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

Atlanta Constitution
August 1^st, 1913

Dr. Claude A. Smith, the medical expert who made microscopic examinations of the blood-spotted chips chiseled from the floor of the pencil factory and of the bloody shirt discovered in Newt Lee’s home, was next called in.

He was asked by Solicitor Dorsey:

“What is your business?”

“I am city bacteriologist and chemist.”

He was handed the chips from the pencil factory flooring.

“Did you test these chips?”

“Yes. Some detectives brought me these specimens and asked me to examine them. They were considerably dirty and stained. On one of them I found blood corpuscles.”

“Was it human blood?”
“I don’t know.”

“Did you examine the bloody shirt?”

No Appearance of Being Worn.

“Yes. I inspected the spots. In the armpits of the garment I could find no odor or evidence that it had been worn since having been laundered last. Some spots were smeared on the inside, and had not penetrated to the outside. It was not soiled around the inner part of the collar-band, and had no appearance whatever of having been worn.”

Here counsel for the defense asked to have Dr. Smith’s expression, “the shirt didn’t smell like a nigger,” ruled out. His objection was overruled.

“I know as much about ‘nigger’ smell as he does,” was Attorney Rosser’s retort.

Rosser took the witness here.

“If the shirt had had its tail crumpled up from natural position, it could have got blood on the inside, couldn’t it?”

“But, I don’t think it was that way.”

“If my shirt-tail was tuned up, I could get it soiled on the inside as well as outside, couldn’t I?”

“Possibly.”

“The shirt had the odor of blood on it when you first got it, didn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Then, wouldn’t the odor of blood have killed the odor of ‘nigger?’”

“No.”

Witness and Counsel Tilt.

“Then, if a nigger had just put on his shirt and had taken it off in an instant, your nose would ‘get him?’”

“Have you ever smelled a negro, Mr. Rosser?”

“More than you ever smelled. I was smelling them before you were born.”

“Doctor, you say one of the chips had blood spots on it and another had none?”

“No; I could find none.”

“If there had been any blood, you’d have found it?”

“Yes.”

“You couldn’t tell whether the blood was fresh or old?”

“No.”

“How long could blood corpuscles—or whatever you call ’em—be discernible?”

“For considerable while—according altogether to circumstances.”

Solicitor Takes Witness.

Dorsey here began questioning.

“Explain to the jury, Dr. Smith, why the blood wasn’t put on the shirt-tail, as Mr. Rosser suggests.”

“A spot of blood is on the garment above the waist line, which was not tucked within the trousers.”

“Could the spot you found on the chip have come from paint?”

“No.”

“What was it?”

“Blood.”

What followed was a lengthy tilt between Dr. Smith and counsel for defense in an argument over the shirt. Following which he was called from the stand.

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

Atlanta Constitution

Monday, May 12^th, 1913

The history of the baffling Phagan mystery, daily recorded, is briefly as follows:

Sunday April 26—Girl’s body found in basement of pencil factory. Newt Lee, negro night watchman, who made discovery, arrested. Arthur Mullinax, street car employee, also arrested. Both held on suspicion.

Monday—Leo M. Frank, factory superintendent, detained, but later released. J. M. Gantt, former bookkeeper of pencil concern and friend of dead girl, arrested in Marietta. Negro elevator boy also taken into custody. Pinkertons enter case.

Tuesday—Bloody shirt found at negro watchman’s home. Planted evidence theory advanced. Mary Phagan’s body buried. Sleuths announce they have evidence to convict. Frank confers with negro suspect.

Wednesday—Inquest begins. Newt Lee testifies. One hundred and fifty pencil factory employees summoned before coroner. George Epps, newsboy, tells of ride to uptown with Mary Phagan on her last trip.

Thursday—Frank and Lee ordered to Fulton tower on warrants issued by Coroner Donehoo. Trip made without incident.

Friday—Both prisoners tell reporter for The Constitution at 1 a. m. that they are not guilty and will prove their innocence.

Saturday—Evidence is unearthed that imposters, pretending to be Pinkerton detectives, are questioning leading witnesses. No arrests made.

Sunday, May 4—Detectives again announce their belief that they can convict murderer, whoever he is.

Monday—Paul P. Bowen, former Atlanta youth, arrested in Houston under suspicion of complicity in slaying. Is released at night.

Tuesday—Detectives obtain affidavit from woman who alleges she heard screams from basement of factory building at 4:30 p. m. on Memorial day.

Wednesday—Testimony is secured from Monteen Stover that she visited pencil plant at 12:05 noon on Memorial day and that offices were deserted.

Thursday—Inquest resumed. Character witnesses are examined. Frank and Lee ordered by jury to be held under suspicion of murder for grand jury investigation.

Friday—Mrs. Nancy Caldwell, of 10 Gray street, is examined by detectives under belief that she was the “mysterious girl in red” who was supposed to have visited factory with Mary Phagan. She establishes alibi.

Saturday—Three more Pinkerton detectives put to work on investigation. No developments at police headquarters. Solicitor general examines 100 witnesses.

Sunday May 11—Solicitor Dorsey announces that grand jury will probably not take action until early next week.

* * *

Atlanta Constitution, May 12th 1913, “The Phagan Case Day by Day,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

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

Atlanta Georgian

Saturday, May 10^th, 1913

Names of Witnesses Withheld by Dorsey to Prevent “Manufacturers of Public Opinion” Getting in Touch with Them—Satisfied with Progress.

Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey declared Saturday afternoon that he was very well satisfied with the progress made in the investigation of the Phagan murder mystery and made the significant remark that he would not reveal the names of new witnesses so that manufacturers of public opinion could not get to them.

The Solicitor held a conference with Dr. H. F. Harris, of the State Board of Health, who examined the girl’s body. Dr. Harris said he would rush his report in time for presentation to the Grand Jury when that body takes up the mystery next week. The Solicitor would not reveal just what the physician has learned so far.

The examination of the bloodstained shirt in the back yard of Newt Lee’s home was also continued, and the Solicitor was far from convinced that its significance had been rightly determined.

Mr. Dorsey worked all day Saturday on the case and announced that he would continue all of Sunday so that he could present his evidence to the Grand Jury as early as possible next week.

Confers With City Sleuths

A conference was held with the city detectives, who are working in co-operation with the State, but none of the details could be learned. Strict secrecy is being maintained regarding new developments.

Evidence “exclusive and valuable” in the Mary Phagan case has been obtained. So much the Solicitor said to-day, and no more, declaring details of the evidence would be revealed at the proper time.

The evidence is the result of work by private detectives engaged by the Solicitor, among them one whom he termed “the best detective in America,” when speaking of him Friday.

He mentioned the important evidence when he discussed the statement by Monteen Stover, the 14-year-old employee of the National Pencil Company, that is in direct contradiction to the testimony by Leo M. Frank, the suspected factory superintendent.

Other Evidence More Important.

The Solicitor was interested in the girl’s statement, but declared that the other evidence in his hands was far more important and tangible.

In opposition to the testimony of Leo M. Frank in the Mary Phagan inquest was the statement of the Stover girl. The evidence that she will bear is to the effect that she was in Frank’s office at 12:05 o’clock and a little later on the Saturday afternoon preceding the discovery of the slain girl’s body, and that she found it deserted.

According to Frank’s testimony, he was in his office from 12 o’clock until 12:25, when Lemmie Quinn, his foreman, came in. During that time, he said, Mary Phagan came in, about 12:05 o’clock, to receive her pay.

Monteen Stover is certain that she reached Frank’s office at exactly 12:05 o’clock. She has been retained as an important witness.

Remembers the Time.

“The minute I got to the office floor when I went up to get my pay,” she said, “I looked at the clock. I wanted to know if it was time to draw my money. I would have looked at it, anyhow, I suppose, as it is always customary for me to punch it the first thing upon entering the place to go to work.

“It was five minutes after 12. I was sure Mr. Frank would be in his office, so I stepped in. He wasn’t in the outer office, and I went into the inner office. He wasn’t there, either. I thought he might have been somewhere around the building, so I waited.

“The whole place was awfully quiet. It was scary. When he didn’t show up in a few minutes, I went to the door and looked around the machinery. He wasn’t there. I stayed until the clock hand was pointing exactly to 12:10. Then I went down

Dorsey Veils New Clews in Phagan Affair

Continued from Page 1.

stairs. I could not see nor hear no one.”

The testimony of Monteen Stover was obtained by detectives when they quizzed her the Saturday following the killing of Mary Phagan. The girl and her mother, Mrs. Homer Edmondson, of 171 South Forsyth Street, came to the factory to get the pay which the girl did not get the week before.

Stopped by Detectives.

In the office were detectives, eager to seize every available bit of information. They stopped Mrs. Edmondson and the girl, and were rewarded by Monteen’s statement that she had been in Frank’s office on the afternoon of the fatal day.

Monteen Stover said she did not know Mary Phagan, and probably had never seen her. She commended Frank as being popular with his employees and kind.

Another development within the last 24 hours has been the elimination of another clew. The “woman in red,” a mysterious figure reported to have been seen with Mary Phagan at the pencil factory, has been located. She is Mrs. Nancy Caldwell, of 10 Gray Street, an acquaintance of the dead girl. Examination revealed the fact, however, that she had not been with Mary Phagan in a year. The rumor of her association with the Phagan girl on the afternoon of the killing started in the mistaken statement of a girl at Mapleton.

Developed also evidence from a young woman whose name will not be revealed that the girl probably came to her death in the basement of the factory, and not in the upstairs lathe room. The following affidavit, subscribed to by a young woman who passed the factory about 4:30 o’clock Saturday afternoon, April 26, is in the possession of Solicitor Dorsey, given him by Chief of Detectives Lanford.

The testimony is that as she passed the Forsyth Street entrance to the factory she was attracted by the shrill screams of a girl, coming, apparently, from the basement of the building. The cries were loud and piercing, and she stopped, hearing three sharp screams in rapid succession. Then the factory became quiet again.

Neither Chief Lanford nor Solicitor Dorsey would reveal the name of the young woman informant nor anything regarding her identity, except that she lives on Haynes Street.

* * *

Atlanta Georgian, May 10th 1913, “Guard of Secrecy is Thrown About Phagan Search by Solicitor,” 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

Friday, May 9^th, 1913

An unexpected turn was given to the coroner’s inquest into the mysterious murder of Mary Phagan, Thursday afternoon, when Harry Scott, the Pinkerton detective who has been representing that agency in its work on the case, was called to the stand by the coroner. Mr. Scott was in the room at the moment.

One new detail that he revealed was in a reply to a direct question from the coroner, when he stated that Herbert Haas, attorney for Leo M. Frank and attorney for the National Pencil factory, requested him and superintendent of the Pinkerton agency in Atlanta to withheld [sic] from the police all evidence they gathered until he, Mr. Haas, would consider it.

Their reply, said Mr. Scott, was that they would withdraw from the case before they would do that.

He proceeded to say that he and his firm still are retained by the pencil company.

Mr. Scott was called to the stand when Assistant Superintendent Schiff, of the pencil factory, left it.

He is assistant superintendent of the Atlanta agency of the Pinkerton detective service, he said. He lives at 52 Cherry street. The agency was retained in the case by the National Pencil company “to locate the party responsible for the murder of Mary Phagan.” The engagement was made Monday afternoon, April 28,  when, about 4 o’clock he received a phone call from Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the factory, and in response to it he (Scott) went to the factory to see Mr. Frank. There, said he, he found a group of men whom he afterward identified as Frank, Mr. Darley and others, standing around the time clock, talking. He introduced himself and said he wanted to see privately whoever was particularly interested in the case. He and Mr. Frank and one or two others went into a private office, and Mr. Frank called Sig Montag, treasurer of the company, over the telephone to get authority to employ the detectives.

Asked how Mr. Frank broached the subject to him, Mr. Scott said the factory superintendent remarked: “I guess you’ve read of the horrible murder committed? We feel that the company ought to make some investigation to show the public we are interested in clearing up the crime. We want the Pinkertons to locate the murderer.”

Mr. Frank then told him all he (Mr. Frank) seemed to know about the matter, said the detective. Mr. Frank said that he had been down at police barracks a short while before, and that Detective Black seemed to suspect him of the crime.

QUOTED FRANK IN DETAIL.

Mr. Frank detailed his movements on that particular Saturday, said the detectives. The witness quoted as he remembered the relation, giving the same story that since has been elaborated by Mr. Frank himself and others on the stand. Mr. Scott said that the superintendent said he left the factory about 6:15 on the afternoon of Saturday, April 26. As he went out of the front door, he said, he saw Lee sitting on a packing box outside talking with Gantt, formerly a bookkeeper in the factory. Then he went on to relate the matter as it is already generally accepted, about leaving Gantt there and telephoning to the night watchman later after failing to get him once over the telephone.

After getting the watchman over the telephone and learning that everything was all right, Mr. Scott said, Mr. Frank told him he (Mr. Frank) “prepared to go to bed about 9 o’clock.”

He asked Mr. Frank very few questions, said the detective. He took notes of what was told to him. He went over the building with Mr. Frank then, looking at the elevator, the time clock, the machine room, where Frank pointed out to him a machine on which human hair was said to have been found that morning, and pointed out also what were believed to be blood stains on the floor. Mr. Darley accompanied them. He went into the basement with his escort, said the detective, and saw the trash pile where the hat and shoe had been found, also the spot where the body had been found, and the staple that had been pulled with the lock from the back door.

OFFERS NO THEORY.

Mr. Frank advanced no theory about the crime, said the detective, and offered no suggestions. He talked to him the night afterward at police headquarters, in the presence of Detective Black, but he didn’t ask the pencil superintendent for a statement because he understood the police had one already. He denied that Mr. Frank had reprimanded him for too much zeal or had remonstrated with him for trailing him (Mr. Frank).

REFUSED ATTORNEY’S REQUEST.

The detective answered a direct question, however, by saying that Herbert Haas, representing himself to be an attorney for Mr. Frank, did call at the Pinkerton office and there, to Superintendent Pierce and Mr. Scott, made the request that the detectives withhold from the police all information which they gathered until he, Mr. Haas, had considered it. They told him they would withdraw from the case first, said Mr. Scott.

“Who gets copies of your reports?” he was asked by the coroner.

“I think Mr. Sig Montag gets copies of all reports we make,” said the witness. He added, replying to questions, that his agency still is employed by the pencil company—“to fix the responsibility for this murder.”

“Do you know anything about the conversation Mr. Frank and the negro Newt Lee had along together at headquarters?”

The detective replied that City Detective Black and he suggested to Mr. Frank that he employ this method for drawing from the negro all the information he could, and Frank agreed and went into the room with Lee. He did not know what passed between them, said the detective, except what he learned from the negro’s relation of what was said.

DIDN’T TRY TO GET TRUTH.

Mr. Scott said that Newt Lee told him Mr. Frank did not try to get the truth out of him (Lee) during their talk at the police station.

That Lee said he accused Mr. Frank of knowing something and that Mr. Frank only hung his head and later told him if he (Lee) didn’t stick to his story they would both go to hell.

That Lee said he told Mr. Frank the crime must have been committed in the day time, and Mr. Frank again only hung his head.

Mr. Scott said that Lee then said he had started to describe to Mr. Frank how he had found the body and that Mr. Frank said, “Let’s don’t talk about that any more” before he had finished.

Mr. Scott said that Mr. Frank had told him after the conversation with Lee that he couldn’t get anything out of the negro. The witness said that Mr. Frank reported that he had asked Lee why there was a break in the time slip and that Lee said he had punched it.

Mr. Scott said that he did not find the bloody shirt at Newt Lee’s home—that it was found by Detective Black and Detective Bullard. The witness said that he looked at the shirt and that it seemed to him it had not been worn and that the blood was fresh. He said that Lee, when shown the shirt, said, “That’s my shirt,” and later qualified his statement by saying that it might be his shirt; that he hadn’t worn it in two years.

“Have you any definite information which makes you suspect any party of this crime?” the coroner asked Detective Scott.

WOULDN’T COMMIT HIMSELF.

“I wouldn’t commit myself,” replied the detective, who continued that his investigation was not complete and that he was working on a chain of circumstances.

“Is this chain of circumstances known to yourself alone?” he was asked.

“No,” replied Mr. Scott, “Detective Black has been with me all the time on the case.”

Mr. Scott was then excused.

* * *

Atlanta Journal, May 9th 1913, “Detective Harry Scott’s Testimony as Given Before Coroner’s Jury,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Leo M. Frank, factory superintendent, who, with Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, was held for the grand jury.

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

Atlanta Constitution

Friday, May 9^th, 1913

Sensational Statements Made at Inquest by Two Women, One of Whom Had Been an Employee, Who Declared That Frank Had Been Guilty of Improper Conduct Toward His Feminine Employees and Had Made Proposals to Them in the Factory.

EVIDENCE IN BAFFLING MYSTERY THUS FAR, IS CIRCUMSTANTIAL, IS ADMISSION MADE BY DETECTIVES

Frank and Lee Both Go on Stand Again and Are Closely Questioned in Regard to New Lines of Evidence and Forced to Reiterate Testimony Formerly Made to Coroner’s Jury. They Will Remain in Jail Pending Action of the Grand Jury.

Leo. M. Frank, superintendent of the National Pencil factory, and Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, suspects in the Mary Phagan murder, were ordered by the coroner’s jury to be held under charges of murder for further investigation by the Fulton grand jury.

With this verdict the inquest closed at 6:28 o’clock yesterday afternoon. Frank and the negro will be held in the Tower until action is taken by the grand jury and solicitor general. The decision was reached within twenty minutes after the jury had retired.

Although much important testimony was delivered at the inquest, probably the most significant was the admission made by Detective Harry Scott, of the Pinkertons, and Detective John Black, of headquarters, both of whom declared in answer to questions that they so far had obtained no conclusive evidence or clues in the baffling mystery, and that their only success had been attained in the forging of a chain of circumstantial evidence.

Testimony was drawn from a number of women and young girls who told of alleged undue familiarity of the suspected factory superintendent with them and other female employees of the plant. The boldest statement of this character was made by Nellie Pettis, a young sister-in-law of Mrs. Lillie Mae Pettis, an employee of the factory.

She declared that on one occasion, four weeks ago, when she had gone to Frank’s office to obtain her sister’s pay envelope, the superintendent had made an open proposal, and had even intimated the offer of money.

Frank and Lee on Rack.

Both the superintendent and the negro suspect were placed on the rack during the afternoon session. Lee’s statement was a reiteration of his former story. He was quizzed on new lines, however, answering all questions promptly and clearly. He preceded his employer.

Frank was interrogated in regard to new evidence that has been obtained by the sleuths.

He was worn and haggard, and shows the effect of his imprisonment. From 9:30 in the morning, at which hour the inquest was resumed, until 5 o’clock in the afternoon, when he was placed on the stand, he sat in the office of Chief Beavers, the object of the gaze of immense crowd of idly curious who thronged the building.

Coroner’s Verdict.

The following is the verdict of the coroner’s jury:

Atlanta, Ga., May 8, 1913.

We, the coroner’s jury, empaneled and sworn by Paul Donehoo, coroner of Fulton county, to inquire into the cause of the death of Mary Phagan, whose dead body now lies before us, after having heard the evidence of sworn witnesses, and the statement of Dr. J. W. Hurt, county physician, find that the deceased came to her death from strangulation. We recommend that Leo M. Frank and Newt Lee be held under charges of murder for further investigation by the Fulton county grand jury.

(Signed)

HOMER C. ASHFORD.

Foreman.

DR. J. W. HURT.

County Physician.

Frank’s Testimony.

Frank was put on the rack at 5 o’clock. His examination was much shorter than the one to which he was subjected during the first session.

“What kind of elevator door is there to the shaft in the pencil factory?” was the first question.

“Sliding doors.”

“How many?”

“One on each floor.”

“Are they latticed or solid?”

“Solid.”

“Where was the elevator at 12 o’clock Saturday?”

“I did not notice.”

“Were the doors open or closed?”

“I don’t remember.”

“What protection would a person have from falling down the shaft [1 word illegible] the doors were left open?”

“A bar which projects across the opening.”

“After the crime was committed, where did the elevator stand?”

“I only know where it stood Sunday morning. It  then was on the second floor.”

“When you last removed the tape from the time clock, what did you do with it?”

“Handed it to an officer in the building.”

“Did you put it on file?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes—positive.”

“Do you remember a party at your house on the night of April 26?”

“Yes.”

“Can you name the guests?”

“I don’t remember them all.”

“When the police came to bring you down to the factory that Sunday morning, what was said about whiskey?”

“I said I wanted something warm to drink. One of the detectives suggested whisky.”

“What time was it?”

“Between 7:30 and 8 o’clock.”

“What did you say about dreaming?”

“I said to someone that I thought I had dreamed of hearing the telephone ring in the dead of night.”

“When you went to the undertakers’, did you go in the water closet instead of the room in which the body lay?”

“No.”

“Did you view the body?”

“Yes.”

“Did you recognize the girl?”

“Yes.”

“When did you first hear her name?”

“I don’t remember.”

“What time did you return home that Sunday afternoon?”

“I don’t recollect.”

“Did you telephone your wife before your return.”

“Yes.”

Did Not Discuss Murder.

“Was the murder discussed at home that afternoon?”

“Not much.”

“What topic was discussed?”

“I don’t remember.”

“When did Quinn first mention to you his visit to the factory on the 26^th?”

“I don’t remember.”

“What did he say?”

“He said, ‘Don’t you recollect that I was at the factory Saturday about noon?’”

“What did you tell him about withholding that information until your attorney had been consulted?”

“I don’t remember. I had so many visitors that I couldn’t recollect the exact words.”

“Who suggested the conference with your attorney relative to Quinn’s visit?”

“I don’t remember.”

“How long have you known you had counsel?”

“Since Monday.”

“Why was it mentioned that Quinn’s visit be kept until consultation with your lawyer?”

“I don’t remember.”

“How can you lock the door between your office and the dressing room where the blood spots were found?”

“I have never seen it locked.”

“Is it usually open or closed?”

“Closed.”

“Is there any way of closing the doors on the back stairway?”

“Yes. They are locked.”

“Describe your telephone conversation with Detective Starnes at the time you were informed of the tragedy?”

Frank Was Called Up.

“He asked me if I was superintendent of the National Pencil factory. ‘I’d like to have you come down here at once,” he said when I informed him that I was Leo Frank. He said he wanted me to identity a girl, and asked me if I knew Mary Phagan.”

“Didn’t you say that the first time you had heard her name was while you were traveling in the auto on the way to the factory Sunday morning?”

“I don’t recollect that I did.”

“Did you have any trouble with a girl in your office Saturday morning?”

“No. There was one incident where a mistake had been made in the pay envelope of Mattie Smith, but it was corrected without any trouble.”

“What time was Mattie Smith in your office?”

“Between 9 and 10 a. m.?”

“Did anyone enter while she was there?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Give the name of everyone in the office throughout the day Saturday.”

“Mr. Darley, Mr. Holloway, the office boy, Miss Hall, the stenographer; Mr. Campbell, Mr. Fullerton, Mrs. White, Lemmie Quinn, Mr. Gantt, Emma Clark, another girl employee, Arthur White, Harry Denham, Newt Lee and Mary Phagan.”

“Did you see May Barrett?”

“I don’t know her.”

“What did you say to Emma Clark?”

“I don’t remember saying anything to her.”

He was released from examination of 4:55 o’clock.

Lee on Stand.

Newt Lee was put on the stand, and for the first time publicly told of the private conversation he held with Frank on the night the latter was arrested and brought to police headquarters. He was put through only a short examination.

“Detail your talk with Mr. Frank at headquarters Tuesday night a week ago.”

“I was in the room locked up by myself. Mr. Frank, he came in. I says, ‘Howdy, Mr. Frank; how’re you feeling? It’s mighty hard,’ I says, ‘for me to have to sit here handcuffed to a chair for something I didn’t do.’

“He said I knew something about the crime. I told him I didn’t know a thing on earth about it.

“Then he said: ‘Look here, Newt, if you keep up that same story we’re both going to hell.’ He said it loudly, and made a sweepinn gesture with his hands. I told him that the killing must have been done in the daytime, as all that night I had to pass once every thirty minutes by the machine where they said the little girl was killed. He wouldn’t let me talk about it.”

“When you came to work Saturday at 4 o’clock, did you say anything about wanting to go to sleep?”

“Yes, sir. When I got to the factory I went to the office door and hollered: ‘All right, Mr. Frank, I’m here!’ just like I always do. He came to the door, and said I could go out on the street and have some fun. I said I had rather sleep, because I hadn’t been sleeping much of late, than have a good time out on the street. He said go on, though, and I went.”

“Was that the first time he ever came to the door to greet you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Was the street door locked when you entered the building?”

“No, sir.”

Found Inside Door Locked.

“Was the inside door locked—the door leading to Frank’s office and the second floor?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Had it ever been locked before?”

“No, sir. Not since I’ve been working there.”

“How did you get in?”

“Unlocked the door.”

“When you arrived, was the scuttle hole near the elevator open?”

“I don’t know, sir. It generally always does stay open, though.”

“Was it light or dark on the second floor?”

“Dark.”

“Did Mr. Frank put on the tape of the time clock at 6:30 when you returned from the street?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Did he ever do this before?”

“Only once, that’s all.”

“How long did it take him to fix the tape?”

“A pretty good while.”

“Whose shirt is that they found at your house?”

“It looks mighty like one I use to have.”

“What size do you wear?”

“Sixteen.”

“Whose clothes were in the barrel in which it was found?”

“Mine.”

“Was the shirt ready-made?”

“No, sir. It was made by Mrs. Bowen, a white lady who gave it to me.”

“If it is a ready-made garment, then it isn’t yours?”

“No, sir.”

Schiff Tells of Office Work.

Herbert Schiff, chief clerk of the pencil factory, took the stand.

“What is your capacity with the concern?” he was questioned.

“I formerly was a traveling salesman. I’m now chief clerk and first assistant to Mr. Frank.”

“Are you entirely familiar with his handwriting?”

(The object of the coroner was to ascertain the exact amount of work done by the suspected superintendent during the day on which the murder is believed to have been committed.)

“Yes.”

“His business, too?”

“Yes, thoroughly.”

“Wasn’t Frank behind with his office work on that particular Saturday?”

“What kind of work had accumulated?”

“Billing, orders and the financial sheet.”

“Were you at the factory Saturday?”

“No.”

“How many employees are there attached to the plant?”

“One hundred and fifty or more.”

(At this juncture of his examination, Schiff was given the same assortment of clerical work to investigate which had previously been given Miss Hall. He was asked to identify Frank’s handwriting. He recognized ten requisition sheets which the suspect had handled.)

“How long would it require to adjust these requisitions?”

“An hour and thirty minutes, I would say.”

“Were you at the factory Monday morning at 8 o’clock?”

“Yes.”

“When did you first see these papers?”

“Monday or Tuesday, I forget which.”

“How long would you judge that it took Frank to complete the work on his books and papers which you recognize as having been performed by him that day?”

“About six or seven hours.”

“Did you see him Sunday?”

“Yes, at Bloomfield’s, the undertaker.”

“Did you speak to him?”

“No; not at that time. I heard him say to Mr. Darley, whom he had accompanied to the undertaker’s, that he was going to police headquarters.”

“What clothes did he wear?”

“I did not notice closely, but it looked like a brown suit. I’m not sure.”

“Did you talk with him at all Sunday?”

“A little. He told me what he had heard of the tragedy, and of being telephoned at daybreak.”

“Do you know him well?”

“Yes, I do. I’ve been associated with him probably more than anyone connected with the plant.”

“What is his general manner toward the girl employees?”

“He says very little to them.”

“Is he naturally nervous?”

“Yes, quite so. He gets agitated over the least little happening.”

Frank’s Conduct Discussed.

The following is Tom Blackstock’s testimony:

“Do you know Leo M. Frank?”

“Yes.”

“How long have you known him?”

“About six weeks.”

“Did you ever observe his conduct toward female employees of the pencil factory?”

“Yes. I’ve often seen him picking on different girls.”

“Name some.”

“I can’t exactly recollect names.”

“What was the conduct you noticed particularly?”

The witness answered to the effect that he had seen him place his hands with undue familiarity upon the person of girls.

“See it often?”

“A half dozen times, maybe. He generally was seen to become that familiar while he was touring the building.”

“Can’t you name just one girl?”

“Yes. Magnolia Kennedy.”

“Did you see him act with undue familiarity toward her?”

“No. I heard talk about it.”

“Before or after the murder?”

“Afterwards.”

“When did you observe this misconduct of which you have told?”

“A year ago.”

“Did you hear complaints around the plant?”

“No. The girls tried to avoid him.”

At 6:28 o’clock, when the jury adjourned the inquest, executive session was declared. Behind locked doors, with even the coroner barred, the six jurors heard the statement of Dr. John W. Hurt, county physician, relative to the examination he had made upon the body.

He told them of the disclosure that death had been caused by strangulation, and minutely described the cuts and wounds about the chest, head and shoulders. No reference was made to the examination he held on the stomach by Dr. H. F. Harris, of the state board of health, nor of the analysis made at the grave when the body was disinterred Wednesday afternoon.

Dr. Hurt’s statement consumed twenty minutes or more. It required half that time for the jury to reach a verdict. When it had been delivered, Coroner Donehoo made a small speech of thanks, commending each man for his efforts during the inquest. Following which, the six men were paid their regulation fee of $1.

A pathetic feature of the adjournment was the handshake accorded the jury individually by James W. Coleman, stepfather of the slain girl. With tear-dimmed eyes and tremulous hand Mr. Coleman moved among the jurors, pressing their hands firmly and murmuring words of gratitude.

The final two hours of the inquest were occupied in examining witnesses whose testimony pertained to the suspected superintendent’s alleged misconduct with female employees of the plant. These witnesses were Mrs. C. D. Donegan, Tom Blackstock, Nellie Wood and Nellie Pettis.

It was the first time such testimony had been introduced, and came as a surprise. The statement of the Pettis girl was the most interesting. She lives at 9 Oliver street and is apparently 18 or 19 years old.

Testifies to Improper Conduct.

She first was asked if she ever had been employed at the pencil factory.

“No,” she answered.

“Do you know Leo Frank?”

“I have seen him once or twice.”

“When and where did you see him?”

“In his office at the factory whenever I went to draw my sister-in-law’s pay.”

What did he say to you that might have been improper on any of these visits?”

“He didn’t exactly say—he made gestures. I went to get sister’s pay about four weeks ago, and when I went into the office of Mr. Frank I asked for her. He told me I couldn’t see her unless ‘I saw him first.’

“I told him that I didn’t want to ‘see him.’ He pulled a box from his desk. It had a lot of money in it. He looked at it significantly and then looked at me. When he looked at me, he winked. As he winked he said: ‘How about it?’

“I instantly told him I was a nice girl.”

Here the witness stopped her statement. Coroner Donehoo asked her sharply:

“Didn’t you say anything else?”

“Yes, I did! I told him to go to h—l! and walked out of his office.”

Mrs. C. D. Donegan was next called to the stand. She was connected with the pencil plant for three weeks. Her capacity was that of forelady. She resides at 165 West Fourteenth street with her husband.

“Frank Flirted With Women.”

Her testimony follows:

“State your observations of Frank’s conduct toward the girls and women of the plant.”

“I have noticed him smile and wink at the girls in the place. That was two years ago.”

“Did you make a statement to the detectives of undue familiarity you had witnessed?”

“I told them that I had seen Frank flirt with the girls and women—that was all I said.”

The testimony of Nellie Wood, a young girl of 8 Corput street came next.

In brief it was this:

“Do you know Leo Frank?”

“I worked for him two days.”

“Did you observe any misconduct on his part?”

“Well, his actions didn’t suit me. He’d come around and put his hands on me, when such conduct was entirely uncalled for.”

“Is that all he did?”

“No. He asked me one day to come into his office, saying that he wanted to talk to me. He tried to close the door, but I wouldn’t let him. He got too familiar by getting so close to me. He also put his hands on me.”

“Where did he put his hands?”

“He barely touched my breast. He was subtle with his approaches, and tried to pretend that he was joking, but I was too wary for such as that.”

“Did he try further familiarities?”

“Yes.”

“When did this happen?”

“Two years ago.”

“What did you tell him when you left his employ?”

“I just quit, telling him that it didn’t suit me.”

Detectives On Stand.

The placing of Detectives Scott and Black on the rack created surprise. They had been assisting in the examination of witnesses. Both were quizzed during the afternoon session.

Scott was first to take the stand.

“What is your profession?”

“Assistant superintendent of the Atlanta branch of the Pinkerton Detective agency.”

“Why are you investigating the Mary Phagan case?”

“I have been retained by the National Pencil company, through Leo M. Frank, to catch the murderer of Mary Phagan.”

“When and how were you retained?”

“Monday following the discovery of the body, I was called over the telephone by Mr. Frank. I went to see him at his office and was employed.”

“State what conversation ensued between you?”

“Frank said, ‘I guess you have read of the horrible crime that has been committed in our factory building. We desire to catch the murderer or murderers, and want to employ the Pinkertons so as to show the public that we are interested in the case.’ He also said that John Black, a detective at police headquarters, seemed to suspect him of the crime. He detailed to me his movements on the day of the murder. This was his explanation:

“’I was at the office of the plant until 10 a. m., when I went to Montag’s office, returning to the factory about 10:30 o’clock. White and Denham, two mechanics, were in the building, and, about 12:10 o’clock, Mary Phagan came in to draw her pay. As she stopped from the office with her envelope, she called back to see if the tipping metal had arrived. About 12:50 o’clock, I left for dinner, returning at 3:10. At 4 o’clock, the negro watchman, Newt Lee, appeared. He was dismissed because of the rupture in my plans to attend the ball game. At 6:30, the negro returned and I went home for the night.”

Scott Questioned Frank.

“Did you ask him any questions?”

“I asked him but little, nothin, in fact.”

“Did he show you over the building?”

“Yes, we inspected the time clock, the elevator, machine room in which the girl is supposed to have been killed, and the spot in the basement where the body was found.”

“Who was with you beside Frank?”

“A Mr. Darley.”

“Did Frank make any suggestions as to how you might proceed with your investigation?”

“None, whatever.”

“Did he advance any theories?”

“None.”

“Have you talked with him since?”

“Only once, and that was while he was being examined at police headquarters.”

“Did Frank reprimand you for questioning him, or protest against the tone of your questions?”

“No.”

“Did he ask you to stop the investigation?”

“No. Herbert Haas asked us to turn over to him the reports of our progress until further notice. I told him we’d first withdraw from the case.”

Scott Reports to Manager.

“Who is getting your daily reports?”

“Sig Montag, manager of the pencil factory.”

“Are you still in the employ of the pencil factory?”

“Yes.”

“Who planned the conference between Lee and Frank?”

“Detective Black and I. We asked Frank to impress upon the negro the importance of telling the truth.”

“What was he told to say to Lee?”

“What I have just told you.”

“What did Frank say when the conference was finished?”

“That he could not get a thing out of the negro.”

“What did the negro say?”

“That Frank told him that if he stuck to his original story, both would go to h—l, and that Frank had made no effort to question him.”

“What did Frank say regarding the conference?”

“That he could get nothing from Lee, and that he had made every possible effort to get the truth.”

“Were you with Detective Black when Lee’s home was searched for the bloody shirt?”

“No.”

“Did you see the shirt in question?”

“Yes.”

“Describe it!”

“It was bloody, and looked as though it had been recently washed. It exhaled a strong odor of blood.”

“Had it ever been laundered?”

“There was no mark to indicate it.”

“Did Lee ever see it?”

“Yes, he recognized it, but said it ‘had not been worn for two years.’ He could not account for the blood stains.”

Scott Refuses to Committ Self.

“Mr. Scott, have you any direct clue or clues?”

“I won’t commit myself at present.”

“Have you anything positive?”

“Only surmises. We are only running out a chain of circumstantial evidence.”

“Is this information in only your possession?”

“No. It is also in Detective Black’s.”

Detective Black was called.

“Tell the jury about the bloody shirt which you found in Newt Lee’s home.”

“Fred Bullard, a headquarters detective, and I went to the rear of 40 Henry street last Thursday a week ago and found it in a trash barrel at the negro’s home.”

“In which part of the barrel was it found?”

“In the bottom.”

“Was the barrel odorous?”

“Yes. It was strong with the fumes of refuse.”

“Did you see the shirt Lee wore Sunday when he was arrested?”

“Yes.”

“Was it like the bloody one?”

“No. It was a woolen garment. The bloody one was linen.”

“Where is the bloody shirt now?”

[It appears there was a mistake in printing and part of the article is missing —Ed.]

“… clue in the Phagan case?”

“Have you discovered any positive clew in the Phagan case?”

“No.”

“What did Lemmie Quinn tell you of his trip to the pencil factory on the Saturday that Mary Phagan disappeared?”

“He told me last Tuesday that he was not at the factory at all on April 26.”

Six Witnesses at Morning Session.

Three hours of the most rigid questioning of witnesses at yesterday morning session of the coroner’s inquest into the death of Mary Phagan failed to bring out any new evidence of importance. Six witnesses—“Boots” Rogers, a former county policeman; Lemmie Quinn, foreman of the pencil factory; Miss Corinthia Hall, employed at the factory; Miss Hattie Hall a stenographer; J. L. Watkins and Miss Daisy Jones—were examined by Coroner Donehoo, but the testimony differed in no way from what has already been given.

Constitution Reporter Testifies.

Rogers told how Britt Craig, the Constitution reporter, was the first to enter the basement and see the dead girl’s body as it lay “face down” in the basement of the pencil factory. His story of how Lee told the officers of his discovery of the body was identified with other testimony on this point.

After Lee had been arrested Rogers said that he went in an automobile to the home of Miss Grace Hix, at 100 McDonough road, an employee at the factory, and brought her to the factory to identify the body of Mary Phagan. He then went for Frank, who had in the meantime been telephoned to, and found him nearly dressed, but nervous.

Rogers said that when the officers arrived at the Frank home, Frank asked whether there was anything wrong at the factory.

While at the factory, Rogers testified, Frank ran the elevator and examined the time clock, reporting that it was correctly punched. His only remark to the arrested night watchman was “too bad.”

Rogers told of how he then took Frank to the undertaker’s shop to see the girl’s body, and later took him to police headquarters to be questioned.

L. A. Quinn, the foreman under whom Mary Phagan worked, stated that he had not seen Mary Phagan since the Monday prior to her death when she was suspended from work on account of a shortage of material.

He stated that he did not work on the Saturday of the murder, but was in the pencil factory to see Mr. Schiff, and talked with Frank only a few minutes after the time when Frank is supposed to have paid off Mary Phagan. He said he did not see Mary Phagan that day. Quinn accounted minutely for his whereabouts and actions on the day of the murder.

Had Forgotten Visit.

He stated that he had forgotten his visit to the factory on the day of the murder until the Tuesday or Wednesday following, but when he remembered it, he asked Frank [1 word illegible] he had better tell the officers. Frank, he said, suggested that he tell his—Frank’s—lawyers about it.

Upon being asked why he had withheld his story of his visit to the factory from the detectives, Quinn said that he did not want to be questioned by the detectives and drawn into the case.

He was questioned about his visit to the Coleman home, where Mary Phagan lived, after the murder, and was also questioned as to the treatment received by girls working in the factory.

Miss Hattie Hall, stenographer for Sig Montag, stated that she was at the factory on Saturday morning working for Frank from about 11 o’clock until noon, but did not see Mary Phagan and could throw no light on the mystery. She told how much and the nature of the work she did for Frank on that day. She said she left the factory at 12:02 o’clock.

The former testimony of J. L. Watkins to the effect that he had seen Mary Phagan on the street between 5 and 6 o’clock on the afternoon of the murder was broken down when a Miss Daisy Jones told the jury how she had passed where Watkins thought he saw Miss Phagan at the time the Watkins lad designated, and that Watkins, being recalled to the stand, admitted his mistake.

Miss Corinthia Hall, who has been an employee at the pencil factory for three years, testified that Frank’s conduct toward the girls in his employ was beyond reproach. She said that she left the factory at 11:45 on the morning of the day of the murder; did not see Mary Phagan and had not seen her since the Monday before when she was laid off from work.

The theory that Mary Phagan was slain by a Greek who worked in a nearby café, has been disproven and is abandoned by the detectives.

* * *

Atlanta Constitution, May 9th 1913, “Frank and Lee Ordered Held by Coroner’s Jury for Mary Phagan Murder,” 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

Friday, May 9^th, 1913

Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, was recalled and asked to tell about any conversation he had with Mr. Frank at the jail or the police station. Lee said he has not talked to Mr. Frank at the jail, but that he had talked with him at the police station.

Mr. Frank came into the room, where he was, Lee said, and asked, “How are you feeling, Newt?”

“Not so good, Mr. Frank?” Lee said was his answer.

Lee said that he then told Mr. Frank that it was mighty hard on him “an innocent man” to be handcuffed there in the chair, and that Mr. Frank told him he knew he (Lee) was innocent, but he believed he knew something about the murder.

Lee said that he then told Mr. Frank that the officers had said the girl was killed on the second floor; that he said in his rounds of the building he had to pass through the second floor room, which had been indicated, every half hour and that he would have known it if the murder had been committed there.

Lee said that Mr. Frank then said: “Let’s don’t talk about that. Let that go.”

Lee said that the furnace had been fired on Friday, but that it had not been fired on Saturday. He went to work shortly before 4 o’clock, Saturday afternoon and called to Mr. Frank, as usual, “All right, Mr. Frank.”

He said that Mr. Frank came out of his office, rubbing his hands, and told him he was sorry he had been forced to come to work so early; that he could have slept two hours longer.

Lee said that he told Mr. Frank that he needed some sleep and that Mr. Frank told him to go out and have a good time and come back at 6 o’clock.

Lee said that he didn’t remember Mr. Frank having come out of his office to talk to him before; that he always called him into the office in case he wanted to talk to him.

Lee said that the street door was unlocked when he came to work at 4 o’clock, but that the double doors inside were locked. These double doors were usually unlocked, he said. Lee said that he got in by using his pass key.

The witness said that he didn’t remember whether the trap door to the basement was open or closed when he came to work. The fireman always went to the basement through this door, he said.

Lee said that he didn’t notice any bloodstains on the second floor. It was dark, he said, and his only light was his lantern.

Lee said that when he returned to work at 6 o’clock Mr. Frank told him to wait until he put on a new tape before he punched the clock; that he didn’t use a key to unlock the clock.

Lee explained the pencil found in the clock by saying that he always stuck a pencil there to check himself, and to remember where he had punched last. He was positive, he said, that he had punched the clock every half hour between the hours of 6 p. m. and 3 a. m. the Saturday night of the tragedy.

Lee was asked if the bloody shirt found at his residence belonged to him. He said that he didn’t know—it was found at his house, he said, so it must be his. Lee said that a “white lady” had made four shirts for him and this might be one of them. If it was a “store bought” shirt, it did not belong to him, he said.

* * *

Atlanta Journal, May 9th 1913, “Newt Lee Tells of the Talk He Had in the Popice [sic] Station,” 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

Friday, May 9^th, 1913

Detective John Black followed Detective Scott on the stand. He was questioned about the finding of the bloody shirt at Newt Lee’s home. He said that on the Tuesday afternoon after the murder he went with Detective Fred Bullard to Newt Lee’s house at 40 Henry street.

They searched the premises, he said, and found the bloody shirt in a clothes barrel in Lee’s room. The shirt was near the bottom of the barrel and was covered with scraps of old clothes, he said, the barrel apparently being used as a dumping place for old garments.

Asked whether he had seen the shirt that Lee had worn the Sunday morning the Phagan child’s body was discovered, Detective Black said it was not the same shirt that was found in the barrel. The shirt found at Lee’s house had apparently been washed but not [rest of sentence cut off—Ed.]

Juror Langford at this point asked Detective Black, “Have you discovered any positive information as to who committed this murder?”

Detective Black replied, “Do you mean positive information? No, sir, I have not.”

Detective Black contradicted the testimony given at the morning session by Lemmie Quinn by saying that Quinn had told him the Monday after the tragedy that he had not been to the pencil factory the Saturday before.

“Quinn made the statement in my presence two or three times,” said the witness. “On one occasion Detectives Starnes and Campbell questioned him in the basement of the pencil factory and he said he had not been there.”

Detective Black said that it was at his suggestion that Mr. Frank talked to the negro “to get the truth out of him.”

* * *

Atlanta Journal, May 9th 1913, “Detective John Black Tell[s] the Jury His Views on the Phagan Case,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

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

Atlanta Georgian

Thursday, May 8^th, 1913

John Black, city detective, followed Scott.

Q. Tell about the shirt.—A. Sergeant Bullard and I went out to the rear of 40 Henry Street and searched Newt Lee’s room.

Q. What did you find?—A. Lots of things.

Q. Tell about finding the shirt?—A. We found it in the bottom of an old barrel.

Q. Was the shirt on the top or in the bottom of the barrel?—A. In the bottom.

Q. When was this?—A. On Wednesday after the murder.

Q. Did you see the shirt Lee wore Sunday morning?—A. Yes.

Q. What kind was it?—A. A brown woolen shirt. The one we found at his home was unlaundered. It was washed, but not ironed.

Q. Have you any positive clews to the person that committed the crime?—A. No.

Q. What did Mr. Quinn say to you about his trip to factory Saturday?—A. Mr. Quinn said he was not at the factory on the day of the murder.

Q. How many times did he say it?—A. Two or three times. I heard him tell Detective Starnes that he had not been there.

Q. What did you tell Frank to ask Lee when they had a conference?—A. Nothing in particular, only that he try to get Lee to tell the truth.

* * *

Atlanta Georgian, May 8th 1913, “Black Testifies Quinn Denied Visiting Factory,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

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

Atlanta Constitution

Thursday, May 8^th, 1913

City Bacteriologist Makes His Report After Examination of Garment of Negro Which Was Found in Trash Barrel.

LEE’S CELLMATE MAY TESTIFY AT INQUEST

Witness Spent 24 Hours in Same Cell With Phagan Prisoner — Body of Girl Exhumed for Second Time.

DAY’S DEVELOPMENTS IN PHAGAN MYSTERY

Dr. Claude Smith, city bacteriologist, completes examination of negro’s blood-stained shirt, and finds that the blood stains are new.

Body of Mary Phagan was exhumed shortly after noon on Wednesday for the purpose of making a second examination.

Mrs. Mattie Smith, wife of one of the mechanics who were last men to leave pencil factory, tells detectives that shortly before 1 o’clock, when she left the building, she saw strange negro near elevator.

Bill Bailey, negro convict who was placed in cell with Newt Lee for twenty-four hours, now at liberty, and will probably be called upon at inquest today to testify.

Leo Frank will be placed upon the stand again today at 9:30 o’clock, when the coroner’s inquest is resumed.

Solicitor General Hugh Dorsey holds a long conference in cell with Newt Lee, but declines to tell what passed.

Detectives announce they are searching for a Greek, who is now believed to be in Alabama.

Chief Lanford declares that somebody is blocking Phagan investigation, silencing witnesses, and “planting” evidence.

The report of Dr. Claude A. Smith’s analysis of the bloodstains on the shirt found in the home of Newt Lee, who is held in connection with the Mary Phagan murder, has been submitted to the detective department. It reveals that the stains were caused by human blood, not more than a month old.

The report is brief. The examination was thorough, but no comparison was made with the stains on the garment and with other stains. The only specimen possessed by Dr. Smith beside the shirt were small shavings, flecked with blood, which were chipped from the flooring at the spot near the machine, where the girl is supposed to have received her death blow.

Comparison with the stains on the chip were impossible because of the stain’s dimness. Dr. Smith said to a reporter for The Constitution that he had not been given the bloody garments which Mary Phagan wore to use for the purpose of comparisons. The shirt has been returned to police headquarters. It will be used in the inquest today.

When the negro was confronted with the tell-tale garment Tuesday a week ago he admitted to its ownership, but said he could not account for the blood spots. He had not worn it, he declared, for two years. He said it was not bloody when he discarded it in 1911. Lee said he knew no manner in which the stains could have been made.

Shirt Found In Trash Barrel.

The shirt was found by Detectives Scott and Black in the bottom of a barrel filled with trash, which stood in the back yard of Lee’s home on Henry Street. The sleuths never would tell the clew which led them to search for it.

Dr. Smith states that his inspection revealed the fact that the garment was not being worn when the stains were made. It had been used to mop up the blood, he said, and could not possibly have been worn at the time. He could not determine whether or not the blood was that of a white person or a negro.

He will probably be summoned to testify at the inquest.

Mary Phagan’s body was exhumed shortly after noon Wednesday. Profound secrecy surrounds the action and it probably will not be known until the inquest today why the disinterment was made. Dr. H. F. Harris of the state board of health, was the only official at the graveside in the Marietta cemetery when the corpse was unearthed.

Body Exhumed For Last Time.

After an examination lasting two hours the body was again hurled and, according to a responsible report, some organ removed and brought by Dr. Harris to Atlanta. When the body was replaced it was consigned forever to its last resting place. Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Coleman, the dead girl’s parents, objected so strenuously to further exhumations that it will never be removed again.

Until late at night Dr. Harris labored in his laboratory in the state capitol over the examination. He was reached by a reporter shortly after 16 o’clock.

“I am pledged to secrecy,” he said. “It was under the condition that I make public nothing whatever pertaining to the examination that I was selected for the work. I cannot disclose the object of the analysis or its nature until allowed to do so by Solicitor Dorsey.”

Solicitor Dorsey said about 9:30 o’clock that he was not prepared to talk of the exhumation. He admitted, however, requesting Coroner Donehoo and Dr. Harris to remove the body and make certain examinations which he expected to result in new and valuable evidence.

Reliable reports are to the effect that one motive of the disinterment was for the purpose of obtaining some hair from the victim’s head with which to compare the stands found on the lathing machine in the pencil factory.

Another rumor is that a chart was made of the cuts and bruises on the face and body and that photographic plates were made of the finger prints on the throat.

No one outside the solicitor’s staff, Dr. Hurt, Dr. Harris and Coroner Donehoo are aware of the motive for the exhumation. Even Chief Lanford and the Pinkerton men expressed their lack of knowledge. They have not been taken into the confidence of the officials supervising the mysterious move.

His Work Hampered Says Lanford.

Accusing mysterious forces of blocking his detectives, Chief Lanford said Wednesday that the work of investigation is being seriously hampered. In many instances, he declared, his men had been refused evidence which they sought, and had encountered a number of prospective witnesses, who refused to divulge the information it was believed they could give.

“I cannot account for the situation,” he told a reporter for The Constitution. “We are being sorely handicapped. Not only are we being opposed, but, as has been shown many times, evidence is being planted. We have discovered numerous signs of “plants” in the past few days, and are not surprised at any “frame up.”

The chief also hinted that arrests would probably result from the discoveries of planted evidence. A squad of men have been detailed to run down clues pointing to guilty persons. They are finding their task a baffling one.

Although he would say but little, Chief Beavers also hinted of efforts he had met to frustrate the work of the detective department. “It seems that we are being opposed,” he said.

Lee’s Cellmate May Testify.

Imprisoned for twenty-four hours in the same cell with Newt Lee, the nightwatchman suspect in the Mary Phagan mystery, Bill Bailey, an ex-convict, will probably be called to the stand in the coroner’s inquest this morning to testify to certain admissions he is believed to have got from the negro.

Bailey is a negro youth, apparently 20 years old. He served eight years in the Fulton chaingang on a charge of shooting, during which time he was bunkmate of the suspected watchman. Lee was serving sentence at that time on a charge of gambling.

The negroes were intimate friends. Bailey is working with J. Mayo. Several days ago Mr. Mayo brought him to police headquarters and conferred with Chief Lanford on a plan to imprison the two ex-convicts. Monday night Bailey was sent to the Tower and locked in Lee’s cell.

He was released twenty-four hours later. Chief Lanford nor any of his detectives will disclose the result of the scheme, but it is freely rumored around headquarters that the Bailey negro succeeded in obtaining valuable evidence, which he is expected to deliver at the inquest.

Did Negro Write Notes?

After minute examination of the mysterious notes found beside the body on the morning of the discovery, A. M. Richardson, inspector of service with the Adams and Southern Express companies, told a reporter for The Constitution yesterday morning that he was fully convinced that the negro nightwatchman did not write them.

“They were written by a white man,” he said, “and an educated man, at that. The letters are formed too expertly, and adhere too closely to the ruling of the paper on which they were written. In my opinion, they were written by the murderer, a shrewd man, with intention of reflecting guilt upon an illiterate negro.”

Mr. Richardson has made a lifetime study of handwriting. He is thoroughly acquainted with detective methods and operations, and has taken decided interest in the Phagan mystery. Most of his investigation in the case has been concentrated upon the notes. He hopes to trace their origin by means of comparing suspected script under strong microscopic examination.

New Witnesses Summoned.

Another new witness summoned yesterday for the inquest this morning was Miss Grace Hicks, of 100 McDonough road, an intimate acquaintance of the murdered girl, and the woman who identified the body before it had been removed from the cellar of the pencil factory.

The sleuths will not disclose the character of the testimony she will be expected to render. She stated to reporters, however, that she held out little evidence, and that the last time she saw the girl of tragedy alive, was on the Monday preceding her death, when she left the pencil plant.

Miss Hicks was quizzed for an hour Wednesday morning in the office of Chief Lanford. She operated a tipping machine adjoining the machine operated by the Phagan girl. She came at 6 o’clock Sunday morning in answer to summons to the factory building. The moment the tragic face of the slain girl was revealed in the dim, flickering light of the watchman’s lantern, she exclaimed:

“That’s Mary Phagan—Oh, my God!” falling into a swoon in the arms of her brother-in-law, Boots Rogers.

* * *

Atlanta Constitution, May 8th 1913, “Stains of Blood on Shirt Fresh, Says Dr. Smith,” 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

Thursday, May 8^th, 1913

A number of new witnesses had been summoned for the inquest, and the indications were said to be that the session (promised as final in the coroner’s investigation) might last all day.

It became known, before the inquest convened, that several witnesses whom the detectives have discovered would not be introduced there at all. The evidence that they can furnish, whatever it may be, will not become public until some later time, it was said.

It was stated further Thursday morning that the report by Dr. Claude A. Smith, city bacteriologist, upon the analysis by him of stains upon the shirt supposed to have been found at the house of Newt Lee, the negro, had been mailed to Chief of Police Beavers late Wednesday afternoon. The report set forth, it was said, that the stains are not old, and that probably they are stains of human blood.

It was learned further regarding the bacteriologist’s report that it stated that the shirt had not been worn since it was washed—in other words, that the blood had been thrown on the shirt or had been mopped up by it.

Regarding the chips taken from the floor of the factory, the report concluded that they, too, showed human blood.

No comparison between the blood on the chips and that on the shirt was made.

BODY IS EXHUMED.

The body of Mary Phagan was removed Wednesday from the grave at Marietta for a second time Wednesday evening, and Dr. H. F. Harris, of the state board of health, made another examination, the nature of which is being kept secret.

Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Coleman, parents of the murdered child, have objected so strenuously to the second exhumation, it is said, that it is not expected that the body will be again removed from its resting place.

Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey, who has taken active charge of the investigation in the murder case, spent more than an hour in Newt Lee’s cell at the Tower Wednesday, questioning the negro. It is said that Lee stuck closely to his first story, despite a vigorous cross examination.

Bill Bailey, who was bunkmate of Lee, when both were in the chain gang some years ago, spent twenty-four hours in the his cell, having been sent there by the detectives. It is probable that Bailey may be used as a witness at the inquest.

DETECTIVES VISIT FACTORY.

Shortly after 1 o’clock City Detective John Black and Harry Scott, of the Pinkerton agency, who are working on the Phagan murder mystery, were driven to the building of the National Pencil company’s plant in the automobile of ex-County Policeman “Boots” Rogers.

The officers entered the place and remained about half an hour. When they returned to the street, both detectives were non committal. They acknowledged, however, that they had visited the factory in an effort to make themselves clear on some points.

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Atlanta Journal, May 8th 1913, “Stains On Shirt Were Not Made While Shirt Was Being Worn,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)