Category Archives: Newspaper coverage

“Every Woman and Girl Should See Body of Victim and Learn Perils”

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Every Woman and Girl Should See Body of Victim and Learn Perils

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

Atlanta Constitution

Tuesday, April 29th, 1913

A middle-aged woman, with signs of care and sorrow stamped on her features, pushed through the mob of people which crowded around the entrance to the Bloomfield undertaking establishment in which lay the body of Mary Phagan.

She made her way determinedly, shoving and pushing. Reaching the doorway she was stopped from entering by Policeman Tribble who stood on guard.

“You can’t go in, ma’am. Nobody’s allowed to see the body.”

“What?” she exclaimed. “Not letting anybody see her?”

She stepped back as if aghast. For a moment she hesitated, apparently undecided whether to say something further in her attempt to gain entrance or to leave the place. The huge crowd pushed closer, breathless, expectant. Continue Reading →

Girl to Be Buried in Marietta To-morrow

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Girl to Be Buried To-morrowAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Monday, April 28th, 1913

Stepfather and Sister to Accompany Body, But Mother May Not Be Able to Go.

The body of murdered Mary Phagan, which has been at the Bloomfield morgue since she was found strangled to death Sunday morning, will be taken to Marietta to-morrow morning at 8:35 o’clock, over the W. & A. Railroad. At noon the funeral services will be held and the body of the child will be laid to rest in the family lot in the Marietta Cemetary.

W. J. Coleman, the girl’s stepfather, and her sister, Miss Ollie Phagan, will accompany the body. The mother of slain child will go also if her health is such that she can make the trip in safety. She has been prostrated since her daughter’s terrible death, and it is hardly probable that physicians will allow her to attend the funeral.

Dr. J. W. Hurt performed an autopsy on the body late this afternoon but refused to make public the result of the examination until the Coroner’s jury meets Wednesday morning.

* * *

Atlanta Georgian, April 28th 1913, “Girl to Be Buried in Marietta To-morrow,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

“I Could Trust Mary Anywhere,” Her Weeping Mother Says

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Mary Phagan, 14-year-old daughter of Mrs. J. W. Coleman, 146 Lindsay Street, whose slain body was found in the basement of the National Pencil Factory, 37-39 South Forsyth Street. The girl left her home Saturday morning to go to the factory, where she had been employed, to draw wages due her. She was seen on the streets at midnight Saturday with a strange man. She was not seen alive thereafter.

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

MRS. COLEMAN PROSTRATED BY CHILD’S DEATH

Atlanta Georgian

Monday, April 28th, 1913

“No Working Girl Is Safe,” She Sobs, Overcome by Her Sudden Sorrow.

Lying on the bed in her little home on Lindsay Street, prostrated with sorrow over the murder of her 14-year-old daughter, Mary Phagan, Mrs. W. J. Coleman sobbed out the pitiful story of how sweet and fresh her child had left home Saturday, and issued a warning to all Atlanta mothers to guard the welfare of their own daughters forced to work for a living.

“There are so many unscrupulous men in the world,” she cried. “It’s so dangerous for young girls working out. Their every step should be watched. Mothers should question them and ask them about their work and associates and surroundings. They should continually tell them what they ought to do, and how they ought to act under certain circumstances.”

Girl Liked Work.

She declared that she never would have permitted Mary to go out to work at the age she did—12 years—if it hadn’t been that there were five children in the family and it was absolutely necessary for all of them to earn something toward their support. That was before she married her present husband, Mr. Coleman.

“That was a year ago,” said Mrs. Coleman, “and then it wouldn’t have been necessary for Mary to work. But she had got into the habit of it and liked it, and I thought she could take care of herself as she always had.”

“Oh, the poor baby!” she sobbed. “I did talk to her! I did tell her what to do! I was always telling her! And she took my advice, I know, because she was always so sensible about everything. Besides, she never was a child to flirt or act silly. That’s why I know that when she went away with this man who killed her she was either overpowered or he threatened her.”

Mrs. Coleman said that girls ought to look out for themselves, too, and never permit any familiarity from men.

“When a girl is pretty,” she declared, “naturally she is attractive to men. Mary was pretty, too; and, besides that, she was always happy and in a good humor. She had never stayed out any night before in the two years she had been at work. I could trust her anywhere I knew because she was always so straightforward, and what I thought when she didn’t come home was that she had met up with her aunt from Marietta, who was in town, and had gone home with her and had no way to let me know.”

Too Young to Know.

She covered her face with her hands.

“And to think that at the time I was thinking that she was in the hands of a merciless brute! Oh, if only Mr. Coleman had happened along the street and found her! They tell me she was crying on a corner at 12 o’clock and this man she was with was cursing her when a policeman came up and asked her what was the matter. She just told him she had got dust in her eye. I guess the reason she didn’t say anything was because she was afraid the man would kill her, and, in fact, just didn’t know what to do. She was too young.”

But with everything, Mrs. Coleman said, it wasn’t possible for a mother to be with a child all the time or to stave off all harm that could come to her with advice.

“Even with the greatest care, it looks like things will happen anyway—we don’t know how or why,” she declared, weeping. “Oh, it’s terrible to think of a young girl coming to her death like that! And she had already started home when this man met her and made her come back to town with him!”

So Young and Bright.

“Often I watched Mary on the car when men would look at her,” Mrs. Coleman said, “but she never paid any attention to them. I think she must have made the man who killed her mad, and that’s why he did it.”

She said that when Mary left the house Saturday she had only intended to go to the pencil factory to draw the little salary that was coming to her—$1.60.

“If you could only have seen her,” she told the reporter. “She looked so beautiful and so young and so bright! She said she was only going to see the parade before she came home. And look now! I am so sorry for all other young girls working everywhere! To think that they’re all open to the same things, and there is nothing to protect them; it’s so hard on mothers; it’s so hard on everybody. But there doesn’t seem to be any help for it, and that’s the worst part of it all.”

* * *

Atlanta Georgian, April 28th 1913, “‘I Could Trust Mary Anywhere,’ Her Weeping Mother Says,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Look for Negro to Break Down

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Look For Negro to Break DownAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Monday, April 28th, 1913

Newt Lee, the negro-night-watchman arrested in connection with the Phagan murder, practically admitted to Detective John Black this afternoon that he knows something of the circumstances surrounding the death of the little girl. The police are confident that Lee will tell all he knows before 6 o’clock.

Lee’s admission came after he had been “sweated” for two hours by a corps of officers under the direction of Detective John Black, and was wrung from him by a trap which Black set and into which the negro walked. Black said:

“Now, Lee, I know that you are innocent and didn’t murder the girl, but you know all about it and you know who committed the crime.”

Maintained He Told Truth.

Black’s statement was in the form of a question and was shot at the negro after he had sat quiet under the scrutiny of a dozen pairs of eyes. As Black leaned forward after asking the question Lee started nervously and said:

“Yes, that’s the God’s truth, boss!” Continue Reading →

Negro is Not Guilty, Says Factory Head

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Negro is Not Guilty Says Factory HeadAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Monday, April 28th, 1913

Superintendent Leo M. Frank Is Convinced Newt Morris Was Not Implicated.

Owing to a delay in receipt of metal shipment part of the plant of the National Pencil Company had been shut down for most of the week and Mary Phagan worked but part of the time. A few minutes after 12 o’clock Saturday she went to the office and drew her pay, which amounted to $1.60.

A holiday had been given the employees on Memorial Day and there were but very few about the place. The day watchman left shortly before 11 o’clock, while clerks in the office left at noon. Two young men worked on an upper floor until a few minutes after 3 o’clock, while Superintendent Leo M. Frank was the only one connected with the firm, who was about the place during the afternoon.

Frank’s Story.

“It was about 10 or 15 minutes after 12 o’clock when Mary Phagan came to my office and drew her pay,” said Mr. Frank. “The regular pay-day is Friday, but there are always a few of the 170 employees who do not call until Saturday afternoon. I was in an inner office on the second floor and handed the girl her envelope. She went out through the outer office and I heard her talking to another girl. While I could not swear that they went out of the building I am quite sure they did for I would have noticed any one moving about the building. Continue Reading →

Girl and His Landlady Defend Mullinax

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Girl and His Landlady Defend Mullinax

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

Atlanta Georgian

Monday, April 28th, 1913

Declaring her belief in the absolute innocence of her sweetheart, Arthur Mullinax, in the murder of Mary Phagan, pretty 16-year-old Pearl Robinson made a pathetic figure as she appeared before Chief of Detectives Lanford this afternoon and accounted for the whereabouts of Mullinax Saturday night up until about 10:30 o’clock.

With Miss Robinson were Mrs. Emma Rutherford, the landlady of Mullinax, and her two sons, Thomas and James, who took up the moves of Mullinax from the time he left Miss Robinson until the next morning, establishing what appears to be a complete alibi. In order to establish the alibi Mrs. Rutherford had to contradict entirely a statement she made last night to the police in which she had said that she knew nothing of where Mullinax was from noon Saturday until Sunday morning.

Call Mullinax “Good Boy.”

“Arthur is a good boy,” said his loyal little sweetheart.

“I know he would do nothing bad. He was too good and true. He was with me Saturday night from 8 o’clock until nearly 11 o’clock. We went to the Bijou theater together and left before it was over. We got home about 10:30 o’clock. Continue Reading →

3 Youths Seen Leading Along a Reeling Girl

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Edgar L. Sentell, lifelong friend of Mary Phagan, says he saw a man answering this description, walking with the girl after midnight Sunday, a few hours before the body was found. He has identified the man as Arthur Mullinax, who, however, was to-day apparently cleared by an alibi established by his sweetheart.

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

Atlanta Georgian

Monday, April 28th, 1913

E. S. Skipper Tells Police He Saw Lads Urging Her Down Street Night of Crime.

The story of three men leading a weeping, unwilling girl on Forsyth Street Saturday night is being sounded to its depths to-day by Atlanta policemen in their efforts to unravel the mystery of Mary Phagan’s death.

The story is told by E. S. Skipper, of 224 1-2 Peters Street. He declared that on Saturday night about 10 o’clock he saw a girl whose appearance fitted the description of the girl-victim. Three men were with her, all of them young and flashily dressed.

The girl was reeling slightly, Skipper declares, as if rendered dizzy by drugs. She was crying, and time and again lagged behind her companions, as if she feared to go farther. Each time they insisted and she seemed powerless to resist them.

Skipper declared that he can identify the three men. He followed in their wake when first he saw the party on Pryor Street, near Trinity Avenue. At Trinity they turned toward Whitehall, he said, the men urging the girl to accompany them. Down Whitehall to Forsyth he accompanied them, and saw them turn north toward Mitchell Street. There he left them, going toward the Terminal Station, his original destination.

Skipper said that the girl did not appear intoxicated, but merely sick and pitifully weak. Continue Reading →

Mullinax Blundered in Statement, Say Police

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Mullinax Blundered in Statement, Say Police

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

Atlanta Georgian

Monday, April 28th, 1913

Mullinax was arrested by detectives late in the afternoon in Bellwood Avenue, near the viaduct, as he was on his way to his boarding house.

His positive identification by E. L. Sentell, of 82 Davis Street, a clerk for the Kemper Grocery Company, as the man he saw with the little Phagan girl in Forsyth Street about 12:20 o’clock yesterday morning, and alleged discrepancies in the statement of the prisoner led Chief Beavers and Chief of Detectives Lanford to order him locked in a cell and held on suspicion.

Sentell, who knew the dead girl well and who said he spoke to her when he passed her and her companion at Forsyth and Hunter Streets, accused Mullinax as the young suspect sat in the presence of Chief Beavers, Chief Lanford, Police Captain Mayo and Detectives Black, Starnes, Rosser and Haslett, who had worked all day on the mystery.

Sentell Positive.

“That’s the man who was with the girl last night. There’s not a doubt about it—I’m positive,” said Sentell as he pointed an accusing finger at Mullinax. Continue Reading →

Suspect Gant [sic] Tells His Own Story

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Suspect Gant Tells His Own Story

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

DENIES GUILT BUT IS IDENTIFIED AS MAN SEEN LEADING GIRL

Atlanta Georgian

Monday, April 28th, 1913

The Georgian will pay $500 reward for EXCLUSIVE information leading to the arrest and conviction of the murderer of Mary Phagan.

J. M. Gant [sic], accused of the strangling of Mary Phagan, was brought to Atlanta this afternoon at 4 o’clock from Marietta, where he had been under arrest in the Sheriff’s office since forenoon.

Fearing a demonstration from the crowd that had been waiting at the Walton Street station for several hours, Detective Hazlett transferred his prisoner from a Marietta car to a Decatur car and had him locked up in the police station before many were aware that he was in town.

Gant, trembling and nervous, refused to talk at first.

“I have nothing to say, nothing to say,” he repeated to the interrogations of the reporters.

As Hazlett led them to the police station, Gant glanced apprehensively around as though he were in fear of being taken away from the officer.

When no demonstration occurred, Gant, recovering his poise in a measure, turned to the reporters and declared his absolute innocence of any connection with the gruesome affair.

Makes Complete Denial

“I know nothing about it,” he declared. Continue Reading →

City Chemist Tests Stains For Blood

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City Chemist Tests Stains for BloodAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Monday, April 28th, 1913

Pieces of wood, the stains on which are believed to be those of the blood of murdered Mary Phagan, are undergoing a chemical examination this afternoon by the city chemist.

The discovery of white powder on the factory floor strengthened the belief that a frantic effort had been made to erase the evidences of the crime. The powder resembled very much cleaning preparations that are used.

* * *

Atlanta Georgian, April 28th 1913, “City Chemist Test Stains for Blood,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Mullinax Held in Phagan Case

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Mullinax Held in Phagan Case

National Pencil Co. Building at 37-39 S. Forsyth St. in which the Phagan girl was slain [The young girl was discovered by the night watchman, who at first thought the body was there as a practical joke, until he realized it was a dead girl. She was so covered with soot and dirt, the policemen couldn’t determine whether she was White or not at first glance — Ed.]

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

Atlanta Constitution

Monday, April 28th, 1913

Former Street Car Conductor Arrested as He Leaves the Home of His Sweetheart on Bellwood Avenue.

As he was leaving the home of his sweetheart, Miss Pearl Robertson [sic], on Bellwood avenue, early last night, Arthur Mullinax, a strikingly handsome youth, was arrested by Detective Rosser and carried to police headquarters. He is being detained under suspicion of having been implicated in the slaying of Mary Phagan.

E. R. Sentell, a resident of 82 Davis street, came to the office of Detective Chief Lanford Sunday afternoon and was closeted with that official for considerable while. When he left the office it was learned that he had told the chief he had seen Mullinax and the dead girl together shortly after midnight Sunday.

Sentells story, according to the detectives, was that as he was walking along Forsyth street about 12:30 o’clock Sunday morning, he encountered Mullinax and Miss Phagan walking slowly across Hunter street in the direction of the pencil factory in which she was killed. He recognized both, he said, as they crossed under the street lamps.

Mullinax Given Third Degree.

Chief Lanford also declares that he has other information to the effect that Mullinax was seen with Miss Phagan in the vicinity of the National factory near midnight. Mullinax was brought immediately to headquarters, and at 9 o’clock was subjected to a rigid third degree in the office of Chief Lanford. Continue Reading →

Lifelong Friend Saw Girl and Man After Midnight

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Lifelong Friend Saw Girl and Man After MidnightAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Monday, April 28th, 1913

Edgar L. Sentell, twenty-one years old, a clerk employed in C. J. Kamper’s store, and whose home is at 82 Davis Street, was one of the first to give the detectives a hopeful clue to the solution of the hideous mystery.

Sentell, a well-known young man, had known Mary Phagan almost all her life. When she was just beginning to think of dolls with never a thought of dreary factories and the tragedies of life, he used to see her playing in the streets of East Point when her folks lived there. She was a pleasant, cheerful little girl then and her later years—tragically brief—had not changed her. Her light blue eyes laughed at the world in those days with all the roguishness a Georgia country girl’s can, and the cares and worries that came when she had to make her own pitiful living had not obliterated their smile. Continue Reading →

Slain Girl Modest and Quiet, He Says

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Slain Girl Modest and QuietAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Monday, April 28th, 1913

Timekeeper at Pencil Factory Declares Mary Phagan Attended Strictly to Her Work.

“She was a quiet and modest little girl,” was the tribute paid Mary Phagan to-day by E. F. Holloway, a timekeeper at the National Pencil Company’s plant.

“I never noticed her talking with any of the employees. She was invariably polite, as though she had been carefully reared in her home. She paid attention strictly to her own work and never was seen conversing with any of the men, so far as I know.

“In fact, I don’t know that she even had any acquaintances with any of the men except in cases where it was necessary as a part of her work. The only man she ever was friendly with is not here now. He was discharged three weeks ago.”

* * *

Atlanta Georgian, April 28th 1913, “Slain Girl Modest and Quiet, He Says,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Chief and Sleuths Trace Steps in Slaying of Girl

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Chief and Sleuths Trace Steps in Slaying of Girl

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

Atlanta Georgian

Monday, April 28th, 1913

In the room where Mary Phagan was attacked and paid out her young life to the brutality of her assailant, across the floor where her limp form was dragged, down the stairs and down through the square trap-door into the dirty basement where her body was found, Chief of Police Beavers and two detectives trailed, step by step, every move of the girl’s murderer to-day.

Determined that not a clew should be overlooked in the efforts to fix guilt upon the man or men that took the young girl’s life, the Chief and his aides began at the very spot in the tip plant in the rear of the second floor where the bloodstains and the strands of matted hair indicated that the girl had put up such a desperate fight for her life and honor.

Curious Crowd About Factory.

Meanwhile the surging crowd of curiosity seekers on the outside of the building would be restrained, and that with the excitement of the employees made it necessary to close down the factory for the day.

Excited men in the throng, morbidly curious or filled with wrath at the inhuman deed, forced their way into the building and refused to turn back. A detective had an encounter with one insistent man who would not leave the building.

Inside the building the nervous tension of the employees was apparent in every department. With the ghost of the terrible crime stalking about, they could not work. After several hours of ineffectual work, the foreman saw that the girls and other employees were so wrought up over the tragedy that it was useless to keep them in the building longer. They were told to go. Continue Reading →

Girl is Assaulted and then Murdered in Heart of Town

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Girl is Assaulted and then Murdered in Heart of Town

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

Atlanta Constitution

Monday, April 28th, 1913

Chum Identifies Victim as Mary Phagan, of 146 Lindsay Street, Then Swoons. Girl Had Just Resigned From National Pencil Company, in Which Plant Her Body Was Found.

MOTHER AND FATHER STAY UP ALL NIGHT WAITING HER RETURN

Negro Watchman Is Under Arrest on Suspicion—Police Believe That She Was Lured to Building by Three Young Companions, Assaulted Despite Her Vigorous Struggles, and Then Killed to Shut Her Lips.

Continue Reading →

Gant [sic] Was Infatuated With Girl; at Factory Saturday

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At the right is Miss Ruth Phagan, aunt of Mary Phagan, and in her arms is Miss Ollie Phagan, sister of the victim, whom she is trying to comfort.

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

Atlanta Georgian

Monday, April 28th, 1913

Gant [sic] was arrested on a warrant sworn out, in Judge Powers’ court, charging him with murder.

Gant was last seen before his arrest at 8:45 this morning by Herbert Schiff, assistant superintendent of the factory. A few minutes later he was on a car bound for Marietta.

The officers in Marietta were notified by telephone and were on the watch for a man answering Gant’s description.

The detectives began to spread their nets for Gant on significant stories coming from half a dozen different sources.

All were to the effect that Gant had tried on many occasions to pay attentions to the little girl, and that his infatuation for her was evident even in the factory.

Continue Reading →

Where and With Whom Was Mary Phagan Before End?

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Where and With Whom Was Mary Phagan Before EndAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Monday, April 28th, 1913

Detectives to-day are using all their resources to learn where Mary Phagan was every minute of Saturday and Saturday night, whom she saw, with whom she talked, and what she said.

There are wide blanks in the story of her movements. These must be filled.

12:10 p. m.—Mary Phagan appeared at the National Pencil Factory at ten or fifteen minutes after 12 o’clock noon, Saturday, and drew the pay due her, $1.60. She chatted a few minutes with friends. The manager is sure she then left the building.

She told her mother she was going to see the Memorial Day parade.

Did she go straight from the factory to see the procession? Who joined her? Where did she stand? When the procession had passed, where did she go? Did someone, that early in the day, start weaving around her the net which later caused her death?

10 p. m.—E. S. Skipper, 224 1-2 Peters Street, saw a girl answering the description of Mary Phagan at about 10 o’clock Saturday night. She was walking up Pryor Street near Trinity with three youths. She was crying, and seemed to be trying to get away from her companions. She seemed to be under the influence of an opiate, not of drink.

Was this, in truth, Mary Phagan? If so, who were the youths? Where had they been, and where did they go? Continue Reading →

10,000 Throng Morgue to See Body of Victim

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10,000 Throng MorgueAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

The Atlanta Georgian

Monday, April 28th, 1913

Coroner’s Jury inspects remains and scene of tragedy, then waits until Wednesday

Lying on a slab in the chapel of the Bloomfied undertaking establishment, with the white throat bearing the red marks of the rope that strangled her, the body of Mary Phagan was viewed by thousands this morning.

No such gathering of the morbidly curious has ever before been seen in Atlanta. More people were attracted than by any crime in the history of the city. The crowds came in droves, and a steady procession passed before the slab on which lay the little body. Old men and young men, women with babies in their arms and women who tottered with age, little friends of the dead child and little children who had be raised in the arms of their mothers before they could see the white faces of their dead playmate — crowded into the little chapel.

Crowd Before Daybreak

Long before daylight the crowd began to form in front of the undertaking establishment. By 6 o’clock several hundred had come, and were awaiting with tense eagerness for the opening of the doors. Factory girls and laboring men, passing on their way to work, were caught by the lure of the tragedy and crowded into the line. A number of fashionably dressed women alighted from their automobiles, and with veils drawn over their faces pressed against the plate glass windows of the chapel.

By 8 o’clock there were more than 1,000 persons gathered around the morgue. The jam at the doorway was so great that extra policemen were called. When the doors were opened the crowd was permitted to pass in one by one and view the form.

An old man, who had known the Phagan family for years and had rocked the dead child on his knees, was the first to view the remains. For more than three minutes he stood with bared head beside the body.

It is estimated that 10,000 people have viewed the body of the child since it was found in the basement of the building on Forsyth Street. All day yesterday thousands of people crowded into the little chapel, and P.J. Bloomfield declared that no less than 4,000 persons entered his place during the day.

This morning the crowd was even greater, and since 6 o’clock it is estimated that between 6,000 and 7,000 have passed in silent review before the dead child.

Inquest Is Begun

At 10 o’clock, when Coroner Donehoo began the inquest, the chapel was cleared of the spectators and the body of the child removed to a private room. The men impaneled to inquire into the death of the child were:

Homer C. Ashford, foreman; John Miller, J.C. Hood, C.Y. Sheets, Glenn Dewberry and Clarence Langford.

No witnesses were examined this morning by the Coroner’s jury. The six men viewed the remains and were shown by physicians the manner in which the child met her death, after which they visited the plant of the National Pencil Company, where the murder occurred. There they made a thorough examination of the basement where the child’s body was found, inspected the tip plant on this second floor, where the bloody strands of hair were found, and followed the trail of blood through the building to the scene of the crime.

At noon Coroner Donehoo dismissed the jury until Wednesday morning at 9 o’clock, when the examination of witnesses will take place. The Coroner refused to give out a list of the persons he had summoned before the jury.

* * *

Atlanta Georgian, April 28th 1913, “10,000 Throng Morgue to See Body of Victim,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Arrested as Girl’s Slayer

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Photograph of Mary Phagan showing her in street dress. [The almost fourteen-year-old girl was found slain in the dingy basement of her work establishment, beaten and strangled to death. — Ed.]

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

JOHN M. GANT [sic] ACCUSED OF THE CRIME; FORMER BOOKKEEPER TAKEN BY POLICE

Atlanta Georgian

Monday, April 28th, 1913

J. M. Gant [sic], arrested in Marietta for the murder of Mary Phagan, gave to a reporter for The Georgian his story of his actions that led to his arrest. He protested his innocence, and declared he was home in bed at the time the crime is supposed to have been committed.

In striking contradiction to this statement is the assertion of Mrs. F. C. Terrell, of 284 East Linden Street, where Gant said he slept Saturday night, that she had not seen Gant in three weeks.

“I watched the Memorial Day parade in Atlanta,” said Gant, as he sat in the Marietta police station, “and after the parade was mostly over I went out to the ball game. After the game I remembered that I had left some old shoes at the pencil factory, and decided to go over and get them. I went over there at 6 o’clock and Superintendent Frank let me in.

“He told the negro watchman to help me find my shoes, and both of them saw me get them and also saw me leave the building.

Continue Reading →

Soda Clerk Sought in Phagan Mystery

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Soda Clerk Sought in MysteryAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Monday, April 28th, 1913

Weeping Girl Like Mary Phagan Seen Saturday in Company of Soda Jerker.

The police late this afternoon began a search for a soda water clerk who was seen talking to a girl answering the description of Mary Phagan Saturday night at 12:10 o’clock, in front of a rooming house at 286 1-2 Whitehall Street. The information was given to the police by L. B. and R. C. King, brothers, who said they passed the Whitehall Street address at that hour and saw the couple.

Their attention was called to them, they say, by the fact that the girl was sobbing. As the King brothers passed they heard the girl say:

“Don’t do that; be a friend to me.”

In company with the King brothers three detectives went to Forsyth and Whitehall Streets, where the clerk is said to be working. If he can be found he will be taken to police headquarters and examined by detectives.

* * *

Atlanta Georgian, April 28th 1913, “Soda Clerk Sought in Phagan Mystery,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)