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

Atlanta Georgian

Thursday, May 29^th, 1913

All Evidence Gathered by His Operatives Sent to the Noted Detective.

James Conley, the negro sweeper at the National Pencil Factory who has turned suspicion on himself with a maze of contradictory statements, was put through a gruelling third degree examination at police headquarters this afternoon. Pinkerton Detective Harry Scott said as the grilling began before Chief Beavers and Chief Lanford that he expected to glean important information. Scott had interviewed factory employees and was convinced that there were many things to be cleared up before the negro’s second affidavit, on which the police rely so much, could be accepted.

With the maze of contradictory statements sweeping an avalanche of suspicion upon the head of James Conley, the negro sweeper, the potent information was unearthed Thursday that Detective William J. Burns personally will take charge of the investigation into the Mary Phagan murder case which his operatives have been conducting.

Despite the published report that Burns operatives had withdrawn from the case, and despite the procedure of the State in prosecuting its case against Leo M. Frank, the pencil factory superintendent, the Burns investigation will continue and from now on be under the famous detective’s direction.

This information came from Detective C. W. Tobie, William J. Burns’ lieutenant, Thursday morning. It tends to show that Tobie, who has had charge of his agency’s investigation here, does not consider the case as closed.

Mr. Tobie went so far as to deny emphatically the published interview with him, in which he was quoted as declaring Frank to be the guilty man.

Takes Evidence to Burns.

“From the evidence so far developed in the Phagan case, guilt is directed at Frank,” the detective said with emphasis. “That was my statement. However, I was quoted as saying outright that Frank committed the murder. That was not true.”

Mr. Tobie left Atlanta Thursday afternoon. He carried with him the evidence which he has gathered during his two weeks’ probe of the case. He is going to New York. He will meet Burns there and place his material into the noted detective’s hands. From then on Detective Burns will direct his operatives as to further investigations to be outlined by him.

This information but proves another link in the chain of circumstances which The Georgian has consistently pointed out in serious incrimination of Conley.

Negro Deeper in Suspicion.

With each cross-examination of the negro by the police in their attempts to secure more evidence against Frank, Conley has only insnared himself in guilt. His admitted falsehoods in former affidavits tending to throw the blame to Frank in connection with the “murder” notes have been accentuated as incriminating by the unqualified declarations of employees at the pencil factory that Conley is the guilty man.

Three responsible officials of the plant have outlined plausible theories as to how the negro could have committed the crime. These men, Herbert G. Schiff, who is assistant superintendent; E. F. Holloway, timekeeper, and N. V. Darley, general foreman, are acquainted with Conley. Upon their knowledge of him and the opportunity offered for accomplishing the murder they base their statements that he is guilty. They have proven beyond a doubt that Conley was in the factory for several hours on the day of the murder, and connecting with this the negro’s contradictory statements as to his whereabouts they have compiled a most laudable explanation of how he killed the Phagan girl.

The detective still held firmly to their theory that the negro was the most important witness against Leo M. Frank, in the face of the contradictory stories and lies in which he had been trapped.

They were strongly disposed to give full credence to Conley’s second affidavit, although the negro’s sudden anxiety to talk after three weeks of silence and the maze of falsehood in which he was at once involved served suddenly to shift responsibility for Mary Phagan’s death from Leo Frank to the sullen black man, in the judgment of many who have been following the evidence closely.

Chief Lanford and Detective Harry Scott, of the Pinkertons, announced Thursday morning, however, that they regarded the second affidavit of Conley as the final and conclusive piece of evidence needed in preparing a case against Frank.

Rejected First Affidavit.

Others who have weighed the evidence carefully declare there are many more significant indications that Conley was the slayer than there are reasons to believe that Frank is guilty.

The detectives rejected the first affidavit of Conley, in which he said Frank dictated Friday the notes that were found by the body of the slain girl Sunday morning on the ground that it was absurd and unbelievable to hold the theory that the murder was premeditated.

Yet they accept the second affidavit, which indicates identically the same thing, in that Frank met Conley at Nelson and Forsyth Streets before 11 o’clock Saturday morning, April 26, before the crime was committed, and told the negro to wait for him, later taking Conley to the factory with him, where Conley says that he wrote the notes at Frank’s direction.

The negro in his second affidavit suggests no other motive that could have impelled Frank to ask him to come to the factory shortly before noon on Saturday. Conley says that Frank told him to wait secreted on the first floor until he heard a whistle. When he heard the whistle he says he went upstairs and Frank dictated the notes.

Why Many Suspect Conley.

All of this is inescapably suggestive of premeditation on the part of Frank, if Conley’s story is to be believed, but the theory of premeditation has been scoffed at by everyone, including Chief Lanford and Harry Scott.

In fact, it never seriously was considered by anyone, say those who are inclined to believe the evidence against Conley greatly outweighs that against Frank. The assertion is freely made that it would be far easier to convict Conley, if the police were so disposed, than it will be to convict Frank. Here are a few reasons advanced:

When the factory superintendent was permitted to go before the Coroner’s jury by his attorney, he answered all the questions in a straight-forward, unwavering manner, never once being trapped in a lie or misstatement.

In marked contrast is the conduct of Conley ever since his arrest at the time of the inquest three weeks ago. When discovered at the factory, he was washing a shirt which he sought to hide from the person who had found him out.

He was taken into custody and gave his address as 92 Tattnall Street. Investigation disclosed that Conley was lying and that he had not lived on Tattnall Street for months, his actual residence being 172 Rhodes Street.

He was asked to write, and he told the officers he could not write a word. He refused to be inveigled into making an attempt at handwriting of any sort. He would not put a pencil to paper that the detectives might get a specimen of his penmanship. For a long time they believed he was so ignorant he could not write his own name. Then they found some leases he had signed for watches and knew that he had been lying again.

Just as the Grand Jury was about to sit and it appeared likely that Frank would be indicted, the negro broke his silence for the first time. He told the detectives that it was he who had written the notes, but that he had written them at Frank’s dictation on Friday, April 25. Frank had approached him in an aisle at the factory and had asked him to come into the office, he said. He remembered that it was four minutes before 1 o’clock.

That he had been at the factory Saturday he denied emphatically. Between 10 o’clock in the forenoon and 2 o’clock in the afternoon he had been on Peters Street, according to his story.

The detectives ridiculed his story and continued examining. Gradually he broke down under their questioning, and it was established that he had been lying again and that he actually had been in the factory Saturday, presumably at the very time the girl was murdered. This was the first time his presence in the factory on Saturday had been known.

He had kept it a most profound secret up to the time it was gouged out of him by the detectives. He weakened further and admitted that he had been hiding down on the first floor as persons went in and out.

He described practically every person that entered or left the factory between 12 and 1 o’clock. But he declared that he did not see Mary Phagan when she came in the building. Out of all who entered or left, the murdered girl and Lemmie Quinn appear to be the only ones he missed seeing, according to his story.

He explained this by saying that he must have fallen asleep for a little while. He saw Miss Corinthia Hall and Mrs. Freeman leave a few minutes before 1 o’clock, but did not see Mary Phagan enter about five minutes after the hour. Neither did he see Lemmie Quinn, who is said to have been at the factory about 12:15.

If the negro’s final affidavit is taken as nearer the probable truth than his first, those who are acquainted with Frank are of the opinion that there are still most important questions to be answered convincingly. They are these, assuming Frank is guilty:

“Why should a man of Frank’s intelligence—a man who is highly educated and who has won a position of responsibility—virtually make a confidant of another man, especially an ignorant negro, easily broken down by the third degree of the police station?”

“Why should a man of sense, if he wished to keep his crime undiscovered, proclaim it to the negro, in his office by the question: ‘Why should I hang?’”

“Why should he approach this negro more than an hour before this crime was committed?”

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Atlanta Georgian, May 29th 1913, “Burns Joins in Hunt for Phagan Slayer,” 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 29^th, 1913

Tennessee Authorities Failed to Forward Requisition Papers on Date Agreed

A. S. Colyar, the Tennessean, who figured conspicuously in the recent dictograph sensation involving bribery charges and countercharges of graft between Colonel Thomas B. Felder, Mayor Woodward and others, on the one hand and Chief of Police Beavers and Chief of Detectives aLnford [sic], on the other was released from his bond Thursday at 2 p. m. by Chief Beavers.

Colyar’s name jumped into the news when the dictograph matter became public and the following day there came a wire from the Knoxville police to the Atlanta police, asking that Colyar be arrested and held for them. They charged an indictment for forgery. Accordingly, Colyar was arrested. He said the charge was four years old and had never been prosecuted. He alleged a conspiracy.

A few hours later, Colyar was released on bond.

Thursday was the day set by the Tennessee police for the delivery of requisition papers and the extradition of Colyar to Tennessee.

No documents came, but instead Chief Beavers received a letter from the Knoxville chief of police requesting that Colyar be held until June 3.

Chief Beavers declined to accede to this. His reply to the Knoxville chief was quoted by him to be that immediate action would have to be taken on Thursday or he would order the release of Colyar and his bondsmen.

Grand Jury Subpena Is Served Upon A. S. Colyar

The [1 word illegible] Thursday morning of a grand jury subpena for A. S. Colyar to appear before the grand jury Friday morning led to the belief that the grand jury had decided to make an investigation of the charges which have been made [1 word illegible] A. S. Colyar and the city detectives against Colonel T. B. Felder and the counter charges which Colonel Felder has made against them.

An investigation developed the fact that the city detectives, anticipating that the grand jury would make such an investigation had the subpena issued so that A. S. Colyar would be on hand should his testimony be needed.

The grand jury has taken no action [1 word illegible] to an investigation and it does not meet until some time next week, the actual date not having been fixed.

A. S. Colyar was served with the subpena and stated that he would be available to the grand jury should it want to interrogate him.

Burns’ Detective, Tobie, Left Atlanta Thursday

C. W. Tobie, the Burns detective, who on Tuesday evening announced that he had discontinued his investigation into the murder of Mary Phagan left Thursday afternoon for Chicago.

Just prior to taking his train, Mr. Tobie denied that he had given out an interview to the effect that William Burns would himself come to Atlanta soon after his return to this country from Europe. “I have made no such statement, and I am not advised of any such intention on the part of Mr. Burns,” declared Mr. Tobie.

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Atlanta Journal, May 29th 1913, “A. S. Colyar Released From Bond on Thursday,” 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

Wednesday, May 28^th, 1913

Negro Sweeper, It Is Stated, Acknowledges That He Erred in Former Statement to the Detectives.

POLICE NOW SATISFIED WITH NEGRO’S EVIDENCE

Conley Is Taken to Frank’s Cell, But Prisoner Refused to See Him Except in the Presence of His Lawyer.

In a gruelling three-hour third degree at police headquarters last night, James Conley, the negro pencil factory sweeper, is reported to have made the statement that he erred in the date of his original confession and that he wrote the murder notes at Leo Frank’s dictation at 1 o’clock on the Saturday of Mary Phagan’s disappearance instead of the preceding Friday.

In an effort to confront the suspected pencil plant superintendent with this acknowledgement, Chief Beavers, Chief Lanford and Harry Scott, of the Pinkertons, took the negro to the Tower at 8 o’clock, where they tried to gain admission to Frank’s cell. Sheriff Mangum refused entrance unless permitted by Frank.

When word came to him that the police chiefs and the Pinkerton man desired to confront him with Conley, the prisoner positively refused them an audience, declaring that he would have to first consult his counsel, Attorney Luther Rosser.

Secrecy Shrouds Confession.

Secrecy shrouds the negro’s reported confession amendment. All three men who subjected him to the third degree admit that he has made a statement of importance, but will neither deny nor affirm the rumor of his change of dates. Chief Lanford was seen by a reporter for The Constitution at police headquarters a few minutes after the negro had been returned to his cell.

He admitted that an important admission had been made by Conley, and, that as a result, he would be used as a material witness against Frank.

He was asked if the negro had revised the date on which he declared he wrote the Phagan murder notes.

“I can’t say at present. I will not be able to talk for some time yet. Not until the negro makes another affidavit at least,” he replied.

Judging from this, Conley will be required to attest to a new sworn statement of his confession. Chief Lanford would not commit himself on that subject.

Saying that he was not entirely surprised at the result of the examination under which Conley was placed last night, the detective chief said that it was one of the most significant developments of the entire investigation, and that it was valued as highly as any evidence now in his possession.

Harry Scott, assistant superintendent of the Atlanta branch of the Pinkertons, who assisted the police officials in the third degree, would not commit himself regarding the rumored amendment to the negro’s admission. He said, though, that an acknowledgement of importance had been gained from the prisoner, and that it was damaging to Frank.

Police Were Worried.

Throughout Tuesday police headquarters was worried over the negro’s statement that he had written the notes he says were dictated by Frank on Friday, and had reached the conclusion that he was either lying or had confused his dates. On the latter theory, he was subjected to the gruelling examination at night.

Ever since it was sworn to in an affidavit made in the office of Solictor General Dorsey last Saturday, the detectives have been sorely puzzled over Conley’s confession. It did more to muddy the waters of their investigation than any other phase of the case. Supporting, to a large degree, the rumor that the dates had been changed was the statement by Chief Lanford that he now was satisfied with Conley’s story.

Earlier Tuesday afternoon, he had stated to a reporter for The Constitution that he was not pleased with Conley’s confession because of the day—Friday—on which he claims to have written the notes for Frank. He admitted being mystified.

Last night, however, he said

“One thing—I’m no longer puzzled.”

Chief Beavers said that inasmuch as the detective department was conducting the investigation into the Phagan case, he did not deem it prudent to give out information which they evidently intended keeping secret. This he gave as a reason for not committing himself on the rumor of Conley’s new confession.

He told the reporter who talked with him that Conley had not changed his affidavit, laying emphasis on the word “affidavit.” He was asked if the negro had changed his statement in any manner.

“I did not say statement,” he answered, “I said affidavit.”

It is an admitted fact that Conley has not made a fresh affidavit.

Hour Is the Same.

Chief Lanford says that Conley did not change the hour in which he originally declared the notes were written, which was four minutes to 1 o’clock in the afternoon. It will be recalled that he stated in his affidavit that Frank had called him to his office at 12:56 o’clock. He was positive of the hour, he said, because, on his way to the office he had glanced at the time clock in the hallway just outside the office entrance.

If he has altered his original statement, as rumored, it is now to the effect that Frank summoned him to write the murder missives less than forty-five minutes after Mary Phagan had entered the factory building to draw her pay envelope.

Chief C. W. Tobie, the Burns agent, left the city Tuesday afternoon. He goes to Chicago to return to his office as manager of the criminal department of his agency.

Declaring his belief that factional wrangles, such as the one now existing between certain forces engaged in the Phagan mystery, impede the progress of operations, the Burns man explained his reason for withdrawal in this caustic remark:

“This is a hell of a family row, for a stranger like me to be mixed in.”

He commends the detective department of police headquarters for the progress they have made, and expresses belief that Frank will be convicted on the evidence now at hand much of which, he says, has never yet been revealed to the public.

He also said that, although the Burns organization was not connected with the mystery in any manner at present, it probably would work on the case later. In such event he declared, their connection would be secret.

CHIEF LANFORD MAKES OFFIER TO COL. FELDER

Detective Chief Lanford Tuesday issued to a reporter for The Constitution a signed statement in which he proposed to rid himself and Atlanta of “two nuisances by sending A. S. Colyar handcuffed and in custody of a policeman to Knoxville Tenn., and Colonel T. B. Felder in charge of a detective to Columbia, S. C.

The Statement Follows:

“I will make this proposition to Colonel Felder. That I will handcuff A. S. Colyar and send him back to Knoxville, Tenn. without requisition papers if he (Colonel Felder) will accompany one of my men to Columbia, S. C. waiving requisition papers. Thereby I would get rid of two nuisances.

(Signed) N. A. LANFORD”

Difference, Says Felder.

Colonel Felder, when informed of the detective’s proposition, treated it lightly, but said:

“There is only one difference between those crooks Lanford and Colyar—one has been caught and the other hasn’t.”

Following Chief Beavers’ conference with Solicitor General Dorsey over the proposed presentation before the grand jury of charges made against Colonel Felder by the detective department and Felder’s counter charges of corruption, the attorney said that he was ready and willing to undergo investigation of any nature.

“No investigation would be too exhaustive,” he said. “I would be pleased to go before any committee organization or tribunal. I have done nothing wrong. There is nothing in my whole professional career of which I am ashamed. I wish an investigation would be started.”

Suspicion of the Phagan murder, which is freely reported to have been directed toward the negro James Conley, is scouted by the police and detectives. Chief Lanford intimates that the confession to having written the murder notes is either a plot to muddy the waters of the investigation, or an act of ignorance.

He also says, however, that in case the negro did pen the missives, it was done on the Saturday of the crime, and about the hour at which he declares they were written on the preceding day. “It is probable,” the chief says, “that the black has got confused in his dates and has mistaken Friday for Saturday.”

Confession Is Puzzling.

Conley’s confession is at present, the most mystifying phase of the whole mystery. In an effort to break his story the detectives are exerting in vain every possible scheme upon the negro.

The report that Mrs. Mattie White, wife of Arthur White, who visited her husband in the pencil plant on the day of Mary Phagan’s disappearance, had identified Conley as the negro she noticed loitering in the shadows of the first floor that afternoon, is erroneous. Mrs. White denies having seen the negro at all during the day. Her statement to this effect was made to detectives Tuesday.

Relative to the withdrawal of the Burns agency from the Phagan mystery, Colonel Felder said Tuesday that the usefulness of that organization was over, and that its agents already had performed the duty for which they had been employed. He says further that Tobie unearthed evidence firmly indicating the suspected superintendent’s guilt, and that the detective’s operations had been invaluable to the solicitor general.

Tobie, in an interview Monday night, took the detective department of headquarters to task for allying with Colyar in their operations. He said that it lowered the dignity of the department.

No new developments arose in the investigation Tuesday. Although he will not state it as a positive fact, Chief Lanford strongly intimates that the alleged telephone conversation between Frank and Mrs. Mima [sic] Famby [sic] has been verified by telephone operators who overheard the alleged message.

Conley Worries Detectives.

The mystery of Conley’s confession is the most baffling puzzle now confronted with by the detectives, they say. He was arrested on the Tuesday following the murder when E. F. Holloway, timekeeper and foreman of the pencil plant discovered the negro washing a shirt on the second floor of the factory building. Holloway immediately notified the detectives. Conley was arrested and since has been kept at police station.

The new theory entertained by the detectives is that Conley wrote the notes on Saturday instead of the Friday which he claims. He stoutly declares however that it was 1 o’clock Friday afternoon, the day before the tragic holiday. Nothing seems able to break his story.

Supporting, in a degree, the suspicion directed toward the negro, is the story of Foreman oHlloway [sic], who says that Conley had recently become addicted to drink and was on the verge of being discharged when his arrest was made. He had been transferred from the job of elevator boy, Holloway says because of drink, and was put to work sweeping on the second floor, where he came in contact with the girl operatives.

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Atlanta Constitution, May 28th 1913, “Conley Reported to Admit Writing Notes Saturday,” 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

Tuesday, May 27^th, 1913

C. W. Tobie, chief criminal investigator for the Burns Detective Agency, formally withdrew from the Phagan investigation Tuesday morning. The calling off of the Burns forces was announced by Dan P. Lehon, superintendent of the Southern branch, after Tobie had stated explicitly that he would not withdraw from the case.

Colonel Thomas B. Felder, who brought the Burns detectives into the Phagan case, would make no statement relative to their withdrawal but announced that it did not mean the end of his investigation or connection with the case.

Tobie made up his mind last Friday to drop the Mary Phagan investigation so he said Tuesday—but deferred action until, Monday night, when he announced his intention to withdraw to Solicitor General Dorsey.

Disgusted With “Fuss.”

Acute disgust at the “four or five cornered fuss” raised by the Phagan investigation was assigned by Tobie as the cause. This disgust was superinduced by the direct charge and general impression that the Burns Agency was pretending to ferret out the Phagan case, when in reality its purpose in Atlanta was to investigate the police department.

Tobie said to-day that while he has quit and was going to leave Atlanta, still the withdrawal of the Burns Agency need not be permanent.

“If certain features of this case are not developed, then there will be one, and maybe two, Burns men back here. I will send them here, but they will work in secret. There will be no more public investigation.”

Tobie explained he believed Leo M. Frank was guilty of the Phagan murder and that the “certain features” meant additional clinching evidence not yet published that will make Frank’s conviction certain.

“How can any house have harmony,” said Tobie, “when the old man is fighting the old woman, and the old woman is fighting the children, and they are all fighting the hired girl? That’s the shape this affair has gotten into, only worse.

“We came here to investigate this Phagan case, and for no other purpose. But the charge was made that in reality we were investigating the police department. The way things were shaped up the police could not help believing that charge to be true. Colonel Felder’s attitude bore that out, so I decided last Friday to quit.”

“Do you mean, then, that you were dissatisfied at Colonel Felder’s attitude?” [he] was asked.

“We were dissatisfied with that part of it, yes,” was Tobie’s reply.

Tobie Himself Through;

Tobie reiterated he ended the investigation himself. “I called myself off,” he said. “Dan S. Lehon, our Southern superintendent, was close to Atlanta. It was as near for him to pass through here on his way back to New Orleans as it was for him to go any other way. I was in charge here, but, as you know, I do not belong to this territory. As a pure formality and a matter of courtesy, and because I knew he was coming here to visit his wife’s relatives, I sent him a message inviting him to confer with me. When he got here I told him as a courtesy that I had decided to quit the case. He approved it. Had I told him I would continue, he would have approved that, too.

This is the worst mix-up I ever saw anywhere, at any time. It’s awful. Everybody is fighting everybody else, and I am through with this four or five cornered fracas, except that if more Burns men are sent here I shall send them here and they will report to me.”

Bribery Charges Denied.

Rumored attempts to bribe witnesses were given strong denial in many circles, particularly by those whose names were connected by rumor with the alleged bribery attempts.

C. C. Sears, superintendent of the Atlanta branch of the Burns detective agency communicated to Chief of Detectives Lanford the announcement of the withdrawal of the Burns forces from the Phagan case.

Chief Lanford authorized the following statement on the departure of Tobie:

“Tobie, I believe, is straight and honest. He was victimized by Felder. I am convinced Mr. Tobie was working toward the interest of those seeing to clear the mystery.”

Praises Superintendent.

A girl employee of the pencil factory has written the following statement, which upholds the working conditions of the factory and champions the character of the imprisoned superintendent:

“Nothing has ever been said of the girls of the pencil factory until after the terrible murder, but since then there has been one continuous talk, just as if we were to blame. We are just as anxious to see the guilty punished as the rest of the public, and we all loved Mary Phagan just as much as we possibly could.

“If the public only would interest itself to look into other factories and stores they would find the girls in the pencil factory are just as good as any other working girls.

“It looks mighty hard that we have to work in this place where our little friend was so horribly murdered, but we are only poor working girls, trying to make an honest living, and we try not to think of the tragedy any more than possible; and we have the interest of the factory too much at heart to desert in times of trouble.

“We all hope and pray the guilty will be punished and the innocent given freedom, for we all think our superintendent has a soul himself and that he would not think of such a thing, much less commit such a horrible crime.”

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Atlanta Georgian, May 27th 1913, “Burns Man Quits Case; Declares He Is Opposed,” 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

Tuesday, May 27^th, 1913

Dan P. Lehon Holds Conference With Solicitor General Hugh Dorsey and Other Officials and Then Makes Announcement of Severance of Connection With Case.

FELDER TO CONTINUE PROBE, HE DECLARES; NO STATEMENT SOON

“One of the Girls” in the Pencil Factory Brings Statement to The Constitution Defending the Character of Employees — Bribery Attempts Are Denied.

As a startling climax to the sensational turn of affairs in the Mary Phagan murder investigation, it was announced yesterday by Dan P. Lehon, superintendent of the Burns southern offices, that his agency had retired from the investigation of the Atlanta mystery.

The announcement was made after a conference he held for several hours with Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey and other officials promoting the investigation. C. W. Tobie, chief of the Burns criminal department, who has been in command of the Burns men at work on the case, leaves for Chicago this morning.

Tobie Makes Statement.

Tobie was seen last night by a reporter for The Constitution in his apartments at the Piedmont hotel. He was preparing to leave the city, but spared time to give the newspaper man a statement regarding the departure of the Burns forces and their attitude in the Mary Phagan case. General Superintendent Lehon, he said, left Atlanta Monday afternoon.

“The connection of the William J. Burns agency with the Phagan case,” he told the reporter, “is now severed entirely. We have nothing whatever to do with the investigation. When these bribery charges were published I immediately notified Dan Lehon, general superintendent of the southern branches of our organization.

“He came to Atlanta Monday morning. After he and I had conferred and he had talked with the solicitor general and other officials interested in the case, his decision was to drop operations and return to Chicago. I will probably leave tomorrow or the following day—just as soon as matters can be satisfactorily arranged.”

“What is the principal reason for your severance of connection?” he was asked.

“Primarily, because, in the face of open opposition and efforts to frustrate our work, we cannot successfully operate,” he said. “We cannot render service proportionate to the money we are being paid. It is being insinuated by certain forces that we are striving to shield Frank.

Frank Guilty, I Believe.

“That is absurd. From what I developed in my investigation I am convinced that Frank is the guilty man. We were working on the theory that he was the murderer. We were employed to find the slayer. We would have done it, too, and pinned the guilty beyond a doubt, had we remained longer on the ground.”

Tobie said the bribery charges of Chief Lanford and the counter charges were unfortunate, in that they create a situation which deplorably hampers the investigation of the murder.

“Solicitor Dorsey told Lehon,” Tobie said, “that he possessed evidence to convict Frank, and that the investigation had been so thorough and successful that really, the Burns men would not be greatly needed any longer. He praised us for the work we did in the short time we were on the case, and said we had developed new phases which would prove invaluable to his case.”

Confidence in Felder.

The Burns agent also declared his belief in Colonel Felder’s sincere and honest attitude in the Phagan case. He said the attorney had employed his agency only to apprehend the slayer, and that upon his arrival in Atlanta, he had been told by Felder that, from all appearances, Frank was guilty.

He stated, too, that he had never exerted a single effort toward investigating alleged corruption in the police or detective department, and that he had never anticipated doing so.

Colonel T. B. Felder, foremost figure in the bribery charges and counter charges of police corruption, would make no statement to reporters Monday. He would not commit himself on Lehon’s statement that the Burns men had detached themselves from the Phagan investigation.

Mr. Felder says, however, that his individual investigation would continue as in the past, and that he had no intention whatever of ending his efforts. Not until he deems it seasonable, he declares, will he issue additional statements to the newspapers.

Lehon Reaches Atlanta.

Lehon came from New Orleans Monday in answer to instructions given, it is said, from his New York office, sending him to investigate the Atlanta situation. He immediately conferred with the solicitor general and others.

The indictment of Leo Frank has not served to lessen in the slightest the energy of the police headquarters detectives, the Pinkerton men and the solicitor general’s staff. Chief Lanford and Harry Scott, of the Pinkertons, both say that they each unearthed evidence sufficient to convict the suspected superintendent. No new developments arose Monday.

Frank maintains his attitude of silence, refusing to see anyone besides his friends and relatives. A stranger greeting him in his cell at the Tower gets only a fleeting glimpse of the prisoner.

Bribery Attempts Denied.

Strong denial is made, however, of rumored bribery attempts to pay witnesses for the prosecution to leave the city. These denials are made by attorneys representing the suspect. Another denial of a published report was made Monday by Colonel Felder, who declared that the rumor of this elimination from the Phagan case was false to the core, and that his efforts, instead of slacking, would continue with renewed vigor.

It was published that Mr. Felder is eliminated entirely from the case, and that, up until the time he had begun to “bombard” the public with statements of his belief of Frank’s guilt, it was generally believed he was in the suspect’s employ. Complete denial is made of this report.

The following unsigned statement has been personally submitted to The Constitution by a young girl employee of the National Pencil factory, who champions conditions in that plant and the character of their imprisoned superintendent:

“I wish to speak in behalf of our factory and the girls working there and would like for the public to know that we all thought just as much of little Mary Phagan as we possibly could, and are just as anxious to see the guilty punished as the rest of the public.

“Nothing was ever said about the girls of the National Pencil factory until after the terrible murder, but since, there has been one continual talk just as though we were to blame for the deed.

Good As Any Girls.

“If the public would only interest themselves enough to look into other factories and stores, they would soon find that the girls of the National Pencil factory are just as good as any other set of working girls in the city.

“Of course, it looks rather hard to the public for us to have to work in the building where one of our companions was so horribly murdered. But, even at that, we are all poor girls, trying to make an honest living and we try not to think of the grewsome tragedy any more than possible, and we have the interest of the company too much at heart to desert them in times of trouble.

“We try to look on the bright side of this trouble, and hope it will be only a few days until everything will be all right once more. We all hope and pray that the guilty will be duly punished and the innocent given their freedom, for we all feel that our superintendent was and still is a soul himself so much as to think of such a thing, much less commit such a horrible crime.

“Hoping the guilty man will soon be brought to justice, and that the public will soon be satisfied, I am

“A girl of the National Pencil factory.”

Confers With Police.

C. C. Sears, superintendent of the Atlanta branch of the Burns detective agency, communicated with Chief Beavers and Chief Lanford Monday afternoon, telling them of the severance of connection with the Phagan investigation, and notifying them that he would mail letters of explanation to the police department some time today.

According to Chief Lanford, Superintendent Sears gave as the reason for the Burns action the desire to get out of an unfortunate situation. Tobie, he said, would return immediately to Chicago to resume his duties as chief of the criminal department.

Regarding the Burns’ agent, Chief Lanford has said:

“Tobie, I believe, is straight and honest. He was victimized by Felder. The Burns man, I am convinced, was working toward the interest of those seeking to clear the mystery. He just boarded the wrong boat, that was all—like the old dog Tray, got mixed in the wrong company.”

* * *

Atlanta Constitution, May 27th 1913, “Burns Agency Quits the Phagan Case; Tobie Leaves Today,” Leo Frank case newspaper series (Original PDF)

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

Atlanta Journal

Tuesday, May 27^th, 1913

Declares Chief Beavers Is Only Bluffing, and That if All the Allegations Made by the Police Were True, It Wouldn’t Be a Case for the Grand Jury, as He Has Violated No Law in Seeking Evidence of Corruption In Police Department

CHIEF BEAVERS CONFERS WITH SOLICITOR DORSEY IN REFERENCES TO LAYING WHOLE MATTER BEFORE JURY

He Expects the Solicitor’s Co-operation — James Conley Is Identified by Mrs. Arthur White as the Negro She Saw Lurking Near the Elevator of the Pencil Factory on Day of the Tragedy—“This Is H— of a Family Row and No Place for a Stranger,” Says Tobie

Colonel Thomas B. Felder Tuesday ridiculed the statement of Police Chief James L. Beavers that he would insist upon the grand jury making a searching investigation of the charges against Colonel Felder and also the countercharges published by the latter against the police and detective departments.

Colonel Felder appeared to be very much amused while discussing Chief Beavers’ declaration, which he branded as bluff and bluster. “I don’t believe Beavers has the least idea of going b[e]fore the grand jury,” he said, “but even should he do so there is nothing for the grand jury t[o] consider.

“If all the charges which the police and detectives have made against me were true no law has been violated. I have a perfect right to seek truthful evidence from whatever source I may choose.

“If the grand jury cares to investigate my charges against the police and detective departments I will have no hesitancy in supplying it with a list of the disorderly houses and gambling places which are operated in Atlanta without police interference, and an amazingly long list it will be, too.

“Why, there are more houses of an immoral character in the territory between the Baptist Tabernacle and the governor’s mansion than ever existed in the old segregated district, and places of this kind are scattered throughout the city, no section being immune from them.

Colonel Felder was disinclined to give out any extended statement Tuesday, but admitted that he was gathering material which might later form the basis of a sensational expose.

CHIEF CONFERS WITH THE SOLICITOR.

Chief Beavers Tuesday reiterated his determination to take the entire controversy before the grand jury. He conferred with Solicitor General H. M. Dorsey during the morning and eequested [sic] the solicito[r] to aid him in submitting the matter to the grand jury.

Solicitor Dorsey stated that he was very busy in the superior court with other cases and would be engaged all this week, but that on next Monday, or any time thereafter, he would be in a position to go into the case with the chief.

Following his conference with the solicitor Chief Beavers expressed the opinion that Mr. Dorsey would lend him every assistance in getting both the charges against Colonel Felder and those made by him against the police and detective departments before the grand jury.

When the grand jury adjourned last Saturday it was not to meet this week unless specially called by the solicitor. Foreman L. H. Beck reiterated his statement of Monday that he has not called a special meeting of the grand jury and at present has no intention of doing so.

It is said that, unless warrants are drawn and some one committed to the grand jury, Solicitor Dorsey will not himself take the initiative in starting a probe. It is within the province of the grand jury members themselves, however, to hear the testimony of whom they please and when they please.

Neither Chief Beavers nor Chief Lanford shows any disposition to permit [t]he matter to drop without an investigation and their efforts to institute a grand jury probe will probably be continued until there is some action.

BUNRS [SIC] MAN HAS WITHDRAWN.

It became known Monday evening that the Burns’ detective had withdrawn from a further investigation of the Phagan case. C. W. Tobie, the Burns’ man who has been here for two weeks, announced that he “came down here to investigate a murder case, not to engage in a petty political row.” “This is a h— of a family row and no place for a stranger,” he is quoted as saying.

Mr. Tobie intimated that he Burns detectives might continue a secret investigation of the Phagan case but that he would leave either Tuesday or Wednesday for Chicago.

Tuesday morning Carl Hutcheson, a young lawyer connected with Colonel Felder’s law firm, addressed an open letter to Police Chief Beavers and Detective Chief Lanford in which he accuses them of permitting disorderly houses to operate on Ivy, Spring, Pryor and other streets.

Neither of the chiefs saw fit to make a detailed reply to Mr. Hutcheson. Chief Beavers remarked that Mr. Hutcheson “was but a small cog in the gang machine and that he did not care to dignify him with notice.” Chief Lanford said: “I am too busily engaged with important matters to give time to a controversy with small fry like Mr. Hutcheson. If he has evidence that disorderly houses are operating in Atlanta he should submit it to the chief of police or to me. His complaints would receive the same careful attention as those of any other citizen.”

JAMES CONLEY IS IDENTIFIED.

It was announced Tuesday morning by the city detectives that Mrs. Arthur White, wife of a machinist at the National Pencil factory, had identified James Conley, the negro sweeper, as closely resembling the strange negro she saw lurking near the elevator in the factory shortly after noon of Saturday, April 26, the day of the Phagan murder.

Conley is the negro who swears that on Friday, April 25, “he wrote two notes at the dictation of Superintendent Leo M. Frank, and that the notes he wrote were very similar to those published as having been found by the dead girl’s body.

Mrs. White, who it is admitted by several witnesses, including Frank himself, visited her husband on the third floor of the factory, between 12 noon and 1 p. m. on Saturday, April 26, has consistently maintained that while ascending the factory stairs she noticed a negro man standing near the elevator. No other witness, not even Frank, who was in the office on the same floor as that where the negro was alleged to have been, has stated that a negro was in the factory at the hour named.

At first it was thought that Mrs. White must have been mistaken. However, since Conley confessed to writing the notes the detectives have laid more stress on Mrs. White’s testimony. According to the detectives Mrs. White has picked Conley from a dozen other negroes and declared she believes him to be the negro she saw near the elevator.

BELIEVE HE WROTE NOTES SATURDAY.

This leads the detectives to believe that if Conley wrote the notes which he says he wrote that he must have written them on Saturday instead of Friday. The negro, however, sticks to his story that he wrote the notes on Friday about 1 o’clock.

According to the several times corroborated testimony at the coroner’s inquest Arthur White and another machinist named Denham were at work on the third floor of the pencil factory April 26. Some time between 12 and 1 o’clock Mrs. White called to see her husband and about 1 o’clock Frank came up and announced that he was going to lunch and would lock the door; that if Mrs. White wished to get out she had better do so then. Mrs. White left the factory ahead of the superintendent.

White and Denham continued their work until after Frank returned from lunch, ab[o]ut 3 o’clock, when they, too, left the factory.

“HELL OF A ROW,” SAYS TOBIE.

“This is a h— of a family row, and no place for a stranger,” says C. W. Tobie, of Chicago, criminal investigator for the Burns agency, who is “chucking up” the job of getting more conclusive evidence against the murderer of Mary Phagan, who Tobie says he believes is Leo M. Frank, who has been indicted for the crime.

Tobie, who has not yet left the city, intimates that probably Burns operators will take up the case if certain evidence, which he believes to be in existence, is not produced. Should the Burns people take up again or continue the work, he says, their investigation will be a secret one, not an open probe such as he has conducted.

“I came down here,” says Tobie, disgustedly, “to investigate a murder case, not to engage in a petty political row. All of this stuff seems to have been brewing some time, and it has just now come to the surface.

“From the very first it has been repeatedly said that I was here to get further graft charges against the city police and detectives, and there has always been an undercurrent of sentiment against me and my work.

CALLED IN TOO LATE.

“In the first place, I was called in too late for the sort of a job it is. When I first heard of the Mary Phagan murder and was called on the job I thought it was a fresh case.

“I came here twenty-three days late, and I found that the thing was being worked from many different angles and that many of the witnesses had been interviewed by the solicitor’s men, the Pinkerton man, the city detectives and many newspaper reporters. Of course they were tired of talking about the case, and I hesitated at asking them to tell their stories again, simply for the benefit of the Burns people.

“I didn’t stop at that, but now that the Mary Phagan murder is almost forgotten in a bitter political row in which every man is trying to cut his neighbor’s throat, I have to call the deal off.

“I have never tried to get anything against the city detectives or police, and I have never been even requested to make any sort of an investigation for them, but still that seems to be what everybody thinks I am here for.

WORK NOT BLOCKED.

“Despite reports I have never found myself blocked by the city detectives. It is true that the people have gotten tired of telling their same stories over and over again, and that is all of the trouble I have experienced.”

Tobie first announced his intention of quitting the investigation to Solicitor General H. M. Dorsey Monday evening. He determined to drop the probe last Friday afternoon, when The Journal’s exclusive story told of charges of attempted bribery lodged against his employer Colonel Thomas B. Felder, by the city detectives.

Tobie says that the presence here Monday of Dan P. Lehon, superintendent of the Burns southern office, had nothing to do with his decision to quit the case. He says that he simply notified Mr. Lehon of his decision as a matter of courtesy.

“If I did continue the work on the Phagan matter I would get credit for trying to expose the city detectives, and that I am not doing,” says Tobie.

MAY MAKE SECRET PROBE.

While he says that he is convinced that Frank is the murderer, Tobie says that the evidence is [sic] the hands of the public is not conclusive, and that Burns men will make a secret probe if “certain features” do not develop at the proper time.

Tobie declares that the confession of James Conley, the negro sweeper, that he wrote the notes for Leo M. Frank, is a bad feature of the case.

“Conley says he wrote the notes Friday,” Tobie remarked, “yet I can’t believe that the crime was premeditated. If he had said Saturday, it would have been different. His story puts a new angle on the matter.”

Tobie is bitter over efforts to blacken his character and arraigns his former employers the Pinkerton Detective agency.

DENIES KIDNAPING CHARGE.

Relative to his alleged attempt to kidnap the incubator baby in Sedan, Kan., Tobie says that he was working under the Pinkertons, who simply located the baby for a woman from whom it had been kidnaped.

In the matter he says he knew only the head of the Kansas City Pinkerton agency. When located the baby he wired the official, who told him to await the arrival of parties with a letter of introduction. These parties, a lady and a gentleman, arrived and presented the letter. He then dropped the case, he says, after telling them where the child was. Subsequently, they attempted to kidnap the baby, he says, and were caught.

The Pinkertons, he said, “try to blacken the character of every man who quits them, and that is what they have done to me.”

An interesting feature of the Phagan case Tuesday morning was a visit to police headquarters of Newt Lee’s real wife, from whom he has been separated for more than five years. This is the first time she has attempted to communicate with the negro, although the woman with whom he boards and who was said to be his wife, has repeatedly visited police headquarters.

The negro’s wife, after conferring with the detectives, went to the tower with Detective Starnes, promising to assist the police in getting the truth out of her husband.

COLONEL FELDER SILENT.

Colonel Thomas B. Felder Tuesday morning had no comment to make upon the action of the Burns detectives in severing their connection with the Phagan murder case investigation.

“I have nothing whatever to say,” remarked Colonel Felder in reply to question from a Journal representative.

“Will you issue any statement during the day?” he was asked.

“I don’t know. I will have a conference with my friends and decide that later,” said he.

NEWT LEE STICKS TO HIS ORIGINAL STORY

Attorney Bernard L. Chappell, counsel for Newt Lee, the negro night watchman of the National Pencil factory, who is held under direction of the coroner’s jury in connection with the murder of Mary Phagan, Tuesday morning requested the jailers at the Tower not to permit any one to see his client unless he was present.

The attorney fears that some one might make a false affidavit as to what the negro said. He declares that he has never himself conferred with Lee unless one of the jailors was present.

Lee has never varied from the story he told to the coroner’s jury. He still maintains that he knows nothing of the murder beyond the fact that he discovered the Phagan child’s body in the pencil factory basement about 3 o’clock Monday morning, April 27, and that he immediately notified the police.

The negro also reiterates his statement that Superintendent Leo M. Frank sent him away from the factory when he called there about 4 o’clock Saturday afternoon, April 26. He says he cannot understand why the superintendent seemed so anxious for him to go away.

FACTORY GIRLS HOPE MURDERER IS PUNISHED

One of the young ladies employed at the National Pencil factory, where Mary Phagan met her death, who does not wish her name used, has addressed the following letter to the editor of The Journal:

“Nothing has ever been said of the girls of the pencil factory until after the terrible murder, but since then there has been one continuous talk, just as if we were to blame. We are just as anxious to see the guilty punished as the rest of the public, and we all loved Mary Phagan just as much as we possibly could.

“If the public only would interest itself to look into other factories and stores they would find the girls in the pencil factory are just as good as any other working girls.

“It looks mighty hard that we have to work in the place where our little friend was so horribly murdered. But we are only poor working girls, trying to make an honest living, and we try not to think of the tragedy any more than possible, and we have the interest of the factory too much at heart to desert in times of trouble.

“We all hope and pray the guilty will be punished and the innocent given freedom, for we all think our superintendent has a soul himself and that he would not think of such a thing; much less commit such a horrible crime.”

GHEESLAND CORRECTS STORY OF TESTIMONY

W. H. Gheesland, with the Bloomfield undertaking company, wishes to correct the statement published in The Journal that he said before the grand jury that in his opinion Mary Phagan was assaulted before she was murdered.

“The grand jury, knowing that I was not an expert and not qualified to talk on the subject,” said Mr. Gheesland, “did not ask me if the little girl had been assaulted, and I expressed no opinion during the course of my examination by the jury.”

CARL HUTCHESON ISSUES OPEN LETTER TO CHIEFS

Carl Hutcheson, a young attorney associated with the firm of Anderson, Whitman & Dillon, has written the following open letter to Chief of Police James L. Beavers and Chief of Detectives N. A. Lanford, accusing them of permitting disorderly houses to operate on a number of streets in the city: J. L. Beavers, Chief of Police, Atlanta: Newport Lanford, Chief of Detectives, Atlanta:

In your great crusade against Sodom and Gomorrah with your immaculate robes of Puritanism,

I accuse you in all your glory with allowing certain houses on Ivy street, the business of which is to barter in immoral and indecent practices, to continue in flagrant operation. And you know it. If you do not, every sensible citizen of this city, who knows anything of the world, does. If you do not know these things, it is your duty to know, and you should be discharged from your high pedestals for dereliction.

I accuse you of allowing similar houses to operate on certain parts of Spring street. And you know it. If you do not you should be removed from office for dereliction of duty.

I accuse you of allowing similar houses to operate in a certain section of Pryor street. And you know it. If you do not, you should be removed from office for dereliction of duty.

I accuse you of allowing similar houses to operate on a certain section of Central avenue. And you know it. If you do not, you should be removed from office for dereliction of duty.

ALLEGES GAMBLING PLACE.

I accuse you of failing to take cognizance of a certain house in Ivy street, to which I c[a]lled your attention several weeks ago, where young men were inveigled to gamble away their money, the mistress thereof being the banker and the recipient of these ill-gotten gains. And you know it, and should be removed from office for dereliction of duty.

I accuse you and numbers of your forces with being cognizant of these facts, and yet you, the great crusade leader, stand idly by and fold your lordly hands.

I accuse you with allowing, even yet, low class hotels in this city to exist and practice their nefarious games of lowly gain. And you know it, and should be removed from office for dereliction of duty.

If you cannot “turn up” these places, there are hundreds of people who can. I can use infantile detective work and turn up dozens of them within a few days, and you know this can be done. And, if you fail to get busy and continue to parade your great genius (?) you should be removed from office for dereliction of duty.

CHARGES POLICE PROTECTION.

I accuse you with protecting these places because of your lax methods in keeping “the houses within our midst” closed, and you know it, and should b[e] removed from office for dereliction of duty.

I accuse you of closing Manhattan avenue and converting our entire municipality into a “red light” district. And you know it, and unless you change conditions at once you should be removed from office for dereliction of duty.

I accuse you of retaining on your force men unfit to protect the “decent” citizens of Atlanta, and you know it, and should be removed from office for dereliction of duty.

I accuse you of knowing where numbers of houses which exist by immoral practices are located and you know it, and you should be removed from office for dereliction of duty.

Do you think that the public will be hoodwinked forever? Do you know that the public is so gullible as to believe all of this “bush-wah” about the great work that you are continuing? Yes, you closed Manhattan avenue, but what did you do for the remainder of the city?

You and your bunch are very sore because you were unable to ferret out the Phagan murder, and you know it. When the solicitor general called in outside aid, numbers of your hirelings were very much perturbed and became insanely jealous. That is why all of this hatched-up bunch of lies and slanders have been issued against Thomas B. Felder, whose shoes you are unworthy to untie, and you know it.

I ac[c]use you of retaining a large number of leather-heads for detectives. Detectives? That is a joke, isn’t it? And you know it, and you should be removed from office for allowing such an army of incompetents to work with your departments. You know, and I know, that these fellows secure their offices through political pull and not through efficiency. They are Sherlock Holmeses when it comes to rresting [sic] blind tigers and negro crap players, but beyond taht [sic] they would not know a clew if they saw it tagged.

In the Phagan case, the newspaper men are the ones who turned up the first clews of any merit, and you know it, and should be ashamed of that crowd down there to allow the members of the Fourth Estate to put one over on you; but you know newspaper men have brains, and brains are required to make detectives.

Now, volley forth again your promulgation of purity and tell the people of this great city what large men you are and how you protect the citizenry of this great commonwealth.

If you haven’t the addresses of the houses to which I refer, call at my offices within three days and I will give you a bunch of them.

Friends of mine have advised me against printing this card. Some have feared for my life—but afraid of you and your crowd? Never. I am not afraid of antying [sic] that lays down its firearms and comes at me like a man in fair play. Now, “lay on, MacDuff, and damn’d be him who first cries, ‘Hold: Enough!’”

CARL HUTCHESON.

“HE’S A LITTLE COG IN GANG MACHINE,” SAYS CHIEF

“Small fry shooting bird shot,” smiled Chief of Police James L. Beavers when told Tuesday morning of the open letter of Carl Hutcheson attacking him, and charging that he knowingly allowed disreputable houses to operate in certain sections of the city.

“Hutcheson is just a little cog in the gang machine, trying to divert attention from the real issue and is not worth answering,” the police official said.

Chief Beavers referred a Journal reporter to the record of the “Henderson hotel case,” and refused to comment further on Hutcheson, who is an attorney associated with the firm of Felder, Anderson, Dillon & Whitman.

As a result of a raid on the Henderson hotel in January and the arrest there of a man and woman, J. F. McFarland, who was represented by Attorney Hutcheson, preferred charges against five policemen: Sergeant G. C. Fain; Officers S. H. Arrowood, J. F. Weichel, C. E. Williams and J. E. McDaniels.

Attorney Hutcheson attacked the policemen who made the raid in statements at police court, and hearing of the charges against them was set for trial before the police commission. The case was reached and Attorney Hutcheson asked a postponement, saying that his client had been called out of the city.

The case was postponed until the next regular meeting of the police commission, one month later, and then neither Attorney Hutcheson nor his client appeared to press the case.

SECRETARY FEBUARY ACTED UNDER ORDERS

Chief of Detectives Newport A. Lanford has issued the following statement fully explaining the connection of his secretary, G. C. February [sic] with the Felder dictograph incident:

“When it became known that Mr. T. B. Felder was willing to try to bribe one of my men to get information in the Phagan case or anything else that might be in the department, Mr. Colyar first approached me, and told me that he had suggest[ed] February to Colonel Felder.

“I then called February in to my office and the matter was explained to him and he was instructed to go ahead with negotiations. I was fully cognizant of every move, and Mr. February acted with my full authority and approval.”

POLICE DO NOT BELIEVE CONLEY GUILTY OF CRIME

The detectives laugh at the theory that James Conley, the negro sweeper, who says that he wrotes [sic] notes at Superintendent Frank’s dictation, is guilty of little Mary Phagan’s murder.

In commenting on the matter, Chief of Detectives Lanford said Tuesday afternoon:

“We are not entirely satisfied with the affidavit Conley has made, but we have never considered him in the light of a principal or a voluntary accomplice in the crime.”

E. F. Holloway, day watchman at the factory, says that he has always been suspicious of the negro Conley.

It was Mr. Holloway who caught the negro washing what at first were supposed to be blood stains from his shirt. Conley, Mr. Holloway says, often came down to the factory before it was time for him to go to work and he would sit watching the girls employed at the factory as they came in.

Thes[e] circumstances, Mr. Holloway says, have made him regard the negro with suspicion since the crime.

* * *

Atlanta Journal, May 27th 1913, “Col. Felder Ridicules Idea of Grand Jury Investigation of City Detectives’ Charges,” 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

Monday, May 26^th, 1913

Topeka, Kans., Chief Wires Beavers That Burns Detective Was Not Convicted.

That the local police authorities are tracing the past record of C. W. Tobie, the Burns operative investigating the Phagan case, came definitely into light Monday morning when Police Chief Beavers received a telegram from the Chief of Police of Topeka, Kans., regarding the detective.

The telegram was in answer to one sent by Beavers some days ago to Topeka asking for Tobie’s police record there. The answer stated that while Tobie had been involved in a kidnaping case in Topeka, that he had never been convicted on this score. The telegram read:

Topeka, Kans., May 26, 1913.

Chief of Police, Atlanta, Ga.:

Tobie tried to kidnap incubator baby at Sedan, Kansas, but failed, being employed by Detective Tillotson. Subesquently, Tillotson kidnaped the child at Topeka and was convicted, but Tobie was not convicted of the Topeka kidnaping.

J. W. F. HUGHES.

Chief of Police.

Burns Men Going Ahead.

Tobie said Monday that recent sensational developments in the Mary Phagan murder case, involving charges of frame-ups by and against the Burns agency, would have no effect whatever on the agency’s investigations or the coming of W. J. Burns himself to Atlanta.

“We are going right ahead, just as if these things had not happened,” said Tobie.

Tobie said W. J. Burns was not due to arrive in America until June 1. Recent developments, he repeated, would not influence one way or the other his proposed coming to Atlanta.

Telegraphic information was received from New York that Raymond Burns, son of the great detective, was on his way to Atlanta. Tobie said this afternoon that Raymond was in New York, and that he knew nothing of his contemplated or intended coming to Atlanta.

Following the publication of newspaper articles in which Tobie said Pinkerton detectives were involved in a frame-up against the Burns agency, the Atlanta branch of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency has sent The Georgian a written denial. The denial applies also to similar charges voiced by Colonel Thomas B. Felder.

Pinkerton Makes Denial.

Allan Pinkerton, who signs the denial says, in part:

“These statements, in so far as they refer to Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency, are absolutely without an iota of truth, as Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency had absolutely no previous knowledge or information concerning or pertaining to the issue between certain Atlanta city officials and Attorney-at-Law Thomas B. Felder.”

Dan S. Lehon, general superintendent of all Southern agencies of the Burns detective service, stationed in New Orleans, spent Sunday and Monday in Atlanta. His arrival gave currency to reports that the Burns force in Atlanta had been strengthened for completion of their work on the Mary Phagan murder case, but Tobie said Lehon merely stopped over to visit him. He was on his way to another city, Tobie said, and his stay in Atlanta had no connection with the Phagan investigation.

* * *

Atlanta Georgian, May 26th 1913, “Accuses Tobie of Kidnaping Attempt,” 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

Monday, May 26^th, 1913

[A substantial portion of the beginning of this article is illegible with the PDF copy in our possession. If anyone has a copy of this newspaper, please let us know and we can complete the transcription of it. Thank you! — Ed.]

… if I did introduce you to my wife and you [2 words illegible] make the remark that you had had the pleasure of meeting her in Chattanooga? And yet one of our alleged newspapers that has been very busy defending your good name, and painting mine blacker than hell in this community, has the audacity to publish in their Sunday morning edition a statement that my wife became so disgusted with me that she separated with me a year ago.

This statement is without any foundation whatever, and an alleged representative of this alleged newspaper had the effrontery (fortunately for him that I was absent) to approach my wife in the hotel parlor on Friday night in the presence of another lady and try to scare her to death with threats, which I would hate to believe met your approval.

I wish to say to you, sir, that in any controversy that I might have with you, or any other man, and I become so low and so prostituted that I forget my mother and your mother and our wives, are women, pure, sweet women, of this bright and beautiful southland, and make an attack upon them, I want some one to shoot me as they would a mad-dog.

Nothing that you could say or do could cause me to forget myself so far as to invade the sacredness of your home life, and no man worthy of the name of man would do so; yet I am not surprised that a representative of this alleged newspaper would do such a thing when they are so reckless in publishing what they call news. You talk and write about a frame-up, and about a conspiracy, but I wish to state to you that in my humble opinion, as well as in the opinion of many good men in this community, there has been a conspiracy formed against Captain Beavers, Captain Lanford, G. C. Febuary and myself in the last few days, “that would make the star chamber of King Charles the First blush for shame.”

AS TO CRITICISMS.

I am really surprised in the bitter attack you have made upon me, when you start that attack by saying I am an irresponsible creature, in other words that I am an insane man. I am indeed surprised that a gentleman of your standing would make an attack of the kind you have made upon me, if you believe me bereft of my reason. There is not money enough in the state of Georgia to hire me, “poor moral pervert degenerate and irresponsible creature” that you have seen fit to call me, to make an attack upon a woman, child or an irresponsible human being. Perhaps though, colonel, you were in a desperate frame of mind over your experience with the dictograph and forgot yourself. If so, you are excusable. In writing to you on Saturday night I misunderstood your witness, Mr. Atchison’s name, it had been told me as Mr. Atherton, and I did not know who your distinguished friend was until Saturday night.

Poor Atchison, he started out in Nashville a few years ago with a brilliant future as a young physician of promise, but now he is in Atlanta, having deserted the medical profession, which of course he had a right to do, and is following another avocation, and according to his own statement he has only been in the city since January 1, last past, and as I take it is a friend of yours he is catering to a little newspaper notoriety; in other words he would like for the citizens of Atlanta to know that he has arrived. I haven’t seen this gentleman in fifteen years, but I will explain in a few days to the satisfaction of the public what his grudge is against me.

As for your other character witnesses, I would not dignify them with a reply, though I am exceedingly surprised, when you started out in your denunciation of me that you could get 1,000 people to swear that they would not believe me on oath, that you fell 996 short of your number, and I think that this will conform with about every charge and statement that you have made in your great defense.

SCORES MR. TOBIE.

I would suggest that your royal flunky, Tobie, who evidently has got a sore toe over the recent exposure, go to a drug store and buy a corn plaster. If he can’t find one, let him call on the Pinkerton Detective agency to pilot him to the nearest one, and I am satisfied that Mr. Harry Scott would take great pleasure in prompting your royal flunky in his little drama, scene 1, act 1, called “The Mysterious Hunt of the Far-Famed Burns Detective Agency for the Murderer of Mary Phagan.” The only thing that is the matter with Mr. Tobie is that he arrived on the stage too late in the drama, as Lanford and Scott already had the evidence to indict Leo M. Frank, as the action of the grand jury has proven.

I read Tobie’s attack on me in your afternoon organ, and I also noticed that he laid great stress upon the fact that he was here for business, pure and simple, provided, of course, that the citizens of Atlanta opened up their purses and responded to his call for money, as the Burns agency, according to him, was not in business for their health. No one who is familiar with their recent past experiences doubts Mr. Tobie’s assertions, but in Mr. Tobie’s call he reminded me of a Pullman porter who had been on a long run all night with only two old maids for passengers, and he knew the tips were scarce, and he was going through the car making a last desperate call for breakfast.

The people of this fair city have never failed to respond to a cry for help when it was a genuine cry, but they are not going to be gulled by a false prophet, who pretends that he has come like “a Moses to lead them out of the wilderness.”

Now, sir, if you want to accept the propositions I made, all right. They are made in good faith. But if you prefer to go ahead as you have started out, by abuse and vilification, all right; but remember, there is none of us perfect, “and let him that is without sin cast the first stone.”

A. S. COLYAR.

Atlanta, Ga., May 26, 1913.

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Atlanta Journal, May 26th 1913, “Five Good Men Say if Charges Are Untrue, Say’s A. S. Colyar to 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.

Atlanta Journal

Monday, May 26^th, 1913

That the past career and record of C. W. Tobie, the Burns investigator who came to Atlanta to probe the Phagan mystery for Colonel Thomas B. Felder, is being investigated by the local police is shown by a telegram received by Chief of Police J. L. Beavers Monday morning.

The telegram was from the chief of police of Topeka, Kan., and reads as follows:

“Tobie tried to kidnap incubator baby at Sedan, Kan., but failed, being employed by Detective Tillotson. Subsequently Tillotson kidnaped the child at Topeka and was convicted, but Tobie was not connected with Topeka kidnaping.

“J. W. F. HNGHES [sic],

“Chief of Police, Topeka, Kan.”

Efforts were made to reach Tobie by The Journal Monday, but the detective was not at his hotel.

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Atlanta Journal, May 26th 1913, “Tobie Tried to Kidnap Incubator Baby, Says Topeka Police Official,” 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

Monday, May 26^th, 1913

Reported Two Telephone Operators Will Swear to Conversations Held Over the Pencil Factory’s Line.

GAVE THEIR TESTIMONY BEFORE THE GRAND JURY

A. S. Colyar Confers With Chief Beavers on Bribery Allegations—Case Now in Its Infancy, Says Chief.

With the entire city aroused over the recent sensational Felder bribery charges and counter charges of graft and corruption in the police department, investigation of the Mary Phagan mystery continues. Police headquarters was elated Sunday over the progress and over new developments which have arisen.

New testimony has been given by girl telephone operators relative to conversations which were held over the pencil factory’s line on the night of the tragedy, Chief Lanford says. Secrecy shrouds the nature of the alleged conversations. No one acquainted with the evidence will talk. It is hinted to be the strongest yet secured.

No one acquainted with the evidence will talk. It is hinted to be the strongest yet unearthed.

Coupled with this development comes the rumor of a telephone call reported to have been made on the Friday morning preceding the murder, in which Mary Phagan is said to have been instructed to come to the pencil factory Friday afternoon to obtain her pay envelope. Detectives will neither deny nod [sic] admit that the rumor has been confirmed.

Phone Message to Pope.

J. B. Pope, of Bellwood avenue, a county policeman and neighbor of the slain girl, to whom the rumored telephone message was made, could not be reached last night by The Constitution. Mrs. Pope says she knows nothing of the report, but says numerous calls came to her home for Mary Phagan and members of her family.

A. S. Colyar, the soldier of fortune and acknowledged instigator of the bribery trap, came to police headquarters Sunday afternoon at 5 o’clock and held an hour’s conference with Chief Beavers. They were closeted in the latter’s office, and, upon emerging, neither would disclose the nature of their consultation.

It is freely reported, however, that the adventurer has something new up his sleeve, and that he will play a leading role in the charges to be made in alleged new bribery attempts. He stated that on Monday he would expose others than Colonel Felder and the men he has already attacked. Chief C. W. Tobie, it is said, is to be included in his attack today.

Harry Scott, the Pinkerton superintendent, and Detective John Black of headquarters, again tried Sunday to break the testimony of the negro Conley, who confessed to having written notes at the dictation of Frank, and which are believed to have been the murder missives found beside the dead girl’s body. He stoutly maintained his original tale as explained in his affidavit and a strenuous third degree failed to swerve it.

Wife Will Assist Colyar.

Mrs. A. S. Colyar, wife of the bribery accuser, who has been in Atlanta for several weeks, left the city Sunday afternoon for her home in Cartersville, where she goes to get papers relating to her husband’s past and supporting his charges. She will return soon, it is said, to assist him in his fight against Colonel Felder.

“This is not the end,” Colyar said at headquarters. “It is only the beginning. Whenever I take hold of thing like this, the results are many and widespread and it can be depended upon that there will be a general clean up before we are through.”

Chief Beavers, in talking with a reporter for The Constitution, echoed Colyar’s expression regarding the extent of the probe proposed into alleged bribery practices in the Phagan murder.

“This thing is only in its infancy. It first began as an individual exposure. Now that it has been a political plaything, we are going to reveal the infamy of others. It won’t take long to do it either. Some folks are going to be driven to disgrace. They’d do well to get out of town before the bomb bursts.”

Think Tobie Victimized.

When asked if he intended attacking the character of Chief Tobie, of the Burns agency, as has been rumored, Chief Lanford declared,

“I have nothing against Tobie. He doesn’t seem to be badly mixed up in this affair. I think he, too, has been victimized. He was unfortunate in becoming attached to the operations of the wrong person, and naturally will have to suffer the consequences. In fact, I feel a certain degree of pity for Tobie. He’s unfortunate—exceedingly unfortunate.”

Evidently Chief Lanford attaches great importance to the reported testimony of the two telephone girls regarding the midnight conversations. His only verification of the rumor is that he knows of the existence of such testimony. Beyond that, he will say absolutely nothing, except that he “understands the two girls went before the grand jury during its Friday morning session.”

It is a known rule of the telephone exchanges which prevents operators from revealing conversations they overhear except when placed under oath. Chief Lanford says that this is the reason why the two operators were sent before the grand jury. Their identity is as secret as the nature of their testimony. Solicitor General Dorsey would make no statement regarding the girls.

Chief Beavers and Colyar would not admit to a Constitution reporter whether or not their conference Sunday was for the purpose of planning some more to expose other suspected bribe practices. They were only talking things over, they said. Any way the talking over was done in utmost secrecy behind locked doors with a uniformed policeman on guard in the ante room.

War to End, Says Chief

The chief reiterated his fury denunciation which he made Saturday night and in which he promised to break the backbone of the vice gang which he charges is in existence and which he declares has been too long in political rife. “It is war to the bitter finish,” he said.

Signed by Allan Pinkerton, principal of the Pinkerton agency, a statement has been issued by the organization denying certain statements regarding their operations which appeared in a statement of Colonel Felder. The Pinkerton denial is as follows:

“In the issue of May 25 of The Constitution there appears an article said to be a statement of Attorney Thomas B. Felder under the following caption: ‘Thomas B. Felder Brands the Charges of Bribery a Diabolical Conspiracy,’ in which the name of Pinkerton’s National Detective agency frequently appears.

“These statements, insofar as they refer to the Pinkerton agency, are absolutely without an iota of truth, as the Pinkertons had absolutely no previous knowledge or information concerning or pertaining to the issue between certain Atlanta civic officials and Attorney Felder, and the agency’s first knowledge of these issues, or in connection therewith, came through newspaper publications of May 23.

“We respectfully request that you give this, our denial, in connection with the statements referred to, as equal prominence as that which you gave the published article in question. Yours truly,

“PINKERTONS NATIONAL DETECTIVE AGENCY.

(Signed) “By ALLAN PINKERTON.”

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Atlanta Constitution, May 26th 1913, “New Witnesses in Phagan Case Found by Police,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)