WEBVTT

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Calpuder got call. News of the
gruesome discovery reached the police station about four

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o'clock Sunday morning, when the watchman
called over the telephone. Quote, send

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the police to the National Pencil Factory
right away. There's a dead girl down

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in the basement and she's been murdered
unquote. Two policemen and a reporter jumped

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into the automobile of Boots Rogers,
which stood at the front of the headquarters,

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and were rushed to the factory.
The watchman stood at the Forsyth Street

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entrance holding a lantern. He was
trembling, his teeth chattering, and he

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was visibly excited. Quote she's down
the basement. I'm scared to go.

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You all go first. I'll show
you the way unquote. The building was

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dark and been deserted. The footsteps
of the policemen echoed from floor to floor,

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creating an uncanny sound that sent chills
down the spine. The watchman led

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the way to a small cubby hole
near the entrance, just wide enough to

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admit a human body, and through
which a ladder projected. As the policemen

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pushed their way through the inky blackness, the night watchman chattered fearfully quote,

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look out, white folks, you'll
step on her. Unquote. He was

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able to readily locate the position of
the body. His wild and excited manner

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instantly roused suspicion. When the body
was found, the limbs had not grown

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rigid, and the crimson mass over
the wound in the head was still moist.

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She had been placed in a corner
of the basement, evidently with the

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intention of concealment, face downward.
The form, partly covered by saldust and

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shavings, was barely discernible from a
distance. In the meager light shed by

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the lantern, the body was hidden
completely from view. The night watchman and

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custody of a uniformed officer and under
arrest, was carried to the office on

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the third floor. A thorough search
was made of the basement. Two notes

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were found, One lay within three
feet of the corpse, the other some

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distance away. Both were plainly in
view and lay upon the sawdust flooring.

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A man's handkerchief crimson with blood but
with no identifying marks, was discovered near

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the first note. The victim's handkerchief
was found in the trash pile forty feet

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away from the spot where lay the
body. The hat and parasol were hidden

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in the pit of the elevator shaft. No marks of identification were found upon

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the dead girl. Her mesh bag, containing a few dollars in change,

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was missing and has not yet been
found. A plain gold bracelet adorned her

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left wrist. It was splotched with
blood and was bent and battered. A

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girl's signet ring engraved with the lone
letter W was upon the little finger of

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the right hand. The problem of
identifying the slain girl confronted the police.

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Rogers, in whose car they were
rushed to the scene, volunteered to go

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for miss Grace Hicks, an employee
of the pencil factory, with whom he

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was acquainted, and to bring her
to the place and hope that she might

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recognize the body. Miss Hicks was
found at her home. She got out

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of bed at six o'clock, dressed, and came with Rogers to town.

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Instantly she viewed the corpse. Instantly
she viewed the corpse. She swooned.

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Upon being rev she said, she
is Mary Fagin. She and I have

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been working at the same machine.
She was the best girl I ever knew,

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and a pure child never lived.
True crime historian presents yesterday's news tales

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of classic scandals, scoundrels, and
scourges told from historic newspapers in the golden

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age of yellow journalism. Episode one
hundred and eighty three tells of one of

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the most famous cases of an innocent
man wrongly accused. When a teenage factory

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girl is found dead in the basement
of an Atlanta pencil manufacturer. The blame

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falls onto the mild manner Jewish superintendent
of the plant, and the jury takes

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the word of a drunken janitor.
It'll take seventy years for the truth to

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come out. I'm true crime historian
Richard O. Jones, and I give

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you mob justice for Leo Frank The
murder of Mary Fagan, Atlanta, Georgia,

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April twenty eighth, nineteen thirteen.
While her mother and father anxiously awaited

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her return home Saturday night, pretty
fourteen year old Mary Fagan lay dead in

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a corner of the dark basement of
the National Pencil Factory at thirty seven thirty

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nine South Forsyth Street, the victim
of an atrocious murder following a brutal criminal

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assault. Her skull crushed and her
neck horribly bruised where she had been choked

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to death. The body was found
at four o'clock Sunday morning, several hours

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after the crime had been committed,
and was unidentified until the arrival of a

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girl worker. Two suspects are under
arrest. One is Arthur Mullenax, formerly

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a street car conductor. The other
is Newt Lee, night watchman of the

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factory building, who found the body
and notified police headquarters. He stoutly maintains

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innocence. Detectives believe he was implicated
in the crime. A confession from him

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is expected to lead to the girl
slayer or slayers. She was an employee

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in the pencil factory, but had
resigned last Thursday. She was the daughter

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of missus J. W. Coleman, one forty six Lindsay Street. Her

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mother was prostrated with grief Sunday morning, and although physicians worked over her throughout

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the day, her condition was precarious. Last night. Two notes were found

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near the body. Although they purport
to have been written by the dead girl,

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the handwriting has not been recognized as
hers. It resembles, however,

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that of the imprisoned night watchman.
The theory of detectives is that Both were

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written to mislead the police. One
note was penciled on an order blank of

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the factory. It read quote that
negro higher down here did this. He

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pushed me down that hole. A
long tall negro black that did it worked,

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long, lean, tall Negro.
I write to people with me.

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It was coherent and hardly legible.
The second was written on ordinary tablet paper.

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It read quote he said he would
love me unquote. The rest of

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the note fails to make sense.
Neither note was signed. The pretty victim

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was first choked into insensibility, then
beaten upon the head with a blunt instrument.

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She was horribly bruised and lacerated upon
the face. Both eyes were blackened

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and swollen. The hands and fingers
were distorted, showing the agony in which

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she had died. She was attired
in a fresh summer frock of pink,

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trimmed in lace, and wore silk
stockings. A big bow of baby ribbon

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was caught in the single strand of
hair arranged girlish fashioned down her back.

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The clothing was torn and bloody.
Her pink parasol was found near the trap

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door through which the body had been
lowered. A missing shoe and a bloody

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handkerchief were found in a trash pile
near the boiler in the basement. Following

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an investigation by members of the coroner's
staff, the body was removed to the

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Bloomfield Undertaking establishment on South Pryor Street. Detectives are searching for a trio of

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men said to have been seen with
Miss Fagan Saturday night, about ten o'clock

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e s. Skipper said that he
had seen a girl answering in the exact

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description of the victim, walking up
Pryor Street with three men, apparently youths.

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She was reeling slightly, as though
affected by drugs or narcotics, and

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was weeping at the intersection of Trinity
Avenue. She attempted to continue up Pryor

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Street in the direction of Garnett,
but was caught by one of her companions,

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who turned her steps toward Whitehall Street
on Trinity Avenue. Skipper's attention was

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attracted by the girl's tears and unwillingness
to accompany the men. She strove to

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resist them, he said, but
appeared feeble. She did not seem intoxicated,

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he said, but sick and weak. The watchman was brought to the

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basement. His story was to the
effect that he entered through the cubby hole

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at three fifteen o'clock on an hourly
round. Usually, he said, he

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went into the basement, but seldom
at the time the body was discovered.

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He did not intend to go through
the place, but only half way,

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going into a toilet, which is
situated some twenty feet from the recess in

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which the body was discovered. He
says he remained therein for several minutes,

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leaving his lantern sitting outside. Upon
emerging, he declares, the light fell

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upon the partly hidden form of the
dead girl. Elevating his lantern, the

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man peered more closely at the object. Gradually he discerned in the dim,

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weird light, the outlines of a
human form. Thinking someone was trying to

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play and prank on him, he
advanced upon the body, still suspecting a

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joke. He reached down and caught
an arm in his hand, who was

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limp inhuman. He screamed and fled
for the latter leading to the first floor.

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He declared he had heard no screams
at any time of the night,

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and that no one of his knowledge
had entered the building since the closing hour.

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He stated further that he had made
hourly inspections of the building. Lee

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is a middle aged black man,
thick lipped and hazy eyed. All during

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the day he was nervous and irritable. He is married and had been at

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work with the pencil factory for only
three weeks. The charge against him at

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police headquarters is suspicion, under which
he will be detained until the mystery is

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cleared. He was forced to show
his discovery in panamime. All lights were

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cut out in the basement, The
single entrance to the rear was shut tight,

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and the only illumination was the lantern
he carried. At the time,

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a detective was stretched upon the spot
where the body was found, while a

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small assemblage of detectives, police officials
and reporters stood about the basement and hushed

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groups. The night watchman alone descended
the ladder from his cubby hole, swinging

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his lantern. His step was faulty
and he missed a lower rung. Slowly

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and deliberately, he walked to the
closet, sitting the lantern outside the small

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enclosure he entered, Emerging quickly,
the rays of light barely fell upon the

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form of the detective lying in the
sawdust. It was barely distinguishable. The

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watchman picked up the light held at
aloft and peered at the prostrate sleuth,

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and exactly the manner he had previously
described. With wavering step, he advanced

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upon the spot, caught the detective's
wrist in a tremulous hand and said,

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quote there now, why, folks, that's exactly how it happened. Unquote.

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The belief of detectives is that the
girl was drugged before being carried into

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the factory. Before returning home as
she intended, they believe she met with

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one or more acquaintances, presumably men
acquainted with the pencil plant. She was

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enticed away. It is advanced,
drugged, as is shown by Skipper's story,

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and led in the direction of Forsyth
Street. It has suggested that she

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was lured into the building from the
Forsyth Street entrance. The deed apparently was

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committed either upon the first or second
floor. No blood or marks of a

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scuffle can be found, however,
on either. When the girl resisted the

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efforts of her captors, she was
choked into submission. The garrote with which

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she was choked were two strips torn
from her underclothing and knotted together. She

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was a strong girl in an undoubtedly
fought tigerishly. Doctor John W. Hurt,

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who performed the examination upon the body, asserted his opinion that it was

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a task for more than one man
to overpower her, which to a degree

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substantiates the theory that there were more
than one connected with the crime. Criminal

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assault was committed upon the victim,
such as the opinion of detectives and medical

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experts, the deed committed, according
to the theory of the police. The

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fiends, anxious to seal their victim's
lips forever, choked her to death,

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made sure she was dead by a
blow of the head, then secreted her

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corpse in the cellar. The body
was lowered through the hole by a rope

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found looped around the girl's neck.
This also was a task for more than

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one man. Her weight was estimated
at one hundred and fifty pounds or more.

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The form was dragged a distance of
one hundred feet from the latter to

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the recess upon on the face.
The trail was made in sawdust, showing

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the path made by the body.
The rear door leading to an alleyway to

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which entrance is gained from West Hunter
Street was forced open. The staple holding

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the lock was prized off. The
murders, upon ridding themselves of the body,

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were too frightened to return upstairs and
to emerge from the factory through the

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Forsyth Street entrance. Instead, they
fled through the safer exit in the rear

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of the building. The mystery is
baffling. Chief Beavers, in a talk

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to each of the three police watches, instructed every man of his uniform department

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to lend his every effort in running
down Miss Fagin's slayers. A small army

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of detectives have been assigned to the
case. Never before has such a dastardly

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crime stirred this city. All day
Sunday, one thousands flocked to the undertaking

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establishment to view the dead girl.
In every respect, it is one of

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the most horrible crimes of local police
record. April twenty ninth, nineteen thirteen.

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Despite the fact that four suspects in
the Mary Fagan case are held at

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police station, the detective department is
not satisfied and the city is being scoured

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for evidence that will lead to the
arrest of the guilty party. Last night,

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the Pickerton Detective Department was engaged by
Leo M. Frank, president of

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the National Pencil Company, to aid
the local officers in the search for the

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man responsible for the brutal murder committed
Sunday morning and the plant of his company

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on Forsyth Street. All day Monday, detectives worked diligently for evidence which would

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throw light upon the mysterious killing,
and when night came, they were baffled.

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The most careful investigation failed to show
that anyone had seen the girl since

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she left the factory where she drew
her pay Saturday afternoon. Several people said

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that they thought they had seen her, but none were positive. All the

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evidence, too proved the good character
of the victim. Members of her family,

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neighbors, and her fellow workers united
in paying tribute to her good qualities,

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desperately striving to force the confession that
he is the murderer of Mary Fagan.

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Third degree Experts of police headquarters labored
until midnight Monday with John M.

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Gant, the young bookkeeper arrested in
Marietta yesterday afternoon on the direct charge of

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murder. He stoutly protests his innocence, quote, I was at home Saturday

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night by ten o'clock in bed and
asleep. Unquote. Mary Perk, a

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girl and employee of the pencil factory, said Monday that she had often heard

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gossip concerning Gant's infatuation for the Fagan
girl. The watchman told detectives that Gant

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had remained in the factory building twenty
or thirty minutes Saturday night while searching for

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the shoes. Lee said he had
gone to the office on the second floor

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and talked over the telephone in low
tones with a girl or a woman.

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The conversation was a lengthy one,
the watchman declares. Another phase was added

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to the tragedy when a sleeping couch
was discovered in the basement which the girl's

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mutilated body was found. It is
an improvised couch constructed of boxes and covered

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with a number of cracker and towsacs. Recent tracks of a woman's shoe were

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found nearby in the sawdust flooring.
The murder evidently occurred upon the first or

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second floors. Strands of bloody hair
of a shade comparing with the hair of

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the dead girl, were found on
a lathe machine on the second floor.

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The instrument was also splotched with crimson. Because of the intense feeling and excitement

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naturally prevailing among the hundreds of female
employees of the plant, The management Monday

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morning deemed it prudent to shut down
for the day. The doors were closed

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00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:23.039
and a policeman stationed at both the
Forsyth and Hunter Street entrances until dusk.

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00:19:23.559 --> 00:19:30.240
Large crowds of the morbidly curious flocked
around the place, discussing the murder and

204
00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:36.039
seeking entrance to the basement in which
the corpse was discovered. The only persons

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00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:40.759
allowed in the basement, however,
were those who accompanied the coroner's jury on

206
00:19:40.839 --> 00:19:45.839
its tour of investigation. Early Monday
morning, Coroner Donaho, after impaneling a

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00:19:45.960 --> 00:19:52.200
jury, postponed the hearing until detectives
were able to gather more definite evidence.

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00:19:52.240 --> 00:19:57.319
Missus Coleman, mother of the slang
girl, although not entirely recovered from the

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00:19:57.359 --> 00:20:03.559
shock of Sunday, as much improved
Monday, she was feeble and had to

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00:20:03.559 --> 00:20:07.559
be confined to her home. Pleading
with her husband to escort her to the

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00:20:07.640 --> 00:20:12.160
undertaking establishment of viewer daughter's corpse,
she insisted that she be carried there.

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00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:17.720
Her physician would not permit. It
is thought, however, that she will

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00:20:17.759 --> 00:20:22.599
be able to attend the funeral today. Throughout Sunday and Monday, neighborhood friends

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00:20:22.599 --> 00:20:29.279
of the bereaved families flocked to the
modest little home on Lindsay Street, consoling

215
00:20:29.319 --> 00:20:33.519
the parents and brothers and sisters of
the dead girl. For a time Sunday

216
00:20:33.559 --> 00:20:38.440
afternoon and early that night, fears
were felt for the safety of the watchmen

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00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:44.720
suspected of complicity in the crime.
Reports that a mob of white men was

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00:20:44.759 --> 00:20:49.039
being formed caused Chief Beavers to hold
a reserve of a half hundred mounted policeman

219
00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:55.359
in headquarters until late at night.
The only trouble encountered, however, was

220
00:20:55.400 --> 00:21:00.319
by Chief Landford Detective Starns in black
boots, rogers dry of the automobile in

221
00:21:00.359 --> 00:21:04.720
which the sleuths visited the factory,
and a reporter who accompanied the party.

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00:21:06.200 --> 00:21:11.640
It occurred shortly after daybreak. A
large crowd of men and boys were drawn

223
00:21:11.720 --> 00:21:15.599
to the pencil factory. The man
was being taken from headquarters to the scene

224
00:21:15.599 --> 00:21:19.920
of the crime. When he came
from the building was placed in an automobile.

225
00:21:21.160 --> 00:21:26.079
Threatening remarks came from the crowd that
thronged around the machine. He ought

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00:21:26.079 --> 00:21:29.680
to be lynched, said a heavy
set man who edged close to the rear

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00:21:29.759 --> 00:21:33.400
seat in which sat the detective chief
in the prisoner. Yes, said another,

228
00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:37.839
and I'd help do it. The
engines were running, Starns and Black

229
00:21:37.880 --> 00:21:42.279
had not climbed into the machine.
Landford called to Rogers to hurry away.

230
00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:48.160
Without waiting for the two detectives or
the reporter. The machine rushed down Forsyth

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00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:53.240
Street, equipped with evidence indicating that
Mary Fagan was the victim of a white

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00:21:53.279 --> 00:21:59.640
slavery plot that was foiled only by
her brutal murder. Detectives have turned their

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00:21:59.680 --> 00:22:04.839
investigation to an entirely new phase of
the baffling mystery. Police headquarters has been

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00:22:04.839 --> 00:22:11.880
informed of a garishly attired woman seen
shortly before midnight Saturday, in company with

235
00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:17.880
two youths and a reeling, weeping
girl answering the dead girl's description convincingly.

236
00:22:18.599 --> 00:22:22.279
They were seen at Alabama and Forsyth
Streets, only a short distance from the

237
00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:27.559
building in which Mary Fagin was murdered. The girl was sobbing and was being

238
00:22:27.640 --> 00:22:33.680
led by the mysterious woman. The
two youths followed close behind, murmuring coaxing

239
00:22:33.720 --> 00:22:38.240
words in her ear. The woman
was saying, come along now, dearie,

240
00:22:38.279 --> 00:22:42.680
don't create a scene. You're attracting
the cops. The girl was sobbing.

241
00:22:42.759 --> 00:22:48.000
I don't care, I don't care. The strange quartet turned down Forsyth

242
00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:53.240
Street in the direction of the Pencil
Factory. They disappeared in the darkness of

243
00:22:53.279 --> 00:23:37.200
the plant building. April thirtieth,
nineteen thirteen. Sitting alone in the detective's

244
00:23:37.240 --> 00:23:44.400
office at headquarters, Leo Frank,
the factory president, and Lee the night

245
00:23:44.519 --> 00:23:49.559
watchman, conferred for an hour shortly
before midnight. The conference was made at

246
00:23:49.559 --> 00:23:55.079
the request of detectives. It was
believed Frank would be able to wring a

247
00:23:55.119 --> 00:24:00.279
confession from the night watchman. At
midnight, he returned from the room quote,

248
00:24:00.599 --> 00:24:04.200
I can't get a thing out of
him. He tells the same story

249
00:24:04.240 --> 00:24:12.920
over and over unquote. Detectives Harry
K. Scott and John Black emerge tired

250
00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:18.720
and sweating from a grueling third degree
of three hours to which Leo M.

251
00:24:18.759 --> 00:24:25.640
Frank and the night watchmen were subjected
yesterday afternoon, and made an announcement to

252
00:24:25.799 --> 00:24:32.039
reporters. Quote, we have sufficient
evidence to convict the murderers of Mary Fagan.

253
00:24:32.480 --> 00:24:38.119
More arrests will be made before daybreak. The mystery is cleared. Unquote.

254
00:24:38.279 --> 00:24:44.480
Neither of the detectives would give names. Chief Lanford said, however,

255
00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:51.119
that the crime lay between the night
watchmen and the factory president. Chief Beavers

256
00:24:51.160 --> 00:24:55.720
would not commit himself. Quote,
I am satisfied with the progress we have

257
00:24:55.880 --> 00:25:03.119
made unquote, were his only words. Rank firmly denies guilt. He expresses

258
00:25:03.240 --> 00:25:08.079
confidence that he will be released this
afternoon. Quote. I'll admit that I

259
00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:12.440
was alone in the building from four
o'clock until six. I was working on

260
00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:17.480
the office books and reports, though
no one else was in the place.

261
00:25:17.640 --> 00:25:22.480
That's positive, I'll swear it.
I would hardly have recognized Mary Fagan had

262
00:25:22.519 --> 00:25:27.039
we met on the street. Unquote. His chief defense, he Avers will

263
00:25:27.039 --> 00:25:32.839
be his alibis to prove his whereabouts
during the hours of Saturday and Sunday morning,

264
00:25:33.240 --> 00:25:37.000
except the space of time between four
and six thirty o'clock. Quote.

265
00:25:37.079 --> 00:25:41.319
I was with two of the plant's
mechanics until four o'clock. They left at

266
00:25:41.319 --> 00:25:47.079
that time. The Negro watchman Lee
showed up. Just about four o'clock.

267
00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:51.680
I had prepared to go to the
ballgame. It was cold and dreary and

268
00:25:51.720 --> 00:25:55.119
looked like rain. I had a
lot of work to do in the office.

269
00:25:55.319 --> 00:25:57.960
It needed me more than the ballgame, so I decided to remain at

270
00:25:59.000 --> 00:26:03.559
the factory. Saturday afternoon was half
holiday. When the watchman showed up,

271
00:26:03.599 --> 00:26:07.079
there was no need for him around
the place while I was there. He

272
00:26:07.119 --> 00:26:11.200
deserved holiday too. I told him, you can go out and knock around

273
00:26:11.279 --> 00:26:17.839
until six o'clock. At six o'clock
he reappeared. Dance showed up about that

274
00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:22.039
time, hunting his shoes. I
gave him permission to go into the building

275
00:26:22.079 --> 00:26:26.119
and referred him to the night watchman. At six thirty o'clock. I went

276
00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:30.119
directly home and remained there until I
heard the discovery of Miss Fagin's body.

277
00:26:30.519 --> 00:26:36.319
Detective Starns called me over the telephone
about six a m. He came out

278
00:26:36.400 --> 00:26:41.240
for me in an automobile. I
went immediately to the factory. Unquote Frank's

279
00:26:41.279 --> 00:26:45.839
first act after viewing the corpse was
to nail up the door which had been

280
00:26:45.880 --> 00:26:52.440
broken open in the basement, presumably
by the girl's slayers. Quote. I

281
00:26:52.480 --> 00:26:56.079
am not guilty. Such an atrocious
crime has never entered my mind. I

282
00:26:56.119 --> 00:27:00.359
am a man of good character,
and I have a wife. I'm a

283
00:27:00.359 --> 00:27:04.079
home loving and god fearing man.
They will discover that it is useless to

284
00:27:04.160 --> 00:27:08.960
detain me unless for investigation than for
information I might be able to give.

285
00:27:10.480 --> 00:27:14.960
Unquote. He was twenty nine years
old and had been married to an Atlanta

286
00:27:15.039 --> 00:27:19.200
girl of his own Jewish faith about
two years. He was born in Texas,

287
00:27:19.279 --> 00:27:22.119
but his parents moved to Brooklyn,
New York, when Frank was but

288
00:27:22.200 --> 00:27:27.240
a few months old. He is
graduate of Cornell. His father had been

289
00:27:27.279 --> 00:27:33.519
a traveling salesman. Frank was a
small stockholder in the pencil concern. It

290
00:27:33.559 --> 00:27:37.079
had been his habit to go to
the factory on holidays to catch up with

291
00:27:37.160 --> 00:27:41.440
his office work. So far as
he knew, he was alone in the

292
00:27:41.480 --> 00:27:45.240
factory at the time of Mary Fagan's
arrival, except for two workmen who were

293
00:27:45.240 --> 00:27:51.160
doing some work on the fourth floor. Frank stated that he was not surprised

294
00:27:51.160 --> 00:27:56.079
when the detectives came to arrest him
Tuesday afternoon. Quote. I had been

295
00:27:56.160 --> 00:28:00.400
expecting it. I knew I would
possibly be able to render information that would

296
00:28:00.480 --> 00:28:06.160
lead to the real murderers. He
was taken into custody shortly before noon.

297
00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:11.839
Detective Starns and Black found him in
the offices of the pencil plant. He

298
00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:18.119
willingly submitted and was rushed to the
headquarters in the automobile of Chief Beavers immediately

299
00:28:18.200 --> 00:28:22.599
upon arriving there. He was locked
in the office of Chief Landford with Pinkerton

300
00:28:22.680 --> 00:28:29.000
Detective Scott Landford, Chief Beavers and
other police experts for three hours. He

301
00:28:29.119 --> 00:28:33.359
was grilled and questioned. The watchman
was interrogated at the same time and in

302
00:28:33.440 --> 00:28:40.680
the presence of Frank. Frank is
a small, wiry man, wearing eyeglasses

303
00:28:40.720 --> 00:28:45.559
of high lens power. He is
nervous and apparently high strung. He smokes

304
00:28:45.599 --> 00:28:52.920
incessantly and stuffed a pocket with cigars
upon leaving for police headquarters at the arrest.

305
00:28:52.359 --> 00:28:56.920
His dress is neat and he is
a fluent talker, polite and suave.

306
00:28:59.160 --> 00:29:02.799
The doors had been locked behind him
during the third degree no more than

307
00:29:02.880 --> 00:29:08.440
thirty minutes when Attorney Luther Rosser,
Council retained by the Factory President, appeared

308
00:29:08.480 --> 00:29:14.160
at police station. As he started
to climb the steps leading from the second

309
00:29:14.200 --> 00:29:18.759
floor to the detective's quarters in the
third story, he was checked by Policeman

310
00:29:18.839 --> 00:29:22.119
John W. West, who had
been stationed at that point with orders to

311
00:29:22.200 --> 00:29:26.880
admit no one upstairs. The attorney
was told you can't go up there.

312
00:29:27.519 --> 00:29:32.440
Mister Rosser replied, I will go. I want to see mister Frank.

313
00:29:33.160 --> 00:29:36.960
He was told, you'll have to
get permission from the chief. I've orders

314
00:29:37.000 --> 00:29:41.079
to admit no one. The lawyer
left in an angry state. Within a

315
00:29:41.079 --> 00:29:47.240
few minutes, he communicated with Chief
Beavers over telephone. The chief assured him

316
00:29:47.240 --> 00:29:49.640
that he would be admitted to the
building and even to the room in which

317
00:29:49.640 --> 00:29:55.920
his client was being interrogated. When
mister Rosser later came into the presence of

318
00:29:55.960 --> 00:30:00.799
Frank's questioners, a stormy scene ensued
between him and Chief Beavers. Sounds of

319
00:30:00.839 --> 00:30:06.559
hot words came through the closed door
and attracted a large crowd of detectives and

320
00:30:06.640 --> 00:30:11.599
reporters. The lawyer was heard to
say, quote, I've got my opinion

321
00:30:11.640 --> 00:30:15.400
of how a chief of police should
conduct himself. I had a perfect right

322
00:30:15.480 --> 00:30:18.799
to be admitted by that policeman downstairs, the right as a citizen and as

323
00:30:18.839 --> 00:30:23.039
a lawyer. He told me he
had orders to keep me down here.

324
00:30:23.319 --> 00:30:27.880
He even called my name. Said
the chief, I've got my opinion too,

325
00:30:29.000 --> 00:30:32.960
of how a police department should be
run. I did not give instructions

326
00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:36.640
to keep you from this office.
I ordered that the crowd be kept away.

327
00:30:37.640 --> 00:30:41.799
The lawyer retorted, I wasn't crowded. Was I. Soon the argument

328
00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:48.160
was over and better feeling prevailed.
During the course of the questioning, Detective

329
00:30:48.240 --> 00:30:52.880
Scott, who was an operative of
the Pinkertons, began interrogating Frank. The

330
00:30:52.960 --> 00:30:59.000
Pinkertons were employed on the murder Monday
night by the National Pencil Company. Through

331
00:30:59.079 --> 00:31:03.839
the suspected present. Frank turned upon
the Pinkerton man, you're acting mighty funny.

332
00:31:03.880 --> 00:31:07.799
You were hired by me, if
you remember, why should you ask

333
00:31:07.880 --> 00:31:11.240
me such questions? He answered,
quote, I was put on the case

334
00:31:11.279 --> 00:31:15.720
by my superiors. They were employed
to catch the murderer. That's what I

335
00:31:15.759 --> 00:31:19.680
was instructed to do. If you
are the murderer, then it's my duty

336
00:31:19.759 --> 00:31:25.480
to convict you unquote. At the
close of the third degree, Frank was

337
00:31:25.559 --> 00:31:30.440
nervous and plainly agitated. He clung
to the arm of friends as they ascended

338
00:31:30.440 --> 00:31:34.440
the three flights of steps to the
prison. A charge of suspicion was entered

339
00:31:34.440 --> 00:31:40.079
against him. He first was locked
in a cell. Later a guard was

340
00:31:40.079 --> 00:31:45.559
placed over him and he was removed
to the detective's quarters. While her husband

341
00:31:45.640 --> 00:31:49.559
was being sweated by the detectives.
Missus Frank, the beautiful young wife of

342
00:31:49.599 --> 00:31:56.319
the factory president, tearful and anxious
came to police headquarters. She was accompanied

343
00:31:56.319 --> 00:32:01.599
by friends. Denied admission to the
floor on which her husband sat, She

344
00:32:01.720 --> 00:32:07.640
was led, weeping bitterly, into
the probation officer's room. She did not

345
00:32:07.880 --> 00:32:13.599
remain long. She left before the
third degree was finished, and never returned.

346
00:32:14.359 --> 00:32:17.559
Frank was unaware of her presence at
the police station. She had been

347
00:32:17.599 --> 00:32:24.119
notified of his arrest by friends,
who summoned her over telephone. Detectives predicted

348
00:32:24.160 --> 00:32:29.960
the collapse of the watchman throughout the
day. He plainly showed the effect of

349
00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:36.480
two days of terror experienced in one
continuous round of interrogation. His nerves were

350
00:32:36.559 --> 00:32:42.759
shattered. He trembled fearfully and apparently
verged on her breakdown. It is said

351
00:32:42.759 --> 00:32:46.839
that the arrest of Frank resulted from
evidence dropped by the watchman. At four

352
00:32:46.880 --> 00:32:52.960
a m. He was awakened in
a cell and questioned grillingly by Detective Black

353
00:32:52.640 --> 00:32:59.920
from then on the day was one
of incessant interrogation. Specimens of the man

354
00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:06.960
Ann's handwriting, according to microscopic examinations
of handwriting experts, compare favorably with that

355
00:33:07.119 --> 00:33:12.359
of the notes found beside the victim's
body. Chief Lanford said Monday night,

356
00:33:12.440 --> 00:33:16.200
that he had abandoned the theory that
Gant was implicated in the crime. He

357
00:33:16.319 --> 00:33:22.039
was merely a victim of circumstantial evidence, and he is believed to be entirely

358
00:33:22.119 --> 00:33:37.400
guiltless. May thirtieth, nineteen thirteen, in a grueling three hour third degree

359
00:33:37.440 --> 00:33:44.920
at police headquarters, James Conley,
the pencil factory sweeper, said that he

360
00:33:44.960 --> 00:33:50.759
wrote the murder notes at Leo Frank's
dictation at one o'clock on the Saturday of

361
00:33:50.880 --> 00:33:57.759
Mary Fagan's disappearance, in an effort
to confront the suspected pencil plant superintendent with

362
00:33:57.799 --> 00:34:02.680
this acknowledgment. Chief b V Chief
Landford and Harry Scott of the Pinkertons took

363
00:34:02.759 --> 00:34:07.920
the sweeper to the tower at eight
o'clock, where they tried to gain admission

364
00:34:07.960 --> 00:34:14.480
to Frank's cell. Sheriff Mangum refused
entrance unless permitted by Frank. When word

365
00:34:14.599 --> 00:34:17.519
came to him that the police chiefs
and the Pinkerton man desired to confront him

366
00:34:17.559 --> 00:34:23.079
with Conley, the prisoner positively refused
them an audience, declaring he would have

367
00:34:23.159 --> 00:34:29.960
to first consult his counsel, attorney
Luther Rosser. Conley is said to have

368
00:34:30.039 --> 00:34:35.920
minutely described the movements of himself and
Frank as they packed the mutilated form from

369
00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:39.519
the office floor of the building down
into the dark cellar, where it was

370
00:34:39.599 --> 00:34:45.440
left in the desolate recess in which
it was discovered the following morning, saying

371
00:34:45.519 --> 00:34:50.320
he had found the girl stone dead
when he entered the building at one fifteen

372
00:34:50.360 --> 00:34:55.199
o'clock with the suspected Superintendent, Conley
is declared to have admitted that he and

373
00:34:55.360 --> 00:35:02.440
Frank proceeded immediately to remove the corpse
violently and with utmost precaution to its hiding

374
00:35:02.480 --> 00:35:07.880
place in the basement. Through fear, He states he did not ask his

375
00:35:07.920 --> 00:35:12.639
employer how the little girl met her
death. He is said to have told

376
00:35:12.679 --> 00:35:16.840
the police that he asked no questions, carried out Frank's instructions to the letter,

377
00:35:17.239 --> 00:35:22.760
and departed directly after he emerged from
the gruesome trip into the basement.

378
00:35:23.320 --> 00:35:30.119
The girl's body was found crumpled in
a heap, gashed and distorted, secreted

379
00:35:30.199 --> 00:35:34.559
on the second floor. He is
said to have confessed during the examination.

380
00:35:35.239 --> 00:35:39.360
When he arrived with Frank in the
building, Frank said but few words,

381
00:35:39.400 --> 00:35:44.800
the man is averred to have told, but helped to carry the corpse to

382
00:35:44.880 --> 00:35:58.760
its place of discovery beneath the factory. July twenty eighth, nineteen thirteen,

383
00:36:00.840 --> 00:36:06.159
with a swiftness which was gratifying to
counsel for the Defense, the Solicitor General,

384
00:36:06.400 --> 00:36:10.280
and a large crowd of interested spectators, the trial of Leo M.

385
00:36:10.440 --> 00:36:15.960
Frank, charged with the murder of
Mary Fagin on April twenty sixth has gotten

386
00:36:16.039 --> 00:36:22.280
under way. The first day's proceedings
proved singularly free of the dramatic element or

387
00:36:22.360 --> 00:36:29.360
the unexpected and testimony. There were
touches of the pathetic, as for example,

388
00:36:29.400 --> 00:36:32.079
when missus J. W. Coleman, mother of the dead child,

389
00:36:32.480 --> 00:36:37.679
broke down and cried bitterly when she
viewed the clothing of her little daughter.

390
00:36:37.480 --> 00:36:42.199
And there were touches of humor when
the little EPs boy, who had ridden

391
00:36:42.199 --> 00:36:45.480
to town with Mary Fagan on the
day of her murder, explained to Luther

392
00:36:45.679 --> 00:36:51.400
Rosser his method of telling the time
of day by the sun, and of

393
00:36:51.480 --> 00:36:57.400
Newt Lee, who amused the courtroom
by his quaint illusions and his descriptions of

394
00:36:57.440 --> 00:37:00.800
a tiny light in the basement of
the pencil face, which he likened to

395
00:37:00.840 --> 00:37:06.599
the gleam of a lightning bug,
and of his quick retort when mister Rosser

396
00:37:06.719 --> 00:37:12.639
purposely spoke of this insect as a
junebug, I didn't say junebug, I

397
00:37:12.719 --> 00:37:19.119
said lightning bug contradicted Newt. When
the hour of nine o'clock arrived, Pryor

398
00:37:19.239 --> 00:37:23.599
Street in front of the temporary courthouse
building was cluttered with the usual mob of

399
00:37:23.639 --> 00:37:30.239
the morbidly curious. They hugged the
hot walls of the buildings like lethargic leeches,

400
00:37:30.719 --> 00:37:35.400
vainly trying to gain admission to the
building, or buzzed about like bees

401
00:37:35.599 --> 00:37:40.679
gossipling idly of the caves. Perfect
order was not maintained, however, and

402
00:37:40.760 --> 00:37:46.239
few not directly interested in the trial
were allowed to enter the courtroom. All

403
00:37:46.320 --> 00:37:52.039
day long, the crowd remained on
the sidewalks, gazing intently at the windows

404
00:37:52.079 --> 00:37:58.000
to the courtroom, spewing tobacco juice
on the street, eagerly questioning every person

405
00:37:58.039 --> 00:38:02.400
who left the building. Interest naturally
centered on the appearance in court of Leo

406
00:38:02.639 --> 00:38:08.079
M. Frank, the accused.
If Frank has chafed under his confinement,

407
00:38:08.480 --> 00:38:14.920
his physical appearance belies the fact he
looked as fit physically as he did the

408
00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:20.000
day he was first arrested. He
was dressed with scrupulous neatness and a gray

409
00:38:20.079 --> 00:38:23.519
suit of pronounced pattern, which was
all the more conspicuous on account of his

410
00:38:23.679 --> 00:38:30.599
diminutive form. As he entered the
courtroom, he smiled cordially at several friends.

411
00:38:30.400 --> 00:38:35.920
The first person to whom he spoke
was a woman employee of the pencil

412
00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:40.320
factory. Next in interest was missus
Leo M. Frank, wife of the

413
00:38:40.400 --> 00:38:45.960
accused, who up to this time
had been seen little in public. Missus

414
00:38:46.000 --> 00:38:51.840
Frank is an extremely attractive looking young
woman. During progress of the trial,

415
00:38:52.239 --> 00:38:58.079
she kept her eyes constantly fixed on
Solicitor Dorsey. Her gaze was one of

416
00:38:58.199 --> 00:39:02.440
calm estimate. It seemed to be
attempting to fathom his thoughts and to divine

417
00:39:02.559 --> 00:39:08.239
his purposes. Efforts to show Mary
Fagin's attitude toward Leo M. Frank by

418
00:39:08.239 --> 00:39:13.679
the State, and efforts by the
defense to show the dead girl's attitude toward

419
00:39:13.760 --> 00:39:19.360
Little George Epps, the fourteen year
old Newsey who testified to riding downtown with

420
00:39:19.360 --> 00:39:22.800
her on the morning before she was
found dead, were the first important things

421
00:39:22.800 --> 00:39:29.719
attempted yesterday, when the trial was
formally opened. The case started promptly at

422
00:39:29.760 --> 00:39:35.320
nine o'clock, with the courtroom thronged
with Veneerman and spectators, witnesses, and

423
00:39:35.400 --> 00:39:39.599
lawyers and friends of the principles.
Contrary to the persistent rumor that the defense

424
00:39:39.639 --> 00:39:45.400
would ask postponement and to their frequent
objections to the trial in the heated term,

425
00:39:45.760 --> 00:39:50.239
the defense proved ready and willing to
go to trial. Frank had been

426
00:39:50.239 --> 00:39:53.079
brought from the tower at six o'clock
in the morning, and at seven o'clock

427
00:39:53.159 --> 00:39:58.840
had his breakfast brought to him by
friends. He ate this in an ante

428
00:39:58.920 --> 00:40:02.320
room, where he re until the
time came for picking the jury. When

429
00:40:02.320 --> 00:40:07.559
he came into the courtroom, when
Judge Roan called the court to order,

430
00:40:07.960 --> 00:40:12.599
all the seats were taken. It
was a few minutes after ten o'clock,

431
00:40:12.639 --> 00:40:15.840
and when the Veneerman had been divided
into nine panels and a number of them

432
00:40:15.920 --> 00:40:21.559
excused on various legal grounds, that
Frank was led into the courtroom by a

433
00:40:21.599 --> 00:40:25.280
deputy who had stayed with him in
the ante room. Frank looked quickly about

434
00:40:25.360 --> 00:40:30.760
him as he came into the crowded
room. He appeared as a person frequently

435
00:40:30.920 --> 00:40:35.119
is unable to take in all at
once the scene in the crowded hall.

436
00:40:36.079 --> 00:40:38.360
There was a general stir about the
room. As he entered, and he

437
00:40:38.440 --> 00:40:44.159
made out the straining faces and searching
eyes. It seemed to dawn on him

438
00:40:44.360 --> 00:40:47.679
that he was the man for whom
the crowd had gathered and at whom all

439
00:40:47.719 --> 00:40:54.079
eyes were turned. A quizzical smile
came over his face. His eyes were

440
00:40:54.079 --> 00:41:00.840
partly hidden by the thick and slightly
darkened glasses he wore, but depression seemed

441
00:41:00.840 --> 00:41:05.559
to indicate that he was telling himself, it's my appearance that has brought this

442
00:41:05.679 --> 00:41:09.400
stir, and what can those people
be thinking about me. It was the

443
00:41:09.480 --> 00:41:14.840
first time Frank had seen a crowd
since he entered the jail on May eighth,

444
00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:17.320
and it was the first time he
had been given an opportunity to look

445
00:41:17.360 --> 00:41:22.920
on any but the faces of his
close friends. The order of the courtroom

446
00:41:22.119 --> 00:41:28.719
was perfect, except for the slight
stir. Frank went to a seat in

447
00:41:28.719 --> 00:41:32.320
front of the judges stand and near
his lawyers. Several of his close friends

448
00:41:32.360 --> 00:41:37.360
who had been admitted within the rail
crowded around and warmly grasped his hand.

449
00:41:38.239 --> 00:41:43.800
A moment later, his wife and
mother, Missus Ray Frank, followed him

450
00:41:43.800 --> 00:41:49.000
from the ante room and took seats
on either side. Missus Frank is a

451
00:41:49.039 --> 00:41:53.400
beautiful woman, just past the bloom
of girlhood, and whose face would cause

452
00:41:53.440 --> 00:41:59.599
a second look from any man.
Neither Missus Frank the wife nor Missus Frank

453
00:41:59.679 --> 00:42:04.559
the mother showed by their looks the
strain that the accusation upon their loved one

454
00:42:04.639 --> 00:42:09.079
must have caused them. The entire
morning session was taken up and choosing a

455
00:42:09.199 --> 00:42:15.960
jury, and general surprise was expressed
that the twelve men in whose hands Frank's

456
00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:20.639
life now lies were selected from the
one hundred and forty four veneermen, and

457
00:42:20.800 --> 00:42:25.840
within the time mentioned at one thirty
the jury had been selected and sworn in,

458
00:42:27.199 --> 00:42:31.519
and Judge Roan, upon agreement from
both sides, adjourned until three o'clock.

459
00:42:34.239 --> 00:42:37.000
Frank was then taken to an ante
room where his dinner was brought to

460
00:42:37.079 --> 00:42:42.559
him from his home, and where
with his wife and mother, he calmly

461
00:42:42.639 --> 00:42:46.719
partook of the meal. It was
at the afternoon session that Missus J.

462
00:42:46.960 --> 00:42:52.239
W. Coleman, mother of the
murdered girl, was put on the stand

463
00:42:52.320 --> 00:42:57.239
by the state as the first witness. Missus Coleman was put on the stand

464
00:42:57.400 --> 00:43:01.719
holding herself perfectly composed. She was
dressed in a black morning dress and wore

465
00:43:01.760 --> 00:43:06.679
a black hat and heavy veil.
Which she threw back from her face.

466
00:43:07.320 --> 00:43:12.239
The mother talked in a quiet,
refined voice that was at times inaudible to

467
00:43:12.360 --> 00:43:16.760
lawyers and jurors. By her looks, the Fagin family is above the station

468
00:43:16.960 --> 00:43:23.199
in life from which comes children who
toil in factories. She was asked a

469
00:43:23.280 --> 00:43:28.599
number of questions, and finally,
on being shown the dead girl's clothes,

470
00:43:29.000 --> 00:43:32.920
broke completely down and sank back in
her chair, sobbing, with her face

471
00:43:34.239 --> 00:43:39.079
hidden by a large palm leaf fan. Deputy Miner quickly brought her a glass

472
00:43:39.119 --> 00:43:44.679
of water, and she slightly recovered, only to break down again when the

473
00:43:44.760 --> 00:43:51.079
defense began to cross examiner. During
her mental suffering, Frank carefully kept his

474
00:43:51.159 --> 00:43:55.159
eyes away from her. Although he
sat facing her in the jury, he

475
00:43:55.280 --> 00:44:02.320
seemed either unable or unwilling to view
the mother's grief. George Epps, the

476
00:44:02.400 --> 00:44:07.079
little newsboy who claims to have ridden
to town on the street car with the

477
00:44:07.119 --> 00:44:10.280
Fagan girl and who is said to
have declared that she told him of certain

478
00:44:10.360 --> 00:44:15.400
things she did not like about Frank, was next put up. He was

479
00:44:15.440 --> 00:44:21.199
followed by Newton Lee, the night
watchman, whose telephone call to the police

480
00:44:21.239 --> 00:44:25.559
station brought the officers to the scene. At the crime At three o'clock Sunday

481
00:44:25.599 --> 00:44:42.000
morning, April twenty seventh July twenty
ninth, nineteen thirteen, Newton Lee,

482
00:44:42.039 --> 00:44:45.519
the night watchman of the pencil Factory, was again placed on the stand.

483
00:44:45.639 --> 00:44:52.039
When court convened, Attorney Luther Z. Rosser renewed his crossfire of questions,

484
00:44:52.280 --> 00:44:58.480
by which he sought to confuse the
man and secure new admissions or change valuable

485
00:44:58.519 --> 00:45:02.719
points in his testimony, and thus
expose a vulnerable point for a concentrated attack

486
00:45:04.119 --> 00:45:08.840
upon his entire statement. The crowd
was considerably larger than that of Monday,

487
00:45:09.239 --> 00:45:15.519
and during the afternoon session scores were
standing. Frank maintained the outward calm of

488
00:45:15.599 --> 00:45:21.840
the day previous. At one time
during Newt Lee's testimony, he laughed out

489
00:45:21.920 --> 00:45:27.920
loud at some sally of Luther Rosser's. During the four hours and forty minutes

490
00:45:28.000 --> 00:45:32.199
that Newton Lee, although apparently so
ignorant and dull that his interrogators had to

491
00:45:32.199 --> 00:45:37.840
put their questions in the simplest form
and frequently repeat them, stuck literally word

492
00:45:37.960 --> 00:45:44.320
for word to his statements before the
coroner's jury and to officials. In one

493
00:45:44.400 --> 00:45:49.280
or two cases, he declared that
certain portions of the stenographic report of the

494
00:45:49.320 --> 00:45:54.400
coroner's hearing was incorrect, and despite
the grueling, in tantalizing crossfire of Luther

495
00:45:54.639 --> 00:45:59.840
Rosser, he hung out for what
he declared to be the correct version of

496
00:45:59.840 --> 00:46:07.199
the statement. Solicitor Dorsey stood before
Detective Starns at the witness box and held

497
00:46:07.239 --> 00:46:10.480
to view a lavender frock with a
bit of pink ribbon at each shoulder,

498
00:46:12.400 --> 00:46:15.719
and the hand that was lowered at
his side he held a wee slipper.

499
00:46:17.159 --> 00:46:22.960
A moist eyed woman gray beginning to
fleck her hair and betray her fifty years,

500
00:46:23.599 --> 00:46:30.599
looked sadly upon the articles in the
solicitor's hands. Her daughter beside her

501
00:46:30.760 --> 00:46:35.719
strove bravely to check her tears,
but bowed her head in a sobbing fit.

502
00:46:35.880 --> 00:46:39.519
She could not restrain. They were
Missus J. W. Coleman,

503
00:46:40.039 --> 00:46:46.039
Mary Fagin's mother, and Mary's sister, Ollie. Ollie could not remain in

504
00:46:46.079 --> 00:46:52.480
the courtroom, and her mother lowered
her head in tears as the lawyer displayed

505
00:46:52.599 --> 00:46:59.119
peace by peace every article of the
slain child's garments. The solicitor held each

506
00:46:59.159 --> 00:47:04.320
bid of the girl's apparel in view
of the entire courtroom for identification from the

507
00:47:04.360 --> 00:47:09.159
witness as Starnes, would signify that
he recognized the articles before him. The

508
00:47:09.239 --> 00:47:15.519
solicitor would say, quote this as
such and such an article identified as having

509
00:47:15.559 --> 00:47:19.159
been warned by Mary Fagin on the
day of her death, is it admissible

510
00:47:19.199 --> 00:47:23.199
as evidence? Counsel for the defense
would group their heads together at their table,

511
00:47:23.679 --> 00:47:30.599
nod consent, and Judge Roan upon
the bench would say, admitted as

512
00:47:30.639 --> 00:47:35.639
evidence. It was a cruel proceeding, no doubt, thought the mother and

513
00:47:35.760 --> 00:47:42.039
sister, but one made necessary by
law. Many of the pieces they recognized,

514
00:47:42.519 --> 00:47:46.559
recalling with a tear the days they
worked with needle and thread to fit

515
00:47:46.679 --> 00:47:53.360
Mary in the best their talents and
home could afford. And Mary herself had

516
00:47:53.400 --> 00:47:58.960
been a competent seamstress. She had
always been making something, and whether it

517
00:47:59.000 --> 00:48:02.159
was doll clothing or her own dresses, she was always proud of it.

518
00:48:04.039 --> 00:48:07.599
There the lawyer held in his hand
the pink frock which had gladdened the little

519
00:48:07.599 --> 00:48:13.039
girl's heart, and which she had
intended wearing to Marietta the next monday.

520
00:48:14.440 --> 00:48:19.719
He had one of her shoes,
the pair she herself had selected and contributed

521
00:48:19.760 --> 00:48:22.920
a dollar of her wages toward the
purchase, and was waiting to display.

522
00:48:23.079 --> 00:48:30.920
When the dress was admitted, missus
Coleman was crying softly. What mother who

523
00:48:30.960 --> 00:48:35.599
had lost a loving daughter could have
held back her tears. It was the

524
00:48:35.639 --> 00:48:38.760
first time she had ever been in
a courtroom. She had always striven to

525
00:48:38.800 --> 00:48:44.920
avoid them. People stared at them
all the while. The mother and daughter

526
00:48:45.079 --> 00:48:49.920
sat conspicuously, as the only seats
they could find were two selected for them

527
00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:54.519
on the rostrum. Everywhere they looked, eyes would be focused upon them.

528
00:48:55.199 --> 00:49:00.000
But even the gaze of the morbid, the sensation seeking the auditor, whom

529
00:49:00.039 --> 00:49:06.239
you will find at every tragedy,
melted into a warming look of sympathy as

530
00:49:06.280 --> 00:49:12.320
his eyes met those of the sorrowing
mother and sister. They were garbled and

531
00:49:12.480 --> 00:49:16.719
black, black from head to foot, with no relief. Heavy dark veils

532
00:49:16.800 --> 00:49:22.559
fell over their faces, and they
lifted them only to dab a handkerchief to

533
00:49:22.639 --> 00:49:27.920
filling eyes. Missus Coleman had said
to reporters, and so had Ali,

534
00:49:28.559 --> 00:49:31.239
that they would not be at the
trial, where they not subpoenaed as witnesses.

535
00:49:32.039 --> 00:49:37.000
It is as hard for them to
bear as the tragedy itself. For

536
00:49:37.119 --> 00:49:43.199
every phase of the proceedings brings memory
of that bleak and unforgettable day when the

537
00:49:43.239 --> 00:49:46.880
little girl next door ran over at
daybreak and said, to the home folks

538
00:49:46.880 --> 00:49:52.039
of Mary's, Oh, Missus Coleman, Mary's been killed at the pencil factory

539
00:49:53.280 --> 00:50:00.079
Monday morning. Missus Coleman was the
first witness called to the stand. She

540
00:50:00.159 --> 00:50:05.880
walked weakly and had to be assisted
into the box. She whispered her replies

541
00:50:06.039 --> 00:50:10.199
and choked back the catches in her
throat. When the solicitor held the clothing

542
00:50:10.239 --> 00:50:14.960
of Mary before her eyes and asked
her if they had been warned by the

543
00:50:15.039 --> 00:50:19.639
child, she tried to answer,
a sob was in her throat and a

544
00:50:19.760 --> 00:50:23.840
tear welled up in her eye.
She drew the handkerchief to her face and

545
00:50:23.960 --> 00:50:30.800
broke into weeping. The solicitor,
as though his task were fully as distasteful

546
00:50:30.840 --> 00:50:35.079
as it looked, dropped the garments
to the table and began new questions.

547
00:50:36.400 --> 00:50:42.559
Even Attorney Rosser, whose cross questioning
is feared by the strongest witnesses, put

548
00:50:42.559 --> 00:50:46.039
his questions to the sobbing mother in
a tone in which his sympathy was most

549
00:50:46.039 --> 00:50:52.199
evident. He asked barely a dozen
questions, and then said, you may

550
00:50:52.199 --> 00:50:57.280
come down, Missus Coleman, without
giving the state a chance for examination and

551
00:50:57.360 --> 00:51:02.519
rebuttal knowing that even such relentless thing
is the state would not wish to further

552
00:51:02.639 --> 00:51:39.719
persecute the bereaved parent. August fourth, nineteen thirteen, the long looked for

553
00:51:39.960 --> 00:51:45.719
sensation in the Leo M. Frank
trial came when Jim Conley, the sweeper

554
00:51:45.920 --> 00:51:52.519
formerly employed at the National Pencil Factory, took the stand and told a revolting

555
00:51:52.880 --> 00:51:57.519
as well as dramatic story of what
he claims to know of the murder of

556
00:51:57.599 --> 00:52:02.800
little Mary Fagin. Hellowing the telling
of this story, Conley was placed under

557
00:52:02.840 --> 00:52:08.840
cross examination by Luther Rosser for five
and a half hours. The able attorney

558
00:52:08.880 --> 00:52:15.360
for the defense wheedled, and coaxed
and cajoled and used every tactic known to

559
00:52:15.440 --> 00:52:20.199
the legal profession to break down the
fabric of the story and to tear the

560
00:52:20.239 --> 00:52:27.320
tale to tatters. He succeeded in
confusing the witness as to minor details,

561
00:52:27.360 --> 00:52:31.920
only he failed to shake the foundation
of the main story, which was that

562
00:52:32.119 --> 00:52:37.679
on Saturday, April twenty fifth,
Leo M. Frankett asked him to look

563
00:52:37.719 --> 00:52:42.119
out for him while he chatted with
a young woman. That later, frank

564
00:52:42.159 --> 00:52:45.559
had called to him and told him
that the girl had refused him, and

565
00:52:45.599 --> 00:52:50.360
that he had struck her. He
then described seeing the body of the girl

566
00:52:50.519 --> 00:52:53.519
lying on the floor near her machine, with a cord and a piece of

567
00:52:53.599 --> 00:53:00.440
cloth around her neck. She was
dead. He recited that Frank Frank had

568
00:53:00.480 --> 00:53:04.079
asked him to help him dispose of
the body, and that he had taken

569
00:53:04.119 --> 00:53:07.280
it to the basement. He told
of writing the notes which were given to

570
00:53:07.360 --> 00:53:12.599
Frank and which were later found near
the body. These things he told in

571
00:53:12.639 --> 00:53:19.039
a fashion so rapid it was difficult
for the stenographers to follow him. During

572
00:53:19.079 --> 00:53:22.400
the recital, he was as calm
and composed as it was possible for a

573
00:53:22.480 --> 00:53:28.599
human being to be. When the
cord, which was found around the little

574
00:53:28.599 --> 00:53:32.559
girl's throat was handed him, he
placed it around his own neck to illustrate

575
00:53:32.599 --> 00:53:37.079
how it was tied, and as
he did so, his hands were as

576
00:53:37.079 --> 00:53:40.880
steady as if he were tying a
scarf. The story was one of the

577
00:53:40.920 --> 00:53:46.440
most remarkable that has ever been recited
in the State of Georgia. On it,

578
00:53:46.800 --> 00:53:53.280
the case of the State will Stand
or Fall. Explaining how he happened

579
00:53:53.280 --> 00:53:57.800
to be at the factory on Saturday, he said that he had been asked

580
00:53:57.800 --> 00:54:00.960
to look out for Frank while he
was engaged with a young girl. This

581
00:54:01.159 --> 00:54:07.800
was no uncommon thing for him to
do. He said. On several occasions

582
00:54:07.840 --> 00:54:10.159
Frank had asked him to watch out
for him to see that no one entered

583
00:54:10.199 --> 00:54:15.639
the building, he said. He
told of one occasion when he surprised Frank

584
00:54:15.719 --> 00:54:21.679
and a woman in a compromising attitude. According to this statement, the woman

585
00:54:21.840 --> 00:54:27.440
was seated in a chair and Frank
was kneeling on the floor. On one

586
00:54:27.440 --> 00:54:30.480
occasion, he says, Frank and
another man were alone in the building with

587
00:54:30.559 --> 00:54:37.480
two women, and he stood guard
for them. A significant feature was brought

588
00:54:37.559 --> 00:54:40.960
out by the state in regard to
the writing of the notes which approved so

589
00:54:42.159 --> 00:54:46.559
baffling to the detectives. The state
attempted to show that Frank new Conley could

590
00:54:46.559 --> 00:54:52.920
write. This was objected to by
the defense, said, mister Dorsey,

591
00:54:52.000 --> 00:54:57.360
quote, your honor, we expect
to show that while the detectives were having

592
00:54:57.400 --> 00:55:01.519
new Lee Wright and getting specimens of
Frank writing, Frank knew that Conley could

593
00:55:01.519 --> 00:55:07.840
write, but never once informed the
authorities of the fact. During the cross

594
00:55:07.840 --> 00:55:13.760
examination, Conley admitted having been in
jail seven or eight times. He could

595
00:55:13.800 --> 00:55:19.559
not tell how often. Conley's statement
on the stand Monday differed in many essentials

596
00:55:19.559 --> 00:55:23.119
from the three affidavits he had made. He admitted, quite frankly, that

597
00:55:23.199 --> 00:55:27.599
he had lied in some of the
statements made in them, but he said

598
00:55:27.639 --> 00:55:34.840
that all three contained elements of truth. At the conclusion of Monday's proceedings,

599
00:55:34.880 --> 00:55:38.079
mister Arnold asked that Conley be taken
in charge by the sheriff and placed in

600
00:55:38.159 --> 00:55:43.800
the tower where no one could see
him or talk to him. William Smith,

601
00:55:44.079 --> 00:55:47.679
his attorney, asked that he be
allowed to send him food. Judge

602
00:55:47.760 --> 00:55:52.719
Roane ordered that this be done,
and he was removed to the jail in

603
00:55:52.800 --> 00:55:58.119
Chief Beavers's automobile. Just as he
was leaving the courtroom, he asked a

604
00:55:58.199 --> 00:56:04.280
reporter for some cigarettes. He was
not nervous and apparently in good condition.

605
00:56:12.159 --> 00:56:20.440
August fifth, nineteen thirteen, twelve
and one half hours under the merciless cross

606
00:56:20.480 --> 00:56:25.480
examination of Luther Rosser, whom no
lawyer at the Atlanta Bar has more terrors

607
00:56:25.519 --> 00:56:31.559
for the average witness, twelve and
one half hours saying I don't remember and

608
00:56:31.719 --> 00:56:37.480
no, Sir, I didn't say
that, or simply affirming blandly that he

609
00:56:37.519 --> 00:56:44.400
had lied on a previous occasion.
Twelve and one half hours staring fixedly on

610
00:56:44.480 --> 00:56:51.639
a crowded courtroom twelve and one half
hours, without the solace of a cigarette,

611
00:56:51.800 --> 00:56:55.760
twelve and one half hours, during
which time the perspiration or sweat,

612
00:56:57.199 --> 00:57:04.000
if you like that word better,
failed to dot his brow. That is

613
00:57:04.039 --> 00:57:09.719
the record of Jim Conley, former
sweeper at the National Pencil Factory. No

614
00:57:09.960 --> 00:57:15.320
such record has ever been made in
a criminal case in this county. On

615
00:57:15.440 --> 00:57:21.199
Monday, Conley was on the stand
five hours and a half and the able

616
00:57:21.280 --> 00:57:25.840
attorneys for the defense failed to break
him down, failed to rattle him.

617
00:57:27.480 --> 00:57:32.039
Today, after a good night's sleep
at the tower, Conley resumed the stand

618
00:57:32.440 --> 00:57:39.199
and Luther Rosser questioned him for seven
hours. Still he did not shake him.

619
00:57:40.679 --> 00:57:45.400
Conley may be telling the truth in
the main, or he may be

620
00:57:45.559 --> 00:57:50.679
lying all together. He may be
the real murderer, or he may have

621
00:57:50.760 --> 00:57:55.199
been the accomplice after the fact.
Be these things as they may. He

622
00:57:55.280 --> 00:57:59.880
is one of the most remarkable men
who has ever been seen in this section

623
00:58:00.079 --> 00:58:06.519
of the country. His nerve seems
unshakable, his wit is ever ready.

624
00:58:07.679 --> 00:58:12.639
The lawyer had reached that point in
his crossfire of questions where he had begun

625
00:58:12.679 --> 00:58:15.320
to hector the witness and to take
him up whenever he made a mistake,

626
00:58:15.519 --> 00:58:21.119
but it appeared he was only about
half through with his work when an adjournment

627
00:58:21.320 --> 00:58:24.400
was taken. Conley was still sticking
to the main points of his story in

628
00:58:24.440 --> 00:58:30.679
a way that was considered remarkable,
although he had admitted discrepancies in many of

629
00:58:30.679 --> 00:58:36.760
the minor points and had grown confused
over them. When Attorney Rosser started out

630
00:58:36.800 --> 00:58:40.679
Monday, his manner was mild,
but only throughout the afternoon. He worked

631
00:58:40.760 --> 00:58:45.920
up to a slightly harsher manner.
When he began today, he was using

632
00:58:45.960 --> 00:58:52.880
his usual rather abrupt tone of voice. Solicitor Hugh Dorsey and Frank A.

633
00:58:52.079 --> 00:58:57.840
Hooper, his colleague, made frequent
objections to the manner in which the cross

634
00:58:57.840 --> 00:59:02.199
examination was being conducted, and dead
to a certain extent, restrain the defense.

635
00:59:10.400 --> 00:59:19.199
August sixth, nineteen thirteen, Jim
Conley, after remaining on the stand

636
00:59:19.400 --> 00:59:24.599
sixteen hours, was allowed to leave
the courtroom at eleven o'clock. He stated

637
00:59:24.639 --> 00:59:30.000
that he was feeling fine and his
appearance would not seem to indicate that he

638
00:59:30.079 --> 00:59:35.079
was fatigued in the least by the
long ordeal through which he had passed.

639
00:59:36.039 --> 00:59:40.400
The defense had failed utterly to shake
him on any material point in his story.

640
00:59:42.280 --> 00:59:46.159
The big thing developed by his examination
today was the statement that he had

641
00:59:46.199 --> 00:59:52.440
seen Frank place Mary Fagin's silver mesh
bag in the safe in his office.

642
00:59:52.559 --> 00:59:57.559
Up to this time, what had
become of the mesh bag was a mystery.

643
00:59:58.519 --> 01:00:01.480
Jim Conley had not mentioned and anything
about it before, and it had

644
01:00:01.559 --> 01:00:07.280
been thought that the finding of the
purse would go largely towards solving the mystery

645
01:00:07.360 --> 01:00:10.880
of the murder. Newt Lee's house
had been searched for it, and Conley's

646
01:00:10.920 --> 01:00:17.440
home had been ransacked in Vain.
Following Conley's departure from the stand, the

647
01:00:17.559 --> 01:00:23.760
jury was allowed a five minute recess, and on their return Solicitor Dorsey tendered

648
01:00:23.760 --> 01:00:29.880
in evidence a picture of the pencil
factory basement taken on the morning the body

649
01:00:30.000 --> 01:00:35.400
was found. He also tendered a
scratch pad sample of one of those around

650
01:00:35.400 --> 01:00:47.039
the factory, the murder notes and
the pad found near the body. August

651
01:00:47.119 --> 01:00:54.199
nineteenth, nineteen thirteen. Some newspaperman
has called me the silent man in the

652
01:00:54.239 --> 01:00:59.480
tower. Gentlemen, this is the
time, and here is the place.

653
01:01:00.159 --> 01:01:04.039
I have told you the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the

654
01:01:04.079 --> 01:01:09.239
truth. Thus did Leo M.
Frank dramatically conclude his remarkable statement of nearly

655
01:01:09.320 --> 01:01:15.119
four hours, during which time he
was, in turn explicit as to detail

656
01:01:15.199 --> 01:01:20.719
of his doings on the day of
the murder. Argumentative when explaining some point

657
01:01:20.760 --> 01:01:23.920
which had looked dark for him,
tender when referring to his wife and his

658
01:01:24.000 --> 01:01:29.400
home life, bitter when he told
of the treatment he had received at the

659
01:01:29.480 --> 01:01:34.519
hands of the detective department. It
was, in all essential details the most

660
01:01:34.559 --> 01:01:38.719
remarkable statement which has ever been delivered
in a courtroom in the South. Through

661
01:01:38.760 --> 01:01:43.639
the four hours that he was talking, there was not the slightest trace of

662
01:01:43.719 --> 01:01:47.360
nervousness, not a tremor of the
hands, even when conveying a glass of

663
01:01:47.440 --> 01:01:53.519
water to his lips. He was
perfectly poised, convincingly clear in his statements,

664
01:01:53.960 --> 01:02:00.679
the man unafraid. When he concluded, a hush fell over the courtroom.

665
01:02:00.400 --> 01:02:04.519
His wife and mother, who had
been hanging on his every word,

666
01:02:05.079 --> 01:02:09.719
fell forward on his neck, and
the pent up tears flowed freely. The

667
01:02:09.800 --> 01:02:15.239
statement carried the ring of truth in
every sentence, and scores in the room

668
01:02:15.280 --> 01:02:20.000
whose minds had not been made up
left the room convinced of the man's innocence.

669
01:02:21.800 --> 01:02:25.440
Shortly before court convened for the afternoon
session. Frank was chatting with his

670
01:02:25.480 --> 01:02:30.519
wife and some friends in the ante
room. He had just had his throat

671
01:02:30.559 --> 01:02:35.400
treated for an extremely bad cold,
which he contracted some days ago. With

672
01:02:35.519 --> 01:02:39.199
this exception, he stated to a
newspaperman that he was feeling fine, that

673
01:02:39.280 --> 01:02:44.280
he felt no nervousness, and that
he expected to be on the stand fully

674
01:02:44.360 --> 01:02:51.000
three hours. Shortly after two o'clock, Frank took the stand. The courtroom

675
01:02:51.199 --> 01:02:55.119
was packed scores of friends who have
stood by him in his dark days of

676
01:02:55.199 --> 01:03:01.000
confinement. Clustered near his devoted mother
and his face faithful wife. Her sisters

677
01:03:01.039 --> 01:03:07.159
and cousins sat where they could see
him clearly. He began his statement with

678
01:03:07.199 --> 01:03:10.039
a swift account of his life,
and then hurried forward to the events of

679
01:03:10.079 --> 01:03:15.679
the fatal day when Mary Fagan entered
the office of the National Pencil Company for

680
01:03:15.719 --> 01:03:21.360
the last time. He told in
detail of his movements and activities that day.

681
01:03:21.840 --> 01:03:24.960
From time to time, he referred
to the financial statement into various papers

682
01:03:25.000 --> 01:03:30.639
on which he says he worked that
day. These papers he went over carefully,

683
01:03:30.039 --> 01:03:35.800
item by item, figure by figure. He stood facing the jury and

684
01:03:35.920 --> 01:03:39.000
talked to them very much as if
he were addressing a board of directors before

685
01:03:39.039 --> 01:03:45.800
whom he was presenting some proposition demanding
explanation. For some two hours, he

686
01:03:45.920 --> 01:03:50.039
dwelt on the technical details of the
factory to show just how much time it

687
01:03:50.039 --> 01:03:52.840
would have taken him to make up
the financial statement, and he explained in

688
01:03:52.920 --> 01:03:59.239
minute fashion the source from which each
item was derived. He told of little

689
01:03:59.239 --> 01:04:02.760
Mary Fagan entering his office to receive
her pay, and of her going out

690
01:04:02.880 --> 01:04:08.559
and then returning to inquire if the
medal had come. As she left for

691
01:04:08.599 --> 01:04:12.280
the last time, he spoke of
having heard what he thought was a woman's

692
01:04:12.360 --> 01:04:16.679
voice, but of this he said
he could not be positive. He visualized

693
01:04:16.679 --> 01:04:20.199
for the jury his work of the
afternoon and of his trip to and from

694
01:04:20.239 --> 01:04:26.480
home, of how he spent Saturday
evening, of the early morning ride to

695
01:04:26.559 --> 01:04:30.760
the undertaking establishment, and of his
alleged nervousness. He said, quote,

696
01:04:30.199 --> 01:04:34.079
A good deal has been said of
my nervousness that morning. I admit it.

697
01:04:34.280 --> 01:04:38.679
I was nervous. Think of it, gentlemen. I was awakened at

698
01:04:38.679 --> 01:04:42.960
an early hour, rushed down town
in an automobile going at top speed.

699
01:04:43.360 --> 01:04:47.119
I had had no breakfast. I
witnessed this poor child, this young girl

700
01:04:47.199 --> 01:04:53.320
in the first flush of womanhood,
dead and mutilated. Gentlemen, the sight

701
01:04:53.519 --> 01:04:57.039
was enough to make any man nervous. It would have touched any man not

702
01:04:57.199 --> 01:05:02.199
made of stone unquote. Frank then
told of his visit to the Detective Department

703
01:05:02.280 --> 01:05:08.400
and of his second visit to the
Undertaking Establishment that afternoon. Of his experience

704
01:05:08.480 --> 01:05:13.239
with the Atlanta Detective Department, he
spoke with a trace of bitterness. He

705
01:05:13.320 --> 01:05:16.719
described the manner in which he says
John Black administered the third degree to Newt

706
01:05:16.800 --> 01:05:20.519
Lee. He said, the manner
in which he shrieked and cursed at the

707
01:05:20.519 --> 01:05:25.840
man was something awful. Of the
criticism that he would not talk to detectives

708
01:05:25.960 --> 01:05:29.639
or de conly, he said,
quote. My experience with them showed me

709
01:05:29.679 --> 01:05:32.559
that they would put words in my
mouth and distort what I really said until

710
01:05:32.599 --> 01:05:40.320
it became unrecognizable. At first I
answered all questions gladly, but finally I

711
01:05:40.400 --> 01:05:45.079
decided to wash my hands of them. He told of a visit John Black

712
01:05:45.159 --> 01:05:49.920
and Harry Scott had paid him.
Frank said, quoting Black, the Pinkertons

713
01:05:49.920 --> 01:05:54.199
are suspicious of that man Darley.
Now open up and tell us what you

714
01:05:54.280 --> 01:05:58.519
know. I told them that Darley
was the soul of honor, and thereupon

715
01:05:58.760 --> 01:06:03.960
they left. In discuss Frank branded
as a lie the statement that women had

716
01:06:03.960 --> 01:06:09.039
ever visited him. He denied that
he had seen Conley on the day of

717
01:06:09.079 --> 01:06:12.800
the murder. He told of how
he was the first man to prove that

718
01:06:12.880 --> 01:06:16.039
Conley could write. He said he
had no rich relatives in Brooklyn, and

719
01:06:16.119 --> 01:06:20.760
denied there was any fund raised for
his defense. The money for this purpose,

720
01:06:20.840 --> 01:06:27.280
he said, was secured by mortgaging
his parents property. He wound up

721
01:06:27.360 --> 01:06:31.320
with the dramatic statement quoted at the
beginning of this article, and immediately was

722
01:06:31.360 --> 01:06:36.239
on his way back to the tower. Many character witnesses were called at the

723
01:06:36.280 --> 01:06:42.440
morning session, all of whom testified
to Frank's good character. A large part

724
01:06:42.480 --> 01:06:46.320
of the forenoon was then taken up
and enumerating the various exhibits which the defense

725
01:06:46.400 --> 01:06:51.840
wanted to introduce. Missus Mattie Thompson, a woman over middle age and an

726
01:06:51.880 --> 01:06:57.039
employee of the factory, was among
those put on the stand to testify to

727
01:06:57.159 --> 01:07:00.760
Leo Frank's character and also about the
alleged flirting carried on by some of the

728
01:07:00.800 --> 01:07:04.960
girls from the windows of the dressing
rooms. She said that she did not

729
01:07:05.199 --> 01:07:08.880
know the names of any of them, and had never seen any of them

730
01:07:08.880 --> 01:07:12.519
in an act of carrying on a
flirtation, but that had been talked of

731
01:07:12.599 --> 01:07:15.719
in the factory, and she and
some of the other elderly ladies had reported

732
01:07:15.719 --> 01:07:21.119
it to mister Darley, assistant superintendent. She said Frank's character was good.

733
01:07:23.079 --> 01:07:27.719
On cross examination, mister Dorisey drew
from her statement that she had been talked

734
01:07:27.760 --> 01:07:31.679
to by Attorney Hubert Hass, assisting
in the Frank defense, just a short

735
01:07:31.719 --> 01:07:38.079
while before she took the stand.
Frank told a reporter that the four hour

736
01:07:38.199 --> 01:07:42.800
statement which he delivered on the stand
had been repared two weeks before the trial,

737
01:07:43.320 --> 01:07:46.519
that every line of the statement as
originally prepared, had been dictated to

738
01:07:46.599 --> 01:07:51.039
his wife, who is an expert
stenographer, and that he had adhered to

739
01:07:51.119 --> 01:07:57.119
the text of the original, closely
interpolating some few passages which had been suggested

740
01:07:57.119 --> 01:08:01.280
by points brought out during the progress
of the trial. Quote, neither mister

741
01:08:01.440 --> 01:08:06.079
Arnold nor mister Rosser ever saw the
statement. Neither helped me with one word

742
01:08:06.119 --> 01:08:11.400
of it. The conclusion of the
statement was extemporaneous and came to me while

743
01:08:11.440 --> 01:08:15.239
I was on the stand. Unquote, Frank never once referred to a note.

744
01:08:15.279 --> 01:08:19.399
During the time he was delivering the
statement. The only papers he had

745
01:08:19.439 --> 01:08:24.760
in his hand at any time were
the financial sheet, invoices, and other

746
01:08:24.840 --> 01:08:38.039
papers referring to work at the factory. August twenty sixth, nineteen thirteen,

747
01:08:40.159 --> 01:08:45.760
Leo M. Frank, superintendent of
the National Pencil Factory, President of the

748
01:08:45.760 --> 01:08:54.479
Benia Breath, graduate of Cornell University, student of literature, and until recently

749
01:08:54.720 --> 01:09:00.319
regarded as a man of unblemished character
and reputation and a leader among his people,

750
01:09:00.800 --> 01:09:04.279
has been declared guilty of the murder
of Mary Fagin, a fourteen year

751
01:09:04.319 --> 01:09:11.079
old employee of the factory of which
Frank is the head. At four minutes

752
01:09:11.079 --> 01:09:15.119
to five o'clock, a jury of
his peers filed slowly into the court room,

753
01:09:15.600 --> 01:09:20.079
which for four weeks has been the
scene of the greatest legal battle in

754
01:09:20.119 --> 01:09:26.680
the history of the state. The
room had been cleared of the morbidly curious,

755
01:09:26.920 --> 01:09:30.159
who for days have listened to the
fierce fight for and against the young

756
01:09:30.239 --> 01:09:35.600
man. On the face of each
juror was the drawn look of men who

757
01:09:35.600 --> 01:09:42.279
had been compelled through duty to do
an awful thing, to consign a fellow

758
01:09:42.319 --> 01:09:47.640
creature to the gallows. There was
no mistaking that look. The strongest of

759
01:09:47.680 --> 01:09:54.079
the men shook, as if some
strange ailment had stricken them. It took

760
01:09:54.159 --> 01:09:58.359
no student of human nature to read
that the verdict was the ultimate one of

761
01:09:58.439 --> 01:10:03.359
guilt. A hush fell over the
court room. The scraping of a chair

762
01:10:03.479 --> 01:10:09.119
across the floor, the rustle of
a fan, the shuffling of a foot

763
01:10:09.560 --> 01:10:16.600
would have been welcome sounds. The
silence was fearsome. Slowly, with voice

764
01:10:16.640 --> 01:10:21.439
that trembled, fred Winburne, foreman
of the jury, read the verdict.

765
01:10:23.479 --> 01:10:29.640
Immediately there was the hustle and bustle
of reporters and strident voices calling out guilty

766
01:10:29.720 --> 01:10:34.239
over the telephones. The sound reached
the street below, and a shout went

767
01:10:34.359 --> 01:10:41.520
up from the waiting mob outside.
The end had come to the longest criminal

768
01:10:41.560 --> 01:10:46.199
trial on record in the state of
Georgia. Frank was not in the court

769
01:10:46.319 --> 01:10:53.159
room. Over in the tower,
oblivious of his fate, sat Leo M.

770
01:10:53.279 --> 01:10:58.800
Frank, his arm around his faithful
wife. His presence in court had

771
01:10:58.840 --> 01:11:03.359
been waved. When some three quarters
of an hour later he learned the news,

772
01:11:04.079 --> 01:11:10.520
he bore up with fortitude to a
friend. He said, my God,

773
01:11:10.680 --> 01:11:15.239
even the jury was influenced by mob
law. I am as innocent as

774
01:11:15.239 --> 01:11:19.600
I was one year ago. His
wife swooned away when she heard the awful

775
01:11:19.640 --> 01:11:25.560
news. While the jury was out
nearly four hours, and each and every

776
01:11:25.600 --> 01:11:30.359
member was pledged to secrecy. It
is definitely known that only one ballot was

777
01:11:30.399 --> 01:11:34.720
taken and that the verdict was reached
in a comparatively short time. When the

778
01:11:34.760 --> 01:11:39.680
crowd that filled the courtroom was driven
out on the order of Judge Roan,

779
01:11:40.159 --> 01:11:44.720
it flowed to the streets to await
the verdict, increasing in size as the

780
01:11:44.760 --> 01:11:50.319
minutes passed. A veritable honeycomb of
humanity spread over the section from Whitehall to

781
01:11:50.359 --> 01:11:57.399
Central Avenue on Hunter Street, and
from Alabama to Mitchell on Prior. Men

782
01:11:57.439 --> 01:12:02.159
and women clung to the walls of
buildings, sat in doorways. Windows were

783
01:12:02.199 --> 01:12:06.960
crowded with women and girls and children. It was as though a street audience

784
01:12:08.000 --> 01:12:13.439
had gathered to watch an eventful procession. The shrill orders of the mounted policemen

785
01:12:13.760 --> 01:12:17.279
arose over the hum of the crowd. A knot of men clustered around the

786
01:12:17.319 --> 01:12:21.319
press room, the windows of which
front Hunter Street, just opposite the new

787
01:12:21.359 --> 01:12:27.760
courthouse building, as the reporters at
the telephone shouted the verdict to their offices.

788
01:12:28.119 --> 01:12:31.279
The word came through the windows.
It was received with a shout.

789
01:12:31.840 --> 01:12:38.000
The cry of guilty took winged flight
from lip to lip. It traveled like

790
01:12:38.079 --> 01:12:43.439
the rattle of musketry. Then came
a combined shout that rose to the sky.

791
01:12:44.439 --> 01:12:49.520
Pandemonium. Rained hats went into the
air. Women wept and shouted by

792
01:12:49.600 --> 01:12:56.520
turns as Solicitor Dorsey appeared in the
doorway of the courthouse, while the crowd

793
01:12:56.600 --> 01:13:00.680
yelled its reception of the frank verdict. There came a mighty roar, as

794
01:13:00.720 --> 01:13:06.000
expressed by one aged man, whose
wrinkled face and empty sleeve proclaimed service in

795
01:13:06.039 --> 01:13:10.920
the days of civil strife, and
who had stood in the mob to hear

796
01:13:10.960 --> 01:13:15.439
the verdict. Quote, it was
kinder like Dixie ringing out in a place

797
01:13:15.479 --> 01:13:20.800
where you ain't known unquote. The
solicitor reached no further than the sidewalk,

798
01:13:21.399 --> 01:13:28.399
while mounted men rode like Cossacks through
the human swarm. Three muscular men slung

799
01:13:28.439 --> 01:13:32.199
mister Dorsey over their shoulders and passed
him over the heads of the crowd across

800
01:13:32.239 --> 01:13:39.479
the street to his office, with
hat raised and tears coursing down his cheeks.

801
01:13:40.039 --> 01:13:45.399
The victor in George's most noted criminal
battle was tumbled over a shrieking throng

802
01:13:45.800 --> 01:13:51.520
that wildly proclaimed its admiration. Few
will live to see another such demonstration.

803
01:13:53.760 --> 01:13:58.479
Mister Dorsey was carried in the elevator
to his office, where he dropped limply

804
01:13:58.520 --> 01:14:02.479
in a seat, exhaust fusted,
worn completely out by strain and exertion.

805
01:14:03.439 --> 01:14:09.359
Friends besieged him. The stairway leading
to the floor on which his office is

806
01:14:09.399 --> 01:14:15.560
situated was lined with men and women. His only words were quote, I

807
01:14:15.640 --> 01:14:19.479
feel sorry for his wife and mother
unquote. He had nothing to say about

808
01:14:19.520 --> 01:14:24.840
the outcome, about the bitter fight
that had been waged, nothing about the

809
01:14:24.880 --> 01:14:29.479
prospects of a new trial. His
sympathy was for the two women who had

810
01:14:29.520 --> 01:14:32.920
been dealt a blow as mortal as
the courts had dealt their son and husband.

811
01:14:33.800 --> 01:14:40.199
It will probably be tomorrow at the
earliest before sentences passed upon Leo Frank,

812
01:14:40.960 --> 01:14:45.560
Judge Ron stated that he would give
time for feeling to diminish before calling

813
01:14:45.600 --> 01:14:49.319
the convicted man to court. Missus
J. W. Coleman, mother of

814
01:14:49.399 --> 01:14:55.199
Mary Fagin, said quote, I
could not begin to tell you how glad

815
01:14:55.239 --> 01:14:59.600
and relieved I feel now that it
is all over. For weeks I have

816
01:14:59.600 --> 01:15:02.880
felt but I just could not sleep
another wink for thinking of that man Frank

817
01:15:03.359 --> 01:15:09.359
and the possibility that he might escape
the consequences of his crime. I have

818
01:15:09.439 --> 01:15:13.319
felt satisfied all the time that he
was guilty, and the verdict of the

819
01:15:13.439 --> 01:15:17.079
jury is no surprise to me.
I have not been well for the past

820
01:15:17.159 --> 01:15:20.680
week, and my mother has also
been sick, so you see, I

821
01:15:20.720 --> 01:15:25.399
could not attend all the sessions of
the court, but I have gone as

822
01:15:25.439 --> 01:15:29.640
often as possible, and I have
read every line regarding the progress of the

823
01:15:29.680 --> 01:15:32.720
trial published in the papers. I
hope they will not be hard on that

824
01:15:32.840 --> 01:15:38.640
conly Negro. Although he lied a
great deal at first, he did turn

825
01:15:38.720 --> 01:15:42.640
round and tell the whole truth at
last, and in my opinion, he

826
01:15:42.680 --> 01:15:46.159
should be let off with a light
sentence. The only real regret I feel

827
01:15:46.199 --> 01:15:50.960
about the entire trial is that I
was unable to attend court this afternoon and

828
01:15:51.079 --> 01:15:56.439
shake hands with each member of the
jury and with Judge Ron. I will

829
01:15:56.479 --> 01:16:00.800
take the first opportunity of seeing every
one of them and thinking them for the

830
01:16:00.880 --> 01:16:15.319
patient careful consideration. They have shown
everything connected with the trial in any way.

831
01:16:15.960 --> 01:16:23.439
June twenty second, nineteen fifteen Atlanta
passed one of the most exciting days

832
01:16:23.439 --> 01:16:27.880
in her history Monday, following the
announcement that the sentence of Leo M.

833
01:16:28.000 --> 01:16:32.479
Frank had been commuted by Governor John
M. Slaton. Developments came thick and

834
01:16:32.600 --> 01:16:38.279
fast following the departure of Leo M. Frank to Millageville to begin serving a

835
01:16:38.279 --> 01:16:44.119
life sentence there. The prisoner left
Atlanta accompanied by Sheriff Magnum and a number

836
01:16:44.159 --> 01:16:48.159
of deputies at twelve oh one o'clock. The party reached Macon shortly before three

837
01:16:48.199 --> 01:16:54.319
o'clock, and there secured an automobile, and by five o'clock Frank was an

838
01:16:54.319 --> 01:16:59.720
inmate of the state prison farm at
Millageville. Just after his arrival with Sheriff

839
01:17:00.000 --> 01:17:03.640
Ignim at four fifty five o'clock,
Frank said to Warden Smith, quote,

840
01:17:03.960 --> 01:17:10.119
I had begun to think I wouldn't
get to see this place unquote. Both

841
01:17:10.159 --> 01:17:14.399
Frank and the sheriff appeared very nervous
when they reached the prison, and the

842
01:17:14.439 --> 01:17:18.800
sheriff heaved a sigh of relief as
he delivered his charge to the penitentiary officials.

843
01:17:19.319 --> 01:17:25.000
The strain of the trip down from
Atlanta had told on both the sheriff

844
01:17:25.039 --> 01:17:29.960
remained here but a few minutes,
returning to Macon and the automobile in which

845
01:17:29.960 --> 01:17:34.479
he had made the hurried trip out. Shortly after being admitted, reporters were

846
01:17:34.479 --> 01:17:40.520
permitted to see him. His appearance
spoke clearly the tremendous strain through which he

847
01:17:40.560 --> 01:17:45.199
had gone. Upon being asked whether
he had anything to say, he said,

848
01:17:45.239 --> 01:17:48.640
in clear and composed language, quote, I am grateful beyond words to

849
01:17:48.720 --> 01:17:54.000
the Governor for the way he has
disposed of the case. I felt confident

850
01:17:54.079 --> 01:17:57.880
all the while that it would turn
out as it has. Somehow, I

851
01:17:58.000 --> 01:18:00.960
just felt confident that I would not
have. Of course, I am unsettled,

852
01:18:01.000 --> 01:18:05.600
as you see from the tremendous nerve
wracking experience through which I've been drawn,

853
01:18:06.119 --> 01:18:12.000
especially during the last trying hours of
this ordeal. No person can know

854
01:18:12.119 --> 01:18:15.199
what I have gone through, and
I am not composed enough at this time

855
01:18:15.239 --> 01:18:20.119
to give you an intelligent and connected
conversation. Just say that I feel more

856
01:18:20.119 --> 01:18:25.119
than I can express in words,
and am happy that my life is saved.

857
01:18:25.920 --> 01:18:29.800
Time will prove, as I have
often told you, the fact of

858
01:18:29.840 --> 01:18:34.119
my absolute innocence of the murder with
which I am charged. I felt in

859
01:18:34.199 --> 01:18:40.520
my heart all the time a secret
assurance that I should not hang unquote,

860
01:18:41.319 --> 01:18:45.880
and with a firm look directly in
the face of his interviewers, he paused

861
01:18:45.920 --> 01:18:53.199
briefly and added, quote, I
am innocent unquote. Frank was first registered

862
01:18:53.239 --> 01:18:57.319
and then dressed in his suit of
stripes, after which he was taken to

863
01:18:57.359 --> 01:19:00.279
the bunk room of the main building
for a bit of rest before given his

864
01:19:00.399 --> 01:19:05.920
breakfast. Strict orders were issued to
permit no one to see him, except

865
01:19:05.960 --> 01:19:12.439
one specific order from the Prison Commission
of Atlanta. Solicitor Hugh M. Dorsey,

866
01:19:12.880 --> 01:19:17.039
who prosecuted the case, averred that
he considered Governor John M. Slayton

867
01:19:17.439 --> 01:19:23.720
disqualified to pass judgment on the Leo
M. Frank case. He issued a

868
01:19:23.760 --> 01:19:29.600
statement denouncing the bestow of clemency and
explaining why he had gone before the governor

869
01:19:29.640 --> 01:19:35.319
to oppose Frank's plea for commutation.
Quote. The action of government Slaton nullified

870
01:19:35.359 --> 01:19:42.239
the judgments of the state and federal
courts and overriding the recommendation of the State

871
01:19:42.279 --> 01:19:47.319
Board of Pardons was as surprising to
me as it was unprecedented. No defendant

872
01:19:47.319 --> 01:19:53.159
within my recollection had had the benefit
of more appeals to the judicial process,

873
01:19:53.479 --> 01:19:59.960
state and federal than Leo Frank.
His guilt was conclusively established beyond a reasonable

874
01:20:00.239 --> 01:20:04.800
doubt to the satisfaction of an impartial
jury of twelve reputable Georgians, and their

875
01:20:04.920 --> 01:20:11.039
verdict was approved by the trial judge
and affirmed by the Supreme Court of Georgia.

876
01:20:11.600 --> 01:20:15.640
Repeated efforts to have the judgment set
aside have been denied by the state

877
01:20:15.720 --> 01:20:19.079
Supreme Court, the United States District
Court, and the Supreme Court of the

878
01:20:19.199 --> 01:20:25.960
United States. With the unbroken record
of all available courts declaring Frank guilty of

879
01:20:26.000 --> 01:20:30.800
the heinous crime with which he was
charged, the influential friends of Frank appealed

880
01:20:30.800 --> 01:20:34.119
to the State Board of Pardons,
elected by the people to pass on applications

881
01:20:34.119 --> 01:20:39.600
for pardons and commutations to be considered
by the Chief Executive of the state,

882
01:20:40.119 --> 01:20:45.239
and the Pardon Board sustained the records
of the courts of justice and declined to

883
01:20:45.359 --> 01:20:49.640
recommend the application for a commutation.
I cannot find in the record of the

884
01:20:49.680 --> 01:20:56.760
Frank case, or in the Governor's
lengthy statement of attempted justification, one reason

885
01:20:56.880 --> 01:21:01.640
why the Governor should have departed from
his declared pology and interfere with the judgments

886
01:21:01.640 --> 01:21:08.479
of the courts in this case.
Unquote. At one o'clock in the afternoon,

887
01:21:08.520 --> 01:21:13.119
the crowd that had gathered about the
Capitol lawn suddenly grouped around a speaker

888
01:21:13.159 --> 01:21:16.720
who had arisen upon the steps,
a gray haired man, thin and gaunt

889
01:21:16.760 --> 01:21:21.760
of frame, who plainly showed his
sixty or more years Who will follow me?

890
01:21:21.880 --> 01:21:26.640
He cried. He led the way
into the Capitol and up the steps

891
01:21:26.680 --> 01:21:30.039
to the second floor, where the
men packed the Senate chamber. A number

892
01:21:30.079 --> 01:21:35.119
of speeches were made disapproving of the
commutation. Sheriff Magnum, who had but

893
01:21:35.199 --> 01:21:40.439
shortly returned from his trip to Milledgeville, appeared in the crowd and took the

894
01:21:40.520 --> 01:21:45.560
rostrum. He explained that Frank was
in Milledgeville and not in Atlanta. He

895
01:21:45.640 --> 01:21:48.640
gave details of the trip and declared
it was at the order of the governor,

896
01:21:48.840 --> 01:21:54.359
whose dictates he had been sworn to
uphold. His address was brief.

897
01:21:55.000 --> 01:21:59.199
Afterward he quit the audience, returning
to jail, where he took a rest.

898
01:22:00.960 --> 01:22:05.640
The police kept the situation completely in
hand. Reinforced mounted squads patrolled the

899
01:22:05.680 --> 01:22:12.880
streets. Plainclothesmen mixed and mingled with
the crowds. At no time did violence

900
01:22:12.920 --> 01:22:18.439
seem imminent. About eight o'clock,
several thousand people gathered on the sidewalks between

901
01:22:18.439 --> 01:22:24.279
the City Hall and five Points.
At eight thirty o'clock, they began to

902
01:22:24.319 --> 01:22:30.600
move northward, with Governor Slayton's country
Place near Buckhead as their objective. At

903
01:22:30.640 --> 01:22:35.000
Peachtree in Allis Streets, a squad
of city police was mobilized to stop them,

904
01:22:35.239 --> 01:22:42.159
but the crowd surged past. The
crowd, now numbering over twelve hundred,

905
01:22:42.279 --> 01:22:46.479
continued out Peachtree Street to Porter Place, where they divided and part went

906
01:22:46.560 --> 01:22:53.279
Peachtree Street, while the remainder proceeded
out West Peachtree. At Fourth Street,

907
01:22:53.760 --> 01:22:58.119
the crowd was met by another squad
of police and some were turned back,

908
01:22:58.199 --> 01:23:02.199
but the majority of them got by
the police again. At Brookwood the West

909
01:23:02.239 --> 01:23:08.880
Peachtree Street and the Peachtree Street contingents
met again. At Brookwood Bridge, Chief

910
01:23:08.920 --> 01:23:13.359
of Police Beavers, in command of
about forty policemen, met the crowd.

911
01:23:14.239 --> 01:23:17.439
A number of arrests were made here
and hundreds of the crowd were turned back.

912
01:23:18.119 --> 01:23:23.680
Several hundred, however, succeeded in
getting by the police again and proceeded

913
01:23:23.720 --> 01:23:29.640
on foot out Peachtree Road. At
the Governor's residence, a formidable body of

914
01:23:29.680 --> 01:23:34.119
county police had been stationed under Chief
of County Police, George Matheson, in

915
01:23:34.199 --> 01:23:41.159
anticipation of the crowd. When those
already on foot arrived, they found a

916
01:23:41.199 --> 01:23:45.960
crowd already there, having come by
automobile. Sheriff Magnum was also there with

917
01:23:46.000 --> 01:23:50.800
a squad of deputies and a force
of deputized citizens in charge of w.

918
01:23:50.800 --> 01:23:57.720
Woods White. The county police and
the deputies arrayed themselves just behind the barbed

919
01:23:57.720 --> 01:24:03.479
wire entanglements inside the governor property,
while the crowd gathered in the road outside.

920
01:24:03.600 --> 01:24:08.960
Sheriff Magnum asked the crowd to be
orderly and dispersed. He was met,

921
01:24:09.199 --> 01:24:14.600
however, with shouting and threats.
In the meantime, the entire fifth

922
01:24:14.640 --> 01:24:18.079
Regiment had been mobilized at the armory. A hurry call was sent in for

923
01:24:18.159 --> 01:24:25.199
troops, and a battalion under the
command of Major Catron was dispatched in automobiles.

924
01:24:25.880 --> 01:24:30.800
Upon arrival at the governor's residence,
the militia deployed along the streets with

925
01:24:30.920 --> 01:24:35.680
fixed bayonets and pushed the crowd back
towards the city. The governor declared martial

926
01:24:35.760 --> 01:24:41.199
law. Within a radius of half
a mile of his house. The crowd

927
01:24:41.359 --> 01:24:45.680
was gradually dispersed, but this was
not accomplished until several men and officers of

928
01:24:45.720 --> 01:24:51.199
the militia had been wounded by stones, bottles, and other missiles from the

929
01:24:51.239 --> 01:24:57.399
crowd. The militiamen two were forced
a number of times to use the butts

930
01:24:57.399 --> 01:25:01.720
of their guns to force the crowd
back. Among those who were hurt were

931
01:25:01.760 --> 01:25:09.399
Major Catron cut upon the wrist with
a broken bottle, Lieutenant Arnold Packer struck

932
01:25:09.399 --> 01:25:14.720
in the stomach with a brick and
perhaps internally injured w w Foot, a

933
01:25:14.800 --> 01:25:19.560
private cut by a broken bottle,
Clyde Burrows, a civilian struck with the

934
01:25:19.560 --> 01:25:24.720
butt of an automatic, and a
man named McDonald with an abrasion on the

935
01:25:24.800 --> 01:25:29.560
head. After the crowd in front
of the Governor's residence was either dispersed or

936
01:25:29.680 --> 01:25:33.600
quieted, it was reported to Major
Catron that two hundred men from Marietta were

937
01:25:33.640 --> 01:25:41.079
approaching from the rear down Pace Ferries
Road. Shortly after midnight, another battalion

938
01:25:41.159 --> 01:25:45.319
was ordered out from the armory and
proceeded on street cars. The governor's horse

939
01:25:45.359 --> 01:25:51.600
guards also reported at the Governor's residence
and helped in dispersing the crowns. Governor

940
01:25:51.640 --> 01:25:56.560
Slayton issued a statement during the day
in which he asked the people to suspend

941
01:25:56.640 --> 01:26:00.199
judgment until they had read his decision
on the case. He declared he was

942
01:26:00.279 --> 01:26:04.600
confident he had done the right thing
and that he had only considered his duty

943
01:26:04.640 --> 01:26:10.079
in this case. The crowd on
the way out broke into the branch store

944
01:26:10.079 --> 01:26:14.800
of the King Hardware Store on Peachtree
Street at tenth, presumably in search of

945
01:26:14.920 --> 01:26:18.880
arms and ammunition. Bricks and building
material were picked up by the crowd from

946
01:26:18.920 --> 01:26:25.560
houses in course of construction along the
way. An incident that the Governor's residence

947
01:26:25.600 --> 01:26:30.000
before the arrival of the militia was
the discovery by county policeman Haney of a

948
01:26:30.039 --> 01:26:34.560
man within one hundred yards of the
house with a revolver. He had slipped

949
01:26:34.560 --> 01:26:40.960
through the cordon of police. He
was quickly overpowered, disarmed, and placed

950
01:26:41.000 --> 01:26:45.359
under arrest. Many arrests were made
at the City Hall corner, where the

951
01:26:45.439 --> 01:26:50.600
huge gathering began to collect shortly after
supper. Chief Beavers was in charge of

952
01:26:50.640 --> 01:26:56.439
a squad of fifty or more mounted
policemen and patrolmen who effectively managed to keep

953
01:26:56.479 --> 01:27:01.079
the traffic clear and to keep the
crowd in a scattered State eight news from

954
01:27:01.079 --> 01:27:05.000
Millageville had it that the town was
serene and that there was no evidence of

955
01:27:05.079 --> 01:27:10.319
trouble. Frank retired early on account
of the sleep he had lost on the

956
01:27:10.399 --> 01:27:15.800
journey the previous night. He will
start in the morning upon his first work

957
01:27:15.880 --> 01:27:19.359
as a lifer on the state farm. He will be given light tasks in

958
01:27:19.359 --> 01:27:25.560
the farm work until he recovers the
strength lost by his two years confinement.

959
01:27:26.960 --> 01:27:33.479
Passengers reaching Atlanta reported excitement in Woodstock
and Marietta and adjoining towns and Woodstock and

960
01:27:33.479 --> 01:27:40.640
e Marietta Governor Slayton had been hung
in effigy. In Newton, Georgia,

961
01:27:40.960 --> 01:27:45.720
the effigies of Leo Frank and Governor
Slayton were hung to a giant oak in

962
01:27:45.760 --> 01:27:49.920
the park at the Union Station and
set on fire, after which they were

963
01:27:50.000 --> 01:27:57.600
dragged blazing through the principal streets accompanied
by about fifty automobiles. Later, the

964
01:27:57.720 --> 01:28:02.000
charred effigies were hung into an enormous
Chautauqua sign, which is stretched across the

965
01:28:02.039 --> 01:28:08.560
street at the Courthouse Square. The
effigy swung there until almost midnight, when

966
01:28:08.600 --> 01:28:13.840
they were cut down. The effigies
were prepared in the afternoon from clothing store

967
01:28:13.920 --> 01:28:18.319
dummies, artificial limbs, and such
material. Early in the night, they

968
01:28:18.359 --> 01:28:21.720
were hung to an oak tree in
the park just a few blocks from the

969
01:28:21.760 --> 01:28:27.840
center of town. Some ten or
fifteen gallons of kerosene and gasoline were poured

970
01:28:27.920 --> 01:28:32.319
upon them and fire was set to
them. Feeling ran at a high tension

971
01:28:32.439 --> 01:28:46.399
until midnight. No one was hurt
and there was no property damage. Millageville,

972
01:28:46.439 --> 01:28:55.279
Georgia, July eighteenth, nineteen fifteen. Leo M. Frank, serving

973
01:28:55.319 --> 01:29:00.479
a life imprisonment sentence for the murder
of Mary Fagan, was attackeded and his

974
01:29:00.640 --> 01:29:05.039
throat cut by William Crean, a
fellow prisoner at the State prison farm here.

975
01:29:05.920 --> 01:29:12.239
Physicians announced late tonight that the wounded
man's condition was serious, but that

976
01:29:12.279 --> 01:29:16.159
he has a chance to recover.
The attack on Frank was made while he

977
01:29:16.239 --> 01:29:21.159
was sleeping in the prison dormitory in
company with the other inmates. The knife

978
01:29:21.279 --> 01:29:26.600
used was made of a file that
had been used by prisoners in killing hogs

979
01:29:26.680 --> 01:29:30.920
during the day. Frank's throat was
cut for a distance of several inches and

980
01:29:31.000 --> 01:29:36.920
the jugular vein partially severed. Some
animosity has been shown Frank since he arrived

981
01:29:36.960 --> 01:29:42.680
at the State prison farm. After
his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment,

982
01:29:43.199 --> 01:29:46.000
but the prison officials said tonight that
they had not thought for an instant

983
01:29:46.039 --> 01:29:51.399
that an attack would be made on
him. William Crean, forty five years

984
01:29:51.399 --> 01:29:56.119
old, who is doing a life
term from Columbus, Georgia on a charge

985
01:29:56.119 --> 01:30:01.319
of murder, has confessed to cutting
Frank's throat. Crean has been put up

986
01:30:01.359 --> 01:30:06.920
in a dungeon. The inmates of
the prison occupy one large room at night,

987
01:30:08.359 --> 01:30:12.880
a sort of dormitory where the strictest
of rules are observed by the prisoners.

988
01:30:13.600 --> 01:30:16.439
All are allowed the freedom of the
floor until eight o'clock, but after

989
01:30:16.479 --> 01:30:20.840
that hour a prisoner is not allowed
to move without permission from a guard.

990
01:30:21.760 --> 01:30:27.479
The attack on Frank tonight came so
quick that no guard had time to interfere.

991
01:30:28.479 --> 01:30:31.399
Crean is alleged to have drawn the
knife from his prison clothing, where

992
01:30:31.399 --> 01:30:35.560
he had it secreted for the murderous
attack, and, uttering a curse,

993
01:30:36.039 --> 01:30:43.079
thrust it across the throat of Frank. The attack being from behind. Frank

994
01:30:43.159 --> 01:30:46.600
fell to the floor, uttering a
cry of pain. The lights were quickly

995
01:30:46.680 --> 01:30:51.720
switched on and the guards saw him
prostrate upon the floor, blood spurting from

996
01:30:51.720 --> 01:30:56.079
his wounds. While a prisoner was
trying to make his way back to his

997
01:30:56.239 --> 01:31:00.640
bed. A knife that had been
made of a file which the convicts had

998
01:31:00.720 --> 01:31:03.720
used in killing hogs that morning,
was found on the floor of the prison

999
01:31:03.760 --> 01:31:09.840
where the attack occurred. How the
knife was smuggled into the prison is a

1000
01:31:09.880 --> 01:31:16.600
mystery. The guards found Frank's condition
alarming, prisoners were excited. The prison

1001
01:31:16.720 --> 01:31:21.720
surgeon was immediately called, but before
he could reach the dormitory, two well

1002
01:31:21.760 --> 01:31:28.159
known Georgia surgeons who are serving terms
in prison were at Frank's side, administering

1003
01:31:28.239 --> 01:31:32.079
first aid to the wounded man.
One of these physicians is doctor J.

1004
01:31:32.319 --> 01:31:38.399
W. McNaughton of Swainsborough, who's
doing a life term for murder, having

1005
01:31:38.439 --> 01:31:43.319
been sent to prison after four trials, and the other physician who attended him

1006
01:31:43.399 --> 01:31:46.359
was doctor L. M. Harrison
of Columbus, doing a long term.

1007
01:31:47.760 --> 01:31:51.960
I guess they've got me. Frank
is quoted as having uttered to the doctors

1008
01:31:51.960 --> 01:31:57.880
who stood over him. Frank was
conscious from the start and continued to talk.

1009
01:31:58.560 --> 01:32:01.159
He suggested to the doctor how the
flow of blood could be stopped.

1010
01:32:02.239 --> 01:32:06.560
He was gradually growing weaker. Within
a few minutes, Frank was placed in

1011
01:32:06.600 --> 01:32:12.119
the operating room of the hospital department
of the prison. Doctor Compton, the

1012
01:32:12.159 --> 01:32:16.119
prison surgeon, assisted by the two
doctors who were doing time there, started

1013
01:32:16.119 --> 01:32:20.760
to sew up the wounds. Frank
was growing weaker at that time, but

1014
01:32:20.880 --> 01:32:26.920
was still conscious. Doctors completed sewing
up the wound in Frank's throat at one

1015
01:32:27.039 --> 01:32:30.840
fifteen o'clock this morning. They had
joined the jugular vein and they had believed

1016
01:32:30.880 --> 01:32:36.000
the operation was successful. Frank was
taken to the hospital. He was still

1017
01:32:36.079 --> 01:32:42.760
conscious. At three o'clock this morning, Doctor Compton, the prison surgeon,

1018
01:32:43.000 --> 01:32:47.880
stated that Frank's chances for recovery are
slight. There is danger of blood poisoning,

1019
01:32:47.960 --> 01:32:53.079
said the doctor. There is danger
of the stitches in the jugular veins

1020
01:32:53.159 --> 01:33:06.800
slipping, either one of which might
cause death. August seventeenth, nineteen fifteen.

1021
01:33:10.039 --> 01:33:14.399
The public will never know the identities
of the twenty five brave and loyal

1022
01:33:14.479 --> 01:33:18.800
men who took into their own hands
the execution of a law that had been

1023
01:33:18.880 --> 01:33:26.119
stripped from them by Governor Slayton.
I would not advise inquisitive authorities or persons

1024
01:33:26.159 --> 01:33:30.279
to try to reveal them. They
are as zealously banded together now and as

1025
01:33:30.319 --> 01:33:43.880
relentless as the moment they invaded the
state prison. This was the statement of

1026
01:33:43.920 --> 01:33:48.600
a citizen of Marietta. He was
thoroughly aware of the movements of the lynching

1027
01:33:48.680 --> 01:33:55.479
clansmen, of the process of organization, of their plans, and their painstaking

1028
01:33:55.560 --> 01:34:00.600
system of advanced preparations. He would
neither admit nor deny that he was a

1029
01:34:00.640 --> 01:34:05.560
member of the mob. Quote.
The men who hanged Leo Frank, the

1030
01:34:05.680 --> 01:34:11.720
murderer of Mary Fagan, did not
go about it with a spirit of lawlessness

1031
01:34:11.760 --> 01:34:15.800
nor vindictiveness. They felt it a
duty, a duty to their state and

1032
01:34:15.880 --> 01:34:21.239
commonwealth, a duty to the memory
of Mary Fagan, whom all Cobb County

1033
01:34:21.359 --> 01:34:27.640
loved, and whose memory is cherished
in every household in the hills you see

1034
01:34:27.680 --> 01:34:30.800
over there to the west. They
would have lynched him more than a month

1035
01:34:30.800 --> 01:34:36.560
ago if someone hadn't got careless and
permitted a leak. Governor Harris was apprized

1036
01:34:36.600 --> 01:34:42.159
of the plans and ordered the militia
to be in readiness. That was the

1037
01:34:42.239 --> 01:34:45.520
day when the county police were scouting
in the edge of Fulton and Cobb Counties

1038
01:34:45.880 --> 01:34:53.319
on the lookout for automobiles from mariettam. Governor Harris and the military authorities no

1039
01:34:53.520 --> 01:34:59.560
doubt received widespread censure for this apparently
unnecessary action. But if the truth were

1040
01:34:59.600 --> 01:35:02.680
known, and it gave Leo Frank
at least one month of grace he would

1041
01:35:02.720 --> 01:35:06.720
not have received from the hands of
the men who were about to go into

1042
01:35:06.800 --> 01:35:13.880
Millageville forum. Ever since the day
Governor Slayton commuted the sentence of Frank,

1043
01:35:14.239 --> 01:35:19.359
this morning's hanging has been in process
of formulation. Minute and definite plans were

1044
01:35:19.479 --> 01:35:24.600
drawn, and there was not a
missing thread from the fabric of the perfected

1045
01:35:24.680 --> 01:35:29.600
scheme. When the twenty five men
set out early last night on their journey

1046
01:35:29.760 --> 01:35:35.880
to Milledgeville, meetings were held in
a spot so conspicuous you would be astonished

1047
01:35:35.960 --> 01:35:41.840
to hear its name called. A
leader was chosen, a man who bears

1048
01:35:41.880 --> 01:35:45.000
as reputable a name as you would
ever hear in a lawful community. He

1049
01:35:45.119 --> 01:35:49.640
was a man respected and honored.
Hundreds of men would obey him. The

1050
01:35:49.680 --> 01:35:55.520
twenty five would have gone through hell
in high water with him. The chosen

1051
01:35:55.600 --> 01:36:00.520
twenty five, although this wasn't the
entire number available, were men whose worth

1052
01:36:00.640 --> 01:36:05.880
was known collectively and individually. I
doubt you would find anywhere a body of

1053
01:36:05.920 --> 01:36:12.199
men more loyal, faithful, obedient, and determined. They were resolved to

1054
01:36:12.239 --> 01:36:16.319
bear whatever burdens arose, as though
it fell upon their individual shoulders, and

1055
01:36:16.399 --> 01:36:21.079
to go through with their plans at
any cost. They were business like as

1056
01:36:21.079 --> 01:36:27.039
well as determined. Like business ventures. They would not go into it without

1057
01:36:27.079 --> 01:36:30.439
first knowing every lay of the ground
and every detail, so far as could

1058
01:36:30.479 --> 01:36:36.199
be foreseen. The business of getting
the men was the first undertaking. This

1059
01:36:36.520 --> 01:36:42.199
was done only after a good deal
of sifting and weeding. I have learned

1060
01:36:42.239 --> 01:36:45.760
from my father and from those of
my various kin who served in the reconstruction

1061
01:36:45.920 --> 01:36:50.960
days, the modes and methods of
the ku Klux. But even that noble

1062
01:36:51.039 --> 01:36:59.680
institution for perfection of organization, determination
and daring could not equal this modern exploit,

1063
01:37:00.159 --> 01:37:03.279
done in the interest of a justice
of which we have been denied by

1064
01:37:03.319 --> 01:37:09.279
the man we put into office in
the first place. The organization of the

1065
01:37:09.319 --> 01:37:14.239
body who lynched Frank was more open
than mysterious. It was more on the

1066
01:37:14.359 --> 01:37:18.359
order of a plane open and shut
business proposition. The purpose of the coup

1067
01:37:18.439 --> 01:37:25.319
Klucks was more to overawe and frighten
than anything else. The determination of the

1068
01:37:25.399 --> 01:37:30.039
men who brought retribution to the memory
of Mary Fagan was of grim vindication even

1069
01:37:30.239 --> 01:37:36.039
if at extreme peril. When the
business of organization was finished, the next

1070
01:37:36.079 --> 01:37:42.960
object was to fully acquaint themselves with
conditions and contingencies in Milledgeville, the first

1071
01:37:43.079 --> 01:37:47.439
seat of action. Advance men were
sent to the scene. They went in

1072
01:37:47.479 --> 01:37:54.479
automobiles that they might familiarize themselves with
the roadways and draw maps of them.

1073
01:37:54.880 --> 01:38:00.720
In Milledgeville, they made thorough observations
of the prison grounds, took into contemplation

1074
01:38:00.880 --> 01:38:05.439
the barbed wire entanglements, and made
themselves acquainted with the telegraph and telephone connections,

1075
01:38:05.680 --> 01:38:12.760
and made intimate inspection of all inroads
and outlets to the town. The

1076
01:38:12.840 --> 01:38:17.399
plans were perfect. When the hour
came to strike, two men were sent

1077
01:38:17.479 --> 01:38:23.760
in advance of the main body.
They were a reconnoiter into several telegraphic and

1078
01:38:23.800 --> 01:38:30.279
telephonic communications with the outside world,
so that Millageville authorities could not notify other

1079
01:38:30.359 --> 01:38:34.000
townships to intercept them. As they
carried Frank to the place selected as the

1080
01:38:34.039 --> 01:38:41.640
scene of his death early Monday night. The automobiles assigned to the journey were

1081
01:38:41.680 --> 01:38:46.439
sent along their respective routes to pick
up the chosen men. Even the wives

1082
01:38:46.479 --> 01:38:51.199
of hardly any of them were aware
of their departure. The automobiles slid up

1083
01:38:51.279 --> 01:38:56.399
quietly to the front of the houses. A signal given and the man joined

1084
01:38:56.439 --> 01:39:00.560
them. And when they returned to
their beds in the break of two Tuesday's

1085
01:39:00.640 --> 01:39:04.239
dawn, it is doubtful that if
any members of their twenty five households knew

1086
01:39:04.279 --> 01:39:09.640
that they had been absent after midnight, it won't be possible to disclose the

1087
01:39:09.720 --> 01:39:15.239
identities of the twenty five, even
through their wives or children. The men

1088
01:39:15.279 --> 01:39:19.680
who proceeded to Milledgeville never grouped until
they reached the outskirts of the town.

1089
01:39:20.399 --> 01:39:26.399
They took a circuitous route so they
avoided the much traveled roads in larger towns.

1090
01:39:27.239 --> 01:39:30.800
Approaching Millageville, a car was sent
ahead to inform the advancemen, who

1091
01:39:30.800 --> 01:39:36.439
were to cut off communication. The
wires severed, the two men joined the

1092
01:39:36.479 --> 01:39:42.960
main body and proceeded with them to
prison. Every procedure was calculated to a

1093
01:39:42.960 --> 01:39:48.640
fine point. It was all carefully
planned and equally as carefully and painstakingly executed.

1094
01:39:49.960 --> 01:39:55.960
No one was to speak excepting the
leader. He was to have absolute

1095
01:39:56.000 --> 01:40:00.159
direction. They obeyed him to a
man his word, a law that knew

1096
01:40:00.199 --> 01:40:05.800
no denying. They would have shot
Leo Frank on the spot or released him

1097
01:40:05.920 --> 01:40:13.159
at his command. It was this
thorough understanding that was largely responsible for the

1098
01:40:13.199 --> 01:40:18.600
progress of the undertaking without mishap.
Equipped with maps of the roads which offered

1099
01:40:18.640 --> 01:40:25.239
speedy travel in the least possibility of
encounter, the automobiles traveled at a high

1100
01:40:25.239 --> 01:40:30.760
speed to Roswell and thence to Marietta. Every man was fully armed, and

1101
01:40:30.840 --> 01:40:33.439
it had come to a question of
a fight. There wasn't one among them

1102
01:40:33.479 --> 01:40:38.760
who wouldn't have given his own life's
blood as quickly and readily as he joined

1103
01:40:38.960 --> 01:40:44.399
to shed Franks. It was originally
planned to carry Frank to the cemetery in

1104
01:40:44.439 --> 01:40:49.319
which Mary Fagin's body is buried,
but daybreak overtook his captors. They were

1105
01:40:49.359 --> 01:40:55.239
speeding over the road that leads to
Marietta, in the neighborhood of Mary's birthplace.

1106
01:40:55.920 --> 01:41:00.439
When the sun mounted the horizon.
There was no little discussion over the

1107
01:41:00.479 --> 01:41:05.000
proposal to hold the lynching in the
Fray vicinity, the more daring members of

1108
01:41:05.000 --> 01:41:11.119
the clan wishing to carry out their
first plans and continue boldly to the grave

1109
01:41:11.199 --> 01:41:15.520
of its victim. But a word
from the leader silenced all opposition, and

1110
01:41:15.640 --> 01:41:20.520
Mary Fagan's death was vindicated in the
same grove where she used to play when

1111
01:41:20.560 --> 01:41:25.880
a barefoot girl, long before she
ever dreamed of going to work in the

1112
01:41:25.920 --> 01:41:33.319
pencil factory. It was ten point
thirty when the seven automobiles conveying the lynching

1113
01:41:33.359 --> 01:41:40.279
crew reached the prison near Milledgeville.
The two guards who kept an outer vigil

1114
01:41:40.359 --> 01:41:44.079
in front of the building were not
aware of it until the procession of machines

1115
01:41:44.159 --> 01:41:46.920
drew up at the front of the
building. The guards became active when the

1116
01:41:46.960 --> 01:41:51.279
occupants began to jump from their cars
and raise their guns at the first cent

1117
01:41:51.399 --> 01:41:56.720
of trouble. They had hardly lifted
the rifles, though before sturdy, able

1118
01:41:56.760 --> 01:42:00.239
bodied men had overpowered them, gagged
them, and left them in charge of

1119
01:42:00.319 --> 01:42:04.840
four of the lynchers. Most of
the mob remained on the outside while six

1120
01:42:04.920 --> 01:42:11.319
men entered the prison grounds. The
barbed wire entanglements that surrounded the prison were

1121
01:42:11.359 --> 01:42:15.279
snipped in twain by electricians pliers.
The entrance to the prison building was the

1122
01:42:15.319 --> 01:42:20.199
first point of invasion. A thickly
built man wearing a mask, who stood

1123
01:42:20.239 --> 01:42:25.000
in front of a handful of men
who followed him, rapped vigorously upon the

1124
01:42:25.079 --> 01:42:30.600
door, giving a guttural outcry as
the knuckles fell. Superintendent Burke was preparing

1125
01:42:30.640 --> 01:42:35.319
to retire at his home three hundred
yards distant from the prison building, when

1126
01:42:35.399 --> 01:42:41.720
summoned to his door, the invaders
pushed in and the arms of the superintendent

1127
01:42:41.800 --> 01:42:45.720
were pinioned to his side. He
was disarmed and a demand was made for

1128
01:42:45.800 --> 01:42:49.920
the keys to the inner prison.
When the keys were turned over to the

1129
01:42:50.000 --> 01:42:55.880
masked leader, Burke was handcuffed and
forced to march into the building at the

1130
01:42:55.920 --> 01:43:00.600
head of the body. Meanwhile,
a group of five men men had gone

1131
01:43:00.640 --> 01:43:03.960
to the home of Warden James E. Smith, nearby the prison building,

1132
01:43:04.239 --> 01:43:09.680
and as he appeared at the door, thrust rifles and revolvers in his face,

1133
01:43:10.079 --> 01:43:14.560
informing him that they meant business and
had come for Leo M. Frank.

1134
01:43:15.680 --> 01:43:19.560
Missus Smith, hearing the commotion,
sprang from her bedroom. Running into

1135
01:43:19.600 --> 01:43:24.920
the hallway, she faced the array
of weapons. She fainted in the arms

1136
01:43:24.920 --> 01:43:30.079
of her husband. After entreating the
lynchers not to harm him, she was

1137
01:43:30.119 --> 01:43:32.720
told by a gaunt man who wore
no mask, No, ma'am, we

1138
01:43:32.760 --> 01:43:36.840
ain't gonna touch him if he acts
right. The warden was compelled to lead

1139
01:43:36.920 --> 01:43:41.920
the men into the main building,
where the first group was joined. The

1140
01:43:41.960 --> 01:43:45.279
two inner guards, when confronted,
put up a feeble resistance, but were

1141
01:43:45.359 --> 01:43:51.960
quickly overpowered. Handcuffs were worn by
both the warden and his superintendent. Entering

1142
01:43:51.960 --> 01:43:57.720
the room occupied by Frank, he
was awakened by a bitter exclamation from the

1143
01:43:57.800 --> 01:44:01.039
leader. Hardly had his eyes opened, and he was grabbed by the wrists

1144
01:44:01.319 --> 01:44:05.479
and the fingers of the second mask
man sank into his hair, clutching a

1145
01:44:05.560 --> 01:44:12.399
handful and pulling him in this manner
out of bed. Frank groaned in pained.

1146
01:44:12.960 --> 01:44:16.399
The men snapped a pair of handcuffs
upon his wrists and began making for

1147
01:44:16.479 --> 01:44:23.000
the door. The capture was so
orderly that but few prisoners, only those

1148
01:44:23.079 --> 01:44:28.479
adjacent to the emptied bunk were disturbed
in their sleep. When the captors had

1149
01:44:28.520 --> 01:44:31.960
reached the entrance, warden Smith and
the superintendent still at their head. The

1150
01:44:32.000 --> 01:44:38.000
superintendent was asked to go along with
them. He replied vehemently, I'll be

1151
01:44:38.079 --> 01:44:42.479
damned if I go anywhere with you. Just for this cost or report.

1152
01:44:42.840 --> 01:44:47.079
The lynchers permitted Burke to remain manacled
while they released the wrists of the warden.

1153
01:44:48.039 --> 01:44:53.039
The machines stood by the curb,
their engines running, ready for a

1154
01:44:53.119 --> 01:44:59.079
speedy getaway. The men who were
keeping guard over the overpowered sentry stood at

1155
01:44:59.079 --> 01:45:03.960
the post, one of them lighting
a cigarette. The seven machines almost simultaneously

1156
01:45:04.319 --> 01:45:10.880
veered into the road and shot toward
Eatenton. Frank, his half wakened mind,

1157
01:45:10.960 --> 01:45:15.640
still unable to grasp the full report
of his captivity, was stretched in

1158
01:45:15.760 --> 01:45:20.600
the to knoweau of the first machine, and he mumbled incoherently. Frank was

1159
01:45:20.680 --> 01:45:26.359
taken from the state prison farm at
Milledgeville shortly after ten o'clock Monday night,

1160
01:45:26.800 --> 01:45:31.199
after the prison authorities have been overpowered, was thrown into an automobile and hastened

1161
01:45:31.239 --> 01:45:36.399
over country roads in a manner so
orderly that even in Marietta no one knew

1162
01:45:36.439 --> 01:45:42.159
of the enactment until a voice coming
over the telephone to Sheriff Hicks at the

1163
01:45:42.199 --> 01:45:46.359
break of dawn said, Leo Franks
hanging to a limb down here in fry

1164
01:45:46.479 --> 01:45:53.880
Jin neighborhood. The deputy Sheriff hastily
donned his clothes and in a buggy traveled

1165
01:45:53.920 --> 01:45:57.960
to the spot. He had been
preceded by a score of others, one

1166
01:45:57.960 --> 01:46:01.760
of whom William fry Owned or an
operator of the gin, had seen the

1167
01:46:01.840 --> 01:46:06.720
solemn procession file along the road.
They were standing in a circle beneath the

1168
01:46:06.720 --> 01:46:12.960
gruesome find, which swung in the
light breeze, still warm and bleeding.

1169
01:46:13.760 --> 01:46:17.960
The town and countryside hurried down in
rigs and automobiles and gazed with awe,

1170
01:46:18.159 --> 01:46:24.439
some of them some with exultation,
not a few with horror, and many

1171
01:46:24.760 --> 01:46:30.399
with complaisance upon the ghastly remains of
Leo M. Frank As they swayed from

1172
01:46:30.439 --> 01:46:35.319
the tree. Many of them pursued
the little Ford machine as it raced Atlantaward

1173
01:46:35.359 --> 01:46:41.960
from the undertaking shop, where the
wicker basket containing the corpse was transferred from

1174
01:46:42.000 --> 01:46:45.399
hearst to auto for the dash into
the city. As a further precaution,

1175
01:46:46.319 --> 01:46:50.720
the village undertaker had driven up with
his little black wagon. He had driven

1176
01:46:50.760 --> 01:46:55.600
it through the crowd until it projected
into the cleared space that lay beneath the

1177
01:46:55.680 --> 01:46:59.560
dangling body. Hurry up, there, commanded Judge Morris, who had assumed

1178
01:46:59.560 --> 01:47:03.840
command of the situation. The former
judge opened his pocket knife and slashed the

1179
01:47:03.960 --> 01:47:10.439
rope. The body fell to the
ground, crumpling as the muscles relaxed from

1180
01:47:10.479 --> 01:47:16.000
their long suspension. The crowd surged
forward. The undertaker and his assistance hurriedly

1181
01:47:16.000 --> 01:47:20.239
bundled it into the wicker basket.
As it was shoved into the black wagon,

1182
01:47:20.279 --> 01:47:25.319
a newspaper photographer arrived. He pleaded, just a minute, please let

1183
01:47:25.399 --> 01:47:29.760
me get a photograph. Judge Morris
retorted, get away from here. This

1184
01:47:29.840 --> 01:47:34.880
isn't any time for morbid sensationalism.
The black wagon was surrounded. Drive away

1185
01:47:34.880 --> 01:47:40.479
from here right now, ordered Judge
Morris. As the wagon went up the

1186
01:47:40.560 --> 01:47:45.560
road, men and boys jumped in
automobiles and pursued it. It was originally

1187
01:47:45.560 --> 01:47:49.720
proposed to carry the body to the
Marietta Undertaking Establishment, where it beheld pending

1188
01:47:49.800 --> 01:47:55.880
advice from Frank's relatives. Arrived at
the Undertakers, though it was seen that

1189
01:47:55.920 --> 01:48:00.119
there would be a demonstration. Judge
Morris commandeered a nearby car. The basket

1190
01:48:00.239 --> 01:48:04.960
was thrown upon the tonneau, and
just as the pursuing machines were coming into

1191
01:48:05.039 --> 01:48:41.560
view, hurried toward Atlanta. Affidavit
March seventh, nineteen eighty two. The

1192
01:48:41.680 --> 01:48:47.920
undersigned, being duly sworn, deposes
as follows. My name is Alonzo McClendon

1193
01:48:48.039 --> 01:48:54.000
man. I'm eighty three years old. I was born near Memphis, Tennessee,

1194
01:48:54.199 --> 01:48:59.439
on August eighth, eighteen ninety eight. My father was Alonzo Man,

1195
01:48:59.479 --> 01:49:04.039
who was born in Germany. My
mother was Hattie mc clenden man. When

1196
01:49:04.079 --> 01:49:08.840
I was a small boy, my
family moved to Atlanta, where I spent

1197
01:49:08.960 --> 01:49:13.720
most of my life. In nineteen
thirteen, I was the office boy for

1198
01:49:13.880 --> 01:49:17.359
Leo M. Frank, who ran
the National Pencil Company. That was the

1199
01:49:17.439 --> 01:49:23.600
year Leo Frank was convicted of the
murder of Mary Fagin. I was fourteen

1200
01:49:23.680 --> 01:49:27.960
years old at the time I was
called as a witness in the murder trial.

1201
01:49:28.560 --> 01:49:30.760
At that time, I was put
on the witness stand, but I

1202
01:49:30.800 --> 01:49:35.279
did not tell all that I knew. I was not asked questions about what

1203
01:49:35.399 --> 01:49:41.600
I knew. I did not volunteer. If I had revealed all I knew,

1204
01:49:41.960 --> 01:49:45.760
it would have cleared Leo Frank and
would have saved his life. I

1205
01:49:45.840 --> 01:49:51.199
now suffer from a heart condition.
I have undergone surgery to implant a pacemaker

1206
01:49:51.319 --> 01:49:57.600
in my heart. I am making
the statement because finally, I want to

1207
01:49:57.600 --> 01:50:02.399
have the record clear. I want
the public to understand that Leo Frank did

1208
01:50:02.439 --> 01:50:10.119
not kill Mary Fagin. Jim Conley, the chief witnessed against Leo Frank,

1209
01:50:10.720 --> 01:50:15.560
lied under oath. I know that
I'm certain that he lied. I am

1210
01:50:15.600 --> 01:50:21.359
convinced that he, not Leo Frank, killed Mary Fagin. I know as

1211
01:50:21.399 --> 01:50:28.680
a matter of certainty that Jim Conley
and he alone disposed of her body.

1212
01:50:29.560 --> 01:50:32.640
Jim Conley threatened to kill me if
I told what I knew. I was

1213
01:50:32.720 --> 01:50:38.239
young and I was frightened. I
had no doubt Conley would have tried to

1214
01:50:38.319 --> 01:50:41.560
kill me if I had told that
I had seen him with Mary Fagin that

1215
01:50:41.680 --> 01:50:45.399
day. I related to my mother
what I had seen there at the pencil

1216
01:50:45.479 --> 01:50:51.199
factory. She insisted that I not
get involved. She told me to remain

1217
01:50:51.399 --> 01:50:57.840
silent. My mother loved me,
She knew Conley had threatened to kill me.

1218
01:50:58.800 --> 01:51:02.000
She didn't want our families to be
involved in controversy or for me to

1219
01:51:02.039 --> 01:51:08.760
be subjected to any publicity. My
father supported her in telling me to remain

1220
01:51:08.920 --> 01:51:14.159
silent. My mother repeated to me
over and over not to tell. She

1221
01:51:14.279 --> 01:51:18.399
never thought Leo Frank would be convicted. Of course, she was wrong.

1222
01:51:19.399 --> 01:51:24.840
Even after he was convicted, my
mother told me to keep the secret what

1223
01:51:24.920 --> 01:51:30.560
I had seen. I am sure
in my own mind that if the lawyers

1224
01:51:30.600 --> 01:51:34.079
had asked me specific questions about what
I had seen the day of Mary Fagin's

1225
01:51:34.119 --> 01:51:40.039
death. I would have told the
whole truth when I testified at Frank's trial.

1226
01:51:40.920 --> 01:51:45.359
Of course, they didn't suspect what
I knew. They asked me practically

1227
01:51:45.359 --> 01:51:49.439
nothing. I was nervous and afraid
that day. There were crowds in the

1228
01:51:49.479 --> 01:51:55.960
street who were angry, who were
saying that Leo Frank should die. Some

1229
01:51:56.039 --> 01:52:01.880
were yelling things like kill of a
Jew. It was very nervous. The

1230
01:52:01.920 --> 01:52:08.600
court room was filled with people.
Every seat was taken. I was interested

1231
01:52:08.680 --> 01:52:13.600
mostly in getting out of there.
I spoke with a speech impediment and had

1232
01:52:13.600 --> 01:52:17.600
trouble pronouncing the R in Frank's name
in those days. The lawyers put their

1233
01:52:17.640 --> 01:52:21.479
heads together and said it was obvious
I knew nothing, and since I was

1234
01:52:21.479 --> 01:52:26.439
so young, they would let me
off the stand. It was not an

1235
01:52:26.479 --> 01:52:30.439
easy place for a young boy to
be there in court like that. I

1236
01:52:30.479 --> 01:52:34.479
never fully realized until I was older
that if I had told what I knew,

1237
01:52:34.840 --> 01:52:40.439
Leo Frank would have been acquitted and
gone free. Instead, he was

1238
01:52:40.479 --> 01:52:44.239
imprisoned. After he was convicted,
my mother told me there was nothing we

1239
01:52:44.279 --> 01:52:48.359
could do to change the jury's verdict. My father agreed with her. I

1240
01:52:48.439 --> 01:52:55.960
continued to remain silent. Later,
Frank was lynched by a mob from Marietta,

1241
01:52:56.039 --> 01:53:01.880
Georgia. I know, of course, because I kept silent Leo Frank

1242
01:53:01.960 --> 01:53:09.239
lost his life. I've spent many
nights thinking about that. I've learned to

1243
01:53:09.279 --> 01:53:14.920
live with it. I now swear
to the events I witnessed that fatal day,

1244
01:53:15.680 --> 01:53:19.840
Confederate Memorial Day nineteen thirteen, when
Mary Fagan, who was just about

1245
01:53:19.880 --> 01:53:26.840
my age fourteen, was killed.
I came to work on time that morning,

1246
01:53:26.840 --> 01:53:30.800
at about eight o'clock. I rode
the streetcar from my home on South

1247
01:53:30.840 --> 01:53:33.560
Gordon Street, and when I walked
into the building, Jim Conley, the

1248
01:53:33.680 --> 01:53:39.000
janitor, who also was called a
sweeper, was sitting under the stairwell on

1249
01:53:39.039 --> 01:53:42.680
the first floor of the building.
Although it was early in the morning,

1250
01:53:42.960 --> 01:53:47.800
Conley had obviously already consumed considerable beer. He drank a lot, even in

1251
01:53:47.840 --> 01:53:51.920
the mornings. He spoke to me. He asked me for a dime to

1252
01:53:51.960 --> 01:53:56.960
buy beer. A dime could buy
a good sized amount of beer in those

1253
01:53:57.079 --> 01:54:00.600
days. I told Jim Conley I
didn't have it. That was not the

1254
01:54:00.680 --> 01:54:04.199
truth. I had some money in
my back pocket, but I'd let Conley

1255
01:54:04.239 --> 01:54:09.000
have a nickel or a dime for
beer before. He never paid me back.

1256
01:54:09.640 --> 01:54:13.439
I didn't like to be around Jim
Conley. After I told Conley I

1257
01:54:13.479 --> 01:54:15.600
didn't have a money, I went
up the stairs to the second floor,

1258
01:54:15.640 --> 01:54:20.399
where my desk was located in the
office of Leo Frank. My job required

1259
01:54:20.439 --> 01:54:26.000
that I opened the mall file papers, keep the office orderly, run errands

1260
01:54:26.000 --> 01:54:30.439
in the like. Leo Frank arrived
in the building that morning shortly after I

1261
01:54:30.479 --> 01:54:33.560
did. He came into the office
and spoke to me. I always called

1262
01:54:33.640 --> 01:54:38.600
him mister Frank, and he referred
to me by my given name, Alonzo.

1263
01:54:39.479 --> 01:54:42.840
I do not know whether Leo Frank
had seen Jim Conley on the first

1264
01:54:42.840 --> 01:54:47.319
floor when he came into the building
that morning. A substitute secretary worked for

1265
01:54:47.439 --> 01:54:51.600
Leo Frank that morning. As I
remember, it was a routine Saturday morning

1266
01:54:51.600 --> 01:54:56.880
for me at the office because Memorial
Day, the factory part of the company

1267
01:54:56.920 --> 01:55:00.520
was closed. But sometimes on Saturday
mornings, people who had I worked at

1268
01:55:00.520 --> 01:55:03.199
the factory during the week could come
to the pay window in the office and

1269
01:55:03.199 --> 01:55:09.199
collect their salaries. Girls who worked
in the factory made about twelve cents an

1270
01:55:09.239 --> 01:55:12.920
hour. I did not know Mary
Fagan by name, but I had seen

1271
01:55:12.960 --> 01:55:15.479
her at the factory and knew her
face. We were just about the same

1272
01:55:15.520 --> 01:55:19.720
age. I was supposed to meet
my mother that day about noon and go

1273
01:55:19.800 --> 01:55:25.359
to the Confederate Memorial Day parade.
When I left the premises just before noon,

1274
01:55:25.800 --> 01:55:29.760
Mary Fagan had not come to the
pencil company. She apparently came to

1275
01:55:29.800 --> 01:55:32.920
pick up her pay shortly after I
left to go meet my mother. Some

1276
01:55:33.079 --> 01:55:38.119
time after eleven thirty, and perhaps
as late as a quarter of twelve.

1277
01:55:38.479 --> 01:55:41.399
I told mister Frank that my mother
wanted me to meet her so that I

1278
01:55:41.439 --> 01:55:44.800
could go to the parade with her. I didn't care all that much about

1279
01:55:44.840 --> 01:55:48.359
seeing the parade, but my mother
wanted me to go. Mister Frank agreed

1280
01:55:48.359 --> 01:55:51.319
for me to leave the office at
that time. I told him I would

1281
01:55:51.319 --> 01:55:56.880
return to the office and complete my
filing later in the afternoon. He said

1282
01:55:56.880 --> 01:56:00.239
he expected he would still be there
When I left the front building. Down

1283
01:56:00.279 --> 01:56:04.640
to the stairs and out the first
floor front door. Jim Conley was sitting

1284
01:56:04.640 --> 01:56:08.800
where I'd seen him when I came
to work, in the darkened area of

1285
01:56:08.840 --> 01:56:12.640
the stairwell. I walked to the
point where I was supposed to meet my

1286
01:56:12.720 --> 01:56:15.880
mother. It was a short distance, perhaps a block and a half.

1287
01:56:15.520 --> 01:56:19.079
We had agreed to meet in front
of a store on Whitehall Street. My

1288
01:56:19.159 --> 01:56:23.600
memory is that my mother had planned
to buy a hat that day. I

1289
01:56:23.640 --> 01:56:26.720
stopped and bought a hot dog on
the way to meet her. However,

1290
01:56:26.760 --> 01:56:30.279
when I arrived, she was not
there. She had told me that if

1291
01:56:30.319 --> 01:56:32.680
she was unable to come for me, not to worry. I waited for

1292
01:56:32.720 --> 01:56:35.840
her for a few minutes. Since
I didn't care that much about seeing the

1293
01:56:35.880 --> 01:56:41.359
pard, I went back to work. I can't be sure as to exactly

1294
01:56:41.399 --> 01:56:44.760
how long I was gone, but
it could not have been more than half

1295
01:56:44.840 --> 01:56:47.680
an hour. Before I got back
to the pencil factory. I had no

1296
01:56:47.800 --> 01:56:53.520
idea that I was about to witness
an important moment in a famous murder case,

1297
01:56:54.039 --> 01:56:57.840
a moment that has not been made
public until now that I was about

1298
01:56:57.840 --> 01:57:03.039
to become a witness to tragic h
I walked into the building by the front

1299
01:57:03.079 --> 01:57:09.119
door. Inside the door, I
walked toward the stairwell. I looked to

1300
01:57:09.159 --> 01:57:13.720
my right, and I was confronted
by a scene I will remember vividly until

1301
01:57:13.720 --> 01:57:17.640
the day I die. Jim Conly
was standing between the trap door that led

1302
01:57:17.640 --> 01:57:23.479
to the basement and the elevator shaft. I have an impression that the trap

1303
01:57:23.520 --> 01:57:29.359
door was partially open, but my
eyes were fixed on Jim Conly. He

1304
01:57:29.399 --> 01:57:32.399
had the body of Mary Fagin in
his arms. I didn't know it was

1305
01:57:32.439 --> 01:57:36.720
Mary Fagin. I only knew that
it was a girl. At that moment.

1306
01:57:36.800 --> 01:57:41.760
I couldn't tell if she was alive. She appeared to be unconscious or

1307
01:57:41.800 --> 01:57:46.000
perhaps dead. I saw no blood. He was holding her with both arms,

1308
01:57:46.039 --> 01:57:50.000
gripping her around the waist. I
can't remember the color of her clothes,

1309
01:57:50.039 --> 01:57:54.119
but I have the impression that she
had on clean, pretty clothes.

1310
01:57:55.039 --> 01:57:58.840
She was extremely short, and her
head was sort of on his shoulder or

1311
01:57:58.880 --> 01:58:02.399
over it. Her hair was streaming
down his back. Her hair was not

1312
01:58:02.560 --> 01:58:06.359
in braids when I saw her,
it was hanging loose. I saw no

1313
01:58:06.479 --> 01:58:11.319
blood on the part of her neck
that was exposed. I did not know

1314
01:58:11.359 --> 01:58:15.640
if she was dead, but she
was at least unconscious. She was limp

1315
01:58:15.680 --> 01:58:18.720
and did not move. Her skirt
had come up to about her knees.

1316
01:58:19.560 --> 01:58:24.319
It was as I suddenly barged into
the first floor, prepared to go up

1317
01:58:24.319 --> 01:58:28.520
the stairs to the office, that
I encountered Conly with the body of Mary

1318
01:58:28.560 --> 01:58:32.720
Fagin. Conley was close to the
trap door that led down into the basement

1319
01:58:32.760 --> 01:58:36.640
by way of the ladder. I
believed that from the direction he was headed

1320
01:58:36.680 --> 01:58:41.319
and the attitude of the body,
that he was preparing to dump the body

1321
01:58:41.359 --> 01:58:45.760
down the trap door. I have
no clear memory of whether the elevator had

1322
01:58:45.800 --> 01:58:48.399
been stopped on that first floor,
but if it was not on that floor,

1323
01:58:48.399 --> 01:58:51.600
the shaft would have been open.
He could have dumped her down the

1324
01:58:51.600 --> 01:58:57.640
empty elevator shaft. I believed for
some reason, Jim Conley turned round toward

1325
01:58:57.760 --> 01:59:01.439
me. He either heard my footsteps
come or he sensed I was behind him.

1326
01:59:01.760 --> 01:59:04.960
He wheeled on me, and in
a voice that was low but threatening

1327
01:59:05.319 --> 01:59:11.039
and frightening to me, he said, if you ever mentioned this, I'll

1328
01:59:11.119 --> 01:59:15.479
kill you. I turned and took
a step or two, possibly three or

1329
01:59:15.520 --> 01:59:19.119
four steps up toward the second floor. But I must have worried about whether

1330
01:59:19.159 --> 01:59:25.079
the office upstairs was closed. I
did hear some movement upstairs, but I

1331
01:59:25.119 --> 01:59:28.920
can't be sure who was on the
floors above. I was fearful that the

1332
01:59:28.960 --> 01:59:32.279
office might be closed, so I
turned back toward Conly. I wanted to

1333
01:59:32.279 --> 01:59:36.079
get out of there quick. He
got to within about eight feet of me.

1334
01:59:36.600 --> 01:59:40.479
He reached out as if to put
one arm or hand on me.

1335
01:59:40.920 --> 01:59:44.880
I ran out of the front door
and raced away from that building. I

1336
01:59:44.920 --> 01:59:48.840
went straight home. I rode the
street car. Once at home, I

1337
01:59:48.880 --> 01:59:53.319
told my mother what I had just
seen. I told her what Jim Conley

1338
01:59:53.359 --> 01:59:56.880
had said to me about killing me. I didn't know for sure that the

1339
01:59:56.880 --> 02:00:00.720
girl in his arms was dead.
My mother was very disturbed by what I

1340
02:00:00.840 --> 02:00:04.840
told her. She told me that
I was never never to tell anyone else

1341
02:00:04.880 --> 02:00:09.359
what I had seen that day at
the factory. She said she didn't want

1342
02:00:09.399 --> 02:00:13.199
me involved, or the family involved
in any way. She told me to

1343
02:00:13.239 --> 02:00:16.239
go on about my business as if
nothing had happened, that sometime soon I

1344
02:00:16.239 --> 02:00:20.119
would have to quit working there.
From then on, whenever I was at

1345
02:00:20.159 --> 02:00:24.640
work, I steered clear of Jim
Conley. I kept away from him,

1346
02:00:24.640 --> 02:00:28.359
and he did the same. When
my father came home, my mother explained

1347
02:00:28.399 --> 02:00:31.039
to him what I had seen and
what Conley had said to me. My

1348
02:00:31.119 --> 02:00:34.920
father told me to forget it and
never mention it. My mother was a

1349
02:00:35.000 --> 02:00:40.319
very strong willed woman who was thirty
years younger than my father, and he

1350
02:00:40.439 --> 02:00:44.399
said to me what she wanted him
to say. Later on, he told

1351
02:00:44.479 --> 02:00:48.079
me that Frank would never be convicted. I have wished many times that my

1352
02:00:48.119 --> 02:00:53.279
mother hadn't taken that attitude, and
that either she had told the authorities,

1353
02:00:53.399 --> 02:00:57.479
or that she had encouraged me to
tell somebody, perhaps Leo Frank, what

1354
02:00:57.560 --> 02:01:01.119
I had seen. When the detectives
laid questioned me, I told only that

1355
02:01:01.239 --> 02:01:04.239
part of the story up to the
time I left that day to go meet

1356
02:01:04.319 --> 02:01:09.720
my mother. I did not tell
that I had come back into the building

1357
02:01:09.800 --> 02:01:14.520
and saw Conley with the body.
When Frank went on trial and I was

1358
02:01:14.560 --> 02:01:16.560
called as a witness, my mother
told me I would have to go and

1359
02:01:16.640 --> 02:01:20.840
testify. She repeated to me what
she'd already told me the day of Mary

1360
02:01:20.840 --> 02:01:25.720
Fagin's murder. She told me to
keep to myself what I had seen.

1361
02:01:26.720 --> 02:01:30.079
She said, if I were not
asked a specific question, I did not

1362
02:01:30.199 --> 02:01:34.439
have to give a specific answer.
Jim Conley was the chief witness against Leo

1363
02:01:34.600 --> 02:01:41.319
Frank. I know that all of
the testimony was false. I am confident

1364
02:01:41.399 --> 02:01:45.319
that I came in just seconds after
Conley had taken the girl's money and grabbed

1365
02:01:45.319 --> 02:01:48.279
her. I do not think sex
was his motive. I believe it was

1366
02:01:48.399 --> 02:01:55.359
money. Her pay was never found
in the building after she died. Many

1367
02:01:55.439 --> 02:01:59.800
times I have fought since all of
this occurred almost seventy years ago, that

1368
02:01:59.840 --> 02:02:03.000
if I had hollered or yelled for
help when I ran into Conley with the

1369
02:02:03.039 --> 02:02:08.760
girl in his arms that day,
I might have saved her life. I

1370
02:02:08.880 --> 02:02:13.039
might have On the other hand,
I might have lost my own life.

1371
02:02:13.640 --> 02:02:15.800
If I had told what I saw
that day, I might have saved Leo

1372
02:02:15.880 --> 02:02:20.960
Frank's life. I didn't realize that
at the time. I was too young

1373
02:02:21.039 --> 02:02:26.800
to understand. As the years have
gone by, I've told this secret to

1374
02:02:26.840 --> 02:02:30.239
a number of other people. I
told it when I was in the army

1375
02:02:30.279 --> 02:02:33.319
in World War One. In fact, I had a fight with another soldier

1376
02:02:33.359 --> 02:02:38.159
who became angry when I said that
Leo Frank did not kill the girl,

1377
02:02:38.279 --> 02:02:42.800
but that Conley did. I have
told other people. I told my late

1378
02:02:42.840 --> 02:02:45.680
wife. She urged me not to
make a public because she felt it wouldn't

1379
02:02:45.680 --> 02:02:49.239
do any good. She said it
would not bring back Leo Frank and it

1380
02:02:49.239 --> 02:02:55.079
would not bring back Mary Fagin,
and I told other relatives and friends.

1381
02:02:55.720 --> 02:02:59.640
On one occasion, I believe in
the nineteen fifties, when I was operating

1382
02:02:59.640 --> 02:03:03.880
a rest in Atlanta, I discussed
this with a reporter in Atlanta, but

1383
02:03:03.920 --> 02:03:09.159
the reporter said that since Leo Frank's
wife was still alive, it was not

1384
02:03:09.239 --> 02:03:14.520
a matter of the newspaper wanted to
open up. Leo Frank was convicted by

1385
02:03:14.640 --> 02:03:19.199
lies. Heaped upon lies. It
wasn't just Conley who lied. Others said

1386
02:03:19.199 --> 02:03:24.239
that Leo Frank had women in the
office for immoral purposes, and that he

1387
02:03:24.319 --> 02:03:27.960
had liquor there. There was a
story that he took women down in the

1388
02:03:28.039 --> 02:03:31.560
basement. That cellar was filthy,
It was filled with coal dust. I

1389
02:03:31.640 --> 02:03:35.680
was in the basement twice and remember
the dirt and filth there. That was

1390
02:03:35.720 --> 02:03:42.520
all false. Leo Frank was a
good office manager. He always was proper

1391
02:03:42.560 --> 02:03:45.600
with people who worked for him.
There were witnesses who told lies, and

1392
02:03:45.720 --> 02:03:51.640
I have remained silent. Now I
am finally making all this public. I

1393
02:03:51.680 --> 02:03:57.640
am glad to have it all come
out at last. I'm able to get

1394
02:03:57.680 --> 02:04:01.800
this off my heart. I believe
it will help people to understand that courts

1395
02:04:01.840 --> 02:04:08.039
and juries can make mistakes. They
made a mistake in the Leo Frank case.

1396
02:04:09.000 --> 02:04:12.239
I think it is good for it
all to come out, even at

1397
02:04:12.279 --> 02:04:15.319
this late date. There will be
some people who will be angry at me

1398
02:04:15.399 --> 02:04:19.479
because I kept all this silence until
it was too late to save Leo Frank's

1399
02:04:19.520 --> 02:04:25.399
life. They will say that being
young is no excuse. They will blame

1400
02:04:25.479 --> 02:04:29.039
my mother. The only thing I
can say is that she did what she

1401
02:04:29.119 --> 02:04:32.199
thought was best for me and the
family. Other people may hate me for

1402
02:04:32.279 --> 02:04:36.279
telling it. I hope not,
but I am prepared for that too.

1403
02:04:36.399 --> 02:04:40.880
I know that I haven't a long
time to live. All that I have

1404
02:04:41.000 --> 02:04:45.520
said is the truth, and when
my time comes, I hope that God

1405
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understands me better for having told it. That is what matters most, Signed

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Alonzo him Man. A grand jury
was convened to investigate the lynching of Leo

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Frank, but no indictments were ever
issued. Jim Conley was convicted as an

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accessory to the murder of Mary Fagin
and spent about a year in jail,

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but in nineteen nineteen was sentenced to
twenty years for robbing an Atlanta drugstore and

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arrested at least twice more before his
death in nineteen sixty two. The State

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of Georgia posthumously pardoned Leo Frank in
nineteen eighty six. That was mob justice

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for Leo Frank. The Murder of
Mary Fagin. Theme music by Dave Sam's

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02:05:56.720 --> 02:06:02.079
and Rachel Shot engineered by David Hisch
Third Street Music, Incidental music by Niko

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Vittesi. Media management by Sean R. Jones, Production assistance by Emily cymer

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Braun and I'm True Crime historian Richard
O. Jones signing off for now