Category Archives: Newspaper coverage

Conley is Unwittingly Friend of Frank, Says Old Police Reporter

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conley-isAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Sunday, June 1st, 1913

By AN OLD POLICE REPORTER.

Developments came thick and fast during the past week, and one is able to approach consideration of the Phagan case to-day with more assurance and ease of mind than heretofore.

Distinctly have the clouds lifted, so I think, from about Leo Frank, and if not yet are they “in the deep bosom of the ocean buried,” they have, nevertheless I take it, served to let a measure of the sunshine in.

Leo Frank, snatching eagerly at that faltering ray of blessed and thrice-welcome light, may thank the negro Conley for it—albeit Conley let it in neither by way of an impulse of sympathy nor intentional truth.

If I were a de-tec-i-tiff—which, praise be to Allah, I am not!—I think I should cease shouting from the housetops my unshakable belief in Frank’s guilt, and should begin to contemplate in solemn and searching analysis the shifty and amazing James Conley, negro!

It is my opinion, bluntly stated, that Conley is an unmitigated liar, all the way through, and that the truth is not in him!

His statement appeals to me an Old Police Reporter—and not a de-tec-i-tiff, again praise be to Allah!—as distinctly the weightiest document in Leo Frank’s favor that yet has been promulgated.

Would Belong in Asylum.

Certainly, if Frank DID do the astonishing things Conley attributes to him, he should not be sent to the gallows, in any event, for he surely belongs in Milledgeville, safely held in the State lunatic asylum. But, more of Conley hereafter. The issue of murder has been made with Leo Frank, and he must face trial. The Grand Jury has indicted him, and he will be arraigned in due time and in order.

It will be a finish fight between the State and the defendant. There can be no compromise now—either Frank is guilty or he is innocent, and the truth of that is for twelve men, “good and true,” to say. Continue Reading →

Conley is Removed from Fulton Tower at His Own Request

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conley-is-removed

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

Atlanta Constitution

Sunday, June 1st, 1913

Friends of Leo Frank Have Tried to Intimidate Him, Negro Sweeper Tells Detective Chief as Reason for His Transfer to the Police Station.

LANFORD RAPS SHERIFF DECLARING HE IS NOT ASSISTING THE POLICE

“He Appears to Be Placing Obstacles in Our Way,” Asserts Chief, in Speaking of Attempts to Interview the Suspected Superintendent. Mangum Denies Intimidation Attempts.

Chief of Detectives Newport Lanford is authority for the statement that James Conley, the negro floor sweeper of the National Pencil factory, who, in his latest affidavit, has admitted his complicity in the Mary Phagan murder, after the killing, but lays the crime at the door of Superintendent Leo M. Frank, was removed from Fulton county Tower to police barracks for imprisonment at his own request to put an end to the attempts of the friends of the superintendent to intimidate him.

Conley was carried to the police barracks Saturday afternoon after he had been removed from the Tower to the courthouse, where he was put through two hours of questioning by Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey and his counsel, Attorney W. M. Smith.

Wanted to Avoid Frank’s Friends.

Chief of Detectives Lanford declared to a Constitution reporter last night that Conley had asked him to be taken away from the Tower to escape the harassments of the visitors of Leo Frank, declaring that they stopped at his cell and tried to make him drink liquor, and had tried to intimidate him by making jeering remarks to him and implying threats. Continue Reading →

Lanford Tells Why Conley Was Placed in Police Station

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lanford-tells-why

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

Atlanta Journal

Sunday, June 1st, 1913

Chief of Detectives Gives Out Statement Relative to Transfer of Prisoner From the Tower to Headquarters

FURTHER QUESTIONING IS PLANNED BY DETECTIVES

No Arrangement Yet Made for Negro to Confront Frank—Report of Finding Girl’s Purse Proves Without Foundation

The prosecuting officials connected with the Phagan case all denied Saturday evening that the state’s theory of the murder has been changed by anything that the negro sweeper Conley has said, but the fact that the negro was transferred t police headquarters, where he can be freely examined by the detectives, seems to show that the officials are not fully satisfied with Conley’s story of the crime as it now stands.

Conley was permitted to leave the jail on an order signed by Judge L. S. Roan, of the superior court. Conley was perfectly willing to accompany the officers anywhere they desired to take him.

From the jail he was carried by Deputy Newt Garner to the solicitor’s office, and it is said that only after the solicitor had talked with the negro two hours and gone over all of the “rough places in the story” was the decision to take him to police headquarters, rather than the jail reached.

REASON FOR TRANSFER.

Two reasons are assigned by Detective Chief N. A. Lanford for the removal of Conley from the Fultin [sic] county jail back to the state cell in police headquarters, where he was imprisoned for more than three weeks.

The first, according to the chief, is that Conley requested that he be transferred back, stating in explanation or his request that he was greatly annoyed Friday night by persons who came to visit in the tower. Continue Reading →

Special Session of Grand Jury Called

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special-sessionAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Saturday, May 31st, 1913

Will Reconvene Next Tuesday for Routine Business Only, Declares Foreman Beck.

Lewis H. Beck, foreman of the Fulton County Grand Jury, which has been called to meet in special session at 10 o’clock next Thursday morning, said Saturday afternoon that the Grand Jury positively would not take up either the Phagan case or the Felder-Beavers row.

The purpose of the special session, Mr. Beck said, was to appoint certain committee. Mr. Beck went a step furthere [sic] and said the Grand Jury had been called for no other purpose except to appoint these committees and that no other business would be transacted.

Announcement of the special session for next Thursday was made Saturday morning. It was called by the foreman himself. Following the announcement, unfounded rumors were circulated to the effect that the Grand Jury would delve deeper into the Phagan murder and possibly also look into the Felder bribery charges.

* * *

Atlanta Georgian, May 31st 1913, “Special Session of Grand Jury Called,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Conley Star Actor in Dramatic Third Degree

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conley-star-actor

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

Atlanta Georgian

Saturday, May 31st, 1913

In all the grim annals of Atlanta’s criminal history an illiterate negro, Jim Conley, stands out to-day the principal figure in one of the most remarkable and dramatically impressive “third degrees” ever administered by the city police.

A chief of police, ordinarily stolid and unmoved, and chief of detectives and members of his force, a Pinkerton operative—all men in daily touch with every sort of crime and evil—hung with tensest interest on each word as it came from the lips of the negro, and watched, as wide-eyed as any tyro in man-hunting, the negro’s every move as he re-enacted Friday afternoon what he steadfastly asserted was his part in the ghastly Mary Phagan tragedy.

Factory Men Look On.

Dumb under the spell of the drama in which Conley played a triple role—first in his own personality, then as Leo M. Frank, and, finally, as the young girl victim—two employees of the factory listened to the damning accusations that unconcernedly, almost glibly, were made against their superintendent. They were Herbert Schiff, chief clerk, and E. F. Holloway, the timekeeper.

Both had reckoned Frank innocent. They had said many times that he could not have committed the shocking deed. More likely, they had declared, it was the negro himself. Yet here they were the spectators of a grewsome performance in which Frank was represented as nervous and shaking and half in a panic as he directed the carrying of Mary Phagan’s limp and lifeless body to the elevator on the second floor of the factory and down into the dark and dirt-strewn basement. Continue Reading →

Conley Tells Graphic Story of Disposal of the Dead Body

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14322732_10155193222022977_8447592096195399923_nAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Constitution

Saturday, May 31st, 1913

Following is the complete signed confession of James Conley, the negro sweeper employed at the National Pencil factory, which was made to Chief of Detectives Lanford, Chief of Police Beavers, Harry Scott, of the Pinkertons, and others, late Friday afternoon:

“On Saturday, April 26, 1913, when I came back to the pencil factory with Mr. Frank I waited for him downstairs, like he told me, and when he whistled for me I went upstairs and he asked me if I wanted to make some money right quick, and I told him, yes, sir, and he told me that he had picked up a girl back there and had let her fall and that her head hit against something—he didn’t know what it was—and for me to move her and I hollered and told him the girl was dead.

“And he told me to pick her up and bring her to the elevator, and I told him I didn’t have nothing to pick her up with, and he told me to go and look by the cotton box there and get a piece of cloth, and I got a big wide piece of cloth and come back there to the men’s toilet, where she was, and tied her, and I taken her and brought her up there to a little dressing room, carrying her on my right shoulder, and she got too heavy for me and she slipped off my shoulder and fell on the floor right there at the dressing room and I hollered for Mr. Frank to come there and help me; that she was too heavy for me, and Mr. Frank come down there and told me to ‘pick her up, dam fool,’ and he run down there to me and he was excited and he picked her up by the feet. Her feet and head were sticking out of the cloth, and by him being so nervous he let her feet fall, and then he brought her up to the elevator, Mr. Frank carrying her by the feet and me by the shoulder, and we brought her to the elevator, and then Mr. Frank says, ‘Wait, let me get the key,’ and he went into the office and come back and unlocked the elevator door and started the elevator down. Continue Reading →

Grand Jury Called to Meet Tuesday in Special Session

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grand-juryAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Journal

Saturday, May 31st, 1913

Meeting Called by Foreman Lewis H. Beck, but He Declined to Say What the Jury Will Investigate

WILL FELDER’S CHARGES BE SIFTED BY JURY?

Chief Beavers Silent—Colonel Felder Not Informed About Meeting, but Says It’s Matter of Indifference to Him

A special session of the Fulton county grand jury has been called for next Tuesday morning at 10 o’clcok, the purpose of which is unannounced and unknown.

The call was issued by the foreman, Lewis H. Beck, who declines to state what matters will be considered by the grand jury. The impression is general that Foreman Beck has yielded to the demands of Police Chief James L. Beavers that a searching probe be made into the charges preferred by the city detectives against Colonel Thomas B. Felder, involving an alleged attempt to bribe Secretary G. C. Febuary to take certain papers from the safe of the chief of detectives, and also to thoroughly inquire into Colonel Felder’s counter charges that the police and detective departments are corrupt and are affording protection to disorderly houses and gambling resorts.

NOT THE PHAGAN CASE.

Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey gave out the first information that the grand jury had been called in special session, but stated that he did not know why nor what for. He did not think the called session would consider any phase of the Phagan murder case, although some persons were inclined to believe the grand jury might take up the confession of James Conley, the negro sweeper. However, if this were true Solicitor Dorsey would certainly know about it, for it would be he that would bring this matter to the grand jury’s attention.

Chief Beavers only smiled when questioned concerning the special meeting of the grand jury. He would not say whether he was advised concerning it or whether it had been called at his instance. The chief’s attitude strengthens the belief that the grand jury is preparing to investigate the charges of the city detectives and the counter charges of Colonel Felder. Continue Reading →

Plan to Confront Conley and Frank for New Admission

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plan-to-confront-conley

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

Atlanta Georgian

Saturday, May 31st, 1913

Police Hope Meeting Will Prove Whether Negro Will Stick to Latest Story Under Eyes of the Man He Accuses—Ready to Pay Penalty.

[Important Developments Looked For, but Nothing Sensational Made Public—Insists He Has Told All, but Further Confession Is Expected.

For hours Saturday James Conley, negro sweeper, whose sensational confession accuses Superintendent Leo M. Frank of the murder of Mary Phagan, explained in detail to Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey the dread mysteries of the National Pencil Factory on April 26, explaining many things that had not been clear to the officials, but sticking tenaciously to the story he told the city detectives.

Conley was taken to the Solicitor’s office at that official’s request and put through a severe cross-examination. With an elaborate diagram, drawn for the Solicitor by Bert Green, a Georgian staff artist, to guide him, the negro traced the various scenes in the factory after the slaying of the girl.

He told just where he first claims to have found her and how he and the superintendent he accuses attempted to dispose of the body. The drama he enacted in the factory Friday for the detectives he re-enacted for the Solicitor in the little room at the court house with the artist’s charge as the stage and his finger as the tracer of tragedy.

Dorsey Well Satisfied.

The Solicitor was well satisfied with the results obtained in the secret conference behind closed doors and certain points that had been vague to him before were made clear.

At Conley’s own request, through William Smith, his counsel, the negro was later transferred to the police station. The negro had been so besieged by questioners at the county jail that he asked to be put within the shelter of police headquarters, where he had been closely guarded and where none but policemen had been allowed to interrogate him.

Conley intimated that he had been threatened at the jail, but little credence was put in his ramblings. It was plain that he wanted rest. He had told his story so often—each time, it may be noted, in almost the same words—that he was tired. The police agreed that he had answered enough questions from outsiders and he was moved. — The above section in brackets is additional information reported in the earlier “home” edition of the Georgian from the same date — Ed.]

A determined effort is being made by the police department to bring Leo M. Frank face to face with his accuser, Jim Conley, the negro sweeper.

The detectives wish to learn how Conley will go through the ordeal of confronting the man he accuses of directing the disposal of the body of Mary Phagan, and dictating the notes that were found her body. Continue Reading →

Mary Phagan’s Murder Was Work of a Negro Declares Leo M. Frank

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14390922_10155190778292977_6948068707988274765_nAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Constitution

Saturday, May 31st, 1913

“No Man With Common Sense Would Even Suspect That I Did It,” Prisoner in Fulton Tower Tells Attache. “It’s a Negro’s Crime Through and Through.” Asserts His Innocence to Turnkeys and to Fellow Prisoners.

“IT’S UP TO MR. FRANK TO TELL THE TRUTH,” ASSERTS JAMES CONLEY

“I Believe He’d Let ‘Em Hang Me to Get Out of It Himself if He Had the Chance,” Says Negro Sweeper—Chief Lanford Is Pleased With Work of Department and Ready for the Case to Come to Trial Immediately.

“No white man killed Mary Phagan. It’s a negro’s crime, through and through. No man with common sense would even suspect that I did it.”

This declaration was made by Leo M. Frank in his cell at the Tower to a jail attaché, the attaché told a reporter for The Constitution last night. He is also stated to have made incessant pleas of innocence to turnkeys and prisoners who are permitted within the sacred confines of his cell.

No newspaper men are allowed to see him. He has instructed Sheriff Mangum to permit no one in his presence except at his request. The sheriff is obeying the order to the letter. Even Chief Lanford, headquarters detectives and Harry Scott, of the Pinkertons, which agency is in the prisoner’s employ, are denied admission to his cell.

Coupled with the declaration Frank is said to have made to the jail attaché, comes his statement made Friday to Sheriff Mangum that he knew not who was guilty, but that the murderer should hang. This was made after news reached him of Conley’s confession, it is said.

Many Friends Visit Frank.

Frank devours newspaper stories of the Phagan investigation, it is said at the jail. His cell is crowded daily with friends and relatives who bring him papers and delicacies. His wife now visits him once each day. He talks but little of the crime to anyone beside his friends, and but little is gained from him by the jailers and prisoners who visit him. Continue Reading →

Silence of Conley Put to End by Georgian

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silence-of-conley

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

Atlanta Georgian

Saturday, May 31st, 1913

That The Georgian played a conspicuous part in obtaining the latest and most important confession from Jim Conley, the negro sweeper, in which he admitted his complicity in the crime, was the declaration of Chief of Detectives Newport Lanford late Friday afternoon.

Chief Lanford, in telling of the cross-examination of Conley on Thursday afternoon which resulted in his confession, said that Conley for a long time persisted in maintaining that he knew no more of the crime than what which he had related previously.

After several hours of futile questioning the chief showed him a copy of The Georgian quoting officials of the pencil factory to the effect that they believed Conley the guilty man. It was then that Conley made his startling affidavit fixing the deed upon Frank.

All Questions Failed.

“All lines of questions had been tried without avail,” said the detective chief, in relating the incident. “We had put Conley through a rigid third degree, and still he declared that he knew nothing more of the crime. It seemed that all the theories the detective force had so carefully and painstakingly built up were about to shattered. Continue Reading →

Conley’s Confession is Given in Full

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Jim Conley

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

Atlanta Journal

Friday, May 30th, 1913

“On Saturday, April 26, 1913, when I came back to the pencil factory with Mr. Frank I waited for him downstairs like he told me, and when he whistled for me I went upstairs and he asked me if I wanted to make some money right quick, and I told him, yes, sir, and he told me that he had picked up a girl back there and had let her fall and that her head hit against something—he didn’t know what it was—and for me to move her and I hollered and told him the girl was dead.

“And he told me to pick her up and bring her to the elevator, and I told him I didn’t have nothing to pick her up with, and he told me to go and look by the cotton box there and get a piece of cloth and I got a big wide piece of cloth and come back there to the men’s toilet, where she was, and tied her, and I taken her and brought her up there to a little dressing room, carrying her on my right shoulder, and she got too heavy for me and she slipped off my shoulder and fell on the floor right there at the dressing room and I hollered for Mr. Frank to come there and help me; that she was too heavy for me, and Mr. Frank come down there and told me to ‘pick her up, dam fool,’ and he run down there to me and he was excited, and he picked her up by the feet. Her feet and head were sticking out of the cloth, and by him being so nervous he let her feet fall, and then he brought her up to the elevator, Mr. Frank carrying her by the feet and me by the shoulder, and we brought her to the elevator, and then Mr. Frank says, ‘Wait, let me get the key,’ and he went into the office and come back and unlocked the elevator door and started the elevator down.

Frank Ran the Elevator.

“Mr. Frank turned it on himself, and we went on down to the basement and Mr. Frank helped me take it off the elevator and he told me to take it back there to the sawdust pile and I picked it up and put it on my shoulder again, and Mr. Frank he went up the ladder and watched the trapdoor to see if anybody was coming, and I taken her back there and taken the cloth from around her and taken her hat and shoes which I picked up upstairs right where her body was lying and brought them down and untied the cloth and brought them back and throwed them on the trashpile in front of the furnace and Mr. Frank was standing at the trapdoor. Continue Reading →

But One Thing is Proved in Mary Phagan Mystery

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but-one

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

Atlanta Constitution

Friday, May 30th, 1913

Amid the warp of falsehood and the woof of conjecture, one thing stands out like a scarlet thread in the Mary Phagan murder mystery—for mystery it still is and still will be until a jury of twelve men fixes the guilt on some man or men.

That one thing—startling in its vivid contrast to the murky maze of contradictions—is the fact that James Conley, the negro sweeper employed at the National Pencil factory, wrote the notes which were found beside the mutilated and lifeless body of Mary Phagan early in the morning of April 26.

Why he wrote them, when he wrote them, whether he wrote at the dictation of someone else or whether he himself committed the crime, are matters yet to be determined. He has lied and lied out of a lie. First he said he wrote the notes on Friday; now he comes forward and admits he wrote them on Saturday, the day the murder was committed. He tells various stories about the writing of the notes. He puts improbable words in the mouth of Leo Frank. He has squirmed and twisted and backed and stalled; but once having stated he wrote the notes his handwriting proves the assertion as indubitiably [sic] as if the bits of paper on which the messages were scrawled bare the crimson imprint of his fingers. Continue Reading →

Negro Conley Now Says He Helped to Carry Away Body

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negro-conley

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

Atlanta Georgian

Friday, May 30th, 1913

Chief of Detectives Lanford admitted Friday morning that Jim Conley, under the rack of the third degree, had made the astounding confession that he had assisted Leo M. Frank in disposing of the body of the murdered Mary Phagan. His new statement is believed to contain even more startling admissions than have not yet been made public.

If the negro sweeper is to be believed after his long series of deceits and lies, this forms the most damaging evidence that has been brought against Frank since suspicion was first pointed in his direction a month ago.

All hinges on the negro’s credibility. Conley, if his truthfulness can be established in this instance, after he has lied persistently for weeks, seems to be the only person in the world who may be able to connect Frank directly with the crime.

To Ask Indictment.

It became so assured by Friday morning that Chief Beavers was concealing circumstances of which the public was already aware that he admitted that the negro had made statements of this nature, although he had not confessed to the crime itself.

He added that he would apply for a writ of ne exeat so that Conley might be transferred to the county jail to be held as a witness.

Solicitor General Hugh M. Drosey announced that if Conley persisted in this story he would take steps to have him indicted as an accessory after the fact and bring him to trial on this charge. Continue Reading →

Conley, Taken to Factory, Shows Where Girl Was Found—How They Put Body in Basement

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conley

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

Atlanta Journal

Friday, May 30th, 1913

Gruesome Part Played By Him Illustrated

In Presence of Detectives, Factory Officials and Newspaper Men, the Negro Goes Over Every Point of His Statement From the Time Frank is Alleged to Have Directed Him to the Metal Room Until Girl’s Body Was Left in the Basement

“MR. FRANK AND HIS FRIENDS HAVE FORSAKEN ME AND I DECIDED TO TELL THE WHOLE TRUTH,” HE DECLARES

He Says His Statement Is Voluntary, That He Has Not Been Browbeaten Nor Mistreated by the Detectives—Full Story of His Confession to Being an Accessory After the Fact and His Visit to the Pencil Factory—Frank Makes No Comment

Following his full confession of his part in the mysterious murder of Mary Phagan, the pretty fourteen-year-old factory girl, James Conley, the negro sweeper, was Friday afternoon taken to the National Pencil factory on South Forsyth street and there in the presence of a half dozen detectives, several newspaper men and the factory officials illustrated in detail his own and Superintendent Leo M. Frank’s movements after he was called upstairs to aid in removing the dead girl’s body.

Conley led the officers back to the extreme rear of the metal room on the second floor and into a little alleyway off to the left where he said he found the girl’s dead body after Frank let him in. He lay down on his stomach with his hands stretched by his side to show how the body was found. He said a cord was about the girl’s neck and was stretched on the floor at right angles to the body.

He said that after he saw the body he went back to where Frank was standing at the head of the stairs watching and went into a room on the left just beyond the stairs where he got a big piece of crocus-bagging; that he took this bagging back and tied the girl’s body up in it much after the fashion a washerwoman tied up her soiled clothes; that he then took the body on his right shoulder and started up toward the elevator in the front (Frank remaining at the head of the stairs and just outside the double doors  to the metal room all the while.)

Conley declared that when he had walked half way up the room the body slipped off his shoulder to the floor. (This was the place where the bloodspots were found and where it has hitherto been believed the girl was murdered.) Continue Reading →

Former Pencil Worker Outlines His Theory

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former-pencil-workerAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Journal

Thursday, May 29th, 1913

Gustave Haas, of 165 Pulliam street, who at one time worked at the National Pencil factory, and is familiar with the arrangement of the building, has furnished The Journal with his theory of the Phagan murder.

He believes the motive was robbery, and it was done by a negro who laid in wait for some of employees to get their pay. Little Mary Phagan happened to be his victim, and according to Haas, he threw the body down the elevator shaft after a scuffle. Then he strangled the almost lifeless body to death. He had already robbed her of her mesh bag, which he thought contained a lot of money.

Haas believes the sweeper and the night watchman both had their part in the crime.

* * *

Atlanta Journal, May 29th 1913, “Former Pencil Worker Outlines His Theory,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Detectives Seek Corroboration of Conley’s Story

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

Atlanta Journal

Thursday, May 29th, 1913

They Declare That They Are Anxious to Get at the Truth of the Murder Case, Regardless of Who Is Guilty

Little if any credence is placed by the city detectives in the theory of the officials and employes of the National Pencil factory that Mary Phagan was killed by James Conley, the newro [sic] sweeper, and that his motive was robbery.

The detectives have accepted as true Conley’s second affidavit, in which he swears that he wrote the notes found by Mary Phagan’s body, and that he did so about 1 o’clock on the day of the murder, at the dictation of Superintendent Leo M. [F]rank, who is now under indictment by the grand jury.

However, they are somewhat puzzled by the discrepancies in the time of certain occurrences as sworn by Conley and testified at the coroner’s inquest by other witnesses.

Harry Scott, the Pinkerton detective who is working with the city detectives on the Phagan murder case and who developed the fact that Conley could write, notwithstanding his denials, declared that the shortest route to a complete solution of the mystery is to bring the negro Conley and Superintendent Frank face to face. He says the negro insists that he is anxious and willing to confront Mr. Frank with his story, and that if Mr. Frank and his attorneys agree, they (Conley and Mr. [F]rank) will be brought together to discuss the truth or falsity of the negro’s declarations. Continue Reading →

Conley Says He Helped Frank Carry Body of Mary Phagan to Pencil Factory Cellar

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conley-says

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

Atlanta Constitution

Friday, May 30th, 1913

Helped Frank Dispose of Mary Phagan’s Body Conley Now Confesses

Negro Sweeper Who Swore to Detectives That He Wrote Murder Notes Found Near Dead Girl’s Body Now Admits His Complicity in Case, According to Statements Which Have Stirred Police Headquarters as Nothing Since Murder.

LANFORD AND BEAVERS PLEASED OVER RESULT OF GRILLING NEGRO, THEY ANNOUNCE TO REPORTERS.

Police and Detective Heads Refuse to Go Into Details of Negro’s Statement Or to Discuss What He Said, But Declare That It Will Prove a Big Factor in the Murder Case—Negro Will Be Subjected to Another Third Degree Today.

Dumbfounding his hearers with the confession that he had helped Leo M. Frank lower the lifeless body of Mary Phagan into the darkness of the pencil factory basement, James Conley, the negro sweeper, is authoritatively said to have made that astounding admission during a strenuous third degree at police headquarters late Thursday afternoon.

He is said to have minutely described the movements of himself and Frank as they packed the mutilated form from the office floor of the building down into the dark cellar, where it was left in the desolate recess in which it was discovered the following morning.

Saying he had found the girl stone dead when he entered the building at 1:15 o’clock with the suspected superintendent, he is declared to have admitted that he and Frank proceeded immediately to remove the corpse, silently and with utmost precaution, to its hiding place in the basement.

Conley Asked No Questions.

Through fear he states he did not ask his employer how the little girl met her death. He is said to have told the police that he asked no questions, carried out Frank’s instructions to the letter, and departed directly after he emerged from the grewsome trip into the basement. Continue Reading →

Ready to Indict Conley as an Accomplice

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ready-to-indictAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Thursday, May 29th, 1913

Dorsey Ready to Act if Negro Sticks to Latest Story Accusing Frank.

Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey announced that if Conley persisted in his story he would take steps to have him indicted as an accessory after the fact and bring him to trial on this charge.

Conley was Friday afternoon removed to the Tower, on an order signed by Judge Roan.

Conley’s startling tale came late Thursday afternoon after he had been under a merciless sweating for nearly three hours. Noting the signs of weakening, Detective Harry Scott and Chief Lanford shot question after question at him in rapid succession.

Conley hesitated and then told the men who surrounded him that he had seen Mary Phagan on the day of the crime, but that she was dead when he saw her. When it became evident that he most important disclosures of the long investigation were to be made, G. C. February, secretary to Chief Lanford, was called in and took the negro’s statement.

Sticks to Note Story.

Conley stuck to his story that Frank had him write the notes that were found by the girl’s body and the detectives believe that there can be no doubt of this now.

He said that after the notes were written Frank took his arm and led him to the body. Frank’s hand was shaking, the negro declared. Together, they raised the limp form from the floor, Conley told the detectives, and took it into the basement.

Offering no explanation of the tragedy which had occurred, Frank ordered Conley to leave the building, according to the statement. Conley explained his long silence by saying that he thought Frank had plenty of money and that he would be able to get both of them free within a short time.

Chief Lanford and Detective Scott both declared after the third degree that they were confident that the negro at last was telling the truth. If he has any further knowledge of the crime, they said they would get it out of Friday when they put him through another grilling. Continue Reading →

Negro Conley’s Affidavit Lays Bare Slaying

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

Atlanta Georgian

Thursday, May 29th, 1913

Swears Frank Told Him Girl Had Hit Her Head Against Something.

The Georgian in it second Extra published exclusively the first REAL confession of James Conley, the negro sweeper at the National Pencil Factory, regarding the part he played in the Mary Phagan mystery.

The Georgian has dealt in no haphazard guesses as to the negro Conley’s testimony to the police and in giving prominence to his statements desires to say that it must not be taken as final until it is examined at the trial of Frank. Continue Reading →

Conley Re-enacts in Plant Part He Says He Took in Slaying

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

Atlanta Georgian

Thursday, May 29th, 1913

With Detectives Looking On, Negro Shows How He Carried Girl’s Body to Basement at Direction, as He Swear, of His Employer, Leo Frank.

As a sensational climax to the confession of his part of the Mary Phagan tragedy, Jim Conley, negro sweeper, was taken to the National [P]encil Factory Friday afternoon, where he enacted by movement every detail of the event that took place in the building of mystery after the death of the little girl.

With the detectives noting every sentence that fell from the ready lips of the negro, Conley started from the exact point at the top of the stairs on the second floor where he says Leo Frank met him, and went through the grim drama with a realism that convinced all who listened and watched that he at last was telling the whole truth.

He reproduced the conversations that passed between him and Frank. He lay down full length at the rear of the metal room to show precisely how the body of the little girl lay when he first saw it. He lay partly on his face, with his right leg slightly drawn up, to portray the position of the dead girl when he first saw her as he was led to the rear of the building, as he says, by Leo Frank.

Show How Body Laid.

Later in the basement he lay down again to show the detectives just how the body was dropped to the ground as though it had been a sack of salt. The negro lay on his face. His right arm was curled up under his body. The left arm was partly under his body, but straight. His feet pointed toward the rear door and his head toward the front of the building.

The announcement that this spectacular reproduction of the crime was to take place was made at the end of another third degree session in the office of Chief Lanford. The negro was put in Chief Beavers’ automobile. All the curtains were drawn and the utmost secrecy was maintained. Only those in authority in the factory were aware that the tragedy was to be re-enacted, step by step.

Conley was handcuffed to Chief Beavers when he stepped from the car. Many of the employees, at leisure during the noon hour, were congregated at the foot of the stairs on the first floor when the strange procession filed up the stairs. The city detectives had come on foot. Chief Lanford and Chief Beavers, with the negro, arrived a few minutes later. Continue Reading →