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

The Atlanta Georgian

Thursday, July 3, 1913

A petition filed Tuesday with the Clerk of the Superior Court by A. S. Colyar, Jr., asking for the disbarment of Colonel Thomas B. Felder from the practice of law in Georgia, has been withdrawn by Colyar on information that he first must submit his petition to the court for the determination of whether his grounds are sufficient to warrant an investigation and trial by jury.

Colyar said Wednesday he would apply for a rule nisi. Until this is done there can be no action on his petition. The petition includes as reasons for the disbarment of Colonel Felder the alleged irregular practices of which Colyar accused Colonel Felder in the sensational dictograph conversations furnished by Colyar to the police.

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The Atlanta Georgian, July 3rd 1913, “Attempt by Colyar To Disbar Felder Is Halted; Tries Again,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

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

The Atlanta Georgian

Tuesday, July 1, 1913

Grand Jury Declines to Indict Colyar for Reply to Attack of Colonel Felder

[…]charging A. S. Colyar, of Nashville, with libel, the Fulton county grand jury at its session on Tuesda ymorning [sic] refused to indict the Tennessean, returning a “no bill” in the case. Mr. Colyar has been in the limelight recently as a principal in the sensational dictograph episode, and has been engaged in a heated controversy with Colonel Thomas B. Felder.

The Tennessean was charged specifically with libelling Mr. Felder in a card published over his signature in The Journal of June 8, in which he excoriated the Atlanta lawyer.

The grand jury had the bill drawn of its own initiative, it is said, and considered it Tuesday morning. The only witness called before the grand jury was John Paschall, city editor of The Atlanta Journal.

In answer to questions of the grand jurors, Mr. Paschall stated that the card was furnished for publication by Mr. Colyar. Colyar has been given an opportunity to reply to an attack on his character, which Mr. Felder had embodied in a card, addressed to the editor of The Journal and which was published on the same day, the newspaper man told the jury in answer to further questions.

Attached to the bill, which was drawn against Mr. Colyar, was a copy of his card.

The grand jury was in session more than an hour considering the bill, before its decision not to return an indictment was reached.

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The Atlanta Georgian, July 1st 1913, “”No” Bill Is Returned Against A. S. Colyar,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

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

The Atlanta Georgian

Tuesday, July 1, 1913

Grand Jury Develops Sensational Sequel to Famous Dictograph Scandal.

A. S. Colyar, Jr., dictographer of Colonel Thomas B. Felder, Mayor Woodward and C. C. Jones, was indicted by the Grand Jury on the charge of criminal libel Tuesday forenoon.

Colyar is the man who sought to trap Colonel Felder by means of the dictograph into offering a bribe of $1,000 for certain affidavits in the Phagan case in the possession of the police. The dictograph records as furnished an afternoon newspaper by Colyar contained the offer.

Colonel Felder swore the records were padded. Largely on Colonel Felder’s representations, the indictment was procured. John Pascal, of The Journal, was the only witness called by the Grand Jury in considering Colyar’s case.

Chief of Detectives Lanford and Colonel Felder, indicted last week by the Grand Jury, obtained their freedom by making a $500 bond. It was expected that the same bond would be imposed upon Colyar.

Much of the time Tuesday was occupied by members of the Grand Jury in probing into police affairs. Without calling any witnesses, the scandal which has shaken the department was given serious consideration for nearly two hours. The result of the discussion was not made public.

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The Atlanta Georgian, July 1st 1913, “Colyar Indicted as Libeler of Col. Felder,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

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

The Atlanta Georgian

Tuesday, July 1, 1913

The Fulton County Grand Jury returned no bill against A. S. Colyar, Jr., Tuesday forenoon on the charge of criminal libel.  Colyar came into prominence a few weeks ago by dictographing Colonel Thomas B. Felder, Mayor Woodward and C. C. Jones in Williams House No. 2.

Colyar is the man who sought to trap Colonel Felder by means of the dictograph into offering a bribe of $1,000 for certain affidavits in the Phagan case in the possession of the police. The dictograph records as furnished an afternoon newspaper by Colyar contained the offer.

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The Atlanta Georgian, July 1st 1913, “Colyar Not Indicted On Charge of Libel,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

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

The Atlanta Constitution

Sunday, June 22, 1913

Journey Had No Relation to the Phagan Mystery or Dictagraph Incident, He Says.

Colonel T. B. Felder returned Saturday from a six-day trip to Cincinnati. Much speculation was created by his departure for Ohio last Sunday and it was hinted that he had made the journey in interest of his recent connection with the famous dictagraph plot.

It was also reported that he had gone [on] behalf of the Mary Phagan investigation, in which he has been an active figure. His departure within less than twenty-four hours after Solicitor General Hugh Dorsey had left the city gave rise to this suspicion.

He declared to a Constitution reporter last night, however, that the Cincinnati trip had been made solely on personal business and that it had no connection at all with either the Phagan mystery or the dictagraph episode.

Colonel Felder stated that he had received no information from the grand jury regarding his demand that Gentry’s charges be investigated and that he did not know when that body would take up the proposed probe.

A. S. Colyar, a leading actor in the dictagraph case and instigator of the alleged trap, late in the afternoon visited Chief Lanford for a long conference and also had a few words with Chief Beavers.

Colyar says that he will remain in Atlanta for some time.

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The Atlanta Constitution, June 22nd 1913, “Col. Felder Returns From Trip to Ohio,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

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

The Atlanta Georgian

Monday, June 16, 1913

A. S. Colyar is in Atlanta again, promising to spring some more sensations.

The investigator who engineered the dictographing of Thomas B. Felder and Mayor Woodward has been in Washington. He sent a letter to Atlanta before him, saying he objected to being made a goat.

It is believed Colyar saw George M. Gentry while in Washington and got from him an affidavit. This is said to be much the same as the one printed admitting that the dictograph records had been padded, as charged in Gentry’s recent affidavit, but that the general charges were upheld.

Promises Story in Letter.

Colyar’s letter, mailed before he left Washington, follows:

“He laughs best who laughs last. When you get tired publishing all of the lies the gang of political crooks are publishing on Lanford and myself I may be able to give you a story that will cause some people to sit up and take notice.

“It’s indeed comforting to think one purchased affidavit can cause a certain man in Atlanta to consider himself vindicated completely. Whitewash is cheap, as we all know.

“Then there is Mayor Woodward. He says ‘Colyar went to Mrs. Gentry’s house and worried her.’ Indeed, where did he learn this? It’s news to me. But we all know the Mayor. He is the same Mayor Hon. R. F. Maddox defeated after he (Woodward) was nominated by his party, and all Atlanta knows why. Let them make a goat out of me and see what I publish in my own defense.

“The crooks got caught. And they sent Miles away to see if he could not fool the people. A. S. COLYAR.”

Felder’s Trip Causes Comment.

Speculation was rife Monday as to the nature of the trip of Colonel Thomas B. Felder, who left Atlanta Sunday afternoon with the statement that he was bound for Cincinnati.

Rumors had it that Colonel Felder in reality is on his way to Washington, for the purpose probably of conferring with George Gentry, the missing stenographer in the recent dictagraph sensation. If this is Colonel Felder’s intention, he kept it to himself.

It has been suggested that Colonel Felder would feel much safer in going to Washington by way of Cincinnati than through the State of South Carolina.

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The Atlanta Georgian, June 16th 1913, “Colyar Returns Promising Sensation,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

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

The Atlanta Journal

Sunday, June 15, 1913

“Upon Reading My Notes Before the Court It Will Be Proven That There Is Enough of It There to Justify What Was Written and Sworn to be Me as Being Practically the Gist of What Was Said,” Says Young Stenographer of Dictograph Records Transcribed by Him

“I WAS ALLOWED TO READ PROOF OF WHAT WAS PUBLISHED ABOUT FELDER CONFERENCE,” HE SAYS

“As Far as What The Journal Published, Will Say, as Far as I Can Remember, What They Printed Were the Facts In a General Way, and the Changes Were Immaterial.” Located by The Jounaal’s [sic] Washington Correspondent, Gentry Talks Freely.

By Ralph Smith

WASHINGTON, D. C., June 14.—Living under an assumed name and holding a lucrative position as an expert stenographer, George M. Gentry, of Atlanta, who made the famous dictograph notes, was located in Washington today by the Journal correspondent. He has been here since May 27. He left Atlanta via the Southern railway on the evening of May 26, following the Felder exposure. He claims to have seen no one from Atlanta other than E. O. Miles, and The Journal correspondent, though he is in communication with the members of his immediate family.

Gentry’s real identity is unknown to his employers, and at his request his present address and the place of his employment are withheld by the correspondent. Their publication, he believes, might cause him unnecessary annoyance.

“I left Atlanta because I feared that I might be arrested for perjury,” he said.

Gentry today voluntarily made an affidavit, elaborating and elucidating the statements contained in the affidavit he recently gave to E. O. Miles. This affidavit, made today, was sworn to and subscribed before Isaac Heidenheimer, of 1226 Pennsylvania avenue, notary public, for the District of Columbia. It was witnessed by Senator William Hughes, of New Jersey and Congressman Frank Doremus, of Michigan.

The original and a carbon copy are in the possession of The Journal correspondent, and Gentry himself has a copy. The affidavit was written by Gentry, without suggestion or dictation from anyone.

“Unfortunately I did not go into enough detail in my previous affidavit, hence the necessity of making a further one,” swore Gentry today.

Continuing the affidavit says, “I neglected to mention in same (the Miles affidavit) that I was allowed to read a proof of what The Journal published, in connection with the Felder conference. This conference was transcribed first and printed in Friday’s issue of the Journal. The other conferences, all of which were held Wednesday afternoon and evening, preceding the date of publication, were not published until after the Felder conference was published. I made one or two changes in the proof of the Felder conference, this being the only proof I was allowed to see. As I remember in one instance, I had written the word “intrude” any my notes contained the word “intruding.”

“Further than this I do not remember of any change that I made in same, with the exception of ordinary corrections, such as marking misspelled words, adding periods and commas, and striking them out.”

Gentry swore today that he received absolutely nothing for writing his previous affidavit and that he did not receive one penny for writing the affidavit today.

WHY HE GOT FRIGHTENED.

“I allowed myself to become so frightened because I thought that according to law, if one change was made by me, from what I had in my notes, I had committed perjury and was liable, and as I had myself made several changes during the transcribing of the notes. I felt rather guilty. However, Mr. Febuary assured me that I was writing what had been said as so I accordingly swore that what I had written was what I had heard. I discovered later that I had sworn that what I had written was a true and correct transcription of my notes. I did not realize at the time of signing the affidavit that I had sworn any such thing or I would have not signed the affidavit. The affidavit that I signed in connection with the transcription of my notes, was dictated to me and I signed it before a notary public without reading same in detail. I simply glanced over same to ascertain as to the correctness of the typewriting.

THE JOURNAL’S STORY CORRECT.

“As far as what The Journal published not being correct, will say with the exception cited, as far as I can remember, what they printed were the facts in a general way, and the changes were immaterial with the exception of how they might be considered in law, about which I know very little.

“I have already stated under oath that I did not hear the names of Chief Beavers or Chief Lanford mentioned in the Woodward conference. I desire to modify this to the extent that I did not hear their names mentioned by Mayor Woodward. They may have been mentioned by other parties in the room. In fact, as I remember it, they were:

“In conclusion will say upon the reading of my notes before the court it will be proven that there is enough of it there to justify what was written and sworn to by me as being practically the gist of what was said.

“The Journal’s position in the matter as far as I know is fair, and I believe, although I do not make the positive assertion, that what they published was given to them by Colyar, Febuary and myself.

Gentry declared in his affidavit that when it was found necessary or advisable for him to return to Atlanta he will return, and will read his original notes before the court. He says that they will not be read before any private individuals, and he desires that what he reads shall be taken down and compared with what he wrote.

TELLS WHERE HE HAS BEEN.

In reference to leaving Atlanta, Gentry says in his affidavit:

“I will start by giving an account of my actions since the memorable dictograph affairs. I have already set fourth [sic] my reason for leaving Atlanta, in my affidavit published on June 11, 1913, as aforesaid. My original intention was to go to Baltimore, but upon my arrival at Washington, I did not go any farther, feeling that this city was large enough to get lost in. The day after my arrival here, Wednesday, I went to work as a stenographer, but not under the name of Gentry. My reason for assuming another name was to avoid the attendant annoyance that would follow the knowledge that I was in Washington. I can be reached through Mr. Ralph Smith, The Journal’s correspondent here, whenever it is necessary, who knows my place of employment, and who has further agreed not to divulge it, at my earnest request. Mr. E. O. Miles is also acquainted with both my business and residence address.”

While Gentry makes no reference to the matter in his affidavit, the original note book is now in the possession of a well known Atlanta attorney, whose name is known to The Journal correspondent.

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The Atlanta Journal, June 15th 1913, “Gentry, Found by Journal, Says Notes Will Show Enough to Justify What Was Sworn To,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

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

The Atlanta Constitution

Saturday, June 14, 1913.

Requests Investigation of the Gentry Affidavit—A. S. Colyar Is Not in Atlanta Now

Colonel Thomas B. Felder yesterday requested that the grand jury make an early investigation of the affidavit submitted by George Gentry in which he declared that the dictagraph records were padded.

On Friday afternoon he forwarded a letter to L. H. Beck, foreman of the jury, in which he asked that body to look into the matter as early as possible. Offering to appear before the jury at any time, Colonel Felder assured Mr. Beck that he could place before the jury evidence which would not only substantiate the statement of the stenographer, but would throw new light on vice conditions in Atlanta.

Gentry Willing to Testify

Colonel Felder also informed the jury foreman that at any moment he could bring George Gentry before that boy to give his testimony. Gentry, he said, was ready and willing to come back to Atlanta. While Colonel Felder stated that he was in daily communication with Mr. Gentry, the detective department is not so fortunate. Chief Lanford, having so far failed to locate the youth in Washington, where he is living under an assumed name and working for a business house there.

Coincident with the proposed investigation of the dictagraph charges is the absence of A. S. Colyar. Colyar could not be found Friday or last night. At the Williams house where he lived while in the city, he was said to have left town with instructions to retain his room for future occupancy.

The clerk of the hotel said that he did not know of the man’s whereabouts or when he was expected to return. Colyar, he said, had not told of his destination upon leaving several days ago. It is reported that he has gone to Washington to locate Gentry the stenographer and ascertain whether or not his sensational affidavit was correct. Another rumor is that he is in Cartersville, Ga., his home to which his wife returned several days previous to his departure.

Where is Colyar?

Chief Lanford, with whom Colyar has been closely associated during the latter’s sensational operations in Atlanta, said that he did not know where Colyar could be located or whether or not he was in or out of the city. Others with whom Colyar has been connected say they do not know of his whereabouts. He was seen as late as Saturday night. Efforts to find him in Washington have been to no avail.

“I will welcome an investigation by the grand jury or any other tribunal,” Chief Lanford said, “and so will all the members of the detective department. We will all be completely exonerated when the charges are given complete airing. Such an investigation will serve only to act as a boomerang for its instigators.

“I am trying daily to find Gentry. So far he has eluded us. If we can find him, I am confident the truth will be ascertained. In the first place, I doubt the genuineness of the affidavit he is purported to sign. In the second, if he did sign such a paper, he was persuaded to do so by some unfair means. Let the investigation proceed. I am as anxious as anyone concerned for it to come.

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The Atlanta Constitution, June 14th 1913, “Col. Felder Asks Early Jury Probe,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

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

The Atlanta Constitution

June 11, 1913

NOTEBOOK WILL PROVE REPORTS WERE ‘PADDED,’ HE SAYS IN AFFIDAVIT

Young Stenographer, Who Made the Report of the Conversation in Room No. 31 Williams House, Voluntarily Makes Statement Before a Notary Public in the City of Washington D. C., Where He Is Employed.

ASSERTS THAT HE LEFT ATLANTA WHEN INFORMED OVER TELEPHONE HE MIGHT BE PUT UNDER ARREST

Swears That A. S. Colyar Has Made Effort to Purchase His Original Notes, Which Are Now in Possession of His Brotheró”Grand Jury Should Make an Investigation” Declares Mayor James G. Woodward.

The sworn charge that the dictagraph statements, alleged to have been made by Colonel Thomas B. Felder, Mayor James G. Woodward and Charles C. Jones, in Room No 31, Williams house, were “padded” was brought back to Atlanta last night by Ed O. Miles, a private detective, and turned over to Mayor Woodward.

The affidavit was composed and sworn to by George M. Gentry, the stenographer who took the dictagraph conversations. Detective Miles located Gentry in Washington, D. C., where he has been employed during the past two weeks. The affidavit was sworn to before Jeannette Henning, a notary public.

GENTRY WILLING TO RETURN WHENEVER HE IS NEEDED HERE.

“Gentry was willing to come back to Atlanta with me,” Detective Miles said last night. “He has promised to work out the remainder of the month, and has assured me that he will return at the end of that time, or earlier if he is wanted.”

Aside from the charge that his stenographic notes were “padded” by A. S. Colyar, and that he was paid $50 for the part he played in the dictagraph drama, Gentry says that he left Atlanta because he could not bear the humiliation which he knew he would suffer after he learned that his notes had been altered.

His affidavit bears out the statement made by Mayor Woodward, immediately after the publication of the dictagraph scandal, to the effect that he did not mention the names of Chief of Police James L. Beavers or Detective Chief Newport Lanford. Gentry also swears that a reporter called at his home after the publication of the dictagraph statements and informed him that warrants had been issued for the arrest of Colyar, Gay C. Febuary and himself (Gentry), and that he left the city upon being informed that he would not be allowed to give bond.

BROTHER HAS ORIGINAL NOTES; “COLYAR TRIED TO BUY THEM.”

According to the affidavit, the original notes taken by Gentry are in the possession of his brother. He charges that an effort was made to purchase them. He mentions Colyar as the man who tried to secure his notes.

Mayor Woodward, Colonel Thomas B. Felder and Charles C. Jones, the victims of the dictagraph scandal, would not comment on the Gentry
affidavit.

“I think it is up to the grand jury to look into the matter and see if there hasn’t been forgery committed,” Mayor Woodward said. “The affidavit bears out all that I have said. The whole thing was a frame-up. Now, let the public see who has done the framing.”

“I knew that there was something wrong the minute I read the statement, alleged to have been made by me,” said Charles C. Jones, after he was shown the Gentry afffdavit. “I didn’t have very much to say, and I don’t remember mentioning the names of Chief Beavers or Chief Lanford as often as I was quoted. I knew that something was wrong the minute I entered the room, and was on my guard.”

Lanford Doesn’t Believe Gentry Signed Affidavit.

“I do not believe Gentry signed this affidavit. I think it is a forgery, pure and simple. If he did, then he liedólied straight out, lied maliciously. It is absolutely false that the dictagraph record was padded. There’s not a word of truth in it. I can prove it. Others can prove it. This is all a scheme to clear the skirts of a lot of dirty politicians.”

Thus did Chief Lanford caustically arraign the affidavit from Washington when he was informed of its receipt. He says that not until he has seen and talked with the young stenographer will he believe that Gentry attested to the document, and, that if Gentry does admit its authorship, he will brand that youth a liar.

“I never saw ‘Gentry but once in my life,” the chief declared, “and that was the day of the dictagraph conversations. He came to my office. My secretary, G. C. Febuary, recommended him as a rapid and efficient[…]

[…]even knew of his existence. I know little about the young man, but what I do leads me to believe that he never attested to any such affidavit. And, besides. I do not believe he is in Washington. I think he is still right here in Atlanta. Anyway, you’ll have to show me before I believe otherwise.”

Here Is Gentry’s Affidavit, Sworn to in Washington

Mr. Gentry’s Affidavit in full is as follows.

District of Columbia, City of WashingtonóPersonally appeared before me, the undersigned a notary public of the District of Columbia, George M. Gentry, who on oath states that:

On Wednesday, May 21, 1913, at or about 10 o’clock in the morning, Mr. Gay C. Febuary called me over the telephone and desired to know if I would do some stenographic work for him. I told him I would but that I couldn’t get off until noon. He said that they were in a hurry for it and he would like for me to come at once, so I arranged to get off and went down to his office. He took me into the chief’s office and the chief told me he wanted me to take down some testimony and he asked me if I could write very fast. Mr. Febuary assured Chief Lanford that I was a good stenographer and I could do the work all right. The chief then told me that the work he wanted done required somebody that could be trusted all right and I assured him that I always treated all stenographical work I had as confidential. Chief Lanford told me then that what he wanted me to do was to take down a conversation that would take place in a hotel and he asked me if I thought I could take it over a dictagraph. Mr. Surles coming in at that time with a satchel which he opened and which contained wires and and other paraphernalia in connection with a dictograph outfit.)

Went to Williams House

“After a few minutes, during which time Mr. Febuary was absent, we went over to the Williams house No. 2, on North Forsyth street, Atlanta, Fulton county, Georgia (Mr. Febuary and I), and I was instructed to go into Room No. 21 of this hotel. Mr. Surles and Mr. Colyar were there, and they probably had to make arrangements for adjoining rooms, as Mr. Surles commented to me that they hadn’t decided just what to do with the dictographs. After a time Colyar came in and instructed Surles to follow him, and gave me instructions to await his wishes. Later on Mr. Febuary came in, and I told him that if I had to wait much longer by myself I was going back to the office.

“I was then allowed to come into the room, where they were installing the dictographs (one on each end of the bottom board of the bureau just under the bottom drawer on the back of the board), and the wires being run through the keyhole of the door between Room 31 and Room 32. The bureau was then screwed against the door facing. At about 12:30 I started getting accustomed to Febuary’s and Colyar’s voices.

Could Distinguish Voices

“At first I could not hear at all, but gradual[l]y I was able to hear more distinctly and after an hour or two of diligent practices I was able to use the dictograph and to distinguish voices very clearly. Right at the beginning I found that I would not be able to hear anything with the windows up. When they were closed it became rather stuffy and this, coupled with the strain I was under, added to the distraction. I stopped particing [sic] at 2:45 that afternoon and went downstairs to the office of the hotel, where I awaited Mr. Felder’s arrival.

“I saw him cross Forsyth street, and after he, Febuary and Colyar went upstairs, or were just about at the top of the stairs, I started up and saw the three enter Room 31 of the Williams house, located as mentioned previously. I then immediately went into room 32 and closed the door, partly, but did not lock it. The windows were down and so I went directly to the table and placed the receiver over my head and started writing what I heard. I took down all the conferences that took place. At somewhere around 5 that afternoon I left the hotel and went to Mr. R. B. Bliss’ house and took some dictation. From there I went home and changed my collar. I returned to the office of the General Fire Extinguisher company, 376 Marietta street, where I wrote the dictation he had given me, signed his letters and then met Mr. Febuary there at the office. We went to the Candler restaurant to supper and from there we returned to the Williams house to keep an appointment with Colyar at about 7:30. At about 8 o’clock Mr. Miles and Mr. C. C. Jones and Colyar went up to the ‘conference room’ and Mr. Febuary and I to the ‘information reception room.’

Preparing for the Trap

“I placed the retriever over my head, and in order to be sure that I would hear everything, Mr. Febuary stood behind me and held them pressed tightly to my ears. This conference lasted about thirty minutes. Between 8:30 and 9:15 Wednesday night Mr. Febuary loafed about town, as we had an appointment with Mr. Branch and Mr. Paschal at 9:30 at the Williams house, and as they were not in The Journal office, we had to kill time until they showed up. I left Mr. Febuary and Mr. Colyar at The Journal office at 9:15 and went over to the Williams house to wait for the arrival of The Journal reporters mentioned above. They came in shortly and we went over to The Journal office and all of us (Colyar, Febuary, Branch, Paschal and myself) went up to the editorial department, where a machine was selected and I then went to work transcribing what I had heard.

“Right at the start I made Colyar angry because when I did not hear what was said I put dashes and so I allowed him to dictate several answers and questions, which do not appear in my notebook and which I am not positive that I heard. I did not hear Mayor Woodward mention Chief Beavers or Chief Lanford during the whole conversation, nor did I write it in the transcription of my notes, these names being evidently added by other parties. At 4:30 Thursday morning, May 22, I finished transcribing my notes and turned the papers over to Mr. Febuary. Later on during the morning he came down to the office, bringing an affidavit which I had written for me to sign before a notary public. He told me that they had made only a few minor changes in the transcription, and that all I had to do was to sign the affidavit which I did. However, I noticed that some interlineations had been made in my copy, or rather in Chief Lanford’s copy, as I had no copy.

Notes Altered, Says Gentry

Colyar and the reporters, just before I started to transcribe my notes, argued as to the number of copies that should be made. They agreed that one copy should be made for the chief, one for Colyar and one for The Journal, and that no more should be made. This kept me from having a copy. I had my notebook, however, and it was the comparison on my notes with the published articles that lead to my discovery that in addition to the several answers and questions which Colyar had personally dictated, other changes had been made, namely that insertion of the names of Chief Beavers and Chief Lanford, in the conference with Mayor Woodward, also many other variations occurred, changing the sense of the statement, and since they had my affidavit attached to the papers I felt that I had been duped.

“As to the remuneration of my services, will say that The Journal reporters, Branch and Paschal, agreed to pay me $5 to get the work written Wednesday night, so it could be published in Thursday’s paper. Saturday morning, after the appearance of the article in Friday’s Journal, The Georgian’s reporter came to the office and offered me either $25 or $45, I do not recollect which, for a copy of the conference with Mayor Woodward, February, Miles and Colyar, and Miles, Jones and Colyar’s conference. I declined the offer. I then went to see The Journal’s reporters and told them that The Georgian had offered me money for a copy of the conference, and they agreed to pay me $50 to hold my notebook from Saturday until Monday. I turned my notebook over to Mr. Brice, who gave it to his stenographer to keep until Monday. Later during the day the reporters told me that The Georgian had gotten a copy, and so I was too late.

“I then went down to Mr. Brice’s office and asked Miss M.—, Mr. Brice’s stenographer, for my notebook, and I took it home and locked it up. Monday, when I went up to see Major Cohen about the $50 he went down to look for Mr. Brice, whom he was unable to find. Later we went back upstairs together and Branch and Paschal explained to him their promise to pay me $50 for allowing The Journal to retain my notebook. However some argument arose over the fact that I took my notebook out of The Journal’s office Saturday night. I told them that they had agreed to give me $50 not to make a copy for The Georgian, and that I had not made the copy for The Georgian, and had, therefore, carried out my part of the compact. They then told be to come back later on and see Mr. Brice about it. I returned after awhile, I believe it was around 1 o’clock, and Mr. Brice paid me the amount in currency and took my receipt.

“Lanford Has Not Paid”

“Chief Lanford has not as yet paid me for my services, from the fact that I have not rendered a bill.

“Saturday morning, before the publication of the Woodward conference, held at 4 o’clock Wednesday, May 21, as previously mentioned, and the Jones conference, held at 8 o’clock the same night, I went to the editorial department of The Journal and requested a proof of what they were going to print. Colyar, who had one reading it, declined to allow me to have a proof, and so I left The Journal building, suspicious.

“Saturday afternoon I went down to the office, carrying with me my original notebook, and a copy of Friday’s and Saturday’s Journal. I compared them all the way through and upon seeing the many variations in what was printed and what I had in my notes, I realized that my transcriptions had been tampered with, and that I had just cause for the suspicions which were aroused by their refusal to allow me to read the proofs Saturday morning.

“Having signed the affidavits, at Mr. Febuary’s request, in which I swore to what I had heard, and seeing something entirely different published, I became very nervous and uneasy. Saturday night when I went home, a reporter called up and said he was one of The Journal reporters and wanted to see me a few minutes. I told him to come over. He came in and introduced himself to me as Mr. Starr, The Journal. My other and aunt recognized his voice as that of a reporter who had called shortly before I came home, and said he was from The Georgian. They both rushed into the sitting room and told me that he was not with The Journal, but was the same fellow that came a few minutes ago, and said he was from The Georgian. He denied that he had said he was from The Journal, although he had told both myself and my grandfather, who went to answer the door bell, that he was from The Journal. Just before he left he informed me that a warrant had been sworn out for Febuary’s, Colyar’s and my arrest, and upon my directing him as to where the door out could be found, he departed, saying that he had got the information he wanted.

Told Me I Would Be Arrested

“Sunday afternoon, at the office, someone called me up and informed me that I would probably be arrested Monday, I did not recognize the voice, and so am unable to say who it was. They also informed me that I would have to make bond in order to be released. I asked who it was, and they hung up or were cut off.

“Monday morning Colyar requested that I turn my notebook over to The Journal and said he would give me $5 if I would show him a receipt from The Journal for the notebook. I came near allowing The Journal to have the notebook, but instead gave it to my brother to take home and instructed him to allow no one to have it.

“Developments later showed me the character of some of the people connected with this transaction and it made me so ashamed of my connection with it that I was afraid I could not face the humiliation that I thought would naturally onsite, and also the fact that they had changed my transcription showed to me very clearly that I was mixed up with a bunch of crooks.

“I am prepared to read my notes whenever it becomes necessary. These notes will show exactly what I heard.

“The foregoing affidavit is made by me voluntarily, unsolicited, and no money or the promise of any remuneration whatever was offered to me for making it, my sole motive being to give the straight history of my connection with the now ‘infamous’ dictograph affair.

“GEORGE M. GENTRY.

“JEANNETTE HENNING, Notary Public, District of Columbia.”

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Atlanta Constitution, June 11 1913, “Dictograph Records Crooked, Says Gentry,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

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

Atlanta Journal

Sunday, June 8th, 1913

Colyar Addresses Felder as “Dictograph Tommy” and “My Dear Co-conspirator in Crime”

SEND HIM TO CREMATORY, SAYS DETECTIVE CHIEF

J. R. Gray Said: “I Have No Comment to Make—Mr. Felder’s Controversy Is With A. S. Colyar”

Replying to the open letters of Thomas B. Felder, attacking them, A. S. Colyar and Chief of Detectives N. A. Lanford last night gave to The Journal statements, denouncing Mr. Felder in unmeasured terms. Chief of Police James L. Beavers, who was also the subject of attack, was out of the city and, therefore, could not be given the opportunity to reply.

James R. Gray, when shown Mr. Felder’s communication, addressed to him, said:

“I have no comment to make on Mr. Felder’s letter. His controversy is with A. S. Colyar. I suppose Mr. Colyar will wish to reply.”

The statements of A. S. Colyar and Chief Lanford follow below in full:

COLYAR’S REPLY.

T. B. Felder Esq., alias Dictograph Tommy.

Sir: As you let last Sunday go by without attempting to prostitute the Sunday press with some more of your hot air and denials, I had thought that perhaps some good friend of yours had given you a hint that even a braying ass can sometimes kill himself and that you had probably decided to withdraw from it newspaper controversy. In my last letter that I wrote to you I offered you what I have been told by many good citizens was a fair proposition, viz: To let fiver honorable gentlemen decide who had lied in the controversy at issue, and you declined to accept the proposition. I will make you a second proposition: I do not know a single member of the honorable supreme court of Georgia, but I am willing to let the chief justice of that honorable court appoint a committee of five honorable citizens, non-residents of the city of Atlanta, and let this committee decide whether you are guilty of unprofessional conduct and a violator of the criminal laws of Georgia, by offering a bribe of $1,000 to G. C. Febuary to steal the papers for you out of the safe, in the Phagan case, and I will only have one request to make of the honorable chief justice when he appoints the committee, and that is that he appoint men in no way connected with the whisky interests and the immoral classes, among whom you have so many clients. I was satisfied when I made you the last proposition that you would not accept it, although I made it in good faith, and I repeat, that you may eliminate me entirely as a witness before the committee, and I have the witnesses of unimpeachable character that will brand you before this committee as a bribe giver, a lobbyist and a grafter. I believe that the people of this fair city are familiar with your record, as it was exposed from the pulpit by the Rev. Len G. Broughton in the Baptist Tabernacle in this city, who publicly denounced you as a lobbyist and a grafter. I have read your letter written this afternoon and addressed to the Hon. James R. Gray, editor and proprietor of The Journal. The clear purpose of that letter is a scurrilous attack upon me, although you have addressed Mr. Gray. I am no saint as I have told you before; I have done wrong in my youth had strayed far away from the teachings and training of a Christian mother and a refined home, and when I first met you I was trying to lead an honorable life, although I was down, and had you had as tenth of the instinct of the gentleman in you that James R. Gray has, you would have tried to help me along life’s pathway in an honorable way and not heed me to go to South Carolina to help you and your co-conspirators frame up against Governor Blease.

HAS THE RECORDS.

I have records in my possession that will show that a certain stool pigeon of yours furnished the money that you sent to me in South Carolina, because you did not have the moral courage to do it yourself. Even though you have stated in me of your first articles that knowing my character that you refused to hire me to go to South Carolina for you—to refresh your memory didn’t you and one of your detectives to Charleston, S. C., with a letter of introduction to me, signed by you, written on the letter head of your then law firm, “Anderson, Felder, Rountree & Wilson?” And furthermore, when I left South Carolina on the 5th day of July, 1911, I drew a draft on your friend for $30, which was endorsed by Rev. B. Lacy Hoge, pastor of the First Baptist church of Charleston, S. C., and after you were through with me, your friend protested this draft and sent it back with the statement that I had no authority to draw the same, although I had drawn, by authority, several hundred dollars’ worth of similar drafts, which Dr. Hoge had cashed, and is it not a matter of fact, that several weeks later the Rev. Dr. Hoge visited Atlanta from South Carolina and threatened to expose you and your friend if you didn’t pay this draft and didn’t you have it paid?

In your first statement of May 23d, the day that the Atlanta Journal published the famous dictograph story, you began to whine like a miserable oar, “I don’t believe they had any dictograph, for the company does not rent their machines to blackmailers, and crooks to be used against gentlemen.” Please tell the people of this city how you succeeded in getting one to dictograph Governor Blease with?

In your letter to Mr. Gray you laid great stress upon the fact that he published the dictograph story, which was “the uncorroborated vaporings of the diseased mind of this mental hunchback and moral pervert, especially when the mass of putrid matter furnished you by him bore all the earmarks of a willful and deliberate forgery. And in view of the further fact that at least one other paper to which it was tendered, rejected it.” This is another one of your frame-ups and willful and deliberate and false statements, for the article in question was tendered no paper except the one that published it.

I defy you to publish any contract, if you ever had one, with the Columns, or any of their neighbors, to prosecute the Phagan case, and I made the assertion here that if you ever had any real desire to prosecute the murderers of this innocent child, your desire was choked with the dollar mark in the interest of you and your friend “Affidavit Tobie.”

A WILLFUL LIE.

You charge that Newport Lanford and I have been friends for three years, and intimate that we have been in the blackmailing business against the citizens of Atlanta during that time. Mr. Lanford is fully capable of answering you and taking care of himself in any controversy that he may have with you, but for myself I denounce your statement a a willful, malicious, infamous lie.

You further charge that Mr. Febuary and myself were the ones that told you that Chief Beavers was corrupt and was visiting a woman on Garnett street and that if the mayor would give us some special officers we would have him arrested. I denounce this statement as a willful, deliberate and infamous lie, and that you knew you were lying at the time you made it. I am sorry that my poverty forbids me from hiring a public hall in this city, where I would take great pleasure in meeting you face to face before the good people of this city and exposing you from the platform as you should be exposed. I could tell some things that I wouldn’t even ask a respectable journal to publish and you know what they are. I am surprised that a man of your alleged intelligence would make an attack that you have made upon a man with the diseased brain you say I have. You laid great stress in your letter this afternoon on the fact that I was arrested for forgery by Chief Beavers, on a telegram from Knoxville. Now why don’t you go on and state that after Beavers held me under bond for six days that you and one of your henchmen that you have publicly claimed that you owned, framed up a second arrest in the court house, to intimidate me from going before the Fulton county grand jury, and wasn’t it done because you believed that the sheriff of this county in order to cater to your malice and spleen, would send me to jail without bond, and didn’t you get made because you got sadly left?

In your letter to Mr. Gray this afternoon you charge that he paid me $500 for an alleged dictograph report, and that after inspecting the same he reached the conclusion that it was faked and that under his direction some one or more of his employees proceeded to edit out of the manuscript the most glaring evidence of forgery, and then published the same.

No one who has sense enough to stay out of the lunatic asylum, will believe your assertion. It is false from beginning to end.

“A SCANDAL MONGER.”

You charge further, that when your dear friend of twenty-five years standing discovered the evidence of this record being faked, that he summoned me to a hurried conference, and that it was decided that Mr. Gentry must be hurried from the scene of action, and that his note book must be obtained and the name destroyed, and you charge him with actually paying young Gentry $100 to become a criminal and a fugitive from justice.

This assertion is too absurd and ridiculous to emanate from any brain except that of the scandal monger that you are.

“Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad.”

and it would seem that the gods are determined to destroy you, and you have no one to blame but yourself. You have been given every chance to explain and to be allowed to prove the dictograph charges before five honorable citizens, but you preferred to go to your friend, Hugh M. Dorsey, whom you have publicly proclaimed that you own, and tried to muddy the stream so that no investigation of your conduct could be successfully carried out. Were I the miserable villain and unfortunate outcast, that you have described me and you and your friends have painted me in this city, guilty of the crimes that you have committed in the last thirty days, not only in the dictograph record, but where you have attempted to say while under oath, as I have been informed, that I showed you an affidavit from one James Conley claiming that he had murdered this poor girl, I would have been disbarred as a lawyer and put in the chaingang; and if I had attempted to put my hand in my hip pocket as you did in the court house last Thursday. I wouldn’t have been allowed to go to the lavatory before I was searched. You know why you wept. You say that I called Gentry’s mother up on Monday night after your card was published on Sunday and tried to get her to get possession of the note book. I was informed that the lady was sick in bed, and I am surprised that she would have anything to do with you after you have charged that her son helped frame up a forged and perjured dictograph record on you. Evidently she don’t know you. You charge further in your letter that I went to your office after I was negotiating with Mr. Gray for the sale of the dictograph manuscript, and stated to you that I would call you over the phone and ask you if you would give one thousand dollars if I would deliver the goods, and you were to reply yes, and that I told you that this was a frame up to get $500 out of Mr. Gray, and that he fell like a sucker. You further charge that Mr. Gray and Major Jack Cohen were on the line at the time listening to my conversation with you.

For the benefit of the public, I wish to state that I had not seen Mr. Gray in two years until the day before The Atlanta Journal published the story that T. B. Felder had been dictographed and caught in the act of trying to steal the papers in the Phagan case, and that there was no understanding with Mr. James R. Gray, Major Cohen, or any one connected with or representing The Atlanta Journal, to pay me any sum for this story. If I had expected or wanted any money for this story I think I am too good a student of human nature to insult Mr. James R. Gray by offering to sell him a framed up and forged dictograph record. I note in your letter that you try to be serious and state that you are utterly indifferent to sensational and damaging publications reflecting upon your integrity of character.

SUCH AUDACITY!

“Ye Gods!” Have you got the audacity to claim that you have any character in this community after being caught in the act of trying to bribe a poor young boy, who was struggling to make an honest  livelihood, to commit the crime of larceny for you, in order that you might feast and fatten on the money that you could filch out of the citizens of Atlanta, while the blood of that poor murdered girl lies in a Cobb county tomb crying for vengeance, and you were posing here as an employed prosecuting attorney, when a majority of the people of this city believed that you were working in the interest of the man accused of the crime? Do you remember a conversation that you had with Mr. Febuary and me in your office on Monday night, May 19, in which you laid great stress upon the fact that Chief Lanford had violated his oath of office by holding without warrant of law Jim Conley, a poor innocent negro? Did you not know at that time what Conley knew? And why were you so anxious to have Conley released and cared nothing for the other two negroes who were held without warrant of law? Why has the public heard no more of your “patriotic” intentions to prosecute Leo M. Frank since The Atlanta Journal published the dictograph story and the public got wise and the money stopped coming into your coffers? Now, my co-conspirator in crime, if you really and truly wanted to prosecute the murderer of Mary Phagan, why didn’t you volunteer to do it like any honorable attorney would, and not have one of your pikers try to palm you off on J. W. Coleman, as he swore that you did?

My dear dictograph friend, I love a fight that is an honorable one, but I hate to fight a poor weak miserable thing like you that will hide behind governors, mayors, and solicitors general that you claim to own. No one believes half of your gas about owning governors, but it does look strange that the solicitor general would not allow a full searchlight to be turned upon your acts in this community since the dictograph exposure came out. If I were you before I paraded to the world about graft and corruption in others, I would stop and think how many people you had grafted in state legislatures and federal prisons, as you did your poor dying friend, Chas. W. Morse, recently elected president of a steamship line. You talk about justice. Poor justice! It is asleep. If you had justice you would now be a guest of Warden Tom Lanford in the city stockade. I know that it is sad to think that you and your friend of twenty-five years standing will not be able to celebrate that silver anniversary.

“Alas they have been friends in youth. But whispering tongues can poison truth. And constancy only lives in realms above

And life is thorny and youth is vain

And to be wroth with one we love

Doth work like madness in the brain.”

WILL WRITE HIM A LETTER

Now in conclusion permit me to say a few things to you, as this will probably be the last letter that I will ever have the pleasure of writing you, with one exception. I am going to visit my native land, my beloved Tennessee, within whose sacred soil sleeps all that is mortal of a sweet sainted mother, a noble father and brothers and sisters. While in this land of my nativity that such heroes as John Sevier, Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, Andrew Johnson and last but not least, the great “Apostle of Sunshine,” Robert Love Taylor, made immortal, I intend to visit Knoxville, the city that you claim I am a fugitive of justice from and I shall write you a letter from that city, “but I will not write it from the Knox county jail,” and I would indeed take great pleasure in receiving a reply from you dated “Columbia, S. C.,” though it would give me pain to know that my former co-conspirator in crime against Governor Cole L. Blease was languishing in a South Carolina jail, as I know you would be if you were in the Palmetto State. You only escaped going there through the mercy of an all wise Providence and the misplaced charity of His Excellency Jos. M. Brown, governor of Georgia.

FELDER AS A LAWYER.

You talk about your great and unblemished character as a lawyer at the Atlanta bar, when, if the truth were known, when God Almighty created you, Tommy. He hadn’t dreamed of a lawyer in six months; He was thinking of a pea in a pod, rusting away in the ante-room of some legislative hall seeking some poor hillbilly senator that you might flatter or bribe into voting on some pet scheme of some corporation that has heretofore hired you as one of their lobbyists to hang around legislative halls. I am indeed sorry that I, the poor moral pervert and degenerate, irresponsible creature that you claim me to be, have to write you thus, because I know that you imagine that every one must bow at your sweet will and that no one must attack your motives or answer any of your villainous inclinations. Poor moral degenerate that I am, I wish to say to you that my forefathers shed blood at King’s mountain and some of them died upon the fields of Shiloh, and I would be unworthy of the blood that courses through my veins if I would let you, the miserable bribe giver, lobbyist and grafter that you are known to be, drive me out of the state of Georgia, that has been made famous by such sons as Alexander Stephens, John B. Gordon, Robert Toombs and Benjamin H. Hill. No doubt you have discovered by now that even with your two frame-ups to land me in jail I am still at Williams House No. 2, city of Atlanta, made famous by the dictograph, which you stated at the Transportation club, after you had dictographed Governor Blease, would not lie. When it caught you in the act of trying to steal the papers in the Mary Phagan murder case, you denounced in unmeasured terms your dictograph friend which had been so faithful to you in days gone by. As I told the grand jury of Fulton county, you were a framer from Framerville, but your frames are too shallow to stand the storms that follow, as you evidently have found out.

Farewell, Dictograph Tommy. If we never meet again on life’s scene of action and I should be so unfortunate as not to reach the city of heavenly rest, please by charitable enough in Hades not to tell his satanic majesty that I was one of your co-conspirators in South Carolina, for, if you do, he will make life in the lower regions very uncomfortable for me.

A. S. COLYAR.

Atlanta, Ga., June 7, 1913.

“Unprincipled Prevaricator,” Says Chief Lanford

When acquainted with the contents of Felder’s open letter of attack upon him Detective Chief N. A. Lanford gave out the following statement:

“I regret exceedingly the necessity which forces me into a controversy with an irresponsible, unprincipled prevaricator like Felder. He is a stranger to truth and his chief claim to notoriety is based upon the reckless slanders which he periodically vomits forth upon his betters.

“His entire attack on me is woven with a warp of lies and a woof of hypocrisy. It is fortunate for me and the other objects of his venom that he has by his questionable performances of the past made himself sufficiently well known to the general public for it to know with what credence to receive his vicious but silly onslaughts.

“At frequent intervals for many years I have read of Felder’s controversies, in each of them he has always assumed a bombastic attitude and has rushed into print with all the abandon of a fool hurling unsupported charges here and slinging lies yonder. And to save my life I can not recall that he ever made good in a single one of his many wrangles.

“Felder says that I have known Colyar for three years and that I have been conniving with him for that period. This is a lie. The first time I ever saw or heard of Colyar was about a week or ten days after the Phagan murder and I have never met him more than a dozen times since. When he says that I have been conspring with Colyar to frame up on citizens of this community he tells a black and contemptible lie—a lie uttered by a craven coward of the blackest type. There is no spark of manhood left in him or he would not give utterance to such unfounded statements.

“HE LIES AGAIN.”

“He says I promised Surles that I would not use his name. Here again he lies. All I said to Surles, while negotiating with him to install the dictograph, was that I intended to use it in the interest of justice.

“He says I mislead and duped young Gentry, the stenographer who took down the dictograph conversations. Again he lies. I have never seen Gentry but once in my life and that was in my office on the morning of the day Felder walked into the dictograph trap.

“I was seeking to obtain services of an accurate and reliable stenographer and had my secretary call up Edward Crusselle, an expert court stenographer. Mr. Crusselle stated that he was just about to leave the city and furnished my secretary with the names of one or two other stenographers. They were called up but were out. Then my secretary suggested Gentry, whom, he said, was a clean, reliable young man and rapid shorthand writer.

“I had Gentry called up and requested him to come to my office. In acquainting him with the work which I desired him to do I sought to impress upon him that all I wanted was a true and correct record of what came to him over the wires of the dictograph. I told him that I would expect him to swear to the accuracy of the record he made and inquired his age. He told me that he had passed his twenty-first birthday about a week before.

“Felder says I had Colyar call up Gentry’s home and say that unless the young man furnished me his note book I would be in a hell of a fix. This, too, is a lie. I never had Colyar call up Gentry or anybody else.

“He says I sent Gentry out of town and furnished him the money to go on. Another lie. On the Saturday morning after the dictograph incident Gentry talked to me over the telephone. He said that he had been advised that there was a warrant out for him charging him with conspiracy. I told him that was all bosh and suggested to him that if he was annoyed by any one to let me know and I would attend to them. He thanked me and that was the last I’ve heard of him.

HASN’T PAID HIM YET.

“I not only did not furnish Gentry with money to leave town, but the young man has never yet called upon me for pay for his services, which I contracted for in good faith and for which I expect to pay.

“Felder lies again when he says I stood over Gentry and compelled him to doctor the dictograph records. As I said above I never saw Gentry but once, and that was for but a few minutes in my office before the dictograph was even installed. When the dictograph records were brought to me they had been typewritten and duly sworn to by Gentry.

“Felder lies when he says that I have stated that I know Gentry’s whereabouts. At the request of his relatives I did make efforts to locate him. Later these relatives got into communication with him and notified my secretary that he would be on hadn’t when he was wanted.

“I sincerely hope he does return to the city. I will welcome a statement from him giving all the facts about the dictograph matter.

“Fedler says that I conspired with Colyar to frame up affidavits to the effect that he (Felder) had run Gentry out of town to keep him away from the grand jury. This is another of his multitude of lies. He is so accustomed to lying that he just cannot tell the truth. I have never heard of any such affidavit.

“The most amusing of all Felder’s lies is that I am in a conspiracy with Governor Blease of South Carolina to get him into that state, and that I plan to kidnap him, put him into an automobile and rush him over the border.

“Now, of all the absurd propositions that is the limit. Felder evidently suffers many and varied hallucinations. I cannot conceive how it is possible for a man of sound mentality to conjure up such a ridiculous idea. And to think he actually offers it to the public as a fact.

“I have known for a long time that whenever Felder heard the name of Blease mentioned cold chills chased up and down his quavering spine, and he invariably looked about him for assassins, kidnappers and spooks.

SEND HIM TO CREMATORY.

“I don’t know of an automobile sorry enough to use in transporting Felder, but it would be a God-send to the community if one of the garbage carts would get him and carry him to the crematory. I would dislike very much indeed to impose such a carcass on the good old state of South Carolina.

“I have never had any direct or indirect communication with Governor Blease, and the only time that I remember mentioning him was when I suggested that I would take A. S. Colyar to Knoxville, Tenn., without extradition papers if he (Felder) would waive legal formalities and go with one of my men to Columbia where Governor Blease could press his charges against him.

“Having disposed of Felder’s lies I wish to ask him the following questions.

Where is the money you grafted from the public through the plea that you wished to bring detectives here to find evidence to convict the murderer of Mary Phagan?

“Failing to get the Colemans to employ you why did you go to New York, and then come back here with the statement that you were employed by friends of the slain girl to assist the prosecution?

“If you were acting in good faith why did you attack Chief Beavers and myself for keeping Jim Conley, the only witness who knows anything about the murder of the Phagan girl, in jail?

“If you were acting in good faith why did you not also criticise us for holding Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, and Gordon Bailey, the negro elevator boy, who have both been held just as long as Jim Conley?

“YOU BUTTED IN.”

“I have been forced to doubt your good faith in this case. I didn’t drag you into it. You butted in. You are sure because I exposed you by allowing the publication of the Coleman affidavit, showing that the dead girl’s parents had refused to employ you. This publication also exposed your scheme to graft on the public through a subscription.

“As I have said before you butted in to the Phagan case where you were not wanted and as a public official it became my duty to allow the publication of the Coleman affidavit, made without my knowledge, in order that the good people of this and other cities may not be imposed upon any further by such a grafter.

“Having exposed some of your numerous lies and your thorough unreliability I now leave you to your hallucinations.”

“N. A. LANFORD.”

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Atlanta Journal, June 8th 1913, “Scathing Replies to Letters Attacking Them,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)