Category Archives: Newspaper coverage

Youth Accused in Vice Ring on Trial

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The Atlanta Georgian

Thursday, July 17, 1913

Joe North, Alleged White Slaver, Declines to Talk Before Hearing in Recorder’s Court.

Joe North, alleged white slaver, arrested on the statement of Effie Drummond, a young woman who told the police he lured her into a rooming house, will be tried before Recorder Nash Broyles at 2:30 o’clock Thursday afternoon and every effort made to get from him the names of other persons in the “vice ring,” to which Chief of Police James L. Beavers says North owes allegiance.

North was arrested Wednesday night after a search of very nearly a week. He was put through a severe grilling Thursday morning by Chief Beavers, but declined absolutely to make any statement until he was forced to do so by the court.

Effie Drummond, the girl who was arrested in the raid on the house at Fair and Peters streets operated by Lula Bell, will be brought in from Martha’s Home to repeat her sensational story of how she came to Atlanta from the country and was caught in the net of a white slaver. Chief Beavers said he confidently expected the trial Thursday afternoon to establish the fact there was a vice ring in Atlanta and that cases similar to the Drummond affair were not uncommon.

* * *

The Atlanta Georgian, July 17th 1913, “Youth Accused in Vice Ring on Trial,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Mayor and Broyles in War of Words

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The Atlanta Georgian

Thursday, July 17, 1913

WOODWARD SCORED BY BROYLES

“Can’t Convince Ignorant Man He’s Mistaken,” Says Judge, Quoting Epictetus.

WHAT BROYLES THINKS OF THE MAYOR.

He’s ignorant.
He’s a menace to civilization.
He knows as much law as a boy does political economy.

WHAT WOODWARD THINKS OF RECORDER.

He’s a petty czar.
My office is bigger than his.
If he wants to run my office, let him come up and give me orders.

“Do not argue with an ignorant man, for you can never convince him he is wrong.”

Recorder Nash R. Broyles, quoting Mr. Epictetus, the late well-known Greek philosopher, spoke thusly Thursday.

Following this declaration Mr. Broyles then declined to argue with Mayor James G. Woodward over the action in the case of Griff Freeman, an alleged notorious blind tiger operator, whom Broyles had sentenced to a $500 fine and a 29-day term in the stockade, when the Mayor declared he did not propose to see the city prison turned into a modern Siberia by a “too severe and czar-like Recorder.”

Impugns His Legal Lore.

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Dorsey Blocked Indictment of Conley

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Another in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

The Atlanta Georgian

Thursday, July 17, 1913

*Editor’s Note: This article ran in other editions of the Georgian with slight variations in the headline.

GRAND JURY AGREED NOT TO ACT

Solicitor Bitterly Opposes Plan of New Body to Reconsider Slaying Case.

That the most strenuous opposition of Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey was all that prevented the last Grand Jury from reopening its investigation of the Phagan mystery with a view of indicting the negro Jim Conley became known Thursday.

It was admitted by persons acquainted with the events in the Grand Jury room that the Solicitor’s determined stand only blocked a consideration of the negro’s connection with the crime. Well-substantiated report also has it that Solicitor Dorsey before he would venture on his vacation took the precaution of insisting on some sort of a guarantee from the jurors that they would take no action in his absence.

Acceding to his request, the Grand Jury of that time passed resolutions pledging itself to waive all consideration of the Phagan mystery until the Solicitor’s return.

Hot Fight Certain.

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Second Phagan Indictment Probable

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The Atlanta Journal

Wednesday, July 16, 1913

*Editor’s Note: A small section of text is missing from the article due to scanning blur near a page fold.

CONLEY NEGRO MAY BE INDICTED OVER DORSEY’S PROTEST

New Grand Jury Will Take Up Case and Make an Effort to Get a True Bill Against Negro as Principal

NEGRO HAS ALREADY ADMITTED COMPLICITY

Solicitor Dorsey Is Expected to Vigorously Oppose Jury’s Move—Negro Sweated Again by Detectives

It was learned Wednesday by The Journal, on reliable authority, that there is a strong probability of the Fulton county grand jury which was recently organized by the election of W.D. Beattie as foreman will take up the case of Jim Conley, negro sweeper at the National Pencil factory, and confessed accomplice to the murder of Mary Phagan, before the trial of Leo M. Frank, who is accused of the crime by the negro, is entered upon.

If the grand jury takes up the negro’s case, it is believed that a bill charging the negro with the crime as a principal will be considered and if an indictment is brought it seems probable that murder will be the charge.

The grand jury will take up Conley’s case over the vigorous protest of Solicitor Hugh M. Dorsey, who it is stated, has not changed his theory about the murder.

Solicitor Dorsey has from the beginning taken the position that Conley should be held as a material witness and that this was not the time for the grand jury to investigate his connection with the Phagan murder. If the grand jury takes up the negro’s case there seems little doubt that the solicitor will bitterly oppose its action.

An indictment of Conley prior to the trial of Frank as principal would undoubtedly greatly weaken the state’s case, and the solicitor is expected to use […] jury to persuade if not to consider an indictment.

MEETS THIS WEEK.

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State to Fight Move to Indict Jim Conley

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The Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday, July 16, 1913

Grand Jury Foreman Admits That Action Against the Negro Is Considered.

The reported proposal by some of the members of the Grand Jury to meet for an investigation of Jim Conley’s connection with the murder of Mary Phagan has precipitated a sharp struggle in which Solicitor Dorsey has declared himself bitterly opposed to any action looking toward the indictment of the negro as a principal in the crime or even as an accessory after the fact, as the negro admits himself to be.

The fight has resolved itself into a contest to determine whether Conley shall go on the stand in the trial of Leo Frank as a reputable, trustworthy and free citizen, the status in which the Solicitor wishes to maintain him, or as a prisoner with the shadow of an indictment hanging over him.

In the latter aspect, several of the members of the Grand Jury are said to contend that he should appear, inasmuch as he is a confessed accessory and a possible principal.

The defense is said not to be opposed to the review of the case by the Grand Jury at this time nor to the indictment of Conley. Luther Z. Rosser, chief counsel for Frank, has charged from the first that Conley was the man guilty of the slaying of Mary Phagan, and it is presumed that he would be willing to enjoy the tactical advantage that the indictment of Conley probably would give the defense.

W.D. Beattie, foreman of the Grand Jury, intimated Thursday morning that the matter of calling the body together to consider a Conley indictment was under consideration by some of the members, but he said that no formal request had as yet been made for him to convene them. He said that he would issue the call when he had received a sufficient number of requests.

It is understood that the requests will be submitted to the foreman Thursday, on the ground that the evidence connecting Jim Conley directly with the crime is infinitely stronger than the evidence on which Leo Frank was indicted about two months ago, and that for this reason Conley should not be permitted to go before a jury as a free and unsuspected man and testify against Frank.

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The Atlanta Georgian, July 16th 1913, “State to Fight Move to Indict Jim Conley,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Dorsey Adds Startling Evidence

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The Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday, July 16, 1913

*Editor’s Note: This article also ran in the Final (Box Score) Edition under the headline “State Finds New Frank Evidence.”

Solicitor Declares Prosecution’s Plans Are Unchanged—Doesn’t Expect Conley Indictment.

That affidavits as sensational and direct against Leo M. Frank, accused of murdering Mary Phagan, as the Mincey statement was against the negro, Jim Conley, are in the hands of the State and will be substantiated by witnesses at the trial, July 28, was admitted by Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey Wednesday morning.

The Solicitor and Frank A. Hooper, associated with him in the prosecution, made it plain that in their opinion the Mincey affidavit had in no way hurt the State’s case against Frank, and that they could anticipate no development that would make Conley instead of Frank the principal in Atlanta’s greatest murder mystery.

They say they do not expect the Grand Jury to indict the negro before the trial of Frank, and do not hesitate to say that any move in that direction will meet with opposition from the Solicitor, who would necessarily have to introduce witnesses to secure the indictment.

State’s Case Complete.

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No New Indictment Says Jury Foreman

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The Atlanta Constitution

Wednesday, July 16, 1913

State Has No Intention of Changing Plan of Action in Phagan Case.

The declaration of W.D. Beattie, foreman of the grand jury, that the grand jury had no intention of taking steps to indict James Conley, and a statement from Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey that as far as he was concerned the state would continue its present plan of action in regard to the Mary Phagan murder, apparently put a block to the rumor that the grand jury would go over the solicitor’s head and indict the negro sweeper for murder.

The same rumor was put into circulation in regard to the former grand jury which served during the May term, but nothing ever came of the reporta [sic].

Solicitor Dorsey stated positively that he had no intention of shifting the present plan and would continue to prosecute on the indictment returned against Leo M. Frank by the previous grand jury. Newport Lanford, chief of detectives, also declared that as far as the detective department was concerned that there would be no shift.

It apparently means that the state will continue an even course in the matter with the intention of threshing out the matter of the guilt of Superintendent Frank before taking up the question of the guilt of the negro.

It was rumored Wednesday that the solicitor had given Conley another grilling with a view to extracting further statements from him in regard to the case. He declined to discuss this feature of the case and also refused to state anything further in regard to the Mincey affidavit.

Should the solicitor in the week and a half left before the Frank trial obtain a confession from Conley or secure evidence from another source that would brand him as the guilty party that would, of course, change the entire affair.

* * *

The Atlanta Constitution, July 16th 1913, “No New Indictment Says Jury Foreman,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Mincey Affidavit Not New to the Solicitor

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The Atlanta Journal

Tuesday, July 15, 1913

State Officials Refuse to Consider Seriously Statement of Insurance Agent

Despite the claim that many witnesses to corroborate the assertions of W.H. Mincey, the insurance agent and school teacher who claims that Conley confessed to him can be produced by the defense of Leo M. Frank, state officials refuse to consider seriously Mincey’s testimony as an important element in the case.

Details of the Mincey affidavit are corroborated by E.F. Holloway, an employe of the National Pencil factory, who states that he remembers Mincey’s visit to the scene of Mary Phagan’s murder on the Tuesday following the crime.

Mincey states that he was told that 20 negroes were on duty at the factory on the day of the murder, although about eight of them were employed by the concern. He further detailed a conversation with a factory employe, who allowed him to look about the place that day.

Holloway says that he remembers the visit of a man who asked particularly about the negroes employed at the factory, and otherwise fully corroborates the details of the visit to the factory as given by Mincey.

Solicitor Dorsey, it was learned Tuesday, has known for some weeks that the Frank defense possessed the Mincey affidavit and as a result he has made a vigorous probe of the affiant’s past career, and of his movements on the day that Mary Phagan was murdered, the day that the negro Conley is supposed to have told him that he had killed a girl.

Solicitor Dorsey will not discuss his investigation of the man, but it is known that he does not consider the man’s probable testimony as important.

The solicitor spent Tuesday morning examining a number of the state’s witnesses, and he is spending practically his entire time in preparing the Frank case. He expects to be ready when the case is called on July 28, a week from next Monday.

* * *

The Atlanta Journal, July 15th 1913, “Mincey Affidavit Not New to the Solicitor,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Woodward Aids Chief in Vice Crusade

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The Atlanta Georgian

Tuesday, July 15, 1913

Mayor Woodward entered the fight which Chief Beavers is waging against vice in Atlanta Tuesday when he told of a negro dive and blind tiger which he said had been reported to him Tuesday morning by a man whose name he refuses to make public.

This man, Mayor Woodward declared, had told him he had seen policemen passing through an alley in the direction of the blind tiger, though none of them had actually been seen to enter the place.

Chief Beavers ordered an investigation.

Captain Poole has been given particular instructions to probe the report that policemen visit the place.

Declaring that 50 per cent of the women arrested during the months of June and July were young girls, Mrs. Mary Bohnefeld, police matron, Tuesday afternoon placed the blame for present conditions on the immodest dress now worn by women, and also on the paint and powder demanded by the dictates of fashion.

“The dress that women are wearing nowadays,” she declared, “is a crime, and is the cause of the downfall of so many young girls. Men are encouraged to make advances when they see a girl on the streets, wearing immodest and indecent clothing and with her face painted and powdered.”

Orders closing two boarding houses were issued from headquarters this morning. Mrs. Lulu Bell, whose hotel at Fair and Peters streets was raided last week, resulting in the arrest of half a dozen persons and the telling of a white slave story by Effie Drummond, was ordered to vacate the place and close it up.

The negro joint at 76 Chestnut street, which was raided by the police Sunday morning, was also ordered closed by Chief Beavers Tuesday. Several white men were arrested when this raid was made and evidence has been obtained that the place was one of the most vicious in the city.

* * *

The Atlanta Georgian, July 15th 1913, “Woodward Aids Chief in Vice Crusade,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

White Men Fined in War on Negro Dives

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The Atlanta Georgian

Tuesday, July 15, 1913

A crusade against white men frequenting negro dives has been started by Recorder Nash Broyles. He fined three men, who gave their names as Kirk, Smith and Little and A.B. Arnold, of Macon, who forfeited $50.75.

The five white men were arrested in a raid on a place at 76 Chestnut street, early Sunday morning. Helen Lester, who runs the dive, was held for the higher courts in bonds of $500.

“The mingling of whites and blacks does more to stir up race trouble than anything else,” declared the Recorder.

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The Atlanta Georgian, July 15th 1913, “White Men Fined in War on Negro Dives,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Holloway Corroborates Mincey’s Affidavit

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The Atlanta Georgian

Tuesday, July 15, 1913

RECALLS HE WAS TOLD STORY OF CONLEY

Watchman Remembers of Visit of Witness to Factory on Day of Crime.

Further corroboration of several of the important details in the remarkable affidavit of W.H. Mincey, insurance agent and teacher, who swore he heard Jim Conley confess killing a girl, came Tuesday in a statement by E.F. Holloway, day watchman at the National Pencil Factory.

Holloway substantiated in every particular the story of Mincey’s visit to the factory the Tuesday following the crime and recalled the general trend of the conversation, which was practically as Mincey related it in his signed statement published exclusively in The Georgian Monday. The defense has obtained an affidavit from Holloway as to the circumstances of the day.

“I remember Mincey coming here Tuesday,” said Holloway. “He was a quiet, retiring fellow, and I guess we scared him out. There were a lot of people in the factory, and the excitement after the murder was at its height. Several detectives were there and there were a score of people bothering the detectives and the factory authorities with their theories on the killing.

Wanted Negroes Arrested.

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Police Close 2 Rooming Houses

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The Atlanta Georgian

Tuesday, July 15, 1913

Chief Beavers Opens Real Fight on Doubtful Places—Several Under Watch.

Active steps against doubtful rooming and boarding houses were taken by Chief of Police Beavers Tuesday morning. He declared that he intends to close every “shady” rooming house in the city against which he can obtain evidence.

He intimated that he has the addresses of a number of boarding houses where, it is alleged, young girls and men visit and where the roomers are in reality inmates of the place, and his campaign is to be directed especially against these.

They will be thoroughly investigated, and if evidence is found to sustain the action, will be closed and the Council asked to revoke the licenses of the persons who operate the places.

Orders closing two boarding houses were issued from headquarters this morning. Mrs. Lulu Bell, whose hotel at Fair and Peters streets was raided last week, resulting in the arrest of half a dozen persons and the telling of a white slave story by Effie Drummond, was ordered to vacate the place and close it up.

The Bell place, Chief Beavers firmly believes, is one of those under the control of the “higher-ups” in the vice ring, against whom he is now obtaining evidence, and he regards the arrest of the Bell woman and the closing of the place as one of the significant steps of the campaign he is waging against vice.

The negro joint at 76 Chestnut street, which was raided by the police Sunday morning, was also ordered closed by Chief Beavers Tuesday. Sev-eral [sic] white men were arrested when this raid was made, and evidence has been obtained that the place was one of the most vicious in the city.

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The Atlanta Georgian, July 15th 1913, “Police Close 2 Rooming Houses,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Mincey’s Own Story

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The Atlanta Georgian

Monday, July 14, 1913

*Editor’s Note: This article also appeared in the Night Edition under the headline “Mincey Tells of Confession.”

Tells How Conley Confessed Killing Girl

‘I AM SEEKING ONLY TO DO MY DUTY FOR TRUTH AND JUSTICE’

The Georgian Secures Remarkable Statement From Chief Witness for Defense in the Trial of Frank. Declares Belief in Conley’s Guilt.

On Thursday, July 10, The Georgian published the exclusive story of an affidavit in the possession of the lawyers for Leo M. Frank, accused of the murder of Mary Phagan, made by W.H. Mincey, an insurance agent, the substance of which was to the effect that Jim Conley, the negro sweeper at the pencil factory, had confessed that he killed the little girl.

In his affidavit, Mincey declared that he met the negro Conley at Electric avenue and Carter street on the afternoon of the murder; that Conley was intoxicated and when approached by Mincey for insurance became angry and exclaimed, threateningly: “I have killed a girl to-day; I don’t want to kill nobody else.”

The Georgian has now secured from Mincey a complete statement of his connection with the Phagan case. It is as follows:

By W.H. MINCEY

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Girl Bares New Vice System

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The Atlanta Georgian

Monday, July 14, 1913

Young Woman From the Country Says She Was Lured to Resort on Peters Street.

Raid Frees Victim of Alleged Gang From a Resort on Peters Street.

Five White Men and Dozen Negroes Arrested in Raid Are Convicted in Court.

*Editor’s Note: This article was also published under the headlines “Police Hunt Vice Band’s Leader” and “17 Caught in Vice Drag Fined,” the latter article containing the following six paragraphs in brackets. The sub-headlines for each article are listed above in the same order. There is also a continuation of the article on a second page, which does not show on the scanned source text.

[The police crusade against vice resulted Monday afternoon in the conviction and fining of five white men and twelve negroes who were caught in a raid on a negro dive at 76 Chestnut avenue early Sunday morning.

Judge Broyles sharply scored the existence of such alleged dives, and declared every effort must be put forth to close them. Chief Beavers has ordered the house closed immediately.

The trial created a stir in police court, as eight of the negroes were chauffeurs for some of the most prominent men in Atlanta, who were on hand to make bond for them.

The white men, who were fined $15.75 each, are C.F. Smith, clerk, of 54 Angler avenue; S.B. Moore, clerk, of 131 South Pryor street; A.B. Arnold, of Macon; J.W. Little, of Macon, and C.D. Kirk, of 348 North Jackson street.

Eight of the negro men were fined $10.75 each.

Eilene Lester, who, it is alleged, runs the place; Henry Lester, her husband, and Theresa Gilbert and Minnie Jones, two other negro women implicated, were bound over to the Superior Court under $500 bond each.]

General Order Issued.

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Vice Pickets Posted at Hotels

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Another in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

The Atlanta Georgian

Monday, July 14, 1913

Revocation of License Will Be Asked if Law Is Violated. Girl Sentenced.

The vice inquiry Monday morning resulted in a close surveillance of hotels which, it is alleged, harbor young girls for immoral purposes. If the law is violated, the police authorities say, the police committee of Council will be requested to revoke the license of the hotel involved.

Chief Beavers has detailed men to watch for violations of the law following information given by Corinne Wilson and Dora Rosthstein [sic], sentenced to the Reform School Saturday afternoon.

The new information, it is understood, involves one more well-known downtown hotel and several other parties, one of whom is said to be prominent. Developments are expected to-day as a result of work along this line.

In the meantime five cases, made out against four women and one man following a raid Saturday on the home of Mrs. Lula Bell on Peters Street have been set on the Recorder’s docket for trial Monday morning.

One of Saturday’s victims, Corinne Wilson, has called upon her husband, who resides in Marietta, to come to her.

“I love him,” said the girl, “and I believe he loves me. If he only will come to me and keep me out of the Reform School, I will be straight.”

Dora Rothstein probably will be sent to the Reform School the latter part of the week.

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The Atlanta Georgian, July 14th 1913, “Vice Pickets Posted at Hotels,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Prosecution Attacks Mincey’s Affidavit

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The Atlanta Georgian

Monday, July 14, 1913

MRS. CRAWFORD BEGINS FIGHT FOR HER FREEDOM

STATE STILL CONFIDENT OF CASE

Story of Negro Who Says He Was Eyewitness of Slaying Disbelieved by Solicitor.

Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey and Attorney Frank A. Hooper, engaged in the prosecution of Leo M. Frank, were induced Monday to break the silence they have maintained grilling the negro Jim Conley last week. They made their first public comments on the sensational developments of the last few days in the Phagan murder mystery.

Both declared emphatically that neither the affidavit of W. H. Mincey, insurance solicitor, nor the reported confession of the negro Will Green, who is said to have been an eyewitness of the attack upon Mary Phagan, gave evidence sufficient to shake their conviction of Leo Frank’s guilt.

Rumors that the State was preparing to change its theory and to ask for the indictment of Jim Conley were laughed at.

Mincey Affidavit Discounted.

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Indictment of Conley Puzzle for Grand Jury

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The Atlanta Georgian

Sunday, July 13, 1913

*Editor’s Note: Some text is blurred in the original document, and illegible text is marked by “[…]”. The text box insert is transcribed at the bottom of this post.

Old Police Reporter Declares True Bill Against Negro Might Alter Entire Frank Prosecution.

RULES OF EVIDENCE CITED

Mincey Affidavit May Have Important Bearing on Defense of Pencil Factory Manager.

By An Old Police Reporter.

Persistent rumors have been abroad of late that the present Grand Jury may indict James Conley for the murder of Mary Phagan.

This is interesting, for if the Grand Jury should indict Conley it would set up a situation immediately possible of most decided results.

Frank already has been indicted, for reasons presumably sufficient to the Grand Jury then acting upon his case.

Would the present Grand Jury be justified in proceeding to the indictment of Conley, notwithstanding the former Frank indictment?

Unquestionably it would, if the circumstances of the case warranted it—indeed, there are many who will think it should proceed to that, if in that way justice seemed more likely to be established.

In getting a point of view in this matter, I have found it necessary to go back to the beginning, and to ask myself this:

Would the Grand Jury, in possession of all the present facts and circumstances pointing toward either Conley or Frank as the guilty man, have indicted Frank or Conley, as a primary proposition?

Much Room for Speculation.

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Seek Negro Who Says He Was Eye-Witness to Phagan Murder

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The Atlanta Georgian

Sunday, July 13, 1913

Fugitive, Reported to Have Been Traced to Birmingham, Declares That He Witnessed the Attack on the Girl Slain in the Pencil Plant.

LAYS CRIME TO BLACK WITH WHOM HE HAD GAMBLED

Loser at Dice, He Declares, Planned to Rob Victim as She Came From Getting Pay—Tried to Prevent the Crime and, Failing, Fled.

Report that a negro who has declared that he witnessed the attack by another negro upon Mary Phagan, which resulted in her death in the National Pencil Factory on the afternoon of April 26, has been apprehended in Birmingham, became known Saturday night.

If this information is substantiated, its substance is of such startling character as to revolutionize the present status of the Phagan case, casting down practically every bulwark which has been erected in the prosecution of Leo M. Frank for the murder.

In its present form, however, The Sunday American does not vouch for the correctness of the report. Only the fact that it comes from a source which is so near the defense of the pencil factory head as to make it authoritative and the admission by those connected with the actual legal defense of Frank, prompts this newspaper to present the sensational story, asking that it be taken for what, on its face, it is shown to be worth.

Negro Hunted Since May.

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Detective Harry Scott’s Hunch — Thrilling Story of How it Secured James Conley’s Confession

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Caption reads: Detective Harry Scott (in Panama hat), of the Pinkertons, who played the hunch that Jim Conley, the negro, knew something of the girl’s murder. The accompanying figure is Detective John Black, of police headquarters, whose work in co-operation with the Pinkerton man did much to solve the crime. Great dependence will be put in their testimony at the coming trial of Leo Frank, charged with the murder of Mary Phagan.

Another in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

The Atlanta Constitution

Sunday, July 13, 1913

By Britt Craig.

Have you ever had a hunch that there wasn’t anybody around the table that held a higher hand than your Jacks over tens and consequently you shoved a ‘blue’ to the mahogany with the result that every hostile hand went to the discard?

Have you ever had a hunch that it was going to rain and you pulled in the rugs and took the clothes off the line and let down the windows just in time to see the elements express themselves in a downpour?

Have you ever had a hunch of any kind—one of those real, undeniable inner promptings that chases round and round in your bonnet and worries the life out of you and invariably forces you to do something that you really intended doing but about which you were sorely undecided?

If you’re human, you have.

Detective Harry Scott had one about Jim Conley, the negro sweeper in the Phagan mystery. It was one of those irresistible hunches that buzzes about like a June bug. He took it for its word with the result that he found the key that is predicted to unlock the secret of Atlanta’s most hideous murder.

Detectives are very normal beings. They have hunches like the weakest of us. They’re superstitious, too. You can’t find a single one that will walk under a ladder or fail to knock wood when he brags about himself.

A hunch is one of the most common of human afflictions. It is the very essence of a frailty that affects every normal somebody. The very fact that it is a weakness requires a nerve of steel and backbone of similar fortitude to play one to the limit like Detective Scott played his.

Good detectives, like genius, are utterly human. Genius frequently stalks about in its shirt sleeves without a shave and wearing suspenders. It has been known to chew tobacco and cuss volubly. Sometimes, it has a red nose and a thirst. It can sleep as contentedly on Decatur street as on Peachtree.

Detectives Very Human.

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Affidavits to Back Mincey Story Found

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The Atlanta Georgian

Sunday, July 13, 1913

Attorney Leavitt Declares Tale That Conley Admitted Killing Girl Will Stand Test.

NEWT LEE STILL HELD IN JAIL

Solicitor General Hugh Dorsey Promises to Present a Bill Against Him as Suspect.

That several negro women overheard Jim Conley when he ran the insurance agent, Mincey, away with the alleged statement that he had just killed a girl and didn’t want to kill anyone else, and that the affidavits from the women are in the hands of the attorneys for the defense, was stated Saturday by Attorney J.H. Leavitt, who aided in obtaining the sensational affidavit from Mincey.

Attorney Leavitt defended the character of the man who made the affidavit and denied emphatically that Mincey even asked about the money he would receive as a witness, except whether his railroad fare would be paid if he were out of the city.

Explains Dukes’ Doubts.

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