Category Archives: Newspaper coverage

Newt Lee on Stand at Inquest Tells His Side of Phagan Case

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Newt Lee on Stand at Inquest Tells His Side of Phagan Case

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

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

Describes finding of body of slain girl and events at Pencil Factory before and at time of discovery of crime

Newt Lee, watchman at the National Pencil Company’s factory, who notified the police of the discovery of Mary Phagan’s body, told his complete story on the stand at the coroner’s inquest to-day.

Lee was on the stand for more than an hour and was plied with questions intended to throw light on the tragedy. He replied to questions in a straightforward way, and in detail his story is substantially the same as he has made to the reporters ever since his arrest. Continue Reading →

Sergeant Brown Tells His Story of Finding of Body

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Sergeant Brown Tells Story of Finding of BodyAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday April 30th, 1913

Sergeant R. J. Brown, the second witness at the inquest, corroborated Anderson’s story of the finding of the body. Brown, who was in charge of the morning watch, was one of the four men who answered the call of the negro night watchman, Newt Lee.

Brown was interrogated as follows:

“How did you get to the factory?”

“Call Officer Anderson answered the phone call, and Anderson, Sergeant Dobbs, myself and a man named Rogers—we call him ‘Boots’—went in Mr. Rogers’ car to the factory.”

“Who met you when you got there?” Continue Reading →

Machinist Tells of Hair Found in Factory Lathe

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Machinist Tells of Hair Found in Factory LatheAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday April 30th, 1913

R. P. Barrett, 180 Griffin Street, a machinist at the National Pencil Company, was one of the witnesses of the late afternoon.

He was asked:

Q. How long have you worked at the National Pencil Company?—A. Seven weeks the last time. I worked there about two years ago.

Q. Did you know Mary Phagan?—A. Yes.

Q. What did she do?—A. She ran a “tipping” machine.

Q. When did you last see her?—A. A week ago Tuesday.

Q. Did she work last week?—A. No.

Q. You say you worked in the same department with Mary Phagan? Were your machines close together?—A. Yes.

Q. When did you go to work?—A. Monday morning. Continue Reading →

Clock ‘Misses’ Add Mystery to Phagan Case

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Clock 'Misses' Add Mystery to Phagan CaseAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

Records Purport to Show Watchman Failed to Register Three Times Saturday Night.

What does the National Pencil Factory time clock show?

It was the duty of Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, to punch it every half-hour. Records brought to the police station purport to show that Lee three times failed to punch the clock.

But Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the factory, told a Georgian reporter Sunday afternoon that Lee had punched the clock regularly and that the clock record was all right.

Misses Were Not Consecutive.

Accepting the evidence of the records at the police station, the case is more beclouded by their introduction than it was before. Although they appear to show that Lee failed three times to punch the clock, these misses were not consecutive and the intervals between punches never were more than one hour. Continue Reading →

Mary Phagan at Home Last Friday, Says Mother

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Mary Phagan at Home Last Friday Says MotherAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Journal

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

Mrs. W. J. Coleman, mother of Mary Phagan, says that the girl was at home during Friday and Friday night, and could not possibly have been the one seen at the Terminal station Friday morning by H. P. Sibley, gateman, and T. R. Malone, special officer.

Just as a young man with a ticket for Washington reached one of the gates to the tracks at the Terminal station, he was stopped Friday morning by a pretty girl, who pleaded with him not to leave her. The girl finally reached such a state of hysteria that the man turned away from the gate, and they left the station together.

Both the gateman and the special officer identified Mary Phagan was this girl. But Mrs. Coleman says that their identification is a complete mistake. Mary Phagan, she insists, was at home during the day and the night on Friday and could not possibly have been at the Terminal station. Continue Reading →

Witness Saw Slain Girl and Man at Factory Door

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Witness Saw Slain Girl and Man at Factory DoorAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday April 30th, 1913

J. G. Spier followed Newt Lee on the stand. He lives at Cartersville, Ga.

Q. Were you about the National Pencil Company plant? A. Yes, sir; we walked over to the Terminal station from the Kimball House. I was with a friend. I left the Terminal station at 10 minutes of 4, then walked back there, going back Forsyth Street. I passed the pencil factory about 10 minutes after 4 o’clock. I noticed a young girl and a young man, a Jew of about 25, talking.

Q. Were they excited? A. My impression was that they were. The girl seemed excited and the man nervous. Continue Reading →

Did Murderers Plan Cremation?

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Did Murderers Plan CremationAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Constitution

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

Detectives Believe That They Intended to Burn Body of Little Mary Phagan in the Furnace of Factory.

Did the murderers of Mary Phagan lower her body into the darkness of the pencil factory basement with the intention of cremating the corpse in the furnace of that plant?

Such is the belief of detectives. The dead girl was discovered only a few feet from the furnace. Her body had been dragged first to the fire box, circled around its base, then abandoned in the desolate recess in which it was found.

Investigation revealed that the firebox was in condition to be lighted. It was littered with shavings and paper, and, to all appearances, in readiness for a new fire. The door was open. The aperture was hardly wide enough to admit a body the size of the victim’s.

It is the dective’s [sic] theory that the slayers were frightened from their original plans. The prized staple from the rear door indicated a hurried exit. Detective John Black told a Constitution reporter Monday of his belief: Continue Reading →

While Hundreds Sob Body of Mary Phagan Lowered into Grave

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While Hundreds Sob Body of Mary Phagan Lowered into GraveAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Constitution

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

While relatives hysterically wept, while hundreds of friends, with wet eyes and bowed heads, mourned, while little circles of grim visage men talked in hushed voices of all that remained of little 14-year-old Mary Phagan, victim of Saturday night’s atrocious crime, was lowered into a grave at the city cemetery at Marietta yesterday morning.

“The Lord hath given, the Lord hath taken, blessed be the name of the Lord,” said Rev. T. T. G. Linkous, pastor of the Christian church at East Point, as tears streamed down his cheeks. And the grave-diggers grasped their spades and filled the grave.

When the sad little funeral party arrived in Marietta with the casket shortly before 10 o’clock, there was a great crowd at the station to meet them. With solemn mien, hundreds of men and women, girls and boys, followed the train of carriages to the Second Baptist church. Continue Reading →

Shot Fired Near Lee May Break His Nerve

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Shot Fired Near Lee May Break His NerveAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Constitution

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

Walter Graham Discharges a Derringer in His Cell at the Police Station.

Will Newt Lee, the negro night watchman accused of the murder of Mary Phagan, be unnerved today as a result of the firing of a double-barreled derringer in a nearby cell last night.

Will his nerves become so shattered at the thought of death that he will confess, admitting the crime, or implicating others?

This is what the police will determine today in further third degree work with Lee.

Walter Graham, a young white youth of 76 Marietta street, smuggled a double-barreled derringer in his cell last night when arrested. In a nearby cell was Lee, drooping over after the strain of the last investigation. Continue Reading →

Leo Frank’s Friends Denounce Detention

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Leo M. Frank, Superintendent of the National Pencil Company's factory, still held by the police. Frank's lawyer says he has given to the police every detail of his whereabouts to account for his time on Saturday and Sunday.

Leo M. Frank, Superintendent of the National Pencil Company’s factory, still held by the police. Frank’s lawyer says he has given to the police every detail of his whereabouts to account for his time on Saturday and Sunday.

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

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the National Pencil Company and one of the central figures in the sensational murder mystery surrounding the death of little Mary Phagan, is well regarded by a host of friends in Atlanta, who scoff at the idea that he can in any way be implicated in the horrible tragedy.

His friends are all loud in their denunciation of the efforts that have apparently been made to drag his name into the affair as a principal.

Mr. Frank, 28 years of age, a native of Brooklyn, N. Y., came to Atlanta about five years ago to take charge of the plant of the National Pencil Company. Three years later he married Miss Lucille Selig, daughter of Mrs. E. Selig, of 68 East Georgia Avenue, and has since made his home with Mrs. Selig.

Mr. Frank is a mechanical engineer and a graduate of Cornell University, and prior to his coming to Atlanta held a responsible position with the B. F. Sturdevant Co., of Boston, Mass. Continue Reading →

Policeman Says Body Was Dragged From Elevator

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Policeman Says Body Was Dragged From ElevatorAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

R. M. Lasseter [sic], the policeman on the morning watch past the pencil factory, was called at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. He was questioned as follows:

Q. Were you in the pencil factory Saturday night or Sunday morning?—A. I was there at 4:45 Sunday morning.

Q. What did you find?—A. A parasol.

Q. Where did you find it?—A. At the bottom of the elevator shaft. I found there also a big ball of red wrapping twine that never had been opened. (Here the witness was shown the cord that had strangled the girl and asked if that was the kind of cord he had found. He said it was not. The cord he found was very much smaller.)

Body Had Been Removed.

Q. Had the body been removed when you were in the building?—A. Yes.

Q. Where was the elevator?—A. I don’t remember; it was on the second or third floor.

Q. Is the bottom of the elevator shaft of concrete, or wood, or what?—A. I don’t know. It was full of trash and I couldn’t see.

Q. Did you look for signs of a struggle?—A. Yes, I saw where something had been dragged along the ground, and I traced it back to the elevator shaft.

Q. Did you find anything to indicate that the body came down the ladder?—A. No, sir; the dragging signs went past the foot of the ladder. I saw them between the elevator and the ladder.

Dragged From Elevator.

Q. You think, then, that the body was dragged from the elevator?—A. Yes, sir; I think from the evidence that it was dragged from the elevator.

Q. Where was the umbrella?—A. In the center of the elevator shaft, closed.

Before the witness was dismissed he said that he had passed the pencil factory at 1 o’clock Sunday morning and saw that the back door was closed. He said he did not pass the place again until after the body was removed. This was a voluntary statement from the witness and was not made in answer to any question.

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Atlanta Georgian, April 30th 1913, “Policeman Says Body Was Dragged From Elevator,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Confirms Lee’s Story of Shirt

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Confirms Lee's Story of ShirtAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

Negro Woman Says Man Accused of Phagan Crime Was Not Home Saturday Night.

If Newt Lee, the watchman, went home on Saturday night and discarded a bloody, stained shirt, Lorena Townes, the negro woman with whom he boarded, knows it. Lorena says Lee was not home on Saturday night.

Detectives found the blood-stained shirt in an old barrel in Lee’s room, and around this point has been built the theory that after committing the crime the man went home, changed his shirt, returned to the factory and then telephoned the police. Supporting this belief are the alleged omissions in Lee’s time clock checks during the night.

Lee lived in a little back room at 46 Henry Street; Lorena Townes sleeps in the front room opening on the porch. There is no hallway. There is a side door to Lee’s room, but it is always locked from the inside, according to Corinne Holsey, who lives in the other half of the house. Continue Reading →

Business Men Protest Sensational “Extras”

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Business Men Protest Sensational Extras

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

Atlanta Journal

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

Following an interview between Mayor Woodward and Chief of Police Beavers and Chief of Detectives Lanford, in which the mayor protested that extras on the Phagan murder case which were based on information alleged to have been given out by the officers and the detectives and which were liable to unduly inflame the public, a petition has been circulated among local business men asking the newspapers not to issue so many sensational extras.

The petition states that extras such as have been issued are hurting business and will hurt it still further, that the community is being aroused to a dangerous degree by them, and that they may bring extremely unfortunate conditions. Continue Reading →

Reward of $1,000 Urged by Mayor

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Reward of a Thousand Dollars Urged by MayorAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

Brown Offers $200 for Capture of Slayer—C. C. Jones Also Gives $100.

Governor Joseph M. Brown to-day offered a reward of $200 for the apprehension and conviction of the murderer of little Mary Phagan and Mayor James G. Woodward issued a call for a special meeting of Council for tomorrow morning at 10 o’clock, urging a $1,000 reward.

Governor Brown’s decision was reached on receipt of the following letter from Solicitor Hugh M. Dorsey:

“From the best information obtainable, it is my belief that the circumstances surrounding the death of little Miss Mary Phagan indicate a most brutal murder, probably attended with another horrible and detestable crime.

“The officers of the local police and detective departments seem to be using their best efforts toward the solution of the mystery, but I believe it advisable to ask that you offer a reward for the apprehension, with evidence to convict, of the guilty party.” Continue Reading →

City Offers $1,000 as Phagan Case Reward

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City Offers Thousand Dollar RewardAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

At Special Council Meeting Called by Mayor Only One Man Opposes Action.

At a special session of city council to-day, called by Mayor Woodward, to give the city’s financial aid to the apprehension of the guilty persons in the Mary Phagan strangling case, $1,000 was appropriated as a reward to the person furnishing information leading to the arrest of the man or men who committed the deed.

The appropriation found one opponent in Councilman Thomson, who said the lure of a high award would be likely to result in the arrest and hanging of an innocent person who might be sworn to his death by some one desiring the reward.

The Councilman said he was in favor of using the money in engaging an additional force of expert detectives.

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Atlanta Georgian, April 30th 1913, “City Offers $1,000 as Phagan Case Reward,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Went Down Scuttle Hole on Ladder to Reach Body

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Went Down Scuttle Hole to Reach BodyAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday April 30th, 1913

Previous to Watchman Newt Lee’s testimony, three police officers, who were called to the pencil factory when Mary Phagan’s body was found, testified. Their testimony, with the exception of such parts as were unfit to print, follows:

W. T. Anderson, police call officer on duty Sunday morning, was first witness.

“We went over in an automobile to the pencil factory and the negro took us into the cellar where the body was found,” he said.

Anderson told of the location of the scuttle hole, from which a ladder led to the basement, and of the location of the body. Continue Reading →

Newt Lee’s Testimony as He Gave It at the Inquest

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Newt Lee's Testimony as He Gave it at the Inquest

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

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, was questioned as follows:

Q. What is your name? A. Newt Lee.

Q. Where do you live? A.  Rear of 40 Henry Street.

Q. What do you do? A. Night watchman at the National Pencil Company.

Q. What kind of work do you do? A. Watch and sweep up the first floor.

Q. What time do you go to work? At what time? A. Six o’clock. If it is not quite 6 o’clock I go around and see if the windows are down. If it is at 6 I punch the clock and then go around. Continue Reading →

Inquest This Morning.

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

Atlanta Constitution

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

Coroner Donehoo last night set the time for the inquest at this morning at 8:45 o’clock. It will be held in Bloomfield’s undertaking establishment on South Pryor street. A thorough investigation will be made into the mystery. It will then be determined if the evidence at hand is sufficient to commit Frank and the negro watchman to higher courts.

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Atlanta Constitution, April 30th 1913, “Inquest This Morning,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Leo M. Frank Holds Conference With Lee

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Leo M Frank Holds Conference with LeeAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Constitution

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

After Talking With Him an Hour, Factory President Fails to Secure a Confession.

Sitting alone in the detectives’ office at headquarters, Frank, the factory president, and Lee, the negro night watchman, both suspects held in connection with the Phagan murder, conferred for an hour shortly before midnight.

The conference was made at the request of detectives. It was believed Frank would be able to wring a confession from the negro. At midnight, he emerged from the room.

“I can’t get a thing out of him. He tells the same story over and over.”

It was the first time the two prisoners [had] faced one another since the [grueling] third degree to which both were doubly subjected at noon. It was the first opportunity they had obtained to converse in private.

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Atlanta Constitution, April 30th 1913, “Leo M. Frank Holds Conference With Lee,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (original PDF)

Tells Jury He Saw Girl and Mullinax Together

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Tells Jury He Saw Girl and Mullinax TogetherAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday April 30th, 1913

Edgar L. Sentell, the man who identified Mullinax as being the man he saw with Mary Phagan Saturday night was the first witness to take the stand when the coroner’s jury convened at 2:30 o’clock.

The witness said that he worked at Kamper’s grocery store, starting to work there last Thursday. He was questioned as follows:

Q. How late did you work Saturday night? A. To about 10:30 o’clock.

Q. What is your work? A. I drive a wagon.

Q. What time did you get in with your wagon Saturday night? A. About 9:30 or 10 o’clock. Continue Reading →