. How long after the girl had been there? A. Nearly fifteen minutes.
Q. Where did Quinn go? A. He went out of the office and I heard his footsteps die away.
Q. You do not know whether he went out of the building or not? A. No.
Frank said that he was busy in the office until the time that Miss Hall, the stenographer, and the office boy left at 12 o’clock, with the exception of the time that he went to Montag Bros. and obtained some orders. Upon his return he said that he handed the orders to Miss Hall, who sent out postcard acknowledgments of the orders and returned the orders to him.
Phagan Girl Came In.
Frank was positive that Miss Hall and Alonzo Mann left the office at 12 o’clock, as he heard a whistle blow at that time. Frank was then interrogated as to the time Mary Phagan came after her money.
Q. Did any one else come in after Miss Hall and Alonzo Mann left?—A. About 12:10 the little girl who was killed came in.
Q. Was any one with her when she came in?—A. No.
Q. Did you hear her talk to any one as she came in?—A. No.
Q. How did she announce herself?—A. I think she asked for her pay.
Q. How did you get her pay envelope?—A. I asked her what her number was.
Q. Do you remember her number?—A. No.
Q. Have you looked up her number since her death?—A. Yes, but I don’t remember what it was.
Q. Did she say anything else?—A. Yes, as she was going out she stopped, turned and asked me if the metal had come.
Q. Did you check the pay roll after paying her?—A. No. We never do that.
Q. Where was she when she asked about the metal?—A. She was in the outer office near the door.
Q. Did she call back as an afterthought? A. It seemed like an afterthought.
Q. What was the amount of the envelope? A. One dollar twenty I think.
Q. How was it made up? A. She had worked part of the Friday, part of the Saturday and part of the Monday previous.
Q. Do you remember how the pay was given her? A. I do not remember the denominations, as the envelopes were sealed.
Heard Steps Die Away.
When she in to her pay, that disturbed your work, did it not? A. Yes, for a minute or two.
Q. Where did she go when she left the office? A. I heard her footsteps dying away.
Q. Did you know her name? A. No, but her face was familiar.
Q. How was she dressed? A. I don’t remember.
Q. Was her dress light or dark? A. What I saw of it I think it was light.
Q. Did she wear a hat? A. I don’t remember, but think she did.
Q. Was it straw? A. I couldn’t say.
Q. What did she do with the money? A. I don’t know.
Q. Did you notice whether she had a parasol or not? A. I don’t remember seeing one.
Q. What time did she come in? A. I don’t know exactly; it was 12:10 or 12:15.
Q. How long did it take you to pay her? A. Two minutes.
Q. How did you identify her? A. Just took her number.
Q. Was her name on the envelope? A. I don’t remember, but it should have been.
Said He Heard Girl’s Voice.
Q. Did any one else come in between 12 and 12:15? A. No, but as she went out I heard a girl’s voice as Mary was walking down the steps. I don’t know what she said. I just heard a girl’s voice talking.
Q. Don’t you remember that you made an entry on the pay roll after paying her? A. No.
Q. Had the metal of which Mary Phagan spoke come at that time? A. I don’t think it has come yet.
Q. How does it get to the factory? A. On a dray.
Q. How do you know when it comes in? A. The chief clerk checks it in.
Denies Sending Girl Back.
Q. Do you know off-hand when that metal comes in? A. Yes, and in this instance particularly, because we were short.
Q. You are sure you didn’t send the little girl back to see whether it had come in, are you? A. I did not.
Q. Did you ask Schiff about it? A. No, because I would know about it.
Q. How do you fix the time that she came in as 12:10 or 12:15? A. Because the other people left at 12 and I judged it to be ten or fifteen minutes later when she came in.
Q. Were you out of the office from the time the whistles blew at 12 until the time that Mary came in? A. No.
Q. Was Quinn foreman of the tipping plant? A. Yes.
Thinks He Left Plant.
Q. Did Mary work under him? A. Yes.
Q. How was Quinn dressed? A. I don’t remember.
Q. Had he been working Saturday? A. No.
Q. Did he have on overalls? A. No, he was dressed up.
Q. Had he been working all the week until Saturday? A. Yes.
Q. What on? A. Fixing machinery and the like. There was some metal that he could work on.
Q. Did he go down stairs when he left your office? A. I don’t know but I think he went out. I heard his footsteps die away.
Q. How old is Quinn? A. He is 25 or 30.
Q. How long has he been with the National Pencil Company? A. Three or four years.
Q. Is he married? A. Yes.
Q. What time was it when he left? A. About 12:25.
Q. What were you working on when Quinn left? A. Getting ready to go to work on the financial sheet.
Q. Do you remember what papers you got together? A. One of them was a production sheet.
Q. How much is there of that? A. It is a big sheet 14×30 inches and shows the whole week’s production.
Q. Anything else? A. I looked over it for some time to see if it was correct.
Q. You hadn’t left the building since Miss Hall left about 12 o’clock? A. No. About 1 o’clock I got ready to go home and found Arthur White and Harry Denham and Mrs. White up stairs. I told them that I was going home to lunch and they said they would stay and finish work. Mrs. White said she wanted to go. I afterward went down, put on my coat and went out.
When Did Watchman Leave?
Q. What time did the day watchman go? A. I don’t know exactly.
Q. When you went upstairs how long did you stay? A. About two minutes.
Q. When you came back what did you do? A. Put on my coat, locked the door and went out.
Q. Did you lock any other door except your office door? A. No.
Q. What time did you leave the building? A. A trifle after 1 o’clock.
Q. Doesn’t the day watchman stay on duty until the night watchman comes on? A. Yes, usually, but Saturday was a holiday. I work nearly every Saturday, anyhow, and I thought my being there was sufficient.
Q. Do you know Walter Pride? A. Yes, he is the oldest employee of the pencil company.
Q. Who pays him off? A. Mr. Schiff.
Q. What time does he usually leave on Saturday? A. He usually does extra work on Saturday cleaning up in the gluing department.
Q. What did Walter Pride do Saturday? A. Nothing that I know of.
Q. Did you see him? A. No.
Q. Does he get extra pay for doing this work? A. I think he gets a round sum of so much per week.
Q. Did you excuse him Saturday? A. No, I haven’t seen him for two weeks.
Q. Is the front door usually locked or open when Walter is there? A. It is generally open.
Q. Then any one could go in there at any time and you would not know it? A. Yes.
Q. Has it ever been true that you were alone there before? A. Yes.
Q. Where did you go after leaving the building? A. Up Forsyth Street to Alabama. I think it was a Washington Street car.
Q. Do you remember any one on the car? A. No.
Q. Where did you get off the car? A. Georgia Avenue and Washington Street.
“Straight Home.”
Q. Where did you go then? A. Straight home.
Q. Whom did you see at your home? A. My mother-in-law and wife were going to the matinee of the grand opera and had eaten their lunch. My father-in-law and myself ate lunch together.
Q. Who served the lunch? A. The servant.
Q. What did you do after eating? A. Lit a cigarette and lay down to take a nap.
Q. Who was there at the time? A. My father-in-law went down to the back yard to look at the chickens.
Q. Did he come back before you woke up? A. No. I got up and left before the came back.
Q. How long were you asleep? A. Only a short time. I hardly went to sleep at all.
Q. What time did you leave home? A. It must have been about 10 minutes of 2 o’clock.
Q. Did you see any one when you left the house? A. Yes. I saw Jerome Michael and his mother and walked up to Glenn street and spoke to them.
Q. Did any car pass you going to town? A. No.
Q. What care did you catch—at what time? A. It must have been the 2 o’clock car.
Q. Did you know any one on the car? A. Yes, a cousin of my wife’s, Mr. Loeb.
Q. Where did you leave the car? A. The streets were blocked on account of the parade and I got off at Hunter Street and walked.
Q. Did you speak to any one on Hunter Street? A. No. I walked down to Whitehall Street and saw the parade.
Met an Employee.
Q. Where did you go then? A. Down Whitehall Street toward Brown & Allen’s.
Q. Did you meet any one you knew? A. Yes, in front of Rich’s, I met one of our foreladies, Miss Rebecca Carson.
Q. Did she go with you? A. No, she was with some one and I merely spoke to her and went on down to the corner of Whitehall and Alabama and bought some cigars and a package of cigarettes.
Q. Do you smoke cigars or cigarettes? A. Sometimes cigars and sometimes cigarettes.
Q. Where did you go next? A. To the factory.
Q. Where did you cross Forsyth Street? A. I don’t remember.
Q. Did you unlock the door? A. Yes.
Q. What time was it? A. I don’t know exactly, but about 3 o’clock.
Q. What did you do then? A. Went up to see about the two men I had locked in. They were fixing to go home. I told them I was back and then went to the office. A few minutes later I heard the bell on the clock ring and these boys came in. White borrowed $2 from me, and I remember I joked him about needing money so soon after pay day and he replied that his wife had robbed him that morning.
Q. How did you know it was White’s wife when you went upstairs before leaving for lunch? A. Earlier in the day she was in the office and told me that she was White’s wife and wanted to see White. I told her to go upstairs and see him.
Q. I thought you said there were no outsiders there? A. That’s right—it is true that she was there.
Q. How long does it take to make the financial statement? A. About an hour and a half. It took longer on Saturday on account of Thursday’s entries not having been made.
_
HOW FRANK SPENT DAY OF TRAGEDY
Atlanta Georgian
Tuesday, May 6th, 1913
Factory Superintendent Explains Every Hour of the Saturday Phagan Girl Was Slain.
Here is told how Frank passed the whole day of the Saturday when Mary Phagan was killed. The following is taken from Frank’s testimony.
7 o’clock a. m.—Arose and dressed at home
8—Left home for factory.
8:20—Arrived at factory.
8:50 or 9—M. D. Darley and [1 word-illegible] entered there.
10—Went over to office of Sig Montag, factory manager, on Nelson Street.
11—Went back to the factory office.
12—Stenographer and office boy left him alone in office.
12:10 p. m.—Mary Phagan came for her pay; got it and left. He heard her footsteps die away, and went on with his work, thinking no more about her. When she left he thought he heard her voice in the outer office.
12:15 or 12:20—Lemmie Quinn, foreman of the department where Mary worked, came in.
12:25—Quinn left.
1—Left the factory.
1:20—Arrived home.
1:40—Finished lunch with his father-in-law.
2—Left home for factory.
2:40—Spoke to Miss Rebecca Carson, forewoman in his factory, in front of Rich’s store on Whitehall Street.
3—Arrived again at the factory.
3:10—White and Denham left; he remained entirely alone in the factory.
3:20—Latched the street door behind them.
3:45—Night Watchman Newt Lee, negro, came. He let negro go away again.
5:30—Finished work on the financial sheet.
6—Finished balancing cash, night watchman came back. Frank washed his hands and left the factory, leaving night watchman with J. M. Gantt.
6:25—Arrived home.
6:30—Wife and mother-in-law came in just as he was telephoning to the factory. Got no answer there.
7—Telephoned again. Night watchman told him everything was all right. He ate supper.
9:30—After smoking and reading since supper, he went upstairs and lit the gas heater.
10:30—Bathed.
11—Went to bed.
Sunday, April 27.
7:30 a. m.—Awakened by the phone. Informed of the tragedy. Went to undertaker’s shop and identified Mary Phagan’s body as that of the girl whom he had paid the afternoon before.
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FRANK’S TESTIMONY FAILS TO LIFT VEIL OF MYSTERY
Atlanta Georgian
Tuesday, May 6th, 1913
Factory Superintendent’s Statements on the Witness Stand Considered Distinctly Favorable to Him.
Leo M. Frank’s testimony before the Coroner’s inquest threw no new light upon the Phagan case. Indeed, if it did anything it strengthend the belief in the minds of many persons that the mystery is far from solved.
Frank’s testimony was distinctly favorable to him. He was on the witness stand for several hours. He answered every question in a straight-forward manner. He was not more nervous than any other man in the room. He never halted for a word to make reply. The impression made upon those present was good.
The bringing into the case of another man not heretofore mentioned as having been in the factory on the day of Mary Phagan’s death does not seem to have in any way helped to clear the mystery.
Quinn Talks Freely.
Lemmie Quinn, foreman, whose name was mentioned by Frank, apparently had nothing to conceal either, for her talked with the detectives and police without reserve, and gave a clear statement of his work in the factory. His testimony did more, if anything, than the testimony of any other person to shift the suspicion that has been attached to Frank.
Close reading of the testimony leads to the opinion that the police have not yet solved the great mystery.
Frank is in the Tower to-day. He will be heard again on Thursday. The police may have some important questions to ask him, but if they have, they gave nothing to indicate it at the inquest on Monday.
Solicitor Dorsey, now in active charge of the case, feels certain that the mystery soon will be solved. All the officials are reticent. They refuse to discuss the tragedy with reporters.
Following Every Clew.
Many baseless rumors are in circulation on the streets, and the public clew presented to them.
The police and detectives are working diligently and following every clew presented to them.
It is too early to forecast what the authorities have in store in the way of additional evidence, but that brought out yesterday pointed the finger of suspicion at no one at all. It was simply negative. It involved the witness no more than suspicion already had involved him, and was not all damaging to Lee, who is being held with Frank in connection with the mystery.
Quinn was examined by Lanford and Scott, of the Pinkertons. He corroborated Frank’s story in detail. He was permitted to return to his home at 31-B Pullman Street.
Quinn was foreman of the department in which the victim worked. He had known her ever since she first was employed with the concern. A stormy scene is said to have ensued during the interrogation to which he was subjected at headquarters. To a reporter he declared that Scott and Solicitor Dorsey charged him with having accepted a bribe.
He says he retorted to the charge:
“Show me the man that says I took a bribe, and I’ll whip him on the spot.”
Quinn was asked if Frank’s statements were true, and he replied:
“Yes; it’s true. I left my house Saturday morning about 11:45 o’clock. On the way uptown I stopped into Wolfsheimer’s and bought an order of fancy groceries. I stopped at another place and bought a cigar.
“Then I went to the factory. I wanted to see Frank and tell him ‘Howdy do.’ I knew he would be in the place. He is always there on Saturdays. It was about 12:15 or 12:30 when I arrived at the building. I saw no one in front or as I went upstairs to the office.
“Frank was at his desk. He appeared very busy. I stepped in and said: ‘Well, I see you work even on holidays. You can’t keep me from coming around the building on Saturdays, either. How do you feel?”
“He said he was feeling good. He didn’t appear agitated or nervous. I didn’t want to disturb him, so I left. I wasn’t in the plant for more than two minutes. As I came downstairs on the way out, I saw someone in the rear of the first floor—a person whom I would have no grounds whatever to suspect.
Believes Frank Innocent.
“No! I won’t divulge his name. I’ll tell the detectives in time. I’m glad Frank told the Coroner of my visit. It was I who refreshed his memory of the incident. He apparently had forgotten it. I have not been keeping it secret. I told the detective Saturday of the visit.
“I have known Mr. Frank for years and I know he is not guilty.”
Quinn declared that he was in the building about two minutes. He said that he did not see Mary Phagan.
He is outraged at the treatment he alleges was accorded him by the detectives.
“They were insulting and seemed to doubt my statement,” he said. “In an insinuating manner Chief Lanford plied the question: ‘So you put yourself there about the time the Phagan girl left the factory, eh?’”
Quinn was an ardent admirer of the murdered child. He says she was one of his most industrious employees.
He is married and has one child. His connection with the National Pencil Company dates back several years.
Quinn said that it was he who refreshed Frank’s memory of his presence in the building shortly after noon of the day on which the girl is supposed to have been slain.
“I called upon Frank at the jail,” he said. “The moment I reminded him of my visit, he recollected it. He apparently had forgotten it.”
The inquest was adjourned at 7:18 o’clock. It will be resumed at 9:30 o’clock Thursday morning. The two-day postponement is to permit detectives to garner evidence they announce available.
Tells Action in Detail.
In detailing every move on the day Mary Phagan was killed, Frank said he left about 7 o’clock Saturday morning and was at the office by 8:26. About 9 o’clock Foreman M. D. Darley and others entered his office and talked business matters with him. Frank testified he went to the office of Sig Montag, factory manager, on Nelson Street, at 10 o’clock, and remained there for nearly an hour.
He returned at 11 o’clock and an hour later the stenographer and the office boy left him alone, Darley and the others having departed. He thought it was about ten minutes after noon that Mary Phagan came in to get her pay envelope and after receiving it started out of the door, stopping only to ask if an expected shipment of metal had arrived. He heard her voice as she seemed to be talking with another girl outside. He heard the footsteps die away and believes Mary Phagan left the building, he testified.
Visited by Lemmie Quinn.
Lemmie Quinn, foreman of the tipping department, came into the factory at 12:15 or 12:20, just after the Phagan girl had left. Frank said that the foreman merely greeted him and conversed for five or ten minutes and then left.
Frank said that he himself left the factory at 1 o’clock and went home for luncheon with his father-in-law, Emil Selig. He left home to return to the factory at 2 o’clock, arriving there about 3 o’clock, and speaking to several acquaintances on his way.
At 3:10 o’clock Harry Denham and Arthur White, two employees who had been doing some work on the holiday, punched the clock, stopped to talk a few minutes with Frank and then quit the building, leaving Frank there alone.
Sees Watchman and Gantt.
Newt Lee, the night watchman, came at 3:45, but was told by Frank that he might go away until 6 o’clock. The watchman returned at 6 o’clock and few minutes later J. M. Gantt appeared at the factory and asked permission to get a pair of shoes he had left in the shipping room. Frank left before Gantt had obtained his shoes.
Frank said that he arrived home at 6:25 and that his wife and mother-in-law entered as he was calling Newt Lee to see if Gantt had left the factory. Lee did not answer at this time, but answered when Frank called at 7 o’clock. Frank testified that he remained in the house from this time until he went to bed at 11 o’clock. He was awakened at 7:30 o’clock the next morning by the telephone call which told him of the tragedy.
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MARY PHAGAN’S BODY EXHUMED; HURT LOOKS FOR SIGNS OF ‘DOPE’
Atlanta Georgian
Tuesday, May 6th, 1913
Coroner and Country Physician Will Have Girl’s Stomach Examined
The reason for the delay in beginning the Coroner’s inquest was that Coroner Donehoo was in Marietta up to 2:30 o’clock.
The body of Mary Phagan was exhumed by direction of the Coroner who went to Marietta for the purpose. An examination of the contents of the stomach will be made for the purpose of determining whether the child had been “doped” before she was attacked on the day of her death.
It will probably be several days before the examination can be completed.
The examination was done very quietly, and few people in Marietta knew anything about it.
With the Coroner were Dr. J. W. Hurt, County Physician, and Dr. H. F. Harris, of the State Board of Health, acting under the direction of Solicitor Dorsey.
It is understood that the analysis of the stomach’s contents will be made by Dr. Harris at the laboratory of the State Board of Health at the capitol.
Aside from this the State official made thorough examination of the [end of legible portion of article; rest cut off — Ed.]
Girl Employee on Fourth Floor of Factory Saturday
Atlanta Georgian
Thursday, May 8th, 1913
Miss Corinthia Hall, one of the employees at the National Pencil factory, was a witness. She lives near Kirkwood, at 19 Weatherby Street, and has worked at the factory for three years. She knew Mary Phagan.
Miss Hall was at the factory at 11:45 Saturday, April 26. She went to get another girl’s coat. She went to the fourth floor and stopped in at the office and asked Mr. Frank if she could go to the fourth floor. She was accompanied by a young woman who had recently married and whose coat they were after. They saw a woman on the fourth floor. It was May Barrett. They also saw a young woman stenographer in Frank’s office, and Arthur White’s wife in the office. White was on the fourth floor with Harry Denham and Miss Barrett.
Q. Did you see any sacks on fourth floor?—A. No.
Q. What was Miss Barrett doing?—A. She was talking to Arthur White.
Q. Does she work on that floor?—A. Yes.
Q. Did you speak to her?—A. No. I was in a hurry.
Q. You are sure you did not see her with any sacks?—A. Yes.
Q. Do you know A. P. Hayes?—A. I know one Mr. Hayes.
Q. Did you tell him you had seen May Barrett on the fourth floor with some sacks, and when you asked her what she was going to do with them that she looked confused?—A. No.
Q. Where did you go when you left the office?—A. I went to Alabama and Forsyth Streets and used a telephone; then went to the Busy Bee Café at Hunter and Forsyth and got a cup of coffee and a sandwich.
Q. How long were you there?—A. I can’t remember exactly.
Q. Did any of the factory employees come in while you were there?—A. Lemmie Quinn.
Q. What time was it when he came in?—A. About 12:30.
Q. What time was it when you left the factory?—A. Quarter to 12. I looked at the clock when I came down.
Q. Were you eating when Quinn came in?—A. No; we were waiting while a waiter went out to get a five dollar bill changed.
Q. Did Quinn make any change for you?—A. Yes, he gave me some paper money for some silver.
Q. How long did Quinn remain there?—A. Just a minute or two.
Q. Where did he go after you left the restaurant?—A. We left him talking to some men on the sidewalk.
Q. Did you see Mary Phagan that day?—A. No.
Q. Did you see any other employees that day?—A. We met Mr. Holloway coming away from the factory and he told us Mr. Frank was there and would let us in to get the coat.
Q. Did Mr. Frank know Mary Phagan?—A. Not that I know of.
Q. Did he show any familiarity with any of the girls there?—A. No.
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Stenographer in Factory Office on Witness Stand
Atlanta Georgian
Thursday, May 8th, 1913
Miss Hattie Hall, the stenographer who worked at the National Pencil Factory Saturday morning, April 26, testified as follows:
She lives at 69 Luckie Street and works for the National Pencil Company, in Montag Bros.’ office. Saturday morning, April 26, she went to Montag Bros.’ office on Nelson Street, arriving there at approximately 8 o’clock. She left there between 10:30 and 11. She had talked with Frank over the phone several times during the morning.
“The regular stenographer at the plant was off, I think on account of sickness,” she said, “and I went over to the pencil factory to help Frank out. My work there consisted of acknowledging orders and writing some letters.”
Q. How long would it take to acknowledge one order?—A. I don’t know exactly.
Q. Would it take as long as a minute?—A. Not over that, if that long.
Q. Did you do any other work?—A. Wrote some letters, about ten or twelve, I think.
Q. Did you see Holloway there Saturday morning?—A. I don’t remember.
Q. Would you have seen him by the clock?—A. I don’t know; I am nearsighted.
Tells of Callers at Office.
Q. Were there any people there during the morning?—A. Yes.
Q. Who were they?—A. Two men came in to see about some trouble their boys, who worked there, had gotten in. A woman, who was the wife of one of the employees, came up to see her husband, who was up there, and two young ladies, one who had just been married a few days, came up and drew their pay.
Q. How long did it take you to write the letters?—A. I don’t remember.
Q. How long does it take you to write a page on a typewriter?—A. I don’t know.
Q. Did you make carbons of those letters?—A. Yes.
Q. Can they be identified?—A. Yes, they have my initials on them.
Q. What time did you leave the office?—A. About 12 o’clock. I remember that I forgot my umbrella and went back to get it. As I was going out again I heard the 12 o’clock whistle blow.
Frank Busy When She Left.
Q. Was Frank busy?—A. Yes, the work was behind.
Q. Were you in the inner office with Mr. Frank except when he was dictating to you?—A. I don’t remember.
Q. Was he working in there?—A. He was quiet, and I judged that he was busy.
Q. Did Frank make any remark that some of the employees had failed to get their pay on Friday?—A. I do not recall him making any such remark.
Q. Did you hear him talk to anyone about the amount of pay due?—A. No. I heard him talking to the office boy about the amount of postage Frank thought was due him.
Q. Did you see him working on the financial sheet?—A. I do not remember.
Q. Did he say anything about his work?—A. Yes; he said he had lots of work to do.
Q. Was Darley there at all?—A. No.
The witness was then excused, and told to return at 2:30 o’clock.
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Quinn, Foreman Over Slain Girl, Tells of Seeing Frank
Atlanta Georgian
Thursday, May 8th, 1913
L. A. Quinn, foreman of the department of the pencil factory in which Mary Phagan worked, testified as follows:
Q. What is your business?—A. Machinist.
Q. Did you know Mary Phagan?—A. Yes.
Q. What is your department?—A. Metal department.
Q. What department was she in?—A. Same.
Q. When did you see Mary Phagan last?—A. The Monday before the murder.
Q. Do you know her associates?—A. I know some who talked with her—girls.
Q. Any boys in that department?—A. Henry Smith and John Ramey.
Q. Were they thrown together?—A. All were working in the same room.
Q. When did you leave the factory?—A. Friday.
Q. When were you to return?—A. Monday morning.
Q. What time did you arise Saturday morning?—A. 7 a.m.
Q. Where did you go?—A. My wife and I went uptown and had baby’s picture made. We left home at 9:30 and got to the photographer’s at 10. We then came down Whitehall and stopped in the Globe Clothing store and talked to friends, and then came on down Whitehall Street and stopped at a meat market. We were there about five minutes. Then we went to a soda fountain and then home. We reached home at 11:15 and left again at 11:45, and I went to a meat market. I went from there to a soda fountain at Benjamin’s Pharmacy and bought two cigars. It was a few moments after 12 then. Then I went to the National Pencil Company.
Q. What did you go for?—A. To speak to Mr. Schiff.
Q. Did you see Mary Phagan?—A. No.
Q. What time was it when you went to the factory?—A. About 12:20.
Q. Are you sure it was not after 12 when you left your home?—A. Yes.
Q. How long were you at the meat market?—A. About ten minutes.
Q. What part of the factory did you go to?—A. To the office.
Q. Who was there?—A. Mr. Frank.
Q. Anyone else?—A. No.
Spoke to Frank.
Q. What did you say?—A. Good morning, Mr. Frank.
Q. How long were you in there?—A. About two minutes.
Q. Do you know the exact time?—A. It was between 12:15 and 12:30.
Q. Could it have been as late as 12:30?—A. No.
Q. How do you know?—A. I was at another place at 12:30.
Q. Where did you go then?—A. Outside the factory.
Q. Whom did you meet?—A. Mr. Malsby.
Q. What did he say?—A. He said that the girls—meaning Mrs. Freeman and Miss Corinthia Hall—were in the restaurant.
Q. What restaurant did he mean?—A. “Busy Bee” Café, at Hunter and Forsyth Streets.
Q. What did you do then?—A. I went to the restaurant.
Went to Pool Hall Then.
Q. Who was there?—A. Miss Hall and Mrs. Freeman.
Q. How long were you in the café?—A. About two minutes; they came out with me.
Q. Where did they go?—A. To Malsby’s to use the phone.
Q. Where did you go?—A. DeToro Brother’s pool parlors.
Q. What time was it?—A. At 12:30.
Q. How long were you there?—A. Till 1:15.
Q. How long does it take you to walk to the factory from your home?—A. Between twelve and fifteen minutes.
Q. Where did you go when you left the poolroom?—A. To Atlanta Theater.
Describes Franks’ Attire.
Q. Who is John Rainey?—A. I don’t know; only he operates a machine in my department.
Q. What time did you get to the Atlanta Theater?—A. About 1:20.
Q. How was Frank dressed when you were in the factory?—A. Wore brown suit.
Q. Who did you talk to on Sunday?—A. Mr. Darley and Mr. Montague.
Q. What time?—A. 9:30.
Q. Where did you go?—A. We took a lantern and went into the basement.
Q. Did you see Frank on Sunday?—A. I saw him at Bloomfield’s Sunday afternoon.
Q. How was he dressed?—A. I think he wore a black or a blue suit.
Q. What did he say?—A. Nothing except hello.
Q. Did you tell any of the officers that you had not been at the factory since Friday?—A. No.
Q. You didn’t tell Officer Payne?—A. No.
Q. You didn’t tell Detective Starnes?—A. No.
Refreshed Frank’s Memory.
Q. How was Frank dressed on Monday?—A. I think he wore a brown suit.
Q. What is the name of the white substance kept in the barrel in the factory?—A. Haskoline.
Q. Did you talk to Frank about your being in the office on Saturday?—A. I refreshed his memory of my being there.
Q. When?—A. I don’t remember the exact date. It was after he had been locked up.
Q. How did you refresh his memory?—A. We were discussing the supposition of the girl having never left the factory. I told him: “Why I was there Saturday after the time you say Mary Phagan was.” He said he remembered me being there, but wasn’t sure of the time. I told him what time it was and he said he would tell his lawyers. I told him I did not want to be drawn into the case, but if it would help him I would do so.
Questioned of Talk With Girl.
Q. Were you alone with Frank when you talked of this?—A. Yes.
The witness was questioned closely regarding any conversation he might have had with Grace Jones, one of the girls working at the factory. He denied having discussed the murder with her at all, or having made the remark that he had not been at the factory on Saturday.
Q. Did you go out to the Colemans’ home after the murder?—A. Yes.
Q. Did you discuss with them about Frank having fixed the machines?—A. No.
Q. Is there a man working at the place named Barrett?—A. Yes.
Q. Did you tell him you were there on Saturday?—A. No.
Q. Who was the first person you told you had been there on Saturday?—A. I told my father I had been there.
Q. Did you ever tell an officer?—A. Yes, Chief Lanford.
Q. You said that you had very little to do at the factory and came down to see Frank?—A. Yes, I was down there three or four hours a day for several days.
Tells How He Is Paid.
Q. Did your pay go on while you were here?—A. Yes.
Q. Have you been off at other times?—A. Yes.
Q. Did you receive full pay?—A. Ever since I have been foreman.
Q. Do you get paid by hour, day or week?—A. Week.
Q. Are you sure you had never told any officer of this before telling Frank?—A. Yes.
Q. Why did you just tell him?—A. Well, I knew he wouldn’t question me three or four hours like the officers would.
Questioned as to his duty toward solving the mystery, witness said he thought if the officers were making a thorough investigation they would certainly question him, as he was foreman of the metal department.
“I knew they had three or four men locked up,” he said, “and as I had been in the building they might lock me up, too.”
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Phagan Case and the Solicitor General’s Power Under Law—Dorsey Hasn’t Encroached on Coroner.
Atlanta Georgian
Tuesday, May 6th, 1913
Hugh Dorsey
By A GEORGIA LAWYER.
It is absurd to say, as some people have been saying in Atlanta of late, that Solicitor General Dorsey “has taken the Phagan case from the Coroner,” or has “butted in” on the Coroner’s business in some way.
It would be equally sensible to say that the commanding general in a battle had “butted in” on a captain’s business, when, as the battle progressed, the general gave directions of one sort and another to the captain as to its conduct.
The truth of the matter is, Solicitor General Dorsey has been in charge of the Mary Phagan case ever since it was brought to light.
Murder is a crime against the sovereign State, and not particularly against either the city of Atlanta or the county of Fulton, save in so far as they are a part of the State.
A murder in Atlanta is as much Savannah’s business as it is Atlanta’s so far as the violation of the laws of Georgia are concerned.
Solicitor Dorsey is a State official, and not specifically an Atlanta official, not yet a Fulton County official.
Office Useless in Main.
For certain purposes a Coroner’s inquest sometimes is permitted under the law prior to Grand Jury investigation. Many lawyers hold, and rightly, that the office of Coroner is useless in the main, and ought to be abolished. It is a relic of old English procedure, instituted before the days of newspapers, telephones, telegrams, fast mails and other quick methods of communication.
In the absence of eyewitnesses to an apparent murder, however, a Coroner’s inquest sometimes may serve an immediate purpose, and, perhaps, the Phagan case is a case in point with regard to that.
The Coroner is an officer entirely and definitely subordinate to the Solicitor General, and does not exercise any authority except such as he may exercise under the Solicitor.
The Solicitor assembles, in his discretion, the evidence against the accused, from it makes out a case for the Grand Jury, advises and instructs the Grand Jury as to its duty and rights in the matter, prepares an indictment for the Grand Jury’s consideration, which, if found true, must be depended upon to set forth the case against the defendant to be summoned to bar in such exact terms that it may be guaranteed to withstand all attacks of opposing counsel in the trial of the case.
Has Full Responsibility.
The initial and the final responsibility for the State’s case is in the hands of the Solicitor General.
There never is a minute from the time a murder is committed until a verdict is recorded that the State’s cause is not in the hands of the Solicitor General, over and above all other officers.
He can not take a murder case “from the hands of a Coroner,” because there never was a point of time in any murder case’s history that it was not more in the hands of the Solicitor than it possibly could have been in the hands of the Coroner.
No man may be put in jeopardy of his life a second time in Georgia (save of his own motion) in criminal proceedings, but the “verdict” of a Coroner’s jury can not be pleaded as former jeopardy.
Policemen, Coroners, Sheriffs are all peace officers, and have their direct and indirect duties to perform in the presence of crime against the State, but never is there a time when any one of them is equal in dignity or authority to the Solicitor General.
There is but one trial, upon motion of the State, of a criminal case in Georgia, and that is in the court house, under the direction of the Solicitor.
If a defendant be acquitted, that ends the matter. If he be convicted, he may move for another trial or appeal to a competent court of review. The State has no appeal.
Therefore, the law very properly provides that Coroner’s findings, committal hearings and Grand Jury returns shall be merely parts of the process employed, or permitted, by the Solicitor, in whole or in part, prior to the actual trial of a case in the court house, before the judge and the trial jury.
There never is any question of the Solicitor General’s supreme prosecuting status in the progress of a criminal investigation. Within the wide and sometimes arbitrary scope of his office he stands first in responsibility as the State’s accredited representative and agent in the prosecution.
To be sure, there are Constitutional and statutory curbs and restrictions upon a Solicitor General, but none of them may be invoked by a Coroner.
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SOLICITOR DORSEY ORDERS BODY EXHUMED IN THE HOPE OF GETTING NEW EVIDENCE
Atlanta Georgian
Wednesday, May 7th, 1913
Paul Donehoo
Inquest, To Be Resumed Thursday, Will Bring Out Important Facts Not Yet Made Public—Medical Experts To Be Called by Coroner.
New mystery was added to the Mary Phagan case on Wednesday, when the authorities for some reason not yet disclosed, did not follow out the order given by Solicitor Dorsey for the exhumation of the remains.
It was said by Solicitor Dorsey that he had given this order in the hope that new clews might be discovered.
A difference of opinion as to the advisability of the exhumation evidently has arisen, but the officials concerned were reticent. Coroner Donehoo admitted that Dorsey’s order had been given, but said it had not been carried out. He would make no further statement.
The report published in an early edition of The Georgian that the body had been exhumed was made on statements by officials, and that it was for the purpose of making a microscopic examination of every wound on the body for finger prints and other clews.
It is undoubtedly the intention of the authorities to exhume the body again.
Dorsey Maintains Silence.
Very properly Solicitor Dorsey is not making public every move that the prosecution is engaged in, nor is he giving to the public such evidence as he is enabled to obtain.
It would seem probably that the exhumation will be made, if not on Wednesday, at least some other day soon; for the belief is growing that there still may be some clews that are worthy of further examination.
It was reported that the finger prints on the body were to be photographed and compared with the finger prints of persons under suspicion; which may, or may not have any basis in facts and might, or might not be of value. After the remains were discovered in the factory basement they were handled by several persons—embalmers and others—and whether there are any finger prints now on the body is problematic.
Chart May Be Made.
It is said, that a complete chart will be prepared by medical experts to be used at the trial, showing every wound and mark.
Notwithstanding these speculations as to the purpose of the exhumation, Solicitor Dorsey declared Wednesday forenoon that it was not for the purpose of obtaining a record of the fingerprints. One of the principal reasons for the action, he said, was to get a strand of the girl’s hair in order to compare it with the hair found on the lathing machine in the tipping department at the factory. It was at this point that the detectives discovered blood spots on the floor and other evidence of a struggle.
“I cannot talk in regard to the matter,” he said. “The body was exhumed, it is true, at my request. But to reveal further plans would be hurtful.”
Thinks She Didn’t Leave Factory.
The Solicitor is in entire accord with the theory that Mary Phagan never left the factory after she received her pay Saturday noon. He declared that if any search was being made for the man seen with a girl Saturday, April 26, by attaches of the Terminal Station, it was not being conducted under his direction.
The results of the chemical analysis in the laboratory of Dr. Harris in the State Capitol have not yet been made public. Dr. Harris would not admit Wednesday that traces of drugs had been found, bearing out the belief that the girl was drugged and rendered helpless before she was slain in the factory.
All of the remaining evidence in the case will be presented when the Coroner’s inquest resumes Thursday morning at 9:30 o’clock.
It is the purpose of Coroner Donehoo to limit testimony to the points that are regarded as essential, so that
DORSEY ORDERS BODY EXHUMED IN PHAGAN CASE
the hearing may be concluded by Thursday night.
Have Two Hundred Names.
The Coroner and the Solicitor General have the names of about 200 persons on whom they may call for testimony. These include girls and women employed at the pencil factory. It is unlikely, however, that more than a few of the girls will be placed on the witness stand, but will be held in readiness to testify as was the case last Monday afternoon when the roll call room was filled with witnesses.
So far as the line of testimony can be anticipated from the information given out by the authorities, the most important will come from the physicians and chemists who have been at work on the mystery under the direction of Coroner Donehoo and Solicitor Dorsey.
Dr. H. F. Harris, director of the State Board of Health, will submit a report on his chemical analysis of the contents of Mary Phagan’s stomach. Dr. Harris also made a careful examination of the wounds and bruises on the body and will report on this to the jury.
Dr. J. W. Hurt, county physician, made the first examination of the girl’s body after it was found in the basement of the factory. He also was present when it was exhumed from its little grave in the Marietta cemetery and another examination made at the order of Solicitor General Dorsey. He will present the results of his observations to the jury some time during the hearing Thursday.
Dr. Smith to Be Quizzed.
Dr. Claude A. Smith, City Bacteriologist, has made a chemical examination of the bloodstains on a shirt found at Newt Lee’s home and of the pieces of wood chipped from the factory floor where the stains of blood were discovered, and will be questioned by Coroner Donehoo.
The recalling of Newt Lee also is regarded as an indication that the authorities expect the night watchman to tell something which he forgot or concealed in his previous examination.
The factory girls will tell of their acquaintance with Mary Phagan, of her companions and habits and of the conditions under which they have to work at the factory, so far as they have any relation to the mystery.
Bowen Released in Houston.
Accompanying mystifying new features of the hunt for the slayer was the news that Paul P. Bowen, held in Houston for the Atlanta authorities, had been released and relieved of all suspicion.
Bowen was employed with the Morrow Transfer Company in Atlanta as stenographer and shipping clerk, and later with the Southern Railway. He had many friends here and with them a good reputation.
His father and other relatives live in Newman, Ga., and are among the best people of that part of the State. Chief of Police Davison, of Houston, was angered that his detective chief should have exceeded his authority in arresting Bowen, and promptly discharged him from authority.
By letters Bowen wrote from Texas and statements of friends it was proved conclusively that he could not have been connected with the Atlanta mystery and he was accordingly freed.
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POLICE STILL WITHHOLD EVIDENCE
Frank To Be Examined on New Lines
Atlanta Georgian
Thursday, May 8th, 1913
Luther Rosser, one of Frank’s attorneys
Witnesses Are Quizzed in Detail, but Nothing Important Brought Out. Officials Say They Are Satisfied With Case as It Is Being Developed.
Whatever evidence the police officials may have directly to connect any of the suspects with the killing of Mary Phagan, it was not produced at the early session of the Coroner’s inquest Thursday.
What this evidence is the officials refuse to say—except that they are satisfied with the progress that is being made in unraveling the mystery.
Leo Frank, superintendent of the National Pencil Factory, is expected to be the most important witness of the day.
It is said that an entirely new line of questioning will be taken up.
W. W. (“Boots”) Rogers, former county policeman, and Lemmie Quinn, foreman in the tipping department at the National Pencil Factory, were the principal witnesses. Neither gave testimony that was materially damaging to either Leo M. Frank or Newt Lee, who are being held in connection with the crime.
Rogers was questioned closely of the events of the morning the crime was discovered, and told of taking the officers to the scene in his automobile. Beyond his belief that Frank appeared nervous when he was visited at his home by the detectives, Rogers had no information that appeared to point suspicion in one direction more than another.
He was sure, however, that the time clock tape on which Newt Lee, the night watchman, registered his half-hour rounds of the factory had no “misses” when it was taken from the clock by Frank that morning. Three misses were found on a tape subsequently brought to Police Headquarters.
Quinn’s Story Unchanged.
An effort was made without avail to break down the story of Lemmie Quinn that he was at the factory and talked to Frank between 12:10 and 12:20 the Saturday afternoon of the tragedy. Coroner Donehoo tried to get Quinn to admit that he previously had told officers who interviewed him that he was not at the factory between Friday and the following Sunday.
Quinn steadfastly refused to admit that he had made a statement of the sort. He supported Frank’s testimony of last Monday by insisting that he visited the factory for a few minutes and went into Frank’s office.
Miss Hattie Hall, the stenographer who was at the factory office Saturday until noon, was another of the witnesses called to the stand during the forenoon. She testified as to Frank’s movements while she was there.
Frank Pale, but Calm.
Frank was brought into the Commissioner’s Room in the police station before the inquest began, but later was excused and Rogers called.
The factory superintendent was pale, but calm and collected. He whispered a few words to his counsel, Luther Z. Rosser, and smiled faintly at a remark that was made to him. He appeared to show the strain of the days since he has been in a cell.
Lee was not admitted to the room at the beginning of the hearing, but was detained in a nearby office. The night watchman seemed almost indifferent.
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Pinkerton Detective Tells of Call From Factory Head
Atlanta Georgian
Thursday, May 8th, 1913
Harry Scott, the Pinkerton detective who has been working on the case since the day of the crime, took the stand when Schiff concluded his testimony.
Scott testified that Frank called him up Sunday afternoon before there was any talk of his arrest and asked the Pinkertons to begin work on the case and find the slayer.
Scott testified as follows:
Q. How are you interested in the Phagan case?—A. I was retained by the National Pencil Company to find the guilty man.
Q. Who retained you?—A. I received a call from Mr. Frank and he told me what he knew about the case.
Q. Where did Frank talk to you?—A. Mr. Frank, Mr. Dalley, Mr. Schiff and I went into the private office.
Q. What did Frank say?—A. He said: “I guess you have read of the crime. We feel an interest in the matter and desire to retain the Pinkertons and try to locate the murderer.”
Tells He Is Suspected.
Q. What else did he say?—A. He said he had been down to the police headquarters, and that Mr. Black seemed to suspect him of the crime. He told me of his movements on the day of the crime. He told me that about 12:10 Mary Phagan came into the office and drew her money, $1.20. At 12:50, he said, he went up to the fourth floor and saw Mr. White talking to Harry Denham and Arthur White. He said he left at 1:10 and went home, and returned at 3. White and Denham, Frank told me, left about 3:10, leaving him alone in the building. Newt Lee reported at 4, but was sent away. Frank left the building about 6:15, and on the way out saw Newt Lee talking to James Gantt. Mr. Frank allowed Gantt to go inside of the factory to get some shoes and told Lee to go with him. Frank said he became worried over the presence of Gantt in the building and called Lee at 7:30. Frank asked Lee if Gantt had left the building and Lee said yes. Then Frank asked Lee if everything else was all right, and Lee said yes.
Q. Did you ask Frank any questions?—A. No.
Frank Showed Him Building.
Q. What did Frank show you?—A. He showed me the elevator, the room where the blood and hair were found, the basement where the body was found, and also the door.
Q. Have you talked to him since?—A. I talked to him one night, with Detective Black, at headquarters, but did not try to get a statement.
Q. Did he resent any of your questions? Did any one ask you to withhold evidence?—A. Mr. Hubert Haas asked me to keep the police from getting our evidence, and I told him we’d withdraw from the case before we’d do that.
Q. Tell of the interview between Lee and Frank.—A. Mr. Black suggested that Frank talk to Lee, since he employed him, and to try to get Lee to tell all the truth of the matter.
Q. What did Frank say to Lee?—A. I don’t know. They were together privately.
Q. What did Lee say?—A. Lee says that Frank didn’t want to talk about the murder. Lee says he told Frank he knew the murder was committed in daytime, and Frank hung his head and said “Let’s don’t talk about that.”
Q. Did Frank tell you what happened at his conference with Lee?—A. No. He said he tried to get something out of Lee, but couldn’t.
Asked Lee About Clock.
Q. Do you remember Frank ever asking Lee anything about the clock slip?—A. Yes, it was in Chief Lanford’s office. Frank asked Lee about a skip on the record from 9:30 to 10:25. Lee said that he punched the clock regularly and Frank remarked that [1 word illegible] looked mighty peculiar.
Q. Tell us if this shirt was found [2 words illegible] back yard?—A. Yes.
Q. When you first saw the shirt was it very bloody?—A. Yes, it was very bloody on the right shoulder. The shirt looked as though it had been freshly washed, but not ironed. The blood spots looked fresh. Fred Bullard and Black said they found the shirt in a rag barrel in Lee’s back yard. The shirt looked as though it might not have been worn since being washed.
Couldn’t Explain Spots.
Q. Was the shirt torn?—A. We tore a piece out of the shirt and showed it to Lee and he said he had a shirt with a flower design on it like this piece. We showed him the shirt then and he said at first that he thought it might be his shirt, although he had not seen it for two years. He said he did not know how the blood spots got on it. After looking at the shirt again he said he did not believe it was his shirt.
Q. What size shirt was it?—A. We could not tell.
Q. Have you any definite clew as to who committed this murder?—A. I would not care to commit myself that far.
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LEO FRANK IS AGAIN QUIZZED BY CORONER
Atlanta Georgian
Thursday, May 8th, 1913
Newt Lee Called to Stand for Further Examination—Coroner Will Put Case in Hands of Jury by 7 o’clock, It is Predicted.
Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the National Pencil Factory, and Newt Lee, night watchman, both of whom are being held in connection with inquiry into the death of Mary Phagan, were recalled to the witness stand late Thursday afternoon at the inquest.
Frank was given a more searching examination as to movements on the day of the tragedy than he underwent his first day on the stand and an apparent endeavor was made to show that he was not at home at the times he had stated in his previous testimony.
Frank, however, answered the questions readily and Coroner Donehoo was not able to trip him.
In Frank’s previous testimony he failed to mention several persons who were at his home when he said he was there Saturday night. But when he was questioned in regard to this point Thursday afternoon he gave their names at once.
NEWT LEE PRECEDED FRANK ON THE STAND.
Lee’s testimony was in regard to the private conversation he had with Frank when Lee was first arrested. He declared that Frank had told him that they would “both go to hell” if they were not careful, but the effect of this testimony was largely nullified by Frank’s earlier statement that the remark or a remark to the same effect was suggested by one of the detectives in the hope of getting some information from the night watchman.
The morning session was not prolific. Nothing of consequence was developed.
Miss Hattie Hall and Herbert Schiff, chief clerk in the pencil factory, were the first witnesses at the afternoon session.
Coroner Donehoo called for Lee immediately after Detective John Black had testified, supplementing the important testimony given by Harry Scott, of the Pinkertons.
W. W. (“Boots”) Rogers, former county policeman, and Lemmie Quinn, foreman in the tipping department at the National Pencil Factory, were the principal witnesses this morning. Neither gave testimony that was materially damaging to either Leo M. Frank or Newt Lee, who are being held in connection with the crime.
Rogers was questioned closely of the events of the morning the crime was discovered, and told of taking the officers to the scene in his automobile. Beyond his belief that Frank appeared nervous when he was visited at his home by the detectives, Rogers had no information that appeared to point suspicion in one direction more than another.
He was sure, however, that the time clock tape on which Newt Lee, the night watchman, registered his half-hour rounds of the factory had no “misses” when it was taken from the clock by Frank that morning. Three misses were found on a tape subsequently brought to Police Headquarters.
Quinn’s Story Unchanged.
An effort was made without avail to break down the story of Lemmie Quinn that he was at the factory and talked to Frank between 12:10 and 12:20 the Saturday afternoon of the tragedy. Coroner Donehoo tried to get Quinn to admit that he previously had told officers who interviewed him that he was not at the factory between Friday and the following Sunday.
Quinn steadfastly refused to admit that he had made a statement of the sort. He supported Frank’s testimony of last Monday by insisting that he visited the factory for a few minutes and went into Frank’s office.
Miss Hattie Hall, the stenographer who was at the factory office Saturday until noon, was another of the witnesses called to the stand during the forenoon. She testified as to Frank’s movements while she was there.
Frank Pale, but Calm.
Frank was brought into the Commissioner’s Room in the police station before the inquest began, but later was excused and Rogers called.
The factory superintendent was pale, but calm and collected. He whispered a few words to his counsel, Luther Z. Rosser, and smiled faintly at a remark that was made to him. He appeared to show the strain of the days since he has been in a cell.
Lee was not admitted to the room at the beginning of the hearing, but was detained in a nearby office. The night watchman seemed almost indifferent.
Night Edition
[The following few paragraphs were added to the above article in the night edition of the Atlanta Georgian—Ed.]
PHAGAN INQUEST IS NEAR END; LIKELY TO GO TO JURY BY 7 P.M.
Witnesses Are Quizzed in Detail, but Nothing Important Brought Out. Officials Say They Are Satisfied With Case as It Is Being Developed.
Leo Mr. Frank was ready to take the witness stand in the Phagan case when the Coroner continued the afternoon session on Thursday.
The morning session was not prolific. Nothing of consequence was developed.
Miss Hattie Hall and Herbert Schiff, chief clerk in the pencil factory, were the first witnesses at the afternoon session.
Newt Lee, the night watchman, was to follow Frank on the stand, and officials asserted that Lee would doubtless begin his concluding testimony by 4 o’clock.
It was expected that not more than six witnesses would be put up, the authorities declared, and that the inquest would be concluded before night.
The case will probably be placed in the hands of the Coroner’s jury for a verdict by 7 o’clock.
Lillie Pettis
Testimony along a new line will be given, it is understood by Miss Nellie Wood, 8 Corput Street; Miss Nellie Pettis, 9 Oliver Street, and Mrs. Lilie Pettis, 9 Oliver Street. All three young women will assert that Frank sought to treat them in a familiar manner.
Another witness, a young woman, whose name the authorities refuse to divulge, will conclude the testimony. She is sick, it is asserted, but will be present with her physician.
Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, took the stand at 4:10 o’ clock.
Coroner Donehoo called for Lee immediately after Detective John Black had testified, supplementing the important testimony given by Harry Scott, of the Pinkertons.
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Lee Repeats His Private Conversation With Frank
Atlanta Georgian
Thursday, May 8th, 1913
Newt Lee followed Black on the stand.
Q. Tell the jury of your conversation with Frank in private—A. I was in the room and he came in. I said, Mr. Frank, it is mighty hard to be sitting here handcuffed. He said he thought I was innocent, and I said I didn’t know anything except finding the body. “Yes,” Mr. Frank said, “and you keep that up we will both go to hell!” I told him that if she had been killed in the basement I would have known it, and he said, “Don’t let’s talk about that—let that go!”
Frank has declared that he was instructed by the detectives just what to say to Lee in the effort to open his mouth, and said it.
Q. Was the furnace running Saturday night?—A. It was fired up.
Q. Did you say anything about sleeping?—A. Yes, sir. I came to the factory and Mr. Frank came out of his door and rubbed his hands and said he was sorry he had me come so early, when I might have been sleeping. I said I needed sleep.
Never Met Him Before.
Q. Did Frank ever come out to meet you before?—A. No, sir. He usually says “All right,” when I say, “All right, Mr. Frank.”
Q. Is the trap door usually open?—A. Yes, sir; it’s open every evening when I come.
Q. When you went into the machinery room, did you notice anything on the floor?—A. No, sir.
Q. When you came there at 6 o’clock, what happened?—A. Mr. Frank came out and asked me what time it was. He told me not to punch the clock, as he wanted to put on a new tape. I held the lever and he put on the tape.
Sure He Punched Clock.
Q. Did he unlock the door of the clock?—A. No, he just opened the door.
Q. Are you sure you punched the clock every half hour that night?—A. Yes, sir.
Q. Whose shirt was that they found at your house?—A. It looked like one of mine. I used to have one like that.
Q. Whose clothes were in that barrel?—A. I had mine in there, and the lady might have had some of hers there.
Q. Was your shirt store bought?—A. No, sir, Mrs. John Bowen made it.
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INQUEST SCENE IS DRAMATIC IN ITS TENSENESS
Atlanta Georgian
Thursday, May 8th, 1913
Hattie Hall, Frank’s stenographer
Crowd in Small, Smoke-Filled Room Breathlessly Follows the Phagan Slaying Inquiry.
FATHER WEEPS SILENTLY
Jurors, Officials and Detectives Manifest Intense Interest in Replies of Witnesses.
In a small, crowded and smoke-filled room at police headquarters, Coroner Donehoo on Thursday morning began what it is thought will be the last session of the jury impaneled to inquire into the death of Mary Phagan, strangled to death in the basement of the National Pencil Factory April 26.
The situation was tense and pregnant with possibilities. The fact that the investigation of the case is rapidly drawing to a close, coupled with the admissions of officials that new and important evidence would develop the examination of the witnesses to-day, brought out a large and curious crowd.
At one end of the long table, heaped with notebooks and typewriters, sat Coroner Donehoo, flanked on each side by members of the jury. At the foot of the table sat the newspaper reporters and the official stenographers, four in number. Facing Coroner Donehoo and the jury sat the witness. Ranged along the wall were curious spectators, relatives of the dead girl and friends of the witnesses. Long before the inquest was called every available chair in the room was taken, and late comers ensconced themselves on the window ledges.
Dorsey Takes Active Part.
Prominent among the spectators were the attorneys for Frank, Pinkerton and city detectives and county and State officials. Solicitor Hugh Dorsey sat just behind Coroner Donehoo, and took an active part in the questioning of the witnesses. While Mr. Dorsey asked no questions himself, several times he conferred with the Coroner on the best manner in which to examine the witnesses.
Attorney Luther Rosser also occupied a seat near the Coroner, and took keen interest in the proceedings of the inquest. He did not object to any of the questions asked the witnesses that had bearing on the actions of Leo M. Frank on the day of the murder.
Ranged against the wall behind Coroner Donehoo were Detective John Black, in charge of the city investigating squad; Detective Starnes, and Detective Harry Scott of the Pinkertons. All of the officers paid close attention to the examination of the witnesses. To the left of the Coroner sat Dr. J. W. Hurt, County Physician, who examined the body, and whose testimony is awaited with considerable curiosity.
Father a Pathetic Figure.
J. W. Coleman, father of the dead girl, stood against the wall to the right of Coroner Donehoo, a pathetic figure in his sorrow. Mr. Coleman evinced keen interest in what was transpiring. He kept his eyes fixed constantly on the witness who sat at the foot of the long table, and his eyes filled with tears as the tragic details of the finding of the child’s body were related.
The attitudes of the individual members of the jury showed their realization of the responsibility that rests upon them. Each of the six sat with his arms on the table, paying closest attention to the statements of the witnesses. Most of the questions were asked by the Coroner, but now and then a juror would interrupt to ask the witness to make some point clearer.
The air of tense eagerness with which the jurors awaited the replies of the witnesses was communicated to those whose only interest in the case was the satisfaction of curiosity.
Crowd Tense and Quiet.
The crowd in the room was one of the quietest that has ever attended a session of the inquest. Save for the occasional scratching of a match or the dragging of a chair across the floor, nothing was heard but the voices of the Coroner and the witnesses.
All of the witnesses brought in were subjected to a close examination by Coroner Donehoo, and all bore the ordeal well. “Boots” Rogers, one of the policemen who found the body, was on the stand more than an hour.
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Frank of Nervous Nature; Says Superintendent Aide
Atlanta Georgian
Thursday, May 8th, 1913
The inquest was resumed at 2:40. Only a small crowd was present.
Miss Hattie Hall, stenographer for the Pencil Company, was called.
She said she had been connected with the company since December 4.
From a pile of papers taken from the factory records, Miss Hall identified a number that were written by herself. She said she did not think she could identify Frank’s writing. Miss Hall selected eight letters that she had written. She said she didn’t know how long it had taken her to write the letters.
Miss Hall looked at the cash book and the book containing the financial sheets and said there was nothing in them she had done on April 26.
Couldn’t Identify Writing.
Coroner Donehoo did not explain his interrogation of the witness along these lines. He appeared very anxious to know just what work she had done on the day of the murder, and instructed her to be careful in identifying her own writing. Several questions were asked her regarding Frank’s handwriting, but she insisted that she could not identify it.
Herbert Schiff, 38 West Fair Street, chief clerk at the Pencil Factory, was called next. He testified as follows:
Q. What do you do at the factory?—A. Help Mr. Frank, keep the pay roll and other things.
Q. Are you familiar with Frank’s handwriting?—A. Yes.
Q. Were you there Saturday, April 26?—A. No, sir.
The witness was here asked several questions relating to the business of the company.
Examines Books and Papers.
He was told to examine the books and papers that were shown Miss Hall, and identify Frank’s handwriting. He identified several letters and acknowledgements as having been written by Frank, and also a number of entries in the order book, dated April 26.
Q. Were you at the office Monday morning?—A. Yes.
Q. What was Mr. Frank doing?—A. He wasn’t there. He didn’t return until about 3:30 Monday afternoon.
Q. What time does Mr. Frank get down?—A. He is usually there about 8. He is usually there when I get there.
Q. Did you see Frank Sunday?—A. I saw him in Bloomfield’s with Mr. Darley and some of the other help.
Known Frank Five Years.
Q. Do you know Mr. Frank very well?—A. Yes.
Q. How long have you been with him?—A. Five years.
Q. Have you been close to him?—A. I guess I have been around him as much as anyone.
Q. Is he of nervous temperament?—A. Yes, he is very excitable. I would say very much so.
Q. How long would it have taken you to get up all of the data on the financial sheet which Mr. Frank did?—A. Five or six hours.
Q. How long would it have taken Mr. Frank to do it?—A. He has handled it more often and would be quicker. I would say half an hour less than it would take me.
Q. What else did Frank do?—A. Balanced the cash book.
Q. How long would that take?—A. About an hour and a half.
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Frank Answers Questions Nervously When Recalled
Atlanta Georgian
Thursday, May 8th, 1913
Frank was slightly nervous when he was answering the questions. He was asked:
Q. What kind of an elevator floor have you in the factory on the office floor?—A. A solid sliding door.
Q. Where was the elevator Friday night and Saturday?—A. I didn’t notice it.
Q. What protection would there be from a person from falling into the shaft if the door was open?—A. There is a bar across the shaft.
Q. Where was the elevator Saturday?—A. I did not notice it.
Q. Where was it Sunday?—A. On the office floor.
Gave Tape to Police.
Q. What did you do with the tape after you took it out of the clock Sunday morning?—A. Gave it to one of the officers.
Q. Who was at a party at your house Saturday night?—A. Mr. Goldstein and others.
Q. Who else?—A. His wife and Mrs. Isaac Strauss.
Q. What were you doing?—A. Reading the Metropolitan magazine.
Q. Did you greet them?—A. Yes.
Q. You just greeted them?—A. Yes.
Q. Did you get up to greet them?—A. I don’t remember.
Q. How about Mrs. Wolfsheimer?—A. She was not there.
Q. What was said about whisky when the officers came?—A. Nothing was said of whisky, but I said I would like to have a drink of something warm and the officer said a drink would do me good.
Dreamed of Phone Call.
Q. What did you say of some one telephoning you later at night?—A. I said I dreamed some one called.
Q. Did you look at the girl when you went to the undertakers?—A. Yes.
Q. Did you go into a toilet?—A. I did not.
Q. When did you first hear the girl’s name?—A. I do not remember that accurately.
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Didn’t See Girl Late Saturday, He Admits
Atlanta Georgian
Thursday, May 8th, 1913
Man Who Said Mary Phagan Passed His Place Testifies He Was Wrong.
J. L. Watkins, who testified that he saw Mary Phagan Saturday afternoon, April 26, between 4 and 5 o’clock, was called to the witness stand.
He was accompanied to the inquest by a girl, Daisy Brown, who he said was the girl he mistook for Mary Phagan.
He said he became convinced of his mistake when detectives came out to his place and had Daisy Brown to dress as she was Saturday afternoon. Then he discovered, he said, that she was the girl he had mistaken for Mary Phagan.
Daisy Brown was placed on the stand and testified that she had passed along Bellwood Avenue at that time, Saturday, April 26.
She said she knew Mary Phagan, but could not understand how Watkins had mistaken her for Mary Phagan, as Mary was a little shorter and heavier.
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Black Testifies Quinn Denied Visiting Factory
Atlanta Georgian
Thursday, May 8th, 1913
John Black, city detective, followed Scott.
Q. Tell about the shirt.—A. Sergeant Bullard and I went out to the rear of 40 Henry Street and searched Newt Lee’s room.
Q. What did you find?—A. Lots of things.
Q. Tell about finding the shirt?—A. We found it in the bottom of an old barrel.
Q. Was the shirt on the top or in the bottom of the barrel?—A. In the bottom.
Q. When was this?—A. On Wednesday after the murder.
Q. Did you see the shirt Lee wore Sunday morning?—A. Yes.
Q. What kind was it?—A. A brown woolen shirt. The one we found at his home was unlaundered. It was washed, but not ironed.
Q. Have you any positive clews to the person that committed the crime?—A. No.
Q. What did Mr. Quinn say to you about his trip to factory Saturday?—A. Mr. Quinn said he was not at the factory on the day of the murder.
Q. How many times did he say it?—A. Two or three times. I heard him tell Detective Starnes that he had not been there.
Q. What did you tell Frank to ask Lee when they had a conference?—A. Nothing in particular, only that he try to get Lee to tell the truth.
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“Boots” Rogers Tells How Body Was Found
Atlanta Georgian
Thursday, May 8th, 1913
W.W. “Boots” Rogers
W. W. Rogers was the first witness. He lives at 104 McDonough Road, and operates an automobile for himself. He said he took a party of officers to the National Pencil plant at five minutes past 3 o’clock Sunday morning, April 27.
He corroborated statements of officers regarding the finding of Mary Phagan’s body and the notes beside it, and of the body being face downward.
Q. Who telephone Frank of the murder?—A. Starnes called him and asked him to come to the factory.
Q. How long were you in front of the plant before you were let in?—A. Two or three minutes.
Q. Did you hear him coming?—A. We saw him coming down the steps with a lantern.
Q. What did he say?—A. She’s in the basement, white folks.
Q. Was he excited?—A. No, he answered questions coolly.
Q. What did he say when you went downstairs?—A. He thought at first it was something the boys had placed there to frighten him.
Q. How did he say he found the body?—A. On her face.
Q. How did you find it?—A. On her face.
Q. Do you remember any other questions asked him?—A. Yes, but he talked in a straight way.
Q. Who went back upstairs with Lee and Anderson after Lee had been placed under arrest?—A. No one else.
Q. Where did they go?—A. Into office, where Anderson attempted to get Frank over the phone.
Lee Was Not Excited.
Q. Was Lee excited then?—A. No.
Q. What else did you find?—A. We looked all over the place for her hat and shoe. Then Sergeant Brown and myself walked out the back door and down the alley. When we came back I went out on McDonough Road in my machine and got Miss Grace Hicks, who, I knew, worked at the pencil factory. I brought her to town about 5:30 or 5:45. She told us who the girl was.
Q. Did you ever get in touch with Frank while in the office?—A. After I got back with the young lady Mr. Starnes called Frank again and got him. That was a little after 6. It took about five minutes for me to go out to his house.
Q. Who answered the door?—A. Mrs. Frank.
Q. Was Frank there?—A. He was standing in the hall behind the curtains. He was dressed, with the exception of collar, coat and hat. He asked Black what was the matter and Black did not answer, but told him he had better put on his clothes and go to town with us. Frank was hoarse and Black suggested that a drink might do him good. Mrs. Frank went upstairs to see if there was any whisky in the house, but did not find any.
Says Frank Was Nervous.
Q. Was he well groomed?—A. Yes; I noticed particularly that he had on a clean white pleated bosom shirt. He was nervous, and moved about very nervously.
Q. How do you know he was nervous?—A. By the questions he asked.
NEW EVIDENCE IN PHAGAN CASE NOT YET BROUGHT OUT; DIG CAREFULLY FOR FACTS
He asked if anything had happened at the factory and when Black did not reply he asked if the watchman had found anything unusual. Black did not answer them, and he asked if the watchman had called him, and when we did not answer he said that he dreamed the night watchman called him about daybreak. He struck me as being highly nervous.
Q. What did you talk about on the way to town?—A. Black asked him if he knew Mary Phagan and he asked if she worked at the factory. Said he did not know whether he knew her or not.
Q. Where did you go?—A. To the undertaking establishment.
Q. Did Frank see the body?—A. No.
Q. Where did he go?—A. When we went into the room the undertaker turned the child’s head and Frank sidestepped into a toilet.
Q. Was Frank trembling?—A. I did not notice that he was.
Q. What questions were asked?—A. He asked us the girl’s name and we told him Mary Phagan and asked if he knew her. He said he would have to look on the payroll to find out. We went around to the factory. He opened the safe and got out his books.
Q. Who was in the factory?—A. Several officers and Mr. Darley, the foreman, went in just ahead of us.
Tells When She Was Paid.
Q. What did Frank do?—A. He looked in his books, ran his finger down a column and said: “Yes, she was here.” Then he said: “Yes, she was paid off yesterday. I can tell you just when. The stenographer and office boy left at 12 o’clock and she came in here—let’s see, I can tell you the exact time—it was 10 minutes past 12. I paid her $1.20.” Frank looked nervous and asked if anyone had found the envelope; that it must be around “there somewhere.”
Q. Did you take Frank into the basement?—A. Yes, we went down. Frank ran the elevator.
Q. Did he say anything about the negro running the elevator?—A. Yes, he was asked if the negro ever ran it, and he said no.
Q. Had you noticed the elevator before?—A. No, except when we first went into the basement.
Q. Where was it?—A. Above us.
Q. Did you inspect the shaft then?—A. Yes.
Q. Did you see anything?—A. No, but I did not have a flashlight.
Q. Was anything found there later?—A. Yes, a parasol.
Q. Did you make a close inspection when Frank went into the basement?—A. No, we just took a casual look around.
Q. When did you see the parasol, hat and shoe?—A. I did not see them until nearly 7 o’clock. The officers had them upstairs.
Frank Inspected Building.
Q. Did Frank inspect rest of the building?—A. Yes, and Chief Lanford and Frank, with several officers, went to the other floors and left the negro with me.
Q. Did Frank come back into the office?—A. Yes, he came in twice while I was there with the negro. He spoke to Lee once, shook his head and said “Too bad.”
Q. Did you notice the clock?—A. Yes. Frank and Darley were out there by the clock, and Frank said “I guess I had better change the clock.” He opened it, took out the slip and placed it by the clock while he went into the office to get another slip. He then called to one of us and I held the lever up and found a pencil sticking in hole. Frank asked Lee what the pencil was doing there. Lee said he put it there so he could be sure of hitting his number. Then Frank locked the box with a key. He had opened it with a key.
Q. What was done with the slip taken out?—A. Frank dated it and took it into his office.
Q. What date did he put on the slip?—A. I think it was April 26; I’m not sure.
Rogers said he looked at the slip and the first punch was at 6:30 and last at 2:30. There were no misses, he said.
Q. Where was the slip taken?—A. Frank took it into the office and put it on file.
Q. Did Chief Lanford take it away?—A. Not then; he may have got it later in the day.
Q. Are you sure there were no misses on the slip?—A. I would have noticed if there were.
Q. Did Darley and Frank have any conversation while on the way to the station house after that?—A. Not that I remember. I was driving the car and Frank was seated in Darley’s lap.
Q. Was Frank still nervous?—A. Yes. He still wanted a cup of coffee. He had been anxious all morning to get a cup of coffee. Several times he had asked Chief Lanford if he could spare him to go and get a cup of coffee.
Frank Wrote Nervously.
Q. What was done at the station house?—A. When we got there the officers were having Newt Lee write for them.
Q. Did he look nervous?—A. No, he was writing what they told him.
Q. Did they have Frank write?—A. Yes.
Q. Was he nervous?—A. Yes, his hand was shaking.
Rogers was excused and Lemmie Quinn, foreman of the metal department, was called.
_______
BEST DETECTIVE IN AMERICA NOW IS ON CASE, SAYS DORSEY
Atlanta Georgian
Friday, May 9th, 1913
Solicitor Dorsey Says He Has Secured Powerful Aid in Search for Slayer of Girl—Woman Says She Heard Screams in Pencil Factory.
Shelby Smith, chairman of the Fulton commission, declared Friday afternoon that the board would back Solicitor Dorsey in any and all expense he might incur in the state’s exhaustive investigation into the Phagan murder mystery. Smith said;
“We have instructed Dorsey to obtain the best possible detective skill for his probe and he would be backed by the county commission to the last ditch in the money the spent.
“The fact that he hired a good detective Friday is news to me, but he has the sanction and backing of the board in the matter.”
HIRES BEST DETECTIVE, HE SAYS.
Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey said Friday afternoon that he had the best detective in America working on the mystery of the Mary Phagan strangling.
Important developments had ensued already, he declared, and he was confident that an early solution of the case would be reached by the new expert of national reputation who had been placed at work on the clews.
The solicitor is understood to have the affidavit of a woman who swears that she heard a girl’s screams as she was passing the factory at 4:30 o’clock the afternoon of the tragedy. The cries were shrill and piercing, she says, and died away as she stopped an instant to listen.
The woman was sure they came from inside the factory, but she gave little attention to her startling experience until she read of the strangling of Mary Phagan. Then it occurred to her that she very likely had heard the dying cries of the little girl and she reported the matter to the authorities.
Solicitor Dorsey, as his first action after the holding of Leo M. Frank and Newt Lee to the Grand Jury for the murder of Mary Phagan, put out the dragnet for witnesses.
A batch of subpoenas were issued for the witnesses to appear in his office to give testimony in the case of “The State vs. John Doe.”
After a long conference with Detective Starnes and Campbell, Solicitor Dorsey asserted that action on the part of the Grand Jury might be expected any time after Friday. He plainly intimated that a special session of the jury might be convened Saturday to consider the Phagan murder.
The Solicitor declared as he left the court house with a private detective whose name he refused to divulge that he anticipated the development of startling evidence before night, which, he said, would clear matters materially.
Dorsey Questions Newt Lee.
With the private detective the Solicitor went to the Tower and was closeted with Newt Lee, the night watchman, for more than an hour.
The form of the subpoena is taken to mean that many of the witnesses will submit their sworn testimony before the Solicitor General, who will thus have it in documentary form, instead of going before the Grand Jury to give oral testimony. However, it will be necessary for the material or indicting witnesses to go before the Grand Jurors in person.
“The investigation has just begun,” said Chief of Detectives Lanford Friday, in discussing the action of the Coroner’s jury. “We were confident we had presented sufficient evidence to warrant the holding of the two suspects in the case, but we will have much more when the case gets into the courts.
Have Strong Theory Already.
“We are going to continue right on with the investigation and try to dig down to the full truth of the mystery. We have a strongly supported theory as to who committed the crime, but we are ready at any time to change our opinions as soon as the evidence points in another direction.
“It will be possible, with the rush and hurry of the Coroner’s jury
PHAGAN CASE TO BE RUSHED TO GRAND JURY BY DORSEY
passed, for my men to work with more deliberation and care and to sift with a greater thoroughness every bit of evidence that comes into their possession. Even if nothing new should develop, we have enough leads to keep half a dozen detectives busy for a week.”
Detectives Rosser, Campbell, Black, Starnes and Bullard are still working with the chief on the case and probably will continue until the mystery is cleared.
Lemmie Quinn, foreman in the tipping department at the National Pencil factory, was the first of the witnesses to be examined by the Solicitor. He was in Mr. Dorsey’s office a considerable part of the forenoon and underwent a rigorous examination.
New Witnesses Sought.
Detectives Starnes and Campbell also were with the Solicitor, and two of the Solicitor’s assistants. Newton Garner and Dan Goodlin were dispatched the first thing in the morning to hunt up new witnesses of whom Mr. Dorsey had information.
Foreman Quinn was called, it is understood, to clear up the discrepancies in his testimony and the statement he is said to have made to the detectives and to several of his acquaintances. In his testimony before the Coroner’s jury he declared that he visited the factory between 12:10 and 12:30 o’clock, the afternoon of the killing of Mary Phagan. He said he talked with Frank for two minutes in the superintendent’s office.
Detectives declared that Quinn had told them and other persons that he did not visit the factory at all Saturday and that he was not there from the time he left Friday until the following Monday.
Frank Expected To Be Held.
“That’s about what I expected at this time,” was the comment with which Leo M. Frank, with little trace of emotion, received the news of the action of the Coroner’s jury Thursday night.
Deputy Sheriff Plennie Minor was the officer who informed both Frank and Newt Lee that the jury had recommended that they be held under charges of murder for further investigation by the Fulton County Grand Jury.
The night watchman received the news indifferently and had nothing to say.
Frank and Lee are held under charges of murder, as the following verdict of the Coroner’s jury will show:
Atlanta, Ga., May 8, 1913.
We, the Coroner’s jury, impaneled and sworn by Paul Donehoo, Coroner of Fulton County, to inquire into the cause of the death of Mary Phagan, whose dead body now lies before us, after having heard the evidence of sworn witnesses, and the statement of Dr. J. W. Hurt, County Physician, find that the deceased came to her death from strangulation. We recommend that Leo M. Frank and Newt Lee be held under charges of murder for further investigation by the Fulton County Grand Jury.
(Signed)
HOMER C. ASHFORD, Foreman.
DR. J. W. HURT, County Physician.
Solicitor Dorsey said Friday he would give the Phagan case all of his attention and present his evidence to the Grand Jury as quickly as possible.
The solicitor has shown an anxiety to avoid delays of any nature in hunting down the slayer of the Phagan girl, and now that the Coroner’s jury has turned the case over to the Solicitor and the Grand Jury it may be taken for granted that the investigation will be hurried along with all possible speed.
Case in State’s Hands.
“The case now is fully in the hands of the State,” said the Solicitor Friday morning. “It will not be presented to the Grand Jury Friday, but I shall endeavor to present it at the earliest possible moment. The instant that I have a complete case I shall bring it to the attention of the Grand Jury. It is my desire to bring the slayer of Mary Phagan to justice with the greatest dispatch. A great crime has been done and I am no less eager to see the guilt determined than the general public.”
It required the Coroner’s jury about twenty minutes to frame its formal verdict Thursday night. The jurors received a brief charge from Coroner Donehoo and filed from the Commissioners’ room in the police station at 6:08 o’clock. At 6:28 they were back with their verdict.
Coroner Donehoo admonished the jurors to be as ready to hold a person who they thought might be withholding information of the crime as to hold a person they regarded as the possible culprit. A person possessing knowledge of the crime and withholding it, he said, was an accessory after the fact.
An immediate hush fell on the packed room when the jurors returned. There was a dead silence except for the voice of Homer C. Ashford, foreman of the jury, when the verdict was read.
Girls Testify Against Frank.
The most damaging testimony against Frank in regard to his treatment of employees at his factory was saved until the last hours of the hearing. Girls and women were called to the stand to testify that they had been employed at the factory or had had occasion to go there, and that Frank had attempted familiarities with them.
Nellie Pettis
Nellie Pettis, of 9 Oliver Street, declared that Frank had made improper advances on her. She was asked if she ever had been employed at the pencil factory.
“No,” she answered.
Q. Do you know Leo Frank?—A. I have seen him once or twice.
Q. When and where did you see him?—A. In his office at the factory whenever I went to draw my sister-in-law’s pay.
Q. What did he say to you that might have been improper on any of these visits?—A. He didn’t exactly say—he made gestures. I went to get sister’s pay about four weeks ago and when I went into the office of Mr. Frank I asked for her. He told me I couldn’t see her unless “I saw him first.”
Says He Winked at Her.
“I told him I didn’t want to ‘see him.’ He pulled a box from his desk. It had a lot of money in it. He looked at it significantly and then looked at me. When he looked at me, he winked. As he winked he said: ‘How about it?’
“I instantly told him I was a nice girl.”
Here the witness stopped her statement. Coroner Donehoo asked her sharply:
“Didn’t you say anything else?”
“Yes, I did! I told him to go to h—l! and walked out of his office.”
Thomas Blackstock, who said that he was employed at the factory about a year ago testified as follows:
Tells of Frank’s Conduct.
Q. Do you know Leo M. Frank?—A. Yes.
Q. How long have you known him?—A. About six weeks.
Q. Did you ever observe his conduct toward female employees of the pencil factory?—A. Yes. I’ve often seen him picking on different girls.
Q. Name some.—A. I can’t exactly recollect names.
Q. What was the conduct you noticed particularly?
The witness answered to the effect that he had seen him place his hands with undue familiarity upon the person of girls.
Q. See it often?—A. A half dozen times, maybe. He generally was seen to become that familiar while he was touring the building.
Q. Can’t you name just one girl?—A. Yes. Magnolia Kennedy.
Q. Did you see him act with undue familiarity toward her?—A. No. I heard talk about it.
Q. Before or after the murder?—A. Afterward.
“Girls Tried to Avoid Him.”
Q. When did you observe this misconduct of which you have told?—A. A year ago.
Q. Did you hear complaints around the plant?—A. No. The girls tried to avoid him.
Mrs. C. D. Donegan said she was connected with the pencil plant for three weeks. Her capacity was that of forelady. She resides at 165 West Fourteenth Street with her husband.
Her testimony follows:
“State your observations of Frank’s conduct toward the girls and women of the plant.”
“I have noticed him smile and wink at the girls in the place. That was two years ago.”
“Did you make a statement to the detectives of undue familiarity you had witnessed?”
“I told them that I had seen Frank flirt with the girls and women—that was all I said.”
Charges Familiarities.
The testimony of Nellie Wood, a young girl of 8 Corput Street, came next.
In brief it was this:
Q. Do you know Leo Frank?—A. I worked for him two days.
Q. Did you observe any misconduct on his part?—A. Well, his actions didn’t suit me. He’d come around and put his hands on me when such conduct was entirely uncalled for.
Q. Is that all he did?—A. No. He asked me one day to come into his office, saying that he wanted to talk to me. He tried to close the door, but I wouldn’t let him. He got too familiar by getting so close to me. He also put his hands on me.
Q. Where did he put his hands?—A. He barely touched my breast. He was subtle with his approaches, and tried to pretend that he was joking but I was too wary for such as that.
Quit His Employ.
Q. Did he try further familiarities?—A. Yes.
Q. When did this happen?—A. Two years ago.
Q. What did you tell him when you left his employ?—A. I just quit, telling him that it didn’t suit me.
Frank’s testimony was looked forward to with keen interest, but when he was called to the stand in the afternoon, he merely answered additional questions as to his movements on the day of the crime and failed to add materially to the evidence in hand.
He appeared pale and haggard from his imprisonment, but he replied to all of the questions clearly and showed no hesitation or apparent fear. He was asked:
Testimony of Frank.
Q. What kind of elevator door is there to the shaft in the pencil factory?—A. Sliding doors.
Q. How many?—A. One on each floor.
Q. Are they latticed or solid?—A. Solid.
Q. Where was the elevator at 12 o’clock Saturday?—A. I did not notice.
Q. Were the doors open or closed?—A. I don’t remember.
Q. What protection would a person have from falling down the shaft if the doors were left open?—A. A bar which projects across the opening.
Q. After the crime was committed, where did the elevator stand?—A. I only know where it stood Sunday morning. It then was on the second floor.
Didn’t File Time Tape.
Q. When you last removed the tape from the time clock, what did you do with it?—A. Handed it to an officer in the building.
Q. Did you put it on file?—A. No.
Q. Are you sure?—A. Yes, positive.
Q. Do you remember a party at your house on the night of April 26?—A. Yes.
Q. Can you name the guests?—A. I don’t remember them all.
Q. When the police came to bring you down to the factory that Sunday morning, what was said about whisky?—A. I said I wanted something warm to drink. One of the detectives suggested whisky.
Q. What time was it?—A. Between 7:30 and 8 o’clock.
Says He Viewed Body.
Q. What did you say about dreaming?—A. I said to someone that I thought I had dreamed of hearing the telephone ring in the dead of night.
Q. When you went to the undertakers’, did you go in the water closet instead of the room in which the body lay?—A. No.
Q. Did you view the body?—A. Yes.
Q. Did you recognize the girl?—A. Yes.
Q. When did you first hear her name?—A. I don’t remember.
Q. What time did you return home that Sunday afternoon?—A. I don’t recollect.
Q. Did you telephone your wife before your return?—A. Yes.
Q. Was the murder discussed at home that afternoon?—A. Not much.
Q. What topic was discussed?—A. I don’t remember.
Often Does Not Remember.
Q. When did Quinn first mention to you his visit to the factory on the 26th?—A. I don’t remember.
Q. What did he say?—A. He said, “Don’t you recollect that I was at the factory Saturday about noon?”
Q. What did you tell him about withholding that information until your attorney had been consulted?—A. I don’t remember. I had so many visitors that I couldn’t recollect the exact words.
Q. Who suggested the conference with your attorney relative to Quinn’s visit?—A. I don’t remember.
Q. How long have you known you had counsel?—A. Since Monday.
Q. Why was it mentioned that Quinn’s visit he kept quiet until consultation with your lawyer?—A. I don’t remember.
Explains Locks and Doors.
Q. How can you lock the door between your office and the dressing room where the blood spots were found?—A. I have never seen it locked.
Q. Is it usually open or locked?—A. Closed.
Q. Is there any way of closing the doors on the back stairway?—A. Yes. They are locked.
Q. Describe your telephone conversation with Detective Starnes at the time you were informed of the tragedy?—A. He asked me if I was superintendent of the National Pencil Factory. “I’d like to have you come down here at once,” he said when I informed him that I was Leo Frank. He said he wanted me to identify a girl, and asked me if I knew Mary Phagan.
Q. Didn’t you say that the first time you had heard her name was while you were traveling in the auto on the way to the factory Sunday morning?—A. I don’t recollect that I did.
Q. Did you have any trouble with a girl in your office Saturday morning?—A. No. There was one incident where a mistake had been made in the pay envelope of Mattie Smith, but it was corrected without any trouble.
Tells of Callers at Office.
Q. What time was Mattie Smith in your office?—A. Between 9 and 10 a. m.
Q. Did any one enter while she was there?—A. I don’t remember.
Q. Give the name of every one in the office throughout the day Saturday?—A. Mr. Darley, Mr. Holloway, the office boy, Miss Hall, the stenographer; Mr. Campbell, Mr. Fullerton, Mrs. White, Lemmie Quinn, Mr. Gantt, Emma Clark, another girl employee, Arthur White, Harry Denham, Newt Lee and Mary Phagan.
Q. Did you see May Barrett?—A. I don’t know her.
Q. What did you say to Emma Clark?—A. I don’t remember saying anything to her.
_______
NO REAL SOLUTION OF PHAGAN SLAYING MYSTERY
EVIDENCE AGAINST MEN NOW HELD IN BAFFLING CASE WEAK, SAYS OLD POLICE REPORTER
Atlanta Georgian
Sunday, May 11th, 1913
Solicitor Dorsey examining a witness
Detectives in Coroner’s Jury Probe Admit They Have Nothing on Which to Convict Anyone in Mysterious Tragedy of Atlanta.
TESTIMONY BROUGHT OUT NO INCRIMINATING POINTS
BY AN OLD POLICE REPORTER.
The most sensational testimony offered at the Coroner’s inquest in the Phagan case was lost sight of entirely by the newspapers.
Juror Langford asked Detective Black, who was on the witness stand: “Have you discovered any positive information as to who committed this murder?”
Detective Black replied, “No, sir, I have not!”
Coroner Donehoo asked Detective Scott of the Pinkerton force on the witness stand:
“Have you any definite information which makes you suspect any party of this crime?”
Detective Scott replied, “I would not commit myself. I am working on a chain of circumstances. Detective Black has been with me all the time on the case and he knows about the circumstances I refer to.”
As you read this over and consider it carefully, you will be impressed by the fact that the two most important detectives engaged for a period of two weeks on the Phagan case testify under oath that they have no positive information as to who committed the crime—in fact really know nothing about it at all.
I am setting down here my own thoughts and ideas, without intending the slightest disrespect to any official, and further, I believe I am at liberty to do so because of Scott’s and Black’s testimony.
MYSTERY STILL WITHOUT SOLUTION.
In The Sunday American of last week I published an article saying that the developments of the preceding week had led nowhere, and that the mystery was then as dark and deep as any mystery that ever puzzled police and detectives.
I can only repeat this statement to-day. I am not in the confidence of any of the detectives, of Solicitor Dorsey, or of Coroner Donehoo, or any of the persons engaged in the attempt to unravel the crime.
I know what the average newspaper readers knows—no more, no less. I walk about the streets a great deal, I ride on the cars and met a great many people who talk about the terrible affair, and I believe I am right in saying that the consensus of opinion now is that the police and detectives are very far indeed from solving the mystery.
In making this statement I do not wish to be understood as casting reflections upon the police or detective force. The men engaged on the case are well-meaning, but of limited experience, and they may have made mistakes.
The infallible detective, like the indispensible man, does not exist.
All detectives are not “man catchers,” and many detectives employ very stupid methods in their work. They can see the obvious things, but they lack imagination. Their minds work like a circular saw, and a knotty problem sometimes stops their minds from working entirely, just as a tangle of knots in a plank being sawed puts the saw out of business.
I pay my respects here to Coroner Donehoo in the way he has handled the case. His examinations of witnesses showed unusual intelligence. His questions were searching and he exhibited a zeal in the public welfare that must not be overlooked. But Coroner Donehoo is not a Sherlock Holmes. He performed his function under the law in a creditable manner. He really wasted hours in asking questions that might have been spared except that there was always a hope that a blind question might catch a witness off-guard and there would be an ensuing revelation.
What did the Coroner’s inquiry develop?
Take first the case of Lee. The testimony against him is that he is the only person KNOWN to have been in the pencil factory, after 6:30 o’clock in the evening until the body was discovered.
Frank testified that he found three “skips” in the clock tape Lee should have punched.
Sergeant R. J. Brown testified that Lee could not have seen the body from the place the night watchman told him he first saw it.
Sergeant L. S. Dobbs testified that Lee, without suggestion from any one, said that the words “night witch” in one of the notes found near the body of the dead girl meant “night watchman.”
F. M. Berry, assistant cashier at the Fourth National Bank, testified that the notes found near the body were in his opinion written by Lee.
Detectives told of finding a shirt with blood stains near the right shoulder in a barrel at the rear of Lee’s house. The indications were that the shirt never had been worn, however.
TESTIMONY FAVORING LEE.
Testimony favoring Lee is that he was not alone in the building until after 6:30 o’clock, and that it can not reasonably be supposed that he would have been able to lure the girl to the factory by any means after this time, or even that the girl would have been alone in that vicinity at that time. There is no evidence to account for her whereabouts between 12:10 and 6:30 o’clock.
Lee’s own testimony was that he did not know the girl and that he never saw her until he came upon the body in the basement of the factory shortly before 3 o’clock Sunday morning.
W. W. Rogers testified that Lee did not appear excited. Other officers who went to the factory Sunday morning corroborated this testimony.
These circumstances conflict with what is known of Lee’s nature. The natural course for Lee, had he been the culprit, it is argued, would have been instant flight.
The framing of the notes to divert suspicion, according to the testimony of persons familiar with the negro nature, was too subtle a plan to suggest itself to Lee’s mind.
What was developed against Frank?
The principal points brought out connecting him with the crime were:
He was the last person known to have seen Mary Phagan. By his own testimony, he saw her at 12:10 Saturday afternoon, April 26, when she appeared at the factory to get her pay. No one was able to swear she was seen after that time.
G. W. Epps, Jr., a boy friend of the Phagan girl, testified that Mary had told him Frank had waited at the door when she left the factory one day and winked at her and tried to flirt. Epps rode to town with her the day she went to the factory to get her money, and was to meet her again at 4 o’clock at Five Points. She did not appear, lending strength to the theory that she never left the factory after once going to get her pay.
FRANK’S CONDUCT WITH GIRLS.
Thomas Blackstock, a former employee, testified that he had seen Frank attempt liberties with girls in the factory.
Nellie Pettis, 9 Oliver Street, testified that Frank had made improper advances to her when she went to get her sister-in-law’s pay at the factory. She said he pulled out a box of money from a drawer and looked at her and then the money and asked: “How about it?”
Mrs. C. D. Donegan, 165 West Fourteenth Street, said she had seen Frank smile and flirt with the girls in his employ.
Nellie Wood, 8 Corput Street, testified that Frank had attempted familiarities with her in his office, and had put his hands on her and had tried to persuade her to remain with him in his office.
Frank testified that he was at the factory Saturday afternoon from 12 to 1 o’clock and from 3 to 6:30 o’clock. Harry Denham, Arthur White and White’s wife were in the factory part of the afternoon, the two men until 3:10. From 3:10 until 3:45 Frank was alone in the factory. Then Newt Lee came and was told by Frank to take the remainder of the afternoon off until 6 o’clock. From about 4 o’clock until 6, Frank again was alone in the factory, so far as the testimony showed.
Lee testified that the crime could not have been committed in the night without his knowledge, as he had gone past the lathe machine on the second floor, where the struggle is believed to have taken place, twice every half hour on his regular rounds.
Lee testified that Frank appeared greatly agitated when he met him at the door of the factory office just before 4 o’clock. He said that Frank seemed nervous and was rubbing his hands in an excited fashion.
J. M. Gantt, a former employee who happened to be in the factory at 6 o’clock, testified that Frank appeared nervous and apprehensive at this time.
UNABLE TO REACH FRANK AT 3.
Call Officer Anderson testified that he tried to telephone Frank at his home after the police had viewed the body at 3 o’clock Sunday morning, but that he could not get him.
W. W. Rogers, former county policeman, who carried the officers in his automobile to the scene of the murder and later to get Frank, testified that Frank, when he saw the officers, began to ask them if “anything had happened at the factory?” and if the night watchman had “found anything” when nothing had been told him at that time as to the tragedy.
Rogers said he saw Frank remove the time slip from the time clock which Lee had punched. Rogers said that there were no “skips” on it, but that it was punched regularly every half hour from 6:30 in the evening until 2:30 the next morning. It was shortly after 2:30 o’clock that Lee told the officers he had found the body. The time slip which later was turned over to Chief Lanford by Frank had three “skips” in it.
Lee testified that Frank had told him the Sunday the body was found that the clock was punched all right and later contradicted himself by saying there were three “skips” in it, and that it “looked queer.”
Lee testified that Frank had told him in a private conference that “they would both go to hell” if Lee maintained his present attitude.
Harry Scott, Pinkeron detective, bore out Lee on this point.
I am inclined to classify this as negative testimony.
Frank is reached and held through a process of elimination.
Testimony pointing toward the innocence of Frank was that of Frank himself.
He said that he had not known Mary Phagan by name before her murder; that he recalled paying her at 12:10 Saturday afternoon, but that she left his office at once and he heard her footsteps dying away as though she had left the building. He said he remained at the factory until 1 o’clock in the afternoon and then went to his home for luncheon, returning about 3 o’clock. He said that he was entirely alone from 4 o’clock until 6, and that he arrived home at 7 in the evening, where he remained. He declared he knew nothing of the tragedy until the following morning. He said that he dreamed during the night that some one was ringing the telephone, but that he did not fully awaken. In this manner he explained his failure to answer the telephone.
Harry Denham, one of the men in the factory Saturday afternoon until 3:10 o’clock, testified that Frank did not appear nervous or agitated when he saw him.
F. M. Berry, assistant cashier of the Fourth National Bank, testified that the notes found by the side of Mary Phagan did not appear to be in the handwriting of Frank.
Lemmie Quinn testified that he was in the office of Frank Saturday afternoon between 12:15 and 12:30, and that he did not see Mary Phagan in the office or anywhere else in the building.
Mr. and Mrs. Emil Selig, Frank’s parents-in-law, corroborated the story of Frank’s movements during the day.
Quinn and other men in the factory testified that they never had seen Frank many any improper advances toward the girls, but that on the contrary he had been most courteous when he had any personal dealings with them, which was not frequently.
Miss Corinthia Hall, one of the employees, said she never had observed Frank attempt any liberties with any of the girls.
Herbert Schiff, chief clerk in the factory, testified that the work which Frank accomplished Saturday afternoon on the financial sheet would have taken any expert five or six hours.
EVIDENCE IS NOT CONVINCING.
I ask would YOU consider this very convincing in the case of either man?
I do not.
But after the Coroner’s inquest the case assumes a new form. The whole matter now rests in the hands of Solicitor Dorsey. I have never met him. All that I heard about him is in his favor. But he has never shown any unusual skill as a detective. He knows criminal law, and he will proceed along the regular lines of bringing the whole matter to the attention of the Grand Jury, and indicting both Frank and Lee. Then will come the trial.
If Detectives Scott and Black are reported accurately in their testimony, as quoted at the beginning of this article, then the prosecution in my opinion has very little upon which to base a successful trial of either of the men now held for the crime. Lee came through the cross-questioning without any discredit at all. The points made against Frank are not of much importance. They may foreshadow something big. They were, of course, sufficient to warrant the Coroner’s Jury in holding him for the Grand Jury.
An indictment by the Grand Jury does not mean that a person is guilty. Far from it.
CRIME SHOULD BE UNRAVELED.
I hope Solicitor Dorsey will be able to unravel the great mystery, and that he will have evidence enough to convince—not only a jury of twelve men, but the entire community as well, of the guilt or innocence of whatever persons, Frank, Lee or others who may yet be caught in the net, of the murder of the innocent little girl.
An indictment by the Grand Jury is a very important legal document. It must be air tight, and held together by such a strong chain of evidence that it can not be broken anywhere. It has to run the whole gauntlet of the law. An imperfect indictment falls of its own weight.
For the battle really begins—not before a Coroner’s Jury, but in the court room, where the law and the facts have precedence over everything else.
When the prosecution in the Phagan case goes into court, it will be faced by one of the best lawyers in the South.
Luther Z. Rosser, big of frame, big of intellect, big in the knowledge of the law and schooled in all the intricacies of its machinery, will be at the opposing counsel’s table, making a battle for his client, turning evidence with his shield from the lance of Mr. Dorsey, sifting every piece of evidence for the jury, challenging every inch of the law to the judge.
And I am told, that he is skillful with the use of the broad sword as he is deft with the rapier.
I am writing thus freely, for the reason that the two detectives, quoted at the beginning of this article, in their testimony gave me the right to discuss the matter in the columns of the newspapers as I am doing.
PRECEDENT HAS NOT YET BEEN VIOLATED.
This is no violation of precedent. It is not for the purpose of establishing the guilt or innocence of any person. It is solely because I am trying to set down what I believe to be the thoughts running through the minds of the average man and woman.
Frank and Lee may be guilty, but it would require a great deal more evidence than has been published in the newspapers to convince me of it.
It may be that Mr. Dorsey has a mass of evidence to present to the jury when it confronts the accused in open court, and overwhelm the defense with sensation after sensation and buttressed fact after buttressed fact.
I do not know whether this is so or not. I give my own opinion for what it is worth. What the detectives and police now have against Frank and Lee at this moment is apparently worthless.
Any day or any hour may bring forth new suspects and the real criminals.
I can not help but sympathize with Frank in being held as he is on the very slight evidence presented against him. At the moment, it would seem as though he were a victim of circumstance and that he would have to take the consequences that follow being the superintendent of the factory and the last person who is said to have seen Mary Phagan alive. And consequences, as George Eliot said, are unpitying.
FRANK’S PAST IN HIS FAVOR.
I said in my article in last Sunday’s American that what is known of Frank’s past is in his favor. I reiterate that. He is a college graduate, a man of culture, has traveled considerably, and stands well among his friends.
Public Opinion that first condemned Lee, then Frank, then both of them, then was ready summarily to dispose of them without waiting for the process of the law, is calmer to-day and anxious for the facts.
I do not mean by this that I believe Public Opinion would acquit Frank without a trial, for the belief prevails that not all of the evidence has been made public. But Public Opinion is willing to “play fair” and hear the facts.
I hope Solicitor Dorsey will continue his investigation while he is weaving his web around Frank and Lee. It may be that they are not guilty. It may be that some other person or persons committed the ghastly deed. It is worth while for our alert prosecutor to watch in all directions for the criminals.
And it may be well for our citizens to keep their minds open and receptive, not acquitting or condemning anybody, no matter of what color, race or creed, until all the facts are known.
We can afford to be patient—even with THE LAW.
The great professor Drummond once asked a little girl to a Glasgow Sunday school for a definition of patience. She replied: “To wait a-wheel, an dinna get weary, to keep yer mouth shut and yer eyes open!”
_______
_____
Inquest This Morning.
Atlanta Constitution
Wednesday, April 30th, 1913
Coroner Donehoo last night set the time for the inquest at this morning at 8:45 o’clock. It will be held in Bloomfield’s undertaking establishment on South Pryor street. A thorough investigation will be made into the mystery. It will then be determined if the evidence at hand is sufficient to commit Frank and the negro watchman to higher courts.
_______
Frank Not Apparently Nervous Say Last Men to Leave Factory
Atlanta Constitution
Thursday, May 1st, 1913
Following Mechanic Barrett’s declaration that there were two men at work Saturday at noon on the top floor of the factory building, Coroner Donehoo ordered detectives to accompany the machinist to the plant and bring the two employees to police headquarters.
They were brought immediately into the inquest. Their names were given as Harry Denham and J. Arthur White. Denham was first placed on the stand. His examination began immediately upon arrival.
“Did you see the blood on the lathing machine?”
“I saw it Monday.”
“Were you on that floor Saturday?”
“No. I was on the top floor.”
“Did you see Frank at any time of the day?”
“Yes.”
Asked When They Would Finish.
“Did he offer you holiday as the others had been given?”
“No. He came up to where we were working and asked us if we would be through by 1 o’clock.”
“Did you ever know Mary Phagan?”
“I knew her only by sight.”
“Did you see her Saturday?”
“No, I never left the top floor.”
“Were you aware of everything which transpired in the building during the time you were within it?”
“No. A person could have come into the plant and we never would have known anything about it.”
“How long have you worked with the pencil company?”
“Three years.”
“Have you ever heard of couples going into the building at night?”
“No.”
“Have you ever been in the partitioned room in Frank’s office?”
“No.”
Apparently Not Nervous.
“When Frank came to where you were working at 3 o’clock Saturday afternoon to tell you that you could quit, did he seem nervous or agitated?”
“Not that I noticed. He didn’t come all the way. He came to the head of the steps and called to us.”
“Did you go down with him?”
“No. He went down ahead of us.”
“Was he in his office?”
“Yes. When I went down I borrowed $2 from him.”
“Where did you leave him?”
“Writing at his desk.”
“Was anyone else in the factory?”
“No one of whom I know, except Frank.”
“How many rooms are there in Frank’s office?”
“Only two—his and the stenographer’s.”
“Can you see any one in the private office from the stenographer’s room?”
“Yes, if you try to.”
“As you left the building Saturday afternoon, did you notice in Frank’s office any change from the customary state in the condition of furniture?”
“No.”
“Who uses the office beside Frank?”
“Mr. Darley, the assistant superintendent.”
Left Building for a While.
Arthur White’s story coincided with that told by Denham. He was examined mostly, though, along different lines.
“Who was in the building besides you, Denham and Frank?”
“My wife came up shortly after noon. Mr. Frank came to her and told her he was going to lock up and advised her to leave the building. He also asked us if we didn’t think we’d bet-told him we weren’t through. When we told him we weren’t through, he said for us to stay in the place until he returned, as he was going out on the street. He came back at 3:08 and we punched out at 3:10 o’clock.”
“When did Frank leave?”
“He left right away.”
“Do you know where he went?”
“No. He locked us in the building though.”
“Is there a closet in Frank’s office?”
“Yes, there is. A kind of wardrobe.”
“Did it look big enough to hold a human body?”
“Yes. It was about nine feet high and four feet wide.”
“Where was it located?”
“Behind the door of his private office.”
“Was the door closed?”
“I didn’t notice.”
_______
FRANK TRIED TO FLIRT WITH MURDERED GIRL SAYS HER BOY CHUM
Atlanta Constitution
Thursday May 1st 1913
Mary Phagan Was Growing Afraid of Advances Made to Her by Superintendent of the Factory, George W. Epps, 15 Years Old, Tells the Coroner’s Jury.
BOY HAD ENGAGEMENT TO MEET HER SATURDAY BUT SHE DID NOT COME
Newt Lee, Night Watchman, on Stand Declared Frank Was Much Excited on Saturday Afternoon—Pearl Robinson Testifies for Arthur Mullinax—Two Mechanics Brought by Detectives to the Inquest.
LEO FRANK REFUSES TO DISCUSS EVIDENCE
When a Constitution reporter saw Leo M. Frank early this morning and told him of the testimony to the effect that he had annoyed Mary Phagan by an attempted flirtation, the prisoner said that he had not heard of this accusation before, but that he did not want to talk. He would neither affirm nor deny the negro’s accusation that never before the night of the tragedy had Frank phoned to inquire if all was well at the factory, as he did on the night of the killing.
Evidence that Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the pencil factory in which the lifeless body of Mary Phagan was found, had tried to flirt with her, and that she was growing afraid of his advances, was submitted to the coroner’s jury at the inquest yesterday afternoon, a short time before adjournment was taken until 4:30 o’clock today by George W. Epps, aged 15, a chum of the murdered victim.
George rode with Mary to the city Saturday morning an hour before she disappeared at noon. He testified late Wednesday afternoon that the girl had told him of attempts Leo Frank had made to flirt with her, and of apparent advances in which he was daily growing bolder.
“She said she was getting afraid,” he told at the inquest. “She wanted me to come to the factory every afternoon in the future and escort her home. She didn’t like the way Frank was acting toward her.”
Waited Two Hours For Girl.
George had an engagement to meet the girl Saturday afternoon at 2 o’clock, he said. They were scheduled to watch the Memorial parade and tour the picture shows. He waited two hours for her. She had disappeared. The next known of her was when the lifeless form was found in the factory basement.
Frank was not present during the investigation but once. Detectives brought him before the jury for identification by E. S. Skipper, the man who saw the mysterious sextette of youths and girls Saturday night at Whitehall and Trinity. He remained but a moment.
Sensational developments were predicted shortly after the inquest was resumed at 2:15 o’clock, when Coroner Donehoo ordered detectives to bring to police headquarters the two mechanics who were in the factory building with Frank during the early part of Saturday afternoon.
They are Harry Denham and Arthur White, two youths who have been connected with the plant for several years. Detective Scott found them at work in the factory and escorted them to the inquest. They left the police station immediately after being examined.
A mystifying phase was added to the progress of the inquest when Edgar L. Sentell, a clerk in Kamper’s grocery, declared positively that he had seen Mary Phagan with Arthur Mullinax at midnight Saturday as they crossed the corner of Hunter and Forsyth streets a few yards distant from the pencil factory.
Sentell had known the dead girl since early childhood. They were intimate friends, he said. Asserting that he had spoken to her, he stoutly maintained that she had answered his greeting.
J. L. Watkins, a neighbor to the home to which Mary lived, also testified that he had seen her Saturday afternoon when she crossed Ashby street at Bellwood. She presumably was on her way home, he stated.
George Epps is a bright, quick-witted chap and proved an eager witness. He was brought before the inquest following the examination of Pearl Robinson, the sweetheart of Arthur Mullinax, who testified in that youth’s behalf.
“How old are you son?” was the first question asked him.
“Fifteen—going on sixteen,” he answered with alacrity.
“Do you work or go to school?”
“I work at a furniture store. In the afternoon I sell papers.”
His answers were clear and brief. He made a pleasing impression.
Lives Near Phagan Girl.
“How far do you live from 136 Lindsay street—the home of Mary Phagan?”
“Just around the block.”
“Did you know Mary?”
“Yes, sir, I certainly did. We were good friends.”
“When did you last see her alive?”
“Saturday morning, just before dinner when we came to town together on a street car.
“Did you arrange to meet her that afternoon?”
“Yes, sir. We were to have met at 2 o’clock in Elkin & Watson’s drug store at Five Points. We were going to see the parade and go to the moving picture shows.”
“How long did you wait for her when she failed to show up?”
“Until 4 o’clock in the afternoon. I stuck around two hours waiting for her. Then I had to go and sell my papers.”
“Did you inquire for her?”
“Yes. I went to her house when I got through with my papers. She hadn’t got back. The folks were looking for her.”
“When you and Mary were riding to town, did you talk any?”
She Wanted Money Mighty Bad.
“We talked a whole lot. She said she was going to the pencil factory to draw the wages due her. She said she didn’t have but $1.60 coming to her, but wanted that mighty bad.”
“How was she dressed?”
“She had on a blue dress and a dark blue hat. I remember that hat mighty well because I asked her why didn’t she buy a stylish lid? ‘Umph,’ she said, ‘I’m no stylish girl. I don’t need one.’”
“Did you both get on the car at the same time?”
“No. She was on first. When I got on she motioned for me to come and sit beside her. While we were coming to town she began talking about Mr. Frank. When she would leave the factory on some afternoons she said Frank would rush out in front of her and try to flirt with her as she passed.
She told me that he had often winked at her and tried to pay her attention. He would look hard and straight at her she said and then would smile. She called him Mr. Frank. It happened often she said.”
“How was the subject of Mr. Frank brought up?”
“She told me she wanted me to come down to the factory when she got off as often as I could to escort her home and kinder protect her.”
“When did you hear she was killed?”
“Sunday.”
Positive that he had seen Mary Phagan at midnight Saturday, Edgar L. Sentell offered to swear that it was the pretty victim whom he encountered with the suspected Mullinax at Forsyth and Hunter streets. He was the first witness during the afternoon session.
“I met Mary Phagan and Mullinax at Hunter and South Forsyth streets either between 11:30 and 12, or a little later. I am not positive which,” he stated.
“Were they standing together?” he was questioned.
“No. They were walking along.”
“Are you confident you knew both Mullinax and Mary?”
“I knew Mullinax at the car barns. I had known Mary all my life. I was born and raised with her.”
“When was the last time you saw her?”
“One week previous to Saturday night.”
“Did you speak to her?”
“I did. I said, ‘Hello, Mary.’”
“Did she reply?”
“She did. She said, ‘Hello, Edgar.’”
“Were her parents accustomed to letting her go with boys?”
Amazed to See Her Uptown.
“No. They were not. It amazed me when I saw her uptown at such an hour with a man. She looked like she was tired and fagged out.”
“What did she wear?”
“A light purple dress, black shoes and a light blue ribbon tied in her hair. She didn’t have a hat. An umbrella was in her hand.”
“Can you swear that it was Mary Phagan you saw?”
“I can and I will. I am swearing now that it was Mary Phagan I saw.”
“Can you swear it was Mullinax?”
“I am not so positive about him. If it wasn’t, it was his spit-and-image.”
“Did you know Mullinax’s name?”
“No. Not at that time. I had seen him so much around the car barns, though. I learned his name later.”
“When did you first hear of Mary’s murder?”
“Sunday morning on an English avenue trolley car.”
“Who did you first tell?”
“Mrs. Coleman, her mother.”
“Did the paper tell who was killed?”
Went to Mother Of Girl.
“No. I heard men at the car barn say the girl’s name was Phagan. I immediately remembered seeing Mary at midnight. I went straight to Mrs. Coleman and learned that it was her daughter.”
“Where did you work before becoming connected with your present employers?”
“I was in the navy.”
“When did you leave?”
“April 18, 1913.”
“How long had you been there?”
“Three months.”
“Why did you leave?”
“Because of eye affliction. I couldn’t read the targets on the rifle range.”
“Is your eye sight ordinarily affected?”
“Not particularly so.”
“Are you sure your eyes didn’t fail you when you saw this girl Saturday at midnight?”
“I am positive they did not.”
“Do you drink?”
“Occasionally. But I never get drunk.”
“Were you drinking Saturday night?”
“Not a drop.”
At this juncture the clothing worn by the murdered girl was held to the questioned man’s gaze.
“Is this the dress she wore when you saw her Saturday night?”
“It is.”
Detectives Black and Scott; a scene from the inquest; and Newt Lee
Bloody Hairs Are Found.
The discovery of a dozen strands of bloody hair identified by her sister workers as that of the murdered girls was related by R. P. Barrett, a mechanic in the pencil plant who made the find.
He was placed upon the stand directly after it had been vacated by Policeman Lasseter.
“What is your employment?”
“I am a machinist with the National Pencil company.”
“How long have you been with them?”
“Seven weeks.”
“Did you know Mary Phagan?”
“Yes. She ran a nulling machine at the factory.
“When did you see her last?”
“Tuesday, one week ago. She didn’t work after that because of shortage of metal.”
“How far is her machine from the dressing room she used?”
“About six feet.”
“Was anything unusual found around the machine at which she worked?”
Splotches Of Blood.
“The girls at the factory told me Monday that Mary had been murdered. They were dim, and looked as the floor at the base of her machine. I found several dim, and looked as though whitewash had been spread over them. It looked as though the floor had been swept carefully.”
“Was anything else found on the floor?”
“Yes. Monday morning, I started to work upon a lathing machine nearby the nulling machine of Mary’s. My hands became tangled with long hair. I picked out a dozen strands or more. They were bloody. A number of the girls came and identified them as having come from Mary’s head.”
“Was Mary a quiet girl?”
“Exceptionally quiet, and a very well behaved one.”
“Did anyone pay, or attempt to pay, attention to her?”
“Not of my knowledge. No one did around the factory.”
“How large was the spot of blood you found near the machine at which she worked?”
“About six inches in diameter. There several smaller spots.”
“What floor?”
“Second.”
“How near the elevator?”
“At the extreme end—200 or more feet, I would judge, from the lift.”
Girls Afraid Of Frank.
“Did you ever know of familiarity which Frank tried with Mary?”
“No.”
Declaring that, in his opinion, both of the notes found beside the dead girl’s body were written by the same person, F. M. Berry, assistant cashier of the Fourth National bank, and a handwriting expert, said that the script in the mysterious missives resembled only slightly that of the writing of the suspected watchman.
He took the stand at 3:30 p. m.
“What experience have you in distinguishing handwriting?”
“Only the experience that could be gained by my twenty-three years of service with the bank.”
The notes were shown him. He inspected them closely in the light of a window fronting Decatur street.
“Were they written by the same person?” he was asked.
“In my opinion, they were.”
Was Factory Used For Assignation?
Berry, the factory mechanic, was recalled to the stand at 4:10 o’clock. Sensational evidence was gained from him relative to the usage of the factory building as an alleged place of assignation for men and women.
“Did anybody work in the plant during a Saturday?” was the first question.
“No one of my direct knowledge. I heard, however, of two young employees who were at work on the top floor.”
“Do you know them?”
“Not their names.”
“Could you point them out to the detectives?”
“I could.”
“Then,” from Coroner Donehoo, “I will send a man after them. You go with him.”
“What is the usual pay hour of the factory?”
“At 12 noon on Saturdays.”
“Have you ever heard of the building used for immoral purposes?”
“Yes. Frequently. A Mr. Asbury Calloway, connected with the Scaboard offices near the factory building, has told me that he has often seen men and women and girls going in and out of the building at night.”
“Had you heard such rumors from the inside of the concern—by that is meant from attaches to the plant?”
“No.”
“Don’t you suspect that some of the girls of the factory have filled clandestine appointments in the building?”
“I don’t think so. I believe every girl in the place is straight—absolutely.”
Gantt Smiles During Quiz.
J. M. Gantt, the Marietta youth who is held as a suspect in the Phagan case, was put through a grueling examination. He never flinched through the ordeal, answered the questions promptly and concisely and smiled during the entire procedure.
He was put on the rack the moment his sweetheart, Pearl Robinson, had been excused. He remained under examination probably longer than any other witness except the negro, Newt Lee. The time was an hour.
“Did you know Mary Phagan?”
“I did. I had known her since she was a little tot.”
“Were you ever employed with the pencil factory?”
“I was—up until three weeks ago.”
“Why did you leave them?”
“I was discharged.”
“Why were you discharged?”
Alleged Shortage the Trouble.
“Because of personal differences with Mr. Frank, the superintendent.
“What were the differences?”
“Two dollars short in the pay roll.”
“Were you in charge of the pay roll?”
“I was paymaster.”
“Did you ever see Frank with Mary Phagan?”
“No.”
“You always paid off the employees, did you not?”
“I did.”
“How were they paid?”
“With the envelope method.”
“Did you ever pay Mary Phagan?”
“Yes.”
“What did she make?”
“Presumably $4.05 a week, judging by the wage scale of the plant.”
“When did you see her last?”
“The day I quit the pencil company.”
“Had you seen her since?”
“No.”
“Where did you go on Saturday?”
Went to the Factory.
“I went to the pencil factory about 6:30 o’clock that afternoon.”
“Did you see Mr. Frank there?”
“Yes.”
“Did he appear excited, agitated?”
“Yes. He seemed nervous.”
“Did you ever hear Mary Phagan say she couldn’t trust Frank—that she feared him in any manner?”
“No.”
“How long were you in the building Saturday afternoon?”
“No longer than ten minutes.”
“What did you do?”
“I got a pair of shoes I had left in the place when I quit. Also, I telephoned my sister, Mrs. F. C. Terrell what time I intended coming home that night. I used the phone in Mr. Frank’s office.”
“Then what did you do?”
“Went to the poolroom, watched several games of pool and went home.”
“What time did you arrive home?”
“10:30 p. m.”
“Were you there when the police came?”
“No.”
“Did your sister tell of their visit?”
“No.”
Shank Takes Stand.
Other testimony relative to the rumored immoral reputation of the factory building was gained from V. F. Shank, of Shank Bros., whose establishment is on Forsyth street, near the pencil plant.
Shank was called immediately after Barrett had left the stand.
“Do you work at night?”
“I do.”
“Have you ever seen couples going into the pencil factory?”
“I have seen no couples. I have witnessed girls and men going singly into the place after dark.”
“How long has it been since you’ve seen this?”
“Last summer some time.”
“Did you make a statement recently of having seen girls enter the building?”
“I said a crowd of such sights I had seen. We were discussing the question of whether or not frolics were secretly held in the place.”
Thought Girl Was Mary.
E. S. Skipper, of 224 1-2 Peters street, testified that he saw a sextet of men and women reeling drunkenly up Trinity avenue from Whitehall street Saturday night shortly before 11 o’clock. One of the girls, he said, answered the description of Mary Phagan.
“What did you see at Trinity and Whitehall?”
“Three men, two women and a girl dressed like and resembling the dead girl whom I saw at Bloomfield’s. The girl was weeping and trying to break away from the party. She was being led up the street.”
“Did either man answer the description of Frank?”
“I haven’t seen Frank.”
At this juncture the examination was stopped. Frank was brought down from the detectives quarters and put face to face with the witness.
“That’s not the man,” Skipper said.
“When you saw these drunken men and women leading a reluctant girl, didn’t you think it your duty to call the police?”
“I see scenes like that on the streets every Saturday night.”
Step-Father Tells of Grief.
J. W. Coleman, step-father of the murdered girl, told graphically of the grief in the little home on Lindsay street over the death when he took the stand at dusk.
“How old was Mary Phagan?”
“She would have been 14 next June.”
“When did you last see her alive?”
“Friday night. She was at home early and was helping her mother with the housework. I left for work too early to see her Saturday morning.”
“When you got home Saturday afternoon, was Mary there?”
“No. My wife came and said ‘Mary has not come home. What do you suppose is the trouble? I am scared to death.’ I couldn’t eat supper. Her absence affected me. Mary was never known to be away from home at night.
I came to town and visited all the picture shows staying until they all had closed. When I returned, my wife and I speculated on what could have become of the child. We never slept any that night. At daybreak Helen Ferguson, a girl chum of Mary’s came over.
The moment she rang the door bell my wife jumped from her seat. ‘Oh Lord, that’s bad news from Mary,’ she said. The Ferguson girl came in. ‘Mary has been murdered,’ she told us. My wife fainted and she has been almost unable to walk since.”
The coroner then adjourned the inquest until 4:30 o’ clock today.
_______
Newt Lee Tells His Story During Morning Session
Atlanta Constitution
Thursday, May 1st, 1913
White and Denham, the mechanics who were working on the fourth floor
Was the man who first assaulted and then brutally killed Mary Phagan last Saturday night hiding in the basement of the National Pencil company when the watchman, Newt Lee, came down and discovered the girl’s mutilated body early Sunday morning?
This is the question that rose to everyone’s mind, following the testimony of the negro night watchman, at the coroner’s inquest Wednesday. In direct contradiction to the evidence of every policeman who had been on the scene, the negro declared that he found the body, lying face up, with the head toward the wall. When the police arrived, the body was lying face down, with the head pointing toward the front of the building.
The most severe cross examination could not shake the negro. He stuck to his story, never seeming to waver for an instant. So convincing was his air that it became the general idea that the murderer must have been in the cellar at the time, waiting to burn the body of his victim. Lee’s coming down into the cellar may have frightened him away.
He declared that when he reported for work at 4 o’clock on the afternoon before the tragedy, his employer told him to go home until 6 o’clock. Frank looked nervous and excited at the time, he said. He also said that Frank had called him up later in the night, to find if everything was all right, something that he had never done before.
What was thought earlier in the day to be damaging to the negro—his declaration that he was positive that it was the body of a white girl as soon as he saw it—was brushed aside when he explained that he saw the difference because of the hair, which was straight and brown; totally unlike that of a negress.
The same jury that was used by Coroner Donehoo Monday morning was reimpaneled at 9 o’clock Wednesday morning, when the inquest reconvened.
Inquest at Police Headquarters.
The inquest was held at police headquarters. W. F. Anderson, a call officer on the police force, who took the negro’s message, when he reported the finding of the body, was the first to testify.
He described the body as he found it after the negro had led him and other officers to it. He stated specifically that the head pointed toward the front of the building and that the body was lying face down.
Minutely, he gave all of the grewsome details of the dead girl’s appearance. He told how evident it had been that she had been in a struggle to the death, how her stocking was torn, her shoe missing and her whole face discolored by bruises and grime. So shocking was her state, he declared, that he did not know at first whether she was white or colored.
He said that her neck was knotted around with twine and a piece of cloth, evidently torn from her underskirt.
He declared that the staple that had been used to hold the door from the basement closed had been drawn.
Physician Does Questioning.
Dr. J. W. Hurt took up the questioning at this point.
“Could the negro have seen a body lying 20 or 30 feet away from where he was standing, by the light of the lantern that he carried?” he asked.
“He could not,” replied the policeman. “At the most he could have seen for 12 or 15 feet. His lantern was very old and dirty.”
Sergeant R. J. Brown, who also went to the scene of the crime, was next called before the jury. He corroborated the other policeman’s testimony, in regard to the impossibility for anyone to distinguish the race of the girl without the most minute examination. He also declared that the negro could have seen nothing, standing 25 feet away from the body. “It was very hard to see with our regular police flash lights,” he said, “ and the negro only had a very weak lamp. I am sure that he could not have seen anything at a distance of 25 feet.”
“This is nothing but a child,” he testified that he exclaimed when he first saw the body. He said that he could not tell her color until he rolled down one stocking and looked at the knee.
He went over the revolting details of the girl’s condition. His testimony did not conflict with his brother officers’ in any way, but he told of some matters which the other had failed to bring out.
He said that there was dirt in her mouth even. The negro nightwatchman had told him, he said, that he rarely came down in the cellar, but that he had a special reason for doing so on that night.
When he was questioned about the telephoning of the news to Superintendent Frank that the sergeant’s information became most damaging.
“We called up at once almost,” he testified, “but, although we told central that a girl had been murdered and that it was of the utmost importance that we get the number, we could not get in communication with Mr. Frank until much later in the day.”
Blood-Stained Garments Shown.
It was then that the most dramatic occurrence of the whole day took place. A one-piece purple silk dress, dirty and torn and blood-stained, and a gunmetal slipper, worn by Mary Phagan on the night of the murder, were shown to the jury.
Ben Phagan, the dead girl’s sailor brother, rose from his seat and looked down on the little heap of clothes with eyes that tragically stared. For a moment he stood so, and then walked out, his head bowed, his hands over his eyes.
Upon being recalled, Officer Anderson testified that the body of the girl had still been warm when he came there and that blood was flowing from some of the wounds.
Police Sergeant L. S. Dobbs, who was next called, identified the notes that had been found by the girl’s body. He declared that, after a minute examination, he had been able to say with authority that the body was that of a white girl. External appearances, he said, tended to show that the body had been dragged and thrown into the corner.
He said that after examining the body he turned to the negro watchman and accused him of having either committed the crime or of knowing something of it. The negro, he said, denied all knowledge of the affair.
Read Note to Negro.
He said that he then read him the note in which the girl is purported to have written: “Tall, black, thin negro did this. He will try to lay it on night—“ The negro then replied, he declared, “That means me—the night watchman.”
Other evidence simply corroborated the testimony of his brother officers.
Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, was called on the stand at 11:45 o’ clock. He testified that Frank had especially instructed him to come to work two hours earlier than usual that Saturday, because of its being a holiday.
“Go out and have some more fun,” Frank told him when he came to work at 4 o’ clock, he declared. He explained that he made a round of the building every half-hour, only going to the basement when he had an unusual amount of time on his hands.
He said that Frank was still in the building when Gantt, a former bookkeeper, came to the door and asked to be allowed in to get an old pair of shoes that he had left inside. The negro declared that he had told Gantt that it was against the rules, but that he would ask his employer.
Frank Looked Frightened.
Lee declared that Frank looked frightened when he told him that Gantt was downstairs. He thought that this might have been caused by Frank’s fear that the other, whom he had recently quarreled with and discharged, might “do him dirt.”
He said that Gantt got the shoes, wrapped them up and made an engagement with someone over the telephone for 9 o’clock that night. The negro was unable to say who Gantt had talked to, but he said that it was a lady.
“How did you know?” he was asked. “By the name,” he replied. He could not remember the name when further questioned, however.
He said that he saw Gantt leave, passing on down the street. He said that he did not know when Frank left, however. He explained the superintendent might have come back at any time, anyway, as he had a key.
He said that he went down into the basement at about 7 o’clock, after making a round of the building. He declared that the gas jet, which he had left burning when he left before, that morning, was not burning as brightly as before.
Frank Calls Up.
He said that shortly after this Frank called up to find if everything was all right. “It is as far as I know,” he declared he answered.
He said Frank called before at night
When he declared that he had found the body lying with the face up, the coroner directly asked him, “Why did you turn it over?”
“I didn’t,” stoutly averred the negro.
He declared that he had punched the time clock every half-hour; that he himself had put in a fresh slip with Frank.
He said that when he first saw the body in the basement it had looked very vague in its outline, and that he thought that boys had put it there to frighten him. It was only when he saw the bloody face and straight hair, he said, that he recognized it as the body of a white woman. He then became frightened and called up the police.
He said that he had been told by employers on Sunday following his arrest that he had punched the clock regularly Saturday night.
He emphatically declared that his lantern had been cleaned Friday and that it was in good condition. He said that a negro fireman (Knollys) probably had a key to the back door of the building, kept open during the day.
Thinks He Saw Girl.
J. G. Spier, of Cartersville, testified that Saturday afternoon at about 4 o’clock he passed the factory and saw in front of it a 17-year-old girl and a man about 25 years old, both very much excited. He said that he came back nearly an hour later and noticed the same couple standing at the same place.
He said that he visited the body at Bloomfield’s undertaking establishment and was sure that the dead girl was the same one that he saw Saturday afternoon. He said that Frank had the same “outline” as the man he saw, but would not identify him positively. Mr. Spier’s testimony brought the morning session to a close.
Friends of L. M. Frank, superintendent of the National Pencil company, gave out yesterday for the first time their theory of how Mary Phagan came to her tragic death. They visited the scene of the crime, and, claiming that Frank has been unjustly held and questioned by the police, they are pointing out how the girl could have been robbed, assaulted and murdered without anyone connected with the factory knowing anything about it.
They point to the foot of the stairway by which the girl would have left the factory and show how easily a man could have hidden behind the railing, which is closely boarded up.
“The foul criminal,” they state, “knew it was pay-day, and as it was Memorial day, the place would close early in the afternoon. He could have hidden at the foot of the stairway and when the girl came down the steps with her money in her purse, seized her and thrown her into the hole which leads to the basement to the left of the elevator shaft. It could all have been done so swiftly by a strong-armed man that the girl would have had no time to make an outcry before she was insensible in the basement.
“Then the criminal could have quickly followed on the ladder that stood in the hole and led from the first floor to the basement. Down in the basement he had ample opportunity to carry out his hellish purposes. His exit was easy, as has been shown in the newspapers. No one could have heard or seen the crime committed who was passing in the street or who was on the second or third floors.”
“We are not advancing theories in the defense of Mr. Frank,” states S. S. Selig, who was among those who made an inspection of the factory Wednesday, “for he needs no defense. But the theory we advance is so plausible and fits so well into the clues that have been found that it is remarkable the officers have not worked along that line. The girl’s parasol was found at the foot of the ladder, where it could have fallen when she was thrown into the hole. That the purse and money were missing shows that there was robbery as well as assault and murder.”
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Pretty Young Sweetheart Comes To the Aid of Arthur Mullinax
Atlanta Constitution
Thursday, May 1st, 1913
Pearl Robison, the pretty 16-year-old sweetheart of Arthur Mullinax, came nobly to his defense with testimony that corroborated that suspect’s alibi. She was placed on the stand late in the afternoon.
“Do you know Arthur Mullinax?”
“I am well acquainted with him.”
“Do you go with him?”
“Yes!”
“Were you with him Saturday?”
“Yes! At supper and to the theater.”
“What time did you get home?”
“About 10:30 o’clock.”
“Was he with you at that time?”
“He was.”
“Did he go in when you returned home?”
“No. He left for his home.”
“Did you know Mary Phagan?”
“I never saw her.”
“Had you ever heard of her?”
“Yes. A lot.”
“How?”
“She was a topic of neighborhood praise for her appearance in the Christmas performance in the Jefferson street church last year. She played the part of ‘Sleeping Beauty.’”
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FRANK AND LEE HELD IN TOWER; OTHERS RELEASED
Atlanta Constitution
Friday, May 2nd, 1913
Young women employees of the National Pencil Company arrive at the police station to testify at the inquest
Grand Jury May Take Up Phagan Investigation Following Conference Between Dorsey, Beavers and Lanford.
MULLINAX AND GANTT ARE GIVEN FREEDOM
Coroner’s Jury Will Resume Hearing on Monday, Following the Subpoenaing of 200 Witnesses.
Thomas B. Felder, member of the firm of Felder, Anderson, Dillon & Whitman, has been engaged to assist the solicitor general in the prosecution of the murderer of Mary Phagan. He was retained yesterday by a committee of citizens from the Bellwood community, in which the dead girl lived. The counsel fund has been subscribed by residents.
Mr. Felder said last night to a reporter for The Constitution that within a day or so he would be abundantly supplied with convincing evidence. He already has started private investigation, he said, but would not divulge its form. He would not discuss the rumor that the Burns detective agency had been employed.
A special session of the Fulton grand jury is expected to be called to take action in the Mary Phagan mystery.
Evidence of this probability was first noted yesterday afternoon, when Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey summoned Police Chief Beavers and Detective Chief Lanford to his office in the Thrower building.
Following a short conference, in which the solicitor informed both chiefs that he was willing and ready to co-operate with them, they returned to headquarters. The will consult with Mr. Dorsey again shortly. It will then be determined whether or not the grand jury will take a hand in the case.
The process of eliminating suspects is now being put into operation by the police. J. M. Gantt and Arthur Mullinax, who were arrested immediately after the negro watchman had been taken into custody, were released late Thursday afternoon.
Thirty minutes before they were given freedom, however, Coroner Donehoo issued warrants demanding to the Tower Leo Frank, the factory superintendent, and Newt Lee, the night watchman. They are held under suspicion, and will be detained until further investigation by the coroner’s jury.
The inquest, which was postponed until 4:30 o’clock Thursday afternoon, was again adjourned. It will be resumed next Monday afternoon at 2 o’clock. It was at the request of Chief Beavers and Lanford that this action was taken.
More Than 200 Subpoenaed.
The largest number of witnesses ever summoned before an inquest in Georgian was subpoenaed by Coroner Donehoo Thursday morning, when he ordered every employee of the National Pencil factory to give testimony at the hearing. More than 200 men, women and girls came to police headquarters at 4 o’clock. They were [two words illegible] a body, after which all were excused until the Monday session.
Although it was though at first that they had disclosed a clue which would give them a new lead upon which to turn their investigation, the detectives say they attach but little significance to a letter addressed to “Mary Phagan,” which was brought to them yesterday morning by a street car conductor.
The letter was discovered a day or so ago on an English avenue trolley car, the one on which she rode to town shortly before noon of the day on which she disappeared. It was found under the seat on which she sat. The sleuths would not divulge its contents. It was from a friend, was all the information they would give.
Police headquarters was not surprised when the coroner ordered Frank and the negro to jail. A large crowd had thronged the place since dawn. It had grown to tremendous proportions when the detaining warrants were issued. They were typewritten in Chief Beavers’ office, and are as follows, excepting the changes of name for each individual writ.
“To the Jailer of Fulton County.
Greeting;
“You are hereby required to take into custody the person of (L. M. Frank, Newt Lee), suspected of the murder of Mary Phagan, and to retain the said (L. M. Frank, Newt Lee), in your custody pending the further investigation of the death of the said Mary Phagan, to be held by the coroner of said county.
“Herein fail not.
“(Signed) PAUL DONEHOO.
“Coroner.
“Given under my hand and official signature, this the first day of May, 1913.”
Dorsey Explains Action.
“My only reason for calling Chief Beavers and Chief of Detectives Lanford into conference this morning was to ascertain what progress they had made in the Phagan case, and to see if I could assist them in any way. The idea that I brought them to my office to reprimand them for the lack of progress in the matter is absurd. I have no authority to take such an action.”
The foregoing statement was made by Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey, immediately after a conference held in his private office behind locked doors, between him and the authorities, yesterday.
Although Mr. Dorsey did not confirm a rumor to the effect that the conference will result in the state taking the case in its own hand, should not immediate and telling results be shown by the police department in the case, the report was given added credence because of the renewed activity that has been shown in the investigation.
A short while after the conference the sixth arrest in the case was made. James Connolly, a negro sweeper, employed at the factory, was taken into custody. His arrest came as the direct result of detectives learning that he had been washing clothes at the factory.
The sweeper’s explanation of this was satisfactory; however, little importance is attached to the affair. He declared that he had been summoned to appear at the inquest, and that he had been obliged to wash the shirt, as it was soiled and he had no clean one to wear.
Officials Called To Conference.
Relative to the conference with Solicitor Dorsey, Chief Beavers would have nothing to say last night. It has been his inexorable attitude throughout the entire investigation to say nothing. He will give no information whatever, and it is impossible to ascertain through him what progress the police have made.
Chief Lanford, however, told a reporter for The Constitution that he and the police chief had been called to the solicitor general’s office to give Dorsey their views of the situation so that he could gain an insight into the progress that had thus far been made.
“He also stated his opinion,” the detective chief said, “that the newspapers were publishing too much of the sensational case, and that, by some means or other, they were daily gaining information that was injurious to the work of the investigation.
“He seemed pleased with our progress. He denied the circulated report that he had denounced our methods and was disappointed in the lack of evidence we had gathered. We were assured of the support and co-operation of his office and of the grand jury. A special session, he said, would be called if necessary.”
The chief also told that he and Chief Beavers would soon hold another conference with the solicitor, and that it would then be determined whether or not the grand jury should take action in the investigation.
It requires [two words illegible] for the two prisoners to be transferred from police headquarters to the Tower.
Transferred in Anton.
There they were put in automobiles, Beavers in charge of one and Black and Rosser in charge of the other. The van was made to the Tower in less than thirty seconds.
Frank who was first to arrive, darted through the jail door. The negro walked across the sidewalk, stopping before the barred doorway and [one word illegible] for the newspaper camera [one word illegible].
Frank and the watchman signed [two words illegible] papers and were [two words illegible] the jail proper.
They had hardly been assigned to [one word illegible] new prison, when Gantt and Mullinax were released from headquarters. All day, the mother and sister of the latter haunted the station. There was a cry of joy when he emerged from his cell. The mother threw her arms about his neck and wept hysterically.
Both Gantt and Mullinax left immediately for uptown. They will [one word illegible] in their respective homes.
Coroner Donehoo said late in the afternoon that his plan for summoning the employees of the pencil factory was to obtain possible evidence having direct bearing on the murder. It was not to ascertain conditions in the factory, as was rumored, or to procure testimony of Frank’s character. It was to learn something definite of Mary Phagan as a working girl at the plant where she had been employed for more than one year.
The concern was shut down at 3 o’clock. It will be closed again next Monday. In their finest frocks and hats, the girls of the plant came to headquarters. The immense crowd of employees flooded the building. There were not seats enough to provide for them in the court room, and they overflowed to the street. There, they mingled with the crowd of curious that had flocked to the scene.
Frank Given High Praise.
In regard to the arrest of Leo Frank in connection with the investigation of the Phagan murder, Milton Klein has furnished The Constitution with the following statement:
“Leo Frank, the superintendent and general manager of one of Atlanta’s largest and most promising industries, spends two hours in his office on a holiday after generously relieving the watchman during these hours. His habits are regular and industrious, and his life, while in Atlanta, is perfectly blameless in every respect. The terrible crime committed in his plant calls forth the closest scrutiny of Mr. Frank’s relations with his 200 workmen and women. Only the highest words of praise and confidence in his character are heard on all sides.
“I have worked with Mr. Frank for years in various charitable organizations and have ever found him the most polished of gentlemen, with the kindest of heart and the broadest of sympathy. To such an extent it is recognized among his fellow lodge men that we have honored him with the office of president, which is the highest rank in our organization. He is a liberal supporter of many worthy enterprises. But his greatest work has been among his own employees at his factory. The first to report in the morning and the last to leave at night, every day and holidays, he has labored to build up a factory that in spirit and efficiency is second to none south of the Mason and Dixon’s line.
“After the magnificent work he has done in his adopted home, shall we, without consideration, emphasize every bit of gossip which unjustly and groundlessly connects him with this awful tragedy? No one seeks more fervently to discover the real perpetrator of this atrocious crime than Mr. Frank.”
Deputy Asks for Calm.
Deputy Sheriff Plennie Miner makes the following plea for calm consideration of the Phagan case.
“While a crime of a most revolting nature has been committed in our midst, and our people are naturally excited and incensed over the deplorable affair, there are things that we need to consider coolly and carefully.
“Every possible effort is being put forth by the officers and the public generally to apprehend the guilty party or parties. Nothing is being left undone, no clue is being overlooked that would lead to a solution of the mysterious tragedy.
“But this is not a time for us to become too excited or too hasty in our efforts to ferret out the criminal. Above all things, and especially at this time it is absolutely necessary for us to keep perfectly cool, to work carefully and quietly, running down every possible clew with caution.
“I respectfully ask that the public be patient, refraining from criticism of the unceasing efforts on the part of the officers or private individuals who are working so generously and faithfully on the case. And I would as respectfully ask that the daily papers refrain from printing anything calculated to unduly inflame the public mind: and from using such headlines as are calculated to arouse undue indignation. And you may rest assured if faithful and persevering work counts for anything, justice will be done. I have known, during my several years of experience as an officer and in criminal cases, undue haste in matters of this kind, brought on by excitement and enthusiasm to produce a miscarriage of justice. But I have never known a cool and systematic investigation of a tragedy, backed up by an earnest public sentiment demanding the apprehension of the real perpetrator of a crime like this, to fall of attaining the desired end.”
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SLEUTHS BELIEVE THEY CAN CONVICT PHAGAN MURDERER
Atlanta Constitution
Monday, May 5th, 1913
Detectives Are of Opinion They Have in Their Possession All Evidence That Is Needed by the Jury.
INFORMATION SECURED FROM MYSTERIOUS GIRL
Coroner’s Jury Will Resume Inquest at 2 O’Clock This Afternoon — Factory Girls Will Be Witnesses.
Detectives working on the case of Mary Phagan, the 14-year-old murdered girl whose body was found in the basement of the National Pencil company at daybreak Sunday morning a week ago, believe that today they have in their possession evidence which will lead to the conviction of the girl’s murderer, according to the statement of Harry Scott the Pinkerton man on the case, Sunday afternoon.
So important in fact, do the detectives consider the new evidence declared Mr. Scott, that its nature will not be publicly disclosed even at the coroner’s inquest which is resumed today.
No particulars would be given out except that the information came from a girl who has not heretofore figured even in speculation in the case.
Will Wait for Trial.
Mr. Scott went so far as to state that “the new card will not be played until the trial.”
The reason given by the detectives for withholding whatever new evidence they may have from the hearing before the coroner on Monday is to prevent a repetition of ‘planted evidence’ or other ruses to break down its significance.
The detectives were busy running down clews all day Sunday, but stated that they found nothing of consequence except that of the mysterious evidence of the girl.
The coroner’s jury will resume its investigations Monday afternoon at 2 o’clock at police barracks when some of the most important witnesses in the case will be placed upon the stand.
Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, will possibly be the first witness. He will once more be put through a grueling questioning with the hope that some light may be thrown upon the mystery.
Girls Will Testify.
Among other witnesses will be many of the girls and other employees at the pencil factory. About 200 employees have the subpoena as witnesses.
The new grand jury will be empanelled Monday and it is not improbable that the Phagan case will be placed in its hands on Tuesday.
Frank and Newt Lee were left practically alone in the Tower on Sunday, except for friends who called on Frank.
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THIRD MAN BROUGHT INTO PHAGAN MYSTERY BY FRANK’S EVIDENCE
Atlanta Constitution
Tuesday, May 6th, 1913
Lemmie Quinn, Foreman of the Department in Which the Little Girl Worked, Was in His Office Just a Few Minutes After She Received Her Pay on the Day of the Murder, He Tells the Coroner’s Jury at Inquest on Monday Afternoon.
LEO FRANK INNOCENT NEW WITNESS TELLS ATLANTA DETECTIVES
Quinn Declares That Officers Accused Him of Being Bribed to Come to the Aid of Superintendent — Frank Is on Stand for Four Hours Answering Coroner’s Questions—Body of Mary Phagan Exhumed and Stomach Will Be Examined.
The Mary Phagan murder mystery assumed a new aspect yesterday afternoon, when Leo M. Frank, the suspected factory superintendent, introduced a third man in the baffling mystery, who the witness stated, called to see him after the girl had drawn her pay and departed.
Frank was testifying before the coroner’s inquest when he startled his audience with the declaration that he was visited by Lemmie Quinn, a pencil plant foreman, less than 10 minutes after the girl of the tragedy had entered the building Saturday.
Quinn immediately was summoned before Chief Lanford and Harry Scott, of the Pinkertons. He corroborated Frank’s story in detail. After being quizzed for an hour or more, he was permitted to return to his home at 31-B Pulliam street.
Foreman of Girls’ Department.
Quinn was foreman of the department in which the victim worked. He had known her ever since she first was employed with the concern. A stormy scene is said to have ensued during the interrogation to which he was subjected at headquarters. To a reporter for The Constitution, he last night declared that Scott and Solicitor Dorsey charged him with having accepted a bribe from Frank’s counsel for the story he was telling of the visit to the factory.
He says he retorted to the charge:
“Show me the man that says I took a bribe, and I’ll whip him on the spot.”
Quinn was seen last night by a reporter for The Constitution when he returned to his home from police headquarters. When asked if Frank’s statement were true, he said:
“Yes. It’s true. I left my house Saturday morning about 11:45 o’clock. On the way uptown, I stopped into Wolfsheimer’s and bought an order of fancy groceries. I stopped at another place and bought a cigar.
“Then I went to the factory. I wanted to see Frank and tell him ‘Howdy do.’ I knew he would be in the place. He is always there on Saturdays. It was about 12:15 or 12:20 when I arrived at the building. I saw no one in front or as I went upstairs to the office.
“Frank was at his desk. He appeared very busy. I stepped in and said: ‘Well, I see your work even on holidays. You can’t keep me from coming around the building on Saturdays either. How do you feel?’
“He said he was feeling good. He didn’t appear agitated or nervous. I didn’t want to disturb him, so I left. I wasn’t in the plant for more than 2 minutes. As I came downstairs on the way out, I saw someone in the rear of the first floor—a person whom I would have no grounds whatever to suspect.”
Won’t Tell Name Now.
“No! I won’t divulge his name. I’ll tell the detectives in time. I’m glad Frank told the coroner of my visit. It was I who refreshed his memory of the incident. He apparently had forgotten it. I have not been keeping it secret. I told the detective Saturday of the visit.
“I have known Mr. Frank for years, and I know he is not guilty.”
Frank’s story on the stand was to the effect that within ten minutes after Mary Phagan had departed with her pay envelope, Quinn, who is foreman of the tipping department, dropped into the superintendent’s office to say “Howdy do.”
“I had not thought of it until reminded of the incident,” he told the jury. “My memory was refreshed. I recollected it clearly. This is the first time I have made it known.”
The foreman, Frank stated, came into the building about 12:30 noon during Memorial day. “How do you do?” he is quoted with having said. “I see you work even on holidays. Well, you can’t keep me away from the factory on off days either.” He remained less than two minutes, according to Frank.
IN BUILDING ONLY 2 MINUTES ……
Quinn declared to The Constitution that he was in the building about two minutes. He said that he did not see Mary Phagan.
He is outraged at the treatment he alleges was accorded him by the detectives.
“They were insulting and seemed to doubt my statement,” he said. “In an insinuating manner Chief Lanford plied the question: ‘So you put yourself there about the time the Phagan girl left the factory, eh?’”
Quinn was an ardent admirer of the murdered child. He says she was one of his most industrious employees.
He is married and has one child. His connection with the National Pencil company dates back to several years. The reporter met him at his home just as he was returning from the visit to police headquarters. He was fatigued, and admitted that he was almost exhausted.
Called on Frank in Jail.
Declaring that he had made his visit to Frank on Memorial day known earlier than Monday, Quinn told the reporter that it was he who refreshed Frank’s memory of his presence in the building shortly after noon of the day on which the girl is supposed to have been slain.
“I called upon Frank at the jail,” he said. “The moment I reminded him of my visit, he recollected it. He apparently had forgotten it.”
The foreman’s wife expressed dislike for her husband to be connected in the mystery. She seemed to regret that Quinn’s name had been mentioned at the inquest, merely because of the sensation it would incur.
“Now our name will be mixed in it, too,” she lamented.
Mother Thanked Foreman.
A day or so after her daughter’s tragic end, Mrs. J. W. Coleman called Quinn to her home on Lindsay street. She expressed the gratitude felt over the kindness and favors extended the dead girl by her foreman. Mary, she said, had often told her of how she liked Quinn, and of how pleasant it was to work under him.
When Quinn saw Mary’s step-father and her mother, he told the reporter, he expressed his belief in the superintendent’s innocence.
“I told them,” he said, “that with all the sympathy I felt for Mary and her relatives, I could not believe Frank guilty. I have worked for nearly four years under him, and I do not believe he was trying to shift the burden of suspicion by dragging my name into the case.
“He has told the truth. It is impossible for him to go against facts. He is purely a victim of circumstantial evidence. Time will tell the story. They may do me an injustice by bringing me into the scandal, but I am doing it in the defense of a guiltless man.
I believe the detectives are bungling this case. Lanford told me Monday that, inasmuch as I had not talked before, he guessed he would have to hold me. I retorted that I would not be the only innocent man he would be holding in that event.”
Body of Girl Is Exhumed.
Police headquarters and everyone concerned in the mystery were surprised Monday afternoon when it was learned that the body was exhumed in Marietta. The stomach has been placed in the charge of the state board of health and an analysis for traces of drug or “dope,” which it is suspected to contain, will be made.
The reinterment was witnessed by only the corner, Dr. John W. Hurt, country physician, and Dr. H. F. Harris, of the state board. Dr. Harris will perform the examination.
The inquest began fifty minutes later several days, it is stated. However, it is also said that Dr. Harris’ report will be prepared in time to submit it before the Thursday afternoon session of the coroner’s inquest.
The inquest began fifty minutes later than the time for which it was scheduled. This was due to Coroner Donehoo’s lateness in returning from the grave at Marietta. Police headquarters was thronged with a crowd of merely curious men, women and boys. Extra squads of police were necessary to handle the immense crowd.
FRANK FIRST WITNESS
Frank was the first witness. He was followed by his father and mother-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Emil Selig, with whom he lives at 68 East Georgia avenue.
Factory Employees Are Excused.
About midway of the inquest, Coroner Donehoo excused the pencil factory employees who were waiting to be examined. They were released, however, subject to summons, and will be called back next Thursday. More than 200 of these witnesses appeared at police headquarters. A large majority were women and girls.
Frank and the negro, Newt Lee, were brought together from the Tower in Chief Beavers’ automobile. When they were ushered into the inquest room, the coroner ordered Lee returned to the Tower until he was called. Frank took the stand at 2:30. He was released at 6:15. No one but the coroner plied questions.
Leo Frank On Stand.
The first questions to Frank were the customary formal queries relating to his occupation, age and address.
His statement and the questions he answered are as follows:
“What is your connection with the pencil company?”
“General superintendent.”
“How long have you occupied that position?”
“Since 1908.”
“In what business were you prior to that time?”
“I was abroad, buying machinery for the National Pencil company.”
“Have you lived in Atlanta all your life?”
“No.”
“Where did you reside before moving here?”
“In Brooklyn, N. Y.”
“Were you ever married before?”
“No—only once.”
“What was your Brooklyn address?”
“152 Underhill avenue.”
His Work In Brooklyn
“What business were you in there?”
“I was with the National Meter company.”
“When did you leave Brooklyn?”
“In 1907.”
“What are your duties with the National Pencil company?”
“Look after the production and filling of orders and the purchase of machinery. In short, I have general supervision of the plant.”
“What time of the morning did you get up on April 26?”
“About 7 o’clock.”
“Was anyone with you beside your wife?”
“My mother and father-in-law.”
“Have you any children?”
“No.”
“Does anyone else live on the place at which you reside?”
“A negro washerwoman and servant.”
“What time did you leave the house on the morning of April 26?”
“Eight o’clock.”
“Who did you see?”
“Minola, the servant girl, and my wife.”
“Did you see Mr. and Mrs. Selig, your parents-in-law?”
“I don’t remember.”
“How did you leave the house?”
“Caught a trolley car. Got to the factory about 8:20, I presume.”
When He Reached Factory.
“Did you talk to anyone on the car?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Who was at the factory upon your arrival?”
“Hollway, the day watchman, and the office boy, Alonzo Mann.”
“Was the door locked?”
“No.”
“Who was in your office?”
“The office boy.”
“Did you see anyone else?”
“No.”
“How long was it before anyone came into your office?”
“About thirty minutes.”
“Who was it?”
“Several men for their pay envelopes.”
“Was Saturday, April 26, a whole or half holiday?”
“Whole holiday.”
“Were there others calling for their pay envelopes?”
“Yes. A girl named Mattie Smith came in shortly afterward.”
Frank Waited On Girl.
“Did you personally wait on them?”
“Yes.”
“Was there anyone else in the office?”
“Not that I knew of.”
“Who occupies the office with you?”
“The chief clerk, Herbert Schiff.”
“Was Schiff in the office at the time you paid Mattie Smith and those who preceded her?”
“No.”
“Who occupies the outer office adjoining yours?”
“The stenographer and office boy.”
“Was anyone in this office at the time?”
“Not that I knew of.”
“Who is your stenographer?”
“Miss Eubanks.”
“How long was it before anyone else came in?”
“Anywhere from a half hour to forty minutes. M. B. Darley, Wade Campbell and a Mr. Fullerton. They arrived about 9 o’clock.”
How Frank Spent Morning.
“Tell what you did during that part of the morning which followed 9 o’clock.”
“I went over the mail, business papers and later to the offices of the manager, Mr. Selig.”
“What time did you go there?”
“About 10 o’clock.”
“Did anyone go with you?”
“No. I went alone.”
“What did you do prior to 10 o’clock..
(This question was a repeater.)
“Various office duties, as I have already told.”
“Did you talk to anyone?”
“Yes. To Mr. Darley and Mr. Campbell.”
“Anyone else?”
“Not that I remember.”
“Did you touch the financial sheet of your concern?”
“No.”
“Can you recall anything else you did?”
“No.”
“Where did you say you went at 10 o’clock?”
“To the office of Sig Montag, the manager, at 20 Nelson street.”
“Do you remember the particular papers you handled?”
“Not exactly. A note, though, I recollect, was one ‘Rush Panama assortment boxes.’”
“What do you usually do in the morning?”
“Get up various papers over the desk and straighten out the work of my stenographer.”
“Did you speak to Hollway, the watchman?”
“Yes. But I only said ‘Good morning.’”
“Do you wear the same clothes at the factory which you wear at home?”
“Yes.”
“Did you remove your clothes when you reached the factory?”
“Only my coat. I exchanged it for one I wear at the office.”
No Personal Mail.
“Did you have any personal mail?”
“No.”
“Do you keep papers of value in the safe?”
“Yes.”
“Where is the safe?”
“In the outer office—the one adjoining my private office.”
“Can you recall the first paper you looked over?”
“No.”
“Who is your shipping clerk?”
“A Mr. Irby.”
“How long did you sit at your desk after your arrival in the morning?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you intend going to the ball game?”
“Yes; until Saturday morning.”
“Did you work on the house order book?”
“Yes, but not until I got back from the office of the manager—No, I forgot. I did not work on it at all. Montag’s stenographer did it.”
“Who was in the office when you left for Montag’s?”
“Several persons—about six or eight in all.”
“How long were you at Montag’s?”
“Until 11 o’clock, I believe.”
“Did you telephone Miss Hall, Montag’s stenographer, that you wouldn’t need her at the pencil factory, and that she needn’t come?”
No, She Phoned Me.
“No. She telephoned me. I told her she need not come, as I did not need her.”
“When you departed for Montag’s, you’re sure you went alone?”
“Positive.”
“Didn’t Mr. Darley walk to Cruickshank’s at Alabama and Forsyth, to get a drink with you?”
“No. He did not.”
“Who was at the office when you returned?”
“Miss Hall, Montag’s stenographer, and the office boy.”
“How old is the office boy?”
“About 15 years, I presume.”
“Does he wear long or short trousers?”
“Short trousers.”
“What did you do upon returning?”
“Assorted papers and letters for about ten minutes.”
“What did you do while Miss Hall entered the orders you had given her, as you say?”
“I don’t remember, except that I was working at my desk.”
“Is your office work systematized?”
“Yes, excepting on times during which I have no special plans. Then, I take up the most important and pressing business.”
“What else did you do?”
“I don’t remember precisely. I was at work all morning and afternoon.”
“Were you out of the office at all while Miss Hall was in the building?”
“No.”
“How long was she occupied with the orders?”
“About thirty minutes.”
“When she finished the orders, what did you do with them?”
“I put them on my desk.”
“What time did she finish and leave?”
Miss Hall Leaves Factory.
“About 12 o’clock. I recollect the time, because I heard the noon whistle blowing. She and the office boy left together.”
“Did you see any outsider in the building when you got back from Montag’s?”
“No, I think not.”
“What did you do when the stenographer and office boy left?”
“Started to work on the orders.”
“Were you entirely alone?”
“So far as I knew.”
“Do you know of anyone else who came in?”
“Yes. A little after 12 o’clock the little girl that was killed came into my office.”
“Where were you?”
“At my desk in the inner office.”
“How did she announce herself?”
“I looked up when I heard her footsteps. I think she said she wanted her pay envelope. I asked her number, and she gave it to me. I gave her the envelope with her number stamped on it.”
“What was her number?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Have you ever looked up that number?”
“Yes, but I don’t recollect it.”
“When you gave her the pay envelope what did she do?”
Has the Metal Come Yet?
“Walked out into the outer office, stopped and called back: ‘Mr. Frank, has the metal come yet?’”
“Did you make entry of her payment?”
“No.”
“Did she call back about the metal as though in after thought?”
“Yes. It was natural. She hadn’t worked since Monday because of the lack of metal.”
“What was the amount in her envelope?”
“One dollar and twenty cents.”
“Do you remember in what denomination it was given her?”
“No. I don’t.”
“She disturbed you in your work, did she not?”
“Yes.”
“How did you know she was gone?”
“As she went down stairs I heard her footfalls dying away. I also heard another voice. It was vague, but like a girl’s or woman’s. It seemed as though it came from the Forsyth street entrance.”
“Did you know her name?”
“No.”
“Do you remember how she was dressed?”
“No. I only looked at her from over the side of my desk.”
“Was her dress dark or light?”
“What little I saw appeared light.”
“How was her hair arranged?”
“I don’t remember.”
Did Not See Them.
“How about the color of her shoes and stockings?”
“I didn’t see them.”
“Did you see a parasol, purse or handkerchief?”
“No. I didn’t notice.”
“How long did it take for you to give her the envelope?”
“About two minutes. Not longer.”
“How did you identify the number on her envelope?”
“She called it out.”
“Is that the only means of identification you employ?”
“Yes, except the name is written on the envelope, I think, I’m not sure.”
“Did you hear anyone else in the building at the time Mary Phagan was present?”
“Nothing but the voice downstairs as she went down the steps.”
“How long were you at the office after she had departed?”
“I stayed there.”
“Did anything else happen?”
“Yes; within five to ten minutes after the Phagan girl had left an employee named Lemmie Quinn, foreman of the tipping department, came into my office. He said: ‘I see you’re busy, but you can’t keep me away even on holidays.’ He stayed only a short time. This is the first time I recollected the incident.”
“What were you doing then?”
Where Did Quinn Go?
“Copying orders. It was about 12:35 o’clock, ten minutes after Mary Phagan had left.”
“Where did Quinn go?”
“I don’t know.”
“Had the metal come when Mary Phagan was in your office?”
“No. I don’t think it has come even yet.”
“How does it come to the plant?”
“By drayman.”
“Would you know if it had arrived?”
“Yes; I certainly would.”
“Where is it put—in what part of the building?”
“In the rear of the office floor.”
“Did you send Mary Phagan back to see if the metal had come?”
“No, I did not.”
“Now, tell the jury once more of Mary Phagan’s visit.”
(The witness was required to repeat the story of the girl’s appearance in his office at 12 o’clock to procure her pay envelope. The recital was without variance from the original statement.)
“How did you fix the time? You say it was about 5 minutes after 12?”
“It seemed that late.”
“Were you out of the office from the time the noon whistles blew until Quinn came in?”
“No.”
“How long had Mary Phagan worked at the pencil factory?”
“I don’t know; I really don’t.”
“Was she in Quinn’s department?”
“Yes.”
“Was she under him—was he her boss?”
“Yes.”
Was Not in Overalls.
“How was Quinn dressed?”
“I think he wore a straw hat?”
“Does he wear different clothes in the factory to what he wears at home and on the street?”
“I presume so. He was not in his overalls Saturday.”
“Has he access to the entire factory building?”
“Yes.”
“How old is he?”
“About twenty-five years, I would judge.”
“Is he married?”
“Yes.”
“How long has he been with the pencil company?”
“About four years, I understand.”
“What time did you finish work Saturday afternoon?”
“About 1 o’clock.”
“You are sure, now that you had not left the office from the time Miss Hall, the stenographer, had departed until you started away for lunch?”
Only Time I Left.
“I am positive. The only time I left was when I went upstairs to tell the two mechanics and the wife of one who were on the top floor, that I was ready to go and would have to lock up the building. I came back downstairs and picked up my coat.”
“How did you know they were upstairs?”
“The day watchman had told me.”
“How long did you stay there?”
“No longer than two minutes.”
“What time did you leave the place?”
“A trifle after 1 o’clock.”
“Doesn’t the day watchman usually stay at the plant until the arrival of the night watchman?”
“Yes, except on Saturday afternoons, when we close down for half holiday.”
“Do you know Walter Fry?”
“Yes. He’s a negro, the oldest employee in the factory.”
“Who pays him off?”
“The chief clerk, Mr. Schiff.”
“What did he do there Saturday?”
“I didn’t see him.”
Duties of Fry.
“Was Fry away from work upon your authority?”
“No.”
“What are his duties?”
“He sweeps and cleans glue from the floors on the glue room.”
“What time is he supposed to do this?”
“In the afternoons.”
“When you left the building, where did you go?”
“I went up Forsyth street to Alabama, up Alabama to Broad, where I caught a street car home.”
“Where did you get off?”
“At Georgia avenue on Washington street. I went directly home, arriving there about 1:20 o’clock.”
“How long were you at home?”
“Well, I ate dinner in about twenty minutes.”
“Was there any interruption to the meal?”
“No.”
“What did you do upon finishing?”
“I think I smoked a cigarette and lay down for a short nap.”
“What time did you wake?”
“I didn’t go good to sleep.”
“Have you been working strenuously?”
“I had been concentrating my mind on the work at the office. It was rather fatiguing, I’ll admit.”
“What time did you leave your home?”
“About 1:50 o’clock.”
“Where did you go?”
“To Washington street and Georgia avenue. I met a cousin, Jerome Michael, and talked with him until the 2 o’clock hour came.”
“Did you meet anyone whom you knew on the car?”
“Yes, another cousin, Cohen Loeb.”
“Where did you get off?”
“At the corner of Washington and Hunter street. The cars were blocked by the memorial parade.”
“Did you see anyone you knew?”
Watched Part of Parade.
“No. I walked to Hunter and Whitehall streets and watched part of the parade. Then, I walked to Rich’s store where I passed Miss Rebecca Carson, one of our foreladies. Then, I went to Brown and Allen’s, at the corner of Whitehall and Alabama streets and across to Jacob’s, where I bought four cigars and a pack of cigarettes.”
“Do you customarily smoke cigars or cigarettes?”
“Cigars, usually.”
“What did you do upon leaving Jacob’s?”
“Went straight to the pencil factory.”
“What time was it that you arrived there?”
“About 2:50 o’clock.”
“Did you unlock the door?”
“Yes. I unlocked the outer and inner doors, relocked the outer door and left the inner door open.”
“When you passed the clock in front of your office, what time was it?”
“I didn’t notice. It must have been about 3 o’clock. I pulled off my coat and went upstairs to tell the mechanics that I had returned. They already were preparing to leave.”
Then Mechanics Leave.
“How long was it before they came downstairs?”
“Only a few minutes. They entered my office about five minutes after 3 o’clock.”
“How long before you went downstairs?”
“Three minutes, or four—maybe five. I went down to lock the door.”
“You were left alone in the building?”
“So far as I knew.”
“What did you do?”
“Worked on the books.”
“When you went to lock the door, did you see the girl?”
“No.”
“How long did you work on the books?”
“Until about 4 o’clock, or 4:15. I had gone to wash my hands when the night watchman came.”
“Why were you washing your hands?”
“It’s awfully dirty in the building.”
“You went out and washed your hands upon beginning work, too, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
Negro Has a Pass Key.
“How did the negro watchman get in?”
“He has a pass key.”
“How frequently do you wash your hands?”
“Whenever they get dirty.”
“What did you say to the watchman?”
“I said: ‘Howdy, Lee. I didn’t go to the baseball game. I’m sorry I put you to this trouble. You may go out on the street and enjoy yourself for an hour and a half. Be sure and be back within that time, though.”
“Had you told him to come at 4 o’clock?”
“Yes. Friday I told him I wanted to go to the ball game.”
“When did you actually finish working on your books?”
“About 5:30 o’clock.”
“Your work occupied your whole time.”
“It did.”
“You saw no one but Lee?”
“No one else.”
“Heard no noises in the building?”
“None.”
Couldn’t Go to Game.
“Who were you intending going to the ball game with?”
“My brother-in-law, Mr. Hirzenbach.”
“When did you tell him you could not go?”
“I tried to get him at noon Saturday, but failed.”
“Did you notify him at all?”
“No.”
“Did you go downstairs after 4 o’clock?”
“No.”
“What were you doing when Lee came in?”
“Fixing the time-clock slips.”
“Were you at the factory Monday?”
“No.”
“When Lee came in, was it light or dark?”
“It wasn’t light. Two lights were burning near the time clock.”
“Did you wash your hands then?”
“I think so.”
“Did you and Lee go out together?”
“No. He went first.”
Factory Employees Excused.
At this juncture of the examination the 200 or more factory employees who were summoned to the inquest by Coroner Donehoo were notified that they were excused for the day, but were subject to further summons. They had been sitting in the assembly hall. It was later than 4 o’clock when they left police headquarters.
“What time did he get downstairs?”
“Shortly after 6 o’clock.”
“Did you follow him?”
“Yes; I went downstairs to lock the door.”
“What did you see, if anything?”
“I saw Newt Lee talking to J. M. Gantt, a former employee of the pencil factory. Lee said: ‘Mr. Gantt wants to get his shoes.’ I asked him what shoes. Gantt said either black or tan, I forget which color. He saw that I didn’t like the idea of letting him in the building. He said, ‘You can go with me, or let the watchman go.’ ‘Lee can go,’ I told him. They went in together, Lee locking the door behind him.”
“What did you then do?”
“I went down Alabama street to Whitehall to Jacobs’ where I bought a drink and box of candy.”
“Did you talk with anyone there?”
“Yes. I held a short conversation with the young lady at the candy counter. Following that, I went directly home, arriving there about 6:35 o’clock.”
Went to His Home.
“Who was at home?”
“My father-in-law and Minola, the negro servant.”
“How long before your wife arrived?”
“She came about 6:30 o’clock.”
“Were you inside your home at the time she returned?”
“Yes.”
“What were you doing?”
“Telephoning.”
“Telephoning who?”
“The night watchman at the factory.”
“What time was that?”
“Six-thirty o’clock.”
“What was your conversation with the watchman?”
“I couldn’t get him.”
“Why did you call?”
“To see if Mr. Gantt had left the plant.”
“Have you and Mr. Gantt ever suffered personal differences?”
“No. I discharged him for gross carelessness. I had heard that he said I had not treated him right.”
“How long before you called again?”
“Seven-thirty o’clock—I mean 7.”
“What did you do in the meantime?”
“Ate supper.”
“What did you say over the phone to Lee?”
“I asked if Gantt had gone and if everything was all right at the factory. He said, ‘yes.’”
“Did you fear physical violence from Gantt?”
Looked Big and Dangerous.
“I can’t say, exactly. He looked mighty big and dangerous when I saw him. He impresses me as a kind I’d like to have somebody with whenever I run up against him.”
“What did you do after supper?”
“We discussed the opera which my wife had attended Saturday afternoon, and I smoked and read until 9:30 o’clock. Later, about 10:30 to be explicit, I went up and took a bath.”
“Did you leave the house?”
“No.”
“How long were you in the bath?”
“Until 11:30 o’clock.”
“When did you go to bed?”
“Immediately after taking the bath.”
“When did you wake the next morning?”
“About 7:30 o’clock.”
“What did you do?”
“Answered the telephone. It wakened me.”
“How were you dressed?”
“In my nightgown and bathrobe.”
“Was anyone else up at that time?”
“No.”
“What was the message you received over the telephone?”
“It was from Detective Starnes. He said he wanted me to identify someone at the pencil factory—that there had been a tragedy. I started to dress.”
“How long did it take you to dress?”
Then Detectives Come.
“I don’t know. I went at it hurriedly, though. I told my wife to meet Starnes at the door when he arrived—No! I went down myself. He came in an automobile with Detective Black and a man named Rogers—Boots Rogers. I had no more than got into my top shirt and sox when they arrived.”
“Who spoke first—you or they?”
“I don’t remember. I dressed and jumped into the machine. We went to Bloomfield’s, the undertaker, and I went in and saw the ‘poor little thing.’ I said: ‘That is the girl I paid off yesterday afternoon.”
“Describe her, will you?”
“She was bruised and cut about the face—a horrible sight. I saw a piece of wrapping cord around her throat and a strip of cloth.”
“In what department in the pencil factory is used the cord that was around her throat?”
“On the second floor for bundling pencils.”
“Is any used on the office floor?”
“Yes. Some.”
“How long were you at the undertakers?”
“Only a few minutes.”
“What did you do upon leaving?”
“Went immediately to the factory building.”
Went to the Basement.
“To which part of the building did you first go?”
“The basement with Mr. Darley, who arrived at the same time I did, and the detectives.”
“What time did you remove the tape from the watchman’s clock?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Did you examine the back door?”
“Yes, upon being told that it had been open.”
“Was it a part of the night watchman’s duty to go into the basement?”
“Yes.”
“How far was he supposed to go?”
“To the dust pan, which is situated only a few feet from the back door.”
“Were you aware that the building—or some parts of it—had been used for assignation?”
“No.”
“How often have you been in the basement since your connection with the plant?”
“Not more than a dozen times.”
“How was the clock tape when you removed it?”
Clock Was in Error.
“I thought at the time that it was correct but, upon further thought, I have concluded that it was punched inaccurately during Saturday night and Sunday morning.”
“How many misses did it contain?”
“Three, I think.”
“Why was one tape stamped and the other penciled?”
“It was a mere coincidence, I penciled one because it would have been impossible to apply the stamp.”
“Did you go over the factory premises on an inspection tour with the detectives?”
“Yes.”
“Did you go to the dressing room used by Mary Phagan?”
“Yes.”
“Did you see anything unusual in it?”
“No, not that I noticed.”
“How long were you in the building at that time?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Where did you go upon leaving?”
Went to Police Station.
“I went with the detectives in the automobile that carried the watchman to police headquarters. I talked with Chief Lanford and offered him all the assistance I could possibly give in running down the murderer. I told him I was naturally interested in the case, and that I would give most anything to find the girl’s slayer. Then, I walked uptown with Mr. Darley.”
“What suit did you wear Sunday?”
“A blue one.”
“What kind of suit on Saturday?”
“A brown one—the one I am wearing at present.”
“Can you run the elevator in the plant?”
“Yes, but I don’t make a practice of operating it.”
“Have you ever called up the office at night before you telephoned last Saturday night?”
“Yes, several times.”
“Had you ever let Lee go away before as you let him go last Saturday?”
“No. That happened to be the first whole holiday during the time he has been at work.”
“Were you nervous and agitated when you saw Gantt Saturday afternoon?”
“No.”
“When did you first see the notes found beside the dead girl’s body?”
About the Two Letters.
“In Chief Lanford’s office Tuesday, when Detective Starnes dictated them for me to copy.”
“When you began them, was the first letter a capital or small letter?”
“I don’t recollect.”
“Did you recognize the handwriting on the notes?”
“No.”
“Could you make out their composition?”
“No. Both were incoherent and illegible.”
“What was it in the dead girl’s appearance which caused you to recognize her body?”
“Her face.”
“How did you identify her as the girl to whom you gave the pay envelope last Saturday week?”
“I saw her plainly that day.”
“Wasn’t she badly bruised and cut about the face?”
“She was, badly.”
“How long have you had this blue suit which you wore Sunday?”
“Three or four months.”
“Did you ever wear it at the factory?”
“No.”
“Didn’t you tell Mr. Darley Sunday that you had on a new suit?”
“No. I merely remarked of the freshness of the suit I wore.”
“Did you change clothes Sunday morning?”
“Yes. I always change on Sundays.”
Conversation With Lee.
“How about the private conversation you had with Lee in the cell at police headquarters?”
“It was this way: The detectives asked me to talk to Lee. They said they wanted to find if he had ever let couples go in the factory building at night. Detective Black asked me to get all I could out of him. ‘Get all you can,’ he told me, ‘for we think he knows more than he’s told us or will tell. Tell him that the police have got you both and that you’ll go to hell if he doesn’t talk.’ I didn’t use those exact words, although I did say something similar. Lee said to me: ‘Fore God, Mr. Frank, I’m telling the truth.’ I told him, ‘Lee, they’ve got us both, and we’ll swing if you don’t tell the straight of it.’ I did not say anything about going to hell—I positively did not.”
“Are you accustomed to going to ball games?”
“No.”
“What did you do with the underclothes you took off Saturday?”
“I threw them into the washbag. Detective Black saw them.”
“Who notified the employees that Friday would be pay day?”
“It was posted in the plant.”
“Did Newt Lee accuse you of murdering Mary Phagan?”
“No.”
“When you and Lee were talking in the cell at police station, didn’t he describe the body and didn’t you ask him not to talk about it?”
“No.”
Nobody Notified Her.
“Who notified Mary Phagan to come and draw her pay envelope Saturday at noon?”
“No one of whom I know.”
“Do you ever tie bundles with the kind of cord with which she was strangled?”
“No.”
“Do you ever use that kind of twine?”
“Yes, occasionally.”
“Are you right or left-handed?”
“Right-handed.”
“Were you the first to hear the telephone ring when Detective Starnes called you early Sunday morning?”
“Yes. I thought at first that I was dreaming.”
“When was the first time that you were told the dead girl’s name was Mary Phagan?”
“When Mr. Starnes called me and asked me if I had paid Mary Phagan, a girl who worked in the tip plant.”
Following this question Frank was excused. He probably will be put on the stand again before the inquest ends. He did not appear fatigued or agitated when the ordeal was finished. He was carried to the Tower in custody of Deputy Sheriff Plennie Minerquest in the neighborhood of $100.-
Father-in-Law Goes on Stand.
Emil Selig, of 68 East Georgia avenue, father-in-law of the suspected superintendent, took the stand when it was deserted by Frank.
“How long has Leo Frank, your son-in-law, been married?”
“Three years.”
“Do you live with him?”
“No; he lives with me.”
“When did you first see him Saturday?”
“At dinner.”
“How long did he stay at dinner?”
“Quite a while.”
“When did you next see him?”
“At supper.”
“What did he first do upon arriving for supper?”
“Sat down at the table.”
“What did he do afterward?”
“Read in the hallway.”
“How long did you see him?”
“Until about 10 o’clock. Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Goldstein, my wife, Mrs. Ike Strauss, Mrs. Wolfsheimer and my daughter, Mrs. A. Marcus, were playing cards until 11 o’clock. Leo returned about 10 o’clock, I think.”
“Did Frank see these people?”
“I suppose he did.”
“How was he dressed?”
“In a brownish suit.”
“What time did you wake Sunday morning?”
“At 8 o’clock.”
Frank Called Up Factory.
“Did he often call up the factory upon coming home at night?”
“Yes.”
“Did Mrs. Frank tell you anything Sunday morning?”
“Yes. She said something terrible had happened.”
“Didn’t she say that a girl who worked at the factory named Mary Phagan had been murdered?”
“No, sir.”
“Did you talk to Frank that day?”
“Yes.”
“Did you find out anything about the murder?”
“No.”
“Didn’t you get any information from him about it?”
“No.”
“Did Mr. Frank say anything about it when he came back from the factory?”
“No; not that I recollect.”
“All you knew was what your daughter had told you?”
“Yes. She said, ‘Papa, something terrible has happened at the pencil factory.”
Mrs. Selig On Stand.
Mrs. Josephine Selig, wife of Emil Selig, and mother-in-law of Frank, was next called for examination.
“Did you see Frank on Memorial day—at supper?”
“Yes. He was in the hall, reading a paper.”
“Did Frank know you were in the house when he went to bed Saturday night?”
“Yes—he must have.”
“Did he talk to the guests in your home?”
“Yes.”
“Do you remember any of the conversation?”
“No.”
“How long did he talk with any of them?”
“About twenty minutes, I suppose.”
“When did you go in to see Mrs. Frank Sunday morning?”
“About 9 o’clock.”
“Did she tell you anything about Mr. Frank?”
“No.”
“Did you ask her about him?”
“Yes. She said he had gone to town.”
“When did she speak about the murder?”
“When Mr. Frank came home that afternoon.”
“Did he speak of it?”
“Yes. He said a little girl had been murdered at the plant.”
“Did you ask him anything about it?”
“No. I didn’t think it had any bearing on us.”
“How did he seem to take it?”
“He seemed unconcerned.”
“He didn’t express any anxiety or curiosity about it?”
“No.”
“Did he read the paper that afternoon?”
“Yes.”
“Did he read it just as studiously as he read it the preceding night?”
“Apparently so.”
“Did he seem to feel apprehensive?”
“No.”
“When did Frank first mention the name of the slain girl?”
“I don’t think I remember.”
The inquest was adjourned at 7:18 o’clock. It will be resumed at 9:30 Thursday morning. The two-days’ postponement is to permit detectives to garner evidence they announce available.
Following up a new theory advanced last night, detectives are said to have searched the roof of the National Pencil factory building in search of the victim’s missing pocketbook and pay-envelope, neither of which have ever been found.
Police headquarters could not verify the report at midnight. Two men with lanterns, however, were seen walking over the roof about 10 o’clock. They were noticed from The Constitution reportorial rooms. After remaining on the building for thirty minutes or longer, they disappeared through a scuttle hole.
_______
OFFICIALS PLAN TO EXHUME BODY OF VICTIM TODAY
Atlanta Constitution
Wednesday, May 7th, 1913
For Second Time in Less Than Week Physicians to Make Examination at the Graveside of Mary Phagan.
REFUSE TO TELL WHY ACTION WILL BE TAKEN
Search for Finger Prints and New Wounds Is Reported Reason—Inquest Resumed Thursday—Strange Man Sought.
Mary Phagan’s body will be exhumed today for the second time. Bertillion and medical experts will make examinations for finger prints and wounds which may have been overlooked before. Coroner Donehoo and Dr. H. F. Harris, of the state board of health, will be in charge.
Between 9 and 10 o’clock is the scheduled time. The coroner and Dr. Harris and others of their staffs will leave at daybreak this morning in automobiles. They are expected to return about noon. The examination will be at the grave side.
This action is taken at the request of Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey. Neither he nor Dr. Harris would talk when questioned by a Constitution reporter last night. Although they admitted that a second exhumation was in view, they would not divulge their reason.
Dr. Harris is Non-Committal.
“I am not in a position to talk,” said Dr. Harris. “Under other circumstances, I would be glad to give any information at my command. In this case, though, I have been urged to secrecy, and cannot violate my trust.”
The solicitor said:
“I cannot talk. The body will be exhumed, it is true, at my request. To reveal further plans would be ruinous.”
It was learned by The Constitution, however, that the body was to be exhumed for an examination for possible finger prints and wounds. The information came from responsible source.
It also is rumored that a Bertillion expert, summoned by authorities, arrived in Atlanta last night, and will inspect the body for finger prints. In case such evidence is revealed, photographs will be made and placed in hands of the solicitor general.
The examination for wounds will be made by Dr. Harris. When he was asked if his analysis of the dead girl’s stomach had been finished, he said:
Examination Not Complete.
“The examination has not been completed. It is well under way, however, and within a few days, I will be prepared to submit the result before the coroner’s jury.”
He was asked if he could determine at this stage of the examination whether or not there were traces of drugs or dope.
He answered: “I am not prepared to talk on that subject. I will be unable to make a statement until I am called before the coroner’s inquest.”
The body was first exhumed last Sunday night under supervision of Dr. Harris, Coroner Donehoo and County Physician John W. Hurt. The stomach was removed and placed in the laboratory of Dr. Harris, who is analyzing it for traces of drugs or poison.
It came as a surprise. It was not made known until 2:50 o’clock Monday afternoon when the coroner and Dr. Hurt appeared at the inquest held at police headquarters. It was intended to keep the second exhumation a secret, in accordance with plans of the solicitor.
Seek Strange Man.
Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey is striving to learn the identity of the strange man who participated in a sensational scene at the Terminal station last Saturday week with a girl believed to have been Mary Phagan.
It was learned Tuesday that this man’s suit case, which was checked overnight in the parcel check room, was tagged with a label bearing the lettering:
“National Pencil Company; Atlanta.”
Also, it was disclosed that, following the scene created by him and the girl, he cancelled his Pullman ticket for Saturday night, returning Sunday afternoon to engage a berth for that night. He left the station Saturday in company with the girl.
Girl Makes Scene.
As he has already been revealed, a youthful, well-dressed man, wearing a straw hat and carrying a suit case, walked hurriedly from the waiting room of the Terminal Saturday afternoon of the 26th, and made his way along the runway leading to the track stairways.
As he reached the gateway of tracks No. 5 and 6, a pretty girl, about 14 years old, clad in summer frock and wearing a dark blue straw hat, rushed from the waiting room and accosted him. She seemed angry. He dropped his case and led her away from the crowd, apparently to have a talk with her.
The attention of a gateman, who had noticed the arrival of both the man and girl, was again attracted to them by loud exclamations from the girl. She was furious and tearful, while he was obviously trying to explain something.
“You want to leave me; you want to leave,” she was heard to wail. “I won’t
[This article is continued on page two of the newspaper which is not available – Ed.]
_______
FRANK WILL TAKE STAND AT INQUEST
Atlanta Constitution
Thursday, May 8th, 1913
Mrs. Mattie White Tells Detectives That on Afternoon of Killing She Saw Negro in Factory.
Leo M. Frank will probably be the first witness to take the stand in the Mary Phagan murder inquest to be resumed this morning at 9:30 o’clock in police headquarters. He will be examined thoroughly along lines which neither the chief of detectives, coroner nor solicitor general will disclose.
He was resting comfortably at midnight, and, according to reports from the Tower in which he is imprisoned, he is in fit condition to undergo the ordeal. In the first interrogation to which he was subjected, he was on the stand for a trifle more than six hours. It is not thought that the examination today will last that long.
Headquarters was given a surprise yesterday afternoon with the report brought back by Detectives Rosser and Haslett, who were sent early in the afternoon to interview Mrs. Mattie White, wife of Arthur White, the mechanic who was in the pencil factory during the time Mary Phagan entered the building to draw her pay envelope.
Saw Negro in Factory.
Mrs. White stated that she went to the plant to see her husband shortly before 1 o’clock, and that as she came downstairs a few minutes later, she noticed a stalwart, black negro, sitting on a box on the first floor only a few feet from the elevator. He was seated in the shadow of the staircase, and was almost out of view.
This is the first time she has told of seeing the negro. It also is the first time it has been revealed that a negro was in the building between the hours of 12 noon and 4 o’clock, the fatal afternoon. Mrs. White told the sleuths that she did not recollect the incident at first.
Her statement was written and placed on record at headquarters. She will be summoned to the inquest. Her residence is at 58 Bonnie Brae avenue, where she has resided several years.
“The negro was a big man,” she said to Haslett and Rosser, “and was apparently too well-dressed to be a workman. He was sitting on a box in the shadows of the stairway, and gazing intently at the elevator shafts. I thought nothing of his presence, and hurried on out of the building. I don’t know whether or not I will be able to identify him. I possibly could, though.”
Searching for Greek.
Detectives are searching for a young Greek, who is supposed to have disappeared the day the body was discovered. He was an attaché of the café adjoining the pencil factory, a popular establishment with girl employees of the plant, at which many of whom ate their lunches.
Chief Lanford stated that when city detectives, following clues they had obtained from girls of the factory, sought to interview him, they found him missing. Later, it was reported that he was in Anniston, Ala., in which city Pinkerton men are making a search. He was employed as a waiter at the café, and had been in America for a good many years. The officers will not give his name.
The theory, on which suspicion is directed toward the Greek, is that the girl was murdered on the outside of the factory building, probably in the alley way facing Madison avenue, and that her body was carried into the basement through the rear door which was broken open.
The bursting of the door would have been an easy matter, as the staple could have been taken out, the detectives say, with the fingers.
It is advanced, too, that the slayer was in love with his victim, and that the deed was inspired by insane jealousy.
Added energy was injected into the search for the missing Greek at dusk Wednesday, when W. T. Hunter, a youth living at 250 Grant street, came to police headquarters and told Chief Lanford a story of a scene he had witnessed at 3:30 o’clock on the Sunday morning the body was found.
Hunter told of the appearance of three Greeks in a club at Broad and Hunter streets at 8:30 o’clock the Sunday morning of the discovery. One of the trio, he said, carried a mysterious package under his arm, obviously containing clothing. All three, upon entering the club, went into the washroom, where they cleaned their faces and hands. Detectives have been detailed to look for the three Greeks answering Hunter’s descriptions.
Dorsey Talks With Lee.
Solicitor General Dorsey held a lengthy interview with Newt Lee in the Tower Wednesday afternoon. It was the first opportunity he had gained to talk with the suspect. He would not divulge the result nor tell of the lines along which the negro was quizzed. Immediately after leaving the jail, Mr. Dorsey hurried away in an automobile.
The negro watchman, Chief Lanford says, will also go on the stand today. It will be his second examination. He will be questioned more closely regarding his private interview held with him by Frank Tuesday, a week ago, when both were allowed to talk in the privacy of the negro’s cell.
_______
STAINS OF BLOOD ON SHIRT FRESH, SAYS DR. SMITH
Atlanta Constitution
Thursday, May 8th, 1913
City Bacteriologist Makes His Report After Examination of Garment of Negro Which Was Found in Trash Barrel.
LEE’S CELLMATE MAY TESTIFY AT INQUEST
Witness Spent 24 Hours in Same Cell With Phagan Prisoner — Body of Girl Exhumed for Second Time.
DAY’S DEVELOPMENTS IN PHAGAN MYSTERY
Dr. Claude Smith, city bacteriologist, completes examination of negro’s blood-stained shirt, and finds that the blood stains are new.
Body of Mary Phagan was exhumed shortly after noon on Wednesday for the purpose of making a second examination.
Mrs. Mattie Smith, wife of one of the mechanics who were last men to leave pencil factory, tells detectives that shortly before 1 o’clock, when she left the building, she saw strange negro near elevator.
Bill Bailey, negro convict who was placed in cell with Newt Lee for twenty-four hours, now at liberty, and will probably be called upon at inquest today to testify.
Leo Frank will be placed upon the stand again today at 9:30 o’clock, when the coroner’s inquest is resumed.
Solicitor General Hugh Dorsey holds a long conference in cell with Newt Lee, but declines to tell what passed.
Detectives announce they are searching for a Greek, who is now believed to be in Alabama.
Chief Lanford declares that somebody is blocking Phagan investigation, silencing witnesses, and “planting” evidence.
The report of Dr. Claude A. Smith’s analysis of the bloodstains on the shirt found in the home of Newt Lee, who is held in connection with the Mary Phagan murder, has been submitted to the detective department. It reveals that the stains were caused by human blood, not more than a month old.
The report is brief. The examination was thorough, but no comparison was made with the stains on the garment and with other stains. The only specimen possessed by Dr. Smith beside the shirt were small shavings, flecked with blood, which were chipped from the flooring at the spot near the machine, where the girl is supposed to have received her death blow.
Comparison with the stains on the chip were impossible because of the stain’s dimness. Dr. Smith said to a reporter for The Constitution that he had not been given the bloody garments which Mary Phagan wore to use for the purpose of comparisons. The shirt has been returned to police headquarters. It will be used in the inquest today.
When the negro was confronted with the tell-tale garment Tuesday a week ago he admitted to its ownership, but said he could not account for the blood spots. He had not worn it, he declared, for two years. He said it was not bloody when he discarded it in 1911. Lee said he knew no manner in which the stains could have been made.
Shirt Found In Trash Barrel.
The shirt was found by Detectives Scott and Black in the bottom of a barrel filled with trash, which stood in the back yard of Lee’s home on Henry Street. The sleuths never would tell the clew which led them to search for it.
Dr. Smith states that his inspection revealed the fact that the garment was not being worn when the stains were made. It had been used to mop up the blood, he said, and could not possibly have been worn at the time. He could not determine whether or not the blood was that of a white person or a negro.
He will probably be summoned to testify at the inquest.
Mary Phagan’s body was exhumed shortly after noon Wednesday. Profound secrecy surrounds the action and it probably will not be known until the inquest today why the disinterment was made. Dr. H. F. Harris of the state board of health, was the only official at the graveside in the Marietta cemetery when the corpse was unearthed.
Body Exhumed For Last Time.
After an examination lasting two hours the body was again hurled and, according to a responsible report, some organ removed and brought by Dr. Harris to Atlanta. When the body was replaced it was consigned forever to its last resting place. Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Coleman, the dead girl’s parents, objected so strenuously to further exhumations that it will never be removed again.
Until late at night Dr. Harris labored in his laboratory in the state capitol over the examination. He was reached by a reporter shortly after 16 o’clock.
“I am pledged to secrecy,” he said. “It was under the condition that I make public nothing whatever pertaining to the examination that I was selected for the work. I cannot disclose the object of the analysis or its nature until allowed to do so by Solicitor Dorsey.”
Solicitor Dorsey said about 9:30 o’clock that he was not prepared to talk of the exhumation. He admitted, however, requesting Coroner Donehoo and Dr. Harris to remove the body and make certain examinations which he expected to result in new and valuable evidence.
Reliable reports are to the effect that one motive of the disinterment was for the purpose of obtaining some hair from the victim’s head with which to compare the stands found on the lathing machine in the pencil factory.
Another rumor is that a chart was made of the cuts and bruises on the face and body and that photographic plates were made of the finger prints on the throat.
No one outside the solicitor’s staff, Dr. Hurt, Dr. Harris and Coroner Donehoo are aware of the motive for the exhumation. Even Chief Lanford and the Pinkerton men expressed their lack of knowledge. They have not been taken into the confidence of the officials supervising the mysterious move.
His Work Hampered Says Lanford.
Accusing mysterious forces of blocking his detectives, Chief Lanford said Wednesday that the work of investigation is being seriously hampered. In man instances, he declared, his men had been refused evidence which they sought, and had encountered a number of prospective witnesses, who refused to divulge the information it was believed they could give.
“I cannot account for the situation,” he told a reporter for The Constitution. “We are being sorely handicapped. Not only are we being opposed, but, as has been shown many times, evidence is being planted. We have discovered numerous signs of “plants” in the past few days, and are not surprised at any “frame up.”
The chief also hinted that arrests would probably result from the discoveries of planted evidence. A squad of men have been detailed to run down clues pointing to guilty persons. They are finding their task a baffling one.
Although he would say but little, Chief Beavers also hinted of efforts he had met to frustrate the work of the detective department. “It seems that we are being opposed,” he said.
Lee’s Cellmate May Testify.
Imprisoned for twenty-four hours in the same cell with Newt Lee, the nightwatchman suspect in the Mary Phagan mystery, Bill Bailey, an ex-convict, will probably be called to the stand in the coroner’s inquest this morning to testify to certain admissions he is believed to have got from the negro.
Bailey is a negro youth, apparently 20 years old. He served eight years in the Fulton chain gang on a charge of shooting, during which time he was bunkmate of the suspected watchman. Lee was serving sentence at that time on a charge of gambling.
The negroes were intimate friends. Bailey is working with J. Mayo. Several days ago Mr. Mayo brought him to police headquarters and conferred with Chief Lanford on a plan to imprison the two ex-convicts. Monday night Bailey was sent to the Tower and locked in Lee’s cell.
He was released twenty-four hours later. Chief Lanford nor any of his detectives will disclose the result of the scheme, but it is freely rumored around headquarters that the Bailey negro succeeded in obtaining valuable evidence, which he is expected to deliver at the inquest.
Did Negro Write Notes?
After minute examination of the mysterious notes found beside the body on the morning of the discovery, A. M. Richardson, inspector of service with the Adams and Southern Express companies, told a reporter for The Constitution yesterday morning that he was fully convinced that the negro nightwatchman did not write them.
“They were written by a white man,” he said, “and an educated man, at that. The letters are formed too expertly, and adhere too closely to the ruling of the paper on which they were written. In my opinion, they were written by the murderer, a shrewd man, with intention of reflecting guilt upon an illiterate negro.”
Mr. Richardson has made a lifetime study of handwriting. He is thoroughly acquainted with detective methods and operations, and has taken decided interest in the Phagan mystery. Most of his investigation in the case has been concentrated upon the notes. He hopes to trace their origin by means of comparing suspected script under strong microscopic examination.
New Witnesses Summoned.
Another new witness summoned yesterday for the inquest this morning was Miss Grace Hicks, of 100 McDonough road, an intimate acquaintance of the murdered girl, and the woman who identified the body before it had been removed from the cellar of the pencil factory.
The sleuths will not disclose the character of the testimony she will be expected to render. She stated to reporters, however, that she held out little evidence, and that the last time she saw the girl of tragedy alive, was on the Monday preceding her death, when she left the pencil plant.
Miss Hicks was quizzed for an hour Wednesday morning in the office of Chief Lanford. She operated a tipping machine adjoining the machine operated by the Phagan girl. She came at 6 o’clock Sunday morning in answer to summons to the factory building. The moment the tragic face of the slain girl was revealed in the dim, flickering light of the watchman’s lantern, she exclaimed:
“That’s Mary Phagan—Oh, my God!” falling into a swoon in the arms of her brother-in-law, Boots Rogers.
FRANK AND LEE ORDERED HELD BY CORONER’S JURY FOR MARY PHAGAN MURDER
Atlanta Constitution
Friday, May 9th, 1913
Leo Frank
Sensational Statements Made at Inquest by Two Women, One of Whom Had Been an Employee, Who Declared That Frank Had Been Guilty of Improper Conduct Toward His Feminine Employees and Had Made Proposals to Them in the Factory.
EVIDENCE IN BAFFLING MYSTERY THUS FAR, IS CIRCUMSTANTIAL, IS ADMISSION MADE BY DETECTIVES
Frank and Lee Both Go on Stand Again and Are Closely Questioned in Regard to New Lines of Evidence and Forced to Reiterate Testimony Formerly Made to Coroner’s Jury. They Will Remain in Jail Pending Action of the Grand Jury.
Leo. M. Frank, superintendent of the National Pencil factory, and Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, suspects in the Mary Phagan murder, were ordered by the coroner’s jury to be held under charges of murder for further investigation by the Fulton grand jury.
With this verdict the inquest closed at 6:28 o’clock yesterday afternoon. Frank and the negro will be held in the Tower until action is taken by the grand jury and solicitor general. The decision was reached within twenty minutes after the jury had retired.
Although much important testimony was delivered at the inquest, probably the most significant was the admission made by Detective Harry Scott, of the Pinkertons, and Detective John Black, of headquarters, both of whom declared in answer to questions that they so far had obtained no conclusive evidence or clues in the baffling mystery, and that their only success had been attained in the forging of a chain of circumstantial evidence.
Testimony was drawn from a number of women and young girls who told of alleged undue familiarity of the suspected factory superintendent with them and other female employees of the plant. The boldest statement of this character was made by Nellie Pettis, a young sister-in-law of Mrs. Lillie Mae Pettis, an employee of the factory.
She declared that on one occasion, four weeks ago, when she had gone to Frank’s office to obtain her sister’s pay envelope, the superintendent had made an open proposal, and had even intimated the offer of money.
Frank and Lee on Rack.
Both the superintendent and the negro suspect were placed on the rack during the afternoon session. Lee’s statement was a reiteration of his former story. He was quizzed on new lines, however, answering all questions promptly and clearly. He preceded his employer.
Frank was interrogated in regard to new evidence that has been obtained by the sleuths.
He was worn and haggard, and shows the effect of his imprisonment. From 9:30 in the morning, at which hour the inquest was resumed, until 5 o’clock in the afternoon, when he was placed on the stand, he sat in the office of Chief Beavers, the object of the gaze of immense crowd of idly curious who thronged the building.
Frank’s Testimony.
Frank was put on the rack at 5 o’clock. His examination was much shorter than the one to which he was subjected during the first session.
“What kind of elevator door is there to the shaft in the pencil factory?” was the first question.
“Sliding doors.”
“How many?”
“One on each floor.”
“Are they latticed or solid?”
“Solid.”
“Where was the elevator at 12 o’clock Saturday?”
“I did not notice.”
“Were the doors open or closed?”
“I don’t remember.”
“What protection would a person have from falling down the shaft [1 word illegible] the doors were left open?”
“A bar which projects across the opening.”
“After the crime was committed, where did the elevator stand?”
“I only know where it stood Sunday morning. It then was on the second floor.”
“When you last removed the tape from the time clock, what did you do with it?”
“Handed it to an officer in the building.”
“Did you put it on file?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes—positive.”
“Do you remember a party at your house on the night of April 26?”
“Yes.”
“Can you name the guests?”
“I don’t remember them all.”
“When the police came to bring you down to the factory that Sunday morning, what was said about whiskey?”
“I said I wanted something warm to drink. One of the detectives suggested whisky.”
“What time was it?”
“Between 7:30 and 8 o’clock.”
“What did you say about dreaming?”
“I said to someone that I thought I had dreamed of hearing the telephone ring in the dead of night.”
“When you went to the undertakers’, did you go in the water closet instead of the room in which the body lay?”
“No.”
“Did you view the body?”
“Yes.”
“Did you recognize the girl?”
“Yes.”
“When did you first hear her name?”
“I don’t remember.”
“What time did you return home that Sunday afternoon?”
“I don’t recollect.”
“Did you telephone your wife before your return.”
“Yes.”
Did Not Discuss Murder.
“Was the murder discussed at home that afternoon?”
“Not much.”
“What topic was discussed?”
“I don’t remember.”
“When did Quinn first mention to you his visit to the factory on the 26th?”
“I don’t remember.”
“What did he say?”
“He said, ‘Don’t you recollect that I was at the factory Saturday about noon?’”
“What did you tell him about withholding that information until your attorney had been consulted?”
“I don’t remember. I had so many visitors that I couldn’t recollect the exact words.”
“Who suggested the conference with your attorney relative to Quinn’s visit?”
“I don’t remember.”
“How long have you known you had counsel?”
“Since Monday.”
“Why was it mentioned that Quinn’s visit be kept until consultation with your lawyer?”
“I don’t remember.”
“How can you lock the door between your office and the dressing room where the blood spots were found?”
“I have never seen it locked.”
“Is it usually open or closed?”
“Closed.”
“Is there any way of closing the doors on the back stairway?”
“Yes. They are locked.”
“Describe your telephone conversation with Detective Starnes at the time you were informed of the tragedy?”
Frank Was Called Up.
“He asked me if I was superintendent of the National Pencil factory. ‘I’d like to have you come down here at once,” he said when I informed him that I was Leo Frank. He said he wanted me to identity a girl, and asked me if I knew Mary Phagan.”
“Didn’t you say that the first time you had heard her name was while you were traveling in the auto on the way to the factory Sunday morning?”
“I don’t recollect that I did.”
“Did you have any trouble with a girl in your office Saturday morning?”
“No. There was one incident where a mistake had been made in the pay envelope of Mattie Smith, but it was corrected without any trouble.”
“What time was Mattie Smith in your office?”
“Between 9 and 10 a. m.?”
“Did anyone enter while she was there?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Give the name of everyone in the office throughout the day Saturday.”
“Mr. Darley, Mr. Holloway, the office boy, Miss Hall, the stenographer; Mr. Campbell, Mr. Fullerton, Mrs. White, Lemmie Quinn, Mr. Gantt, Emma Clark, another girl employee, Arthur White, Harry Denham, Newt Lee and Mary Phagan.”
“Did you see May Barrett?”
“I don’t know her.”
“What did you say to Emma Clark?”
“I don’t remember saying anything to her.”
He was released from examination of 4:55 o’clock.
Lee on Stand.
Newt Lee was put on the stand, and for the first time publicly told of the private conversation he held with Frank on the night the latter was arrested and brought to police headquarters. He was put through only a short examination.
“Detail your talk with Mr. Frank at headquarters Tuesday night a week ago.”
“I was in the room locked up by myself. Mr. Frank, he came in. I says, ‘Howdy, Mr. Frank; how’re you feeling? It’s mighty hard,’ I says, ‘for me to have to sit here handcuffed to a chair for something I didn’t do.’
“He said I knew something about the crime. I told him I didn’t know a thing on earth about it.
“Then he said: ‘Look here, Newt, if you keep up that same story we’re both going to hell.’ He said it loudly, and made a sweepinn gesture with his hands. I told him that the killing must have been done in the daytime, as all that night I had to pass once every thirty minutes by the machine where they said the little girl was killed. He wouldn’t let me talk about it.”
“When you came to work Saturday at 4 o’clock, did you say anything about wanting to go to sleep?”
“Yes, sir. When I got to the factory I went to the office door and hollered: ‘All right, Mr. Frank, I’m here!’ just like I always do. He came to the door, and said I could go out on the street and have some fun. I said I had rather sleep, because I hadn’t been sleeping much of late, than have a good time out on the street. He said go on, though, and I went.”
“Was that the first time he ever came to the door to greet you?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Was the street door locked when you entered the building?”
“No, sir.”
Found Inside Door Locked.
“Was the inside door locked—the door leading to Frank’s office and the second floor?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Had it ever been locked before?”
“No, sir. Not since I’ve been working there.”
“How did you get in?”
“Unlocked the door.”
“When you arrived, was the scuttle hole near the elevator open?”
“I don’t know, sir. It generally always does stay open, though.”
“Was it light or dark on the second floor?”
“Dark.”
“Did Mr. Frank put on the tape of the time clock at 6:30 when you returned from the street?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Did he ever do this before?”
“Only once, that’s all.”
“How long did it take him to fix the tape?”
“A pretty good while.”
“Whose shirt is that they found at your house?”
“It looks mighty like one I use to have.”
“What size do you wear?”
“Sixteen.”
“Whose clothes were in the barrel in which it was found?”
“Mine.”
“Was the shirt ready-made?”
“No, sir. It was made by Mrs. Bowen, a white lady who gave it to me.”
“If it is a ready-made garment, then it isn’t yours?”
“No, sir.”
Schiff Tells of Office Work.
Herbert Schiff, chief clerk of the pencil factory, took the stand.
“What is your capacity with the concern?” he was questioned.
“I formerly was a traveling salesman. I’m now chief clerk and first assistant to Mr. Frank.”
“Are you entirely familiar with his handwriting?”
(The object of the coroner was to ascertain the exact amount of work done by the suspected superintendent during the day on which the murder is believed to have been committed.)
“Yes.”
“His business, too?”
“Yes, thoroughly.”
“Wasn’t Frank behind with his office work on that particular Saturday?”
“What kind of work had accumulated?”
“Billing, orders and the financial sheet.”
“Were you at the factory Saturday?”
“No.”
“How many employees are there attached to the plant?”
“One hundred and fifty or more.”
(At this juncture of his examination, Schiff was given the same assortment of clerical work to investigate which had previously been given Miss Hall. He was asked to identify Frank’s handwriting. He recognized ten requisition sheets which the suspect had handled.)
“How long would it require to adjust these requisitions?”
“An hour and thirty minutes, I would say.”
“Were you at the factory Monday morning at 8 o’clock?”
“Yes.”
“When did you first see these papers?”
“Monday or Tuesday, I forget which.”
“How long would you judge that it took Frank to complete the work on his books and papers which you recognize as having been performed by him that day?”
“About six or seven hours.”
“Did you see him Sunday?”
“Yes, at Bloomfield’s, the undertaker.”
“Did you speak to him?”
“No; not at that time. I heard him say to Mr. Darley, whom he had accompanied to the undertaker’s, that he was going to police headquarters.”
“What clothes did he wear?”
“I did not notice closely, but it looked like a brown suit. I’m not sure.”
“Did you talk with him at all Sunday?”
“A little. He told me what he had heard of the tragedy, and of being telephoned at daybreak.”
“Do you know him well?”
“Yes, I do. I’ve been associated with him probably more than anyone connected with the plant.”
“What is his general manner toward the girl employees?”
“He says very little to them.”
“Is he naturally nervous?”
“Yes, quite so. He gets agitated over the least little happening.”
Frank’s Conduct Discussed.
The following is Tom Blackstock’s testimony:
“Do you know Leo M. Frank?”
“Yes.”
“How long have you known him?”
“About six weeks.”
“Did you ever observe his conduct toward female employees of the pencil factory?”
“Yes. I’ve often seen him picking on different girls.”
“Name some.”
“I can’t exactly recollect names.”
“What was the conduct you noticed particularly?”
The witness answered to the effect that he had seen him place his hands with undue familiarity upon the person of girls.
“See it often?”
“A half dozen times, maybe. He generally was seen to become that familiar while he was touring the building.”
“Can’t you name just one girl?”
“Yes. Magnolia Kennedy.”
“Did you see him act with undue familiarity toward her?”
“No. I heard talk about it.”
“Before or after the murder?”
“Afterwards.”
“When did you observe this misconduct of which you have told?”
“A year ago.”
“Did you hear complaints around the plant?”
“No. The girls tried to avoid him.”
At 6:28 o’clock, when the jury adjourned the inquest, executive session was declared. Behind locked doors, with even the coroner barred, the six jurors heard the statement of Dr. John W. Hurt, county physician, relative to the examination he had made upon the body.
He told them of the disclosure that death had been caused by strangulation, and minutely described the cuts and wounds about the chest, head and shoulders. No reference was made to the examination he held on the stomach by Dr. H. F. Harris, of the state board of health, nor of the analysis made at the grave when the body was disinterred Wednesday afternoon.
Dr. Hurt’s statement consumed twenty minutes or more. It required half that time for the jury to reach a verdict. When it had been delivered, Coroner Donehoo made a small speech of thanks, commending each man for his efforts during the inquest. Following which, the six men were paid their regulation fee of $1.
A pathetic feature of the adjournment was the handshake accorded the jury individually by James W. Coleman, stepfather of the slain girl. With tear-dimmed eyes and tremulous hand Mr. Coleman moved among the jurors, pressing their hands firmly and murmuring words of gratitude.
The final two hours of the inquest were occupied in examining witnesses whose testimony pertained to the suspected superintendent’s alleged misconduct with female employees of the plant. These witnesses were Mrs. C. D. Donegan, Tom Blackstock, Nellie Wood and Nellie Pettis.
It was the first time such testimony had been introduced, and came as a surprise. The statement of the Pettis girl was the most interesting. She lives at 9 Oliver street and is apparently 18 or 19 years old.
Testifies to Improper Conduct.
She first was asked if she ever had been employed at the pencil factory.
“No,” she answered.
“Do you know Leo Frank?”
“I have seen him once or twice.”
“When and where did you see him?”
“In his office at the factory whenever I went to draw my sister-in-law’s pay.”
What did he say to you that might have been improper on any of these visits?”
“He didn’t exactly say—he made gestures. I went to get sister’s pay about four weeks ago, and when I went into the office of Mr. Frank I asked for her. He told me I couldn’t see her unless ‘I saw him first.’
“I told him that I didn’t want to ‘see him.’ He pulled a box from his desk. It had a lot of money in it. He looked at it significantly and then looked at me. When he looked at me, he winked. As he winked he said: ‘How about it?’
“I instantly told him I was a nice girl.”
Here the witness stopped her statement. Coroner Donehoo asked her sharply:
“Didn’t you say anything else?”
“Yes, I did! I told him to go to h—l! and walked out of his office.”
Mrs. C. D. Donegan was next called to the stand. She was connected with the pencil plant for three weeks. Her capacity was that of forelady. She resides at 165 West Fourteenth street with her husband.
_______
“Frank Flirted With Women.”
Her testimony follows:
“State your observations of Frank’s conduct toward the girls and women of the plant.”
“I have noticed him smile and wink at the girls in the place. That was two years ago.”
“Did you make a statement to the detectives of undue familiarity you had witnessed?”
“I told them that I had seen Frank flirt with the girls and women—that was all I said.”
The testimony of Nellie Wood, a young girl of 8 Corput street came next.
In brief it was this:
“Do you know Leo Frank?”
“I worked for him two days.”
“Did you observe any misconduct on his part?”
“Well, his actions didn’t suit me. He’d come around and put his hands on me, when such conduct was entirely uncalled for.”
“Is that all he did?”
“No. He asked me one day to come into his office, saying that he wanted to talk to me. He tried to close the door, but I wouldn’t let him. He got too familiar by getting so close to me. He also put his hands on me.”
“Where did he put his hands?”
“He barely touched my breast. He was subtle with his approaches, and tried to pretend that he was joking, but I was too wary for such as that.”
“Did he try further familiarities?”
“Yes.”
“When did this happen?”
“Two years ago.”
“What did you tell him when you left his employ?”
“I just quit, telling him that it didn’t suit me.”
Detectives On Stand.
The placing of Detectives Scott and Black on the rack created surprise. They had been assisting in the examination of witnesses. Both were quizzed during the afternoon session.
Scott was first to take the stand.
“What is your profession?”
“Assistant superintendent of the Atlanta branch of the Pinkerton Detective agency.”
“Why are you investigating the Mary Phagan case?”
“I have been retained by the National Pencil company, through Leo M. Frank, to catch the murderer of Mary Phagan.”
“When and how were you retained?”
“Monday following the discovery of the body, I was called over the telephone by Mr. Frank. I went to see him at his office and was employed.”
“State what conversation ensued between you?”
“Frank said, ‘I guess you have read of the horrible crime that has been committed in our factory building. We desire to catch the murderer or murderers, and want to employ the Pinkertons so as to show the public that we are interested in the case.’ He also said that John Black, a detective at police headquarters, seemed to suspect him of the crime. He detailed to me his movements on the day of the murder. This was his explanation:
“’I was at the office of the plant until 10 a. m., when I went to Montag’s office, returning to the factory about 10:30 o’clock. White and Denham, two mechanics, were in the building, and, about 12:10 o’clock, Mary Phagan came in to draw her pay. As she stopped from the office with her envelope, she called back to see if the tipping metal had arrived. About 12:50 o’clock, I left for dinner, returning at 3:10. At 4 o’clock, the negro watchman, Newt Lee, appeared. He was dismissed because of the rupture in my plans to attend the ball game. At 6:30, the negro returned and I went home for the night.”
Scott Questioned Frank.
“Did you ask him any questions?”
“I asked him but little, nothin, in fact.”
“Did he show you over the building?”
“Yes, we inspected the time clock, the elevator, machine room in which the girl is supposed to have been killed, and the spot in the basement where the body was found.”
“Who was with you beside Frank?”
“A Mr. Darley.”
“Did Frank make any suggestions as to how you might proceed with your investigation?”
“None, whatever.”
“Did he advance any theories?”
“None.”
“Have you talked with him since?”
“Only once, and that was while he was being examined at police headquarters.”
“Did Frank reprimand you for questioning him, or protest against the tone of your questions?”
“No.”
“Did he ask you to stop the investigation?”
“No. Herbert Haas asked us to turn over to him the reports of our progress until further notice. I told him we’d first withdraw from the case.”
Scott Reports to Manager.
“Who is getting your daily reports?”
“Sig Montag, manager of the pencil factory.”
“Are you still in the employ of the pencil factory?”
“Yes.”
“Who planned the conference between Lee and Frank?”
“Detective Black and I. We asked Frank to impress upon the negro the importance of telling the truth.”
“What was he told to say to Lee?”
“What I have just told you.”
“What did Frank say when the conference was finished?”
“That he could not get a thing out of the negro.”
“What did the negro say?”
“That Frank told him that if he stuck to his original story, both would go to h—l, and that Frank had made no effort to question him.”
“What did Frank say regarding the conference?”
“That he could get nothing from Lee, and that he had made every possible effort to get the truth.”
“Were you with Detective Black when Lee’s home was searched for the bloody shirt?”
“No.”
“Did you see the shirt in question?”
“Yes.”
“Describe it!”
“It was bloody, and looked as though it had been recently washed. It exhaled a strong odor of blood.”
“Had it ever been laundered?”
“There was no mark to indicate it.”
“Did Lee ever see it?”
“Yes, he recognized it, but said it ‘had not been worn for two years.’ He could not account for the blood stains.”
Scott Refuses to Committ Self.
“Mr. Scott, have you any direct clue or clues?”
“I won’t commit myself at present.”
“Have you anything positive?”
“Only surmises. We are only running out a chain of circumstantial evidence.”
“Is this information in only your possession?”
“No. It is also in Detective Black’s.”
Detective Black was called.
“Tell the jury about the bloody shirt which you found in Newt Lee’s home.”
“Fred Bullard, a headquarters detective, and I went to the rear of 40 Henry street last Thursday a week ago and found it in a trash barrel at the negro’s home.”
“In which part of the barrel was it found?”
“In the bottom.”
“Was the barrel odorous?”
“Yes. It was strong with the fumes of refuse.”
“Did you see the shirt Lee wore Sunday when he was arrested?”
“Yes.”
“Was it like the bloody one?”
“No. It was a woolen garment. The bloody one was linen.”
“Where is the bloody shirt now?”
[It appears there was a mistake in printing and part of the article is missing —Ed.]
“… clue in the Phagan case?”
“Have you discovered any positive clew in the Phagan case?”
“No.”
“What did Lemmie Quinn tell you of his trip to the pencil factory on the Saturday that Mary Phagan disappeared?”
“He told me last Tuesday that he was not at the factory at all on April 26.”
Six Witnesses at Morning Session.
Three hours of the most rigid questioning of witnesses at yesterday morning session of the coroner’s inquest into the death of Mary Phagan failed to bring out any new evidence of importance. Six witnesses—“Boots” Rogers, a former county policeman; Lemmie Quinn, foreman of the pencil factory; Miss Corinthia Hall, employed at the factory; Miss Hattie Hall a stenographer; J. L. Watkins and Miss Daisy Jones—were examined by Coroner Donehoo, but the testimony differed in no way from what has already been given.
Constitution Reporter Testifies.
Rogers told how Britt Craig, the Constitution reporter, was the first to enter the basement and see the dead girl’s body as it lay “face down” in the basement of the pencil factory. His story of how Lee told the officers of his discovery of the body was identified with other testimony on this point.
After Lee had been arrested Rogers said that he went in an automobile to the home of Miss Grace Hix, at 100 McDonough road, an employee at the factory, and brought her to the factory to identify the body of Mary Phagan. He then went for Frank, who had in the meantime been telephoned to, and found him nearly dressed, but nervous.
Rogers said that when the officers arrived at the Frank home, Frank asked whether there was anything wrong at the factory.
While at the factory, Rogers testified, Frank ran the elevator and examined the time clock, reporting that it was correctly punched. His only remark to the arrested night watchman was “too bad.”
Rogers told of how he then took Frank to the undertaker’s shop to see the girl’s body, and later took him to police headquarters to be questioned.
L. A. Quinn, the foreman under whom Mary Phagan worked, stated that he had not seen Mary Phagan since the Monday prior to her death when she was suspended from work on account of a shortage of material.
He stated that he did not work on the Saturday of the murder, but was in the pencil factory to see Mr. Schiff, and talked with Frank only a few minutes after the time when Frank is supposed to have paid off Mary Phagan. He said he did not see Mary Phagan that day. Quinn accounted minutely for his whereabouts and actions on the day of the murder.
Had Forgotten Visit.
He stated that he had forgotten his visit to the factory on the day of the murder until the Tuesday or Wednesday following, but when he remembered it, he asked Frank [1 word illegible] he had better tell the officers. Frank, he said, suggested that he tell his—Frank’s—lawyers about it.
Upon being asked why he had withheld his story of his visit to the factory from the detectives, Quinn said that he did not want to be questioned by the detectives and drawn into the case.
He was questioned about his visit to the Coleman home, where Mary Phagan lived, after the murder, and was also questioned as to the treatment received by girls working in the factory.
Miss Hattie Hall, stenographer for Sig Montag, stated that she was at the factory on Saturday morning working for Frank from about 11 o’clock until noon, but did not see Mary Phagan and could throw no light on the mystery. She told how much and the nature of the work she did for Frank on that day. She said she left the factory at 12:02 o’clock.
The former testimony of J. L. Watkins to the effect that he had seen Mary Phagan on the street between 5 and 6 o’clock on the afternoon of the murder was broken down when a Miss Daisy Jones told the jury how she had passed where Watkins thought he saw Miss Phagan at the time the Watkins lad designated, and that Watkins, being recalled to the stand, admitted his mistake.
Miss Corinthia Hall, who has been an employee at the pencil factory for three years, testified that Frank’s conduct toward the girls in his employ was beyond reproach. She said that she left the factory at 11:45 on the morning of the day of the murder; did not see Mary Phagan and had not seen her since the Monday before when she was laid off from work.
The theory that Mary Phagan was slain by a Greek who worked in a nearby café, has been disproven and is abandoned by the detectives.
_______
GIRL WILL SWEAR OFFICE OF FRANK DESERTED BETWEEN 12:05 AND 12:10
Atlanta Constitution
Saturday, May 10th, 1913
Testimony Considered Important by Officers Because Frank at the Inquest Stated on Stand That He Did Not Leave Between Noon on Saturday and 12:25. When Quinn Came to See Him.
SHE WENT TO FACTORY TO GET PAY ENVELOPE – POSITIVE OF THE TIME
New Evidence, Just Submitted to Detective Department, Leads Chief Lanford to Believe That Mary Phagan Was Murdered in the Basement — Woman Says She Heard Screams on Saturday Afternoon.
A new and important witness has been found in the Mary Phagan murder mystery.
She is Monteen Stover, a girl of 14 years, a former employee of the pencil factory.
After already having attested to an affidavit now in possession of the solicitor general, she will testify before the grand jury that on the day of Mary Phagan’s disappearance, she entered the pencil plant at 12:05 o’clock in the afternoon and found the office deserted.
Also, that she remained five minutes, during which time no one appeared. The building seemed empty of human occupants, she declares, and no sounds came from any part. Expecting to have found the superintendent, she says she went through both the outer and inner offices in search of Frank.
Testimony Important Declare Police.
The police say that this is valuable evidence because of the testimony of Frank at the inquest to the effect that he remained in his office throughout the time between 12 noon and the time at which Quinn arrived, 35 minutes after 12. Also, they recount his statement that Mary Phagan entered the building at 12:05, the time the Stover girl says she arrived.
The latter states she went to draw her pay envelope. She is positive of the time at which she appeared in the office, because she looked at the timeclock on the wall fronting the entrance to the outer office. She was anxious, she says, to ascertain if it was time to draw the pay for which she had come.
In telling of the value of the Stover girl’s testimony, the police refer to Frank’s testimony, which was recorded as follows:
“What time did Miss Hall, the stenographer, leave the office Saturday, April 26?”
“About 12 noon. I recollect the time because I heard the noon whistles blow.”
“What did you do when she departed?”
“Started work on my books.”
“Were you alone?”
“So far as I knew.”
“Did anyone come in later?”
“Yes. Shortly after 12 o’clock, the little girl who was killed entered my office.”
When Mary Phagan Reached Office.
“Can’t you estimate the time?”
“Yes, it was about five minutes after twelve.”
“How did you fix the time?”
“It seemed that late.”
“What time do you say Lemmie Quinn arrived?”
“About 12:25 o’clock.”
“Were you out of the office from the time the noon whistles blew until Quinn came?”
“No.”
Monteen Stover was seen by a Constitution reporter last night at her home, 171 South Forsyth street. She is a daughter by first marriage of Mrs. Homer Edmondson, a boarding house keeper of that address.
She is now employed with a Whitehall street department store as salesgirl. The detectives discovered her last Saturday, when she came again to the pencil factory to draw the pay she had missed on the previous weekend.
As she and her mother entered the office, they were questioned by two officers who were stationed in the plant to procure whatever evidence they might find. Monteen told them of her visit on Memorial day, and gave them her name and address. Monday morning she was taken to the office of the solicitor general, where an affidavit was attested to.
Went to Factory To Get Her Pay.
“I went to the pencil factory that Saturday,” she told the reporter, “to draw my pay. The front door and the door leading to the second floor were unlocked. The whole place was awfully quiet, and kinder scary as I went up the steps.
“The minute I got to the office floor I looked at the clock to see if it was time to draw my pay. I would have looked at it, anyhow, I suppose, as it was always customary for me to punch it the first thing upon entering the place to go to work.
“It was five minutes after twelve. I was sure Mr. Frank would be in his office, so I stepped in. He wasn’t in the outer office, so I stepped into the inner one. He wasn’t there, either. I thought he might have been somewhere around the building, so I waited. When he didn’t show up in a few minutes, I went to the door and peered further down the floor among the machinery. I couldn’t see him there.
“I stayed until the clock hand was pointing exactly to ten minutes after twelve. Then I went downstairs. The building was quiet and I couldn’t hear a sound. I didn’t see anybody. As I walked from the building out to the street I saw four young boys standing close to the entrance. When I first came into the place they were standing on the corner of Forsyth and Hunter streets. They were only young boys.”
Detectives Wanted Testimony a Secret.
Mrs. Edmondson, Monteen’s mother, said to the reporter:
“I regret it exceedingly that Monteen will have to testify in this case, but if it will help clear up the mystery I will be mighty glad. Also, I’m grieved that it will get in the newspapers. The solicitor and detectives seemed extremely anxious that her testimony be kept secret.”
Monteen had worked at the pencil factory for a year. She spoke highly of the suspected superintendent, and said that he was as popular with his employees as any employer whom she had ever known. She did not know the Phagan girl, and said she had never even seen her.
After scouring the vicinity of Mapleton and Smyrna for miles around, the police have finally found the mysterious “girl in the red dress,” who was reported to have visited the pencil factory with Mary Phagan at the time of her disappearance. She is Mrs. Nancy Caldwell, of 10 Gray street, a former companion of the [new paragraph started; misprint]
How Report Started.
STARTED.
The chief of police and two detectives, after an auto trip to Marietta, were informed she lived in Atlanta, and after examining her thoroughly, learned that she had not seen Mary Phagan since a year ago. The rumor of her association with Mary on Memorial day started in a store near Mapleton by a girl who is said to have asserted her knowledge of a girl who accompanied Mary to the pencil factory.
Before her marriage, Mrs. Caldwell was Miss Nancy Summerhill, who lived eight miles from Smyrna. She and the victim were intimate friends until 1912, when both moved to Atlanta. She was seen by a reporter for The Constitution late last night.
“No, I wasn’t with Mary that Saturday,” she said. “I wish I had been. I might be able to throw some light on the mystery. If I had gone with her to the factory building and had experienced all I am reported to have experienced, I’d have said so long ago.”
Says She Heard Screams.
Evidence that Mary Phagan was murdered in the pencil factory basement in which her lifeless form was found, was submitted by Chief Lanford to Solicitor Hugh Dorsey Friday in the shape of an affidavit attested by a young woman pedestrian who passed the building at 4:30 o’clock the Saturday of the crime.
She testifies to this effect:
That at 4:30 o’clock Saturday afternoon, April 26, as she passed the Forsyth street entrance to the National Pencil factory, she was attracted by shrill screams of a girl emanating, apparently, from the basement of the plant building. So tragic did the cries sound that she stopped. Three sharp, piercing screams came in succession, then died away as though having been stifled.
The deponent says that although her experience preyed depressingly on her mind, she did not consider it important enough to report to police authorities until she read of the Phagan murder. Her testimony has been in the hands of Chief Lanford since last Monday.
Believes Girl Was Alive.
This throws a new aspect on the mystery. The problem of the bloody hairs and stains found on the second floor confront the sleuths. It has heretofore been the accepted theory that the murder was committed in that part of the building. Chief Lanford, however, believes that the girl was still alive when her body was lowered to the cellar.
Neither Chief Lanford nor the solicitor would reveal the name of the woman. Her home is on Haynes street, but further than this they would tell nothing. This affidavit exists, though, the chief states positively, and will be delivered to the grand jury.
Many new developments arose Friday. With the case completely in its hands, the state busted itself throughout the day with examining 100 or more witnesses who were summoned to the office of Solicitor Dorsey.
Solicitor Dorsey announced Friday morning that he had obtained one of America’s best detectives to assist him. He would not disclose the name, saying that the new detective would work secretly on the case. It is rumored that Detective Burns has been employed to conduct the investigation.
Many Detectives on Trail.
The entire staff of detectives at police headquarters, numbering thirty, is still engaged in running down every available clue. The Pinkertons and other private agencies continue at work on the mystery. No pains or expense are being spared.
The grand jury, according to Solicitor Dorsey, is likely to begin its investigation any time after Friday. It is thought its action will be taken next Monday. Shelby Smith, chairman of the Fulton county commission, in speaking of the solicitor’s probe, said it would be through and exhaustive.
“No expense will be too great, no work too hard and exacting. We have instructed Solicitor Dorsey that he will be backed to the last ditch in the money to be spent. He has the sanction and support of the county board in every particular.”
Newt Lee was interviewed for the second time by Solicitor Dorsey Friday afternoon. Mr. Dorsey would not discuss the lines along which the negro was quizzed.
The grand jury which has been empanelled for the present term is composed of many prominent and influential residents and business men. It is as follows:
L. H. Beck, foreman; F. P. H. Akers, R. R. Nash, Charles Heinz, H. G. Hubbard, John D. Wing, R. A. Redding, V. H.Kriegshaber, R. F. Sams, A. D. Adair, S. C. Glass, J. G. Bell, Cephas M. Brown, George A. Gershon,A. L. Guthman, Walker Dunson, W. L. Peroy, C. A. Cowles, Sol Benjamin, R. P. Bell, H. M. Beutell, W. A. Bosser and Albert Boylson.
_______
THE PHAGAN CASE DAY BY DAY
Atlanta Constitution
Monday, May 12th, 1913
The history of the baffling Phagan mystery, daily recorded, is briefly as follows:
Sunday April 26—Girl’s body found in basement of pencil factory. Newt Lee, negro night watchman, who made discovery, arrested. Arthur Mullinax, street car employee, also arrested. Both held on suspicion.
Monday—Leo M. Frank, factory superintendent, detained, but later released. J. M. Gantt, former bookkeeper of pencil concern and friend of dead girl, arrested in Marietta. Negro elevator boy also taken into custody. Pinkertons enter case.
Tuesday—Bloody shirt found at negro watchman’s home. Planted evidence theory advanced. Mary Phagan’s body buried. Sleuths announce they have evidence to convict. Frank confers with negro suspect.
Wednesday—Inquest begins. Newt Lee testifies. One hundred and fifty pencil factory employees summoned before coroner. George Epps, newsboy, tells of ride to uptown with Mary Phagan on her last trip.
Thursday—Frank and Lee ordered to Fulton tower on warrants issued by Coroner Donehoo. Trip made without incident.
Friday—Both prisoners tell reporter for The Constitution at 1 a. m. that they are not guilty and will prove their innocence.
Saturday—Evidence is unearthed that imposters, pretending to be Pinkerton detectives, are questioning leading witnesses. No arrests made.
Sunday, May 4—Detectives again announce their belief that they can convict murderer, whoever he is.
Monday—Paul P. Bowen, former Atlanta youth, arrested in Houston under suspicion of complicity in slaying. Is released at night.
Tuesday—Detectives obtain affidavit from woman who alleges she heard screams from basement of factory building at 4:30 p. m. on Memorial day.
Wednesday—Testimony is secured from Monteen Stover that she visited pencil plant at 12:05 noon on Memorial day and that offices were deserted.
Thursday—Inquest resumed. Character witnesses are examined. Frank and Lee ordered by jury to be held under suspicion of murder for grand jury investigation.
Friday—Mrs. Nancy Caldwell, of 10 Gray street, is examined by detectives under belief that she was the “mysterious girl in red” who was supposed to have visited factory with Mary Phagan. She establishes alibi.
Saturday—Three more Pinkerton detectives put to work on investigation. No developments at police headquarters. Solicitor general examines 100 witnesses.
Sunday May 11—Solicitor Dorsey announces that grand jury will probably not take action until early next week.
_______
CORONER’S JURY VISITS SCENE OF MURDER AND ADJOURNS WITHOUT RENDERING VERDICT
Atlanta Journal
Monday, April 28th, 1913
Will Meet Again Wednesday Morning When Witnesses Will Be Examined—Five Hundred People Present When Inquest Was Begun
For an hour Monday morning a jury empaneled by Coroner Paul Donahue [sic] groped through dark basement passageways and first floor rooms in the factory of the National Pencil company hunting for evidence that would aid them in reaching a verdict as to who murdered pretty Mary Phagan. At the end of their hunt the body adjourned. They will meet again Wednesday morning at 9 o’clock to continue their investigation.
Many witnesses who can throw a light on the actual crime, the actions of the dead girl or of the suspects under arrest will be examined then. It is probable, also, that the prisoners now held in jail also will testify.
The jury met at P. J. Bloomfield’s undertaking chapel, 84 South Pryor street, shortly after 10 o’clock. It was composed of these: J. C. Hood, Clarence Langford, Glenn Dewberry, Homer C. Ashford, John Miller and C. Y. Sheets. Mr. Ashford was foreman.
The first official act of the jury was to view the remains of the 14-year-old girl. Behind closed doors the coroner’s talesmen inspected the fatal wounds and bruises on the girl’s body.
No witnesses were called. One or two who had been told by the police to be present when excused and told to report again Wednesday morning. They and many others probably will be heard at that time.
A throng of 500 persons had gathered at the undertaking parlors to hear the inquest. They were excluded by the police and when the jury, headed by Coroner Donahue [sic], finally left the funeral parlors for the scene of the murder, the investigators had to elbow and shoulder their way across a crowdbanked sidewalk.
Every inch of ground, every thing that has been mentioned in connection with the case were examined by the jurors in the pencil factory.
They were accompanied by three or four policemen on their tour, and the many details of the mystery given them to unravel, if possible. Once in their investigation a lantern was placed on the spot on the basement floor where Newt Lee, negro night watchman, says another lantern was sitting when he discovered the body. Apparently there was doubt in the minds of some of the jurors as to whether or not it would be possible for one standing where the negro said he stood to see a body. What the consensus of opinion among the investigators was is not known, however.
Shovels, tools, pieces of wood and other objects lying in the basement were examined for evidence that there had been possible weapons in the attack upon the girl. The search along this line was fruitless.
The jury viewed the machine room in the second story, upon the floor of which blood stains were found Monday morning. They saw the lathe to which a few strands of hair were found clinging by a workman. They visited the lavatory and several other rooms in the building. At the conclusion of the search no juror expressed an opinion. They will reserve their judgment until the conclusion of the inquest. This probably will be on Wednesday.
_______
NEGRO WATCHMAN TELLS STORY OF FINDING GIRL’S BODY AND QUESTIONS FAIL TO SHAKE HIM
Atlanta Journal
Wednesday, April 30th, 1913
Mary Phagan
Newt Lee, Negro Who Notified Police of Mary Phagan Murder, Tells Coroner Girl’s Body Was Lying Face Up With Head Toward West When He Found It — But Officers Declare They Found It Lying Face Down, Head Toward East, Knew She Was White, Said He, by Her Hair
SAYS MR. FRANK DID UNUSUAL THINGS, BUT DOES NOT DIRECTLY IMPLICATE ANYONE
Mr. Frank Met Him Outside Office Saturday Afternoon and Let Him Off for Two Hours, After Having Insisted That He Be There at 4 o’Clock—Mr. Frank Was Scared When He Saw Gantt, Says Negro—Telephoned Him That Night for First Time—Inquest Resumed at 2:15
That he found the body of Mary Phagan face up with its head toward the back of the building, was the startling evidence given at the coroner’s inquest Wednesday morning by Newt Lee, the negro night watchman at the National Pencil factory in which the child was murdered.
This evidence, by which the negro has stuck without wavering is in direct conflict with the evidence of all the police officers and others who answered the negro’s alarm.
They found the body lying face down with its head toward the front of the building, they all swear.
The negro swore to the coroner Wednesday, that when he scurried away from the body to the telephone, he stayed away until the officers came. He went with them—and they found the body exactly reversed from the position in which he says he found it.
Thus is mystery added to mystery in the crime.
If the negro tells the truth (and the police have been unable to shake him from his first story, however much they doubt some of its particulars), who turned the child’s body over upon its face with its head in the opposite direction after he left it go to the telephone?
WAS MURDERER STILL THERE?
Was the murderer lurking there in the gloom at the back of the basement when the negro came down the ladder?
Was it the purpose to burn the body in the furnace—which was not burning then, but which might have been lighted easily from the clutter and trash? Did the negro’s descent into the basement frustrate that? And then did the murderer pull the hasp on the rear door of the basement and flee before the officers got there?
Patience and perseverance upon the part of the police, and the incessant putting together of two and two, will reveal the story.
The negro did not attempt to implicate any one, in his evidence before the coroner’s jury. His evidence was damaging slightly to Mr. Frank, the superintendent, in that he said Mr. Frank sent him away from the factory from 4 to 6 after having insisted that he be there at 4; that Mr. Frank looked frightened when he came down the stairs as the negro, after his return, met Mr. Gantt at the street door; and that Mr. Frank never had called him before, as he did over the telephone between 7 and 8 o’clock that evening, to ask if everything was all right. The obvious conflict, between the officers inability to distinguish at first whether the girl was white or black may be dismissed, perhaps, by the negro’s stout assertion that he knew by her hair, which was long and brown and wavy, totally unlike that of a negro woman.
At 12:40 o’clock the coroner’s inquest adjourned until 2:15 o’clock.
THINKS HE SAW HER.
J. G. Spier, of Cartersville, testified that he saw a man and a girl, the latter of whom he declared positively after seeing the body at the undertaking establishment was Mary Phagan, on Forsyth street, near the pencil factory Saturday afternoon about 3:50 o’clock. He was positive the girl was the same whose body was pointed out to him as Mary Phagan’s, he said, but was not sure of the man. The general “outline,” he said was the same as the pointed out to him as Frank. He saw this couple again about 5 o’clock, he said.
The first official and public probe into the deep mystery hiding the slayer of fourteen-year-old Mary Phagan, brutally murdered and mistreated last Saturday night in the National Pencil factory, was begun in earnest Wednesday morning at 9:10 o’clock, when the coroner’s jury began its examination of witnesses.
The inquest was held at police headquarters, behind the closed doors of the station, in the office of the board of commissioners. Coroner Donehoo assembled his jury again (following a recess since it was empaneled last Monday morning) at the undertaking establishment of P. J. Bloomfield on Pryor street, and marched at the head of it from there through the streets to police headquarters, preferring to go to the witnesses who were incarcerated rather than bring those witnesses to the jury.
The following witnesses were called and sworn by the coroner:
E. E. Shank.
W. J. Coleman, step-father of the murdered child.
Adam Woodward, negro nightwatchman in an adjoining livery stable, who believes he heard a woman’s screams about 11 o’clock Saturday night.
Newt Lee, negro nightwatchman in the pencil factory, who first reported the finding of the body.
W. W. Rogers, former county policeman, who carried the officers to the scene of the crime.
W. F. Anderson, call officer, city police.
Sergeants Brown and Dobbs, of the city police.
Miss Pearl Robertson, friend of Arthur Mullinax, the trolley car conductor who has been held upon suspicion.
J. M. Gantt, formerly bookkeeper at the National Pencil factory.
E. L. Sentell, who believes he saw the girl on the street with some man Saturday night.
It was a noticeable fact that L. M. Frank, superintendent of the factory, was not among the witnesses called at first. His attorney, Luther Z. Rosser, was present when the inquest began its work.
Coroner Donehoo resumed his inquest upon the mysterious murder of Mary Phagan Wednesday morning, reimpaneling shortly before 9 o’clock the same jury which met Monday and recessed for two days. The members of that jury are H. C. Ashford, L. Glenn Dewberry, of 352 Cooper street; J. C. Hood, of 185 Windsor street; C. A. Langford, of 144 Highland avenue; John Miller and C. Y. Sheats, of Cascade road.
Immediately after impanelling the jury at the undertaking shop of P. J. Bloomfield on Pryor street, where the murdered girl’s body had rested until it was removed for burial Tuesday. Coroner Donehoo led it away from the crowd congregated in the street in front of the establishment, marching to police headquarters. There the negro night watchman, Newt Lee, and the superintendent, L. M. Frank, of the National Pencil company, were in detention behind stout bars.
CALL OFFICER TESTIFIES.
W. F. Anderson, call officer, city police, was the first witness to be examined. He told of receiving a telephone call at police headquarters shortly after 3 o’clock Sunday morning a man’s voice informed him that the speaker was the negro night watchman at the National Pencil company factory and that he, the watchman, had found the body of a young woman who evidently had been murdered. She was a white girl, the negro said.
The witness went to the factory on Forsyth street with other officers, and was met there by the negro, Newt Lee, and was led by the negro through a trapdoor down a ladder into the basement, where after some moments he distinguished the body of the murdered girl later identified as Mary Phagan. He could not see it at first until he was almost upon it, said the officer. The body was lying in a corner beyond the end of a compartment partitioned off at the left from the main basement. It was lying upon its face. The left stocking was torn. The left shoe was missing. The left knee was bruised. The band around the bottom of the underskirt was torn off.
GRUESOME DETAILS GIVEN.
The head was very bloody, and the eyes were bloodshot. A cord, he said, which was a sort of small rope, was tied so tightly around the neck that it cut into the flesh. This cord was about six or seven feet long. In addition to it, the band which had been torn from the dead girl’s underskirt, was wrapped round the neck.
He also found a bruise just above and back of the ear. He testified that the mouth and eyes of the dead child were filled with dirt and sawdust, and that the whole face was so discolored with grime that he was not sure at first whether the girl was white.
In reply to questions he said that he hadn’t noticed whether the body had been dragged across the floor of the cellar.
After examining the body he had gone to the door which offered an exit from the cellar, and there he found that the staple on the inside had been drawn, and that the door had been opened by this means.
LANTERN LIGHT DIM.
At this point, Dr. J. W. Hurt took up the questioning and brought out an important fact from the witness.
He asked the witness what sort of light he had used in the cellar. The officer said that it was the usual police flashlight light. Then he inquired the sort of light used by Newt Lee, the negro night watchman. The officer answered that it was a lantern, very much smoked, which gave only a dim light.
Lee has told the police that he noticed the body as he stood twenty or thirty feet away.
“Could he have seen twenty or thirty feet with his lantern?” asked Dr. Hurt.
“He could not,” answered Officer Anderson, “He couldn’t have seen more than twelve or fifteen feet. And I also think that the place where he says he was standing is in such a position that rays from the lantern would not have even fallen in the direction of the body.
He also testified that the reason which the negro gave for going to the cellar was not convincing.
BASEMENT DESCRIBED.
He was present, said the witness, when somebody picked up a note near the body. He identified it as the one written on a slip of yellow paper. Later somebody found another note. He didn’t identify that. About five feet from the girl’s body a pencil was found. Near it was a pad from which the slip evidently had been torn. He described the basement—a long, narrow enclosure between rock walls, with the elevator shaft near the front, a boiler on the right about half way back, a partition on the left shutting in an enclosure which seemed to be waste space, an open toilet on the right beyond the boiler, the girl’s body on the left beyond that, and a door at the back end. The girl’s left slipper was found near the elevator. She wore no hat that the couldn’t find. He didn’t remember distinctly how she was dressed, but believed it was in some dark material.
SERGEANT BROWN TESTIFIES.
Sergeant R. J. Brown gave evidence putting heavy suspicion upon the negro night watchman, Newt Lee. Call Officer Anderson has testified that the negro told him over the telephone that the body was that of a young white woman.
Sergeant Brown declared that he and his brother officers found it impossible to tell whether it was the body of a white or a colored girl until they made a minute examination.
He described revolting details. He said that the negro’s story that he (the negro) first saw the body when he was standing some twenty-five feet away from it, seemed improbable to the officers, for they stood there and could not see it by the light of the negro’s lantern, nor could they make it out until they were within just a few feet of it.
It was only after a minute examination, said the sergeant, that he and the other officers concluded that the negro’s statement was right, that the body was that of a white person.
BODY WAS COLD.
“This is nothing but a child!” the officer said he exclaimed, when he first saw the body closely. The body was cold then and was somewhat still, said he.
“I couldn’t tell whether it was a white girl or a colored girl. I took some shavings from around there and rubbed her face with them. Still I couldn’t tell whether her skin was white or dark. Finally I had to roll the stocking down from the right knee—the other being torn and dirty; and then I saw her white skin.”
The officer said the body was fearfully dirty—particularly the face. There was a place on the dirt floor of the basement that looked as if something might have been dragged there. He did not believe that all of the dirt that was on the child’s face could have gotten there simply from the body’s lying upon the dirt floor. Dirt was inside the child’s mouth, even. Her tongue was swollen, and protruded almost to the point of her chin, showing she had choked to death. A piece of heavy twine was tied tightly around her neck. A strip from around the bottom of her underskirt was tied around her neck, too. He knew it was from her underskirt, because the lace on it matched the lace on her skirt, and a strip was missing there. The hands were folded beneath the body, but were not tied. He described the surrounding circumstances that he found—a lock on a staple near the back door, the staple having been pulled out. The negro night watchman’s lantern was of an ordinary type, said he, and had not been cleaned in some time, its globe being dirty and its light dim. Lee, the negro, told him that he (the negro) rarely went into the basement, but gave a reasonable excuse for his presence there when he found the body.
GAVE LITTLE INFORMATION.
Sergeant Brown testified that Newt Lee gave them little information upon their arrival at the pencil factory. He said that the negro did not tell them whether he had touched the corpse.
He was questioned as to who had telephoned to Frank, and he said that Officer Anderson endeavored to reach Frank over the phone. The officer told central that a girl had been murdered and that it was of utmost importance that he be given the number that he asked. But although this number was rung repeatedly, he got no answer. It was not until much later Sunday morning that the police were able to get into communication with Frank.
He testified that the negro would have found it almost impossible to see the body from the position in which Newt Lee said that he was standing at the time he made his grewsome discovery.
He continued his testimony by saying that the girl’s clothing was badly disordered and torn, and that the cord around her neck looped in the back. The band which was also bound round the neck was in two pieces which had been tied together. The tongue, he said, protruded an inch, and the blood upon the face was cold.
In his opinion the band from the underskirt had been tied about the neck before the rope, and that Mary Phagan was strangled to death.
CLOTHES ARE EXHIBITED.
When his testimony had been concluded a dramatic incident took place. The clothes that the girl had worn were brought forward for the jury to see, and were placed in a heap on a chair. There was a commotion at the side of the room. The brother of Mary Phagan rose, and for a moment remained staring at the heap in the chair. Without speaking, he clasped his hands to his head and pushed his way from the room.
Officer Anderson was recalled and testified that he found the body lying face downward, although Newt Lee had said that the body lay face upward.
He said that the legs of the body were not stiff, and that blood in the hair was still moist. Blood, he said, was still flowing from the body. According to his testimony, the head of the body lay toward Forsyth street, and there were signs in the cellar of a struggle.
The clothes which were shown to the jury consisted in a one-piece purple dress, with white trimmings. Only one shoe, a black gun-metal slipper, was displayed.
HE FOUND THE NOTES.
Sergeant L. S. Dobbs identified the two notes as having been found by himself near the body. One was written on yellow paper, the other on rough scratch pad paper. The elevator shaft, said he, is distant about 150 feet from where the body was found. He told of the minute examination that had to be made to determine whether or not the body was that of a white girl. Her hands looked as if she had been dragged face downward.
On the back of her head at the left was a wound. Cuts were on her face and forehead. The sergeant said he called Newt Lee, the negro, to him and said: “You did this or you know who did it.” The negro denied any guilt, said the sergeant.
The sergeant said that then he read one of the notes to the negro, with a sentence like this:
“Mommer: Tall black thin negro did this. He will try to lay it on night—“
The sentence came to the end of a line there, said the sergeant.
“That means me,” the sergeant said the negro night watchman said immediately. “The night watchman.”
Later, said the sergeant, he stood where the negro said he was standing when he saw the body and tried to see it. He even went so far as to have a fellow officer lie down where the body had been. But though it was daylight, he barely could discern the officer there, said the sergeant; nor would he have seen him at all had not been looking particularly toward that spot with a definite purpose. By the light of a dim lantern, it would have been practically impossible for the negro to have stood where he claimed, said he, and seen the body in the gloom partially behind the corner of the partition and slightly below floor level.
The staple taken from the rear door could not have been pulled off save from the inside, said he. A piece of iron nearby might have been used to prize it out, said he.
Sergeant Dobbs, in reply to a question as to whether he thought the body had been dragged, said that after daylight had come he noticed a trail leading from the elevator shaft to where the body had been found.
COULDN’T HAVE CARRIED BODY.
In his opinion an ordinary man could not have carried the body down the ladder to the basement. The elevator, Sergeant Dobbs said, was on the first floor, on the Forsyth street level.
The girl’s left shoe, Sergeant Dobbs said, was found alongside her hat on a garbage pile about 100 feet from the elevator and about 50 feet from the body. The boiler, in which there was no fire, was also about 100 feet from the elevator and 50 feet from the body, alongside the trail.
The notes, the witness said, were found almost together near the head, about two feet from the partition. There was no opening in the partition that he saw.
Sergeant Dobbs said that when he entered the basement he was three or four feet from the body before he saw it. The negro was leading the way, he said.
Sergeant Dobbs said the body was cold when he first saw it. He felt of the face and hands and knees. The finger joints were not stiff and could be worked back and forth easily, he said. Having had no experience with dead bodies, the witness said he could not estimate how long the girl had been dead when he found her.
NO ONE IN BUILDING, HE SAID.
Sergeant Dobbs said the negro told him no one had been in the building since he started to work at 6 o’clock Saturday night.
The girl’s body was taken from the basement out the back way by the undertaker’s. Sergeant Dobbs said, some time after daylight—about 6 o’clock Sunday morning, he thought.
Britt Craig, a newspaper reporter, was then called.
At 11:45 o’clock the negro night watchman, Newt Lee, was called to the stand by the coroner.
He said that he lives at 40 Henry street. Usually he went to his work about 6 o’clock as night watchman at the pencil factory, he said. Last Friday Mr. Frank, the superintendent, told him to come earlier, at 4, on Saturday, saying it would be a half holiday. Mr. Frank spoke to him two or three times about it during the day, said he. He appeared at the factory at 4 o’clock, accordingly, and found the street door unlocked but the double doors leading to the plant were locked. He has keys to the front and back of the factory, said the negro.
FRANK LETS LEE GO.
He went into the office and Mr. Frank came into the outer office from the inner office, rubbing his hands.
“I’m here, sir,” the negro said he remarked to his employer.
“I’m sorry, Newt, that I had you come here so soon,” the negro said Mr. Frank told him. “Go out and have some fun. Come back in about an hour and a half, but don’t stay later than the usual time”—6 o’clock.
The negro said he left and returned at 6 o’clock.
The negro said that after coming to work each evening at 6 o’clock he punched the time clock, and started on his rounds of the four floors of the factory. Those rounds usually took him half an hour, he said, exclusive of the basement. If the half hour had not quite expired when he reached the clock, sometimes he went to the basement, too, said he; otherwise he omitted the basement and resumed his round.
COULDN’T SEE INTO OFFICE.
The negro said that usually Mr. Frank called him into the office, and that it was contrary to the usual custom when Mr. Frank came out into the outer office and met him. He couldn’t see into the office, said the negro, or tell whether there was anybody else inside.
The negro said he left, going up Forsyth street to Alabama, east on Alabama to Broad, across the bridge, along Viaduct way to that Whitehall viaduct and down the street into Wall street and along that street to Central avenue, where he found a big fat man selling some sort of medicine. The man had some negroes there, eating [1 word illegible] and dancing, said Newt Lee. He stayed there until time to go back to work, and got back to the factory two or three minutes, or perhaps four minutes, before 6 o’clock. Mr. Frank was still there. He started to punch the clock. Mr. Frank told him to wait, that there had been only two or three there that day and the slip had been taken from the clock. Mr. Frank came out and the two of them put the slip back on, said the negro, and he punched the clock at 6. Mr. Frank went back into the office, said the negro, and he himself went back downstairs to close the doors. At the street door he met Mr. Gantt, formerly a bookkeeper in the office, said the negro. Mr. Gantt wanted to get in and get some old shoes that he had left there. The negro told him it was against the rules, but that if Mr. Frank, who was upstairs, said no, he would let Mr. Gantt in.
At Mr. Gantt’s request that he ask Mr. Frank, he turned from the door, and saw Mr. Frank just coming down the stairs from the office and machine room floor. Mr. Frank looked scared, said the negro, but he thought it was because he was afraid Mr. Gantt might have come there “to do him dirt,” because Frank and Gantt had quarreled and the former had discharged the bookkeeper some weeks before. Mr. Gantt stated his case to Mr. Frank. “What kind of shoes were they?” Mr. Frank asked. “Tan,” Mr. Gantt replied. “I think I saw the negroes sweeping them out this morning,” said Mr. Frank, “But I had some black ones, too,” said Gantt. “All right, Newt,” said Mr. Frank. “Take him up there and stay with him.” Mr. Frank went on out, said the negro, and he went up into the office with Mr. Gantt and got the shoes. The negro gave him some little red twine and some paper to wrap the shoes up. Mr. Gantt wanted to use the telephone, and the negro told him to go ahead. Mr. Gantt called some lady. “I know it was a lady because I heard him call her name,” said the negro. He couldn’t remember the name. Mr. Gantt told her he would be home about 9 o’clock or a little later. He talked some time, then hung up the receiver and left. The negro locked the street doors behind him, and then because Mr. Frank had told him to watch Mr. Gantt, he stood there at the glass door and watched him leave. Mr. Gantt crossed the street, passed in front of the saloon there, and went on off up the street, said the negro.
The negro said that he did not see Gantt at 4 o’clock when he first came to work. He did not watch Mr. Frank when he left, said the negro. Frank had a key to the building and could have returned while the negro and Gantt were upstairs. The negro said he did not go to the basement when he first came at 4 o’clock. He was asked if there was a rug carpet in Mr. Frank’s office, and replied no. He knew because he cleaned it every night.
Mr. Frank offered him some bananas when he was there the first time, said the negro, but he declined the fruit.
GANTT THERE HALF AN HOUR.
It took Gantt “no time at all” to find the shoes, said the negro. Gantt was in the building about half an hour. He did not know where Mr. Frank was during this time. He thought Mr. Frank walked away from the building toward Alabama. The first time he ever saw Mr. Frank, said the negro, was when he came to work there about three weeks before the crime.
After making the rounds of the building, or about 7 o’clock, he went to the basement, said the negro.
Machinery is on the second floor and on the top floor. Gantt got the shoes out of the shipping department near the clock on the second floor.
Lee said he went to the basement by way of the ladder through the trap door. A gas light always burned near the foot of the ladder. The gas was not as high as he had left it at 7 o’clock that morning. It had been turned down to about the size of the lightning bug. He received a phone message from Mr. Frank between 7 and 8 o’clock. Other members of the force had called him on previous nights occasionally, but this was the first that Mr. Frank had called him. Mr. Frank asked if everything was “all right,” and the negro replied, “So far as I know.”
BODY WAS FACE UP.
The negro said that the body was lying face up when he discovered it.
Other witnesses who came later swore it lay face down when they found it.
This contradicted the evidence of all the policemen.
He was asked the point blank question by the coroner:
“Why did you turn it over?”
“I didn’t turn it over,” said the negro.
He said he punched the clock every half hour during Saturday night.
“What did Mr. Frank say on Sunday about that clock not being right?” he was asked.
“He said it was all right,” replied the negro.
He was asked to repeat his story of how he found the body. He went down the ladder to go to the basement, and went into the toilet, leaving his lantern in front of it upon the ground.
On coming out, he saw the body of the girl lying on the ground around the corner of the partition. It looked very vague, and he thought somebody had put something there to frighten him. He found the body lying on its back with the head turned toward Madison avenue (exactly the reverse of the position the officers found it in). He saw blood on the face and knew by the straight hair that it was the body of a white woman.
“It scared me, that body there,” said the negro, “and I called up the station house.”
“How did you know the number?” asked the coroner.
Mr. Frank had given it to him, said the negro, for use in case of fire or anything unusual. “He gave me his own number, too, to call him up in case I wanted him.”
The coroner asked him if he touched the body when he found it.
He said, “No, sir, I did not.”
He did not go back to the basement until the police came.
He went through the machine room in which the girl was supposed to have been attacked, every 15 minutes, in making his rounds of the building. He had to pass through it, he said, on his rounds.
PUNCHED CLOCK REGULARLY.
In answer to a question, the negro said that Mr. Frank and Mr. Darley told him that he had punched the clock regularly. He thought that was on Sunday after he had been arrested, said the negro.
Answering another question, the negro said that he did not know when it was that he told the police of Mr. Frank having let him off, Saturday afternoon, or of Mr. Frank having telephoned to him later.
Answering another direct question, the negro said that when he returned with the police the body was “just the same” as when he first saw it.
The negro admitted that he said over the telephone that the body was that of a white woman. His lantern had been cleaned Friday, he said, and was in fairly good condition. He had never seen the dead girl before he found her body. The girls employed in the factory always left before he came to work, and he left before they came back. The factory work stopped each day at 5:30 o’clock, and he came on duty at 6 o’clock. He had seen the back door open in the daytime, he said, and he thought the fireman—a negro named Knollys—had a key to it.
Policeman Anderson corroborated the negro’s statement about the gas jet being a very dim light.
GIRL AND MAN NEAR FACTORY.
J. G. Spier, of Cartersville, in Atlanta Saturday, testified that he walked from the Kimball house down Forsyth street to the Terminal station with a friend Saturday afternoon and reached the Terminal station at exactly 3:50 o’clock. When he went by the National Pencil company’s place, on his way back from the station, he saw a girl apparently about seventeen years of age and a white man apparently about twenty-five years of age, and both seemed slightly excited. The girl was nervous, and was twisting her hands, and he thought the man had been drinking. They were standing near the street door of the factory. He went on down to Five Points, he said, and later went back by the Western Union office on Forsyth street, and at about twenty minutes to 5 o’clock he passed the man and the girl again. The girl was standing right by the door of the pencil factory. He saw the same girl Sunday morning at Bloomfield’s undertaking establishment. There was no doubt in his mind that it was the same girl, despite the disfigured and swollen features of the corpse. He couldn’t be sure about the man. A man pointed out to him by an officer as “Mr. Frank” had the same “outline” as the man he saw on Forsyth street. This man was pointed out to him on Sunday morning. About 8:30 o’clock he went to the factory where the detectives were making their investigation. We went there with a policeman, to whom he had told the story of the excited couple he had seen. He was on a Fair street car reading a newspaper extra, and got off the car and talked to an officer. He could not describe the complexion of the man whom he saw with the girl. He, Spier, is five feet and eleven inches in height, he said, and he thought the man with the girl would come about to his shoulder. He could not identify the clothing which had been worn by Mary Phagan, on the table. As well as he remembered, the girl had on a light cloak. He did not notice whether she wore a hat or not. He thought her hair was dark. He was in Atlanta on personal business, he said.
The Inquest adjourned at the conclusion of Mr. Spier’s testimony, until 2:15 o’clock.
DETECTIVES ELIMINATE EVIDENCE IN CONFLICT WITH THEORY THAT PHAGAN GIRL NEVER LEFT FACTORY
Atlanta Journal
Thursday, May 1st, 1913
All Efforts Will Be Concentrated at Inquest Thursday Afternoon to Show That Testimony of Witnesses Who Claim to Have Seen Girl After She Entered Factory on Fatal Day is Vague and Indefinite and Contradictory
NIGHT WATCHMAN EXPECTED TO TAKE STAND AND GIVE INFORMATION HERETOFORE WITHHELD
This Intimation Came From Detectives Thursday Morning After the Watchman Had Been Vigorously Questioned Behind Closed Doors for More Than an Hour—Women Employees of Factory Will Be Called—Witness Admits Mistake
Detectives investigating the case
When the coroner’s jury reconvenes Thursday afternoon at 4:30 o’clock the city detectives will endeavor to eliminate all testimony which tends to refute the theory that Mary Phagan never left the National Pencil company’s factory after she went there to collect her two days’ wages last Saturday about noon.
The testimony of Edgar L. Sentell, employee of the Kamper’s grocery company, has been a stumbling block in the way of the case from the very first. The detectives have never believed that Mary Phagan left the factory, yet they were confronted with Sentell’s positive statement that he saw and spoke to her between 11:30 and 1:30 o’clock Saturday night.
At Wednesday’s inquest he said that he was positive that he saw the girl, and said that he believed her companion was Arthur Mullinax.
SAYS SENTELL WAS IN DOUBT.
Thursday, however, D. W. Adams, a trolley car motorman, came to Chief Beavers and told him that he heard Sentell say shortly after he had testified at the inquest, that he was not certain that the woman he saw was Mary Phagan.
“It might have been Miss Pearl Robinson,” Adams quotes Sentell as saying just a short time after he swore positively that he saw and spoke to Mary Phagan. Miss Robinson, was at the inquest, was wearing on Saturday evening a dress very much like the one Mary Phagan wore, and earlier in the evening she and Mullinax says they were together.
Detective Starnes and Campbell have convinced J. L. Watkins who testified that he saw Mary Phagan Saturday afternoon about 5 o’clock that he was mistaken and that the girl he really saw was Miss Daisy Jones, who lives at the corner of Fox and Lindsay streets. Miss Jones will be at the inquest Thursday afternoon and Watkins will take the stand to make the statement that his first testimony was in error.
In demonstrating to Mr. Watkins that he had seen Miss Jones instead of Mary Phagan, the detectives got Miss Jones to put on the same clothes she had on Saturday afternoon and took her out on the street where Mr. Watkins had seen her. Watkins was immediately convinced that Miss Jones was the girl he had seen.
Before the hour of convening of the inquest a number of detectives were engaged in talking to employees of the factory about general conditions, especially with references to the conduct of the men, employees and employers alike, toward the women who worked there.
A number of former employees were among the people who were in conference with the detectives.
SIXTH ARREST MADE.
A sixth arrest in the Phagan murder case was made by detectives at 2 o’clock Thursday. James Connally [sic], a negro “sweeper” employed at the National Pencil factory, was seen washing a shirt at a faucet in the rear of the building. Before he had completed the work detectives who had been phoned, walked in and placed the man under arrest. There were certain marks on the man’s shirt. He claims that they are “rust” marks. The detectives will hold him, at least until a chemical analysis can determine for certain whether or not the stains were caused by blood.
The negro declared to the police that the shirt was the only one which he possessed and that he washed so he could appear in it at the inquest, to which he had been summoned. His statement is believed by the police.
NEW INFORMATION SECURED.
A report that Newt Lee, the night watchman, has given the detectives much additional information was current at police headquarters Thursday morning, and was not denied by the officials working on the case. Lee went through another hour’s examination Thursday morning, and when he was locked in his cell again orders were given that he be allowed to communicate with no one.
It is now reported that he will go before the coroner’s jury, when it convenes again at 4:30 in the afternoon.
The detectives intimate that Lee has given them new information which will materially help them in solving the mystery of Mary Phagan murder. It bears out the theory, they say, upon which they have been working for the past two days.
Shortly after 9 o’clock Thursday morning Lee was brought from his cell at the office of the chief of detectives. There he was examined for an hour by Chief Lanford, Chief Beavers, City Detectives Black and Rosser, and Harry Scott, the Pinkerton representative.
FACTORY GIRLS TO TESTIFY.
Coroner Paul Donehoo has announced his intention of summoning practically every woman employee of the National Pencil Factory, and many of the men, before the jury, which will resume the investigation of the death of little Mary Phagan on Thursday afternoon at 4:30 o’clock.
Trouble, expense and inconvenience cannot be considered in making an investigation in a case of such paramount importance, the coroner declares, and it is possible that some fact of the greatest importance may be developed by thoroughly examining the employees of the factory.
Probably some of the girls there have in their possession facts that would lead the detectives directly to the murderer, yet the girls holding this information may have no idea of its importance.
Coroner Donehoo told Chief of Detectives Lanford of his decision early Thursday and that official immediately offered the coroner two of his men who will serve the subpoenas.
According to the present plan the detectives will secure from the management a list of the employees. Their names will be written on the subpoenas, which the detectives will immediately serve.
Repeated rumors that employees of the factory know more than has ever been developed by the officers, has led, it is said, to the necessity of continuing the probe among them.
Of especial value is the coroner’s inquest for when the witnesses go before it they are placed under oath, and if their stories vary at the trial of any party, who may be indicted for the crime, then the record of the coroner’s investigation may be produced.
It is said that there are between sixty and eighty women and about 104 male employees of the National Pencil factory.
MAY EXHUME BODY.
Coroner Paul Donehoo is considering the advisability of having the body of Mary Phagan, interred at Marietta Monday, exhumed in order that physicians may make an examination of the contents of her stomach.
The coroner took the matter up, following a conference with D. G. Buchanan, formerly a sergeant of police at Augusta. Mr. Buchanan, who is now in business in Atlanta, advances the theory that Mary Phagan was drugged early in the afternoon, and that the tying of the cord and piece of her underskirt about her neck was either a simple “stall” or was done for the purpose of moving the body around by someone, who feared that he would bloody his clothing if he touched it.
FRANK REGRETS DELAY.
Leo M. Frank, when seen by a Journal reporter Thursday morning, said that he has no statement to make until his testimony is given before the coroner’s jury, which will probably be at the afternoon session this Thursday.
Mr. Frank said that a complete stenographic statement had been dictated by him, and that he was anxious to have this before the jury.
He looked worn and tired, but declared that he regretted the delay and was anxious to have his testimony introduced as he was confident the coroner’s inquest would completely establish his innocence.
UNCLE TO AID HIM.
It was learned Thursday that Moses Frank, one of the city’s substantial citizens, is returning to Atlanta today to assist his nephew, L. M. Frank, in establishing his innocence of the crime with which his name has been linked by the charges of suspicion. Mr. Frank had started to Europe, but was reached by wire in New York and immediately started back here, giving up his journey. L. M. Frank is said to be a favorite nephew and the probable heir to his fortune.
The coroner’s investigation of the murder of little Mary Phagan at the National Pencil factory Saturday or Sunday, will be resumed at police headquarters at 4:30 o’clock Thursday afternoon, and the principal witness is expected to be L. M. Frank, superintendent of the factory, who is being detained by the police.
When the inquest, which had been in session from 9 o’clock in the morning, adjourned for the day Wednesday at 6 o’clock, the mystery of Mary Phagan’s death had not been solved, and the crime was far from fixed on any individual.
Coroner Paul Donehoo expects to hold a long night session Thursday. He fixed the hour for the re-convening of the inquest at 4:30 o’clock in order that the city detectives might utilize the entire day in their hunt for evidence which may tend to throw additional light on the factory tragedy.
WEDNESDAY’S SESSION.
G. W. Epps, a fifteen-year-old, [1 word illegible] boy, who says that he lives just around the corner from the dead girl’s residence proved one of the most interesting of the witnesses heard by the coroner’s jury at Wednesday afternoon’s session. Epps, who rode to town with Mary when she went to the factory to get her earnings for two days’ labor, was to meet her again at 2 o’clock at Five Points, and they had arranged to watch the Memorial day parade together.
Coming in on the car, he declared that Mary told him that Mr. Frank had winked at her and looked “suspicious.” She requested him, he said, to meet her at the factory whenever he could.
Edgar L. Sentell, of 82 Davis street, was positive that he saw Mary with a male companion on Forsyth street, near the factory between 11:30 Saturday evening and 12:30 o’clock Sunday morning. They spoke to each other, he said.
Sentell was not quite positive that her companion was Arthur Mullinax, the former street car conductor.
Another witness, a neighbor, claimed to have seen her near her home at 5 o’clock Saturday afternoon, while still another witness who had told the detectives that he saw Mary the afternoon of the tragedy, appeared at the inquest and declared that he was mistaken. Miss Pearl Robinson, who had also been summoned as a witness, was the girl he saw, he declared.
FACTORY EMPLOYEES TESTIFY.
Three employees of the factory were among the witnesses of the session. One, R. P. Barrett, found the blood splotches near Mary’s machine on the second floor, which show that there instead of in the dark basement she commenced her fight for life. Harry Denham and Arthur White, the two young men who worked on the fourth floor of the factory from 7:30 until 3 o’clock Saturday, were the other witnesses. Mr. Frank, they said, came up to their floor shortly afternoon and when told that they couldn’t complete their work by 1 o’clock locked them in the building until about 3 o’clock, when they left him there.
J. M. Gant [sic], another of the men held by the police in the case, was on the stand, and he told on oath practically the same story that he has so often told to the detectives and reporters.
J. W. Coleman, of 146 Lindsay street, step-father of the murdered girl, told the pathetic story of the anxiety of her mother and himself when she failed to appear at home by dusk, Saturday evening. Coleman declared Mary Phagan would have been fourteen years old had she lived until the first day of June.
Frank M. Berry, assistant cashier at the Fourth National bank, was one of the important witnesses at the hearing, and he declared that in his opinion the notes found by the girl’s body were written in the same hand as several other notes, which had been written at police headquarters for the detectives, by the negro watchman, Newt Lee.
WAS FACTORY A RENDESVOUZ.
Repeated questions from the coroner and the members of his jury attempted to bring from many witnesses the statement that the pencil factory had been visited often after working hours by men and women.
No witness before the jury admitted having seen couples enter the place after dark, but it is said that when the jury continues its investigation Thursday several persons who claim to have seen men and women enter the building at night, will be called.
Miss Pearl Robinson, of 133 Bellwood avenue, testified that Arthur Mullinax was with her the greater part of Saturday evening, and it is extremely probable that Mullinax will be released immediately upon the closing of the coroner’s probe.
Expert embalmers from P. J. Bloomfield’s establishment will probably be called before the coroner’s jury Thursday afternoon, and they will give it as their opinion that Mary Phagan had been dead ten hours or more when they received the body.
The undertakers were called about half an hour after the arrival of the police at the factory, or shortly after 4 o’clock Sunday morning.
SOLICITOR DORSEY IS MAKING INDEPENDENT PROBE OF PHAGAN CASE
Atlanta Journal
Friday, May 2nd, 1913
Outside of Solicitor’s Activity There Have Been No Developments Since the Suspects Were Transferred to Tower
GROUNDLESS RUMORS DENIED BY OFFICIALS
Chief Lanford’s Busy Running Down Tips—Coroner’s Inquest Will Be Resumed on Monday Afternoon at 2
The Atlanta Journal has published every fact and development in connection with the mysterious murder of Mary Phagan. The Journal will continue to print news of further developments and additional evidence as the investigation proceeds. No fact has been suppressed nor will any news relating to the hunt for solution of the crime be withheld from the public. Many silly reports about a confession having been made by one or both of the prisoners held on suspicion in the case have been circulated, but they are without the slightest foundation.
AN INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION.
Forces in the employ of the solicitor general, Hugh M. Dorsey, are making an independent investigation of the Phagan murder case, it was learned Friday.
The solicitor general refuses to state just how many men he has at work on the mystery or who they are. They have developed nothing, however, which he is willing to give out for publication.
The city was filled with foolish rumors throughout the morning Friday and officials were called upon to deny dozens of groundless reports.
Coroner Paul Donehoo, who has more than 100 witnesses subpoenaed, declares that the inquest will certainly be resumed at 2 o’clock Monday afternoon. The coroner says that the investigation is as thorough and exhaustive as it is possible to make it and every report that reaches him is being probed.
“It is not surprising,” said the coroner, “that the mystery has not been solved by this time and the fact that the crime cannot now be laid at the door of any individual and that person brought immediately to trial is no indication that the guilty party will never be brought to justice. In many instances, where the detectives have had as little to start with as in this case, it has taken them months to finally establish the guilt of the right party.”
MANY DETECTIVES AT WORK.
In addition to the city detectives, the Pinkertons employed by the National Pencil company, and the officers employed by the solicitor general, it is said that many other private detectives are working on the mystery.
Colonel Thomas B. Felder has been employed by a number of citizens living in the vicinity of the home of the slain girl, to assist the state in the case, and while he will make no statement it is reported that he has a private detective agency trying to solve the mystery.
Solicitor Dorsey was in conference on Friday with a number of the city detectives, who have been assigned to the task of finding Mary Phagan’s murderer, and the fact that he has actively entered the case is considered the most important development of Friday.
There will certainly be no grand jury action in the matter, however, until Monday. The grand jury, which has been on duty for the past two months, was discharged Friday, and another grand jury will not be organized until Monday.
DETECTIVES NOT TALKING.
Following the transfer of Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the National Pencil factory, and Newt Lee, nightwatchman, to the county jail from police headquarters on coroner’s warrants late Thursday afternoon, and the release of J. M. Gantt and Arthur Mullinax, Chief of Detectives Lanford has issued instructions to his men to talk with no one about the case, and to make direct reports to him. The chief is himself very reticent about developments in the case. He declares that his orders were issued because the few statements made by himself and his officers have been repeatedly exaggerated, and in many instances he and his men have been misquoted.
The transfer of the two principal figures in the case to the tower has resulted in things again assuming a normal attitude about police headquarters. The detectives Friday morning were busy running down the many rumors and “tips” which have come to their ears. The officers are literally bombarded by “tips,” and despite the fact that practically all of them prove valueless when investigated, the officers have scattered in every direction, shifting every report to the bottom.
NO NEED FOR MILITIA.
On reports from sources which he considered reliable, Governor Brown Thursday night advised Adjutant General Nash to communicate with officers of the Fifth regiment with a view to having the national guard in readiness should the necessity arise.
The governor states that he did not go to the extent of suggesting that the national guard be mobilized. He simply recommended that the adjutant general request the officers of the regiment to be prepared for such steps, in the event current rumors were to materialize.
The governor also communicated with the jail authorities and with the police.
In carrying out the suggestion of the executive, Colonel E. E. Pomeroy gathered a few members of the Fifth regiment at the armory. No efforts were made to mobilize troops and by 11:30 o’clock those who had reported were allowed to return to their homes.
In the meantime an investigation had developed that the rumors were groundless. Deputy sheriffs in automobiles rushed over the entire city looking for any excitement, and they declare that never had Atlanta been more quiet.
REASON FOR TRANSFER.
Mr. Frank and the negro Lee were transferred to the tower on the coroner’s warrants, because, it is said, there is considerable doubt of the legality of holding them at police headquarters, as both have been arrested in connection with a state, not a city case.
The warrants are similar in all respects, save that in one Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the pencil factory, is named, and in the other Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, is named.
The warrant against Mr. Frank reads as follows:
“Georgia, Fulton county:
“To the Jailer of Said County: Greetings:
“You are hereby required to take into custody the person of Leo M. Frank, suspected of the murder of Mary Phagan, and to retain the said Leo M. Frank in your custody pending a further investigation of the death of said Mary Phagan, to be held by the said coroner of said county.
“Herein fail not.
“Given under my hand and official signature this the first day of May, 1913.
(Signed)
“PAUL DONEHOO,
“Coroner.”
INQUEST DELAYED.
Mr. Frank and the nightwatchman were transferred to the tower immediately after Coroner Paul Donehoo swore his 160 witnesses, the employees of the pencil company, and adjourned the inquest until 2 o’clock next Monday afternoon.
The coroner’s decision to postpone the inquest from Thursday afternoon until Monday afternoon was reached after a conference with Chief of Police Beavers and Chief of Detectives Lanford. The reason assigned for the postponement is a desire to give the detectives additional time to work on the case.
MULLINAX GOES FREE.
Arthur Mullinax, the young man who has been in jail for several days, held on the statement of E. L. Sentell that he (Sentell) saw Mullinax and Mary Phagan walking on Forsyth street about midnight Saturday, has been completely exonerated.
Mullinax took his release calmly, as he did his arrest.
“I have never been worried,” he said, “for I knew I was innocent and was confident that in a little time everybody else would know it, too.
“I am not sore because I have been arrested. If that girl had been my sister I know that I would have wanted the officers to lock up every man against whom there was any suspicion, and hold him until things cleared up.
“I guess I have lost my job—that’s the only thing which worries me.”
Chief Lanford told the released man that he would make a personal effort to see that he got his position back. Mullinax has been working with the Towel Supply company.
GANTT ALSO LIBERATED.
The release of J. M. Gantt followed that of Mullinax.
When habeas corpus proceedings were started for Gantt by his attorneys he was transferred from headquarters to the Tower, and Chief Lanford had to get an order from Judge George L. Bell, of the superior court, before he had authority to release the man.
The warrant drawn against Gantt in Justice F. M. Powers’ court has been dismissed.
MANY THEORIES OFFERED.
Theories of how Mary Phagan met her death and by just what system her murderer can be brought to justice are flooding the office of the detectives. People are calling over the phone to tell the officers just how they should proceed. Many of them come in person, and the office is in receipt of hundreds of letters from this and half a dozen other states, giving advice and theories.
Many of the letter writers are anonymous, but most of the people sign their names. Several letters have been received from “criminologists,” who are willing to divulge their theories only for money. Several letters have come from “seers” and “mystics,” who have communed with the spirits and learned in that way the “identity” of the murderer.
Among the interesting callers at police headquarters Friday were two ladies, who have dreamed about the murder. Both say that they distinctly saw Mary Phagan in her desperate battle with the murderer.
The ladies arrived within a short time of each other, but their dreams didn’t coincide. Both gave the chief accurate descriptions of the murderers of their dreams.
FRANK IN GOOD SPIRITS.
Mr. Frank got a good night’s sleep Thursday night and Friday, he was in a cheerful frame of mind. Many friends called to see him during the day and Mr. Frank talked to them freely. He is confident that when the coroner’s investigation has been concluded his absolute innocence will have been established.
PINKERTONS AFTER TRUTH.
The position of the Pinkerton detectives, employed by the National Pencil company, in the murder case, has occasioned considerable comment about police headquarters.
When asked about the matter, Harry Scott, the representative who is working on the mystery and assisting the city officers, declared that he and his men were out simply after the truth.
“It doesn’t matter whom it hits,” said Mr. Scott, “we want to do everything in our power to find the guilty man, and if we find him we are going to give every bit of our evidence to the state authorities, and lend our assistance in securing his conviction.
“This is just like any other case with us, and in all of them we go after the facts regardless of whom they help or hurt.
“When, for instance, we are investigating a bank robbery and find that the crime was committed by an employee or an official, we disclose the facts just as if the guilty man had been a highwayman.”
Two additional Pinkerton men went to work on the case Friday, assisting Mr. Scott and the city detectives.
_
DETECTIVES CONFER WITH CORONER AND SOLICITOR DORSEY
Atlanta Journal
Saturday, May 3rd, 1913
Following Meeting Lasting Two Hours, Officials Investigating Murder Mystery Visited Scene of Tragedy
NO CHANGE IN PLANS FOR INQUEST MONDAY
Progress Has Been Made In Developing Evidence, It Is Said, but its Nature Has Not Been Divulged
The three central figures in the investigation of the Phagan murder case—the solicitor general, the coroner and the chief of detectives—held a conference Saturday morning, which lasted for more than two hours. The officials discussed the evidence in the case and the many theories which have been advanced, but refused to divulge any definite information about the long conference.
It is said, however, that the officials have decided to lend their efforts towards building their case on the ground that Mary Phagan never left the pencil factory.
New evidence, strengthening this view, is said to have been developed during the day by Detectives Black and Scott and Starnes and Campbell, but they refuse to divulge its nature.
It is said to be improbable that the method of legal procedure in the investigation will be changed. That is the coroner’s inquest will be resumed Monday at 2 o’clock in the afternoon.
Dr. J. W. Hurt, the county physician, was one of the witnesses who conferred with the three officials at the solicitor’s office Saturday morning, but he refused to discuss the case. Dr. Hurt made the examination of the dead girl’s body.
M. B. Darley, general foreman of the National Pencil factory, and two young women employees were among the several witnesses examined by the officials during the conference. It is said that none of them disclosed events of importance.
VISIT SCENE OF TRAGEDY.
Following the conference, Solicitor Hugh Dorsey, his assistant, E. A. Stephens; the coroner, the chief of detectives and Detectives Black and Scott met at the factory, which had then closed for the day, and went over the scene of the tragedy. It was stated that the inspection trip was made simply in order that the solicitor general might be made familiar with the building, the different distances, and other physical points in the case.
RUMORS DENIED.
Chief of Police J. L. Beavers and Chief of Detectives Newport A. Lanford both positively denied Saturday morning that there has been a confession from either of the men held in the Tower in connection with the Phagan murder mystery.
They characterized the rumors of a confession, which have spread over the entire city, as idle gossip, which they say does a great injustice not only to Leo M. Frank, the superintendent of the factory, and Newt Lee, the night watchman, but to the men working on the case as well.
The two police officials, who have been constantly in touch with every movement in the case, declare that both Mr. Frank and the negro have not changed their statements that they know nothing about the crime in connection with which they are held.
Both officers deplore the wide circulation of the report of a confession and many other similar rumors, which, they say, are founded on no fact.
The elimination from the Phagan murder case of countless wild rumors and baseless reports has been occupying the time of the squad of detectives assigned to solve the Phagan mystery, by Chief Lanford.
NEVER LEFT FACTORY.
The detectives have been successful up to the present in showing that every report that Mary Phagan was seen after noon of last Saturday was without foundation. If the girl did leave the National Pencil factory in the basement of which her lifeless body was found at 4 o’clock Sunday morning by Newt Lee, the negro watchman, the detectives want to know it, for if this fact could be established what they term their “main lead” would be broken.
If Mary Phagan did not leave the factory after noon Saturday then the detectives have only to prove what transpired in the stone building and they will have solved the mystery.
CASE IS STRENGTHENED.
As the result of the elimination of so many conflicting reports the officers say that their main case has been strengthened; and Saturday morning, as the men started out for a day of hard work, they had an air of renewed confidence in their ability to solve the murder mystery within a short time.
All of the rumors had to be investigated, and now that most of them have been proved without foundation, the detectives consider that the case is less complicated than it was two or three days ago.
Several of the officers have been conducting a general investigation of the factory with particular reference to the treatment of the women employed by the officials and by the men who work there. While past occurrences there would probably be inadmissible in the trial of an individual for the murder of Mary Phagan, still the knowledge of past events might give the detectives a new clue or “lead,” they say.
______
_
Mr. Frank and the nightwatchman were transferred to the tower immediately after Coroner Paul Donehoo swore his 160 witnesses, the employees of the pencil company, and adjourned the inquest until 2 o’clock next Monday afternoon.
The coroner’s decision to postpone the inquest from Thursday afternoon until Monday afternoon was reached after a conference with Chief of Police Beavers and Chief of Detectives Lanford. The reason assigned for the postponement is a desire to give the detectives additional time to work on the case.
MULLINAX GOES FREE.
Arthur Mullinax, the young man who has been in jail for several days, held on the statement of E. L. Sentell that he (Sentell) saw Mullinax and Mary Phagan walking on Forsyth street about midnight Saturday, has been completely exonerated.
Mullinax took his release calmly, as he did his arrest.
“I have never been worried,” he said, “for I knew I was innocent and was confident that in a little time everybody else would know it, too.
“I am not sore because I have been arrested. If that girl had been my sister I know that I would have wanted the officers to lock up every man against whom there was any suspicion, and hold him until things cleared up.
“I guess I have lost my job—that’s the only thing which worries me.”
Chief Lanford told the released man that he would make a personal effort to see that he got his position back. Mullinax has been working with the Towel Supply company.
GANTT ALSO LIBERATED.
The release of J. M. Gantt followed that of Mullinax.
When habeas corpus proceedings were started for Gantt by his attorneys he was transferred from headquarters to the Tower, and Chief Lanford had to get an order from Judge George L. Bell, of the superior court, before he had authority to release the man.
The warrant drawn against Gantt in Justice F. M. Powers’ court has been dismissed.
MANY THEORIES OFFERED.
Theories of how Mary Phagan met her death and by just what system her murderer can be brought to justice are flooding the office of the detectives. People are calling over the phone to tell the officers just how they should proceed. Many of them come in person, and the office is in receipt of hundreds of letters from this and half a dozen other states, giving advice and theories.
Many of the letter writers are anonymous, but most of the people sign their names. Several letters have been received from “criminologists,” who are willing to divulge their theories only for money. Several letters have come from “seers” and “mystics,” who have communed with the spirits and learned in that way the “identity” of the murderer.
Among the interesting callers at police headquarters Friday were two ladies, who have dreamed about the murder. Both say that they distinctly saw Mary Phagan in her desperate battle with the murderer.
The ladies arrived within a short time of each other, but their dreams didn’t coincide. Both gave the chief accurate descriptions of the murderers of their dreams.
FRANK IN GOOD SPIRITS.
Mr. Frank got a good night’s sleep Thursday night and Friday, he was in a cheerful frame of mind. Many friends called to see him during the day and Mr. Frank talked to them freely. He is confident that when the coroner’s investigation has been concluded his absolute innocence will have been established.
PINKERTONS AFTER TRUTH.
The position of the Pinkerton detectives, employed by the National Pencil company, in the murder case, has occasioned considerable comment about police headquarters.
When asked about the matter, Harry Scott, the representative who is working on the mystery and assisting the city officers, declared that he and his men were out simply after the truth.
“It doesn’t matter whom it hits,” said Mr. Scott, “we want to do everything in our power to find the guilty man, and if we find him we are going to give every bit of our evidence to the state authorities, and lend our assistance in securing his conviction.
“This is just like any other case with us, and in all of them we go after the facts regardless of whom they help or hurt.
“When, for instance, we are investigating a bank robbery and find that the crime was committed by an employee or an official, we disclose the facts just as if the guilty man had been a highwayman.”
Two additional Pinkerton men went to work on the case Friday, assisting Mr. Scott and the city detectives.
_______
DETECTIVES CONFER WITH CORONER AND SOLICITOR DORSEY
Atlanta Journal
Saturday, May 3rd, 1913
Following Meeting Lasting Two Hours, Officials Investigating Murder Mystery Visited Scene of Tragedy
NO CHANGE IN PLANS FOR INQUEST MONDAY
Progress Has Been Made In Developing Evidence, It Is Said, but its Nature Has Not Been Divulged
The three central figures in the investigation of the Phagan murder case—the solicitor general, the coroner and the chief of detectives—held a conference Saturday morning, which lasted for more than two hours. The officials discussed the evidence in the case and the many theories which have been advanced, but refused to divulge any definite information about the long conference.
It is said, however, that the officials have decided to lend their efforts towards building their case on the ground that Mary Phagan never left the pencil factory.
New evidence, strengthening this view, is said to have been developed during the day by Detectives Black and Scott and Starnes and Campbell, but they refuse to divulge its nature.
It is said to be improbable that the method of legal procedure in the investigation will be changed. That is the coroner’s inquest will be resumed Monday at 2 o’clock in the afternoon.
Dr. J. W. Hurt, the county physician, was one of the witnesses who conferred with the three officials at the solicitor’s office Saturday morning, but he refused to discuss the case. Dr. Hurt made the examination of the dead girl’s body.
M. B. Darley, general foreman of the National Pencil factory, and two young women employees were among the several witnesses examined by the officials during the conference. It is said that none of them disclosed events of importance.
VISIT SCENE OF TRAGEDY.
Following the conference, Solicitor Hugh Dorsey, his assistant, E. A. Stephens; the coroner, the chief of detectives and Detectives Black and Scott met at the factory, which had then closed for the day, and went over the scene of the tragedy. It was stated that the inspection trip was made simply in order that the solicitor general might be made familiar with the building, the different distances, and other physical points in the case.
RUMORS DENIED.
Chief of Police J. L. Beavers and Chief of Detectives Newport A. Lanford both positively denied Saturday morning that there has been a confession from either of the men held in the Tower in connection with the Phagan murder mystery.
They characterized the rumors of a confession, which have spread over the entire city, as idle gossip, which they say does a great injustice not only to Leo M. Frank, the superintendent of the factory, and Newt Lee, the night watchman, but to the men working on the case as well.
The two police officials, who have been constantly in touch with every movement in the case, declare that both Mr. Frank and the negro have not changed their statements that they know nothing about the crime in connection with which they are held.
Both officers deplore the wide circulation of the report of a confession and many other similar rumors, which, they say, are founded on no fact.
The elimination from the Phagan murder case of countless wild rumors and baseless reports has been occupying the time of the squad of detectives assigned to solve the Phagan mystery, by Chief Lanford.
NEVER LEFT FACTORY.
The detectives have been successful up to the present in showing that every report that Mary Phagan was seen after noon of last Saturday was without foundation. If the girl did leave the National Pencil factory in the basement of which her lifeless body was found at 4 o’clock Sunday morning by Newt Lee, the negro watchman, the detectives want to know it, for if this fact could be established what they term their “main lead” would be broken.
If Mary Phagan did not leave the factory after noon Saturday then the detectives have only to prove what transpired in the stone building and they will have solved the mystery.
CASE IS STRENGTHENED.
As the result of the elimination of so many conflicting reports the officers say that their main case has been strengthened; and Saturday morning, as the men started out for a day of hard work, they had an air of renewed confidence in their ability to solve the murder mystery within a short time.
All of the rumors had to be investigated, and now that most of them have been proved without foundation, the detectives consider that the case is less complicated than it was two or three days ago.
Several of the officers have been conducting a general investigation of the factory with particular reference to the treatment of the women employed by the officials and by the men who work there. While past occurrences there would probably be inadmissible in the trial of an individual for the murder of Mary Phagan, still the knowledge of past events might give the detectives a new clue or “lead,” they say.
_
GIRL IN RED DRESS MAY FURNISH CLUE TO PHAGAN MYSTERY
Atlanta Journal
Sunday, May 4th, 1913
[The top part of this article is cut off including the headline and the sub-headings – Ed.]
A 17-year-old miss, [several words illegible] blonde and who weighs about [several words illegible] 140 pounds, and who was in [several words illegible] in Marietta last Wednesday afternoon wearing a dark red dress and a [1 word illegible] leghorn hat, may furnish the vital clue in the mystery of the murder of Mary Phagan.
Who is she?
Where does she live?
Is it true that she was the last friend of Mary Phagan’s to see the murdered girl alive on Saturday afternoon, April 26?
She alone can answer. It is but a matter of hours until her identity is revealed.
If she knows what she is said to know, she can tell the officers of the law something that they are very anxious to learn.
Last Wednesday afternoon Miss Beulah Daniel, daughter of G. T. Daniel, of Mableton, Ga., was in a store in Marietta, making some purchases. She is quoted as saying that near her stood two girls, who also were making some purchases and who were talking as they looked over the goods offered to them. One of them was the girl already described above. Miss Daniel furnishes that description. She does not describe the girl’s companion. They were discussing the murder of Mary Phagan in the National Pencil factory in Atlanta.
WAITED AT FACTORY DOOR.
The girl in the red dress related in Miss Daniel’s hearing. It is said, a story that may prove the missing link of evidence that the detectives are seeking in their efforts to solve the mystery.
She said that she went to the pencil factory with Mary Phagan last Saturday afternoon when Mary called there to get her pay; that she waited at the street door of the factory; that half an hour passed without Mary returning, and she was beginning to grow impatient, when a man came to the door and told her she needn’t wait any longer, for Mary had some work to do.
If the report is true, and the girl in the red dress did say what she is quoted here as saying, she can probably describe the man who came to the door of the pencil factory and told her that she needn’t wait.
There may be the vital clue.
Here is how the trail of the clue was lost:
Miss Daniel, it is said, did not realize the import of what she had overheard. She returned to her home in Mableton later in the afternoon and repeated to her father what she had heard.
“That’s exactly the evidence the police are looking,” her father is said to have exclaimed. “Here is The Journal, this afternoon, asking the world ‘Who saw Mary Phagan last?’ We’ve got to find that girl!”
But their search, determined and interested though it was, resulted fruitlessly—except for one slight lead to further information. Someone in the store had heard the girl in the red dress say she was going to catch the next car — leaving Marietta about 3 o’clock. No one in the store who had seen them knew her or her companion.
Atlanta detectives were informed, and it is known that they were at work upon the clue Friday and Saturday morning in Marietta. Their efforts were in vain, however—but they spread a net of inquiry which today is reaching out to cover the entire territory between Marietta and Atlanta—all to locate the girl who wore the red dress.
Somewhere in that 19-mile stretch of country, or perhaps within the 24 square miles of Atlanta’s own area, she will be found.
If she, or anyone who knows her and can tell where she is to be found, reads this, let her or the acquaintance do one of two things—call The Journal by telephone, or call the chief of detectives in Atlanta. On Sunday The Journal’s representatives can be reached at Ivy 1917-J. On week days the number is Main 2000. The chief of detectives number is Main 24.
CORONER RESUMES PROBE.
The coroner’s jury probing the mystery of the murder of Mary Phagan, whose mutilated body was found in the basement of the National Pencil company’s factory, last Sunday morning, will resume its inquest at police headquarters tomorrow afternoon at 2 o’clock.
Nearly 200 witnesses, many of whom are girl employees of the pencil company, have been subpoenaed and in addition to these it is expected that Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, and Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the factory, who are now in the Fulton tower, will take the stand.
Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey, who is carrying on a special investigation of the mystery, and E. A. Stephens, assistant solicitor general, had a conference yesterday afternoon, with Coroner Paul Donehoo, Chief of Detectives Newport A. Lanford, and Chief of police James L. Beavers. The conference lasted from 3 o’clock in the afternoon until nearly 7 o’clock. The two chiefs and the coroner went over all the details of the evidence secured so far with the solicitor general and his assistant.
WATCHMAN TO TESTIFY.
It is expected that the first witness who will take the stand when the inquest is resumed tomorrow afternoon will be Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, who was one of the chief witnesses when the inquest was begun Wednesday. It is expected that Lee will give some testimony as to a conversation he is alleged to have had with L. M. Frank at police headquarters Wednesday night.
It is also expected that Mr. Frank will be called to the stand or that the stenographic statement he made soon after his arrest will be introduced as evidence.
It is understood that the coroner’s jury will try to draw from the employees of the pencil factory evidence as to past relations between certain officials of the company and the employees.
Dr. J. W. Hurt, county physician who examined the body of the Phagan child, will be a witness.
THEY DIDN’T SEE GIRL.
J. L. Watkins, who testified on Wednesday that he saw Mary Phagan Saturday afternoon before the murder, will be recalled to say that he had mistaken Miss Daisy Jones for the Phagan child. E. L. Sentell, who testified that he saw Mary Phagan about midnight Saturday, will again take the stand to say that he has found he was mistaken.
Rumors were current last night that detectives have discovered attempts to influence the testimony of witnesses but none of these has been verified.
MORE ARRESTS IMPROBABLE.
It was stated at police headquarters last night that as far as could be seen at present, no further arrests in the case are contemplated.
In all probability startling evidence will be brought out when the inquest is resumed, but detectives have given no intimation as to what this will be.
A big corps of detectives have been working unceasingly on the case since the inquest was postponed from Thursday afternoon until Monday, and with the aid of the solicitor general it is suspected that by tomorrow several new phases will be brought out.
The new Fulton country grand jury will be empanelled tomorrow and it is probable that, in event the coroner’s probe is finished Monday night, the cases will be taken up by the jury Tuesday.
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GIRL IN RED DRESS MAY FURNISH CLUE TO PHAGAN MYSTERY
Atlanta Journal
Sunday, May 4th, 1913
[The top part of this article is cut off including the headline and the sub-headings – Ed.]
A 17-year-old miss, [several words illegible] blonde and who weighs about [several words illegible] 140 pounds, and who was in [several words illegible] in Marietta last Wednesday afternoon wearing a dark red dress and a [1 word illegible] leghorn hat, may furnish the vital clue in the mystery of the murder of Mary Phagan.
Who is she?
Where does she live?
Is it true that she was the last friend of Mary Phagan’s to see the murdered girl alive on Saturday afternoon, April 26?
She alone can answer. It is but a matter of hours until her identity is revealed.
If she knows what she is said to know, she can tell the officers of the law something that they are very anxious to learn.
Last Wednesday afternoon Miss Beulah Daniel, daughter of G. T. Daniel, of Mableton, Ga., was in a store in Marietta, making some purchases. She is quoted as saying that near her stood two girls, who also were making some purchases and who were talking as they looked over the goods offered to them. One of them was the girl already described above. Miss Daniel furnishes that description. She does not describe the girl’s companion. They were discussing the murder of Mary Phagan in the National Pencil factory in Atlanta.
WAITED AT FACTORY DOOR.
The girl in the red dress related in Miss Daniel’s hearing. It is said, a story that may prove the missing link of evidence that the detectives are seeking in their efforts to solve the mystery.
She said that she went to the pencil factory with Mary Phagan last Saturday afternoon when Mary called there to get her pay; that she waited at the street door of the factory; that half an hour passed without Mary returning, and she was beginning to grow impatient, when a man came to the door and told her she needn’t wait any longer, for Mary had some work to do.
If the report is true, and the girl in the red dress did say what she is quoted here as saying, she can probably describe the man who came to the door of the pencil factory and told her that she needn’t wait.
There may be the vital clue.
Here is how the trail of the clue was lost:
Miss Daniel, it is said, did not realize the import of what she had overheard. She returned to her home in Mableton later in the afternoon and repeated to her father what she had heard.
“That’s exactly the evidence the police are looking,” her father is said to have exclaimed. “Here is The Journal, this afternoon, asking the world ‘Who saw Mary Phagan last?’ We’ve got to find that girl!”
But their search, determined and interested though it was, resulted fruitlessly—except for one slight lead to further information. Someone in the store had heard the girl in the red dress say she was going to catch the next car — leaving Marietta about 3 o’clock. No one in the store who had seen them knew her or her companion.
Atlanta detectives were informed, and it is known that they were at work upon the clue Friday and Saturday morning in Marietta. Their efforts were in vain, however—but they spread a net of inquiry which today is reaching out to cover the entire territory between Marietta and Atlanta—all to locate the girl who wore the red dress.
Somewhere in that 19-mile stretch of country, or perhaps within the 24 square miles of Atlanta’s own area, she will be found.
If she, or anyone who knows her and can tell where she is to be found, reads this, let her or the acquaintance do one of two things—call The Journal by telephone, or call the chief of detectives in Atlanta. On Sunday The Journal’s representatives can be reached at Ivy 1917-J. On week days the number is Main 2000. The chief of detectives number is Main 24.
CORONER RESUMES PROBE.
The coroner’s jury probing the mystery of the murder of Mary Phagan, whose mutilated body was found in the basement of the National Pencil company’s factory, last Sunday morning, will resume its inquest at police headquarters tomorrow afternoon at 2 o’clock.
Nearly 200 witnesses, many of whom are girl employees of the pencil company, have been subpoenaed and in addition to these it is expected that Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, and Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the factory, who are now in the Fulton tower, will take the stand.
Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey, who is carrying on a special investigation of the mystery, and E. A. Stephens, assistant solicitor general, had a conference yesterday afternoon, with Coroner Paul Donehoo, Chief of Detectives Newport A. Lanford, and Chief of police James L. Beavers. The conference lasted from 3 o’clock in the afternoon until nearly 7 o’clock. The two chiefs and the coroner went over all the details of the evidence secured so far with the solicitor general and his assistant.
WATCHMAN TO TESTIFY.
It is expected that the first witness who will take the stand when the inquest is resumed tomorrow afternoon will be Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, who was one of the chief witnesses when the inquest was begun Wednesday. It is expected that Lee will give some testimony as to a conversation he is alleged to have had with L. M. Frank at police headquarters Wednesday night.
It is also expected that Mr. Frank will be called to the stand or that the stenographic statement he made soon after his arrest will be introduced as evidence.
It is understood that the coroner’s jury will try to draw from the employees of the pencil factory evidence as to past relations between certain officials of the company and the employees.
Dr. J. W. Hurt, county physician who examined the body of the Phagan child, will be a witness.
THEY DIDN’T SEE GIRL.
J. L. Watkins, who testified on Wednesday that he saw Mary Phagan Saturday afternoon before the murder, will be recalled to say that he had mistaken Miss Daisy Jones for the Phagan child. E. L. Sentell, who testified that he saw Mary Phagan about midnight Saturday, will again take the stand to say that he has found he was mistaken.
Rumors were current last night that detectives have discovered attempts to influence the testimony of witnesses but none of these has been verified.
MORE ARRESTS IMPROBABLE.
It was stated at police headquarters last night that as far as could be seen at present, no further arrests in the case are contemplated.
In all probability startling evidence will be brought out when the inquest is resumed, but detectives have given no intimation as to what this will be.
A big corps of detectives have been working unceasingly on the case since the inquest was postponed from Thursday afternoon until Monday, and with the aid of the solicitor general it is suspected that by tomorrow several new phases will be brought out.
The new Fulton country grand jury will be empanelled tomorrow and it is probable that, in event the coroner’s probe is finished Monday night, the cases will be taken up by the jury Tuesday.
_______
______
____
CORONER’S INQUEST RESUMED 2:30 P. M.; FRANK WILL TESTIFY
Atlanta Journal
Monday, May 5th, 1913
Factory Superintendent Was Expected to Be the Chief Witness, Though 200 Others Had Been Subpoenaed
NEW GRAND JURY URGED TO PROMPT INVESTIGATION
A Thousand Violations of Law Against Vice Do Not Equal Crime of Mary Phagan’s Murder, Says Judge Ellis
The jury empanelled a week ago by Coroner Paul Donehoo resumed its probe into the mystery of the murder of little Mary Phagan on Monday afternoon shortly after 2:30 o’clock.
Although police headquarters was crowded by nearly 200 witnesses, mostly employees at the National Pencil factory, where Mary Phagan met her death, it was said at the opening of the session that only a few witnesses would be called upon to testify.
The coroner, the chief of detectives and the solicitor general held a short conference just before the inquest was resumed.
It is said that the conference was held in order that the officials might reach a decision as to just what witnesses it will be necessary to bring before the inquest. It is said to be the desire of Solicitor Dorsey that the inquest may proceed without disclosing any more of the “state’s hand’ than is absolutely necessary.
L. M. Frank, superintendent of the factory, who is held in connection with the case, was expected to be among the first witnesses examined by the coroner’s jury. It was also considered probable that Newt Lee, the negro watchman, who is also under arrest in the case, would be recalled to the stand in order that the jury might ask him addition questions.
There was a possibility, however, of Mr. Frank being the only witness.
Luther Z. Rosser, attorney for Mr. Frank, said he would make no objection to Mr. Frank appearing before the coroner’s jury and answering any questions that the jurors might wish to ask.
Should the inquest be concluded Tuesday afternoon, it is highly probable that the grand jury, which was empaneled Monday morning, will take up the Phagan case Tuesday, although no definite announcement has been made by the officials.
The detectives are said to have located another important witness, a woman who is said to have seen Mary Phagan at the factory last Saturday. It is said to be improbable, however, that this witness will be called Monday, and the officials are anxious to keep her identity a secret.
In his charge to the new grand jury, Judge W. D. Ellis, of the superior court, Monday morning called upon the jury to make an immediate and searching investigation of Mary Phagan’s murder. He declared that a thousand violations of the law against vice would not equal in crime the mistreatment and death of this fourteen-year-old child, and that the case demanded the prompt attention of the grand jury.
Judge Ellis’ reference to the Phagan case, taken verbatim from his charge to the jury, was: “The Mary Phagan case calls for your immediate and vigorous attention. The power of the state is behind you. What appears to be an awful crime has been committed, and the welfare of the community, the good name of Atlanta, public justice and the majesty of the law demand at the hands of this grand jury and of all officers of the law the most searching investigation and the prompt bringing to trial of the guilty party.”
Solicitor Dorsey was seen after the judge’s charge had been concluded and stated that in his opinion the Phagan case could hardly be taken up Monday. He thought it would probably be several days before the grand jury began its investigation, although he said it was possible for the jury to take the matter up at once if it saw fit to do so.
LANFORD’S STATEMENT.
“We have sufficient evidence to justify the coroner’s jury in holding L. M. Frank and Newt Lee for further investigation by the grand jury,” declared Chief of Detectives Newport A. Lanford Monday morning.
The detectives are still searching for the mysterious “Girl in the Red Dress,” who stated in a store in Marietta last Wednesday that she was with Mary Phagan, when she went to the National Pencil company’s factory on Forsyth street, Saturday a week ago to collect her wages for two days’ labor.
Detectives Starnes and Campbell went to Marietta early in the morning Sunday, responding to telephone information given the officers as the result of The Journal’s story Sunday.
Many people, who believed that they might be of assistance in locating the girl called at detective headquarters after reading The Journal’s story, and as a result Chief of Police J. L. Beavers joined the detectives in his auto about 11 o’clock Sunday morning.
Chief Beavers stated on his return that the efforts to find the girl of the red dress had proved futile. This girl is supposed to have stated that she went to the factory with Mary Phagan and waited outside, while she went to get her money.
Soon she was notified by two girls who came down the steps, that Mary would be down in a few minutes. Later according to the story, a man came down and told her that Mary said not to wait as she would be busy half and hour or more.
NEW EVIDENCE CLAIMED.
It is said that important new evidence has been developed in the case. About this the detectives are reticent, and while they are not responsible for the statement, the general impression prevails that Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey is using every effort to prevent the public coming into possession of “the state’s case.”
A number of stenographers are busy at police headquarters making typewritten copies of the statements made by witnesses and principals in the case, and it is said that this work is being done in order that the case may be gotten before the coroner’s jury in a tangible shape.
Dr. Claude Smith, city bacteriologist, expects to complete his analysis of the bloodstains before the inquest is resumed. Dr. Smith is making an analysis not only of the blood stains on the shirt found in a barrel at the home of Newt Lee, but of the blood stains found on the floor of the second story of the factory, the blood on the lathe at the factory, and also of the blood on the garments worn by the dead girl.
Dr. Smith’s report will probably tell whether or not it is the same blood on the shirt and on the floor of the factory where Mary Phagan commenced her battle for life, and this will prove of great value to the police. The analysis is expected to have an important bearing on the case in many ways.
PINKERTONS AIDING.
A statement was given out at the office of the solicitor general Monday to the effect that Harry Scott, the Pinkerton on the case, has placed much valuable information in the hands of the solicitor.
Scott, with John Black, of the city force, was closeted with the solicitor for more than an hour Monday, and he gave the official a detailed account of the results of his investigation. Scott, like the general public, is being kept in ignorance of the results of the independent investigation, which is being conducted by the solicitor, Solicitor Dorsey is probably the only man who is now in touch with every phase of the investigation.
The solicitor’s office seemed to consider the information disclosed by the Pinkerton man Monday to be of great importance to the state.
MYSTERIOUS LETTER.
A letter, that may have an important bearing on the case, has come into the possession of Harry Scott, of the Pinkertons. This letter was the subject of a conference between Scott and Chief Lanford Monday and it is believed the detectives regard its contents as important. It is understood that the letter is from the mother of a young man, who formerly worked at the factory and who may be able to give the detectives some information of value. The detectives declined to even admit that they had such a letter.
BODY IS EXHUMED.
The body of Mary Phagan was exhumed Monday by direction of Coroner Donehoo, who went to Marietta for the purpose. An examination of the contents of the stomach will be made for the purpose of determining whether the child had been poisoned before she was attacked on the day of her death. It will probably be several days before this examination can be completed. The exhumation was done very quietly, and few people in Marietta knew anything about it.
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L. M. FRANK’S COMPLETE STORY OF WHERE HE WAS AND WHAT HE DID ON DAY OF MARY PHAGAN MURDER
Atlanta Journal
Tuesday, May 6th, 1913
For Three Hours and a Half Mr. Frank Was on the Stand, Answering Questions About His Movements Every Hour and Minute of the Day—He Was Calm and Unruffled When Excused From Stand and Returned to the Tower
HE TELLS OF VISIT OF LEMMIE QUINN TO HIS OFFICE TEN MINUTES AFTER MARY PHAGAN RECEIVED WAGES
Introduction of Quinn Gives the Factory Superintendent an Important Witness, in Confirmation of His Statements. Only Three Witnesses Examined by Coroner at Session Monday Afternoon
For three hours and a half Leo M. Frank, general superintendent of the National Pencil factory in which Mary Phagan was murdered, faced the coroner’s jury Monday afternoon and told minutely, detail by detail, in precise sequence, where he was and what he did during practically every minute of Saturday, April 26, Saturday night, and Sunday, April 27. When he had finished, his father-in-law, Emil Selig, was put upon the stand and questioned closely regarding what he knew of Frank’s whereabouts and acts on those days. And after Mr. Selig had been excused, Mrs. Josephine Selig, his wife, was called to testify along the same line. These three witnesses occupied the entire session Monday, which was at work for almost five hours.
That Lemmie Quinn, foreman of tipping department, visited the National Pencil factory shortly after Mary Phagan is supposed to have received her pay envelope and departed, was an absolutely new feature in the murder mystery brought out by Mr. Frank’s testimony.
While Quinn has never been on the stand he has corroborated Mr. Frank’s statement in interviews with the detectives, and goes further by saying that he recalled his visit to the factory for the incarcerated superintendent.
Mr. and Mrs. Emil Selig, father and mother-in-law of Mr. Frank, with whom the latter lives, were the only other witnesses examined Monday afternoon before the inquest was adjourned until Thursday morning at 9:30 o’clock.
When Mr. Frank left the witness stand at 6:20 o’clock, after three hours and a half of examination, he stated to a Journal reporter that he was not tired. He seemed none the worse for the ordeal he had just gone through. He was at once transferred to the tower.
Leo. M. Frank, superintendent of the National Pencil factory, was the first witness when the inquest was resumed. Mr. Frank entered the commissioner’s room where the inquest was being held at 2:45 o’clock. He was accompanied by Chief of Detectives Newport A. Lanford, Chief of Police James L. Beavers, Detective J. N. Starnes and Deputy Plennie Miner.
He was sworn at 2:50 o’clock and a systematic questioning was begun by Coroner Donehoo, who was occasionally prompted by Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey and Chief of Detectives Lanford.
“What is your name?” the coroner asked.
“Leo M. Frank,” was the answer.
“Where do you live?”
“At 68 East Georgia avenue.”
“What is your connection with the National Pencil factory?”
“I am general superintendent.”
“How long have you been with the National Pencil factory?”
“Since August, 1908,” was the answer.
“How long have you held the office of general superintendent?”
“Since September 1, 1908.”
“Where were you prior to that date?”
“Just prior to that time I was buying machinery for the factory.”
“Have you lived in Atlanta all your life?”
“No, sir.”
“Where did you live before coming to Atlanta?”
“In Brooklyn, New York.”
“Are you married or single?”
“I am married.”
“Is your wife living?”
“Yes, sir.”
“How many times have you been married?”
“Once only.”
“Where did you live in Brooklyn, N. Y.?”
“My last address there was 152 Underhill avenue.”
“In what business were you engaged in Brooklyn?”
“I was with the National Meter company.”
“When did you leave Brooklyn?”
“About the middle of October, 1907.”
“Where did you go?”
“To Atlanta to confer with the National Pencil company.”
“When did you go abroad?”
“The first week in November, 1907.”
“When did you return to Atlanta?”
“August 1, 1908.”
HIS DUTIES AT FACTORY.
“What are your duties at the pencil factory?”
“I look after the purchasing of material, inspect factory costs; see that orders are properly entered and filled, and look after the production in general.”
“What time did you get up Saturday morning, April 26?” was the next question.
“About 7 o’clock.”
“Do you and your wife live alone?”
“No, sir.”
“With whom do you live?”
“My mother and father-in-law.”
“Who are they?”
“Mr. and Mrs. Emile Selig.”
“Have you any children?”
“No, sir.”
“Does any one else live with you?”
“No, sir.”
“How many servants have you?”
“There is only one on the place.”
“What is this servant named?”
“I don’t know her last name. Her first name is Minola. She is colored.”
“What time does she get there?”
“About 6:30 o’clock.”
“Was she on time Saturday, April 26?”
“Yes, sir.”
LEFT HOME AT 8 A. M.
Mr. Frank said that he left his home about 8 o’clock that morning, Saturday, April 26. He remembered seeing his servant, Minola, and his wife, as he was leaving. He didn’t remember seeing any one else. He was sure he did not see Mrs. Selig. He might have seen Mr. Selig, but he did not remember.
At his corner he can catch either the Washington street or the Georgia avenue car, said he. He did not remember which he boarded that morning. He did not remember talking to any one on the car. He arrived at the factory about 8:20 o’clock. He does not punch the time clock. Mr. Holloway, the day watchman, and Alonzo Mann, the office boy, both were there. Holloway was near the time clock as he went by. Alonzo, the office boy, was in the office. He did not remember whether any one was in the machine room. He didn’t look back there. He didn’t remember how long it was, perhaps an hour until several other people came in to get their pay envelopes. One man came to get his envelope for his son, and another for his stepson. One of the men was the father of a boy named Jimmie Grant, he remembered. Saturday being Memorial day, was a holiday in the factory, but he had instructed the office force to report and Coroner Donehoo fired question after question, related or without context, at Mr. Frank, the queries being rapid and precise. It was evident that the witness was to be examined most minutely.
Continuing, Mr. Frank remembered that during the morning of that Saturday Miss Mattie Smith came in to get the pay envelopes of herself and her sister. He didn’t remember whether there was anybody in the outer office at that moment. The office boy should have been there. His chief clerk was Herbert Schiff, a salesman, who had been acting in that capacity since the discharge of J. M. Gantt, the former incumbent. Schiff was not in the office. The stenographer should have been in the outer office. She is a Miss Eubanks. He didn’t remember her first name.
He had been in the office about thirty or forty minutes when M. B. Darley, Wade Campbell and “Mr. Fullerton” came in. The first thing he did was look over his mail and the papers.
WENT TO MANAGER’S OFFICE.
“What sort of papers?” he was asked.
“Notes and orders,” he replied, adding that the notes are memoranda for his attention about work around the factory. He put them in a folder, to get ready for Monday.
“What did you do after you went through the mail?” he was asked.
He replied that he went over to the manager’s office about 10 o’clock. Before going there he talked several minutes with Darley and Campbell. He did not attend to the financial sheet then. He couldn’t recall doing anything else. The manager’s office is in the establishment of Montag Bros., 10 to 20 Nelson street, he said. Sig Montag is the manager. The coroner questioned him closely about what papers he handled that morning. He asked the witness, “What do you usually do after you get to the office when the factory is at work?”
Mr. Frank replied that usually he opened his desk, got out the orders, arranged the work for his stenographer, and at a few minutes after 7 o’clock he would go up into the factory and distribute the orders among the proper departments.
He said that he did not get the factory mail at this office. Sometimes he got personal mail there, he said. He went to the safe that morning and got out the papers, but couldn’t recall what the first one was. He answered numerous specific questions about where he was when the others came in, and how to make out a financial sheet, etc.
Frank said that he prepared a financial sheet Saturday afternoon. It bore the date of Thursday, the twenty-fourth, he said, in response, to the coroner’s question. Their week ended on Thursday, he said.
“Why didn’t you make out the sheet on Thursday?” he was asked.
“I didn’t know the payroll then. We generally get the payroll on Friday.”
INTENDED TO GO TO GAME.
“Did you intend to go to the ball game on Saturday?” the coroner asked.
“Yes,” replied Mr. Frank, “until I got up and saw it was a cloudy day.”
He was asked why he didn’t make out the final sheet in the morning, and replied that he had other matters—invoices, orders, etc.—to look after.
“When did you work on the house books?” he was asked.
“Not on Saturday,” he said.
Mr. Frank said that his stenographer was not at the office Saturday, so he called a Miss Hall from Montag Brothers to help him. He went to Montag Brothers to see an official of the National Pencil company, who has his office there, he said, and shortly before 11 o’clock Miss Hall telephoned him there to return to the pencil factory and took over some important papers. When he got back to the pencil factory Miss Hall, his office boy and some others were in his office, he said.
At this point the coroner abruptly changed his line of questioning to ask “Is the house order book of April 30 in your handwriting?”
“No,” replied the witness.
“How many others were there on April 30?”
“Eleven, I think,” said Mr. Frank.
“Who entered those?”
“Miss Hall,” said the witness.
The coroner then came back to the visit to Montag brothers, and Mr. Frank said that he remained there until about 11 o’clock. He said that he talked to several persons there on business.
[Part of a paragraph is missing here—Ed.]
look over the mail for matters needing immediate attention.
MANY QUESTIONS ASKED.
“Did you stop on your way there?” he was asked.
“I don’t remember.”
“Did you stop on your way back?”
“I don’t remember,” he again answered.
The coroner asked him to try to refresh his memory. He still insisted that he did not remember stopping at any place, either on his way to or from Montag Brothers.
The coroner kept up his systematic fire of questions, asking “How old is your office boy?”
“About fifteen or sixteen,” he replied.
“Does he wear long or short trousers?”
“Short.”
“What did you do when you got back to the pencil factory?”
“I sorted orders for about ten minutes.”
“What was in those orders?”
“I don’t remember.”
He didn’t remember whether the orders or invoices were from in Atlanta or out of the city, he said.
“Do you usually get orders or invoices on the twenty-sixth?” was the next question.
“We get invoices when the goods are shipped,” the witness answered.
“Do you remember any specific order or invoices on that date?” he was asked.
“No, sir, I do not,” said Mr. Frank.
He had no specific times for taking up routine work, said Mr. Frank. Usually he took up what appeared to be most important at the time.
HE WAS ALONE, HE SAID.
He dictated letters a while to Miss Hall. She entered the orders that he had received that morning. He didn’t remember just what she was doing while he did that. It took him about five or ten minutes to assort the orders. It took Miss Hall about fifteen or twenty minutes to enter them. When she had entered them she wrote postcard receipts for them. Then she copied on the typewriter the letters that he had dictated to her.
That didn’t take her long. About 12 o’clock he started copying the orders in the shipping requests. About that time Miss Hall and the office boy left. He didn’t remember whether they went together. He remembered it was about noon, for he heard the whistle blow at the time. So far as he knew, there was no one else in the office after Miss Hall left. He said it was customary to copy orders on the day of their receipt. They were seldom more than a day late copying them. It took him probably forty minutes to copy the orders. He didn’t begin work more than a minute or two before 12 o’clock. Again he was asked whether he was alone, and answered, “Yes, as far as I know.”
MARY CAME FOR WAGES.
“About 12:10 or 12:05 o’clock,” said Mr. Frank, “this little girl who was killed came up and got her envelope. I didn’t see or hear any one with her. I didn’t hear her speak to any one who might have been outside. I was in my inside office working at the orders when she came up.
“I don’t remember exactly what she said.
“I looked up, and when she told me she wanted her envelope, I handed it to her. Knowing that the employees would be coming in for their pay envelopes, I had them all in the cash basket beside me, to save walking to the safe each time.”
Mr. Frank said he didn’t know Mary Phagan’s number. He said each envelope had the employee’s number stamped on it. He admitted that he had looked up Mary Phagan’s number since the murder, but he had forgotten it again, said he. He did not see her pay envelope after he handed it to her. He made no entry of the payment, on the payroll or any other record, because none was required, said he.
“The girl left. She got to the outer door and asked if the metal had come. I told her no.”
(The girl had been “laid off” from work at the factory the preceding Tuesday, it has been understood, because of a shortage in some metal which her work required.)
“Where was Mary Phagan when she asked about this metal?” he was asked.
“In the outer office, I think, or in the main hall.”
He explained that the Phagan child hadn’t been working since Monday because of the shortage in the metal supply.
There was $1.20 in the child’s pay envelope, he said, part of it being for work on Friday and Saturday of the previous week. He didn’t know at what rate she was paid, he said, as he didn’t open the sealed pay envelope.
HEARD FOOTSTEPS DIE AWAY.
When she left he heard her footsteps die away in the hall, he said, and returned to his work, thinking no more about her.
Mr. Frank said he knew the Phagan child’s face, but didn’t know her name. She stood partly behind his desk, he said, and he didn’t notice the details of her dress, but thought the color was light. He didn’t recall whether she wore a hat, or carried a parasol or purse, he said, and didn’t see her shoes or stockings, which, he said, were hidden by the desk.
The girl reached his office between 12:10 and 12:15, he said and stayed there about two minutes. He thought her name was on the outside of the pay envelope, he said, but had identified her by her number.
No one else came into the office while she was there, the witness said. In response to a question from the coroner, he said that he had told her she had come almost too late. When she left he thought he heard her voice in the outer office, he said. He made no entry on the pay roll after giving the girl her envelope, he said.
About five or ten minutes after Miss Phagan left a man named Lemmy Quinn, foreman in the tip department, came in, he said.
Quinn remarked, “Well, I see you’re busy,” Mr. Frank said, and left about 12:25. Mr. Frank then copied orders, he said. He didn’t know where Quinn went, he said.
Mr. Frank said that the metal hadn’t come at that time, and he didn’t think it had arrived yet. The acting chief clerk, whose name was Schiff, would receive it when it came, he said.
He didn’t go to see whether it had come when the Phagan child called, he said, nor did he ask Schiff about it. He would probably know it had come before Schiff did, he said.
HEARD WHISTLES.
Mr. Frank said that he fixed the time Mary Phagan came for her money by the factory whistles which blew about noon. He didn’t leave his office between the time the girl left and Quinn called, he said. He didn’t recall how Quinn was dressed, he said, but thinks he wore a straw hat.
Mr. Frank said he didn’t know how long Mary Phagan had worked at the pencil factory.
He said that Quinn knew Mary because he was foreman of the tip department in which she was employed. Quinn worked last week, Mr. Frank said, on tools and machinery.
Mr. Frank said that Quinn usually wore the same clothing around the factory that he wore on the streets. Quinn came into his office about 12:25 and spoke to him. He was wearing street clothes. Quinn was about twenty-five or thirty years old, said he. Probably half an hour after Quinn spoke to him he left the factory—about 1 o’clock, or three or four minutes after that hour. He did not lock all of the papers in the safe, he said, because he anticipated returning to work with them that afternoon.
“Do you remember which ones you got together before you left?”
Mr. Frank answered that he got the production sheet and looked it over, and a few other papers. After the time Miss Hall left the office until he himself left to go home he was in the office all of the time, he said. Before he left he went up to the fourth floor, where he found Harry Denham and Arthur White and Mrs. White, and told them he was going out and would lock the door. Mrs. White, he thought, said she would go on out, and he thought she went away. He went up by the stairway to that floor, he said.
The day watchman was there shortly after 11 o’clock, said he. He didn’t remember exactly what time he left. Except on Saturdays, the day watchman usually worked until the night watchman came on duty. On Saturdays, said he, he himself worked, except on rare occasions; and when he did work he let the day watchman go. He couldn’t remember more than three or four occasions, said he, when the day watchman had worked. He let the watchman off as a usual thing that Saturday, said he.
HADN’T SEEN FRY.
He was asked about Walter Fry, a negro employed at the factory. Fry, said he, is one of the oldest negro employees there. He had to clean the third floor of a lot of glue once each week, and usually he did it on Saturdays. Mr. Frank did not know whether Fry was in the building that day. The watchman said nothing of it, as he should have done had the negro been there. He had not excused Fry from work, said he. He hadn’t seen Fry in two weeks, he added.
He caught a Washington street car and got off at Georgia avenue. He got home about 1:20 o’clock. He found his mother-in-law and his wife dressed and ready to go to the opera. He told them good-bye and went in and had lunch with his father-in-law. The servant, Minola, waited upon them. They spent about twenty minutes eating. Afterward he lit a cigarette and lay down upon the sofa, his father-in-law, a chicken fancier, going out in the back yard to look at some chickens. His father-in-law had not come back when he got up and left the house. He did not sleep while he lay on the sofa. He dozed, for he was tired from the morning’s work.
He left home about 2 o’clock. On the street he saw a cousin of his, from Athens, and the cousin’s mother. He crossed the street and talked with them. They said they had come down for grand opera. He walked on up to Glenn street, not having missed a car, and there caught a Washington street car. On the street car he met another cousin, J. C. Loeb, and talked with Mr. Loeb as they rode to town. At the corner of Washington and Hunter streets the car stopped, on account of the parade, and he got out and walked west on Hunter to Whitehall. When he reached that corner the parade came around into Hunter street from Whitehall.
WATCHED THE PARADE.
He stopped there and watched the parade a while, then walked on up Whitehall toward Alabama. In front of Rich’s he met Miss Rebecca Carson, one of the forewomen in the factory. He spoke to her, but did not stop. That must have been about 2:40 o’clock. Just a few minutes later, when there was a lapse in the parade, he crossed Whitehall and entered Jacobs’ drug store on the corner, buying three or four cigars of a brand that he named, and perhaps a package of cigarettes. From Jacobs’ he went on up Alabama street to Forsyth, and turned down Forsyth to the factory. He opened the street door with his key, and locked it behind him with a latch manipulated from the inside. He unlocked the inner door and left it open behind him. That was about 3 o’clock. He took off his coat and went upstairs to the third floor, where he found Denham and White in the back of the room. They told him they would be through work and ready to leave in a few minutes. He came directly downstairs to his office. He opened the safe and took out some papers and started work on the financial sheet. A few minutes later he heard Denham and White come down from their work and ring the clock. White came into his office and borrowed $2. He joked with White a minute or so about the loan, and then got his signature upon an advanced wage sheet and gave him the $2. He put the slip in an envelope, where he kept other slips like it.
About 3:09 or 3:10 o’clock White and Denham went downstairs. Shortly afterward he followed them and latched the street door again behind them. That was about 3:20 o’clock, he said.
The day watchman left about 3 o’clock, Mr. Frank said, and White and Denham left about 3:15. He went downstairs and locked the door after them, he said, and returned to his work on the financial sheet. The witness said that, so far as he knew, he was alone in the factory. He had seen no one while on his way up or down the steps.
Mr. Frank said that he worked on the financial sheet until about 5:30 o’clock. At about fifteen minutes before 4, he said, he went to the lavatory to wash his hands, and on his way back to his office saw the night watchman coming up the stairs.
NIGHT WATCHMAN COMES.
Mr. Frank said that on Friday he had told the watchman to report for duty at 4 o’clock Saturday afternoon, and that he remembers the time because he looked at his watch to see if the watchman was on time. The watchman had pass keys to the doors, he said.
Asked about his conversation with the night watchman, Mr. Frank said that he said, “Howdy, Lee,” and told him he was sorry he had to come to work so early, and that he could go out and enjoy himself for an hour or an hour and a half. Lee offered him some bananas, he said, but he took none.
The only other interruption during the afternoon, Mr. Frank said, was a telephone call for Mr. Schiff.
Mr. Frank said that he had planned to go to the ball game with his brother-in-law, Mr. Ersenbach. He had tried to telephone Mr. Ersenbach that he couldn’t go, but had been unable to get him, the witness said.
Mr. Frank said that after 5:30 he balanced the cash. This took until about 6 o’clock, he said.
Mr. Frank was not downstairs between 4 and 4:30, he said, in response to a question.
The witness said that when Lee returned about 6 o’clock he was putting in the clock slips. There were two clocks, he said, one that registered between one and 100 and the other between 100 and 200. The watchman punched the latter. Mr. Frank took out the Friday slips, he said, which were dated April 26, and put them on the clerk’s desk.
He was asked when Fullerton was to start to work.
“On Monday, the 28th,” he said. He didn’t know, he said, whether Fullerton started to work on Monday or not.
It was not very light, Mr. Frank said, when Lee returned to work. He had no conversation with him. Lee did not seem in the least agitated, Mr. Frank said.
GANTT WAS THERE.
Mr. Frank said that about 6 o’clock he washed his hands and put on his coat preparatory to leaving the building. Lee had punched the clock and was at the bottom of the steps, Mr. Frank said, to lock the door after him. Lee was talking to J. M. Gantt, former employee of the factory, on the sidewalk just outside the door, the witness said.
Mr. Frank said that Lee told him Gantt wanted to get a pair of shoes he had left in the factory. The witness said he sent Lee in with Gantt, and left the building himself.
Mr. Frank said he then went to Jacobs’ pharmacy at the corner of Alabama and Whitehall streets and bought a box of candy. It was a special kind of candy that was not kept boxed and he had to wait a few minutes, he said, while the girl put it in a box for him. He chatted with the girl, he said, but spoke to no one else before he got home.
He reached home about 6:25 o’clock, he said. His father-in-law and the servant were there, the witness said and his wife and his mother came in a few minutes later.
They came in about 6:30, Mr. Frank said, just as he was telephoning to the factory. He telephoned at 6:30, he said, because at that time the night watchman was due to be punching the clock and would ordinarily be where he could easily hear the telephone.
Mr. Frank said that he failed to get Leet at 6:30, so telephoned him again at 7 o’clock, when the watchman answered.
The witness said he asked whether Gantt had gone and if everything was all right, then ate his dinner.
Mr. Frank said he had never heard Gantta make any direct threats against him. Gantt had been discharged, the witness said, because of negligence in his accounts.
Mr. Frank said that he telephone the factory, because Gantt “was a man I wanted to keep up with when he was in the factory.”
The witness said that after supper he smoked and read until about 9:30 o’clock, when he went upstairs and lit the gas heater. He then went back downstairs, he said, and read until about 10:30, when he went back upstairs, took a bath and went to bed about 11.
Mr. Frank said he was awakened about 7:30 o’clock Sunday morning by the ringing of the telephone. He answered it in his bath robe, he said. It was Detective J. M. Starnes, who said he wanted Mr. Frank to identify some one at the factory, the witness said.
Mr. Frank said he asked the detective if there had been a fire, and the reply was, “No; a tragedy.”
The witness said Mr. Starnes told him an automobile would be right up for him. Detective Black and Boot Rogers arrived before he had finished dressing, Mr. Frank said. He went with them, he said, to Bloomfield’s undertaking establishment to see the body of Mary Phagan.
Mr. Frank said that he immediately recognized the “poor little thing.” He looked at her, he said, and remarked, “That is the child I paid off Saturday.”
Mr. Frank then described the appearance of the corpse, and said that the cord about her neck was of the type used on the third and fourth floors of the pencil factory in binding “units.”
GOES TO FACTORY.
He stayed at the undertaker’s shop but a few minutes. Then he drove down to the factory and saw Darley going in just ahead of him and called to him. He went upstairs, where he saw the negro and a number of detectives. There he was told the details of the tragedy. He took them down to the basement in the elevator. He couldn’t get the elevator to work at first, and Darley started it for him. He didn’t see any blood in the basement. He told Darley to nail up the back door, which they showed him to be standing open. He said it was part of the watchman’s duty to come down in the basement and see that that door was fastened, and also to look in the dust bin. The fire insurance people consider that dust bin somewhat of a hazard, said he. He hadn’t been in the cellar a dozen times before during his connection with the company, said he.
He answered a number of questions relative to the method of operating the elevator. It is run by electricity. There is a switch on the left of the elevator at the second floor landing where the power is turned off. The switch never is locked up. Formerly it was, but the insurance people objected, and later it was left unlocked where the firemen could get to it immediately and shut off the power in the building.
THE PART OF THE TIME CLOCK.
He was questioned as to the tape on the time clock. When he looked at it first after the tragedy, he thought it was all right because the lines had not been broken. Later, said he, he studied it more closely and saw that the negro night watchman had skipped in two or three places, punching hours only instead of hours and half hours. He said he had put the date, 28, on the tape in advance because he knew when the employees came to work Monday morning they would start to punching that date.
While he was in the factory on the Sunday morning after the tragedy was discovered, the detectives used most of the time going over the factory, looking for some one who might have been hidden. He did not know what machine Mary Phagan used in the factory, said he. He didn’t know of any stuff similar to whitewash used around the plant. There was a yellowish substance, like soap, used for a lubricant.
SAID HE HELPED DETECTIVES.
Leaving the factory that Sunday morning, he went to police headquarters with some of the detectives and Mr. Darley. There he answered a number of questions. He did not remember what they were, but he remembered that he wanted to give the detectives every possible help in getting at the bottom of the thing. He told them everything that they wanted to know, said he.
He and Darley left headquarters together and walked toward town. He asked Darley if he wanted to see Mary Phagan’s body, and Darley, saying yes, they walked over to the undertaker’s, but they could not see the corpse, because the embalmers were busy at the moment.
WORE THE SAME SUIT.
Questioned as to the clothes he wore on the day preceding the murder’s discovery, he declared that he wore the same suit that he wore then, as he testified. He had put it on the next Monday again, and had worn it constantly since. On the Sunday when the murder was discovered he wore a blue suit.
He answered a number of questions relative to the time lock. No person unfamiliar with it could manufacture a time record upon it, he said. He experienced some difficulty himself when he changed the dates, said he. There is a key to the time clock, said he, but he didn’t even know who had it. It would be possible, by moving the hands of the clock, to make it register at regular intervals, he thought.
RUNNING THE ELEVATOR.
The coroner reverted to Friday afternoon. He stayed somewhat late that afternoon, he said.
The elevator boy is a negro called “Snowball,” he said. He explained again the operation of the elevator. He (Frank) could run the elevator, but he had not done so on any certain occasion that he remembered. On Saturday morning the motor was running, he knew, because it was being used to operate a circular saw in the department where Denham and White were at work.
He said he had never telephoned before Saturday night to the negro night watchman, Newt Lee, because the negro had been there only a couple of weeks. The negro had been employed formerly by Mr. [1 word illegible], said he.
Frank said that he identified the girl’s corpse by her hair and her features. He didn’t know the girl’s name, he said, but recognized her corpse as that of the girl he had paid Saturday. Mr. Frank said that he hadn’t noticed that the girl appeared nervous when he saw her Saturday afternoon. He wasn’t sure he had heard her voice after she left him, he said, but thought he had heard some girl’s voice in the outer office.
Mr. Frank said that when he went to the undertaker’s establishment Sunday morning, he wore a blue suit he was accustomed to wear on Sundays, having changed from the brown one he had worn the day before. He had never worn this blue suit to the pencil factory that he remembered, the witness said.
He said that he mentioned to Darley on Sunday that he had on another suit. He changed things from the pocket of the brown suit to the blue one, he said; changed his underwear and his shirt, as he was accustomed to do. He had never given the night watchman any clothes, he said.
Mr. Frank was asked about his talk with Lee at the police station. He said that previous to his talk with Lee he had been asked by Detective Black and Scott to try to find out whether Lee had been letting couples into the pencil factory at night.
“Black said, ‘Put it strong to him,’” the witness said, “’Try to get out of him all you can. We think he knows more than he is willing to tell. Tell him they’ve got you and me and they’ll send us both to hell if you don’t tell what you know.’”
Mr. Frank said that he said to Lee something similar to the words Black has used. “I talked to him kindly,” Mr. Frank said. The witness said that he urged Lee to tell the truth about the couples; that he told Lee in substance, “They know you something,” and said, “They can swing us both if you don’t tell.”
Mr. Frank said that the negro said in substance, “’Fore God, Mr. Frank, I don’t know anything about it.’”
Lee declared that he had admitted no couples, Mr. Frank said, and “kept up a good tale.”
The witness said that he didn’t use the words the detectives told him in which he used the word “hell.”
Going back to the talk of the ball games, Mr. Frank said that he didn’t know what time the games started.
The witness was then quizzed as to how many suits of underwear he had worn, and how often he was accustomed to change.
He had worn one suit last week, he thought, he said. When he took them off he put them in the wash bag, he said. Detective Black saw them, he declared—a suit of winter underwear.
He generally wore two suits of underwear a week during the winter, he said, and four or five a week in the summer.
Going back to the references to the ball game, the witness was asked if he had intended going to the ball game after 4 o’clock. He said that he had expected to leave the factory at 1 o’clock.
Mr. Frank said that he had notified the factory employees by posting notices about Monday or Tuesday that they would be paid Friday afternoon, since Saturday was a holiday on account of being Memorial day. They were paid about 5 o’clock Friday afternoon, he said.
Mr. Frank said that during his conversation with Lee the watchman did not accuse him of the crime, or describe the girl’s body, and declared that he did not tell Lee not to talk about the tragedy.
Mr. Frank then said that the usual pay time was about noon Saturday.
He replied in answer to a question that he didn’t remember ever having used any cord like that found about the girl’s neck to tie a bundle.
“Are you right-handed or left-handed?” he was asked
“Right-handed,” he replied.
Mr. Frank said that he had been in the habit of carrying a pocket knife, but this was taken from him when he was arrested.
The witness repeated his statement that he first heard the telephone on Sunday morning at about 7:30. Later Sunday morning, he said, he thought he recalled dreaming that he heard the telephone in the night.
MR. SELIG ON STAND.
Emil Selig, father-in-law of Mr. Frank, succeeded him on the witness stand. He lives at 68 Georgia avenue, said Mr. Selig. About three years ago Frank married his daughter. He had never heard of Frank being married before. He had known Frank about a year before Frank married Miss Selig.
In answer to the question, “Do you live with Mr. Frank?” the old gentleman replied, “No; he lives with me.”
He didn’t remember seeing Frank leave on the morning of the tragedy, said he. He did see him at dinner time and ate dinner with him. His wife and daughter both were going to grand opera, and, as well as he remembered, they left before the end of dinner.
After dinner, said Mr. Selig, he (Selig) lay down and took a nap. He didn’t know what Mr. Frank did. Maybe he lay down, too. Mr. Selig said he got up about 3 o’clock, and Frank was gone. He saw him again at supper. That was between 7 and 8 o’clock, he thought. He didn’t remember the exact hour. His wife and daughter and the servants all were there with them, he thought. After supper that Saturday night, Mr. Frank went out into the hall and sat there reading. “We played cards,” said he. Asked who “we” was, he replied that they had a little company in that evening.
Asked for the names of the company, he remembered that Mr. and Mrs. Morris Goldstein, Mrs. I. Strauss, who lives on Pryor street, and Mrs. Wolfsheimer, from Washington street, and maybe another married daughter, Mrs. A. E. Marcus, were there.
Mr. Frank didn’t play cards, said he. Mr. Frank must have known that the guests were there. He didn’t remember especially about that. They played cards there until about 11 o’clock. Mr. Frank, he presumed, went on up to bed about 9 o’clock. He didn’t see anything of him after that. Mrs. Frank didn’t play cards, but was out with her husband for a while.
“Who played partners?” the coroner asked him.
“We didn’t have any partners,” answered the witness. “We were playing for blood.”
On Saturday Mr. Frank had on a brown every-day suit, said the witness. He thought Mr. Frank had on the same suit Sunday. It was the same suit he had worn to the inquest, said Mr. Selig.
_
DIDN’T TALK ABOUT TRAGEDY.
Mr. Selig said that he didn’t hear the telephone ring during the night Saturday or Sunday morning. He didn’t remember Mr. Frank having telephoned the factory Saturday night, but that Mr. Frank might have done so without his having known it.
Mr. Selig said that he awoke about 8 o’clock Sunday morning, after Mr. Frank had left the house. Mrs. Frank told him that “something terrible had happened in the factory,” he said, but that he didn’t press the question as to what had transpired; that all day Sunday he made no efforts to find out what had occurred.
Mr. Frank returned home about 10 o’clock, the witness said. Mr. Selig said that he didn’t remember Mr. Frank having mentioned the affair during the day.
He said that Mr. Frank had frequently called the factory at night to ask if everything was all right.
MRS. SELIG TESTIFIES.
Mrs. Josephine Selig, wife of Emil Selig and mother-in-law of Mr. Frank, was the witness who succeeded her husband on the stand. She saw Mr. Frank Saturday at dinner, she said. She had not seen him at breakfast. She rarely saw him at breakfast. He came home to dinner about 1:15 o’clock. She and her husband, Frank and his wife and the cook were there in the house at that time. She and Mrs. Frank left about 1:20 o’clock to go to the opera matinee. She was not sure whether her husband was present when they left. She saw Mr. Frank again at supper about 6:15 o’clock. He was sitting in the hall, reading a paper, when they came in. They had supper between 6:30 and 6:45 o’clock. Mr. Frank had continued his reading since they came in. She didn’t see Mr. Frank use the telephone, but was pretty sure that he did. It was possible that she might have been upstairs when he used the phone in the dining room. It would not have been unusual for him to telephone, said she. She could not swear, she said, that Mr. Frank used the telephone that evening.
After supper, she said Mr. Frank stayed in the hall and read. She stayed there in the hall until about 8:20 o’clock. Then they had company and their company was entertained in the dining room just off the hall. Asked to name those who were there, she said the two Mrs. Marcus, Mr. and Mrs. Goldstein, and Mrs. Ike Strauss were there. Ike Strauss came over about 10:30 o’clock for his wife, he said. She remembered that Mrs. Wolfsheimer was there, too.
KNEW GUESTS WERE THERE.
Mr. Frank knew these guests were in the house, she said. He was in the hall and conversed casually with them when they arrived. He must have talked with the guests about twenty minutes, she said. She couldn’t remember any of his conversation, she said.
“Now, this was the last night of the opera,” her questioners cautioned her. “Are you sure these guests were there that night?”
Mrs. Selig was positive. They played cards, she said. Mrs. Frank was there, too. She was in the dining room and out in the hall with Mr. Frank constantly during the evening. Mrs. Frank sat out there with him a good deal, but came in occasionally. He stopped reading some time between 9:30 o’clock and 10, she said. He went to bed then, stopping at the door as he went and telling them all good night.
Mrs. Frank went upstairs with him, she said.
Mrs. Selig said that when she got up the next morning the first person she saw was her daughter, Mrs. Frank.
Mrs. Frank said Mr. Frank had gone to town, but didn’t say why.
About 10 o’clock Mr. Frank came in and told her that some girl had been found dead in the factory. She didn’t remember anything else about the conversation.
She didn’t attach much importance to it, she said.
Mr. Frank didn’t go into details. He mentioned it casually. After a while he sat down and read a paper, she said. She denied that he seemed to be apprehensive.
Questioned again about that part of her testimony, she reiterated that the matter of the girl having been found dead was treated casually. Mr. Frank seemed not greatly concerned about it, she said.
All of these statements were made in direct answer to direct questions. Mrs. Selig seemed not to remember very much except that which she answered positively.
Mr. Frank wore a brown suit of clothes all three of the very days, she said—Saturday, Sunday and Monday. She was positive about this, she said.
Mr. Frank did not mention to her the name of the girl who had been found dead, said she. He owned another suit, of blue, she said. She went into detail about who their laundrymen are, etc.
At 7:20 o’clock the inquest adjourned until 9:30 o’clock Thursday morning.
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TWO NEW WITNESSES IN PHAGAN MYSTERY TO TESTIFY THURSDAY
Atlanta Journal
Wednesday, May 7th, 1913
Detectives Said to Attach Much Importance to Testimony That Two Girls Will Give When Inquest Resumes
INQUEST WILL BE ENDED THURSDAY, SAYS DONEHOO
Paul P. Bowen Has Been Released by Houston Officials—Chief Detective and 14 Policemen Are Discharged
Two new witnesses, whom the detectives have recently located, are expected to give testimony of importance at the final session of the Phagan inquest Thursday.
One of the witnesses is Miss Grace Hix, of 100 McDonough road, daughter of James E. Hix. Miss Hix worked at the same machine with Mary Phagan, but has not been to the factory since the latter was slain. Miss Hix was closeted for two hours with the detectives Tuesday evening, but it is not known just what her testimony will be. [Appears to be missing words in the printing—Ed.] day Mary Phagan was killed, but did not see her, according to a statement she made to a Journal reporter Wednesday afternoon at 2:45 o’clock.
“The last time I saw Mary Phagan was on the Monday before she was killed,” said Miss Hix. “That was the day she got layed off. I was uptown Saturday, the day she was killed, but I did not see her.”
The name of the other witness has not been learned. That witness, a young woman, who works at the factory will testify according to the same report, that on the Saturday that Mary Phagan met her death, she (the witness) went to the factory to get her own envelope. According to the report the young woman will testify that she went to Superintendent Frank’s office between 12:10 and 12:20 o’clock (the time Mary Phagan is supposed to have gone for her pay) and waited about five minutes.
TO FINISH INQUEST.
The coroner’s inquest will be concluded Thursday, according to Coroner Paul Donehoo. The inquest has been probably the most thorough and exhaustive ever conducted in Georgia, the jurors having spent many hours in listening to testimony in the case and now the coroner is determined that the inquest itself shall be concluded at Thursday’s session and the jurors relieved from further duty in the case.
It is probable that the body of little Mary Phagan interred at Marietta a week ago will be again exhumed before the final session of the jury. It is said that one important point has now not been fully covered by the examination and this will necessitate the lifting of Mary Phagan’s body from the grave a second time. Before any action is taken, however, the parents of the slain girl will be consulted. It is probable that Dr. J. W. Hurt, the country physician, and Dr. H. F. Harris, of the state board of health, will make the second examination.
It was reported that the principal reason for exhuming the body again is to get some of the hair from the murdered child’s head in order that it might be compared with the hair found in the metal room at the pencil factory. It is understood that the hair which was in possession of the detectives has been lost.
Officials will make no definite statement relative to the second examination of the girl’s body, but it was learned from the coroner that at noon Wednesday the physicians, who are to make the examination, had not started for Marietta. It is said to be practically certain, however, that the body will be exhumed before the convening of the final session of the inquest.
NO EVIDENCE AGAINST BOWEN.
A development of interest in the case as the release of Paul Reniston Bowen, the former Atlantian, who was arrested in Houston, Tex., as a suspect in the Phagan case. The release of Bowen carries out the prediction made Tuesday afternoon by The Journal, when after a vigorous investigation The Journal was able to show that it was practically impossible for Bowen, who left here about nine months ago, to have been in Atlanta or Georgia at the time of the murder.
Young Bowen is well and favorably known in Atlanta, where he worked for several years and has many friends here, who have received letters from him recently. He comes originally from Newnan, where his family is prominent. Interesting in connection with Bowen’s release is the announcement of the summary removal from office of Chief of Detectives George Peyton, of Houston, who made the arrest. Chief of Police Ben S. Davison declares that Peyton exceeded his authority in taking young Bowen into custody. Chief Beavers has wired Houston that Bowen is not wanted by the Atlanta police.
INQUEST AT 9:30.
Interest in the Phagan investigation is again centered in the coroner’s inquest, which is scheduled to resume its probe into the mystery on Thursday morning at 9:30 o’clock.
Just what witnesses will go before the coroner’s jury is not known, as the actions of the officials have been shrouded in mystery since the active entrance of Solicitor Dorsey in the case. It is probable, however, that in addition to recalling Newt Lee to the stand, the jurors will hear the testimony of Dr. Hurt, of Dr. Harris, and of Dr. Claude Smith, the city bacteriologist, who has examined the bloodstains on the shirt found at Lee’s home, on the floor of the factory and on the garments of the murdered girl.
NEWT LEE TO TESTIFY.
The examination of Newt Lee before the jurors will be a vigorous probe, similar to the questioning Monday afternoon of L. M. Frank, and especial emphasis will be laid on the conversation the two men had some days ago in the negro’s cell.
It is not improbable that Mr. Frank himself will be recalled to the stand. Despite the fact that he gave testimony for three hours and a half, the stenographic record of his statement is being examined by the officials in order that they may bring him back if they are able to find any pertinent question that was not put to him during the three and one-half hours examination Monday.
Lemmie Quinn, foreman of the tipping department in which Mary Phagan worked, may be another witness before the inquest. Quinn’s corroboration of Frank’s statement that he (Quinn) came to the factory a few minutes after Mary Phagan got her pay envelope will, it is said, be attacked by the detectives.
Few other witnesses will be examined Thursday, it is said, although it is probable that the two girls who are said to have been paid shortly before Mary Phagan arrived at the factory, may be put on the stand.
_
J. L. WATKINS SAYS HE DID NOT SEE PHAGAN CHILD ON DAY OF TRAGEDY
Atlanta Journal
Thursday, May 8th, 1913
J. L. Watkins, called to the stand after Miss Hall, the stenographer, was excused, clarified his former testimony that he had seen Mary Phagan on the street near her home on Saturday afternoon, April 26, by declaring that he is convinced now he was mistaken about it.
“Mr. White [sic], on last Thursday did you not swear before this inquest that between 4 and 5 o’clock on the afternoon of Saturday, April 26, you saw Mary Phagan walking along Bellwood avenue toward her home?” asked the coroner.
“Yes, that’s so,” answered the witness. “I was honestly mistaken.”
He was asked how he had found out that he was mistaken. He replied that Detectives Starnes and Campbell had found the young woman whom he mistook for Mary Phagan. He is absolutely certain now that he was mistaken, said he. They had brought the girl before him, dressed in the same clothes that she wore that afternoon, and had caused her to cross a vacant field just as she crossed it that afternoon.
The girl whom he mistook for Mary Phagan, said he, he knew now to be Daisy Jones. He pointed her out among those in the room.
He was excused from the stand.
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LEMMIE QUINN GRILLED BY CORONER BUT HE STICKS TO HIS STATEMENT
Atlanta Journal
Thursday, May 8th, 1913
L. A. Quinn was called to the stand. He lives at 31B Julliam street, he said, and is foreman of the metal department at the National Pencil factory. Mary Phagan worked in his department, he said. The last time he saw her was on the Monday preceding the murder, he said. She left the plant about 2 o’clock that Monday, said he. That was earlier than usual, but she left because the metal with which she worked had run out and she wanted to hurry to the matinee. He didn’t know any of her intimate friends, said he. She worked with Helen Ferguson and Grace Hix and Magnolia Kennedy, said he, and Henry Smith and John Ramey also worked in that department.
He worked on Friday, April 25, until 5:30 o’clock, said Quinn. He got his pay and left with the understanding that he would come to work on Monday.
The next morning, Saturday, he got up about 7 o’clock. Later he went uptown with his wife to get a picture made of their baby. Then they went back home. He came up town again, said he. He was stopped there, and questioned closely about hours and minutes.
He left home about 9:30 o’clock, he said. He and his wife and baby went straight to Kuhn’s photograph studio. They were there about ten minutes, he said.
They stopped next at the Globe Clothing company’s store on Whitehall street, said he, and talked for a while with some friends of his in there. He named them. He and his wife were there about five or ten minutes. They went from there down to a meat market in the next block south and bought some meat, staying there about five minutes. Farther down the street they stopped in at a soda water stand and bought some soft drinks. They arrived home about 11:15 o’clock. He remained in the house about thirty minutes. He left there about 11:45 o’clock, for town again, to get to the market before it closed, so he could buy some supplies for Sunday. He bought some meat and vegetables on that trip, said he. He could not describe the man he bought the meat from. He bought the vegetables first, from a man about five feet eleven inches tall, 165-170 pounds in weight, clean shaved. The man seemed to be a foreigner. He looked like an Italian.
HE WENT TO THE FACTORY.
From the meat market he went to Benjamin’s pharmacy and bought some cigars from a man named Pounds. He arrived there at a few minutes after 12 o’clock. He went on up Whitehall, left on Hunter street, to Forsyth, and then to the pencil factory. There was nothing unusual about him going to the factory on holidays, said the witness. He did so often. He wanted to speak to “Mr. Schiff” on this occasion, said he. He found the front door unlocked. He did not see Mary Phagan. He got there some time between 12:20 and 12:25, said he.
He was asked how he observed the time so minutely.
He figured it on the time he left home, said he. He knew he left there about 11:45 o’clock, because he looked at his watch several times while he was at home. He walked to town, up Pulliam to Garnett, to Whitehall, and so to the market. It took him about 10 or 15 minutes to make the walk. It was pretty close to 12 o’clock when he got to the market, said he. He did not remember looking at his watch after he left home. It didn’t take him long to buy the meat and vegetables. He bought 40 cents worth of steak. He was waited on immediately. It took him about ten minutes, however, he said, to buy the vegetables. He wasn’t around the market longer than ten or twelve minutes. He stopped two or three minutes in Benjamin’s on the corner. The walk from there to the factory took about five minutes. He went straight to the office. He didn’t go anywhere else. He didn’t remember hearing the noon whistles blow.
WHEN HE SAW MR. FRANK.
He found Mr. Frank in the latter’s private office. They exchanged “good mornings,” he said. “Is Mr. Schiff in?” Quinn said he inquired. “No, I don’t suppose he will be down today,” Quinn said Mr. Frank replied. “You see you can’t keep me away even on holidays,” Quinn said he remarked to Mr. Frank. He said that Mr. Frank answered, “Yes,” and laughed, and nothing else was said. He was there in the office about two minutes, said he. He wasn’t positive about the exact time. He didn’t think it could be as early as 12:15 when he arrived there. It could have been between 12:20 and 12:35, he admitted.
“Could it have been as late as 12:30 o’clock?” he was asked.
“It could have been, but it wasn’t.”
“Why are you so positive?”
“Because I was somewhere else at 12:30,” the witness answered.
He continued that when he left the factory he stopped to talk with “Mr. Maulsby” at Mr. Maulsby’s place of business two doors from the factory. He offered Mr. Maulsby a cigar. Maulsby told him “those girls are in the restaurant,” and he answered “I know it; I saw them when I came up.” He told the names of two young women, one of whom was then a bride and the other of whom still worked in the factory.
IS AT FACTORY NOW.
Mr. Quinn said that he thought Miss Corinthia Hall is at the pencil factory this Thursday. The Miss Hall he saw at the undertaker’s establishment was a stenographer at Montag Brothers, and not Miss Corinthia Hall, he said.
The witness said that his purpose in going to the factory Saturday was to see Mr. Schiff and talk baseball with him. He had been accustomed to drop by the factory often on Saturdays and holidays, he said.
Mr. Quinn said that after leaving the factory he met the young ladies—Miss Hall and Mrs. Freeman—at the Busy Bee café, at the corner of Forsyth and Hunter streets.
In reply to a question from the coroner, he said that he thinks Mrs. Freeman is at the factory this Thursday.
Mrs. Freeman, who is about seventeen years old, had been married the day before—Friday—he said. Mr. Quinn said that he wanted to chat with her about the wedding. They remained in the café only a few minutes, he said, all three leaving together. Mr. Quinn said that he went to DeFoor Brothers pool parlor, getting there about 12:30, and chatted with the proprietors until about 1:15.
The coroner at this point asked Mr. Quinn if he knew May Barrett.
He replied, “Yes, she is employed in the varnishing department of the pencil factory.”
A FIFTEEN-MINUTE WALK.
In response to a question, Mr. Quinn said that it takes him about fifteen minutes to walk from his home to the pencil factory.
Going back to his visit to the pool room, Mr. Quinn said that after chatting baseball with the proprietors, he went to the Atlanta theater to buy a ticket.
Here Mr. Quinn said in response to a question that he knows John Rainey.
Just after he had bought his ticket at the theater, Mr. Quinn said, he saw Cliff Dodgen, an employee of the theater. The witness said that he didn’t remember exactly where his seat in the theater was, but thought it was on the ninth row, in the center aisle. No one that he knew sat near him that he remembered, he said.
The witness said in reply to the coroner’s question that Mr. Frank wore a brown suit Saturday.
Mr. Quinn said that he went to the factory about 9:30 o’clock Sunday morning. He met Mr. Darley and Ed Montag, an officer of the factory there, he said, and they went in the basement together.
The witness said that he heard of the murder about 9 o’clock Sunday morning when he went to a soda water stand near his home. Officer Payne and the men in charge of the stand were discussing it, he said, and told him. Mr. Quinn said that he gathered from the description given him then that the victim must have been Helen Ferguson. He was told that her first name was Mary, he said, and asked if the last was Phagan. The soda water man recalled it then.
The witness said that he then went to the undertaker’s establishment and looked at the body.
DENIED STATEMENT TO OFFICER.
He said that on Sunday afternoon he saw Mr. Frank at the undertaker’s. Mr. Frank wore a blue or a black suit then, he said.
Mr. Quinn denied that he had told Officer Payne or Detective Starnes that he hadn’t been to the factory since Friday.
He declared that when he had talked with Detective Starnes and Campbell at the rear door of the factory he had not stated that he hadn’t ben to the factory since Friday.
Mr. Quinn was asked about the white material used in his department. It was known as “hascolene,” he said, and was used as a lubricant for the machines. It came shipped in barrels, he said.
The witness said that on Tuesday or Wednesday in the detectives office, he recalled his visit to Mr. Frank on Saturday and that Mr. Frank remembered it readily. He told Mr. Frank, he said, that if it would do any good to mention his visit he would tell of it. Mr. Frank suggested that he mention it to his lawyer first, the witness said.
At this point Mr. Quinn, in response to a question, again denied that he had told Officer Payne or Detective Starnes or Campbell that he hadn’t been to the factory since Friday.
The witness said that he knew Miss Grace Jones and that he thinks she has been at the factory since the tragedy. He hadn’t accompanied Miss Jones from the factory; he said, and had not seen her since the tragedy, except on the fourth floor of the factory. He had talked to her there, he said, to see if she would not come to work in his department in case there were a number of vacancies that were anticipated. Mr. Quinn said that he didn’t remember discussing the Phagan case with Miss Jones.
Mr. Quinn said that he paid the Colemans a visit of consolation on Thursday. He went, he said, at the suggestion of Mr. Darley and Miss Magnolia Kennedy and because he thought he should go. His visit was purely one of consolation, he said.
Coroner Donehoo then asked Quinn:
“Did you ever tell Mr. Coleman (Mary Phagan’s stepfather) how Frank acted toward the girls in your department?”
“No, sir.”
“Did you ever tell Mr. Coleman how you treated the girls?”
“Yes, I told him I had always tried to make the girls feel at home. Frequently in fixing their machines, I would tell them to ‘Get out of the way and let papa fix it.’ I told Mr. Coleman how jolly Mary was—about a remark she made once: ‘Yes, you look like papa!”
“Do you know a man named Barrett?”
“Yes.”
“You never mentioned to him that you went to the pencil factory that Saturday?”
“No, sir.”
“When was the first time that you told anybody that you had been up there Saturday?”
“I told my father the next day, on Sunday. I didn’t tell Chief Lanford or any of the detectives until last Monday.”
“Why did you withhold that information?”
“I wasn’t asked about it.”
“You didn’t consider it your duty to tell unless you were asked?”
“No, I didn’t want to be dragged into it any sooner than necessary.”
“State what else you know, that you have retained.”
“Nothing.”
“You are not withholding anything then?”
“No, sir, nothing.”
“You say it was your duty to come down and see Mr. Frank after his arrest?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do you consider it your duty to protect Mr. Frank?”
“No, sir.”
HIS PAY WENT ON.
He was asked if his pay went on while he called upon Mr. Frank at the jail, and said yes. Answering further questions, he said that now and then he got away for matinees, etc., but that his pay went on, that he wasn’t docked for absences. He was asked about his call at the jail.
“You came down and recalled your visit to Mr. Frank. Did he tell you to keep quiet about it until he had told his lawyers?”
“No. He remarked that he was going to tell his lawyers.” He said that Mr. Frank remembered his having been there, but did not remember the time of the visit until his attention was called to it.
“Why did you volunteer this information to Mr. Frank and not to the detectives?”
“I knew he couldn’t question me for three or four hours and the detectives could.”
“Did Mr. Frank consider it advisable that nothing be known about this?”
“No, sir. Mr. Frank didn’t ask me not to tell about it. I didn’t volunteer to tell it, because I expected to be asked every day.”
“Why didn’t you want to be questioned?”
“I knew they had three or four men holding them here, and they could hold me if they wanted to, as I had been in the building on Saturday.”
Other questions intervened, and then the coroner asked:
“Did you go out to Mrs. White’s yesterday?”
“No, sir; I don’t know Mrs. White.”
“Arthur White’s wife—you know Arthur White?”
“Yes, but I never have been out to his house.”
Quinn was excused from the stand at this juncture.
_
MISS DAISY JONES CONVINCES JURY SHE WAS MISTAKEN FOR MARY PHAGAN
Atlanta Journal
Thursday, May 8th, 1913
Miss Daisy Jones, identified by J. L. Watkins as the girl whom he had mistaken for Mary Phagan on the afternoon of April 26, appeared before the coroner’s jury dressed exactly as she was on that afternoon, and testified that she had been just where Watkins said he saw Mary Phagan at the hour when Watkins thought he saw the girl, and that she had crossed a vacant field just as Watkins described Mary Phagan as having done.
In short, with Mr. Watkins’ new testimony, she proved conclusively that it was not Mary Phagan who was seen that afternoon there, but heself—the witness.
She lives at 251 Fox street, said the witness. She is fifteen years old. Her home is on the corner of Fox and Lindsay streets, one block from Mary Phagan’s home. Between 5 and 6 o’clock on the afternoon of Saturday, April 26, said she, she carried her father’s supper to him in his store at the corner of Bellwood avenue and Ashby street. She went back home along Bellwood avenue and crossed a vacant field before she reached Lindsay street, passing between two trees in that field.
She was acquainted with Mary Phagan, said the witness. They were about the same size, said she, though Mary was a little heavier and not quite so tall. Their hair was about the same color, she said.
On the afternoon of April 26, said she, she was dressed exactly as she appeared there at the inquest—in a blue serge skirt, white shirtwaist with a blue bow on the front of it, and a blue bow in her hair. The coroner asking her height, she was measured against a board in the detectives’ office and was found to be five feet one and a quarter inches tall.
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MISS HATTIE HALL, STENOGRAPHER, LEFT PENCIL FACTORY AT NOON
Atlanta Journal
Thursday May 8th, 1913
Miss Hattie Hall, a stenographer, was called to the stand after Quinn was excused.
When Miss Hall was excused, shortly before 12:30 o’clock, she was told to return at 2:30 o’clock, as she probably would be recalled then. Miss Hall’s testimony revealed nothing not already known, and was vague upon a number of points already testified to by others. It bore mainly upon the period when she was in the office of the National Pencil company on the morning of Saturday, April 26. According to her, she was there from about 11 o’clock until noon. She saw nothing of Mary Phagan and could throw no light upon the mystery. The coroner questioned her minutely as to hours and minutes and details of her own actions.
She lives at 69 Luckle street, she said, and is a stenographer employed at the office of Big Montag, of Montag Brothers, 10 and 12 Nelson street, to attend to the correspondence of the National Pencil company, of which she said Mr. Montag is treasurer. The books of the pencil company are kept there, she said.
ARRIVED AT 8 O’CLOCK.
She arrived at work about 8 o’clock Saturday morning, April 26, she said. After telephoning to Mr. Frank at the pencil factory and learning that he needed help over there, and after Mr. Frank had come to the office of Mr. Montag for some purpose, she went to the pencil factory, leaving the Montag office between 10:30 and 11 o’clock, she said, walking over to the factory. She worked in the outer office after taking some dictation from Mr. Frank in the inner office. She acknowledged to a number of orders, using postcard blanks which she stamped with dates, etc. She didn’t remember a man near the clock, didn’t remember seeing the day watchman, Mr. Holloway, didn’t remember whether he was there or not. She wrote about ten or twelve letters, couldn’t remember anything about any of them except that one related somehow to a die for stamping pencils; made carbon copies of them, and put her initials on the typewriter in one corner of each. She described vaguely several people who called—the father and stepfather of two of the factory boys, who talked with Mr. Frank, he telling her later that the boys had gotten into trouble about breaking up an automobile or something like that; a “Mrs. Somebody,” whose husband worked in the factory; two young women, one of whom got a pay envelope. She was writing the letters when the two young women called. She has been a stenographer since December 4, she said.
LEFT ABOUT NOON.
When she finished her work she went straight home, she said. She left the office almost exactly at 12 o’clock, for she noticed the whistles blowing. She found she had forgotten her umbrella, and went back upstairs after it, looking at the clock and noticing that it pointed at about 12:02. She told minutely what she did that morning, and what she was accustomed to do at the factory office.
No important discrepancy was noticeable between her story and that of Mr. Frank, who already had testified about her being there.
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MR. FRANK’S TREATMENT OF GIRLS UNIMPEACHABLE, SAYS MISS HALL
Atlanta Journal
Thursday, May 8th, 1913
Miss Corinthia Hall, an employee in the factory, was the first of the young women employed there to testify before the coroner from their viewpoint regarding Mr. Frank’s attitude and demeanor toward them.
She declared his conduct toward the young women in the factory to be irreproachable.
She works in the varnish department on the fourth floor of the pencil factory, and lives at 19 Waverly street, Kirkwood, she told the coroner. She has been working at the factory about three years, she said.
About 11:45 o’clock on the morning of April 26, she said, she left the pencil factory. She had been there for about ten minutes with Mrs. Emma Freeman, a bride of a day, formerly employed there, to get Mrs. Freeman’s coat. She remembered looking at the clock as they went out. She and Mrs. Freeman spoke to Mr. Frank. He asked Mrs. Freeman, “How’s the bride?”
“How did he know she was a bride?” queried the coroner.
Miss Hall said Mrs. Freeman (who had been Miss Clark the day before) ran away from the factory to the minister’s to get married. Mr. Frank was in the door of his office, said she. She saw a stenographer and Mrs. White in the office. Frank asked her, the witness, to tell Arthur White that his wife wanted to see him downstairs. Arriving on the fourth floor, she saw Arthur White, Henry Denham and Mrs. Mae Barrett. The coroner asked her a number of questions as to what Mrs. Barrett had in her hands, if she saw any crocus sacks there. The witness said that she did not see any crocus sacks in Mrs. Barrett’s hands. Mrs. White did not come upstairs at the time. White went downstairs to her. The witness got Mrs. Freeman’s coat and went downstairs, and White introduced her to his wife.
MET QUINN IN CAFÉ.
The coroner asked the witness if she knows “Mr. Hays, who works in the office of A. P. Stewart, tax collector.” She knew Maybell Hays’ father, replied the witness. The coroner asked her if she told Mrs. Hays anything about Mrs. Barrett and some crocus sacks, and she replied that she did not. She detailed her movements after leaving the factory. She went down a couple of doors and used the phone in Harry Malsby’s place, she said. She went to the drug store nearby. She came back to Malsby’s and used the phone again, not having reached the person whom she wished to talk to. Then she and Mrs. Freeman went into the “Busy Bee” café, on the corner of Hunter street, to get some coffee and sandwiches. Lemmie Quinn came in. Just before he came she had paid for the sandwiches, giving a $5 bill, and received a lot of silver change. She got Quinn to give her bills for some of this, she said.
That was about 12:30 o’clock. She asked Quinn what he was going to do that afternoon. He said he was going to the Atlanta theater. His wife didn’t want to go, he said. She told the coroner the name of a young man, saying that it was to him that she telephoned. Asked about the employees on the fourth floor, she mentioned the name of Joe Sletzer, foreman in that department. Replying to a question from the coroner, she said she didn’t know of any trouble between White and Sletzer. She did not see Mary Phagan on Saturday. The last time she had seen Mary Phagan was on the preceding Monday, which was the last day that Mary worked there. She did not see Holloway, the day watchman in the factory, that Saturday, but did not him on the street nearby when she and Mrs. Freeman approached the place.
“Do you know whether Mr. Frank knew Mary Phagan?”
“No, I don’t think so. He doesn’t know many of us.”
“What is Mr. Frank’s conduct toward the girls working in the factory?”
CONDUCT IRREPROACHABLE.
The witness replied in effect that it is irreproachable, so far as she knows.
“You never saw him display any undue familiarity toward any of them, did you?”
“No, sir.”
“Did you ever see him chuck any of them under the chin, or try to kiss them?”
“No, sir!” answered the witness, with emphasis.
She was excused, and the inquest recessed immediately, at 12:55 o’clock for lunch.
______
MISS DAISY JONES CONVINCES JURY SHE WAS MISTAKEN FOR MARY PHAGAN
Atlanta Journal
Thursday, May 8th, 1913
Miss Daisy Jones, identified by J. L. Watkins as the girl whom he had mistaken for Mary Phagan on the afternoon of April 26, appeared before the coroner’s jury dressed exactly as she was on that afternoon, and testified that she had been just where Watkins said he saw Mary Phagan at the hour when Watkins thought he saw the girl, and that she had crossed a vacant field just as Watkins described Mary Phagan as having done.
In short, with Mr. Watkins’ new testimony, she proved conclusively that it was not Mary Phagan who was seen that afternoon there, but heself—the witness.
She lives at 251 Fox street, said the witness. She is fifteen years old. Her home is on the corner of Fox and Lindsay streets, one block from Mary Phagan’s home. Between 5 and 6 o’clock on the afternoon of Saturday, April 26, said she, she carried her father’s supper to him in his store at the corner of Bellwood avenue and Ashby street. She went back home along Bellwood avenue and crossed a vacant field before she reached Lindsay street, passing between two trees in that field.
She was acquainted with Mary Phagan, said the witness. They were about the same size, said she, though Mary was a little heavier and not quite so tall. Their hair was about the same color, she said.
On the afternoon of April 26, said she, she was dressed exactly as she appeared there at the inquest—in a blue serge skirt, white shirtwaist with a blue bow on the front of it, and a blue bow in her hair. The coroner asking her height, she was measured against a board in the detectives’ office and was found to be five feet one and a quarter inches tall.
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MISS HATTIE HALL, STENOGRAPHER, LEFT PENCIL FACTORY AT NOON
Atlanta Journal
Thursday May 8th, 1913
Miss Hattie Hall, a stenographer, was called to the stand after Quinn was excused.
When Miss Hall was excused, shortly before 12:30 o’clock, she was told to return at 2:30 o’clock, as she probably would be recalled then. Miss Hall’s testimony revealed nothing not already known, and was vague upon a number of points already testified to by others. It bore mainly upon the period when she was in the office of the National Pencil company on the morning of Saturday, April 26. According to her, she was there from about 11 o’clock until noon. She saw nothing of Mary Phagan and could throw no light upon the mystery. The coroner questioned her minutely as to hours and minutes and details of her own actions.
She lives at 69 Luckle street, she said, and is a stenographer employed at the office of Big Montag, of Montag Brothers, 10 and 12 Nelson street, to attend to the correspondence of the National Pencil company, of which she said Mr. Montag is treasurer. The books of the pencil company are kept there, she said.
ARRIVED AT 8 O’CLOCK.
She arrived at work about 8 o’clock Saturday morning, April 26, she said. After telephoning to Mr. Frank at the pencil factory and learning that he needed help over there, and after Mr. Frank had come to the office of Mr. Montag for some purpose, she went to the pencil factory, leaving the Montag office between 10:30 and 11 o’clock, she said, walking over to the factory. She worked in the outer office after taking some dictation from Mr. Frank in the inner office. She acknowledged to a number of orders, using postcard blanks which she stamped with dates, etc. She didn’t remember a man near the clock, didn’t remember seeing the day watchman, Mr. Holloway, didn’t remember whether he was there or not. She wrote about ten or twelve letters, couldn’t remember anything about any of them except that one related somehow to a die for stamping pencils; made carbon copies of them, and put her initials on the typewriter in one corner of each. She described vaguely several people who called—the father and stepfather of two of the factory boys, who talked with Mr. Frank, he telling her later that the boys had gotten into trouble about breaking up an automobile or something like that; a “Mrs. Somebody,” whose husband worked in the factory; two young women, one of whom got a pay envelope. She was writing the letters when the two young women called. She has been a stenographer since December 4, she said.
LEFT ABOUT NOON.
When she finished her work she went straight home, she said. She left the office almost exactly at 12 o’clock, for she noticed the whistles blowing. She found she had forgotten her umbrella, and went back upstairs after it, looking at the clock and noticing that it pointed at about 12:02. She told minutely what she did that morning, and what she was accustomed to do at the factory office.
No important discrepancy was noticeable between her story and that of Mr. Frank, who already had testified about her being there.
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MR. FRANK’S TREATMENT OF GIRLS UNIMPEACHABLE, SAYS MISS HALL
Atlanta Journal
Thursday, May 8th, 1913
Miss Corinthia Hall, an employee in the factory, was the first of the young women employed there to testify before the coroner from their viewpoint regarding Mr. Frank’s attitude and demeanor toward them.
She declared his conduct toward the young women in the factory to be irreproachable.
She works in the varnish department on the fourth floor of the pencil factory, and lives at 19 Waverly street, Kirkwood, she told the coroner. She has been working at the factory about three years, she said.
About 11:45 o’clock on the morning of April 26, she said, she left the pencil factory. She had been there for about ten minutes with Mrs. Emma Freeman, a bride of a day, formerly employed there, to get Mrs. Freeman’s coat. She remembered looking at the clock as they went out. She and Mrs. Freeman spoke to Mr. Frank. He asked Mrs. Freeman, “How’s the bride?”
“How did he know she was a bride?” queried the coroner.
Miss Hall said Mrs. Freeman (who had been Miss Clark the day before) ran away from the factory to the minister’s to get married. Mr. Frank was in the door of his office, said she. She saw a stenographer and Mrs. White in the office. Frank asked her, the witness, to tell Arthur White that his wife wanted to see him downstairs. Arriving on the fourth floor, she saw Arthur White, Henry Denham and Mrs. Mae Barrett. The coroner asked her a number of questions as to what Mrs. Barrett had in her hands, if she saw any crocus sacks there. The witness said that she did not see any crocus sacks in Mrs. Barrett’s hands. Mrs. White did not come upstairs at the time. White went downstairs to her. The witness got Mrs. Freeman’s coat and went downstairs, and White introduced her to his wife.
MET QUINN IN CAFÉ.
The coroner asked the witness if she knows “Mr. Hays, who works in the office of A. P. Stewart, tax collector.” She knew Maybell Hays’ father, replied the witness. The coroner asked her if she told Mrs. Hays anything about Mrs. Barrett and some crocus sacks, and she replied that she did not. She detailed her movements after leaving the factory. She went down a couple of doors and used the phone in Harry Malsby’s place, she said. She went to the drug store nearby. She came back to Malsby’s and used the phone again, not having reached the person whom she wished to talk to. Then she and Mrs. Freeman went into the “Busy Bee” café, on the corner of Hunter street, to get some coffee and sandwiches. Lemmie Quinn came in. Just before he came she had paid for the sandwiches, giving a $5 bill, and received a lot of silver change. She got Quinn to give her bills for some of this, she said.
That was about 12:30 o’clock. She asked Quinn what he was going to do that afternoon. He said he was going to the Atlanta theater. His wife didn’t want to go, he said. She told the coroner the name of a young man, saying that it was to him that she telephoned. Asked about the employees on the fourth floor, she mentioned the name of Joe Sletzer, foreman in that department. Replying to a question from the coroner, she said she didn’t know of any trouble between White and Sletzer. She did not see Mary Phagan on Saturday. The last time she had seen Mary Phagan was on the preceding Monday, which was the last day that Mary worked there. She did not see Holloway, the day watchman in the factory, that Saturday, but did not him on the street nearby when she and Mrs. Freeman approached the place.
“Do you know whether Mr. Frank knew Mary Phagan?”
“No, I don’t think so. He doesn’t know many of us.”
“What is Mr. Frank’s conduct toward the girls working in the factory?”
CONDUCT IRREPROACHABLE.
The witness replied in effect that it is irreproachable, so far as she knows.
“You never saw him display any undue familiarity toward any of them, did you?”
“No, sir.”
“Did you ever see him chuck any of them under the chin, or try to kiss them?”
“No, sir!” answered the witness, with emphasis.
She was excused, and the inquest recessed immediately, at 12:55 o’clock for lunch.
PHAGAN INQUEST IN SESSION; SIX WITNESSES ARE EXAMINED BEFORE ADJOURNMENT TO 2:30
Atlanta Journal
Thursday, May 8th, 1913
Lemmie Quinn
Lemmie Quinn, the Factory Foreman, Was Put Through a Grilling Examination, but He Steadily Maintained That He Visited the Factory Shortly After the Time Mary Phagan is Supposed to Have Left With Her Pay Envelope
FRANK’S TREATMENT OF GIRLS IN FACTORY DESCRIBED AS UNIMPEACHABLE BY ONE YOUNG LADY EMPLOYEE
Mr. Frank’s Manner at the Time He Was Informed of the Tragedy by Officers at His Home on Sunday Morning is Told of by Former Policeman — Both Frank and the Negro Night Watchman Are Expected to Testify During Afternoon, When Inquest Will Be Concluded
The coroner’s inquest into the mysterious murder of Mary Phagan adjourned at 12:55 o’clock Thursday to meet again at 2:30. At the hour of adjournment, six witnesses had testified. They were “Boots” Rogers, former county policeman; Lemmie Quinn, foreman of the pencil factory; Miss Corinthia Hall, an employee of the factory; Miss Hattie Hall, stenographer; J. L. Watkins and Miss Daisy Jones. L. M. Frank and Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, were both present at headquarters during the morning session, but neither had been recalled to the stand when recess was ordered. Both are expected to testify during the afternoon, when an effort will be made to conclude the inquest and return a verdict.
Though put through a searching examination by the coroner in an effort to break down his statement that he had visited the factory on the day of the tragedy shortly after noon just after Mary Phagan is supposed to have received her pay envelope and left, Quinn stuck to his story. He declared that he had recalled his visit to Mr. Frank, and that Mr. Frank told him he was going to communicate the fact to his lawyers.
“Boots” Rogers testified that Mr. Frank had changed the tape in the time clock while the officers were in the factory Sunday morning after the body of Mary Phagan had been found, and that he stated at the time that the sheet he took from the clock seemed to be correct. Rogers also described Mr. Frank’s manner when the officers went to his home in an automobile to take him to the factory Sunday morning.
Miss Corinthia Hall, an employee in the factory, testified that Mr. Frank’s treatment of the girls in the factory was unimpeachable. She also testified that she had met Lemmie Quinn at a restaurant near the factory near the noon hour Saturday, her statement being confirmatory of his visit to the factory on the fatal day. J. L. Watkins testified that he had mistaken Miss Daisy Jones for Mary Phagan when he thought he saw Mary on the street near her home on Saturday afternoon about 5 o’clock. Miss Jones testimony was also in this connection.
NEW WITNESSES CALLED.
Following a conference between Solicitor General Dorsey, Assistant Solicitor General Stephens and Chief of Detectives Lanford, just after the inquest recessed for lunch, it was learned that Leo M. Frank and Newt Lee would be recalled at the afternoon session and that there would be the following new witnesses: Miss Alice Wood, of 8 Corput street; Miss Nellie Pitts, of 9 Oliver street, and Mrs. C. D. Dunnegan [sic], of 165 West Fourteenth street.
“Boots” Rogers, formerly a county policeman, was the first witness. Mr. Rogers said that he lived at 100 McDonough road. He was at the police station at 3 o’clock on the morning of April 27, he said, when a call came from the factory of the National Pencil company. The officers responded to the call in his automobile, he declared. Those who went with him were Police Sergeants Brown and Dobbs, Call Officer Anderson and Britt Craig, a newspaper reporter.
Mr. Craig was the first person to enter the basement, the witness said. He (Mr. Rogers) entered second; Dobbs and Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, bringing up the rear. All saw the body about the same time, Mr. Rogers said.
The witness said that the girl’s body was lying face down, with the hands folded beneath the body. The body was turned over by Police Sergeant Dobbs, he said.
Rogers continued that they found two notes near the body. The first note, found by Sergeant Dobbs, was on white scratch paper and on a tablet lying face down. The sheet with the note on it was detached and fell off when the tablet was picked up. It was lying about a foot from the body’s right shoulder. Another note was found later, written on a yellow order blank of the factory, lying about a foot from the feet of the body. Rogers wasn’t sure whether he or Sergeant Dobbs noticed that first. He didn’t notice a sharpened pencil nearby. There were a number of stubs, but none sharpened that he saw.
Asked “Who telephoned Mr. Frank that the girl was dead?” he said no one did as nearly as he remembered—that Detective Starnes telephoned Mr. Frank later in the morning to come down to the factory.
About two or three minutes after the first officers arrived with him, said Rogers, they were admitted to the factory. They saw the negro night watchman, Newt Leet, through the glass door, coming down the stairs with his lantern.
“She’s down in the basement—she’s down in the basement,” Rogers aid the negro told them first. He showed them the way down, indicating the trap door and the ladder. Britt Craig, a newspaper man, went first, and was followed by the witness, then by Sergeant Dobbs of the police, and last by the negro.
Everything was in gloom, though a gas jet was burning dimly at the foot of the ladder.
NEGRO WASN’T EXCITED.
“Look out, white folks, you’ll step on her,” the witness said the negro exclaimed when they started toward the rear of the basement. The negro took the lead then, with his lantern, and led them to the body. The negro’s manner was as cool as that of a man would be under the circumstances, said the witness. The negro wasn’t excited. “He was being questioned by all of us,” said the witness. He answered questions promptly.
“How did you happen to find the body?” the witness said was one of the questions put to the negro. He repeated the negro’s answer—of how he was making his rounds, and entered the basement, and by the dim rays of his lantern noticed a suspicious looking object on the ground near the back. “Somebody’s put that there to try to scare me,” the negro said he remarked to himself, going over to see closer. The body was revealed and he hurried back upstairs to telephone the police.
BODY FOUND FACE DOWN.
The witness said that Sergeant Dobbs asked the negro how the body was lying when he found it. The negro’s answer was “on its face.” “Did you turn it over?” the negro was asked; and answered “no sir, I didn’t touch it.”
This point of the evidence was in conflict with previous testimony by the negro himself, who swore at the inquest that when he found the body it was lying on its back face up, with its head toward the back door—exactly the reverse of the position in which the officers found it.
Rogers, the witness, said that the body was lying on its face, hand folded beneath it, when he and the officers first saw it. The negro stuck to the same story while answering all the questions, said the witness. After about ten minutes Sergeant Dobbs ordered that the negro be held under arrest. The negro was taken upstairs by Call Officer Anderson. The rest of them looked around for the girl’s left shoe, which was missing from the body.
Officer Anderson and the negro went upstairs first alone. Twenty or thirty minutes later the witness went up and found the officer and the negro sitting in the office. Anderson was trying to telephone to some of “the factory folks,” said the witness. The negro was sitting nearby in silence. Some one suggested that the officer telephoned to Mr. Frank, the superintendent, at his home. Anderson tried to get Mr. Frank’s number. There was no answer. Anderson talked to the operator, and told her something very serious had happened and that the call was urgent; and Anderson said he heard the persistent ringing that followed.
Daisy Jones, who was mistaken for Mary Phagan
IDENTIFIED AS MARY PHAGAN.
While he and Sergeant Dobbs had been moving about downstairs, looking for the girl’s shoes, said Rogers, they found the staple on the back door pulled, and pushed the door back and went out into the alley, searching it to Hunter street for some clue. Rogers then went away to find some one to identify the body, said he. The shoe was found by somebody else later. He went to 100 McDonough road, said he, to get Miss Grace Hix, a relative of his own, whom he knew to be employed in the factory. He brought Miss Hix back with him in the automobile, and she identified the body as that of Mary Phagan. Miss Hix sought first to telephone to Mary’s mother, Mrs. J. W. Coleman, but there was no phone in the Coleman home, so she telephoned instead to the home of another girl, Miss Ferguson, and got Mrs. Ferguson, and asked her to go over and break the news to Mrs. Coleman.
MR. FRANK NOTIFIED.
Mr. Rogers said that Detective Starnes, who had been summoned to the factory, called Mr. Frank over the telephone shortly after 6 o’clock. The witness said that he drove Detective Black to Mr. Frank’s home, and that Mrs. Frank, wearing a heavy bathrobe, came to the door. He said that Mr. Frank stood in the hall, fully dressed except his collar and tie.
The witness said that Mr. Frank appeared nervous and excited and asked whether the night watchman had reported to the police that something had happened at the factory. Mr. Rogers said that neither he nor Mr. Black answered.
The witness said that Mr. Frank remarked that a drink of whiskey would do him good and that Mrs. Frank said there was none in the house, but insisted that Mr. Frank get some breakfast before going out. However, they hurried to the undertaking establishment, the witness said.
Mr. Rogers said that on the way to the undertaker’s establishment, Mr. Frank remarked that he had dreamed he had heard his telephone ring about daybreak. Detective Black asked Mr. Frank whether he knew Mary Phagan, the witness said, Mr. Frank replying that he didn’t know whether he did or not.
The witness said that Mr. Frank did not go into the room in which the Phagan child’s body lay.
Mr. Frank remarked, the witness said, that he could refer to his payroll and see whether Mary Phagan worked at the pencil factory.
“Was Mr. Frank steady or trembling at the undertaking establishment?” was asked Mr. Rogers.
“I couldn’t say,” he answered.
Mr. Frank suggested that they go to the factory, the witness said. At the factory, the witness said, they found a number of detectives and policemen and Mr. Darley, an official of the factory, who had been summoned. They went upstairs, the witness aid, to the office and Mr. Frank referred to the payroll, saying that Mary Phagan worked there and that she had been paid $1.20 the day before, shortly after 12 o’clock.
ELEVATOR AT SECOND FLOOR.
The witness said that Mr. Frank then asked if the pay envelope had been found, remarking that it must be around somewhere. They went to the basement in the elevator, which stood at the second floor, the witness said. Mr. Frank switched the current and there was some delay in getting the elevator to work. The fire doors of the elevator were open at this time, Mr. Rogers said, but he didn’t remember whether they were open or closed when he went to the factory the first time.
The elevator was run to the basement, the witness said and Mr. Frank was shown where the body had been found.
CHANGED TAPE IN CLOCK.
When he returned from the basement, said the witness, he sat in Mr. Frank’s inner office with the negro , Lee. Mr. Frank stayed in outer office, but came in twice where he and negro were, and, on the second trip, Mr. Frank looked at the negro and shook his head and said, “Too bad!”
Mr. Frank asked repeatedly if the officers were through with him, saying he wanted to go out and get a cup of coffee, but no opportunity to get the coffee arose. After a while, said the witness, after Mr. Frank had been through the building with Chief of Detectives Lanford, Mr. Frank suggested that they change the tape in the time clock. Mr. Frank took a key to the clock, which he wore on a ring at his belt, and opened the clock with it and removed the time slip and laid it down by the clock. He then went back into his office and got a blank slip. He asked one of the officers standing near to hold back a little lever while he inserted this slip. The lever knocked against a little pencil in the clock. Newt Lee, the negro, was standing near. Mr. Frank turned to the negro and asked, “What is this pencil doing in the hole?” Lee said he had put it there so his number would be sure to register every time he rang. Mr. Frank put the key back at his belt and dated the slip which he had taken from the clock with a pencil which he took from his pocket. The witness though Mr. Frank wrote the date “April 26, 1913,” on it, but he wouldn’t be sure about that, he said.
Mr. Frank, after examining the slip, stated that it was punched correctly, said the witness. He also looked at the slip. The first punch started at 6 p. m., and it was punched every half hour, the witness thought, up to 2:30 o’clock. At 2:30 was the last punch. Mr. Frank took the slip into his own office, said the witness, and the witness said he did not know what became of it after that. A little later they all got into his automobile, said Rogers, Mr. Frank sitting in Mr. Darley’s lap in front beside him (the witness) at the wheel, and some of the officers sitting with Frank in the back.
At this point the coroner asked where Mr. Darley was when the clock slip was being removed. He was standing near by, said the witness.
After delivering his passengers at police headquarters, said Rogers, he went with Miss Hix to take her back to her own home.
On the trip to headquarters, said he, Mr. Frank did not seem to be as nervous as he had been. When he returned to headquarters, said the witness, the detectives were getting Newt Lee, the negro, to write. Lee then seemed very nervous.
STAINS ON SHIRT WERE NOT MADE WHILE SHIRT WAS BEING WORN
Atlanta Journal
Thursday, May 8th, 1913
A number of new witnesses had been summoned for the inquest, and the indications were said to be that the session (promised as final in the coroner’s investigation) might last all day.
It became known, before the inquest convened, that several witnesses whom the detectives have discovered would not be introduced there at all. The evidence that they can furnish, whatever it may be, will not become public until some later time, it was said.
It was stated further Thursday morning that the report by Dr. Claude A. Smith, city bacteriologist, upon the analysis by him of stains upon the shirt supposed to have been found at the house of Newt Lee, the negro, had been mailed to Chief of Police Beavers late Wednesday afternoon. The report set forth, it was said, that the stains are not old, and that probably they are stains of human blood.
It was learned further regarding the bacteriologist’s report that it stated that the shirt had not been worn since it was washed—in other words, that the blood had been thrown on the shirt or had been mopped up by it.
Regarding the chips taken from the floor of the factory, the report [1 word illegible] that they, too, showed human blood.
No comparison between the blood on the chips and that on the shirt was made.
BODY IS EXHUMED.
The body of Mary Phagan was removed Wednesday from the grave at Marietta for a second time Wednesday evening, and Dr. H. F. Harris, of the state board of health, made another examination, the nature of which is being kept secret.
Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Coleman, parents of the murdered child, have objected so strenuously to the second exhumation, it is said, that it is not expected that the body will be again removed from its resting place.
Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey, who has taken active charge of the investigation in the murder case, spent more than an hour in Newt Lee’s cell at the Tower Wednesday, questioning the negro. It is said that Lee stuck closely to his first story, despite a vigorous cross examination.
Bill Bailey, who was bunkmate of Lee, when both were in the chain gang some years ago, spent twenty-four hours in the his cell, having been sent there by the detectives. It is probable that Bailey may be used as a witness at the inquest.
DETECTIVES VISIT FACTORY.
Shortly after 1 o’clock City Detective John Black and Harry Scott, of the Pinkerton agency, who are working on the Phagan murder mystery, were driven to the building of the National Pencil company’s plant in the automobile of ex-County Policeman “Boots” Rogers.
The officers entered the place and remained about half an hour. When they returned to the street, both detectives were non committal. They acknowledged, however, that they had visited the factory in an effort to make themselves clear on some points.
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CHARACTER WITNESSES ARE CALLED IN THE CASE BY CITY DETECTIVES
Atlanta Journal
Friday, May 9th, 1913
Tom Backstock, of 21 Hightower street, a youth of about sixteen or seventeen years, testified that he worked at the pencil factory about a year ago. He didn’t know Mr. Frank personally, he said, but knew him when he worked at the factory.
“Did you have any opportunity to observe his conduct with the women there?” the lad was asked.
“I saw him ‘pick’ at the girls,” was the reply.
“Who were they?” the coroner asked.
“I couldn’t tell their names now,” he said. “I didn’t work there long enough to get very well acquainted.”
The coroner asked how Mr. Frank had acted and the boy said he had placed his hands on some of them. He didn’t know how many times he had seen this.
In reply he mentioned the name of a girl, but said he had simply heard a rumor since the crime was committed. He knew nothing of his own knowledge.
The witness said he had never heard any of the girls complain, but had seen them trying to get out of Mr. Frank’s way. He worked at the pencil factory about six weeks, he said, and stopped because he found a better position.
Miss Nellie Wood, of 8 Corput street, said that she didn’t know Mr. Frank very well. She had worked at the factory two days about two years ago, she said.
Miss Wood said that she was employed as a forelady. Mr. Frank would come to her and put his hands on her “when it was not called for,” she said.
“Any other girls?” the coroner asked.
“No, sir, not that I saw,” she said.
“Is that all he did?” the coroner asked.
“No, that’s not all,” the witness replied, “He asked me into his office to talk business on the second day I was there. The subject of the conversation was whether I was going to stay there. He wanted to close the door. I objected and he said, ‘Don’t worry. No one is coming.’ He was too familiar. I didn’t like it.”
The witness said that Mr. Frank attempted familiarity and then tried to pass it off as a joke, but that she told him she was “too old for that.”
Mrs. C. D. Donegan, of 165 West Fourteenth street, said that she worked at the factory about three weeks two years ago. She said that Mr. Frank had smiled and winked at the girls, but never more than that. She denied that she had told Detective Scott anything more than this.
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CORONER DONEHOO POINTS OUT THE LAW TO THE JURORS
Atlanta Journal
Friday, May 9th, 1913
The coroner’s charge to the jury was in part as follows: “You have heard the statement of the county physician. You have seen what caused death. You have seen the body and have heard the evidence in the case.
“It is your duty to inquire diligently as to how Mary Phagan came to her death. That was your oath. In case of unnatural death, you were to determine at whose hands death came.
“You have heard the county physician say strangulation caused death. In determining who is guilty of the murder you turn to the evidence, and if you find that any other party is implicated or is attempting to shield the murderer, he is guilty in the same degree.
“Your position in this matter is similar to that of a commitment court, not a trial court.
“If there is a reasonable suspicion in your mind directed against any person or persons in connection with this crime, it is your duty to hold them. You can also hold witnesses who are essential in trying this case. If you think anybody not actually connected with the case has important information bearing upon it, you can hold them.
“If you believe any one is concealing information, it is your duty to commit that person as an accessory of the crime.”
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DETECTIVE HARRY SCOTT’S TESTIMONY AS GIVEN BEFORE CORONER’S JURY
Atlanta Journal
Friday, May 9th, 1913
An unexpected turn was given to the coroner’s inquest into the mysterious murder of Mary Phagan, Thursday afternoon, when Harry Scott, the Pinkerton detective who has been representing that agency in its work on the case, was called to the stand by the coroner. Mr. Scott was in the room at the moment.
One new detail that he revealed was in a reply to a direct question from the coroner, when he stated that Herbert Haas, attorney for Leo M. Frank and attorney for the National Pencil factory, requested him and superintendent of the Pinkerton agency in Atlanta to withheld [sic] from the police all evidence they gathered until he, Mr. Haas, would consider it.
Their reply, said Mr. Scott, was that they would withdraw from the case before they would do that.
He proceeded to say that he and his firm still are retained by the pencil company.
Mr. Scott was called to the stand when Assistant Superintendent Schiff, of the pencil factory, left it.
He is assistant superintendent of the Atlanta agency of the Pinkerton detective service, he said. He lives at 52 Cherry street. The agency was retained in the case by the National Pencil company “to locate the party responsible for the murder of Mary Phagan.” The engagement was made Monday afternoon, April 28, when, about 4 o’clock he received a phone call from Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the factory, and in response to it he (Scott) went to the factory to see Mr. Frank. There, said he, he found a group of men whom he afterward identified as Frank, Mr. Darley and others, standing around the time clock, talking. He introduced himself and said he wanted to see privately whoever was particularly interested in the case. He and Mr. Frank and one or two others went into a private office, and Mr. Frank called Sig Montag, treasurer of the company, over the telephone to get authority to employ the detectives.
Asked how Mr. Frank broached the subject to him, Mr. Scott said the factory superintendent remarked: “I guess you’ve read of the horrible murder committed? We feel that the company ought to make some investigation to show the public we are interested in clearing up the crime. We want the Pinkertons to locate the murderer.”
Mr. Frank then told him all he (Mr. Frank) seemed to know about the matter, said the detective. Mr. Frank said that he had been down at police barracks a short while before, and that Detective Black seemed to suspect him of the crime.
QUOTED FRANK IN DETAIL.
Mr. Frank detailed his movements on that particular Saturday, said the detectives. The witness quoted as he remembered the relation, giving the same story that since has been elaborated by Mr. Frank himself and others on the stand. Mr. Scott said that the superintendent said he left the factory about 6:15 on the afternoon of Saturday, April 26. As he went out of the front door, he said, he saw Lee sitting on a packing box outside talking with Gantt, formerly a bookkeeper in the factory. Then he went on to relate the matter as it is already generally accepted, about leaving Gantt there and telephoning to the night watchman later after failing to get him once over the telephone.
After getting the watchman over the telephone and learning that everything was all right, Mr. Scott said, Mr. Frank told him he (Mr. Frank) “prepared to go to bed about 9 o’clock.”
He asked Mr. Frank very few questions, said the detective. He took notes of what was told to him. He went over the building with Mr. Frank then, looking at the elevator, the time clock, the machine room, where Frank pointed out to him a machine on which human hair was said to have been found that morning, and pointed out also what were believed to be blood stains on the floor. Mr. Darley accompanied them. He went into the basement with his escort, said the detective, and saw the trash pile where the hat and shoe had been found, also the spot where the body had been found, and the staple that had been pulled with the lock from the back door.
OFFERS NO THEORY.
Mr. Frank advanced no theory about the crime, said the detective, and offered no suggestions. He talked to him the night afterward at police headquarters, in the presence of Detective Black, but he didn’t ask the pencil superintendent for a statement because he understood the police had one already. He denied that Mr. Frank had reprimanded him for too much zeal or had remonstrated with him for trailing him (Mr. Frank).
REFUSED ATTORNEY’S REQUEST.
The detective answered a direct question, however, by saying that Herbert Haas, representing himself to be an attorney for Mr. Frank, did call at the Pinkerton office and there, to Superintendent Pierce and Mr. Scott, made the request that the detectives withhold from the police all information which they gathered until he, Mr. Haas, had considered it. They told him they would withdraw from the case first, said Mr. Scott.
“Who gets copies of your reports?” he was asked by the coroner.
“I think Mr. Sig Montag gets copies of all reports we make,” said the witness. He added, replying to questions, that his agency still is employed by the pencil company—“to fix the responsibility for this murder.”
“Do you know anything about the conversation Mr. Frank and the negro Newt Lee had along together at headquarters?”
The detective replied that City Detective Black and he suggested to Mr. Frank that he employ this method for drawing from the negro all the information he could, and Frank agreed and went into the room with Lee. He did not know what passed between them, said the detective, except what he learned from the negro’s relation of what was said.
DIDN’T TRY TO GET TRUTH.
Mr. Scott said that Newt Lee told him Mr. Frank did not try to get the truth out of him (Lee) during their talk at the police station.
That Lee said he accused Mr. Frank of knowing something and that Mr. Frank only hung his head and later told him if he (Lee) didn’t stick to his story they would both go to hell.
That Lee said he told Mr. Frank the crime must have been committed in the day time, and Mr. Frank again only hung his head.
Mr. Scott said that Lee then said he had started to describe to Mr. Frank how he had found the body and that Mr. Frank said, “Let’s don’t talk about that any more” before he had finished.
Mr. Scott said that Mr. Frank had told him after the conversation with Lee that he couldn’t get anything out of the negro. The witness said that Mr. Frank reported that he had asked Lee why there was a break in the time slip and that Lee said he had punched it.
Mr. Scott said that he did not find the bloody shirt at Newt Lee’s home—that it was found by Detective Black and Detective Bullard. The witness said that he looked at the shirt and that it seemed to him it had not been worn and that the blood was fresh. He said that Lee, when shown the shirt, said, “That’s my shirt,” and later qualified his statement by saying that it might be his shirt; that he hadn’t worn it in two years.
“Have you any definite information which makes you suspect any party of this crime?” the coroner asked Detective Scott.
WOULDN’T COMMIT HIMSELF.
“I wouldn’t commit myself,” replied the detective, who continued that his investigation was not complete and that he was working on a chain of circumstances.
“Is this chain of circumstances known to yourself alone?” he was asked.
“No,” replied Mr. Scott, “Detective Black has been with me all the time on the case.”
Mr. Scott was then excused.
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PHAGAN INQUEST IN SESSION; SIX WITNESSES ARE EXAMINED BEFORE ADJOURNMENT TO 2:30
Atlanta Journal
Thursday, May 8th, 1913
Lemmie Quinn
Lemmie Quinn, the Factory Foreman, Was Put Through a Grilling Examination, but He Steadily Maintained That He Visited the Factory Shortly After the Time Mary Phagan is Supposed to Have Left With Her Pay Envelope
FRANK’S TREATMENT OF GIRLS IN FACTORY DESCRIBED AS UNIMPEACHABLE BY ONE YOUNG LADY EMPLOYEE
Mr. Frank’s Manner at the Time He Was Informed of the Tragedy by Officers at His Home on Sunday Morning is Told of by Former Policeman — Both Frank and the Negro Night Watchman Are Expected to Testify During Afternoon, When Inquest Will Be Concluded
The coroner’s inquest into the mysterious murder of Mary Phagan adjourned at 12:55 o’clock Thursday to meet again at 2:30. At the hour of adjournment, six witnesses had testified. They were “Boots” Rogers, former county policeman; Lemmie Quinn, foreman of the pencil factory; Miss Corinthia Hall, an employee of the factory; Miss Hattie Hall, stenographer; J. L. Watkins and Miss Daisy Jones. L. M. Frank and Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, were both present at headquarters during the morning session, but neither had been recalled to the stand when recess was ordered. Both are expected to testify during the afternoon, when an effort will be made to conclude the inquest and return a verdict.
Though put through a searching examination by the coroner in an effort to break down his statement that he had visited the factory on the day of the tragedy shortly after noon just after Mary Phagan is supposed to have received her pay envelope and left, Quinn stuck to his story. He declared that he had recalled his visit to Mr. Frank, and that Mr. Frank told him he was going to communicate the fact to his lawyers.
“Boots” Rogers testified that Mr. Frank had changed the tape in the time clock while the officers were in the factory Sunday morning after the body of Mary Phagan had been found, and that he stated at the time that the sheet he took from the clock seemed to be correct. Rogers also described Mr. Frank’s manner when the officers went to his home in an automobile to take him to the factory Sunday morning.
Miss Corinthia Hall, an employee in the factory, testified that Mr. Frank’s treatment of the girls in the factory was unimpeachable. She also testified that she had met Lemmie Quinn at a restaurant near the factory near the noon hour Saturday, her statement being confirmatory of his visit to the factory on the fatal day. J. L. Watkins testified that he had mistaken Miss Daisy Jones for Mary Phagan when he thought he saw Mary on the street near her home on Saturday afternoon about 5 o’clock. Miss Jones testimony was also in this connection.
NEW WITNESSES CALLED.
Following a conference between Solicitor General Dorsey, Assistant Solicitor General Stephens and Chief of Detectives Lanford, just after the inquest recessed for lunch, it was learned that Leo M. Frank and Newt Lee would be recalled at the afternoon session and that there would be the following new witnesses: Miss Alice Wood, of 8 Corput street; Miss Nellie Pitts, of 9 Oliver street, and Mrs. C. D. Dunnegan [sic], of 165 West Fourteenth street.
“Boots” Rogers, formerly a county policeman, was the first witness. Mr. Rogers said that he lived at 100 McDonough road. He was at the police station at 3 o’clock on the morning of April 27, he said, when a call came from the factory of the National Pencil company. The officers responded to the call in his automobile, he declared. Those who went with him were Police Sergeants Brown and Dobbs, Call Officer Anderson and Britt Craig, a newspaper reporter.
Mr. Craig was the first person to enter the basement, the witness said. He (Mr. Rogers) entered second; Dobbs and Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, bringing up the rear. All saw the body about the same time, Mr. Rogers said.
The witness said that the girl’s body was lying face down, with the hands folded beneath the body. The body was turned over by Police Sergeant Dobbs, he said.
Rogers continued that they found two notes near the body. The first note, found by Sergeant Dobbs, was on white scratch paper and on a tablet lying face down. The sheet with the note on it was detached and fell off when the tablet was picked up. It was lying about a foot from the body’s right shoulder. Another note was found later, written on a yellow order blank of the factory, lying about a foot from the feet of the body. Rogers wasn’t sure whether he or Sergeant Dobbs noticed that first. He didn’t notice a sharpened pencil nearby. There were a number of stubs, but none sharpened that he saw.
Asked “Who telephoned Mr. Frank that the girl was dead?” he said no one did as nearly as he remembered—that Detective Starnes telephoned Mr. Frank later in the morning to come down to the factory.
About two or three minutes after the first officers arrived with him, said Rogers, they were admitted to the factory. They saw the negro night watchman, Newt Leet, through the glass door, coming down the stairs with his lantern.
“She’s down in the basement—she’s down in the basement,” Rogers aid the negro told them first. He showed them the way down, indicating the trap door and the ladder. Britt Craig, a newspaper man, went first, and was followed by the witness, then by Sergeant Dobbs of the police, and last by the negro.
Everything was in gloom, though a gas jet was burning dimly at the foot of the ladder.
NEGRO WASN’T EXCITED.
“Look out, white folks, you’ll step on her,” the witness said the negro exclaimed when they started toward the rear of the basement. The negro took the lead then, with his lantern, and led them to the body. The negro’s manner was as cool as that of a man would be under the circumstances, said the witness. The negro wasn’t excited. “He was being questioned by all of us,” said the witness. He answered questions promptly.
“How did you happen to find the body?” the witness said was one of the questions put to the negro. He repeated the negro’s answer—of how he was making his rounds, and entered the basement, and by the dim rays of his lantern noticed a suspicious looking object on the ground near the back. “Somebody’s put that there to try to scare me,” the negro said he remarked to himself, going over to see closer. The body was revealed and he hurried back upstairs to telephone the police.
BODY FOUND FACE DOWN.
The witness said that Sergeant Dobbs asked the negro how the body was lying when he found it. The negro’s answer was “on its face.” “Did you turn it over?” the negro was asked; and answered “no sir, I didn’t touch it.”
This point of the evidence was in conflict with previous testimony by the negro himself, who swore at the inquest that when he found the body it was lying on its back face up, with its head toward the back door—exactly the reverse of the position in which the officers found it.
Rogers, the witness, said that the body was lying on its face, hand folded beneath it, when he and the officers first saw it. The negro stuck to the same story while answering all the questions, said the witness. After about ten minutes Sergeant Dobbs ordered that the negro be held under arrest. The negro was taken upstairs by Call Officer Anderson. The rest of them looked around for the girl’s left shoe, which was missing from the body.
Officer Anderson and the negro went upstairs first alone. Twenty or thirty minutes later the witness went up and found the officer and the negro sitting in the office. Anderson was trying to telephone to some of “the factory folks,” said the witness. The negro was sitting nearby in silence. Some one suggested that the officer telephoned to Mr. Frank, the superintendent, at his home. Anderson tried to get Mr. Frank’s number. There was no answer. Anderson talked to the operator, and told her something very serious had happened and that the call was urgent; and Anderson said he heard the persistent ringing that followed.
Daisy Jones, who was mistaken for Mary Phagan
IDENTIFIED AS MARY PHAGAN.
While he and Sergeant Dobbs had been moving about downstairs, looking for the girl’s shoes, said Rogers, they found the staple on the back door pulled, and pushed the door back and went out into the alley, searching it to Hunter street for some clue. Rogers then went away to find some one to identify the body, said he. The shoe was found by somebody else later. He went to 100 McDonough road, said he, to get Miss Grace Hix, a relative of his own, whom he knew to be employed in the factory. He brought Miss Hix back with him in the automobile, and she identified the body as that of Mary Phagan. Miss Hix sought first to telephone to Mary’s mother, Mrs. J. W. Coleman, but there was no phone in the Coleman home, so she telephoned instead to the home of another girl, Miss Ferguson, and got Mrs. Ferguson, and asked her to go over and break the news to Mrs. Coleman.
MR. FRANK NOTIFIED.
Mr. Rogers said that Detective Starnes, who had been summoned to the factory, called Mr. Frank over the telephone shortly after 6 o’clock. The witness said that he drove Detective Black to Mr. Frank’s home, and that Mrs. Frank, wearing a heavy bathrobe, came to the door. He said that Mr. Frank stood in the hall, fully dressed except his collar and tie.
The witness said that Mr. Frank appeared nervous and excited and asked whether the night watchman had reported to the police that something had happened at the factory. Mr. Rogers said that neither he nor Mr. Black answered.
The witness said that Mr. Frank remarked that a drink of whiskey would do him good and that Mrs. Frank said there was none in the house, but insisted that Mr. Frank get some breakfast before going out. However, they hurried to the undertaking establishment, the witness said.
Mr. Rogers said that on the way to the undertaker’s establishment, Mr. Frank remarked that he had dreamed he had heard his telephone ring about daybreak. Detective Black asked Mr. Frank whether he knew Mary Phagan, the witness said, Mr. Frank replying that he didn’t know whether he did or not.
The witness said that Mr. Frank did not go into the room in which the Phagan child’s body lay.
Mr. Frank remarked, the witness said, that he could refer to his payroll and see whether Mary Phagan worked at the pencil factory.
“Was Mr. Frank steady or trembling at the undertaking establishment?” was asked Mr. Rogers.
“I couldn’t say,” he answered.
Mr. Frank suggested that they go to the factory, the witness said. At the factory, the witness said, they found a number of detectives and policemen and Mr. Darley, an official of the factory, who had been summoned. They went upstairs, the witness aid, to the office and Mr. Frank referred to the payroll, saying that Mary Phagan worked there and that she had been paid $1.20 the day before, shortly after 12 o’clock.
ELEVATOR AT SECOND FLOOR.
The witness said that Mr. Frank then asked if the pay envelope had been found, remarking that it must be around somewhere. They went to the basement in the elevator, which stood at the second floor, the witness said. Mr. Frank switched the current and there was some delay in getting the elevator to work. The fire doors of the elevator were open at this time, Mr. Rogers said, but he didn’t remember whether they were open or closed when he went to the factory the first time.
The elevator was run to the basement, the witness said and Mr. Frank was shown where the body had been found.
CHANGED TAPE IN CLOCK.
When he returned from the basement, said the witness, he sat in Mr. Frank’s inner office with the negro , Lee. Mr. Frank stayed in outer office, but came in twice where he and negro were, and, on the second trip, Mr. Frank looked at the negro and shook his head and said, “Too bad!”
Mr. Frank asked repeatedly if the officers were through with him, saying he wanted to go out and get a cup of coffee, but no opportunity to get the coffee arose. After a while, said the witness, after Mr. Frank had been through the building with Chief of Detectives Lanford, Mr. Frank suggested that they change the tape in the time clock. Mr. Frank took a key to the clock, which he wore on a ring at his belt, and opened the clock with it and removed the time slip and laid it down by the clock. He then went back into his office and got a blank slip. He asked one of the officers standing near to hold back a little lever while he inserted this slip. The lever knocked against a little pencil in the clock. Newt Lee, the negro, was standing near. Mr. Frank turned to the negro and asked, “What is this pencil doing in the hole?” Lee said he had put it there so his number would be sure to register every time he rang. Mr. Frank put the key back at his belt and dated the slip which he had taken from the clock with a pencil which he took from his pocket. The witness though Mr. Frank wrote the date “April 26, 1913,” on it, but he wouldn’t be sure about that, he said.
Mr. Frank, after examining the slip, stated that it was punched correctly, said the witness. He also looked at the slip. The first punch started at 6 p. m., and it was punched every half hour, the witness thought, up to 2:30 o’clock. At 2:30 was the last punch. Mr. Frank took the slip into his own office, said the witness, and the witness said he did not know what became of it after that. A little later they all got into his automobile, said Rogers, Mr. Frank sitting in Mr. Darley’s lap in front beside him (the witness) at the wheel, and some of the officers sitting with Frank in the back.
At this point the coroner asked where Mr. Darley was when the clock slip was being removed. He was standing near by, said the witness.
After delivering his passengers at police headquarters, said Rogers, he went with Miss Hix to take her back to her own home.
On the trip to headquarters, said he, Mr. Frank did not seem to be as nervous as he had been. When he returned to headquarters, said the witness, the detectives were getting Newt Lee, the negro, to write. Lee then seemed very nervous.
STAINS ON SHIRT WERE NOT MADE WHILE SHIRT WAS BEING WORN
Atlanta Journal
Thursday, May 8th, 1913
A number of new witnesses had been summoned for the inquest, and the indications were said to be that the session (promised as final in the coroner’s investigation) might last all day.
It became known, before the inquest convened, that several witnesses whom the detectives have discovered would not be introduced there at all. The evidence that they can furnish, whatever it may be, will not become public until some later time, it was said.
It was stated further Thursday morning that the report by Dr. Claude A. Smith, city bacteriologist, upon the analysis by him of stains upon the shirt supposed to have been found at the house of Newt Lee, the negro, had been mailed to Chief of Police Beavers late Wednesday afternoon. The report set forth, it was said, that the stains are not old, and that probably they are stains of human blood.
It was learned further regarding the bacteriologist’s report that it stated that the shirt had not been worn since it was washed—in other words, that the blood had been thrown on the shirt or had been mopped up by it.
Regarding the chips taken from the floor of the factory, the report [1 word illegible] that they, too, showed human blood.
No comparison between the blood on the chips and that on the shirt was made.
BODY IS EXHUMED.
The body of Mary Phagan was removed Wednesday from the grave at Marietta for a second time Wednesday evening, and Dr. H. F. Harris, of the state board of health, made another examination, the nature of which is being kept secret.
Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Coleman, parents of the murdered child, have objected so strenuously to the second exhumation, it is said, that it is not expected that the body will be again removed from its resting place.
Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey, who has taken active charge of the investigation in the murder case, spent more than an hour in Newt Lee’s cell at the Tower Wednesday, questioning the negro. It is said that Lee stuck closely to his first story, despite a vigorous cross examination.
Bill Bailey, who was bunkmate of Lee, when both were in the chain gang some years ago, spent twenty-four hours in the his cell, having been sent there by the detectives. It is probable that Bailey may be used as a witness at the inquest.
DETECTIVES VISIT FACTORY.
Shortly after 1 o’clock City Detective John Black and Harry Scott, of the Pinkerton agency, who are working on the Phagan murder mystery, were driven to the building of the National Pencil company’s plant in the automobile of ex-County Policeman “Boots” Rogers.
The officers entered the place and remained about half an hour. When they returned to the street, both detectives were non committal. They acknowledged, however, that they had visited the factory in an effort to make themselves clear on some points.
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CHARACTER WITNESSES ARE CALLED IN THE CASE BY CITY DETECTIVES
Atlanta Journal
Friday, May 9th, 1913
Tom Backstock, of 21 Hightower street, a youth of about sixteen or seventeen years, testified that he worked at the pencil factory about a year ago. He didn’t know Mr. Frank personally, he said, but knew him when he worked at the factory.
“Did you have any opportunity to observe his conduct with the women there?” the lad was asked.
“I saw him ‘pick’ at the girls,” was the reply.
“Who were they?” the coroner asked.
“I couldn’t tell their names now,” he said. “I didn’t work there long enough to get very well acquainted.”
The coroner asked how Mr. Frank had acted and the boy said he had placed his hands on some of them. He didn’t know how many times he had seen this.
In reply he mentioned the name of a girl, but said he had simply heard a rumor since the crime was committed. He knew nothing of his own knowledge.
The witness said he had never heard any of the girls complain, but had seen them trying to get out of Mr. Frank’s way. He worked at the pencil factory about six weeks, he said, and stopped because he found a better position.
Miss Nellie Wood, of 8 Corput street, said that she didn’t know Mr. Frank very well. She had worked at the factory two days about two years ago, she said.
Miss Wood said that she was employed as a forelady. Mr. Frank would come to her and put his hands on her “when it was not called for,” she said.
“Any other girls?” the coroner asked.
“No, sir, not that I saw,” she said.
“Is that all he did?” the coroner asked.
“No, that’s not all,” the witness replied, “He asked me into his office to talk business on the second day I was there. The subject of the conversation was whether I was going to stay there. He wanted to close the door. I objected and he said, ‘Don’t worry. No one is coming.’ He was too familiar. I didn’t like it.”
The witness said that Mr. Frank attempted familiarity and then tried to pass it off as a joke, but that she told him she was “too old for that.”
Mrs. C. D. Donegan, of 165 West Fourteenth street, said that she worked at the factory about three weeks two years ago. She said that Mr. Frank had smiled and winked at the girls, but never more than that. She denied that she had told Detective Scott anything more than this.
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CORONER DONEHOO POINTS OUT THE LAW TO THE JURORS
Atlanta Journal
Friday, May 9th, 1913
The coroner’s charge to the jury was in part as follows: “You have heard the statement of the county physician. You have seen what caused death. You have seen the body and have heard the evidence in the case.
“It is your duty to inquire diligently as to how Mary Phagan came to her death. That was your oath. In case of unnatural death, you were to determine at whose hands death came.
“You have heard the county physician say strangulation caused death. In determining who is guilty of the murder you turn to the evidence, and if you find that any other party is implicated or is attempting to shield the murderer, he is guilty in the same degree.
“Your position in this matter is similar to that of a commitment court, not a trial court.
“If there is a reasonable suspicion in your mind directed against any person or persons in connection with this crime, it is your duty to hold them. You can also hold witnesses who are essential in trying this case. If you think anybody not actually connected with the case has important information bearing upon it, you can hold them.
“If you believe any one is concealing information, it is your duty to commit that person as an accessory of the crime.”
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DETECTIVE HARRY SCOTT’S TESTIMONY AS GIVEN BEFORE CORONER’S JURY
Atlanta Journal
Friday, May 9th, 1913
An unexpected turn was given to the coroner’s inquest into the mysterious murder of Mary Phagan, Thursday afternoon, when Harry Scott, the Pinkerton detective who has been representing that agency in its work on the case, was called to the stand by the coroner. Mr. Scott was in the room at the moment.
One new detail that he revealed was in a reply to a direct question from the coroner, when he stated that Herbert Haas, attorney for Leo M. Frank and attorney for the National Pencil factory, requested him and superintendent of the Pinkerton agency in Atlanta to withheld [sic] from the police all evidence they gathered until he, Mr. Haas, would consider it.
Their reply, said Mr. Scott, was that they would withdraw from the case before they would do that.
He proceeded to say that he and his firm still are retained by the pencil company.
Mr. Scott was called to the stand when Assistant Superintendent Schiff, of the pencil factory, left it.
He is assistant superintendent of the Atlanta agency of the Pinkerton detective service, he said. He lives at 52 Cherry street. The agency was retained in the case by the National Pencil company “to locate the party responsible for the murder of Mary Phagan.” The engagement was made Monday afternoon, April 28, when, about 4 o’clock he received a phone call from Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the factory, and in response to it he (Scott) went to the factory to see Mr. Frank. There, said he, he found a group of men whom he afterward identified as Frank, Mr. Darley and others, standing around the time clock, talking. He introduced himself and said he wanted to see privately whoever was particularly interested in the case. He and Mr. Frank and one or two others went into a private office, and Mr. Frank called Sig Montag, treasurer of the company, over the telephone to get authority to employ the detectives.
Asked how Mr. Frank broached the subject to him, Mr. Scott said the factory superintendent remarked: “I guess you’ve read of the horrible murder committed? We feel that the company ought to make some investigation to show the public we are interested in clearing up the crime. We want the Pinkertons to locate the murderer.”
Mr. Frank then told him all he (Mr. Frank) seemed to know about the matter, said the detective. Mr. Frank said that he had been down at police barracks a short while before, and that Detective Black seemed to suspect him of the crime.
QUOTED FRANK IN DETAIL.
Mr. Frank detailed his movements on that particular Saturday, said the detectives. The witness quoted as he remembered the relation, giving the same story that since has been elaborated by Mr. Frank himself and others on the stand. Mr. Scott said that the superintendent said he left the factory about 6:15 on the afternoon of Saturday, April 26. As he went out of the front door, he said, he saw Lee sitting on a packing box outside talking with Gantt, formerly a bookkeeper in the factory. Then he went on to relate the matter as it is already generally accepted, about leaving Gantt there and telephoning to the night watchman later after failing to get him once over the telephone.
After getting the watchman over the telephone and learning that everything was all right, Mr. Scott said, Mr. Frank told him he (Mr. Frank) “prepared to go to bed about 9 o’clock.”
He asked Mr. Frank very few questions, said the detective. He took notes of what was told to him. He went over the building with Mr. Frank then, looking at the elevator, the time clock, the machine room, where Frank pointed out to him a machine on which human hair was said to have been found that morning, and pointed out also what were believed to be blood stains on the floor. Mr. Darley accompanied them. He went into the basement with his escort, said the detective, and saw the trash pile where the hat and shoe had been found, also the spot where the body had been found, and the staple that had been pulled with the lock from the back door.
OFFERS NO THEORY.
Mr. Frank advanced no theory about the crime, said the detective, and offered no suggestions. He talked to him the night afterward at police headquarters, in the presence of Detective Black, but he didn’t ask the pencil superintendent for a statement because he understood the police had one already. He denied that Mr. Frank had reprimanded him for too much zeal or had remonstrated with him for trailing him (Mr. Frank).
REFUSED ATTORNEY’S REQUEST.
The detective answered a direct question, however, by saying that Herbert Haas, representing himself to be an attorney for Mr. Frank, did call at the Pinkerton office and there, to Superintendent Pierce and Mr. Scott, made the request that the detectives withhold from the police all information which they gathered until he, Mr. Haas, had considered it. They told him they would withdraw from the case first, said Mr. Scott.
“Who gets copies of your reports?” he was asked by the coroner.
“I think Mr. Sig Montag gets copies of all reports we make,” said the witness. He added, replying to questions, that his agency still is employed by the pencil company—“to fix the responsibility for this murder.”
“Do you know anything about the conversation Mr. Frank and the negro Newt Lee had along together at headquarters?”
The detective replied that City Detective Black and he suggested to Mr. Frank that he employ this method for drawing from the negro all the information he could, and Frank agreed and went into the room with Lee. He did not know what passed between them, said the detective, except what he learned from the negro’s relation of what was said.
DIDN’T TRY TO GET TRUTH.
Mr. Scott said that Newt Lee told him Mr. Frank did not try to get the truth out of him (Lee) during their talk at the police station.
That Lee said he accused Mr. Frank of knowing something and that Mr. Frank only hung his head and later told him if he (Lee) didn’t stick to his story they would both go to hell.
That Lee said he told Mr. Frank the crime must have been committed in the day time, and Mr. Frank again only hung his head.
Mr. Scott said that Lee then said he had started to describe to Mr. Frank how he had found the body and that Mr. Frank said, “Let’s don’t talk about that any more” before he had finished.
Mr. Scott said that Mr. Frank had told him after the conversation with Lee that he couldn’t get anything out of the negro. The witness said that Mr. Frank reported that he had asked Lee why there was a break in the time slip and that Lee said he had punched it.
Mr. Scott said that he did not find the bloody shirt at Newt Lee’s home—that it was found by Detective Black and Detective Bullard. The witness said that he looked at the shirt and that it seemed to him it had not been worn and that the blood was fresh. He said that Lee, when shown the shirt, said, “That’s my shirt,” and later qualified his statement by saying that it might be his shirt; that he hadn’t worn it in two years.
“Have you any definite information which makes you suspect any party of this crime?” the coroner asked Detective Scott.
WOULDN’T COMMIT HIMSELF.
“I wouldn’t commit myself,” replied the detective, who continued that his investigation was not complete and that he was working on a chain of circumstances.
“Is this chain of circumstances known to yourself alone?” he was asked.
“No,” replied Mr. Scott, “Detective Black has been with me all the time on the case.”
Mr. Scott was then excused.
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DETECTIVE JOHN BLACK TELL THE JURY HIS VIEWS ON THE PHAGAN CASE
Atlanta Journal
Friday, May 9th, 1913
Detective John Black followed Detective Scott on the stand. He was questioned about the finding of the bloody shirt at Newt Lee’s home. He said that on the Tuesday afternoon after the murder he went with Detective Fred Bullard to Newt Lee’s house at 40 Henry street.
They searched the premises, he said, and found the bloody shirt in a clothes barrel in Lee’s room. The shirt was near the bottom of the barrel and was covered with scraps of old clothes, he said, the barrel apparently being used as a dumping place for old garments.
Asked whether he had seen the shirt that Lee had worn the Sunday morning the Phagan child’s body was discovered, Detective Black said it was not the same shirt that was found in the barrel. The shirt found at Lee’s house had apparently been washed but not [rest of sentence cut off—Ed.]
Juror Langford at this point asked Detective Black, “Have you discovered any positive information as to who committed this murder?”
Detective Black replied, “Do you mean positive information? No, sir, I have not.”
Detective Black contradicted the testimony given at the morning session by Lemmie Quinn by saying that Quinn had told him the Monday after the tragedy that he had not been to the pencil factory the Saturday before.
“Quinn made the statement in my presence two or three times,” said the witness. “On one occasion Detectives Starnes and Campbell questioned him in the basement of the pencil factory and he said he had not been there.”
Detective Black said that it was at his suggestion that Mr. Frank talked to the negro “to get the truth out of him.”
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HERE IS TESTIMONY OF WITNESSES GIVEN AT THE FINAL SESSION OF CORONER’S JURY IN PHAGAN CASE
Atlanta Journal
Friday, May 9th, 1913
Full Story of Hearing Thursday Afternoon When Frank, Newt Lee, Detectives Black and Scott and Several Character Witnesses Were Placed on the Stand
The verdict of the coroner’s jury that Mary Phagan came to her death by strangulation and its recommendation that both Mr. Frank and Lee be held for investigation by the grand jury was rendered at 6:30 o’clock Thursday afternoon and marked by the conclusion of one of the most remarkable inquests ever held in this state.
Deputy Plennis Minor carried the news of the coroner’s jury verdict to Mr. Frank and to the negro. Mr. Frank was in the hallway of the Tower, reading an afternoon paper, when the deputy approached him and told him that the jury had ordered him and the negro held for an investigation by the grand jury.
“Well, it’s no more than I expected at this time,” Mr. Frank told the deputy. Beyond this he made no comment.
Newt Lee, says Mr. Minor, was visibly affected. He seemed very much depressed and hung his head in a dejected manner.
The jury was empaneled by Coroner Paul Donehoo on Monday, April 28, and has held four long and tedious sessions for the taking of testimony in addition to meeting to inspect the body and the scene of the crime. Twice the body of Mary Phagan was exhumed at the order of the coroner, in order that physicians might search more thoroughly for clues and evidence.
The reports of the physicians, who made these examinations, have never been made public, even the evidence of the county physician, Dr. J. W. Hurt, having been given the jury behind closed doors. It is said that even to the jury the physician did not go thoroughly into his investigation. The verdict of the jury was rendered after only twenty minutes of deliberation.
Superintendent Frank and the negro, Lee, were both searchingly examined for the second time by the coroner at Thursday afternoon’s session inquest, but neither added materially to former statements. Lee was principally questioned about the interview, which Mr. Frank had with him in a cell at police headquarters.
EVIDENCE ALL CIRCUMSTANTIAL.
Harry Scott, the Pinkerton operative on the case, gave interesting testimony of his position in the probe of Mary Phagan’s death. Mr. Scott refused to commit himself, when asked if he had definite information as to who killed Mary Phagan. “I am working on a chain of circumstance—that is all,” he said.
City Detective John Black in answering the same question said that he had no “positive” information as to the murderer.
A number of character witnesses were introduced towards the close of the inquest.
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NEWT LEE TELLS OF THE TALK HE HAD IN THE POLICE STATION
Atlanta Journal
Friday, May 9th, 1913
Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, was recalled and asked to tell about any conversation he had with Mr. Frank at the jail or the police station. Lee said he has not talked to Mr. Frank at the jail, but that he had talked with him at the police station.
Mr. Frank came into the room, where he was, Lee said, and asked, “How are you feeling, Newt?”
“Not so good, Mr. Frank?” Lee said was his answer.
Lee said that he then told Mr. Frank that it was mighty hard on him “an innocent man” to be handcuffed there in the chair, and that Mr. Frank told him he knew he (Lee) was innocent, but he believed he knew something about the murder.
Lee said that he then told Mr. Frank that the officers had said the girl was killed on the second floor; that he said in his rounds of the building he had to pass through the second floor room, which had been indicated, every half hour and that he would have known it if the murder had been committed there.
Lee said that Mr. Frank then said: “Let’s don’t talk about that. Let that go.”
Lee said that the furnace had been fired on Friday, but that it had not been fired on Saturday. He went to work shortly before 4 o’clock, Saturday afternoon and called to Mr. Frank, as usual, “All right, Mr. Frank.”
He said that Mr. Frank came out of his office, rubbing his hands, and told him he was sorry he had been forced to come to work so early; that he could have slept two hours longer.
Lee said that he told Mr. Frank that he needed some sleep and that Mr. Frank told him to go out and have a good time and come back at 6 o’clock.
Lee said that he didn’t remember Mr. Frank having come out of his office to talk to him before; that he always called him into the office in case he wanted to talk to him.
Lee said that the street door was unlocked when he came to work at 4 o’clock, but that the double doors inside were locked. These double doors were usually unlocked, he said. Lee said that he got in by using his pass key.
The witness said that he didn’t remember whether the trap door to the basement was open or closed when he came to work. The fireman always went to the basement through this door, he said.
Lee said that he didn’t notice any bloodstains on the second floor. It was dark, he said, and his only light was his lantern.
Lee said that when he returned to work at 6 o’clock Mr. Frank told him to wait until he put on a new tape before he punched the clock; that he didn’t use a key to unlock the clock.
Lee explained the pencil found in the clock by saying that he always stuck a pencil there to check himself, and to remember where he had punched last. He was positive, he said, that he had punched the clock every half hour between the hours of 6 p. m. and 3 a. m. the Saturday night of the tragedy.
Lee was asked if the bloody shirt found at his residence belonged to him. He said that he didn’t know—it was found at his house, he said, so it must be his. Lee said that a “white lady” had made four shirts for him and this might be one of them. If it was a “store bought” shirt, it did not belong to him, he said.
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SUPERINTENDENT FRANK IS ONCE MORE PUT ON WITNESS STAND
Atlanta Journal
Friday, May 9th, 1913
Leo M. Frank general superintendent of the National Pencil factory, was recalled to the stand. He was questioned regarding the elevator. The coroner wanted to know what kind of a door there is to the shaft on the office floor. The witness replied that it is a heavy door solid, that slides up and down.
“Where was the elevator on Saturday, April 26?” he was asked.
“I didn’t notice.”
“Where was it on Friday night?”
“I didn’t notice.”
“Was the door open on Saturday?”
“I didn’t notice.”
Asked whether it would not be possible for some one to fall into the elevator shaft if the door was open, he replied that there is a bar across the door.
“Where was the elevator after the murder?”
“I can only say it was at the office floor on Sunday morning,” replied the witness.
The coroner reverted to the time-clock. “What time did you take the slip out of the clock?” he asked.
“I took it out, marked the time on it, and handed it to an officer,” replied the witness.
“What officers?”
“I don’t remember.”
Regarding the guests who, his mother-in-law and father-in-law testified, called at their home Saturday evening, the coroner asked him next.
“Do you remember a party at your home on the night of the murder?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell about it when you were on the stand before?”
“I wasn’t asked.”
“We asked you about whom you saw. Now can you tell us who was there?”
Mr. Frank named them, corroborating what his father-in-law and mother-in-law had testified as to their identity. He didn’t pay much attention to them, said Frank. He merely greeted them and continued his reading.
“Where were you sitting?”
“In the front room.”
“Didn’t the guests have to pass you when they went to the dining room from the front door?”
“Yes.”
“When the officers came out Sunday morning to bring you down to the factory, what was said about something to drink?”
“I told my wife I wanted something warm to drink. One of the officers said that something would do me good. The implication was ‘whiskey,’ but I didn’t mean that. What I wanted was a cup of coffee.”
He was asked regarding the telephone call during the night, and repeated that he thought when he got up that he had dreamed of the telephone ringing, and that later when he was told the officers had tried to get him he concluded that the dream was real.
“Did you see the girl’s body?”
“Yes. I walked in, and they turned on the light and I looked at the body, recognizing her as the girl I had paid the day before.”
“When did you hear the name first?”
“I don’t recollect.”
“What time did you get home on Sunday?”
“I don’t remember, but I think it was about 1 o’clock.”
When he telephoned home to his wife Sunday morning he did not give her any of the details of what had happened, said he. “When you went home, did you go into details?”
“No, I merely told them what the detectives found. We didn’t discuss it very much.”
“What topic did you discuss?”
“I don’t remember.”
TELLS OF QUINN’S VISIT.
The witness said that Lemmie Quinn, a foreman in the factory, first told him about the visit to the factory on one of the two days that he spent at police headquarters. He said Quinn remarked: “I was there at the office Saturday.” The witness said he recalled it when Quinn mentioned about the time.
Mr. Frank could not recollect having told Quinn anything about withholding information about that point until his lawyers could pass on it. He had so many visitors, he couldn’t remember a detail like that, he said. He couldn’t remember who made the suggestion about consulting attorneys. He didn’t know whether Quinn knew (when he recalled the visit to mind) whether he had a lawyer. He didn’t remember how long he had counsel at that time.
“When did Quinn mention this visit on Saturday?”
“I don’t remember.”
“How can you lock the door into the dressing room where the blood was found?”
“I don’t know. I suppose with keys. There is a door with a lock, in the partition. A spring in the lock keeps it closed.”
“Is there any way to lock the doors and stop passage on the back stairs?”
“There are doors to the stairs, but I never heard of them being locked recently.”
TELLS OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION.
The witness was asked other questions, whose purport was not evident, about these two doors and how they stood that day, and the locks on them, etc. The fact was brought out that there was only one lavatory on that floor, and Mr. Frank, answering a direct question, said he did not enter it all day to the best of his recollection.
Regarding his telephone conversation with a detective who called him early Sunday morning, Mr. Frank said he didn’t know who it was, but learned later that it was a detective. “I would like to have you come down at once,” he said he was told. He asked what had happened, and was told there had been a tragedy, and they wanted him to identify some one.
“He asked me over the phone if I knew Mary Phagan. I told him I did not. Then he asked me if I hadn’t paid off a little girl who worked in the tipping department Saturday afternoon. I said yes, and he said, ‘We’ll send out after you right away.’”
“Didn’t you say the other day that the first time you heard Mary Phagan’s name was in the automobile going down town?”
“No.”
“Do you remember whether or not Harry Denham and Arthur White had any lunch with them on the fourth floor?”
“I don’t remember.”
“When you came downstairs to go out to lunch, did you lock the doors leading into the office?”
The witness did not remember. He was asked as to the disposition of the papers he had been working on. He could remember putting them under a paperweight, but could not remember whether or not he closed his desk. The only people in the building when he left there for lunch, said he, were Henry Denham and Arthur White and Mrs. White.
HIS WORK SATURDAY AFTERNOON.
One of the jurors asked him if he had had any trouble that day about the “time” (pay) of one of the girls working in the factory. He said no, but that Darley had noticed a discrepancy in the time of Miss Mattie Smith and had deducted some cash from the envelope.
Another juror asked, “Did you work on the financial sheet only in the afternoon?”
“Yes.”
He got together a few papers pertaining to it, said the witness, before he went to lunch. The last thing he did there that afternoon was to balance his cash. “Did Miss Hall (the stenographer) assist you?” “No.” He named again all the people whom he saw about the factory that day. “Do you know Mae Barrett?” asked a juror. Mr. Frank had not called that name. “I never heard of her,” answered the witness. He said she could be employed somewhere in the factory, however, without his knowing it.
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WITH TWO MEN HELD IN TOWER, MYSTERY OF MURDER DEEPENS
Atlanta Journal
Friday, May 9th, 1913
Belief That the Detectives Had Positive Evidence, Which They Were Withholding, Dissipated by Admissions
SCOTT AND BLACK REFUSED TO NAME MAN SUSPECTED
Case Now Goes to the Grand Jury but No Action Is Expected for a Week—Search for Evidence Will Continue
Coroner Paul Donehoo and the six jurors who investigated the murder of little Mary Phagan in the National Pencil factory on April 26, concluded Thursday the most thorough and exhaustive probe of a violent death ever conducted in this county and probably in the state.
The jury recommended that Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the factory, college graduate and man of culture and refinement, and Newt Lee, an ignorant negro watchman, both be held for investigation by the grand jury.
But the mystery of Mary Phagan’s death has not been solved.
After all of the evidence in the long and tedious probe had been given on oath before coroner’s jury, and after two weeks of hard and conscientious work by the city detectives and numerous private detectives, Mary Phagan’s death is still an admitted mystery.
NO POSITIVE EVIDENCE.
John Black, a city detective, and Harry Scott, of the Pinkertons, two men, who have been at work on the mystery almost since the minute Newt Lee telephoned police headquarters that he had found the body of a murdered woman in the basement of the factory, stated on the witness stand Thursday afternoon that they had no positive evidence that would lay the crime on any individual.
“We are working on a chain of circumstances,” Scott told the jury. “I have no positive information as to who committed the murder,” said Black.
There have been many rumors to the effect that the state is withholding from public much important evidence.
Undoubtedly the state did withhold evidence at the inquest, which would tend to strengthen the chain of circumstances, but the statements under oath of the two detectives that they had no conclusive or positive information, which would make them name the man they suspect, served to show that the element of mystery has not been dissipated.
UP TO GRAND JURY.
Action by the Fulton county grand jury on the cases of Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the National Pencil factory, and Newt Lee, negro night watchman, suspects in the Mary Phagan murder case, is not expected at least for a week.
Following the commitment of the two men by the coroner’s jury Thursday afternoon, interest has been centered in the probable action of the grand jury. That body held one of its regular sessions on Friday morning, but no phase of the Phagan case went before it. The state’s case is far from complete, it is said, and, there is much work before the officials will be ready to place their evidence before the grand jurors. The grand jury, however, can take up the matter of its own initiative, and since Judge W. D. Ellis especially charged it to investigate the Phagan case, it is said that two weeks will not elapse before the jury returns “no bills” or “true bills” agains the men held by the coroner’s inquest.
WHO JURORS ARE.
The present grand jury, which will be in office for this term of court, about two months, is comprised of the following citizens:
L. H. Beck, foreman; F. P. H. Akers; R. R. Nash; Charles Heins, H. G. Rubbard, John D. Wing, R. A. Redding, V. H. Kriegshaber, R. F. Sams, A. D. Adair, Sr., S. C. Glass, J. G. Bell, Cephas M. Brown, George A. Gershon, A. L. Gothman, Walker Dunson, W. L. Percy, C. A. Cowles, Sol Benjamin, R. P. Bell, H. M. Beutell, W. A. Bosser and Albert Roylston.
Only the filing of writ of habeas corpus for one or both of the prisoners is likely to precipitate immediate action by the grand jury, and there has been no intimation from Attorney Luther Z. Rosser, counsel for Mr. Frank, that he will seek the liberation of his client through a habeas corpus writ.
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PUBLIC NOW KNOWS ALL FACTS IN MURDER CASE, SAY DETECTIVES
Atlanta Journal
Saturday, May 10th, 1913
Pinkertons Declare the State Has No Evidence of Importance That Hasn’t Been Given to the Newspapers
IDENTITY OF SOLICITOR’S DETECTIVE A MYSTERY
Chief Lanford Believes He Is One of Sheriff’s Capable Deputies—Gantt Questioned, Newt Lee Has Lawyer
The probe into the mystery of little Mary Phagan’s death two weeks ago still goes on.
The small army of professional, amateur, city, state and private detectives which took up the chase of the murderer soon after the horrible details of the crime became known still pursues the investigation with unabated vigor.
Solicitor Dorsey’s detective, heralded as the best in the world and admitted by the solicitor to be an A-1man, remains a mystery. Mr. Dorsey refuses to divulge his identity, and even the attaches of his office profess not to know his name.
N. A. Lanford, chief of the city detectives, who has known not even a twelve-hour working day law since the crime was discovered, and who has been vigorously following every tangible “lead,” treats the entry of Mr. Dorsey’s sleuth into the limelight very lightly, and expresses an opinion that the mysterious man is no other than a very conscientious and efficient young deputy in the solicitor’s office.
PUBLIC KNOWS ALL.
Officials of the Pinkerton agency, which has been employed to ferret out the mystery by the National Pencil company, declare that they are well satisfied with the progress made, and add that the public is now in possession of practically all of the really important points in the state’s case. They regard as highly important the testimony of Miss Monteen Stover.
The Pinkertons state that the identity of the mysterious detective who has been brought into the case by Solicitor Dorsey, is not known to them.
“We welcome any assistance which the alleged detectives can give the state, for we are only interested in seeing the mystery cleared and the guilty party brought to trial. However, working with the city department, and giving it the benefit of everything we learn, we have done all that is humanly possible for detectives to do, and we are continuing the probe with the intention of leaving no stone unturned.”
Solicitor Dorsey on Saturday again gave practically his entire time to the Phagan investigation, and interviewed during the morning many of the city detectives, who are working on the case.
GANTT INTERVIEWED.
Among the witnesses whom he saw Saturday was J. M. Gantt, who for a few days was held by the detectives in connection with the case. Gantt, it is said, made a statement relative to the nervousness of Superintendent L. M. Frank when he met Gantt at the door of the factory Saturday afternoon two weeks ago.
Newt Lee, the negro ordered held by the coroner’s jury, stated to Deputy Plennie Minor Saturday that in future he would refuse to talk to anyone except his attorney. The negro didn’t remember his lawyer’s name, but it was later learned that he is being represented by Attorney Bernard L. Chappelear, of 609 Temple court building. Attorney Murray Donnell, who was first reported to be counsel for the incarcerated negro, states that the report is a mistake.
As the result of the Phagan investigation it is probable that the city council will be asked to allow the city detectives money for reasonable expenses incurred in their investigations.
The city detectives, who are working sixteen hours a day on the case and who have been at the grueling work steadily for two weeks, have incurred considerable expense, which must come from their own pockets since they are allowed nothing but car fare by the city.
IMPORTANT WITNESS.
Monteen Stover, a fourteen-year-old girl of 171 South Forsyth street, has made an affidavit declaring that she went to the office of Superintendent L. M. Frank, of the National Pencil factory, at 12:05 o’clock on last Memorial day, and remained there until 12:10 o’clock without seeing any person in the building.
The young girl, who is a former employee of the factory, is regarded as one of the state’s most important witnesses, and her testimony will be used to help strengthen the state’s case, when the Phagan murder mystery is investigated by the grand jury.
Mr. Frank testified at the inquest that he remained in his office from the time the stenographer, Miss Hall, left as the noon whistles blew until the arrival of Lemmie Quinn at 12:25 o’clock.
He also declared that Mary Phagan entered the office about 5 minutes after 12 o’clock, the time Miss Stover says that she came to the office and found it empty.
According to Miss Stover she walked up the steps at 12:05, and looked at the clock, which she was accustomed to punch, and went straight to the office. There was no one in the outer office, so she went to Mr. Frank’s private office and found it empty. She waited for five minutes, she says, and having heard no one in the building, left.
The detectives found this witness last Saturday when she returned to the factory to get the pay envelope, which she failed to get on her trip to the factory the week before.
She was with her mother on this second trip and they told of the former visit, when the officers, who were stationed at the door of the factory, stopped them.
Miss Stover is a daughter of Mrs. Homer Edmondson, a boarding house keeper, and she is now employed as salesgirl at a local store. She worked at the pencil factory for about a year, she says.
The solicitor has another unpublished affidavit in his office, which is of doubtful value in the case.
HEARD SCREAMS.
A woman pedestrian, whose name Mr. Dorsey has not made public, testifies that she passed the pencil factory about 4:30 o’clock on Saturday, April 26. Then she was attracted, it is said, by several shrill screams, which came apparently from the basement of the building. There were three screams in rapid succession, and then they suddenly stopped as if the crier had been choked.
This witness has been known to the police since Monday following the tragedy, for then she reported the occurrence to the officials. This is in conflict with the theory of the detectives that the girl met her death shortly afternoon Saturday.
COUNTY TO PAY BILL.
According to Shelby Smith, chairman of the Fulton county board of commissioners, that body and not Solicitor Dorsey, is going to pay the bill for the independent investigation of the Phagan murder mystery, which is being conducted by the solicitor general.
Mr. Smith states that more than a week ago the members of the commission agreed to stand the expense of an investigation “in order that Mr. Dorsey might not be hampered in getting to the truth of the matter.”
The commissioners, so Mr. Smith says, have nothing more to do with the case. They simply told Mr. Dorsey to go ahead, and don’t even know who he has employed, according to the chairman.
Mr. Smith will not discuss a pecuniary limit to the cost of the probe, but says that the board expects Mr. Dorsey to be “conservative.”
STAINS ON SHIRT WERE NOT MADE WHILE SHIRT WAS BEING WORN
Atlanta Journal
Thursday, May 8th, 1913
A number of new witnesses had been summoned for the inquest, and the indications were said to be that the session (promised as final in the coroner’s investigation) might last all day.
It became known, before the inquest convened, that several witnesses whom the detectives have discovered would not be introduced there at all. The evidence that they can furnish, whatever it may be, will not become public until some later time, it was said.
It was stated further Thursday morning that the report by Dr. Claude A. Smith, city bacteriologist, upon the analysis by him of stains upon the shirt supposed to have been found at the house of Newt Lee, the negro, had been mailed to Chief of Police Beavers late Wednesday afternoon. The report set forth, it was said, that the stains are not old, and that probably they are stains of human blood.
It was learned further regarding the bacteriologist’s report that it stated that the shirt had not been worn since it was washed—in other words, that the blood had been thrown on the shirt or had been mopped up by it.
Regarding the chips taken from the floor of the factory, the report [1 word illegible] that they, too, showed human blood.
No comparison between the blood on the chips and that on the shirt was made.
BODY IS EXHUMED.
The body of Mary Phagan was removed Wednesday from the grave at Marietta for a second time Wednesday evening, and Dr. H. F. Harris, of the state board of health, made another examination, the nature of which is being kept secret.
Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Coleman, parents of the murdered child, have objected so strenuously to the second exhumation, it is said, that it is not expected that the body will be again removed from its resting place.
Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey, who has taken active charge of the investigation in the murder case, spent more than an hour in Newt Lee’s cell at the Tower Wednesday, questioning the negro. It is said that Lee stuck closely to his first story, despite a vigorous cross examination.
Bill Bailey, who was bunkmate of Lee, when both were in the chain gang some years ago, spent twenty-four hours in the his cell, having been sent there by the detectives. It is probable that Bailey may be used as a witness at the inquest.
DETECTIVES VISIT FACTORY.
Shortly after 1 o’clock City Detective John Black and Harry Scott, of the Pinkerton agency, who are working on the Phagan murder mystery, were driven to the building of the National Pencil company’s plant in the automobile of ex-County Policeman “Boots” Rogers.
The officers entered the place and remained about half an hour. When they returned to the street, both detectives were non committal. They acknowledged, however, that they had visited the factory in an effort to make themselves clear on some points.
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CHARACTER WITNESSES ARE CALLED IN THE CASE BY CITY DETECTIVES
Atlanta Journal
Friday, May 9th, 1913
Tom Backstock, of 21 Hightower street, a youth of about sixteen or seventeen years, testified that he worked at the pencil factory about a year ago. He didn’t know Mr. Frank personally, he said, but knew him when he worked at the factory.
“Did you have any opportunity to observe his conduct with the women there?” the lad was asked.
“I saw him ‘pick’ at the girls,” was the reply.
“Who were they?” the coroner asked.
“I couldn’t tell their names now,” he said. “I didn’t work there long enough to get very well acquainted.”
The coroner asked how Mr. Frank had acted and the boy said he had placed his hands on some of them. He didn’t know how many times he had seen this.
In reply he mentioned the name of a girl, but said he had simply heard a rumor since the crime was committed. He knew nothing of his own knowledge.
The witness said he had never heard any of the girls complain, but had seen them trying to get out of Mr. Frank’s way. He worked at the pencil factory about six weeks, he said, and stopped because he found a better position.
Miss Nellie Wood, of 8 Corput street, said that she didn’t know Mr. Frank very well. She had worked at the factory two days about two years ago, she said.
Miss Wood said that she was employed as a forelady. Mr. Frank would come to her and put his hands on her “when it was not called for,” she said.
“Any other girls?” the coroner asked.
“No, sir, not that I saw,” she said.
“Is that all he did?” the coroner asked.
“No, that’s not all,” the witness replied, “He asked me into his office to talk business on the second day I was there. The subject of the conversation was whether I was going to stay there. He wanted to close the door. I objected and he said, ‘Don’t worry. No one is coming.’ He was too familiar. I didn’t like it.”
The witness said that Mr. Frank attempted familiarity and then tried to pass it off as a joke, but that she told him she was “too old for that.”
Mrs. C. D. Donegan, of 165 West Fourteenth street, said that she worked at the factory about three weeks two years ago. She said that Mr. Frank had smiled and winked at the girls, but never more than that. She denied that she had told Detective Scott anything more than this.
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CORONER DONEHOO POINTS OUT THE LAW TO THE JURORS
Atlanta Journal
Friday, May 9th, 1913
The coroner’s charge to the jury was in part as follows: “You have heard the statement of the county physician. You have seen what caused death. You have seen the body and have heard the evidence in the case.
“It is your duty to inquire diligently as to how Mary Phagan came to her death. That was your oath. In case of unnatural death, you were to determine at whose hands death came.
“You have heard the county physician say strangulation caused death. In determining who is guilty of the murder you turn to the evidence, and if you find that any other party is implicated or is attempting to shield the murderer, he is guilty in the same degree.
“Your position in this matter is similar to that of a commitment court, not a trial court.
“If there is a reasonable suspicion in your mind directed against any person or persons in connection with this crime, it is your duty to hold them. You can also hold witnesses who are essential in trying this case. If you think anybody not actually connected with the case has important information bearing upon it, you can hold them.
“If you believe any one is concealing information, it is your duty to commit that person as an accessory of the crime.”
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DETECTIVE HARRY SCOTT’S TESTIMONY AS GIVEN BEFORE CORONER’S JURY
Atlanta Journal
Friday, May 9th, 1913
An unexpected turn was given to the coroner’s inquest into the mysterious murder of Mary Phagan, Thursday afternoon, when Harry Scott, the Pinkerton detective who has been representing that agency in its work on the case, was called to the stand by the coroner. Mr. Scott was in the room at the moment.
One new detail that he revealed was in a reply to a direct question from the coroner, when he stated that Herbert Haas, attorney for Leo M. Frank and attorney for the National Pencil factory, requested him and superintendent of the Pinkerton agency in Atlanta to withheld [sic] from the police all evidence they gathered until he, Mr. Haas, would consider it.
Their reply, said Mr. Scott, was that they would withdraw from the case before they would do that.
He proceeded to say that he and his firm still are retained by the pencil company.
Mr. Scott was called to the stand when Assistant Superintendent Schiff, of the pencil factory, left it.
He is assistant superintendent of the Atlanta agency of the Pinkerton detective service, he said. He lives at 52 Cherry street. The agency was retained in the case by the National Pencil company “to locate the party responsible for the murder of Mary Phagan.” The engagement was made Monday afternoon, April 28, when, about 4 o’clock he received a phone call from Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the factory, and in response to it he (Scott) went to the factory to see Mr. Frank. There, said he, he found a group of men whom he afterward identified as Frank, Mr. Darley and others, standing around the time clock, talking. He introduced himself and said he wanted to see privately whoever was particularly interested in the case. He and Mr. Frank and one or two others went into a private office, and Mr. Frank called Sig Montag, treasurer of the company, over the telephone to get authority to employ the detectives.
Asked how Mr. Frank broached the subject to him, Mr. Scott said the factory superintendent remarked: “I guess you’ve read of the horrible murder committed? We feel that the company ought to make some investigation to show the public we are interested in clearing up the crime. We want the Pinkertons to locate the murderer.”
Mr. Frank then told him all he (Mr. Frank) seemed to know about the matter, said the detective. Mr. Frank said that he had been down at police barracks a short while before, and that Detective Black seemed to suspect him of the crime.
QUOTED FRANK IN DETAIL.
Mr. Frank detailed his movements on that particular Saturday, said the detectives. The witness quoted as he remembered the relation, giving the same story that since has been elaborated by Mr. Frank himself and others on the stand. Mr. Scott said that the superintendent said he left the factory about 6:15 on the afternoon of Saturday, April 26. As he went out of the front door, he said, he saw Lee sitting on a packing box outside talking with Gantt, formerly a bookkeeper in the factory. Then he went on to relate the matter as it is already generally accepted, about leaving Gantt there and telephoning to the night watchman later after failing to get him once over the telephone.
After getting the watchman over the telephone and learning that everything was all right, Mr. Scott said, Mr. Frank told him he (Mr. Frank) “prepared to go to bed about 9 o’clock.”
He asked Mr. Frank very few questions, said the detective. He took notes of what was told to him. He went over the building with Mr. Frank then, looking at the elevator, the time clock, the machine room, where Frank pointed out to him a machine on which human hair was said to have been found that morning, and pointed out also what were believed to be blood stains on the floor. Mr. Darley accompanied them. He went into the basement with his escort, said the detective, and saw the trash pile where the hat and shoe had been found, also the spot where the body had been found, and the staple that had been pulled with the lock from the back door.
OFFERS NO THEORY.
Mr. Frank advanced no theory about the crime, said the detective, and offered no suggestions. He talked to him the night afterward at police headquarters, in the presence of Detective Black, but he didn’t ask the pencil superintendent for a statement because he understood the police had one already. He denied that Mr. Frank had reprimanded him for too much zeal or had remonstrated with him for trailing him (Mr. Frank).
REFUSED ATTORNEY’S REQUEST.
The detective answered a direct question, however, by saying that Herbert Haas, representing himself to be an attorney for Mr. Frank, did call at the Pinkerton office and there, to Superintendent Pierce and Mr. Scott, made the request that the detectives withhold from the police all information which they gathered until he, Mr. Haas, had considered it. They told him they would withdraw from the case first, said Mr. Scott.
“Who gets copies of your reports?” he was asked by the coroner.
“I think Mr. Sig Montag gets copies of all reports we make,” said the witness. He added, replying to questions, that his agency still is employed by the pencil company—“to fix the responsibility for this murder.”
“Do you know anything about the conversation Mr. Frank and the negro Newt Lee had along together at headquarters?”
The detective replied that City Detective Black and he suggested to Mr. Frank that he employ this method for drawing from the negro all the information he could, and Frank agreed and went into the room with Lee. He did not know what passed between them, said the detective, except what he learned from the negro’s relation of what was said.
DIDN’T TRY TO GET TRUTH.
Mr. Scott said that Newt Lee told him Mr. Frank did not try to get the truth out of him (Lee) during their talk at the police station.
That Lee said he accused Mr. Frank of knowing something and that Mr. Frank only hung his head and later told him if he (Lee) didn’t stick to his story they would both go to hell.
That Lee said he told Mr. Frank the crime must have been committed in the day time, and Mr. Frank again only hung his head.
Mr. Scott said that Lee then said he had started to describe to Mr. Frank how he had found the body and that Mr. Frank said, “Let’s don’t talk about that any more” before he had finished.
Mr. Scott said that Mr. Frank had told him after the conversation with Lee that he couldn’t get anything out of the negro. The witness said that Mr. Frank reported that he had asked Lee why there was a break in the time slip and that Lee said he had punched it.
Mr. Scott said that he did not find the bloody shirt at Newt Lee’s home—that it was found by Detective Black and Detective Bullard. The witness said that he looked at the shirt and that it seemed to him it had not been worn and that the blood was fresh. He said that Lee, when shown the shirt, said, “That’s my shirt,” and later qualified his statement by saying that it might be his shirt; that he hadn’t worn it in two years.
“Have you any definite information which makes you suspect any party of this crime?” the coroner asked Detective Scott.
WOULDN’T COMMIT HIMSELF.
“I wouldn’t commit myself,” replied the detective, who continued that his investigation was not complete and that he was working on a chain of circumstances.
“Is this chain of circumstances known to yourself alone?” he was asked.
“No,” replied Mr. Scott, “Detective Black has been with me all the time on the case.”
Mr. Scott was then excused.
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DETECTIVE JOHN BLACK TELL THE JURY HIS VIEWS ON THE PHAGAN CASE
Atlanta Journal
Friday, May 9th, 1913
Detective John Black followed Detective Scott on the stand. He was questioned about the finding of the bloody shirt at Newt Lee’s home. He said that on the Tuesday afternoon after the murder he went with Detective Fred Bullard to Newt Lee’s house at 40 Henry street.
They searched the premises, he said, and found the bloody shirt in a clothes barrel in Lee’s room. The shirt was near the bottom of the barrel and was covered with scraps of old clothes, he said, the barrel apparently being used as a dumping place for old garments.
Asked whether he had seen the shirt that Lee had worn the Sunday morning the Phagan child’s body was discovered, Detective Black said it was not the same shirt that was found in the barrel. The shirt found at Lee’s house had apparently been washed but not [rest of sentence cut off—Ed.]
Juror Langford at this point asked Detective Black, “Have you discovered any positive information as to who committed this murder?”
Detective Black replied, “Do you mean positive information? No, sir, I have not.”
Detective Black contradicted the testimony given at the morning session by Lemmie Quinn by saying that Quinn had told him the Monday after the tragedy that he had not been to the pencil factory the Saturday before.
“Quinn made the statement in my presence two or three times,” said the witness. “On one occasion Detectives Starnes and Campbell questioned him in the basement of the pencil factory and he said he had not been there.”
Detective Black said that it was at his suggestion that Mr. Frank talked to the negro “to get the truth out of him.”
_______
HERE IS TESTIMONY OF WITNESSES GIVEN AT THE FINAL SESSION OF CORONER’S JURY IN PHAGAN CASE
Atlanta Journal
Friday, May 9th, 1913
Full Story of Hearing Thursday Afternoon When Frank, Newt Lee, Detectives Black and Scott and Several Character Witnesses Were Placed on the Stand
The verdict of the coroner’s jury that Mary Phagan came to her death by strangulation and its recommendation that both Mr. Frank and Lee be held for investigation by the grand jury was rendered at 6:30 o’clock Thursday afternoon and marked by the conclusion of one of the most remarkable inquests ever held in this state.
Deputy Plennis Minor carried the news of the coroner’s jury verdict to Mr. Frank and to the negro. Mr. Frank was in the hallway of the Tower, reading an afternoon paper, when the deputy approached him and told him that the jury had ordered him and the negro held for an investigation by the grand jury.
“Well, it’s no more than I expected at this time,” Mr. Frank told the deputy. Beyond this he made no comment.
Newt Lee, says Mr. Minor, was visibly affected. He seemed very much depressed and hung his head in a dejected manner.
The jury was empaneled by Coroner Paul Donehoo on Monday, April 28, and has held four long and tedious sessions for the taking of testimony in addition to meeting to inspect the body and the scene of the crime. Twice the body of Mary Phagan was exhumed at the order of the coroner, in order that physicians might search more thoroughly for clues and evidence.
The reports of the physicians, who made these examinations, have never been made public, even the evidence of the county physician, Dr. J. W. Hurt, having been given the jury behind closed doors. It is said that even to the jury the physician did not go thoroughly into his investigation. The verdict of the jury was rendered after only twenty minutes of deliberation.
Superintendent Frank and the negro, Lee, were both searchingly examined for the second time by the coroner at Thursday afternoon’s session inquest, but neither added materially to former statements. Lee was principally questioned about the interview, which Mr. Frank had with him in a cell at police headquarters.
EVIDENCE ALL CIRCUMSTANTIAL.
Harry Scott, the Pinkerton operative on the case, gave interesting testimony of his position in the probe of Mary Phagan’s death. Mr. Scott refused to commit himself, when asked if he had definite information as to who killed Mary Phagan. “I am working on a chain of circumstance—that is all,” he said.
City Detective John Black in answering the same question said that he had no “positive” information as to the murderer.
A number of character witnesses were introduced towards the close of the inquest.
_______
NEWT LEE TELLS OF THE TALK HE HAD IN THE POLICE STATION
Atlanta Journal
Friday, May 9th, 1913
Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, was recalled and asked to tell about any conversation he had with Mr. Frank at the jail or the police station. Lee said he has not talked to Mr. Frank at the jail, but that he had talked with him at the police station.
Mr. Frank came into the room, where he was, Lee said, and asked, “How are you feeling, Newt?”
“Not so good, Mr. Frank?” Lee said was his answer.
Lee said that he then told Mr. Frank that it was mighty hard on him “an innocent man” to be handcuffed there in the chair, and that Mr. Frank told him he knew he (Lee) was innocent, but he believed he knew something about the murder.
Lee said that he then told Mr. Frank that the officers had said the girl was killed on the second floor; that he said in his rounds of the building he had to pass through the second floor room, which had been indicated, every half hour and that he would have known it if the murder had been committed there.
Lee said that Mr. Frank then said: “Let’s don’t talk about that. Let that go.”
Lee said that the furnace had been fired on Friday, but that it had not been fired on Saturday. He went to work shortly before 4 o’clock, Saturday afternoon and called to Mr. Frank, as usual, “All right, Mr. Frank.”
He said that Mr. Frank came out of his office, rubbing his hands, and told him he was sorry he had been forced to come to work so early; that he could have slept two hours longer.
Lee said that he told Mr. Frank that he needed some sleep and that Mr. Frank told him to go out and have a good time and come back at 6 o’clock.
Lee said that he didn’t remember Mr. Frank having come out of his office to talk to him before; that he always called him into the office in case he wanted to talk to him.
Lee said that the street door was unlocked when he came to work at 4 o’clock, but that the double doors inside were locked. These double doors were usually unlocked, he said. Lee said that he got in by using his pass key.
The witness said that he didn’t remember whether the trap door to the basement was open or closed when he came to work. The fireman always went to the basement through this door, he said.
Lee said that he didn’t notice any bloodstains on the second floor. It was dark, he said, and his only light was his lantern.
Lee said that when he returned to work at 6 o’clock Mr. Frank told him to wait until he put on a new tape before he punched the clock; that he didn’t use a key to unlock the clock.
Lee explained the pencil found in the clock by saying that he always stuck a pencil there to check himself, and to remember where he had punched last. He was positive, he said, that he had punched the clock every half hour between the hours of 6 p. m. and 3 a. m. the Saturday night of the tragedy.
Lee was asked if the bloody shirt found at his residence belonged to him. He said that he didn’t know—it was found at his house, he said, so it must be his. Lee said that a “white lady” had made four shirts for him and this might be one of them. If it was a “store bought” shirt, it did not belong to him, he said.
_______
SUPERINTENDENT FRANK IS ONCE MORE PUT ON WITNESS STAND
Atlanta Journal
Friday, May 9th, 1913
Leo M. Frank general superintendent of the National Pencil factory, was recalled to the stand. He was questioned regarding the elevator. The coroner wanted to know what kind of a door there is to the shaft on the office floor. The witness replied that it is a heavy door solid, that slides up and down.
“Where was the elevator on Saturday, April 26?” he was asked.
“I didn’t notice.”
“Where was it on Friday night?”
“I didn’t notice.”
“Was the door open on Saturday?”
“I didn’t notice.”
Asked whether it would not be possible for some one to fall into the elevator shaft if the door was open, he replied that there is a bar across the door.
“Where was the elevator after the murder?”
“I can only say it was at the office floor on Sunday morning,” replied the witness.
The coroner reverted to the time-clock. “What time did you take the slip out of the clock?” he asked.
“I took it out, marked the time on it, and handed it to an officer,” replied the witness.
“What officers?”
“I don’t remember.”
Regarding the guests who, his mother-in-law and father-in-law testified, called at their home Saturday evening, the coroner asked him next.
“Do you remember a party at your home on the night of the murder?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell about it when you were on the stand before?”
“I wasn’t asked.”
“We asked you about whom you saw. Now can you tell us who was there?”
Mr. Frank named them, corroborating what his father-in-law and mother-in-law had testified as to their identity. He didn’t pay much attention to them, said Frank. He merely greeted them and continued his reading.
“Where were you sitting?”
“In the front room.”
“Didn’t the guests have to pass you when they went to the dining room from the front door?”
“Yes.”
“When the officers came out Sunday morning to bring you down to the factory, what was said about something to drink?”
“I told my wife I wanted something warm to drink. One of the officers said that something would do me good. The implication was ‘whiskey,’ but I didn’t mean that. What I wanted was a cup of coffee.”
He was asked regarding the telephone call during the night, and repeated that he thought when he got up that he had dreamed of the telephone ringing, and that later when he was told the officers had tried to get him he concluded that the dream was real.
“Did you see the girl’s body?”
“Yes. I walked in, and they turned on the light and I looked at the body, recognizing her as the girl I had paid the day before.”
“When did you hear the name first?”
“I don’t recollect.”
“What time did you get home on Sunday?”
“I don’t remember, but I think it was about 1 o’clock.”
When he telephoned home to his wife Sunday morning he did not give her any of the details of what had happened, said he. “When you went home, did you go into details?”
“No, I merely told them what the detectives found. We didn’t discuss it very much.”
“What topic did you discuss?”
“I don’t remember.”
TELLS OF QUINN’S VISIT.
The witness said that Lemmie Quinn, a foreman in the factory, first told him about the visit to the factory on one of the two days that he spent at police headquarters. He said Quinn remarked: “I was there at the office Saturday.” The witness said he recalled it when Quinn mentioned about the time.
Mr. Frank could not recollect having told Quinn anything about withholding information about that point until his lawyers could pass on it. He had so many visitors, he couldn’t remember a detail like that, he said. He couldn’t remember who made the suggestion about consulting attorneys. He didn’t know whether Quinn knew (when he recalled the visit to mind) whether he had a lawyer. He didn’t remember how long he had counsel at that time.
“When did Quinn mention this visit on Saturday?”
“I don’t remember.”
“How can you lock the door into the dressing room where the blood was found?”
“I don’t know. I suppose with keys. There is a door with a lock, in the partition. A spring in the lock keeps it closed.”
“Is there any way to lock the doors and stop passage on the back stairs?”
“There are doors to the stairs, but I never heard of them being locked recently.”
TELLS OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION.
The witness was asked other questions, whose purport was not evident, about these two doors and how they stood that day, and the locks on them, etc. The fact was brought out that there was only one lavatory on that floor, and Mr. Frank, answering a direct question, said he did not enter it all day to the best of his recollection.
Regarding his telephone conversation with a detective who called him early Sunday morning, Mr. Frank said he didn’t know who it was, but learned later that it was a detective. “I would like to have you come down at once,” he said he was told. He asked what had happened, and was told there had been a tragedy, and they wanted him to identify someone.
“He asked me over the phone if I knew Mary Phagan. I told him I did not. Then he asked me if I hadn’t paid off a little girl who worked in the tipping department Saturday afternoon. I said yes, and he said, ‘We’ll send out after you right away.’”
“Didn’t you say the other day that the first time you heard Mary Phagan’s name was in the automobile going down town?”
“No.”
“Do you remember whether or not Harry Denham and Arthur White had any lunch with them on the fourth floor?”
“I don’t remember.”
“When you came downstairs to go out to lunch, did you lock the doors leading into the office?”
The witness did not remember. He was asked as to the disposition of the papers he had been working on. He could remember putting them under a paperweight, but could not remember whether or not he closed his desk. The only people in the building when he left there for lunch, said he, were Henry Denham and Arthur White and Mrs. White.
HIS WORK SATURDAY AFTERNOON.
One of the jurors asked him if he had had any trouble that day about the “time” (pay) of one of the girls working in the factory. He said no, but that Darley had noticed a discrepancy in the time of Miss Mattie Smith and had deducted some cash from the envelope.
Another juror asked, “Did you work on the financial sheet only in the afternoon?”
“Yes.”
He got together a few papers pertaining to it, said the witness, before he went to lunch. The last thing he did there that afternoon was to balance his cash. “Did Miss Hall (the stenographer) assist you?” “No.” He named again all the people whom he saw about the factory that day. “Do you know Mae Barrett?” asked a juror. Mr. Frank had not called that name. “I never heard of her,” answered the witness. He said she could be employed somewhere in the factory, however, without his knowing it.
_______
WITH TWO MEN HELD IN TOWER, MYSTERY OF MURDER DEEPENS
Atlanta Journal
Friday, May 9th, 1913
Belief That the Detectives Had Positive Evidence, Which They Were Withholding, Dissipated by Admissions
SCOTT AND BLACK REFUSED TO NAME MAN SUSPECTED
Case Now Goes to the Grand Jury but No Action Is Expected for a Week—Search for Evidence Will Continue
Coroner Paul Donehoo and the six jurors who investigated the murder of little Mary Phagan in the National Pencil factory on April 26, concluded Thursday the most thorough and exhaustive probe of a violent death ever conducted in this county and probably in the state.
The jury recommended that Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the factory, college graduate and man of culture and refinement, and Newt Lee, an ignorant negro watchman, both be held for investigation by the grand jury.
But the mystery of Mary Phagan’s death has not been solved.
After all of the evidence in the long and tedious probe had been given on oath before coroner’s jury, and after two weeks of hard and conscientious work by the city detectives and numerous private detectives, Mary Phagan’s death is still an admitted mystery.
NO POSITIVE EVIDENCE.
John Black, a city detective, and Harry Scott, of the Pinkertons, two men, who have been at work on the mystery almost since the minute Newt Lee telephoned police headquarters that he had found the body of a murdered woman in the basement of the factory, stated on the witness stand Thursday afternoon that they had no positive evidence that would lay the crime on any individual.
“We are working on a chain of circumstances,” Scott told the jury. “I have no positive information as to who committed the murder,” said Black.
There have been many rumors to the effect that the state is withholding from public much important evidence.
Undoubtedly the state did withhold evidence at the inquest, which would tend to strengthen the chain of circumstances, but the statements under oath of the two detectives that they had no conclusive or positive information, which would make them name the man they suspect, served to show that the element of mystery has not been dissipated.
UP TO GRAND JURY.
Action by the Fulton county grand jury on the cases of Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the National Pencil factory, and Newt Lee, negro night watchman, suspects in the Mary Phagan murder case, is not expected at least for a week.
Following the commitment of the two men by the coroner’s jury Thursday afternoon, interest has been centered in the probable action of the grand jury. That body held one of its regular sessions on Friday morning, but no phase of the Phagan case went before it. The state’s case is far from complete, it is said, and, there is much work before the officials will be ready to place their evidence before the grand jurors. The grand jury, however, can take up the matter of its own initiative, and since Judge W. D. Ellis especially charged it to investigate the Phagan case, it is said that two weeks will not elapse before the jury returns “no bills” or “true bills” against the men held by the coroner’s inquest.
WHO JURORS ARE.
The present grand jury, which will be in office for this term of court, about two months, is comprised of the following citizens:
L. H. Beck, foreman; F. P. H. Akers; R. R. Nash; Charles Heins, H. G. Rubbard, John D. Wing, R. A. Redding, V. H. Kriegshaber, R. F. Sams, A. D. Adair, Sr., S. C. Glass, J. G. Bell, Cephas M. Brown, George A. Gershon, A. L. Gothman, Walker Dunson, W. L. Percy, C. A. Cowles, Sol Benjamin, R. P. Bell, H. M. Beutell, W. A. Bosser and Albert Roylston.
Only the filing of writ of habeas corpus for one or both of the prisoners is likely to precipitate immediate action by the grand jury, and there has been no intimation from Attorney Luther Z. Rosser, counsel for Mr. Frank, that he will seek the liberation of his client through a habeas corpus writ.
PUBLIC NOW KNOWS ALL FACTS IN MURDER CASE, SAY DETECTIVES
Atlanta Journal
Saturday, May 10th, 1913
Pinkertons Declare the State Has No Evidence of Importance That Hasn’t Been Given to the Newspapers
IDENTITY OF SOLICITOR’S DETECTIVE A MYSTERY
Chief Lanford Believes He Is One of Sheriff’s Capable Deputies—Gantt Questioned, Newt Lee Has Lawyer
The probe into the mystery of little Mary Phagan’s death two weeks ago still goes on.
The small army of professional, amateur, city, state and private detectives which took up the chase of the murderer soon after the horrible details of the crime became known still pursues the investigation with unabated vigor.
Solicitor Dorsey’s detective, heralded as the best in the world and admitted by the solicitor to be an A-1man, remains a mystery. Mr. Dorsey refuses to divulge his identity, and even the attaches of his office profess not to know his name.
N. A. Lanford, chief of the city detectives, who has known not even a twelve-hour working day law since the crime was discovered, and who has been vigorously following every tangible “lead,” treats the entry of Mr. Dorsey’s sleuth into the limelight very lightly and expresses an opinion that the mysterious man is no other than a very conscientious and efficient young deputy in the solicitor’s office.
PUBLIC KNOWS ALL.
Officials of the Pinkerton agency, which has been employed to ferret out the mystery by the National Pencil company, declare that they are well satisfied with the progress made, and add that the public is now in possession of practically all of the really important points in the state’s case. They regard as highly important the testimony of Miss Monteen Stover.
The Pinkertons state that the identity of the mysterious detective who has been brought into the case by Solicitor Dorsey, is not known to them.
“We welcome any assistance which the alleged detectives can give the state, for we are only interested in seeing the mystery cleared and the guilty party brought to trial. However, working with the city department, and giving it the benefit of everything we learn, we have done all that is humanly possible for detectives to do, and we are continuing the probe with the intention of leaving no stone unturned.”
Solicitor Dorsey on Saturday again gave practically his entire time to the Phagan investigation and interviewed during the morning many of the city detectives, who are working on the case.
GANTT INTERVIEWED.
Among the witnesses whom he saw Saturday was J. M. Gantt, who for a few days was held by the detectives in connection with the case. Gantt, it is said, made a statement relative to the nervousness of Superintendent L. M. Frank when he met Gantt at the door of the factory Saturday afternoon two weeks ago.
Newt Lee, the negro ordered held by the coroner’s jury, stated to Deputy Plennie Minor Saturday that in future he would refuse to talk to anyone except his attorney. The negro didn’t remember his lawyer’s name, but it was later learned that he is being represented by Attorney Bernard L. Chappelear, of 609 Temple court building. Attorney Murray Donnell, who was first reported to be counsel for the incarcerated negro, states that the report is a mistake.
As the result of the Phagan investigation it is probable that the city council will be asked to allow the city detectives money for reasonable expenses incurred in their investigations.
The city detectives, who are working sixteen hours a day on the case and who have been at the grueling work steadily for two weeks, have incurred considerable expense, which must come from their own pockets since they are allowed nothing but car fare by the city.
IMPORTANT WITNESS.
Monteen Stover, a fourteen-year-old girl of 171 South Forsyth Street, has made an affidavit declaring that she went to the office of Superintendent L. M. Frank, of the National Pencil factory, at 12:05 o’clock on last Memorial Day, and remained there until 12:10 o’clock without seeing any person in the building.
The young girl, who is a former employee of the factory, is regarded as one of the state’s most important witnesses, and her testimony will be used to help strengthen the state’s case, when the Phagan murder mystery is investigated by the grand jury.
Mr. Frank testified at the inquest that he remained in his office from the time the stenographer, Miss Hall, left as the noon whistles blew until the arrival of Lemmie Quinn at 12:25 o’clock.
He also declared that Mary Phagan entered the office about 5 minutes after 12 o’clock, the time Miss Stover says that she came to the office and found it empty.
According to Miss Stover she walked up the steps at 12:05, and looked at the clock, which she was accustomed to punch, and went straight to the office. There was no one in the outer office, so she went to Mr. Frank’s private office and found it empty. She waited for five minutes, she says, and having heard no one in the building, left.
The detectives found this witness last Saturday when she returned to the factory to get the pay envelope, which she failed to get on her trip to the factory the week before.
She was with her mother on this second trip and they told of the former visit, when the officers, who were stationed at the door of the factory, stopped them.
Miss Stover is a daughter of Mrs. Homer Edmondson, a boarding housekeeper, and she is now employed as salesgirl at a local store. She worked at the pencil factory for about a year, she says.
The solicitor has another unpublished affidavit in his office, which is of doubtful value in the case.
HEARD SCREAMS.
A woman pedestrian, whose name Mr. Dorsey has not made public, testifies that she passed the pencil factory about 4:30 o’clock on Saturday, April 26. Then she was attracted, it is said, by several shrill screams, which came apparently from the basement of the building. There were three screams in rapid succession, and then they suddenly stopped as if the crier had been choked.
This witness has been known to the police since Monday following the tragedy, for then she reported the occurrence to the officials. This is in conflict with the theory of the detectives that the girl met her death shortly afternoon Saturday.
COUNTY TO PAY BILL.
According to Shelby Smith, chairman of the Fulton county board of commissioners, that body and not Solicitor Dorsey, is going to pay the bill for the independent investigation of the Phagan murder mystery, which is being conducted by the solicitor general.
Mr. Smith states that more than a week ago the members of the commission agreed to stand the expense of an investigation “in order that Mr. Dorsey might not be hampered in getting to the truth of the matter.”
The commissioners, so Mr. Smith says, have nothing more to do with the case. They simply told Mr. Dorsey to go ahead, and don’t even know who he has employed, according to the chairman.
Mr. Smith will not discuss a pecuniary limit to the cost of the probe, but says that the board expects Mr. Dorsey to be “conservative.”
[Footnote 5]Pinkerton Reports, L.P.W., May 2, 1913; Interview; page 25.
[Footnote 6] To Number our Days Pierre van Paassen, 1964; Pages 237-238
[Footnote 7] The Frank Case: Inside Story of Georgia’s Greatest Murder Mystery. Atlanta, GA: Atlanta Publishing Company, 1913. CHAPTER XIII: Plants Charged to Frank.
[Footnote 8] Grand Jury Indictment of Leo Frank, Saturday, May 24, 1913.
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 thing: my life would be shaped by my relationship to little Mary Phagan. And I was excited about discovering my legacy. I got the desire to read everything I could on the case.
My mother and I went to Atlanta's Archives to discover more. My mother, like me, was unaware of the family history, especially concerning little Mary, and she, too, wanted to learn more. When we signed in at the Archives, the librarian looked stunned. Again, I was asked that question: "Are you, by any chance, related to little Mary Phagan?"
I told her I was, and she directed us to a smaller room which contained photographs of the history of Georgia. One of these photographs was the frightening picture of Leo Frank hanging. For me, this was the final catalyst.
Once I had seen that picture, I attempted to read everything—books, newspaper articles, even the Brief of Evidence. The information was difficult and, being only a teenager, I found it hard to understand and digest. It raised more questions for me. Again, I turned to my father for answers.
This time my questions were more direct. I wanted to know everything about the family, the trial of Leo Frank, and the lynching. And this time his answers were deeper and more complete.
"My great-great-grandparents, W.J. Phagan and Angelina O'Shields Phagan, made their home in Acworth, Georgia. Their land off Mars Mill
Road was also home to their children: William Joshua, Haney McMellon, Charles Joseph, Reuben Egbert, John Marshall, George Nelson, Lizzie Mary Etta, John Harvell, Mattie Louise, Billie Arthur, and Dora Ruth. Two other children had died during childbirth.
William Jackson Phagan [known as W.J.] Family PortraitFront row:
Angelina O'Shields Phagan [sitting], William Jackson Phagan [known as W.J.; sitting], John Marshall , George Marshall [behind Angelina], George Dora Ruth [sitting in W. J. lap], Mattie Louise, John Harvell, Billie Arthur [next to W.J standing], Lizzie Etta Mae
Back row: Reuben Egbert, William Joshua, Charles Joseph, Haney McMellon, John Marshall
"These children grew up to be very close to one another. Their father, W. J. believed that that was what the family unit was meant to be: by depending on each other and furthering their education, he was sure, the Phagan's would get far ahead in the world.
Willilam Joshua Phagan, Fannie Phagan
"The eldest son, William Joshua, loved the land and farmed with his father. On December 27, 1891, he married Fannie Benton. The Reverend J.D. Fuller presided over the Holy Bans of Matrimony for them in Cobb County, Georgia. W. J. gave them a portion of the land and a home of their own, and Fannie and William Joshua farmed the land together. They, too, became successful farmers.
"Around 1895, W.J. moved the family to Florence, Alabama. William Joshua and Fannie, now with two young children, Benjamin Franklin and Ollie Mae, moved with them.
"The family's new home, purchased from General Coffee, had been a hospital during the War Between the States. The house needed extensive renovation but posed no financial burden on the family. W.J., Angelina, and their children lived in the main house; the young couple's new home was not far away.
"The years in Alabama were good for them, especially for William Joshua and Fannie. They had two more children, Charles Bryan and William Joshua, Jr. They continued to farm the land.
"In February of 1899, William Joshua Phagan died of measles. Fannie, who was then six months pregnant, was left with their four young children. She was devastated but kept her courage up: she knew the child she was carrying could be in danger. On June 1, Mary Anne Phagan was born to Fannie in Florence, Alabama.
"Fannie remained in Alabama long enough for her and her baby daughter to gain their strength. Then she moved her family back home to Georgia, where she planned to live with her widowed mother, Mrs. Nannie Benton, and her brother, Rell Benton."
Angelina Phagan with her daughters and grandchildren. Mary Phagan is at right on her lap.
"Why did she move away from her husband's family, when they'd been so good to her?" I asked.
"Oh," my father smiled, "I don't believe she was so much moving away from her husband's kin as she was moving back to her own kin. Anyway, hang on," he grinned at me. "Thing is, it turned out that the
families weren't separated in the end, after all."
The farm Fannie Phagan moved to after the death Willliam Joshua.
He shifted in his chair. "Well, anyway, Fannie probably also figured there'd be more opportunities in a densely populated—well, relatively densely populated— area. Notice I didn't say city. 'Cause Marietta was far from that, then. What it was a country town with a population of about three thousand five hundred. And Southern society was changing rapidly: the younger generation did not know the high feelings of the War Between the States and Reconstruction. The War and its aftermath no longer dominated society and politics.
"The square in Marietta was the center of every aspect of life. It was an arena of sorts for social, political, and agricultural activities and the center of transportation and communication for both residents and visitors.
Marietta Square 1913
"Then—see what I meant?—W.J. Phagan moved his family back to Georgia as well. The death of his eldest son so bereaved him that the family could no longer remain in Alabama. He purchased a log home and land on Powder Springs Road in Marietta. W.J. also provided Fannie with a home for her and her five children to live in. He saw to it that they had no hardships.
"About 1907 the last of the Phagan family left Alabama and returned to Georgia. Reuben Egbert, son of Willliam Jackson, and his family moved back to their native state and remained there for the rest of their lives. W.J. kept an eye on all his children and his grandchildren, and by 1910 had all of them nearby him, as well as financially secure, in Marietta.
"W.J. Phagan was Mary Phagan's grandfather, a prosperous farmer originally at Acworth, Georgia.
He often moved his family as he pursued his practice of buying, improving and selling farmland for a profit. He purchased this 20 x 30 foot, $30 lot [Marietta City Cemetery] for his family in 1910, although no formal deed is known to have been written. At the time of his death he was again residing in Cobb County, after spending several years in Alabama, before and after the turn of the century." [Footnote 3]
Wedding announcement published 8 Aug 1911, in the Atlanta Constitution, for Laura Rogers to the Phagan Family.
Note: When W. J. Phagan died in 1914, he left my grandfather an inheritance of $186 which equals to the value of $5707.49 in 2024.
"Fannie Phagan and her children appreciated what W.J. was doing for them, but they also felt the desire to support their family themselves. So sometime after 1910 Fannie Phagan and four of her five children moved to East Point—Atlanta—Georgia, where she started a boarding house, and the children found jobs in the city. Charlie Joseph, the middle child, decided he wanted to continue farming and moved in with his Uncle Reuben on Powder Springs Road in Marietta. Around spring of 1912, Mary found work at the National Pencil Company in Atlanta.
National Pencil Company 1913W.J. Phagan House, Marietta, Georgia 1913; Colorized with AI 2021.
"The Phagan family remained close with relatives in Marietta. Every so often one of Mary's aunts—Lizzie, Ruth, or Mattie—would ride the trolley from Marietta Square to East Point to pick up Mary and bring her to W.J.'s house.
The family always loved having Mary there, especially her female cousins, Willie and Lily. When the 'cousins got together—usually in the summer, when school was out— they played games—hide and seek, hopscotch, dolls and house. But Mary's favorite game was house. The girls would clear a clean spot in the shade, place rocks in it for chairs, and then decorate the 'inside' of the 'house' using limbs from trees or other big branches already on the ground. Their 'house' would show the distinct rooms— kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, etc. But usually in the bedroom they would have a babydoll. Dolls were different back then. Most of them had stuffed bodies but their heads were called 'China.' When they would push the babydoll in its carriage, one foot would fly up! The girls could always be heard giggling and laughing together. They cherished those times together. And especially since visits were getting fewer.
"Usually, Aunt Lizzie would make the girls their clothes. How excited they got! They loved new things, just like everyone else. Sometimes Aunt Lizzie would take them to Marietta Square for a shopping trip. They'd get on the trolley where it began—Atlanta Street. Remember, the Square was the center of activity and the girls de-lighted in seeing things 'downtown.' Sometimes they would just ride the trolley car.
"Even though Mary stayed busy at W.J.'s, she always found time to drop Grandmother Fannie a note."
Here my father stopped and took a postcard Mary had written to her mother: it was postmarked Marietta, Georgia, June 16, 1911, 6:00 p.m.:
Hello Mama,
How are you?
I got here all O.K.
I would have wrote sooner.
but I hadn't thought about it. Willie is up here.
Aunt Lizzie has got my gingham dress made. I am going to have my picture made soon.
Your baby, Mary
We were both deeply touched by the way Mary had signed the card.
"On February 25, 1912, Fannie married J.W. Coleman, a cabinet maker. He was a good man and accepted her children as his own. And they all liked him and accepted him as their stepfather.
"They moved to J.W.'s house at 146 Lindsey Street in Atlanta near Bellwood, a white working-class neighborhood.
"Well, Coleman didn't have much money, but he wasn't considered poor by any means. After marrying Fannie, he requested that her youngest child, Mary, quit work at the Pencil Company and continue her education. But Mary liked her work at the factory and didn't really want to quit.
"Eventually, Fannie's eldest, Benjamin Franklin, who worked as a delivery boy for a general merchandise store, joined the Navy. Ollie Mae became a saleslady for Rich's Department Store. William Joshua, Jr., continued to work in the mills. They didn't seem to mind working at all, because they were earning money."
"Why did anyone mind?" I asked. "
Oh, mill/factory life was anything but easy then." He looked out the window. "The conditions were awful; mills were filthy, and lint was everywhere. Child labor laws weren't enacted 'til years later. Small children were hired as sweepers and were whistled at to keep moving. My mother, Mary Richards Phagan, was eleven years old when she became a spinner at the mills. She was so small; she was one of the first to be run away from the 'officials'—the labor representatives—when they came by. It was hotter than the hinges of Hades, and cotton was always flying through the air. In fact, the flying lint eventually became a term for those who worked in the mills: lint-heads."
"Okay, Daddy," I interrupted. "But life in Atlanta must have been more exciting than life in Marietta—or Alabama."
"Cobb County itself had a county population of twenty-five thousand. There were no paved roads in Marietta and Cobb County, including the square in Marietta. People used wagons and carriages; virtually no one owned an automobile then. If they chose to travel the twenty-five miles to Atlanta, they used the N.C. & St. L. Railroad or the electric streetcar line.
"Telephone service had come in some twenty-five years earlier—about 1890, or so. Water and electricity had only been available for five years.
"Cobb was considered an agricultural county and had practically no industries. In late autumn, the square in Marietta was filled with cotton bales. Throughout the summer it was filled with vegetables.
"Justice, law, and order were other areas that were vastly different then. After the War Between the States, the antagonism between those upholding the federal judicial system and those who wanted more local control of the courts led to night riders and hangings. Men settled their differences immediately. It became a way of life. "
Atlanta in 1913 still hadn't reached a half million in population—but it wanted to. It was a mule center and railroad town. But it had grown significantly since 1865. "
Oh, there was light industry, including the National Pencil Company at 37-39 Forsyth Street. Mills were the most numerous, and a few breweries.
"Life in 1913 was casual and slow. Folks got most of their news from local newspapers, which printed 'extra' editions for late-breaking stories.
"Sanitary conditions were terrible. The facilities were few and far between and were located outside. Sanitation workers were called 'honey dippers.' Typhoid fever was all over the place.
"Boys wore knee pants until they completed grammar school. Women wore high laced high-heeled shoes and bloomers made of the same material as their dresses.
"There were no frozen foods. People had streak of lean and perhaps some beef for stew. Hogs were plentiful. Biscuits and milk gravy were staples. They had apples and oranges occasionally, but raisins had seeds in them.
"Photography was all over—not just in the newspaper. Tintype, most usually.
"For recreation, most entertained themselves. There was a form of baseball, 'peg,' that they played in quiet streets or in vacant lots. Movie theaters ran silent films on weekends, especially around the mill neighborhoods. The Grand Theater, the Bijou, and the Lakewood Amusement Park helped people forget their daily drudgery.
"The South hadn't really recovered from the ravages of the War Between the States and Georgia was no exception. The economy was shifting from the land to industry. Families were resettling from small towns and farms into the urban areas. Wives and children were often forced to work in factories to help the family survive. Her family all called her Mary rather than her full name of Mary Anne.
"Mary was Grandmother Fannie's youngest child. Your grandfather says that she had a bubbly personality and was the life of their home. Mary was jovial, happy, and thoughtful toward others. When she was with her family, she'd show her affection for them by sitting in their laps and hugging them.
"The last Phagan family gathering was a 'welcome home' for Uncle Charlie. There the family had begun to notice how beautiful Mary was. Lily, her cousin, who is still living, tells me that she envied Mary a particular dress she had on. It was called a 'Mary Jane dress'—long, with a gathered skirt and fitted waist. Lily and her sister Willie were 'skinny,' and Mary's dress looked better because she was 'heavier' than them. They both wanted their dresses to look like Mary's did on them.
"Early in April, Mary was rehearsing for a play she was in at the First Christian Church. The play was 'Sleeping Beauty,' and of course Mary played the role of Sleeping Beauty. Your grandfather tells me that he would take Mary to the church and watch her rehearse. The scene where Sleeping Beauty is awakened by a kiss always made him and Mary giggle. She would watch her brother with her eyes half-closed, and then begin to giggle when he cracked a smile. It seemed that that scene took an eternity to rehearse."
I could picture Mary on the stage playing the little Sleeping Beauty. "April twenty-sixth was Confederate Memorial Day, a Saturday, and a holiday complete with a parade and picnic. Mary planned to go up to the National Pencil Company to pick up her pay and then watch the parade. She told Grandmother Fannie she'd be home later that afternoon. One of the last things she did was to iron a white dress for Bible School on Sunday. She was a member of the Adrial Class of the First Christian Bible School, and she wanted to look her best so she might win the contest given by the school.
"She was excited about the holiday, though, and wore her special lavender dress, lace-trimmed, which her Aunt Lizzie had made for her, they tell me. Her undergarments included a corset with hose supporters, corset cover, knit underwear, an undershirt, drawers, a pair of silk garters, and a pair of hose. She wore a pair of low-heeled shoes and carried a silver mesh bag made of German silver, a handkerchief, and a new parasol.
"At 11:30 a.m. she ate some cabbage and bread for lunch. She left home at a quarter to twelve to go to the pencil factory. She was to pick up her pay of $1.20, a day's work." My father sighed and looked out the window.
"When Mary had not returned home at dusk, your great-grandmother began to worry. It was late, and she had no idea where Mary could be. Her husband went downtown to search for Mary. He thought perhaps she had used her pay to see the show at the Bijou Theater and waited there for the show to empty, but found no sign of her.
"He returned home and suggested to Fannie that Mary must have gone to Marietta to visit her grandfather, W.J. Since they had no telephone, they couldn't communicate with the family to verify that Mary was with them. Fannie sort of accepted this explanation, since she knew how Mary loved her grandfather. It did seem plausible that she could be with the family in Marietta. But Fannie, being a mother, spent a restless night."
My father paused, stared into the middle distance.
Mary Phagan 1913
I could see my grandfather pointing to Mary's photograph, then to me, then sobbing almost uncontrollably. My father continued.
"The next day, April 27, 1913, Grandmother Fannie's worst fears were confirmed. Helen Ferguson, their friend and neighbor, came to the house to tell them she had received a phone call about Mary. Their Mary had been found murdered in the basement of the National Pencil Company.
"The company, a four-story granite building plus basement, was located at 37-39 Forsyth Street. It employed some one hundred people, mostly women, who distributed and manufactured pencils. Its windows were grimy. It was dirty. It had little ventilation. Most of the workers were paid twelve cents an hour. It was in fact a sweat shop of the northern, urban variety.
"Mary worked in its second floor metal room fixing metal caps on pencils by machine. Her last day of work had been the previous Monday. She was told not to report back until a shipment of metal had arrived. According to my father, Mary resigned before her murder and the Atlanta Constitution, April 28, 1913 confirms this.[Footnote 4]
"Her body was discovered at three o'clock in the morning on April twenty-seventh, in the basement of the pencil company by the night watchman, Newt Lee. Her left eye had apparently been struck with a fist; she had an inch-and-a half gash in the back of the head, and was strangled by a cord which was embedded in her neck."
He shook his head sadly. "Her undergarments were torn and bloody and a piece of undergarment was around her hair, face, and neck. It appeared that her body had been dragged across the basement floor; there were fragments of soot, ashes, and pencil shavings on the body and drag marks leading from the elevator shaft.
"There didn't seem to be any skin fragments or blood under her fingernails, which indicated she hadn't inflicted any harm on whoever did it.
"Two scribbled notes were found near her body. They were on company carbon paper."
Here, my father got up and walked across the room to the secretary against the far wall, opened the desk flap, reached in and retrieved a sheet of paper, and returned to his chair near the window. He handed me the sheet. It was a photostatic copy of two nearly-illiterate notes:
Murder Notes
Mam that negro hire down here did this i went to make water and he push me doun that hole a long tall negro black that hoo it was long sleam tall negro i wright while play with me. he said he wood love me and land doun play like night witch did it but that long tall black negro did buy his slef.
My father sat silently while I read the notes. When he continued, his voice was almost hoarse. "When they went up to tell W.J. Phagan—now, that's your grandfather's grandfather, he said—my daddy remembered it word for word: 'The living God will see to it that the brute is found and punished according to his sin. I hope the murderer will be dealt with as he dealt with that tender and innocent child. I hope that he suffers anguish and remorse in the same measure that she suffered pain and shame. No punishment is too great for him. Hanging cannot atone for the crime he has committed and the suffering he as caused both too victim and relatives.' " My father swallowed hard a couple of times. After a while he continued.
"Mary was buried that following Tuesday," he said. He suddenly began to quote the newspaper account of little Mary's funeral service. He'd committed it to memory. " 'A thousand persons saw a minister of God raise his hands to heaven today and heard him call for divine justice. Before his closed eyes was a little casket, its pure whiteness hidden by the banks and banks of beautiful flowers. Within the casket lay the bruised and mutilated body of Mary Phagan, the innocent young victim of one of Atlanta's blackest and most bestial crimes.'
" 'L. M. Spruell, B. Awtrey, Ralph Butler, and W. T. Potts were the pallbearers. They carried the little white casket on their shoulders into the Second Baptist Church, a tiny country church. Every seat had been taken within five minutes, every inch of the church was occupied and hundreds were standing outside the church to hear the sermon.'
"The choir sang 'Rock of Ages,' but what everyone heard was Grandmother Fannie, wailing as if her heart would break.
"And," my father added, "it probably did."
'The light of my life has been taken,' she cried, 'and her soul was as pure and as white as her body.'
"The whole church wept before the completion of the hymn. The Reverend T.T.G. Linkous, Pastor of Christian Church at East Point, prayed with those at the Second Baptist Church."
My father continued the words that must be etched in his heart:
" 'Let us pray. The occasion is so sad to me—when she was but a baby. I taught her to fear God and love Him—that I don't know what to do.'
"'With tears gushing from his eyes, he found the strength to continue. "We pray for the police and the detectives of the City of Atlanta. We pray that they may perform their duty and bring the wretch that committed this act to justice. We pray that we may not hold too much rancor in our hearts—we do not want vengeance—yet we pray that the authorities apprehend the guilty party or parties and punish them to the full extent of the law. Even this is too good for the imp of Satan that did this. Oh, God, I cannot see how even the devil himself could do such a thing."
" 'Fannie Phagan Coleman controlled her crying when he spoke of the criminal and W.J. Phagan, Mary's grandfather, exclaimed: "Amen."
" ' "I believe in the law of forgiveness. Yet I do not see how it can be applied in this case. I pray that this wretch, this devil, be caught and punished according to the man-made, God-sanctioned laws of Georgia. And I pray, oh, God, that the innocent ones may be freed and cleared of all suspicion."
"'With hearing this, Mary's Aunt Lizzie let out a piercing scream and collapsed and she was taken home," my father interjected.
"' "Mothers,"' Dr. Linkous declared, "I would speak a word to you. Let this warn you. You cannot watch your children too closely. Even though their hearts be as clean and pure as Mary Phagan's, let them not be forced into dishonor and into the grave by some heartless wretch, like the guilty man in this case.
"' "Little Mary's purity and the hope of the world above the sky is the only consolation that I can offer you," he said, speaking directly to the bereaved family. "Had she been snatched from our midst in a natural way, by disease, we could bear up more easily. Now, we can only thank God that though she was dishonored, she fought back the fiend with all the strength of her fine young body, even unto death.
" ' "All that I can say is God bless you. You have my heartfelt sympathy. That is all that I can do, for.my heart, too, is full to overflowing."
"'Mary's grandfather, W.J. Phagan, sat motionless as ' the tears streamed down his face while the brothers of Mary—Benjamin, Charlie, and William Joshua—comforted their sister, 011ie.' "
My father continued in his own words. "After the sermon, they opened the little white casket and the crowd viewed the body of the little girl with a mutilated and bruised face. The tears watered the flowers that surrounded her.
"They carried the casket out to the cemetery. J.W. practically carried Grandmother Fannie out; Dr. Linkous helped. Mary's sister, 011ie, and her brother Ben, now a sailor on the United States ship Franklin, were behind them, while the smaller brothers, Charlie and Joshua, brought up the rear."
Pictured left to right: Ollie Phagan, [Sister] Fannie Phagan Coleman [Mother], JW Coleman [Stepfather], Benjamin Phagan [Brother,] Lizzie Phagan Durham [Aunt]
The account of the funeral service went on:
"' "Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The Lord bath given, the Lord bath taken, blessed be the name of the Lord,' but no words expressed by Dr. Linkous could heal the wounds in their hearts, and as the first shovel of earth was thrown down into the grave, Fannie Phagan Coleman broke down completely and wailed: "She was taken away when the spring was coming—the spring that was so like her. Oh, and she wanted to see the spring. She loved it—it loved her. She played with it—it was a sister to her almost." She took the preacher's handkerchief and walked to the edge of the grave and waved the hand-kerchief. "Goodbye, Mary, goodbye. It's too big a hole to put you in, though. It's so big—big, and you were so little—my own little Mary." ' " My father stopped. The papers slid to the floor. His eyes were filling up.
I stopped, too. Bursting as I was with questions about the trial of Leo Frank and its aftermath, I could not bring myself to cause my father further pain that day. I felt guilty for the upset the memories he'd dredged up on my behalf had already caused him. As if reading my thoughts, he turned to me:
"It's all right, Mary. You should know the whole story. But—" he'd blinked back the tears, but his smile was tremulous—"not today."
A few days later, we sat down again. This time I started right off with the questions:
"Daddy, how did Grandmother Fannie persevere while the trial was going on?"
He told me that she was to be the first witness called to the witness stand. She tried to compose herself; her tears were flowing freely down her cheeks and she was sobbing as she gave her statement:
"'I am Mary Phagan's mother. I last saw her alive on the 26th of April, 1913, about a quarter to twelve, at home, at 146 Lindsey Street. She was getting ready to go to the pencil factory to get her pay envelope. About 11:30, she had lunch, then she left home at a quarter to twelve. She would have been fourteen years old on the first day of June, she was fair complected, heavy set, very pretty, and was extra large for her age. She had on a lavender dress trimmed in lace and a blue hat. She had dimples in her cheeks.' [BOE, 1913]
"When Sergeant Dobbs described the condition of Mary's body when they found her in the basement, when he stated that she had been dragged across the floor, face down, that was full of coal cinders, and this was what had caused the punctures and holes in her face, Grandmother Fannie had to leave the courtroom," my father said.
Now it was I who had to compose myself. I was now starting to feel the pain and agony that all the family had felt for years.
"When the funeral director, W.H. Gheesling, gave his testimony, he stated that he moved little Mary's body at four o'clock in the morning on April 27, 1913. He stated that the cord she had been strangled with was still around her neck. There was an impression of about an eighth of an inch on the neck, her tongue stuck an inch and a quarter out of her mouth."
Testimony of William Gheesling on July 31st, 1913: [AC, August 1, 1913]
William Gheesling, Embalmer, Tells of Wounds on Girl’s Body
Atlanta Constitution
William Gheesling, the undertaker who embalmed Mary Phagan’s body, was next called in.
“What is your business?” queried Solicitor Dorsey.
“I am an embalmer.”
“How long have you been in that advice?”
“Fifteen years, or more.”
“Did you see the body of Mary Phagan?”
“Yes, I first saw it at 15 minutes to 4 on the morning of April 27.”
“Where was it?”
“In the basement of the National Pencil factory.”
“Describe it.”
How Body Was Lying.
“It was lying on the face, arms crossed, and with a piece of wrapping twine and part of her underclothing looped around the throat. I put it in a basket and brought it to the P. J. Bloomfield undertaking establishment.”
“Was there any impress on the throat?”
“Yes. An eighth-of-an-inch impression of the cord.”
“What did you observe about the tongue?”
“It protruded about a quarter of an inch from the mouth.”
“How many hours had she been dead?”
“From 10 to 15 hours—possibly longer.” “Had rigor-mortis set in?”
“Yes. It had been in effect for some time.”
“What was the condition of the blood?”
“Very congested.”
“How long does it require blood to settle?”
“It settles quickly, sometimes, while at others it is slow.”
“Did you examine the finger nails?”
“Yes, and found nothing but dirt.”
“Anything on her underclothing?”
“Yes; blood.”
“Did you observe anything else?”
Black Spot on Eye.
“A black spot on the eye that had been inflicted before death because of its swollen condition.”
“Did you examine a wound in the skull?”
“Yes. There was no fracture, although the scalp had been broken.”
“Was there any indication of the wound having been sustained before death?”
“Yes. Blood that had run from the gash was matted in the hair.”
“Were you present when Frank came into your place that morning? Did you observe him?”
“No.”
“What was the cause of her death?”
Attorney Rosser interposed an objection to this question, which was sustained. He took the witness.
No Blood in Hair.
“When you first saw the corpse, there wasn’t any blood in the hair, was there?” he asked.
“No.”
“What did you go by in determining the time of her death?”
“Rigor-mortis.”
“It sets in sometimes fast, doesn’t it?” “Sometimes even before death.”
“How do you know?”
“It’s necessary to know the cause of death to determine.”
“What are these particular kind of cases with which you have had experience?”
“Bob Clay, who was recently hanged, and another executed man’s corpse.”
“It would take an expert medical man to—“
The question was interrupted by the witness, who said:
“No. A medical man don’t necessarily know anything about embalming.”
Embalming the Body.
“In case of death you embalm the body before the end of rigor-mortis, don’t you, so that the rigor can’ be retained?”
“Yes.”
“When the heart stops the blood stops wherever it is, doesn’t it?”
“No. It goes back to the heart.”
“Who helped you examine the body?”
“Dr. Hurt.”
“What kind of fluid did you use?”
“My private kind.” “What ingredients is it composed of?”
“I would rather not reveal them. It is a formula of my own, and I would rather not tell it.”
His request was granted.
“Tell of the visit of “Boots” Rogers, John Black and Frank to your place?”
“They came in and I went back and pulled the sheet from the body, then I returned to the front of the shop.”
“How much blood was extracted from her body?”
“One-half gallon.”
“How much does it generally require?”
Embalming Fluid Injected.
“Enough to clear the corpses’ features and face.”
“How much fluid was injected?”
“One-half gallon.”
“Did Mr. Hurt examine the body’s fingernails?”
“Yes. He removed the substance.”
“What happened Monday?”
“Dr. Hurt held a post-mortem examination.”
The solicitor began questioning at this point.
“Did the girl’s body lose much blood?”
“No.”
“Was anything torn about her corset?”
“Yes. A hose supporter was ripped loose.”
He was removed from the stand.
"Who besides Grandmother Fannie attended the trial?"
"Other than Grandmother Fannie, all the immediate family, including your grandfather and Mary's stepfather, were present every day. Mary's mother and sister were the only women, along with Leo Frank's wife and mother, who were permitted in the courtroom each day."
"Daddy, why didn't you tell me about Leo Frank's religious faith?"
"His religious faith had nothing to do with his trial."
"What does anti-Semitic mean?" "It means hatred of the Jews."
I was surprised that people could hate each other because of their faith. "How do you become prejudiced?" I asked.
"You have to be taught to be prejudiced, to walk, talk, just about everything in life that is worth anything. Prejudice, I found out, isn't worth a nickel, but can cost you a lifetime of grief and sorrow."
"Daddy, what about the courtroom atmosphere?"
"According to your great-grandmother, Judge Leonard Roan maintained strict discipline in his court at all times and would not tolerate any disturbance. Judge Roan had the authority to make a change of venue if he in any way felt threatened: he made no change of venue. Neither Leo Frank nor his lawyers asked for a change of venue.
Atlanta Georgian. Thursday, 31st July 1913 Red Bandanna, A Jackknife And Plennie Minor Preserve Order
Atlanta Georgian July 31st, 1913
He Raps With the Barlow Blade and Waves the Oriflamed Kerchief Judiciously.
Plennie Minor, chief deputy sheriff, has a man's sized job on his hands and he handles it with the aid of a red bandanna handkerchief and a pocketknife.
More formidable armament has been invented, but the oriflammed kerchief and the barlow blade are all that Plennie Miner requires to perform a duty that many would deem arduous, all of which shows that the deputy sheriff is a man of resource and ability.
It is his job to keep order in Judge Roan's courtroom, while Leo Frank is being tried as the slayer of Mary Phagan. It's a real job, when it is considered that during each day at least two thousand persons attend the trial or try to and each one looks to Plennie Minor, to see to their personal accommodation.
Everything is Up to Him.
Minor is a public officer, ergo a public servant, and the public expects him therefore to attend to all its wants from a seat beneath an electric fan to a drink of ice water.
In the old days before Democratic simplicity and grape juice became popular in the public mind, Minor would have been equipped with a periwig and a mace. These things were supposed to impress on everyone the majesty of the law.
A red bandanna can never rank with a periwig as an emblem of authority. A pocketknife is hardly in the mace's class.
But Minor keeps the law's supremacy as firmly fixed as the rock of Gibraltar, which shows there is considerably more to him than the bandanna and the knife.
When he wipes his rather high brow with the bandanna, spectators at the Frank trial turn toward him with respect. When he raps on a chair leg with his knife, half the courtroom is as quiet as a drum with a hole in it.
And if the bandanna and the knife are not performing their duties efficaciously, Minor has other resources. If the spectators wish to titter or to squirm, Minor makes an oration after he has flourished the bandanna and played the long roll with the knife. He tells the spectators that a courtroom is no place for merry quip, that laughing is entirely as out of place at a murder trial as orange blossoms are at a funeral, and he'll be gosh dinged—or words to that effect—if he will have it.
His methods are thorough. They get results. This is proved by the fact that he is called on to officiate at every hearing in which the public interest is great.
Atlanta Constitution. Sunday, 3rd August 1913
Good Order Kept In Court By Vigilance Of Deputies
Atlanta Constitution August 3rd, 1913
Despite the throng that has gathered each day around the courthouse where a man is on trial for his life, and despite the number of people who have crowded in to fill every seat, there has been on the whole good order in the courtroom, due to the vigilance of the deputies in charge.
Sheriff C. W. Mangum sits daily in the room and with him are practically every deputy and bailiff that the courtrooms afford. To handle the large crowd and to take care of the entrance all of them are needed. In charge of the men is a deputy who has figured in practically every sensational trial in Atlanta for a number of years and whose knife with which he raps for order and tiny rose which he wears on his lapel are known to every court attendant in Atlanta. He is Plennie Miner, deputy sheriff in charge of the criminal division of the Fulton superior court and a master-craftsman in handling crowds, enforcing order and yet doing it in such a way as to avoid giving offense.
Liddell Second in Charge.
Drew Liddell, another one of the sheriff's deputies, is second in charge, and there are in addition a number of city and county policemen who keep the crowds on the outside from clustering around the doorway.
The task that the deputies have is a big one each hour on account of the interest in the case and the length to which some of the spectators will go to obtain a choice seat. Should one of the lawyers or others directly interested in the trial leave his seat inside the railing for a moment someone is sure to watch for the deputy nearby to turn his back and then make a sudden dive for that seat. When one of the newspaper men goes to the telephone the same thing nearly always happens, and to prevent disorder and keep things moving the deputies have to keep constantly on the alert.
That it is only a certain element that will do this, of course, makes it easier for the men upon whom devolves the duty of keeping order, for if every one were like the husky that climbed through the window the other day, the task would indeed be hard.
Deputy Miner's Statement.
That the deputies appreciate the efforts of a great number of the spectators to keep order and desire to ask that others do the same is shown by the statement which Deputy Miner gave out Saturday:
"As the first week of the Frank trial is nearing an end, I desire to express the gratefulness I feel to the public for its kind consideration of the conditions and circumstances which have crowded the place daily.
"Only 250 persons can be seated in the improvised courtroom, and the public, realizing this fact, has refrained from attempting to attend the sessions. Of course, the place has been filed each day, but not to overflowing.
"Sheriff Mangum has been in constant attendance with all the deputies of his staff. Attached to this force has been a sufficient number of [b]bailiffs from other sources. The county police also have been an invaluable aid to handling the crowds. I wish to extend thanks to the city police, without whom we would probably have suffered.
"But, above all, the public, realizing the situation, has acted in such a considerate manner that I wish to give my sincerest thanks to every one who, for a single instance, contributed one iota toward our assistance.
"Gratefully,
(Signed.) "PLENNIE MINER."
"The newspapers: Atlanta Constitution; Atlanta Georgian;Atlanta Journal gave a daily detailed report on the court proceedings, and there were many 'extras' printed each day. Not one newspaper ever reported any of the spectators shouting 'Hang the Jew" nor did I ever hear that any member of our family made that or any similar statement. However, Leo Frank's mother, Mrs. Rae Frank, caused a scene in the courtroom on August 13, 1913 by standing up and shouting an anti-Christian epithet directed towards Hugh Dorsey, the prosecutor. She was subsequently removed from the courtroom. This event brought religion into the trial for the very first time. What exactly did Mrs. Rae Frank Say? There was some confusion about the exact words Mrs. Rae Frank: “Christian Dog” or “Gentile Dog” ? [Footnote 5]
Judge Roan was considered by all to be more than fair. The Atlanta Bar held him in high esteem for his ability in criminal law. Otherwise, he would have never been on the bench."
"Was Leo Frank defended well?"
"Leo Frank's lawyers were the best that money could buy. He had two of the best criminal lawyers in the South, Luther Rosser and Reuben Arnold. I have been told that Rosser's fee ran well over fifteen thousand dollars and Arnold's fee was $12,500. [The Frank Case, Chapter XIII; 1913] In those years that was a small fortune. These lawyers were the most professional and brilliant lawyers the South had to offer. But the defense these brilliant lawyers were to offer was not good enough to offset Hugh Dorsey's tactics. If there was any brilliance at that trial, it was Hugh Dorsey's. The people of Georgia were so impressed by him that he was later rewarded with the biggest prize in state politics: he was elected governor of Georgia."
"What was meant by Leo Frank being a Northerner and a capitalist? Did these facts have any bearing on the trial?"
My father reminded me about the War Between the States, what had caused it, and that it had been over for only forty-eight years by 1913. He explained how the carpetbaggers had come South to run the country and the awfulness of life under their rule. From that time on, he said, anyone from the North was called a Northerner.
"Leo Frank was born in Texas, but shortly thereafter his family moved to Brooklyn, New York. He was a graduate of Cornell University, and he was given the job of superintendent of the National Pencil Company. As for being a capitalist, he did come from a family that was wealthy by the standards of those days. But, as my father pointed out, the hope of any aspiring productive person is to become a capitalist in his own right. In 1913, however, it meant a lifestyle that few people could maintain. And that bred resentment."
Then I asked, "What is a pervert?"
My father made me get the dictionary and look up the meaning with him. I was not satisfied with the meaning. My father then explained that sexual perversion is something our society does not accept as normal.
Today, this charge will outrage any segment of society. In 1913, anyone who dared to make that charge had better have been prepared to die for it.
"Daddy, why did Governor Slaton commute Leo Frank's sentence?"
"This is one question that our family still asks today. We do not accept Governor Slaton's explanation in his order. There had to be something else. No man will willingly commit political suicide; but he did just that with the commutation order. I've done some research on my own, but I know no more today than my grandmother did back in 1915. I've found certain things about Governor Slaton that are hard to accept but are facts.
"The Atlanta newspapers of 1913 show the law firm of Rosser & Brandon, 708 Empire, and the law firm of Slaton & Phillips, 723 Grant Building, as merging. Then the 1914 Atlanta Directory shows the law firm of Rosser, Brandon, Slaton & Phillips, 719—723 Grant Building. They were also listed in the Atlanta Directory in 1915 and 1916. Slaton was a member of the law firm that defended Leo Frank.
"Governor Slaton was a man that Georgia loved and admired until June 21st, 1915. Then love turned to hate. The people believed that Governor Slaton had been bought. His action caused the people of Georgia to take the law into their own hands, to form a vigilante group and seek justice that they believed had been denied them.
"Governor Slaton had Leo Frank moved from Atlanta for his own protection. He was moved to the Milledgeville Prison Farm, just south of Macon. The vigilante group travelled by car, Model T Fords, and removed Frank from prison. All of them were respected citizens.
"Remember, there were no paved roads in those days. This trip was made at night. Not one guard was hurt, not one shot was fired, not one door was forced. The prison was opened to them. Many in Georgia felt that justice was being done! It was the intent of the vigilantes to take Leo Frank to the Marietta Square and hang him there. Dawn caught up with them before they could reach Marietta. They stopped in a grove not far from where little Mary was buried. Then they carried out his original sentence, 'to be hung by the neck until dead.'
" Shaken, I asked, "Daddy, were there any Phagan's at the hanging?" He gave me a simple answer. "No! And everyone knew the identity of the lynchers. But not one man was charged with the death of Leo Frank, not one man was ever brought to trial." The next question I asked upset him tremendously: "How do you feel about the hanging, Daddy?" He related to me what his father had felt when he had talked about the hanging. Grandfather felt that justice had been served—and so did the rest of the family.
But I would not let up. "But how do you feel, Daddy?"
"I feel the same way my family did, justice prevailed." To understand the actions that these men took on August 17, 1915, I would have to try and transport myself to those times, he said. "You must try to understand what they felt, what would drive them to take the law into their own hands. You must not try to judge yesterday by today's standards. By doing this, you are second-guessing history and no one, but no one, has ever been able to do that."
"Daddy, how about Jim Conley? What part did he have in the death of little Mary Phagan?"
My father said that for the first time in the history of the South, a black man's testimony helped to convict a white man. The best criminal lawyers in the South could not break this semi-literate black man's story. The circumstantial evidence and Jim Conley's testimony caused Leo Frank's conviction for the murder of little Mary Phagan.
"Your grandfather told me—and this can be confirmed by my sister Annabelle—that he had met with Jim Conley in 1934, in our home, to discuss the trial and the part Conley had played in helping Leo Frank dispose of the body of little Mary." My father became adamant: "There is no way my father would have let Jim Conley live if he believed that he had murdered little Mary."
My father then related the conversation that my grandfather told him had taken place. He said to Jim Conley, "Let's sit down and talk awhile, Jim."
And Jim said, "OK."
My grandfather then said, "I want to know how you helped Mr. Frank."
Jim said, "Well, I watched for Mr. Frank like before and then he stomped and whistled which meant for me to unlock the door and then I went up the steps. Mr. Frank looked funny. He told me that he wanted to be with the little girl, she refused, and he struck her and she fell. When I saw her, she was dead."
Grandfather asked, "But why did you help him if you knew it was wrong?"
And Jim said, "I only helped Mr. Frank because he was white and my boss."
"Were you afraid of Mr. Frank?" my grandfather asked.
Jim answered, "I was afraid if I didn't do what he told me—him being white and my boss, that I might get hanged. [At that time, it was common for blacks to be hanged.] So, I did as he told me." Grandfather then asked, "What did you do after you saw that little Mary was dead?"
There are, my father grinned, two versions of that meeting: his sister Annabelle's and his father's—my grandfather's.
The version my Aunt Annabelle told him was that she was coming out of a grocery store and saw their father, William Joshua Phagan, Jr., and a black man walking (she said "nigger") down Jefferson Street towards the house.
She said to her father:
"Daddy, what are you doing with that nigger man?"
Grandfather said, "Now, don't you know who this is?"
"No, I don't," Annabelle said.
And Grandfather said, "This is Jim Conley." "
Oh, this is the man who helped kill Aunt Mary," she exclaimed.
Then Jim Conley said, "No, I didn't kill her, but I helped Mr. Frank. I was to burn the body in the furnace but didn't."
They went inside the house and talked about an hour in the kitchen.
Annabelle was in the other room watching her brothers (Jack and my father) and her sister Betty.
My father also remembers that his father continually questioned Jim Conley about why he helped Mr. Frank. He recalled that his father got emotional and at times had to hold back the tears.
Jim said, "I got scared. Like I said before, I had to help Mr. Frank—him being white and my boss. Mr. Frank told me to roll her in a cloth and put her on my shoulder, but she was heavy, and she fell. Mr. Frank and I picked her up and went to the elevator to the basement. I rolled her out on the floor. Then Mr. Frank went up the ladder and I went on the elevator."
"Did Mr. Frank tell you to burn little Mary in the furnace?" my grandfather asked.
"Yes, I was to come back later but I drank some and fell asleep," Jim said.
Then Grandfather said, "Jim, I believe you because if I didn't, I'd kill you myself." Then, my father recalls clearly, Grandfather and Jim Conley went out together for a drink.
That was all my father could remember.
"How is it, Daddy, that a black man would help someone dispose of a body?"
"Remember the times," my father said. "In those years, a black would do almost anything his boss told him to do. His life depended on whatever the white man decided. Hangings were taking place almost daily in the South. Jim Conley was a black man in Atlanta in 1913, one who could read and write, but more importantly, he was not simple. He was a man who would do what any man would do to stay alive: he would mix the truth with lies self-consciously, knowing full well that his life was at stake." My father shook his head. "He would give four different affidavits.
"Here was a man that knew he was walking on a red-hot bed of cinders. He knew that no matter which way he turned he would be burned. Conley returned to the pencil factory with the Atlanta detectives and showed them how he had found the body of little Mary in the metal room. How he had moved the body, tied up with some cloth, with the help of Leo Frank. How it took both of them to move her body to the elevator. Once in the basement, Conley said, he rolled the body out on the floor. Then he stated that Leo Frank went up the ladder, to be on alert for anyone coming into the factory."
Here I asked, "Does this explain why little Mary was dragged face down across the basement?"
"Yes," he said. "It seems logical in that one man could not carry her body without help. So, she was dragged."
"But, Daddy, why would Jim Conley do this knowing full well that he was now mixed up in the murder of little Mary? He must have felt that his actions could cost him his life."
"Jim Conley did know what he was doing, but there were two factors that outweighed his sense of righteousness: fear and money! Fear of the white man and greed for money. And this is what he later told my father when they met."
The last thing I wanted to know was a question that my father had asked his father over twenty years ago. "Why has the Phagan family taken a vow of silence?" "Grandmother Fannie made a request that everyone not talk to the newspapers. Her request was honored. It's that simple."
I thought over my father's words for quite some time. His was the Phagan family's story of little Mary Phagan.
It was some time before we sat down again to talk about the shadow of Mary Phagan and how her legacy had affected his life. But one summer morning my father sat down beside me wanting to talk about his grandmother—little Mary's mother.
"I recollect that many times I woke up in Grandmother Fannie's bed trying to figure out how I got there beside her. My grandmother and step-grandfather, I've been told, loved me very much, and they would come to our house and while I was asleep, would take me in their loving arms, and take me home with them.
"Their daughter, Billie, my aunt, would have been little Mary's half-sister. Billie was a teenager whom I remember as a beautiful girl, who showed me a lot of love and care. It was Billie's job to take care of me while I was staying with my grandparents. She was as firm as she was beautiful. To her I was a small brother. At lunch time, I was given the choice of a sandwich or soup. Billie would allow me to have mustard on my sandwich and to this day each time I eat a sandwich with mustard on it, I think of Billie.
"Grandfather Coleman had a small country store on AtlantaRoad in the 1930s [1930 Census Report; occupation listed as Merchant] with a gas pump, and one of my greatest pleasures was when I was turned loose in that treasure house and was allowed to have anything that I wanted. What treasures I saw in that country store! It can only be appreciated by another child. What to choose was the biggest problem I had to face in those early years, and sometimes I would spend a whole minute, which to me was a lifetime. Grandfather Coleman was always there to guide me and help me in making my choice. Over fifty years have passed but those days are vivid to me now as they were then.
"Grandmother Fannie was a very special person to me. I remember her talking to me about her daughter, little Mary. I could never understand why there were tears in her eyes when she talked about little Mary.
"It's very hard on a small child to watch one's grandmother cry and not being able to understand what's really going on. I took what I felt was the only course open to me: I put my arms around her and told her that I loved her. Then, more tears flowed, and she hugged me even harder."
My father stopped and sat, his chin in his hand, looking out the window. I could hear the calls of the birds clearly. "
Daddy," I said, "if you want to stop—"
"No," he said, "I don't want to stop." He went on.
"In 1937 my parents bought their first home in Atlanta, 760 Primrose Street Southwest. It had three bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, and dining room connected to it and one bathroom with no shower. My dad worked in the cotton mills as a weaver and my mother opened a hamburger, hot dog, and sandwich stand on the corner of Hunter and Butler Street which was only a half of a block from the 'big rock jail.' This was the same jail that Leo Frank was held in, known as 'The Tower.' I was a student at Slaton Grammar School, which was named after the father of the governor who had commuted Leo Frank's sentence to life imprisonment.
"Grandmother Fannie meant more and more to me as I was starting to understand what life is about. After all," his eyes twinkled, "it had to happen sometime! And the question was starting to come up, no matter where I was: 'Are you, by any chance, kin to little Mary Phagan?' "'Of course,' I replied every time, 'she was my aunt.' This generally resulted in more questions about little Mary. I would answer those questions the best I could from what I could remember from stories that I'd heard from members of my family. People would then relate them to me on what they had heard from their pasts. The one question they always asked was 'How did little Mary's mother take her daughter's death?' And this invariably brought a silence in the group of people around me. I came to understand that this question would cause adults to hang onto every word I said. And just as invariably I'd feel humongously sad as I tried to put into words how my grandmother felt. Time had not healed the loss of her daughter. And maybe it never would.
"Little Mary, you understand, was the youngest of five and because she was the last child, she was doted on by all, even her grandfather, W. J.
"Grandmother Fannie would describe to me how she would comb little Mary's hair and put it up in pigtails, dress her up in her finest clothes to go to church. A small child is always beautiful to its parents, but little Mary was really beautiful—and she was going to be a real beauty when she grew up. As she approached her teenage years, there was no doubt that she was going to be a beautiful young woman."
My father looked at me intently. "As I've said—and others have said—lots of times before: just like you."
A strange feeling began to rise inside me: a mixture of gratification—I'm as lovely as she was—pride—this is my inheritance—and apprehension. Not that I thought I'd meet the same fate as my namesake, of course, but I did wonder what reverberations there would be from our bond. The vow of silence notwithstanding, my name—and appearance—were already causing these reverberations.
I smiled at my father. "Whatever it is, I believe I can deal with it." He patted my shoulder and continued his memories.
"School was not mandatory back then, and all members of a family that were old enough to work in factories would do so. Money was not easy to come by. Little Mary did attend school and was a good student, according to my grandmother. She had a lively imagination and wanted all the things that any young girl wanted in those days: ribbons or a special comb for her hair. And while all monies went to help the family, her being the youngest allowed special favors.
"By the time I was eleven, I began to ask questions about my aunt. My best source of information was my father, William Joshua Phagan, Jr., who was known to the family as 'Little Josh.' " My father broke into a grin. "No one ever accused the Phagan's of being too tall. Anyway, I questioned him—as you're questioning me—about everything that had happened in those days. Tears would come to his eyes, too, and he would talk about his sister very slowly. They were only one year apart: he was born in January 1898, and little Mary was born in June 1899. He felt a lot of pride about being the older brother to his sister to whom he was a shining white knight. There were slow pauses. He took time to hold back his tears. I could feel the pain that he was experiencing—even though I didn't understand it then.
"Dad told me how Grandmother Fannie had everyone put on his or her best clothes for church on Sundays and how everyone had a hand in helping little Mary to dress up. How pretty she was and the pleasure it brought to see her dressed in her best clothes.
"I don't remember Ollie too well; we didn't visit too much in those days that dad worked for the cotton mills. However, when we visited it was usually for the whole weekend. What times those were! When the Phagan family got together it was like a picnic, with all the food and stuff that was on hand to eat."
I tried to picture the family gathering in my mind. I concentrated very hard. I wanted to visualize the Phagan's in a happy, relaxed atmosphere—playing, joking around, eating to their heart's content, and telling stories.
My father broke into my thoughts: "Before the first day was over, everyone would turn to the subject of little Mary. I would sit quietly and listen to the stories. Fascinated as I was, I could still feel the tension in the air as each would tell some small detail about little Mary. I came to know her not as an aunt but as a special person who had lost her life in a brutal attack by Leo Frank, who was convicted of that crime by a jury of his peers in a court of law in Fulton County, Georgia.
"Grandmother Fannie often told us about the death of her husband, William Joshua Phagan, who had fathered her five children. He had died in February 1899. Life in those days was really rough on a widow with children. Then she would talk about J.W. Coleman, whom she married in 1912. This was the man I was to know as my grandfather. Then the stories would turn back to little Mary. And the tension would start to build up again.
"Grandmother would usually start her story about that Saturday, Confederate Memorial Day, when little Mary had left home to go to town for her wages and to see the parade. She would tell about her new lavender dress and silver mesh bag that she carried, the ribbons in her hair and her parasol. The area they lived in then—the Bellwood subdivision of the Exposition cotton mill area—is only a memory today: it's where Ashby Street crosses Bankhead Avenue and Ashby goes on into Marietta Street.
"By the time Grandmother got to where little Mary took the English Avenue streetcar that was to take her downtown to the National Pencil Company, her tears were usually too much for her, and her story would come to a close, since she could no longer continue. Members of the family would quietly take grandmother into the house so that she could compose herself. This always left me in a state of confusion.
"Later, the war came. Great-uncle Ben was in the Navy." My father sighed. "The Phagan family, like the rest of the country, began to drift apart. The war began to push everything else to the rear of our minds. People were starting to work as many as six days a week. Family gathering was to become a thing of the past. But my family still spoke about little Mary, about how pretty she had been, and all. I felt for the first time in my life that I too had lost someone that was very real to me. For the first time I also came to feel what grief felt like.
"But gradually, there was less time for storytelling. My only source of information about little Mary then was my dad. He would still talk about his sister to me, but these talks got fewer and farther between—although his grief never diminished, and it was still hard for him to talk about little Mary.
"At the same time, my curiosity increased, since people would still ask me questions about little Mary. And there was still Fannie, too. Now more than ever, Grandmother would tell me stories about little Mary, how pretty she was and the hopes she had for her. Even today when I look at little Mary's picture, I can see that my grandmother was right about how pretty she was. I do believe that she would have grown into the beautiful woman that my grandmother expected her to be. The years had not stopped the pain and grief she felt, but perhaps they made them a little more bearable.
"In 1943, when I started junior high school, the old question was asked again: 'Are you, by any chance, kin to little Mary Phagan?' As I recall, the teacher was the first to ask, and then, as the week went on, children of my age would start to ask me questions that their families had asked them to ask me. Some even brought articles to school to show me.
One kid brought a record, a 78 RPM, that had 'The Ballad of Mary Phagan' on it.
Fiddlin' John CarsonColumbia Little Mary Phagan Record
Fiddling John Carson had written and recorded it.
I had heard people sing this song all my life, but this was the first time I had heard it on a record. Later in life, I was to come by this record for my family. My mother had bought an RCA radio and record player in the later thirties. I had a collection of records. We held onto the record for years but somehow it was finally lost. We still have that RCA radio and record player, you know. It's in the basement. It doesn't work anymore, but one day I'll probably restore it—just in case I should find that record again of little Mary Phagan. [Margaret Ann Vines whose family had the record gave it me and I presented it to my father framed like a Gold Record. I am now in possession of the record.]
"During the war years women had to work in the plants and shipyards and they became a vital part of the work force. My older sister, Annabelle, went to work in the shipyards in Portland, Oregon. Even my mother went to work at the Bell Bomb Plant in Marietta, Georgia. Her name, Mary Phagan, really started questions about little Mary all over again. The stories she told us kids generated a closer feeling again with little Mary.
"In 1944, Europe was invaded and that was the beginning of the end of the war there. I joined the Navy in July of 1945, and in August I was sent to boot camp in San Diego, California. My name preceded me in the Navy, because by then books had been written and even movies had been made of little Mary's murder. 'Death in the Deep South,' a fictional book about the murder and its after-math was made into a movie. The movie was called 'They Don't Forget,' and Lana Turner played the part of little Mary. But the names were changed. And the Phagan family remained silent.
"I had learned to play golf at Piedmont Park where I had worked as a caddie, and to my surprise, I was invited to play golf with a group of civilian and naval personnel. Then I found out why I'd been invited. They pelted me with questions about little Mary. What I thought about the case and how did the Phagan's feel about the way the public as a whole had treated us. I was only seventeen years old, but I was well versed in the way my family felt, and I managed to give fairly noncommittal replies.
"Later, when my shipmates on the U.S.S. Major DE796 began to ask me questions about little Mary, I turned out to be a storehouse of information on that subject, but again stayed noncommittal as to the family's feelings. I was to serve aboard another DE, the U.S.S. Fieberling, for about two years, until she was decommissioned.
"Grandmother Fannie passed away in 1947, while I was in the Navy. I made the trip home for her funeral. But when I arrived home, she had already been buried. She was laid to rest beside her daughter, little Mary Phagan. The peace she couldn't find in life she found, I hope, in death.
"Sometime later I met your mother in Chicago. The year was 1952. It was love at first sight!"
He leaned back in his chair, and his face was suffused in light. His smile was happy and tender. Things hadn't changed much as far as my parents' feelings for each other went.
"Anyway," he smiled, "at the time I was flying to London out of Warner Robbins Air Force Base in Macon. Being a Georgia boy from Atlanta, I went out of my way to meet all the civilian flight line mechanics at Warner Robbins in Macon. Depot bases use civilian flight line mechanics so that there will be a more stable work force.
"Little Mary had slipped to the back of my mind over the years. When the flight line mechanics learned my name, they began to question me about little Mary. Again, I was reminded of her. All the mechanics and other personnel made sure that I shared lunch with them. They all wanted to hear about little Mary Phagan. Most of them had stories that they had heard from their parents and grandparents to tell about little Mary. It was beginning to dawn on me that little Mary was more than just a passing fancy to Georgians of all walks of life. It was part of their history, like it or not, and they wanted to hear firsthand what the Phagan's felt and how they responded to their questions. Unknown to me at that time, this renewed interest in little Mary was to play a major role in the life of another little girl who would be born in June of 1954, but that was almost two years in the future.
James Edward Phagan, Sr., Filomena Mastandrea Wedding Photo
"Well, the wedding—and it was a huge one—was in 1953, and we spent our honeymoon in St. Augustine, Florida. Uncle Frank loaned us his car so that we could drive down. We were gone for about seven days, after which we started back to Chicago. The plan was to leave your mother until such time as I could find an apartment for us in Moses Lake, Washington State, where I'd been transferred.
"When I arrived back at Larson Air Force Base, I was informed that I had been selected to attend Flight Engineer School at Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, Illinois. Joy heaped upon joy and my cup runneth over! Your mother and I could be together after all! The school was to last for six months.
"We found an apartment near the University of Illinois, in Champaigne, Urbana. This break allowed us time to learn more about each other and how we would spend the years to come. "
It was about this time that the question was asked again about my name by other student Flight Engineers: 'Are you, by any chance, kin to little Mary Phagan?' I had not told your mother the story of little Mary.
"I was transferred back to the past again. How did my family feel, especially my grandmother? I had become used to these questions and without breaking stride, I would answer them and continue on with the story that had become a part of my life. I could never understand this interest in a murder that had happened way back in 1913, but of course, tragedy has a way of capturing the interest of its audience as the storyteller retells the story from firsthand information.
"As you well know," my father twinkled, "you were born in June of 1954. Phyllis, your sister, came along in 1956.
"By this time, I had accumulated over two thousand hours of flying in Alaska and was considered to be a cold weather expert. Personally, I've always felt that anyone who had flown in the Arctic and survived was a cold weather expert. We were now under a new command, the Military Air Transport Service; undoubtedly the best and biggest airlift armada in the world. We were redesignated the 62nd Military Airlift Wing on January 8, 1956, 'M.A.T.S., the Backbone of Deterrence.' It was our motto and creed.
"We were now flying all over the world, in all kinds of trouble spots where there was dire need for airlift. And once again, I found that my name rang bells with those people who were familiar with little Mary Phagan. I got all kinds of messages asking about her past and what relationship I was to her. They followed me wherever I flew, but more so when I was to fly in the South, where my family's history was well known.
"Your brother James was born in November 1957, during the Lebanon-Beirut troubles which our Wing was flying into.
"By the time you were about four years old, you bore a striking resemblance to your great-aunt, little Mary.
"In January 1959 I asked for reassignment and was assigned to the 1608 Military Air Transport Wing in Charleston, South Carolina. When we arrived in Charleston, I was assigned to the 17th Air Transport Squadron.
"The interest your name caused when we signed you up for kindergarten was unreal. People would come up to us and sing 'The Ballad of Mary Phagan.' They told me stories that I had never heard before. Then the questions would come: what relationship we were and how had our daughter been named for little Mary? They would say, 'My, what a pretty girl!' and 'She looks just like little Mary.' "Your brother Michael was born in September 1959, in Charleston.
Phagan Family Photo Taken in Tachikawa Japan Standing: James Phagan, Sr.; Filomena Phagan Sitting: Mary, Michael, Phyllis, Jimbo
Soon after that, we all went to Japan and Hawaii, and returned to the continental U.S. in 1964, to Charleston.
And it was there that Mr. Henry, your eighth-grade teacher, asked you if you were related to little Mary Phagan. That must have been pretty difficult for you, Mary."
I nodded, unable to speak.
"But I'm proud that you want to understand your heritage."
There are always two—or more—sides to everything. Clearly, the Phagan family believed in Leo Frank's guilt. But my father again encouraged me to research and investigate the facts for myself. He told me that the trial record spoke for itself. He also pointed out that for my own peace of mind I would have to interpret the facts myself to the best of my ability and to draw my own conclusions.
What was Atlanta really like in 1913? I still wondered: Did Leo Frank get a fair trial? Did the shouts that came through the open windows in the courtroom have any influence on the jury? Did his being Jewish affect the trial outcome? Why were twenty witnesses who were employed at the National Pencil Company not cross-examined by the defense as to Frank's lascivious conduct? Was Jim Conley the actual criminal?
These unanswered questions remained with me throughout my high school years. At the same time that my resolve to learn all I could about my great-aunt intensified, my aspirations as to a future career became both evident and important to me. I wanted to teach blind and visually impaired children. I began exploring opportunities. And my senior year was especially gratifying. Since I finished classes early in the day, I was allowed to leave campus for joint enrollment at a college or for employment, and my counselor, Mrs. Drury, had discovered that McLendon Elementary School, not far from the high school campus, would love to have me as a volunteer.
I spent ten hours a week at McLendon, and it made my mind up definitely: I was going to teach the blind and visually impaired.
The star in my crown that year was the award I received from the DeKalb County Rotary Clubs: the Youth Achievement Award. I was the very first recipient of this award, and the only disappointment was that my blind students couldn't read it. But I read it to them.
I'd applied to and been accepted at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida. I was to start classes in September, 1972.
And, yes, at that moment I hoped that the story of little Mary Phagan would be left behind.
So I consciously left the unanswered questions in Atlanta. But my subconscious was still busy with them, and they came with me to Florida, "haunting" me even as I was sleeping.
The Obituary of Lucille Selig (1888 - 1957) the wife of Leo Frank, published in Georgia's AC on Wednesday, April 24th, 1957.
Mary Phagan's Murder was Work of a Negro, Declares Leo M. Frank
Hooper described the state's case against Frank. According to his outline, Mary Phagan had died as a result of a premeditated rape by the defendant, Leo Frank. It was alleged that Frank had seduced and taken liberties with other young factory girls and had made unsuccessful advances to Mary Phagan. Several surviving family members have said that Frank harassed Mary Phagan and that she went home and told her mother. Several former National Pencil Company employees who are still living, but wish that their names not be disclosed, have also alleged that they heard Frank sexually harass Mary Phagan.
