Frank Case

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THE FRANK CASE

Inside Story of Georgia s GreatestMurder MysteryC o m p l e te H i s t o r y of T h e S e n s a t i o n a l C r i m e

T r i a l , P o r t r a i t s o f P r i n c i p a l s

Publ is hed B yT H E A T L A N T A P U B L I S H I N G O

A T L A N T A . G A .


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THE FR NK C SE

Inside Story of Georgia s GreatestMurder Mystery.

Publi shed ByT H E A T L A N T A P U B L I S H I N G C O .,A T L A N T A . O A .


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Copyright 1913.THE ATLANTA PUBLISHING CO.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS.PREFACE.

CHRONOLOGY.Chapter 1Crime Discovered.Chapter 2Police Reach Scene.Chapter 3Frank Views Body .Chapter 4Mother Hears o f Murder.Chapter 5Crime Stirs Atlanta.Chapter 6Leo Frank Is Arrested.Chapter 7The Inquest Starts.Chapter 8 Fra nk ' s Story .Chapter 9 Dictograph Inc ident .Chapter 10Conley Enters Case.Ch a pte r 1 1 "Co n le y I n Sch o o l . "Chapter 12Racial Prejudice Charge.Chapter 13Plants Charged to Frank.Chapter 14South 's Greatest Legal Battle .Chapter 15The State ' s Chain .Ch a pte r 1 6 "P e rv e rs i o n " Ch a rged .Chapter 17Salacious Stories Admitted.Chapter 18Frank's Al ib i .Chapter 19Attorneys Threatened.Chapter 20Frank ' s Own Story .Chapter 21Lawyers Laud and Denounce Frank.Chapter 22Fear o f Lyn ch ing Precedes Verd ic t .


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P R E F A C E .The sensational case of Leo M. Frank is undisputedly At-lanta's and the south's greatest murder mystery of modernyears.The story o f how l i t t le Mary Phagan was foul ly murderedas she went to get her pay at the National Pencil factory,rev oltin g and horr ible as it is in its details, natu rally interestsevery working man and every working woman.The mystery of the crime compels the interest of everyone,who hears about it."The Mary Phagan murder mystery , " however , lost i ts iden-tity when Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the big factory,where the humble l itt le employe met her death, was arrestedand it became the Frank case.In no other murder case in the south has there been suchintense interest. It has bec om e m ore than the ord ina ry mu rde rmystery ; more than the story o f a man o f posi t ion chargedwith slaying in lustful passion a little fac tor y girl. Th e rea-son of the unusual importance of the case is that, it is charged,that Frank is being persecuted because he is a Jew.The story o f the fearful cr im e; o f the pr inc ipal deve lopmentsof the four months that fo l lowed it , and finally the story ofthe great, trial, where for a solid month the two greatest crim-inal lawyers in the south battled against the keen wits ofAtlanta's sol ic itor general to save Frank, has been told bypress reports.Many of the interesting features about the Frank case,however, have never been printed, because the newspapers

dared not embody them in their accounts.This work ends with the conviction of Frank in the supe-rior cou rt of Fulton (A tlan ta) cou nty. Trial did not end thecase, for immediately after the young defendant was sentencedto pay the death penalty, a motion for a new trial was made,and it wil l be months, probably years, before he hangs, i f heever does. Fr om the day of his con viction , how ever, thel ight for Fra nk 's li fe became a technical legal battle . Thereal stor y ends with the trial and ev ery essential feature isg iven here . TH E AU TH OR .

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Chronology of the Crime.Apri l 27T he dead bod y of Ma ry Phagan is found in base-ment o f N ational Penci l factory at 3 a . m . b y New t Lee,neg ro night-w atchm an. Polic e hold Lee.Apri l 27Leo M. Frank, superintendent o f the Penci l fac-tory, ca lled f rom bed to v iew M ary P hag an 's body .Apri l 27Arthur Mull inax arrested.Apri l 28Blood splotches found in metal room on secondfloor lead police to believe the girl was killed there.Ap ri l 28 Coron er Doneh oo empanels ju ry for inquest. I tmeets, views body and scene of crime and adjourns.Apri l 28J. M. Gantt former bookkeeper at the factory,arrested at Marietta.April 28Pinkertons hired by Pencil factory to f ind slayer.Ap ri l 29 Fran k taken from factory to pol ice station . ChiefLanford announces he will be held until after the inquest.Apri l 29Experts declare Newt Lee wrote notes found bydead girl 's side.April 29Luther Z. Rosser announces he has been retained-by Frank and is present when his client is questioned in ChiefLanford' 's office.Apri l 29Discovery o f what is apparently a b lood stain nearelevator leads police to believe girl 's body was dragged tothe con vey an ce shaft, and dro pp ed to the basem ent.A pr il 30 Fra nk and Lee closeted togeth er in office ofChief o f Detect ives Lanford for an hour.Ap ril 30 Co ron er's ju ry reconven es. Lee tells his story.May 1James Conley, negro sweeper, arrested while wash-ing shirt in factory . Considered unim portan t at time.M ay 1 Satisfied with alibis, police l iberate Gantt and M ul-linax.May 1Frank and Lee taken to county jail to be held untiloutcome o f coroner ' s jury probe .May 2Solicitor General Dorsey enters actively into thecase.May 5Frank tells of his actions on the day of the crime.On the stand for three and one-half hours, he tells a straight-forward story.M ay 6P aul Bowen arrested in Ho uston , Tex .May 7Bowen released upon proving a l ib i .May 8Frank and Lee ordered held for grand jury by cor-oner ' s jury.May 12Mrs. Frank visits her husband for f irst time since

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May 17Colonel Thomas B. Felder announces that Burns de-tective is at work on the mystery.May 21P. A. Flak, New York f inger print expert , makesinvestigation. Result unk now n.May 24Conley unexpectedly makes startl ing confession inwhich he says he wrote notes found near body at instigationo f Frank.May 24Frank indicted by grand jury for murder ; Lee heldas material witness.M ay 26 Burns officials announce their investigation ter-minated.M ay 27C onley makes anothe r sensational affidavit inwhich he says he helped Frank carry Mary Phagan 's body to

basement.May 30Conley taken to pencil factory and re-enacts inpantom ime carry ing of bo dy to basement. Taken to tow er.Jun e 3 M inola M cK nigh t m akes sensational affidavit inwhich she says she overheard Mrs. Frank tel l of strange con-duct on Frank's part on the night of the murder.June 7Mrs. Frank scores Solicitor Dorsey. declaring thatthe room in which Minola McKnight made her incriminatingaffidavit was a " tor tu re cha m ber . "Jun e 8 Atto rney Rosser accuses Chief Lanford of ins in-cerity in search for slayer.June 23Solicitor Dorsey sets trial for June 30.June 24Date of trial changed to July 28 at conferencebetween Superior Court Judge Roan and defense and prose-cution attorneys.Ju ly 9 Publ ic is to ld o f a port ion of Ma ry Ph aga n 's payenvelope being found at bottom of f l ight of stairs leadingfrom office by Pin ker ton d etectives soon after the m urder.July 18Call issued for grand jury to meet and consider in-dictment of Conley as principal .Ju ly 21 Grand ju ry , a fter hearing statement o f Sol ic i torDorsey, agrees to suspend action in Conley matter.Ju ly 22 The discove ry of a b loo dy st ick near where C on-ley sat on day of murder is announced.Ju ly 28Trial o f Frank commences .August 25Case goes to jury and verdict o f gui l ty is re-turned.August 26Frank sentenced to death on October 10th andattorneys move for new tr ia l .

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CHAPTER ICrime Discovered.

Newt Lee, nightwatchman, yawned and stretched his legs.F ar off in the silent city a clock boom ed on ce. The n egr olistened intently. It wa s half-past tw o o 'cl oc k of a Sabba tbmorning, April 27th, 1913; and he must make his rounds.It was chil ly there on the second floor of the NationalPencil factory, and Newt passed the palms of his black handsacross the dusty glass surface of his lantern to warm them.The shado ws in the corne rs danced and crept closer. Be forehim the lantern l ight revealed the face of the big time cloc kwhich it was his duty to punch every thirty minutes.In a l ittle while Newt would have made the rounds of thedeserted factory bui lding, could punch the c lock, would s i tdown again for another rest.A nd he wa s tired, too , he thought. H e nee ded rest."Y a s s e r , " he mu t te re d t o h imself. " I ' s e s ome t i a h e d "As Newt started down the stairs to the first floor, the dark-ness swallowed up behind him and only a narrow path ofl ight showed the fl ight of steps down which he must clam-ber. An oth er man at the same place and hour wo uld h avefelt cold shivers wriggle up his spine, but not Newt.Night after night for many months he had been that sameround, had seen those same shadows flicker on the bare walls,watched the lantern make the same ghostly tracings on thesteps.But tonight he was tired, despite the fact that Mr. Frank,the superintendent of the factory, had given him nearly thewh ole afternoon off. H e talked to himself as he reached thefoot of the steps and began to throw his lantern l ight backand forth on the empty first f loor. Many lonely nights spentas this one, had taught Newt the value of s i lent communionand much sleep."Hiah Ah comes down at three ' c lock ' cause Mister Franksays it 'us holl iday a n' he wanted ter git off e a rl y ," he m ut-tered thickly . " A n ' fust thing he says is fer me ter gi t andhave er go od time, not ter come back ti l l s ix. D at 's a swellt ime Ah had, a in ' t i t? Tra m psin ' ' round town when A h 'dlots ruther been a-sle epin ' at home. W on da h what 'us de

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matter w id Mister Fr an k toda y, anyhow ? 'Peared to bemoughty nervous der , rubbin ' h is han 's and comin ' bustin 'out de doah when Ah hol lered to ' im. A n ' m ek kin ' me goupstairs wid Mister Gantt ter git his shoes, just like he wasskeered dat Gantt man 'ud steal som ethin' . Hu h, white folksd on ' s teal no thin g ' . Not lak niggers , an yh ow ."By this time Newt had made his examination of the firstfloor. A ll serene as usual. Glo om y, of course, w ith non e ofthe busy workers that were there in the day time, none of themen feverishly packing pencils , none of the scores of l i ttlefactory girls bent over the machines. There were the ma-chines, glea m ing and still . Ne w t like d them still , for stillnessand the common-place meant safety to a night-watchman.One m ore floor, and he w ou ld be thro ugh . On e m ore floor,the basement, darkest of the dark, always si lent, always sin-ister.

H e raised the trap-door ov er the scuttle-hole. A dim l ightsho t up. Th e gas-jet wa s bu rnin g as usual, but it w as turneddow n migh ty low , thou ght New t to himself . Orders are orders,thought Newt, and Mr. Frank's orders were to a lways havethat l ight burn ing brightly. W ell , he w ou ld see.Down the ladder he cl imbed, his feet fastening gingerly oneach round, his lantern swaying, its l ight spearing the dim-mer l ight of the basement with faint gleams, really enhancingthe silence and the gloom.H is feet touch ed the bott om roun d. H e was on the base-ment floor. To each corner the lantern flecked its yellowrays. A ll rig ht here, all righ t there. Bu t stay, ov er thereby the boiler, on that pile of saw-dust.Ne wt adva nced three steps forward, and stopped. Steadythe light burned, shining on a little pile of clothes and some-thing else, something that Ne w t had never seen before . Hisheart thum ped . H e cou ld hear it beat. H is ears strainedto catch some other sound, but from the sleeping city with-out all was silent as a tomb, nothing stirring but the quickhard thump, thump, of his heart. The silence pressed aroundhim, gripping him. and for the first time in his l i fe the negrowas seized with dea dly, nauseous, fear. He tried to throwit off. H e sw allow ed som ething in his throat and tried tolaugh." S h o , " m u t te re d a lo u d . " D e m fa cto ry b o ys is des t ry i n 'to scare me. Des a li l' hol l iday joke , da t 's a l l ."His voice sounded harsh and grating in the stillness.

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"D e s a l it tle jo k e ." lie repeated fearful ly , and then hisvoic e trailed off into silence.One more step forwa rd, one more f l icker of the lantern,and N ew t Lee stumb led back . He had seen som ething thatcaught his blood like an icy dam, and with one bound hewas sob bing his wa y up the ladder. Th at thi ng by the boilerwas no jok e, no hol l iday prank . Jok es were not smearedwith blood, jokes did not have hair , nor staring eyes, norfaces bruised and scarred.

The Victim.MISS MARY PHAGAN.


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CHAPTER I I .Police Reach Scene.

The same clock that boomed the hour that sent Newt Leeoff on his rounds of the factory bui lding, boom ed freedom fromthe night's work for three men at the Atlanta police station.It had been an easy night for police reporters, but easynights are weary nights and the welcome hour meant that thebig presses up in the office were grindin g o ut pages of prin tedmatter for the citizens of the city to while away the Sundayhours between breakfast and time to go to church."G ood -nig ht , c h ie f , " they shouted , as they c lattered dow nthe stone steps of the station-house." G o o d - n i g h t , b o y s . "The two of them turned up Decatur street , foggy with thenight mist, free from the throngs of merry , laughing colo redpeople that had cr ow de d them a few hours earlier. Only thel inger ing smel l o f f r ied f i sh and the reek o f "hot -dogs" re -mained of the jostl ing mass of humanity that had fi l led thestreet from curb to cu rb such a l ittle while a go." W h e r e ' s B r i t t ? " s a i d o n e ."Out in Boots Rogers ' automobi le , I guess , " said the other,and the two laughed.

So the third reporter was left in the automobile, whileinside the station-house th e officers lolled ba ck in th eir ch airsto drone away the remaining hours ti l l the first l ight ofmorning.Already over the smoky sky-line to the east a thin smudgeof l ight wa s appe aring. The arc-l ights in the street burnedblue and the hands on the station-clock were crawling towardthe hour of three.Som ewh ere off in the cells to the rear of the station thegulpin g sobs of a negress reach ed the officers. Br ou gh t inearlier in the evening on the charge of disorderly conduct,she had continued to moan and yell throughout the nightuntil exhaustion brought only those racking sobs.

" S e r g e a n t , ' g r o w l e d a thick-set man nea r the doo r, whosechevrons proclaimed him a head of a department. "Makethat woman shut up , wi l l you?"

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The sergeant sighed and clu mp ed off t ow ard the rea r,sw inging his keys. Bo ots Ro gers, deputy, open ed his mou thto begin the 'steenth exposition of the Grace case when thetelephone bell jangled." W e l l , " s aid Officer W . T . An de rs o n. "W o n d e r w h o ' sr ingin ' up this hour o ' the night ."He rose wearily, strode to the door of the telephone boothand sw ung it open. H is brother officers loo ke d up for a m o-ment with passing interest and sank back in their seats."H el lo , he l lo ," came from the booth . " Y e s , this is the pol icestation. W ha t? Y ou ' l l have to speak s lower, o ld man. Ido n ' t ge t yo u . "Th en he got the message, the message from that negro , m any

block s away , crouc hing fearful in the gloom of the pen cilfactory, tel l ing in a shaky voice of a dead girl found in thebasement of the National Pencil factory on Forsyth street.A s Officer And erson crashed out of the 'phone booth withhis new s, the sleepy officers leape d to their feet, w ide aw ak ein a minute, to the emergency." M y m a ch in e 's in f r o n t , " ye l le d Ro ge rs . "L e t ' s g o "In a flash he was out on the sidewalk, Anderson on his heels.Together they sprang into the car, woke the sleeping reporter,

and the three of them were up the silent street with a sputterand roar , leaving the other officers gaping after a trail o fdust and a winking red l ight.As the machine neared the corner of Pryor and Decaturstreets, tw o men w ere seen stan ding on the corn er. Th eywere Officers Dobb s and Br ow n. The autom obile slowed do wn ." J u m p i n " yel led Rogers , and with hardly a perceptiblepause, the big car rocked on up Marietta street, slewed intoForsyth and stopped, panting, at the black pile that theyknew was the National Pencil company.The four men alighted. Ea ch w as breathing hard with ex -citement, as Officer A nde rson po un ded on the door w ith hisclenched fists.A muffled tread sounde d from within, the latch gratedharshly, and the frightened face of Newt Lee peered out atthem. Th e whites of his eyes w ere rolling and his teeth cha t-tered. Th e pictu re of fear, each officer t hou ght to himself.Be fore he cou ld speak, "Where ' s the body?" they shot a thim; and had entered the gloomy portal of the factory.

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With Lee in advance and Anderson right behind with hishand clenched over a revolver, the men advanced single fi leto the scuttle-hole . Ba cke d by "w hi te fo lk s , " Ne wt Lee ledthem down the ladder into the darkness and pointed fearfullyto the thing in the corner."Dat ' s i t , " he whispered .The officers bent and look ed up on the fearfully mu tilatedbody of a girl. She lay inert in the saw-du st, her head tow ardthe front, her feet diagonally across toward the right rearcorner. The face, bruised and cut, black w ith grime , wasturned towa rd the wal l . The bod y was face-dow nw ard, andas the men stooped for a further exam ination, the exte nt ofthe injuries was revealed to them. The y cou ld see her hairin shreds, the unmistakable hair of a white person staineddark with blood that had oozed from a w ick ed blow on theback of the head; the blue ribbon that had been tied on sobl ithely but a few hours before, now wilted and di rt y ; thesilk lavender dress smeared with blood; one small whiteslipper sti l l cl inging to the right foot; around the neck astrand of heavy cord that had cut deep into the flesh; aroundher head a clumsi ly-contrived gag, formed of c loth torn fromher dress. They turn ed the bod y over . The undersk irt wasripped to shreds, one stocking supporter was broken, thewhite stocking itself sagged down almost to the knee.Sedgeant Bro wn threw his head back and gasped. " M yGod, i t ' s only a c h i l d "While they stood there Sergeant Dobbs had been makinga minute investigation of the cellar floor; a few feet awa yhe found the other s l ipper of the g irl ; near the shaft of theelevator was her flimsy little hat. Then he ma de a dis-covery.

Turning toward the lantern l ight he held up to view twosoiled pieces of yello w paper, across wh ich some one hadscraw led rude letters. W ith bated breath, the officers read thenotes. Th is wa s on e:" H e said he w oo d love me laid dow n l ike the nightwitch did it, but that long tall black negro did itby hisself."The other read:"Mamma that negro hired down here did this Iwent to get water and he pushed me down this hole along tall negro black that has it woke long lean tallnegro I write while play with m e . "

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CHAPTER I I I .Frank Views Body.

By 5 o 'clock of a sti l l Sabbath morning the drag-net ofthe law was spread for the slayer of a little factory girl.Immediately fol lowing the arrest of Newt Lee, he wastaken to the station-house and efforts were m ade to ide ntifythe dea d child. D epu ty Rog ers told the officers w hile allwere still at the pencil factory that he knew a girl that workedthere w ho cou ld prob ab ly loo k at the murd ered child and tellwho she was.She was his sister-in-law, he said, Grace Hix, who livedat 100 M cDo noug h road. Ro gers decided to go after her inhis machine.

Shortly before daylight he returned with Miss Hix, andwent with her to the morgue of P. J. Bloomfield, where thebody had been taken. There Grace H ix look ed at the lacer-ated body."It's the little girl that worked at the machine next to

m e," she cr ied . " I t ' s Ma ry Ph ag an ." W ith the words shefainted.In the meantime oth er officers of the polic e and detectivedepartm ents had been busy at the scene of the crime. A bo ut5:30 o 'clock Detective Starnes called up Frank, the superin-tendent, at his home, 68 East Georgia Avenue, told him thatsomething had happened at the factory, and that he wouldsend for him in an automobile.So shortly after day-night Rogers went to the Frank home

in his car with Detective John Blac k. The d oo r wa s openedto them by Mrs. F r a n k , and immediately afterward her hus-band came out.According to the story o f Black and Rogers , Frank askedthem if anything had happened at the pencil factory, butthey told him to get his coat and com e with them . B lac k saidlater that Frank was dressed, all except his collar and tie,and that he appeared to be extremely nervous, constantlyrubbing his hands.The three of them got into R og er s ' car an d rushed off to-ward town. On the way B lack asked Fran k i f he knew a

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girl nam ed M ary Ph agan , and the superintenden t is saidto have told him that he would look on the factory pay-rol land see. It was at this time that B lac k told F ra nk of themurder.On the way to the factory the three stopped at the under-tak er 's and looke d on the bo dy of M ary Phaga n. It is saidthat Frank was asked i f he knew her and replied that hethought so and that he would find out for certain at thefactory.Leaving the undertaker 's , the trio approached the factoryat sun-rise. Alre ad y the news of the murder had spread ov erthe town and a small group of men stood outside the factorydoor. Among them was N. V. Darley, general foreman of the

factory, whom Frank had requested his wife to noti fy beforehe left hom e. Fra nk hailed the foreman and he entered w iththe superintendent and the officers.Straigh t up the stairs to Fr an k's office the men wen t. Thesup erinten den t open ed the safe, too k out a blan k book , ranhis f inger down a column of names and stopped at one." M a r y P h ag a n " s tared up f rom the page ." Y e s , " sa id Frank, according to Ro gers ' s tory . "S h e washere yeste rda y to get her pay. I f I make no mistake, my

stenog raph er left at 12 o 'c loc k, the office bo y w ent a fewmom ents later, and then she came in and go t her pa y. It was12:15."Step ping q uickly away from the book , Fr ank rub bed hishands and asked i f any traces of the pay envelope had beenfound arou nd the factory. There had been none.The next request of the superintendent was to see the placewhere the gir l 's bo dy had been found. Officers, superintend-ent, and foreman boarded the elevator leading to the basement.

First, it is said, Frank went up to a switch-box by the eleva-tor, told the officers that he wa s accu stom ed to keepin g itlocked, then unlocked it , turned on the machinery, and theelevator started on its downward trip.In his nervousness, Frank did not see that the elevator ropewas caught, and Darley reached over and helped him releaseit. A fte r viewin g the basement room where the bo dy w asfound, the party returned upstairs."Newt Lee has worked for us a short t ime , " Frank i s

quoted as say ing : " B u t Da rley 's kn ow n him a long time. I fanybody can get anything out of bim, it 's Darley.15


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On the return to the first floor, some one suggested thatthey all go down to the station-house, with which Prankturned to Darley and is said to have told him:"I guess I 'd better put a new sl ip on the c lock."W hat followed is best told by Bo ots Ro ge rs. B y his tes-timony given later, Frank talked but little of the murder butsaid: "That 's too bad," as he looked at the spot where l i tt leMary Phagan was found dead. W he n Fran k spoke to Darleyabout a new slip on the clock , said R oge rs, the forem an agreedwith him.Rogers said: "F r a n k took his keys out of his pock et , un-locked the door of the lock on the right, and took out thetime slip. He exam ined the slip and then said it wa s pun che d

all right." L e e was handcuffed and was standing near. Darley alsowas there. After seeing that the time slip wa s pu nch edall right, Frank laid it down on the table and went into hisoffice, comin g out with a blank slip. W h ile he was in theoffice gettin g the ne w slip, several of us exa m ine d the onetaken from the clock . W he n F ran k put in the new slip, heasked some of us to help him, and I held a lev er. F ra nkfound a pencil in one of the punch holes, and asked L eewh y it w as there. Th e neg ro said he put the pe ncil there sohe would punch the right hole and make no mistake.

"Frank unlocked the c lock and on the margin of the s l iphe wrote in pencil 'A p ri l 26, 1913 . ' Th en he folded the slipand carried it back into the inner office. W h en I ex aminedthe slip, I noticed ju st the f irst tw o pu nch es especially. Onewas punched at 6:01 o 'c lock and the second at 6:32 or 6:33."" H e di dn 't notice any skips on the slip." H e thought if there had been any omissions, he wou ldhave seen them."From the factory Fra nk and the officers we nt to the policestation, stil l in Rogers ' machine, which, verily, had seen hardservice that Sun day m ornin g. Da rley and Ro ge rs sat on thefront seat, Lee and De tective B lack in the rear. Fr an k w assitting on D arl ey 's knee. He trem bled vio len tly, said D arley.At the police station, Frank is said to have leaped out otthe automob ile in a nerv ous jum p, w alk ing rap idly into the

chief of detectives office, and talking in a qu ick, constrainedmanner. D ur ing the con ver satio n in the de te ct iv es ' office,Frank told them of the vis it to the factory Saturday morningof one J. M. Gantt , a young man who was discharged from16


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the factory a short time before and who came back that after-noon for a pa ir of shoes he had left there. Fra nk told thedetectives that Gantt knew Mary Phagan well .On the strength of this statement, the detective force startedlooking for Gantt .With Newt Lee held in the station on the charge of sus-picion, Frank at his home, and detectives on the lookout forseveral suspects, the first day of the famous Mary Phagancase came to a close.All during that sti l l Sabbath crowds had passed constantlyback and forth along Forsyth street, content merely to standand gaze at the building where black murder had been done,although a ceaseless wa tch wa s ma intained b y officers on allwh o entered or left the factory, and the general public was

entirely ex clu de d from its interior.And in the meantime there was sorrow in a little home inBellwood. which Mary Phagan had left alive and happy onSaturday.

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C H A P T E R I V .Mother Hears of Murder.

The story of Mary's actions on that last Saturday she wasalive is told as follows by various witnesses:M emorial day da wn ed c loudy and dim. It was a hol iday ,the f irst that the little factory girl who worked so hard frommorning until night had had in many weeks.She planned to go to town right after dinner, get her $1.20pay at the factory, and spend the rest of the day watchingthe Confederate Veterans parade down Peachtree street.Shortly before noon, she hurriedly ate her simple dinner ofcabbages and biscuit and left the home which she was neverdestined to see again . She bo ard ed a street ca r for the ci tyabout noon.

On the car was tow-h ead ed, freckle-faced, Geo rge Ep ps, thenew sboy that l ived near Ma ry, the little fellow wh om she hadalways liked. The y sat togeth er on the car and before theyparted Mary had promised to meet her little friend at 1o 'c lock and with him watch the boys in gray march.

At Marietta and Forsyth streets, but l ittle over a blockfrom the factory, M ary al ighted from the car , accord ing toGeorge Epps, and walked down Forsyth street, saying thatshe wa s go ing to the factory. This car wa s due to arriveat the corner of Broad and Marietta streets, one block fromwhere she left it , at 12:07 o 'clock.Late that evening George Epps ran over to the Phaganhome, to f ind out why Mary had not met him as she promised.He found her mother feverishly worried because Mary hadnot been hom e at all. J. W . Coleman, M ar y 's step-father, w en tto town at the solicitation of Mrs. Coleman to see if he couldfind M ary anywhere."She might have gone to the Bijou theatre with some ofher gir l fr i en ds ," Mrs. Coleman told her husband. " W a i tdown there unti l i t gets out and see i f you can 't f ind her ."Mr. Coleman went to the Bijou, waited until the show wasover, watched the streams of faces pass him by, but neversaw the face of the little girl he sought.

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He returned to the home, 146 L indsay street, and consoledthe grieving mother with the thought that Mary might havegone to M arietta to visit her grand-m other. She wa s alwaysstarting to do that, Mr. Coleman told her, and probably shejust decided to go after she drew her pay Saturday.The mother's heart was aching, but she managed to quietall ou tw ard fears. Y et all throu gh the long nigh t she waswondering where her l ittle girl was.Early on Sunday morning, April 27th, there came a knockon the do or of the Phag an home. The m othe r's heart told herit was new s of M ary and she flew to the thre shold.A white-faced girl stood at the door, her eyes deep with sor-row, her l ips hardly able to utter the awful words she cameto tell. She w as Helen Ferguso n, a neighbo r.

"Ma ry i s " she began.The mother's heart read the rest." N o t d e a d ? " she cried, stricken to the depths."Yes, dead, dead," the g irl sobbed, breaking into a stormof weeping .Other members of the family came running to the door.The mother swooned and was supported to a couch withinthe home. Th ere she lay for days afterwards, unable to speaksave to ask piteously for her little daughter.The news once broken to the Phagan family, Mr. Colemanhastened to town to see the body of the l ittle girl who hadbecom e even more than a dau ghter to him. A t Bloom field 's ,the undertaker's , Will Ghessling, an assistant, showed him thebody, and the old man positively identified it.He was but one of many who looked on the body that dayand the day following.Morbid curiosity, the same that influenced hundreds togaze at the blank walls of the pencil factory and later to stand

for hours outside the court-room where the trial took place,led thousands of peop le to steal one glance at the corpse ofa girl murdered so cruelly and so mysteriously.The largest crow ds looked on the bod y of Mar y Phaganthat have ever seen a dead body in the history of the city ofAtla nta. It is estimated that 20,000 saw the rem ains whilethey were at the undertaking establishment, while many hun-dreds viewed them at the funeral at Marietta.The funeral took place Tuesday afternoon. Before that,however, physicians made an examination of parts of MaryPhagan's body, although the result of their probe was kepta profound secret unti l the trial.19


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On Tuesd ay afternoon , Ap ril 29th, the body of the litt legirl was laid to rest in the old family cemetery at Marietta,Ga., tw en ty miles from Atlan ta, while mem bers of the familyand scores of fr iends stood by , weeping bit ter ly .On May 7th the body was exhumed at the order of the statesolic itor and a minu te exam ination m ade of the stomach an dother vital organs by Dr. H. F. Harris, of the state board ofhealth. W h at he foun d ou t was kn ow n only to himself and thesolicitor until he testified on the witness stand at the trialnearly three months later.

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C H A P T E R V .Crime Stirs Atlanta.

Following the news that Mary Phagan had been murderedin the basement of the National Pencil factory, the city OfAtlan ta was stirred as it had never before been stirred. Thefamous Grace case had created excitement, the trial of Mrs.Call ie Scott Appelbaum had been of profound interest , but themystery surrounding the murd er of Mary P hagan and theatrocity of the crime, combined to make it a sensation whichlasted not only the requisite nine days, but remained a mys-tery for months, a mystery in which the f inal chapter maynever be written, a mystery which will always make the casethe most famous in the criminal annals of the state of Georgia.The name of Mary Phagan was on the lips of all on theMonday morning fo l lowing the day of the murder , the papersgot out extra after extra, they were snapped up by thou-sands, it seemed as if the public could not read enough ofthe horrible crime.The result was that the Atlanta police department wasswamped with rumors, most of them extremely sensational,which their originators claimed would lead to the discoveryof the murderer .While the f irst wave of public opinion was unanimous indeclaring Newt Lee the guilty man, reports of other suspectsresulted in the arrest of another man before that first Sundaywas ended.He was Art hu r Mu ll inax, a former street car condu ctorand an alleged friend of the dead girl 's. M ullinax was ar-rested on the statement of E. L. Sentell , an employe of theC. J. Kamper Grocery company, who said that he saw theman with Mary Phagan at 12:30 o 'clock on the morning ofthe murder walking along Forsyth street near the pencilfactory.Sentell, in his statement to the police, said that he hadknown Mary Phagan for years and that he was positive shewas the girl he saw on the street, and more startled thanever when, on her approach, he recognized her as the littlePha gan g irl. H e said that as the coup le passed them, hesa id , "Hel lo , Mary , " and that she repl ied , "Hel lo , Ed. "

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Mullinax was easily apprehended by the police and lateSun day eve ning was taken to the police station. Here Sen-tell positively identified him as the man he said he saw withMary Phagan.A crowd was at the police station when Mull inax was takeninto custody, and several threats were made on his life, atypical instance of the point to which public sentiment hadbecome inflamed.The suspect vehemently denied his innocence to the police,declaring that he knew Mary Phagan only by sight and thathe had met her but once, at a Christmas entertainm ent. Th eofficers d ecid ed to keep him on suspicion, and he was lo dg edin a separate cell.On Monday another suspect, J. M. Gantt, was arrestedat M arietta. Seve ral suspicious circum stances po inte d to Gan ttas kno win g somew hat o f the cr ime. He was known to havebeen acquainted with Mary Phagan, he had been at the fac-tory Saturday afternoon, he had formerly worked at the fac-tory and was familiar with the building.Gantt's sister, Mrs. F. C. Terrell , was located by officersat her residence, 28 4 East Linden street, where she said Gantthad staye d Fr ida y night. She gave a conflicting accou nt ofhis mov eme nts after that. Officers decid ed they were on theright track.

Monday morning Gantt was arrested with a warrant charg-ing him with being suspected of the murder of Mary Phagan,just as he stepped off the car at Marietta.He was brought to Atlanta, and joined Lee and Mull inaxin the station-house. Gan tt told a straight sto ry, adm ittingthat he had been discharged from the factory several week sbefore; that he went back Saturday to get some shoes hehad left there; that in going to Marietta at that unfortunatetime he was merely fol lowing out some plans he had suggestedto his mother many days before.On the morning fol lowing his detention, Gant sought to getout of jai l by applying for a writ of habeas corpus. But before itcould be acted on both he and Mullinax were released on May 1,fol lowing testimony at the corone r 's inquest by w hich each es-tablished a clear alabi. M ullina x wa s released larg ely o w in gto the testimony of his f iancee, Pearl Robinson, who came for-ward and said she was the girl seen with him by Sentell .Gant was later subpoenaed as a witness at the trial, while

Mullinax was discovered to know so little about the case that22


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he was not even summoned as a witness.The rumors in regard to Gant and Mullinax were but two ofmany that the police had to run down, explode, or confirmduring the days following the murder.Tales of a girl being kidnaped in an automobile Saturdaymorning and drugged; of a girl with a red dress who saiidshe knew something about the crime being seen at Marietta:rumors and rumors of rumors had the police and detectiveswellnigh frantic .Not the least of them resulted in the arrest of a man infar-off Houston, Tex ., Paul Bowe n, a former Atlanta boy wh oknew Mary Phagan . Bow en succeeded in prov ing an alabion May 7, the day after his arrest, without having to makethe lon g trip ba ck to Atlan ta. It is interesting to note that

owing to the warm condition of Houston polit ics at the t imeBowen's arrest was seized upon as an excuse for discharginghalf the detective force of that c ity.The police received alleged aid on the Monday followingthe murder when it was announced that the pencil factoryauthorities had retained the services of local Pinkerton de-tectives to aid in running down the murderer.During that Monday, April 28, there was so many rumorsafloat that real progress on the Phagan case was but littleDuring the morning the coroner 's jury met with CoronerPaul Donehoo in the metal room of the pencil factory andwas emp aneled. It imm ediately adjou rned after viewing thebody and the scene of the crime.An interesting discovery of the day was that of blood spotson the floor of the metal room wh ich led detectives to thinkthat the Phagan girl was killed there and not in the base-ment, as was at first sup pos ed; and that her bo dy wa sthen dr ag ge d to the basement. This was but one of the ma nytheories ad va nce d as to ho w and when the little girl 'me ther death.So ende d M ond ay, Ap ril 28, with three suspects, Lee,Cant and Mullinax, in jail , and the men who later were tobe the chief actors in the drama still at large.The arrest of one of them was to follow before twenty-four hours had passed.


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C H A P T E R V I .Leo Frank Is Arrested.

On the morning of Tuesday, April 29, Leo M. Frank, su-perintende nt of the National Pen cil factory, was taken tothe police station and held on suspicion in connection withthe mu rder of Ma ry Phagan. Fr om that day on he neverregained his freedom.Slim, boyish-looking, a frail , delicate man, he was a dif -ferent suspect than either the old darky, Newt Lee, the younggiant, Gant, or the ex-conductor, Arthur Mullinax.Who he was cannot be better told than in his own words,spoken nearly four months later to the jury who decidedhis fate. H e sa id :"In the year 1884. on the 17th day of April, I was bornin Paris, Tex . A t the age of three months my parents to okme to Brooklyn, N. Y. , and I remained in my home until Icame south, to Atla nta , to mak e m y hom e here. I attendedthe public schools of Brooklyn, and prepared for col lege inPratt Institute, Br oo kly n, N. Y . In the fall o f 1902 I en-tered Cornell university, where I took the course in mechan-ical engineering, and graduated after four years, in June,1906." I then accepte d a positio n as draftsman with the B. F.Sturtevant company, of High Park, Mass. After remainingwith this f irm for a bou t six months, I return ed once mo reto my home in Brooklyn, where I accepted a posit ion astesting engineer and draftsman with the National Metiercom pan y, of Br ook lyn , N. Y . I remained in this posit ionuntil about the middle of October, 1907, when, at the invi-tation of some citizens of Atlanta, I came south to conferwith them in reference to the starting and o pera tion of apencil factory to be located in Atlanta

"Alter remaining here for about two weeks, I returnedonce more to New York, where I engaged passage and wentto Euro pe. I remained in Euro pe nine months. Du ring mysojourn abroad I studied the pencil business, and lookedafter the erection and testing of the machinery which hadbeen previously contracted for . The first part of August,1908, I returned once m ore to America, and immediately24


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came south to Atlanta, which has remained my home eversince." I married in Atlan ta, an Atlanta girl , Miss Lu cile Sel ig .The major portion of my married l i fe has been spent at thehome of my parents-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. E. Sel ig , at 68 EastGeorgia avenue.Frank was taken into the custody of the pol ice shortlybefore noon Tuesday as he was at the penci l factory.An automobile which left the pol ice station carrying De-tect ive Harry Scott , o f the Pinkerton agency , and City De-tective John Black, returned within ten minutes with Frank,who was conf ined in a ce ll . Chie f o f Detect ives N ew por t A .Lanfo rd anno unced that he would be held pend ing the re-sult of the coroner 's inquest.The news of the latest arrest spread l ike wild-fire . Spec-ulation was ri fe as to Fra nk 's co nnection with the ease. Scoresof his fr iends came to his aid, hundreds who had never seenhim declared that he must be the guilty man.The latter pointed out the fo l lo w ing (condemning factsthat were known at that t ime: that Frank, by his own ad-mission, was the last man known to have seen Mary Phaganal ive ; that he appeared nerv ous wh en New t Lee. cam e to thefactory early in the afternoon and that he cal led Newt Leeover the telephone during the evening, something he hadnever done be fore ; that he was nervous when Gant came tothe factory at 6 o 'c lock Saturday afternoon; that he wasnervous when o f f icers took him to the factory Sun day morn-ing.Fr an k's fr iends set up a cry of indignation o ver his arrest.They at once retained Luther Z. Rosser, one of Atlanta'sforemost attorneys , for counsel. Rosser imm ediate ly cal ledat the station and talked with his client, and was also pres-ent when Frank was questioned by detectives.

Besides interviewing his counsel, Frank held a long talkwith Pinkerton Detective Harry Scott , retained by the fac-tory officials.Public sentiment on that Tuesday, the day before the in-quest started, attained its highest point since the discoveryof the murder. W ith four suspects held, opinion w as equal-ly divided as to who was the guilty man, although the ma-jor i ty condemned e i ther Newt Lee, the negro , the m ost hum-ble of the penci l factory employees, or Leo Frank, the whiteman, the "boss" o f the f i rm. Suspic ion against Gant andMullinax already was fast dropping away.25


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Thedetectives of both the city and Pinkerton forces scouredthe factory, the homes of the suspects, the whole city intheir search for clues.At the pencil factory they found blood spots near the ele-vator shaft on the f irst f loor, a discovery which led to con-f irm their belief that M ary Ph agan w as m urd ered on thatfloor an d her bo dy drag ged to the shaft, wh ere it was low -ered to the basement.An othe r f ind was of a bloody shirt, which c ity detectivesunearthed in their minute examination of the premises aroundNew t Le e's humble abode. The shirt was discovered in anash barrel back of his cabin. It was cov ere d wi th , darkstains, although it gave every appearance of not having beenworn after the blood was smeared on it .This discovery served to swing suspicion more than everagainst the night watchman, while Newt himself stoutly de-clared that he had w orn the shirt then o n his back for aweek.On Tuesda y tw o rewards w ere offered for evidence lead-ing to the discovery of Mary Phagan's murderer, one by thestate, of $200, and another by the city, of $1,000.The town was in a turmoil on that night, with the officialinquest of the coroner scheduled to begin the next day.

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C H A P T E R V I I .The Inquest Starts.

The coroner 's inquest started Wednesday morning, fo l low-ing a long interview between Fra nk and Ne wt Lee, heldTu esda y nigh t at the po lice station. De tective s stated thatthe two suspects were brought face to face in the hope thatFrank could wring a confession of gui lt from the negro.Score s of witnesses, including girls from the factory andmany others, arrived at the police station Wednesday morn-ing to testify at the inquest. Th e inquest began at 9:1 0o'c lock, behind closed doors, in the room of the board ofcommissioners,Call Off icer W . F. Anderson, and Off icer Brow n test if iedas the first witnesses. Th ey wen t into full details as to ho wthey were not i f ied of the murder and how they found thebody on that grewsome Saturday night.Officer An de rson 's testimony conta ined a vivid and re-volting description of how the body was mutilated and torn.In the dim light of the cellar, testif ied O fficer And erson, thebody could not be identif ied as that of a white girl 's unlessthe observers we re at least within f ifteen feet of whe re it lay.He was present, said the witness, when somebody pickedup a note near the bo dy. H e identif ied it as the one writtenon a s l ip of yel low paper . Later , some body found anothernote. He did n ' t ident i fy that. Ab ou t f ive feet from thegirl 's bo dy a pen cil was found. Near it was a pad fromwh ich the slip evide ntly had been torn. H e described thebasementa long, narrow enclosure between rock walls, withthe elevator shaft near the front, a boiler on the right abouthalf way back, a partit ion on the left shutting in an enclosurewhich seemed to be waste space, an open toilet on the rightbeyond the boiler , the girl 's body on the left , beyond that,and a do or at the ba ck end. The girl 's left slipper was foun dnear the elevator. She w ore no hat that he cou ld find. H edidn't remember distinctly how she was dressed, but believedit was in some dark material.Of f icer Brown fo l lowed Anderson o the stand, and gavetestimony extremely damaging to Newt Lee, declaring, asdid Anderson, that it was impossible to tell that the body was7


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that of a white girl unless within a very few feet of it . Hesaid that only until he rolled down the stocking below theknee and saw the flesh could he tell that the girl was white.He described the fearfully dirty appearance o f the b ody ,stating that only by being dragged could it have accumu-lated so much dirt and grime. H e also told how they hadtried to reach Fra nk over the 'phon e in the early mo rninghours, but had not been able to do so until several hourslater.Du ring Br ow n 's testimony a dramatic incident occu rred.The little girl 's clothes, a one-piece purple dress with whitetrimmings, one shoe, a black gun-metal slipper, were shownto the ju ry . As they were placed in a heap on a chair, Ma ryPh ag an 's brothe r rose from a seat in the corn er, stared inho rror at the pathe tic l ittle pile , and ran from the room withhis hands clasped to his head.At 11 :45 o ' c loc k Newt Lee himself took the stand. Hetestif ied to coming to the factory at 4 o 'clock, leaving whentold to do so by Frank, coming back at 6, he told of Frank'snervousness, o f Gan t ' s v is i t to the fac tor y; o f Fran k cal linghim over the 'phone to ask him if everything was "a l l r i g h t"early in the ev en in g; and of f inding the bod y. N ew t testi-f ied that he found the body face up, although detectives andoff icers say that it was face d ow n. N ew t swore, how ever,that he did not touch the bo dy . In answ ering the allega-tions of the officers that he c ou ld n ot tell it w as a wh itegirl , he declared he could tell by the hair which was alwaysdi fferent in white women from b lack wom en.

The last witness to testify before the j ur y adjo urn edWednesday morning was J. G. Speir, of Cartersvil le , whoswore that he saw a girl and a man Saturday afternoon infront of the pencil factory, that they were excited and ner-vous, and that the girl was the same one he saw Sunday atP. J . Bloomfic ld ' s chapel , the dead Mary Phagan.Wednesday af ternoon the f irst witness to test i fy was Georgefipps, the young newsboy who came to town on the car wiithM ary Phagan. An interesting phase of his testimon y was thestatement that Mary had told him that Mr. Frank had winkeda t h e r a n d " " l o o k e d s u s p i c i o u s . "E. L. Sentell testif ied in regard to seeing Mullinax witha girl whom he supposed to be Mary Phagan late Saturdaynight. An oth er witness, a neig hbo r, said he had seen herabout 5 o 'clock near her home, while a third witness, whohad told d etec tive s that he had seen M ar y Pha gan that af-

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ternoon, appeared at the inquest to say that he was mis-taken. Sentel l was convin ced by off icers that he was no tsure the girl he saw was Mary Phagan.R. P. Barrett , a factory employe, testif ied to f inding theblood spots near Mary 's machine on the second f loor , show-ing that she may have begun her f ight for l i fe there insteadof in the dark basement.Gantt took the stand and told the same story that he hadalready told to detectives.J . W . Coleman, stepfather of M ary Pha gan, testi fied tothe anxiety of himself and her mother, on the night of themurder.Frank M. Berry, assistant cashier at the Fourth Nationalbank, was one of the important witnesses at the hearing, andhe declared that in his opinion the notes found by the girl 'sbody were written in the same hand as several other notes,which had been written at po lice headq uarters for the de-tectives by the negro watchman, Newt Lee.

The inquest then adjourned until Thursday.When the inquest adjourned at 6 o ' c lock Wednesday af -ternoon, the detectives had made one step toward solvingthe m ystery of l itt le M ary Ph ag an 's death. This was thearrival at the conclusion that the little girl had never leftthe factory after she went there shortly after noon Satur-day to get her pay.Assertions that Mary had been seen at Midnight with Mul-linax, and that girls corresponding to her description hadbeen seen at various hours Saturday afternoon in the neigh-borhood of the factory , one by one were probed deeply andfound to be unfounded.

E. L. Sentell admitted that it was Pearl Robinson, and notMary Phagan that he had seen with Mullinax, other witnesseswho were supposed to have seen the little girl Saturday af-ternoon came forward to declare that they might have beenmistaken. This underb rush cleared aw ay, off icers co uld f inda working basis at last , a substantial supposition that MaryPhagan never came out of the pencil factory alive.As a result of their conclusions, Gant and Mullinax werereleased from custody at the tem porary adjou rnm ent of theinquest Thursday afternoon, an inquest which was in sessionfor but a few minutes.

Coroner Donehoo had called 160 witnesses, most of themfactory employees, and after swearing them in at 4 :30 o ' c lo ck ,29


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announced that the investigation of the little girl's deathwould be postponed until the Monday following.Hardly had this news been announced, when a bigger sen-sation fo l lowed. N ew t Lee and Leo Fra nk were orderedtransferred to the Fulton county tower unti l the conclusionof the inquest.At pol ice headquartesr it was given out that the two sus-pects were taken to the tower because there was considerabledoubt as to the legality of detaining them on city warrants, asboth had been arrested in connection with a state and not acity case.The coroner 's warrants by which the two men were takento the tower were exactly al ike in each case, save for thenames. Fr an k's re ad :

" Ge o r g i a , F u l t o n Co u n t y :" T o the Ja i le r o f Sa id Cou nty ; Gree t ings :" Y o u are hereby required to take into custody theperson of Leo M. Frank, suspected of the murder ofMary Phagan, and to retain the said Leo M. Frankin your custody pending a further investigation ofthe death of said Mary Phagan, to be held by the saidcoroner o f said county ."Here in fai l not ."G iv e n u nde r my hand and official signature thisthe first dav of Mav, 1913.(S i g n e d ) P AU L DON EH O O," C o r o n e r . "

With the two men in the tower Thursday and two otherex-suspects released, there appeared to be but little doubt thatin the persons of Frank and Newt Lee the detectives he 'dthe key to the mystery.Yet there was another man in the toils of the law, a manwhose arrest created such little excitement at the time that abare paragra ph was devoted to it in the newspa pers. Ye tlater this man was to startle the public with the most sensa-tional statement that was ever told until the trial started.He was James, " J i m , " C onley , negro sw eeper at the penci lfactory . Conley was arrested at 2 o 'c loc k Thu rsday after -noon on suspicion and was confined at pol ice headquarters,toge ther with "S n o w b a l l , " e levator boy at the fac tory . Thelatter ne ver figured prom inen tly in the case. The slight inter-est which Conley 's arrest caused at the time is shown inthe newspaper account o f i t :3


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they distinctly saw Mary Phagan in her desperate battle withthe murderer.The ladies arrived within a short time of each other, buttheir dreams did n't coincide. Bo th gave the chief accuratedescriptions of the murderers of their dreams.W hile friends of Fr an k were flocking to defend him, therewas an equal amount of condemnation voiced against bothhim and the negro| M utt erin gs and threats beg an to fill theair and when the detectives showed that they really thoughteither Frank or Lee the criminal, according to the public 'sview of it , by taking the two to the tow er, sentiment reachedfever heat.

That Th ursd ay night prom ised ugly things. Fe ar of whatmight happen in the then aroused state of affairs caused offi-cials of city , coun ty and even the state to take extremelyprecautionary measures.Thursday night Governor Joseph M. Brown advised Ad-jutant General J. Van Holt Nash to communicate with officersof the Fi f th Regiment, National Guard of Georgia , with aview to having the troops in readiness should an emergencyarise. Th e go ve rn or also war ned the jail authorities and thepolice to be on the lookout for any signs of trouble on the partof the populace.In response to the warnings of the governor, Colonel E. E.Pomeroy, commanding the Fifth Regiment, gathered his menat the auditorium-arm ory, a few block s f rom the tow er w hereFrank and Lee were behind the bars, and held the troops thereuntil a late ho ur of the nigh t. At 11 :30 o'c lo ck the soldierswere allowed to return to their homes, rumors of mob violencehaving proven groundless.From Thursday unti l the coroner ' s jury convened againMon day m o r n in g , there was l i tt le o f real interest to cro p up

in the famous case, although rumors and speculations con-tinued to grip the city and the state. Th e cu pid ity of thepublic for news continued at a high pitch and Saturday nightthe militia was again ordered to be in readiness in case trou-ble should come up.Solicitor H. M. Dorsey held a long conference Saturdaymorning with Chief o f Detect ives Lanford, and Coroner PaulDonehoo, a conference which, it was understood, resulted inthe summoning of more witnesses for the inquest and a unify-

ing of the forces of city and state at work on the case.32


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All day Saturday the city was alive with rumors that therehad been a confession from one of the tw o prisoners in thetow er, rumors which the officials indign antly denied and w hichlater turned out to be entirely unfounded.So did the first week since Mary Phagan's body was found,end, with the best forces of county, city and state, and outsideagencies at work on the case, with two suspects in the tower,and the whole state looking forward to what the coroner'sinquest might develop when it convened again Monday after-noon at 2 o 'clock.

CHAPTER VII I .Frank's Story.

Before the coroner's jury reconvened Monday afternoon,the new Fulton county grand jury was sworn in by JudgeW . D. Ellis M ond ay morn ing. In his cha rge to the mem bersthe Judge impressed on them the necessity for consideringthe Phagan case before all else if they should be called uponto take up a charge against a man accused of murdering thelittle girl.In referring to the case the judge said:"The Mary Phagan case calls for your immediate and vigor-ous attention. The pow er of the state is behind you . W ha tappears to be an awful crime has been committed, and the wel-fare of the community, the good name of Atlanta, public jus-tice and the majesty of the law demand at the hands of thisgra nd ju ry and of all officers o f the law the most search inginvestigation and the prompt bringing to trial of the guiltyparty . ' 'At 2 :30 o 'c lock Monday afternoon the coroner 's jury tookup anew its prob e of the murd er of M ary Phagan. Leo M.Fra nk w as the first witness called. F or three hours and a halfhe stayed on the stand, telling a complete story of where hewas and what he did on the day of the murder, alternately in-terrupted by questions on the part of the coroner, SolicitorDorsey, and Chief Lanford.

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The only other witnesses examined during the afternoonwere Mr. and Mrs. Emil Selig. at whose home the Franks lived,Selig being Frank's father-in-law.Frank first testified that he had formerly lived in Brook-lyn, N. Y. that he left Brooklyn in October, 1907, that hewent abroad, and returning to the United States, went towr for the National Pencil company, where he came to begeneral superintendent.Hesaid in that capa city his duties were to loo k after thepurchase of material inspect factory costs, see that orderswere properly entered and fi l led, and look after the produc-tion in general.Frank told how he came down to the factory as usualSaturday morning and of the customary routine there unti lthe hour of noon his work l ightened somewhat owing to thefact that the day was a holliday and there were only elevenpeople in the factory.He told how shortly after twelve Miss Hall the stenogra-pher and Alo nzo Mann the office-boy, left the building, w henhe started cop yin g orders in the shipp ing requests. He saidthat at that time, so far as he knew, there was no one leftin the office."About 12:10 or 12:05," said Frank, "this l i t t le gir l whowas killed came up and got her enve lope. I d id n't see orhear any one with her. I di dn 't hear her speak to any onewho m ight have been outside. I was in my office w ork ingat the orders when she came up."I d on 't remem ber exa ctly wh at she said.

" I looke d up, and when she told m e she wanted her en-velope, I handed it to her. K no w ing that the emp loyes w ouldbe coming in for their pay envelopes, I had them all in thecash basket beside m e , to save walking to the safe each ti m e. "Fran k said he did n ' t know Mary Ph aga n 's number. Hesaid each envelope had the employe's number stamped on it .Headm itted that he had looke d up Mary Ph ag an 's num bersince the mu rder, but he had forg otte n it again , he said. Hedid not see her pay e nve lope after he hand ed it to her. H emade no entry of the payment, on the payroll or any other rec-ord, because none was required, said he." T h e girl left . She got to the outer door and asked i f themetal had com e. I told her no."He explained that the Phagan child hadn't been workingsince Monday because of the shortage in the metal supply.

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There was $1.20 in the child's pay envelope, he said, partof i t being for work on Friday and Saturday of the previousweek . H e did n't kn ow a t wha t rate she was paid , he said, ashe didn't open the sealed pay envelope.When she left he heard her footsteps die away in the hall,hesaid, and returned to his wo rk, thin kin g no more abo uther.Frank said he knew the Phagan child 's face, but didn'tkno w her nam e. She stoo d par tly beh ind his desk, he said,and he didn't notice the details of her dress, but thought thecol or was light. He di dn 't recall whe ther she wo re a hat, orcarried a parasol or purse, he said, and didn't see her shoesor stockings, which, he said, were hidden by the desk.The girl reached his office betw een 12:1 0 and 12:15, he said

and stayed there abou t tw o minutes. He tho ug ht her nam ewas on the outside of the pay envelope, he said, but had iden-tified her by her number. \No o ne else came into the' office wh ile she wa s there , thewitness said. In respon se to a ques tion from the coro ner , hesaid that he had tol d her she had come almost too late. W h enshe left he thought he heard her voice in the outer office,he said. H e made no entry on the pay roll after g ivin g thegirl her envelope, he said.,Fra nk then made a startling statement. It was that fiveor ten minutes after Mary Phagan left . Lemmie Quinn, foremanin the tip departme nt, entere d his office. Quinn stay ed afew minu tes, said Fran k, they had some small talk, and theforeman left about 12:25 o 'c loc k. He said that Quinn knewM ary Ph agan, being head of the department in which the girlworked.Be fore Fra nk left the office he w en t up to the fourth floor,acco rdin g to his sto ry, where he found H ar ry Denham andArthur White and Mrs. White, the two boys being employesof the factory.Frank said he then went home, reaching there about 1:20o 'c loc k Saturday afternoon. Abou t 3 o ' c l ock , he said , hecame back to the factory . Sho rtly after , he said, W hit e andDenham, whom he found working on the third f loor on hisreturn, left the building, White borrowing two dollars fromhim on his way dow n-stairs. H e we nt dow n-stairs after them ,he said, and lock ed the door. Th e rest of the afternoo n,he said, he spent in wor k- on the financial sheet. He describe d

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Lee's arrival early in the afternoon, how he told him to comeback, and how, about 6 o 'clock after the negro had returned,Gantt came and got his shoes.He then went home, he said, reaching there about 6:25o ' c lo ck. He to ld how he 'phoned Lee at the factory. Fra nksaid he wen t to bed at 11 o 'c loc k. H e continue d his storywith what happened the fol lowing Sunday.Frank described his conversation with Lee at the police sta-t ion on the Monday fo l lowing the murder when detect ivestold him to interview the black and try to get a confessionout of him. Fran k said he told the w atc hm an :"They know you know something; they can swing us bothif you d on 't te l l . " Just what the detectives had asked himto say.A l ittle after 6 o ' cl oc k F rank d escended from the stand,as unruff led by the terrific gri l l ing and bomb ardm ent of ques-tions he had received as he had been before he testified. H estated to a reporter that he was not tired at all, and indeed,he did not appear to be, despite the trying experience.

Emil Selig and his wife, Mrs. Josephine Selig, fol lowedFra nk on the witness stand. In effect they testified the same,that they saw Frank at dinner Saturday, at supper Saturday,that he went to bed about 11 o'clock, and that he had leftfor the factory when they awoke Sund ay morning. Theydid not infer that he appeared nervous at any time.At 7 :20 o ' c lock the inquest adjourned unti l 9 :30 o ' c lockThu rsday mo rning. The intervening days were allowed inorder that more witnesses might be subpoenaed and the state-ments made by Frank thoroughly investigated.

Lemmie Quinn, who had first told detectives that he hadnot been at the pencil factory at all Saturday, admitted thathe wa s w ro ng . He said that he had forgotte n his visit, thathe had stayed but a short while, and was only in Frank'soffice for a minute. He indignan tly denied that he had beenoffered a bribe to prote ct Fra nk by his testimo ny.

Thursday morning when the inquest resumed, six witnessestestif ied. Th ey were Bo ots Rogers, Lem mie Quinn, Miss Cor-inthia Hall , a factory employe; Miss Hattie Hall , stenographerat the factory; J. L. Watkins and Miss Daisy Jones.Thou gh put throug h a searching exam ination b y the cor-oner in an effort to brea k do w n his statemen t that he hadvisited the factory on the day of the tragedy shortly after

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noon just after Mary Phagan is supposed to have receivedher pay envelope and left, Quinn stuck to his story.Boots Rogers testified that Mr. Frank had changed thetape in the time clock while the officers were in the factorvSunday morning after the body of Mary Phagan had beenfound, and that he stated at the time that the sheet he tookfrom the clock seemed to be correct. Rogers also describedMr. F rank 's manner when the officers went to his home in anautomobile to take him to the factory Sunday morning.Miss Corinthia Hall, an employe in the factory, testifiedthat Mr. Fran k's treatment of the girls in the factory wasunimpeachable. She also testified that she had met LemmieQuinn at a restaurant near the factory near the noon hourSaturday, her statement being confirmatory of his visit to thefactory on the fatal day. J. L. Watk ins testified that he hadmistaken Miss Daisy Jones for Mary Phagan when he thoughthe saw Mary on the street near her home on Saturday after-noon about 5 o'c loc k. Miss Jones' testimony was also in thisconnection.At the afternoon session Thursday, Detective Harry Scott,of the Pinkerton agency, was one of the first witnesses called.He followed Assistant Superintendent Schiff, of the pencilfactory, who was excused after short testimony . The moststartling statement made by Scott was that Herbert Haas,one of Frank's attorneys, had requested him to withhold allevidence from the police until Haas himself had consideredit. Scott said that he told Haas he would withdraw from thecase first. Scott said he was still employed by the pencilfactory.Detective John B lack followed Scott on the stand and toldof finding a bloody shirt at Le e's home on the Tuesday af-ternoon following the murder.Newt Lee was recalled to the stand and said that whenhe and Frank conversed together at the police station thatFrank told him, "If you keep that up, your story, Newt,we 'll both go to he ll." He told of Frank's apparent nervous-ness o Saturday afternoon. Asked about the blood y shirt,Lee said that if it was found at his house it must have beenhis; that a "white lady" once made four shirts for him; thatif it was a "store bought" shirt it didn't belong to him.Frank was recalled to the stand and testified in regard tothe elevator, the time clock, his work Saturday afternoon, hisactions that night and Sunday morning, and general questionsin regard to arrangements at the factory.37


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City detective s then called some character witnesses: To mBlackstock , wh o said Frank was accustomed to " p i c k " a t thefactory girls and had placed his hands on them familiarlyMiss Nell ie Wood, of 8 Corput street, who said that shehad worked about two years at the pencil factory, that Frankwould come to her and put his hands on her "when it wasnot called for," that he was too familiar and she didn't l ikeit, that F ra nk had t ried to pass it off as a jo k e and that shetold h im she " w a s too o ld for th at ; ' ' and Mrs . C. D. Done-gan, of 165 West Fourteenth street, who said that she workedat the factory three weeks about two years ago and thatFrank had winked and smiled at the girls but "never any-thing more than that . "The character witnesses concluded the afternoon's testimony,and every spectator in the court-room drew a long breath tothink that at last the now famous Phagan case was to goto a body of men called together to pass upon it .It was then ten minutes pass 6 o 'clock on the afternoonof Thursday, May 7, eleven days since Mary Phagan wentto her death at the National Pencil factory . Coron er D one-hoo began to deliver his charge to the ju ry . He s aid :" Y o u have heard the statement o f the county physic ian,yo u have seen wh at caused death. Yo u have seen the bo dyand have heard the evidence in the case." I t is yo ur du ty to inquire dil igently as to how Ma ry P ha-gan came to her death. Th at was yo ur oath. In case ofunnatural death, you were to determine at whose hands deathcame." Y o u have heard the county physic ian say strangulationcau sed death. In determ ining who is guilty of the mu rder youturn to the evidence, and if you f ind that any other party is im-plicated or is attempting to shield the murderer, he is guiltyin the same degree." Y o u r position in this matter is s imilar to that of a com -mitment court, not a trial court." I f there is a reasonable suspicion in yo ur mind directedagainst any person or persons in connection with this crime,- i t is yo u r du ty to hold them. Y ou also can hold w itnessesw h o are essential in tryin g this case. If yo u think a ny bod yno t actually co nn ecte d with the case has imp ortant inform a-tion be arin g upo n it you can h old them.

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"I f you bel ieve any one is conceal ing information it is yourduty to commit that person as an accessory of the crime."The six men forming the coroner 's jury f i led one by one outof the door . The crow d waited.Before twen ty minutes had passed back they came. Theforeman stood up and ann ounce d the verd ict . The cor on er 'sjury had decided that Mary Phagan came to her death bystrangulation and recommended that Leo M. Frank superin-tendent of the pencil factory and Newt Lee its nightwatch-man, be held for investigation by the grand ju ry .When the verdict was announced, Frank and the negrowere at the tower, having been carried there as soon as theformer concluded his test imony.At o nce Dep uty Sheriff Plen nie M inor carried the newsto the prisoners.Frank was in the hallway of the tower reading an after-noon pap er. The dep uty appr oach ed him and told him that thecoro ne r 's ju ry had recom me nded that he and Lee be heldfor investigation by the grand jury."Well , i t ' s no more than I expected at this t ime," Franktold him. H e made no further com me nt.New t Lee was more v is ibly affected. W he n the news wasbroken to him he hung his head in a dejected manner and ap-peared very much depressed.

" I d id n ' t do i t, white fo lk s , " he muttered again and again.

C H A P T E R I X .Dictograph Incident.

The words "persecut ion and prejudice," which were to f ig -ure so prominently at the trial of Frank, f irst commenced tobe heard soon after the coroner 's long inquest had ended.Then it was learned that Solic itor General Hugh M. Dorseyhad become so interested in the ease that he had hired privatedetectives to make an indepen dent prob e of the trag edy . Itwas then generally known, despite the fact that he had made39


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no formal announcement, that Dorsey was convinced thatFrank was guilty, and it was said that he had employed de-tectives not to work with open minds towards solving themystery, but to seek only evidence against Frank.While it was true in neither case, the same thing was saidabout the city detectives, and friends of the accused man com-menced to declare that he was persecuted because of his race.The Jews of Atlanta were then and are to this good day firmlyconvinced, or rather they say that they are convinced, thatFrank is an innocent man.Not as reticent as Dorsey, the city d etective s freely declaredthat they were firm in the con vict ion that in Fra nk the y hadthe mu rderer. Con tinua lly, how ever, they prote sted that theywere open to con viction and would follow to the bitter endany clue that presented itself, even though it pointed awayfrom Frank.

If the solicitor 's detectives unearthed anything in the case,it will probably remain a mystery, as they left the job afterabout 10 days and have never appeared in Atlanta againFo r several week s after the cor one r had com m itted F rankand Newt Lee to the tower as suspects, there were continuedrumors that a yo un g girl had been heard talk ing on streetcorners, and saying that she met Mary and waited outside

the factory, while she went up and got a pay che ck fromFrank. Fin ally the detect ives loca ted the wo m an in question,and it developed that it was on the Saturday preceding thetragedy that she went to the factory with the girl who mether death there a week later.Col. Thomas B. Felder, well known Atlanta attorney, and theman who incurred the undying enmity of Gov. Cole Bleaseof South Carolina, by his prose cution of the famous dis-pensary graft cases, had announced shortly after the coroner's

inquest that he had been employed by citizens of Bellwood(the district in which Mary Phagan lived) to find and prosecute the girl 's murderer.He stated that in his opinion the murderer was really LeoM. Frank, but declared that it was necessary for the citizensof Georgia to hire detectives who "could and would" solvethe mystery, and secure evidence enough to convict Frank,if he was guilty, or any other man if Frank was innocent.The colonel did not express a very high regard for Chief

Lanford and the city detectives, and as to the Pinkertonshe quoted many rumors which said that they were working40


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not to solve the my stery, but to shield F ran k. Col. Fe lderwas a personal friend of William J. Burns, and the latterhad assisted him in his efforts to imp each G ov . Blease.Felder declared that if the public would assist him by donat-ing to a fund that he would get Burns, who was then in Europeworking on the Martin disappearance mystery, to come toAtlanta and take up the hunt for the factory girl 's slayer.Subscriptions came in rapidly, and on May 18 C. W. Tobie,"special investigator," came to Atlanta to gather up the loosestrings and pave the way for his famous chief.Soon after his arrival, Tobie gave out an interview inwhich he said that his theory of the crime coincided exactlywith that then entertained by the city detectives.For about a week Felder and the Burns people were thefigures of ch ief interest in the man hunt. P. A . Flak, a Ne wYork finger print expert, was brought here by Solicitor Dor-sey, but had remained only for a day, and after examiningthe notes found by the body, declared that by handing themso m uch the detectives had destro yed a vital clue. He co ul dtell nothing about the notes because of the condition in whichhe found them, he said.Charges that a vast corruption fund had been raised tosave Frank, guilty or innocent, were heard frequently at thistime, although they were never sustained.

It was charged that the Pinkerton operatives, employed bythe penci l company, were "double cross ing" the c i ty pol ice ;working with them simply to learn their secrets and reportthem to the attorneys for the defense of F rank. An oth ercharge was that Felder and the Burns people, while posingas the man hunters, were really employed by Frank's friendsto shield him.The city detectives were suspicious of the Bums people,and not only failed to give them any assistance, but hadevery Burns operative shadowed.While their charges were never substantiated, the suspic-ions of the city detectives culminated in the dictographingof Col . Felder by agents in the employ of Chief Lanford.

On May 23d the Atlanta Journal sprang the famous "dic-tograph sensation," devoting its entire front page to the" s c o o p . "Chief Lanford charged that Col . Felder had sought to bribeG. C. February, his stenographer, to steal certain affidavitsand papers in the Pha gan case. The dictograp h reco rds ,41


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which were printed in full , are too lengthy to reproduce here.In substance the al leged records showed that Felder was ne-gotiat ing for the purchase of certa in affidavits, wh ich, it wasalleged, would show up the city detective department, provingthat the chief and some of the members were corrupt.February, it seems, acting under instruction, had led theattorney to believe that he could obtain certain papers inthe Phagan mystery, which would prove corruption in thedepartment. The deal was negotiated thro ugh A . S. Colyar,an adventurer formerly from Tennessee, w ho had know n F el-der during the dispensary graft probe . In the dictographrecords Mayor James G. Woodward was also involved, i t be-ing alleged that he sanctioned the alleged effort on the p artof Felde r to " g e t the g oo d s" on the detectives. Nothingwas accomplished by the dictograph exposure, although it ledto a sizzl ing war of words between Felder and Lanford.This battle of vituperation resulted in a near physical com-bat between the two principals, when they met in the courthouse, but dep uty sheriffs pre ven ted the actual passing ofblows. It is claim ed that Fe lder reach ed in his po ck et atthe time for a revolver, but when the charge was made beforethe grand jury, it fai led to return an indictment.The net result of the grand j u ry 's investigation of the sen-sational dictograph incident was that it indicted Felder forl ibel ing Lanford and Lanford for l ibel ing Felder in theirseveral published attacks on each other.W hile the Felder -Lanford controve rsy h ad l ittle to do withthe Phagan murder mystery, it served to intensify the publicinterest in the crime, and to make rumors that ' ' unseenhandswere at work harder to down.

Also it served to end the connection of the Burns detec-tives with the case.The war of words was at its height and the city detectiveswere trailing the Burns men even to their meals." T h i s is a hell of a family row and no place for a stranger,"said Burns' investigator, Tobie, and he grabbed a train forNew York .On Fr ida y, M ay 23d, the Fu lton cou nty g rand ju ry tookup the consideration of a bi l l chargin g F ra nk w ith murder.The witnesses who were heard at the first day's session wereDr. J. W . Hurt, the county physician, wh ose eviden ce did not

reach the public unti l the Frank trial ; Police Sergeant S. L.Dobbs; R. P. Barrett, who discovered the blood on the second42


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f loor of the factory and strands of a girl 's hair near thesame pla ce ; Detect ive J . N. Starnes and W . W . Rogers .The second day's session of the grand jury resulted inthe returning of a true bill , despite the fact that hundredsof people had dec lared that Fra nk w ould n ever be indicted

for the cr ime.Among the most important witnesses of the second sessionwere Harry Scott , the Pinkerton, and Miss Monteen Stover.The girl was a new figure in the case and a witness of muchimportance.She told the grand jury in substance that when going to gether pay check on Saturday, April 26th, she walked into Su-per intendent Fra nk 's office at exact ly 12:10 o ' c lo ck .The office was perfectly em pty, she asserted, and exp ectingsomeone to come in momentarily she waited for f ive minutes.Fa iling to see Fr an k or any of the office force , she left thebuilding and returned the fol lowing Saturday, when Pinker-ton operatives found her.The girl had not testif ied at the coroner 's inquest, althoughlocated before the f inal session, and detectives admitted thatthey were saving her as a "star witness ."Immediately after he located Monteen Stover , Harry Scottof the Pinkertons with John Black, of the c ity force, v is itedFra nk at the towe r and said : " D i d yo u leave the office at any

t ime between 12 and 12 :50 o ' c lock , Saturday?"" N o , " a ns w er ed F r a n k ."Think about i t and be as posit ive as you possibly can,"said Scott ." I am absolutely certain that I di dn 't leave my office fr omthe time Miss Hall , my stenographer, left , until I went upto the fourth f loor to tel l Arthur White 's wife that I was goingto lock the building ," he repl ied .In other words, the girl came in at the exact time the statecontends Frank was back in the metal room, choking thelife out o f Mary P haga n ' s body .The testimony of the girl was considered by the solic itor asof extreme importance.It was doubly valuable because at that t ime it was the onlyflaw the police had found in Fra nk 's story , as told at theinquest.T ry as they w ould , they c ou ld not b rea k it , for everypoint that could be corroborated by witnesses, was found tobe true.4


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Monteen Stover 's story was considered a " c l i n c h e r " andthe grand jury returned the true bil l , when Scott followedher on the witness stand, and gave his story of Frank's repeat-ed assertions that he did n ot leave his office du ring the in -terval mentioned.Grand jury sessions are secret, but the testimony of everywitness who went before the body, except Dr. Hurt's, wasknown to the public at the time, and no facts except MonteenStover 's story, which were not placed before the coroner 'sinquest, were heard by the 23 men, who formally indictedFrank for the crime.There were five Jews on the grand jury, an unusual num-ber for Fulton coun ty, and before the indiceme nt w as returned,there were many rumors that they would block it.However, if a single vote was


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afternoon about 1 o 'c lo ck saw Conley wash ing a shirt. H esaid nothing to the negro, but quietly called for the detec-tives.When the police arrived some ten minutes later, Conley had

dried the shirt, partially, and had the garment, still damp, onhis back."Come with me," said the pol ieeman."Boss , I haven 't done a thing," said the negro ." W h y , y ou b rut e , " answered the officer, " y o u were seenwashing M ary Pha gan 's b lood off o f the shirt you now haveo n . ""B o ss , that wa sn't blood , it wa s jest natcheral nigge rdirt ," said Conley." W e l l , wh y were you washing it at this t ime of the d a y ? "questioned the bluecoat." W e l l , d eys done called me for a witness at the court, andI di dn 't wa nt to go arou nd all thosesh irt ," Jim said and the officer bel ieved him because everyemploye of the factory had been ordered that day to reportbefore the coroner.But Jim was a neg ro, and the police co uld n't afford to takechances so they locked him up and forgot about him for sev-

eral weeks.Detective Harry Scott dropped in Jim's cel l one day, andasked the ne gro to write a few sentences for him. The de-tectives w ere w ork ing t h e n , as they w ere throu gho ut the ease,on the handwriting clue."Boss , I can ' t write a word," innocently responded the ne-gro, as he walked closer to the bars and begged the officerfor a cigarette.Replying to Scott 's questions, the negro gave a gl ib accountof his movements on the Saturday of the tragedy, accountingfor e very minute and swearing that he had n ever been nearthe factory on that day.Nothing was thought o f J im Conley for a week or more, andthen factory employes on the occasion of the many visits efthe detectives to the scene of the tragedy, informed that thatConley bore a bad reputation; that he had been in the handsof the police repeatedly, and that once he hat been in thecity stockade and worked on the streets in front of thefactory.The detectives paid little attention to the statements of thefactory people about the negro at f irst, as they were so certain

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that he had had nothing at all to do with the crime, and in ad-dition they found that Conley was not well l iked because hehad borrowe d money from many employes and had failed topay it back.Thing s dragge d along unti l a few days before the caseagainst Fr an k was to be presented to th e gra nd ju ry , and allof the sleuths were at a loss for new clues.One day Scott casually asked a young clerk at the factoryif Conley could write. The answer was yes, and sear chingthrough a desk he found a contract to pay the installments ona watch, which Jim had signed.Realizing that Conley had lied about one particular, the de-tective thought it highly probable that his story was a lie

from start to finish.They started giving him the third degreethat third degreewhich was to later cause so much comment at the trial.On May 23, Conley admitted, under the third degree, thathe had lied about not knowing how to write, but swore thathe. kn ew noth ing abo ut the crime. H e gav e the officers a spe-cimen of his handwriting, and they were startled by its sim-ilarity to that found on the notes by the slain girl 's body.Saturday morning about 10 o 'clock, however, Conley sentfor Detective John Black."Boss, I 'se going to tel l you the whole truth now," hesaid." I did write them notes that yo u accuse me of wr iting, butI did it because Mr. Frank told me to, and he said he wasgoing to send them to his mother in Brooklyn, and that shewould give me a job ."" G o ah ea d, " said the elated detective, "a n d tell me allabout it, Jim . Don't , keep back a th in g ."

" W e l l Friday evening about 3 o ' c lo ck M r. Fra nk com esto me and says"" H o l d on, Jim, you mean S at ur d ay ," interru pted the officer." N o , s ir , F ri d a y ," said Jim." G o ah ea d," returned Black, anxious to get as much of thestory as possible at that time, and knowing that he couldwork on the obvious lies later.Bu t the neg ro had practically told his story fo r the day. H eadded many details, declaring that Frank gave him $2.50,

which was in a cigarette box, when he had written the notes,and offered to get him a job w ith "w ea lt h y re la t ive s" in46


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Br ook lyn . Black called H arry Scott in, and after they hadwritten out the negro's statement and had it signed, theyrushed to the solicitor's office.The grand jury was then in session considering the indict-ment of Frank.Scott and Black wanted to c linch the indictment by puttingJim Conley before the grand jury and allowing that body tohear his story.Dorsey, however, confident that there was enough evidencewithout the negro to secure Frank's indictment, and wishingto keep the negro's story a secret, refused to put him on thewitness stand.H is effort to keep the sensation a secret was futile, ho w-ever, and before the grand jury adjourned an extra Journal

announced the startling news.Still Dor

Frank Case

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