Tag Archives: Colonel Thomas B. Felder

Chief James L. Beavers’ Reply to Mayor Woodward

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Chief James LAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Constitution

Tuesday, May 27th, 1913

“If Beavers and Lanford permitted Febuary, ‘a trusted man,’ to go out and circulate lies about corruption in the police department in an effort to trap someone, they have debauched their officers, and the sooner they are put out the better it will be for the men who work under them.”

Mayor James G. Woodward made the above reply to Chief James L. Beavers in a statement to The Constitution late Monday afternoon. They mayor declared that Febuary’s part in the conspiracy has destroyed his usefulness with the department, and he is not fit to serve with honorable men.

“In my opinion, and I believe every decent citizen of Atlanta will agree with me, Febuary is not fit to serve in the department in any capacity.” Mayor Woodward continued. “How can Beavers or Lanford, or the members of the police commission, place faith in him. He has dragged the department through filth of his own making. He has cast reflection, by his act, on the blue uniform.”

Beavers’ Charge Refuted.

Mayor Woodward scathingly denounced Chief Beavers’ allegations that he (Woodward) urged the reopening of the Manhattan avenue district. He admits telling Beavers that the district would be opened as a result of public demand for the interest of society, because of the scattered conditions.

He declared that he has never placed a straw in the way of Chief Beavers’ vice crusade, and explained that whenever he called the chief to his office it was for the purpose of referring complaints to him—complaints of bad conditions in respectable neighborhoods.

Mayor Woodward said that on one occasion he referred to the chief a letter written by a respectable woman—the mother of little children—who complained that there was an immoral house near her home, and she wanted the police to protect her and her babies.

“This woman told me that she had written Chief Beavers about the house some ten days before she wrote me, and nothing was ever done,” Mayor Woodward said. “All that I have ever heard of the complaint is that the house is quieted down.” Continue Reading →

Felder Barely Missed Being Trapped by His Own Dictograph

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Felder Barely MissedAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Journal

Tuesday, May 27th, 1913

Last week, when the detectives were laying their plans to trap Colonel Thomas B. Felder with a dictograph, they came very near trapping the colonel with his own instrument.

The amusing incident, which has just come to light, revolves about Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey.

Before a dictograph was installed in the Williams house room the city detectives told the solicitor that the attorney was negotiating for the purchase for $1,000 of certain papers in the Phagan case.

The solicitor said nothing about the confidences of the detectives, and a short time later Colonel Felder told him “that he was going to get the detectives.”

The solicitor said nothing of the attorney’s confidences.

A short time later, however, the detectives came in and asked the solicitor if he could get them a dictograph.

Mr. Dorsey says that he thought the officers wanted it for use in some phase of the Phagan case. In fact, he was busy and didn’t even ask why they wanted the delicate little instrument, but immediately thought of Mr. Felder and the Burns people. Continue Reading →

Burns Agency Quits the Phagan Case; Tobie Leaves Today

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Burns Agency Quits

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

Atlanta Constitution

Tuesday, May 27th, 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.” Continue Reading →

Col. Felder Ridicules Idea of Grand Jury Investigation of City Detectives’ Charges

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thorough_cleaning_needed

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

Atlanta Journal

Tuesday, May 27th, 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. Continue Reading →

Five Good Men Say if Charges Are Untrue, Says A. S. Colyar to Col. Felder

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Five Good Men

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

Atlanta Journal

Monday, May 26th, 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. Continue Reading →

Mayor Eager to Bring Back Tenderloin, Declares Chief

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Mayor Eager

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

Atlanta Georgian

Monday, May 26th, 1913

Chief of Police James L. Beavers issued a statement Monday forenoon defying his accusers to prove that he had been guilty of any act of moral turpitude as Chief of Police or as a citizen.

He characterized the attack by Colonel Thomas B. Felder merely as an effort to detract attention from his own (Felder’s) actions.

Referring to A. S. Colyar, in his sweeping denial of the charges that have been made against the police department, he made the pertinent observation, “that it many times required a crook to turn up another crook.” Continue Reading →

Will Take Charge of Graft to Grand Jury for Vindication

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Thomas B. Felder, and his expansive smile. This photograph was taken before Chief Beavers started out to make him prove his charges. What sort of a smile will Felder wear when Beavers gets through with him?

Thomas B. Felder, and his expansive smile. This photograph was taken before Chief Beavers started out to make him prove his charges. What sort of a smile will Felder wear when Beavers gets through with him?

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

Atlanta Georgian

Monday, May 26th, 1913

Chief of Police Beavers and Chief of Detectives Lanford both stated emphatically Monday that they intended to go to the full limit of the law in making Thomas B. Felder prove his charges of graft in the police department.

Both Beavers and Lanford will take the matter before the Grand Jury, and they will take other action in the courts against Felder forthwith.

Chief Beavers shortly before noon held a conference with City Attorney Mayson, after which he announced that he would take the whole matter of alleged attempted bribery and “conspiracy against him” before the Grand Jury next Friday.

The chief was advised by the City Attorney that this was the proper course to pursue. He declined to specifically name all of those who will be involved, remarking that he will lay all of his evidence before the grand jurors and ask indictments.

They do not intend to let Felder’s statements go with a simple newspaper denial made by them. They intend to have a thorough investigation, and they intend further to make Felder come forward with his evidence or take the consequences; and the consequences, they intend, shall be the fullest penalty that the law can inflict upon him.

SAY THEY WILL BARE “SECRETS.”

Both Beavers and Lanford have determined to go at the matter systematically, thoroughly and in a legal way; and they intend that the investigations before the Grand Jury and in the courts will lay bare all the “secrets” that Felder is alleged to have of bribery and graft in the police department; and also make public the reasons Mayor Woodward has in the attempt to restore the restricted vice district in Atlanta. Continue Reading →

Thorough Probe of Charges Against Felder and Latter’s Charges Against Police Asked

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Thorough Probe

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

Atlanta Journal

Monday, May 26th, 1913

“I Shall Lay Evidence Gathered by the Detectives and Col. Felder’s Charges of Graft and Corruption All Before the Grand Jury,” Says the Chief, “Asking That a Searching Investigation Be Made So That the Whole Truth Shall Come Out”

“ONE CROOK FREQUENTLY TURNS UP ANOTHER,” DECLARES CHIEF IN STATEMENT MONDAY MORNING

Mayor Woodward Gives Out Interview, Answering the Chief and Denying That He Has Hampered Him in His Crusade. He Says Chief Should Clean Up Center of the City—Hints of an Investigation by Police Board—Col. Felder Has No Statement Monday

After giving out a tart statement in which he vigorously arraigns Colonel Thomas B. Felder, Police Chief James L. Beavers Monday morning announced that he would at once go before the Fulton county grand jury and insist upon a thorough investigation by that body of the charges which have been made against Colonel Felder, Mayor Woodward, E. O. Miles and C. C. Jones.

Chief Beavers declared that he would also urge the grand jury to make searching inquiry into Colonel Felder’s charges that graft and corruption exists in the police and detective departments and would ask that the grand jury thoroughly  investigate Colonel Felder’s allegations that both he (Chief Beavers) and Chief Lanford are guilty of acts involving moral turpitude.

“I want the official limelight turned on this entire affair,” said the chief of police. “I shall request the grand jury to hew to the line and let the chips fall wherever they may.”

Chief Beavers will carry the matter to the grand jury in person. He will lay before that body all of the affidavits in his possession as well as the records of the dictograph which are sworn to, and will also invite the grand jury’s attention to Colonel Felder’s charges against himself, Chief Lanford and the department in general. Continue Reading →

Thomas Felder Brands the Charges of Bribery Diabolical Conspiracy

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Thomas Felder Brands

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

Atlanta Constitution

Sunday, May 25th, 1913

Thomas B. Felder, the Atlanta lawyer who is accused of having offered a bribe for an affidavit of J. W. Coleman, stepfather of Mary Phagan, now in the possession of the police, yesterday issued the following statement: To the People of Atlanta:

The publication of the sensational “story” in The Atlanta Journal on yesterday afternoon relating to myself and my connection with the Phagan case is but the symptom or manifestation of one of the most diabolical conspiracies ever hatched by a venal and corrupt “system” to protect crime in a civilized community.

To be more specific, this conspiracy was formed just after the arrest of Newt Lee and Leo Frank, charged with the murder of Mary Phagan. The controlling genius of it is Newport Lanford, chief of the city detectives; its object is to shield and protect the murderers of this innocent child, and in its wicked ramifications it marks our distinguished (?) chief of detectives as the Lieutenant Becker of our “system,” and renders his co-conspirators as dangerous to the lives, liberty and property and reputation of our citizens as the bloody and deadly Society of the Mafia.

Part Played By Papers.

Pity it is that the press of the city has been and is being made the innocent, if effective, instrument in their hands to further and effectuate the object of this wicked conspiracy by prostituting their potential columns in the exploitation of the mass of forgeries and perjuries which has been given to the public through their columns, for be it known that these papers have tacitly sanctioned the utterances of Colyar by reproducing his affidavits in the face of the fact that the editors and proprietors of all would without hesitation swear that they would not believe him on oath if called upon to do so. Strangely enough, a portion of the criminal record of this man Colyar is reproduced, showing him to be a man steeped in crime and infamy, while in the parallel column is published his defamatory utterances against me. Continue Reading →

C. W. Tobie, Burns’ Agent, Tells of the Conferences He Held With A. S. Colyar

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CW Tobie

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

Atlanta Constitution

Sunday, May 25th, 1913

following affidavit concerning his connection with the Phagan case and with A. S. Colyar.

Georgia, Fulton County—Personally appeared before the undersigned, an officer authorized by law to administer oaths, C. W. Tobie, who, first, being duly sworn, deposes and says:

That he is a citizen of Chicago, with offices in the First National Bank building of that city, and that he is manager of the criminal department, west, of the William J. Burns National Detective agency; that he has occupied this position for the past ten months; that he has been connected with the William J. Burns National Detective agency, as manager of the Kansas City, Mo., branch office, since May, 1910; that for a year prior to that time he was connected with the Tilletson Detective agency, correspondents of the William J. Burns National Detective agency; that prior to that time deponent was connected with the Pinkerton National Detective agency for a period of nine years; that he severed his connection with the Pinkerton National Detective agency in May, 1909.

Charge Is False.

Deponent says, on oath, that the statement that he was discharged by said agency is utterly, absolutely and deliberately false; that he resigned from said agency, and not under compulsion, but of his own volition. Continue Reading →

Here Is the Dictagraph Record of Woodward’s Conversation

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Here is the Dictagraph Record

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

Atlanta Constitution

Sunday, May 25th, 1913

Going to A. S. Colyar’s room in Williams House No. 2, on Forsyth street, Wednesday afternoon to make efforts to get information of alleged grafting on the part of Chief of Police Beavers and Chief Lanford, Mayor James G. Woodward walked into as neat a trap as was ever devised. The same dictagraph which was alleged to take down the statements of Colonel T. B. Felder, is said to have been working while the mayor of Atlanta was in conference with E. O. Miles, a private detective; Febuary, Chief of detectives Lanford’s clerk, and A. S. Colyar.

The mayor admits frankly he was there, but says he offered no money, but that he would subscribe to a fund to unearth graft in any city department; and also said that his visit had nothing whatever to do with the Phagan case.

“These parties told me they had evidence of the corruptness of Beavers and Lanford. I wanted to see what they had,” he is quoted as saying.

Part of the conversation, as alleged to have been taken down by George M. Gentry, nephew of the president of Southern Bell Telephone company, dealt with the early arrival of Miles, who discussed the Phagan case with Colyar.

After Mayor Woodward arrived in the room, Colyar stated that Febuary had the goods on certain members of the police and detective department. There was some discussion about the right of the police to arrest anyone who could get such evidence. Mayor Woodward staying that he didn’t understand how such an informer could be thrown in jail. Continue Reading →

Colyar Declared Criminal and Not Worthy of Belief in Four Sworn Statements

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A. S. Colyar

A. S. Colyar

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

Atlanta Constitution

Sunday, May 25th, 1913

Four sworn statements concerning the career of A. S. Colyar, and declaring him a criminal and unworthy of belief, have been furnished The Constitution by Colonel Thomas B. Felder. They are as follows:

Record in Nashville.

State of Georgia, County of Fulton—Personally appeared before the undersigned, an officer authorized by law to administer oaths, C. R. Atchison, who, first being duly sworn, deposes and says: That he was born and reared in the city of Nashville, Tenn., and lived there until January 1, 1913, when he removed to the city of Atlanta, state and county aforesaid, and since that date has been a citizen thereof.

Deponent further says that he resides at the Georgian Terrace, in said city, and is vice president of the Massengale Advertising agency, with offices in the Candler building, said city, county and state.

Deponent further says, on oath, he has known A. S. Colyar, Jr., from boyhood, and that he is thoroughly well acquainted with his reputation and character for truth and veracity.

Deponent further says, on oath, that he is in a general way familiar with the criminal record of Colyar, covering a period of approximately twenty-five (25) years. Deponent knows that he has been arrested during this period in several states of the union for the offenses of forgery, perjury and impersonating others to obtain money; that he has been incarcerated in the jails of several states; that he is a moral degenerate, pervert, and a chronic crook and black leg, and deponent does not hesitate to say that from a knowledge of his character and reputation he would not believe him on oath. Continue Reading →

Felder’s Charges of Graft Rotten

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George Gentry.

George Gentry.

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

Atlanta Constitution

Sunday, May 25th, 1913

Lanford Declares No Printable Words Can Be Found to Describe Lawyer’s Attack.

“As for Tom Felder’s charges of graft in the police or detective departments,” said Chief Lanford last night, “they are as rotten as we have shown his character to be. There is no printable words that might be used to describe them. All Atlanta knows they are untrue, unfounded and are but the explosions of a distorted brain—a brain deformed by years of treachery, and they call him ‘Colonel’ Felder.

“He directs most of his charges of corruption toward the detective department,” the accused official continued. “There’s a reason. The detective department is responsible for trapping him into the dictagraph [sic] conspiracy. The police department has done but little damage to him and to show him up in his true colors. He should not worry over uniformed men. It’s the detective department that has prodded him.

Police Have Special Squad.

“To anyone who is acquainted with depar[t]mental operations, it is a known fact that the detectives have nothing whatever to do with the enforcement of laws pertaining to disorderly houses. The sleuths could not afford to take a chance in such cases. The police have a special squad to attend to this duty. Felder says he has seen a graft list of the detective department, in which are contained the names of lewd resorts under protection of the detective department.

“How absurd this all is. I gave him credit for having at least brains enough to know something of the workings of the police. The detectives have not the slightest opportunity to graft from disorderly houses in case such a condition was in existence. This alone is sufficient to prove that his charges are without foundation. Continue Reading →

Others Will Be Involved In New Bribery Charges Intimates Chief Lanford

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G. C. Febuary, Secretary to Chief Lanford.

G. C. Febuary, Secretary to Chief Lanford.

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

Atlanta Constitution

Sunday, May 25th, 1913

The probability of bribery charges to be made against others as well as Colonel Felder was intimated last night by Chief Lanford to a Constitution reporter.

Documentary evidence involving one or more men is rumored to be in Lanford’s possession. Also, his dictagraph [sic] is said to have reported secret conferences relating to the use of bribe money in the Mary Phagan case.

This new phase of the bribery charges is said to pertain only to the bribing of witnesses in the Phagan investigation. Rumors to this effect have been coming to police headquarters for several days. Corroboration of the reports came recently from Mrs. Mima [sic] Famby [sic], of 400 Piedmont avenue, a witness in the case.

Offered Money to Leave City.

Mrs. Famby declared to a reporter for The Constitution that she had received six offers of large sums of money to leave the city until the Mary Phagan trial has been finished. It is said that she has made an affidavit, naming the men who approached her, and that the document is in the hands of Chief Lanford.

Lanford declared to a Constitution reporter that he would not reveal his new bribery evidence until the trial. He would not state the nature of affidavits said to be in his hands.

Solicitor Dorsey has been apprised by Harry Scott of the position of the Pinkerton agency in the Phagan investigation. The solicitor said last night that Scott had told him that, primarily, the detective organization was in the employ of Frank’s defense, in that it was paid by the National Pencil company, and that reports of his progress were turned over to the suspect’s counsel. Continue Reading →

“You Went to Williams House Like a Lamb to the Slaughter,” Colyar Tells Felder in Letter

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You Went To

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

Atlanta Journal

Sunday, May 25th, 1913

Former Tennesseean [sic] in Open Letter Tells Colonel Felder That He Was Never Caught With Goods Until Last Wednesday—Colyar Says He Strayed From the Path He Should Have Followed When He Went to Wash Attorney’s Political Linen in a State in Which Colonel Felder Could Not Set Foot

A. S. Colyar has addressed the following open letter to Colonel Thomas B. Felder: Continue Reading →

Here Are Affidavits Submitted by Col. Felder

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Here are Affidavits

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

Atlanta Journal

Sunday, May 25th, 1913

Following are five affidavits submitted to the newspapers by Colonel Thomas B. Felder, of Atlanta, for publication with his statement answering the dictograph quotations.

First appears the affidavit of C. W. Tobie, representative of the Burns detective agency investigating the murder of Mary Phagan. Second is that of W. A. Milner, an attorney of Cartersville. Third, comes that of W. D. Rhea, formerly of Nashville. Fourth, is the deposition of C. R. Atchison, formerly of Nashville. And fifth, comes the affidavit of E. W. McNeal, formerly of Nashville.

Following is Mr. Tobie’s affidavit:

MR. TOBIE’S AFFIDAVIT. Continue Reading →

Dorsey to Present Graft Charges if They Stand Up

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Dorsey to PresentAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Sunday, May 25th, 1913

Hugh M. Dorsey, Solicitor General, made it plain last night that if investigation develops the fact that there is anything in the charges of graft and corruption in the police department, or that Colonel Felder attempted to bribe public officials to secure evidence in the Phagan case, he most assuredly would present the matter to the Grand Jury.

He said, however, that he does not think the charges and counter charges would amount to anything when sifted to the final analysis, other than a controversy between the city detectives and the man who brought the Burns detectives into the Phagan case.

* * *

Atlanta Georgian, May 25th 1913, “Dorsey to Present Graft Charges if They Stand Up,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Frank the Guilty Man, Declares Chief Lanford

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Leo Frank, an undated family photograph

Leo Frank, an undated family photograph

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

Atlanta Constitution

Sunday, May 25th, 1913

“Frank will be convicted. He is the guilty man, and we will show it beyond a doubt. Evidence that we hold but will not reveal will startle those who believe his innocence into conviction of his guilt. It will not be disclosed until the trial.

“I have been confident throughout the investigation of his guilt. I am satisfied now. Colonel Felder’s charges that we have shielded Frank can find no substantiation. The evidence we have unearthed is proof to the contrary.

“The detectives of police headquarters have solved the mystery of Mary Phagan’s murder. They have combatted against odds heavier than those we ever encountered before. I am proud of my men.

“I know my duty has been done. The murder of the little pencil factory girl has been cleared, and Tom Felder has been shown up in his true colors. That is why the Atlanta detective department sleeps well o’ nights.”

—Chief Newport A. Lanford.

* * *

Atlanta Constitution, May 25th 1913, “Frank the Guilty Man, Declares Chief Lanford,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

“Lanford is the Controlling Genius of Conspiracy to Protect the Murderer of Little Mary Phagan”

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Thomas B. Felder

Thomas B. Felder

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

Atlanta Journal

Sunday, May 25th, 1913

So Declares Colonel Thomas B. Felder in Scathing Arraignment of Chief of Detectives and Those Assisting Him. Says Lanford and the Pinkerton Detectives Are Doing All They Can to Hamper the Phagan Investigation — Refers to Lanford as the “Lieutenant Becker” of the Department

CHARGES A. S. COLYAR WITH BEING A SELF-CONFESSED FORGER AND BLACKMAILER

Colonel Felder Says He Met Colyar Two and a Half Years Ago. During His Controversy With Governor Blease, and That Colyar Palmed Off Forged Affidavits on Him — Declares Colyar Came to Him With Tales of Corruption in Police Department and Asked for $1,000 for His Information

Charging Atlanta police officials with a conspiracy to shield and protect the murderers of Mary Phagan and styling Chief Newport Lanford as “the Lieutenant Becker of Atlanta and controlling genius” of the plot, Colonel Thomas B. Felder late Saturday gave out an emphatic statement vehemently denying the attempted bribery and other charges hurled at him by the police in the now famous dictograph records.

That a dictograph was used Colonel Felder doubts, and if one was used in the Williams house, he asserts, the record was changed by the persons using the record. This he tends to establish by showing that the record quotes him now in the first person singular and again in the second person singular. The record, he asserts, was “framed.”

Colonel Felder asserts that the plot was hatched with the day Leo M. Frank was arrested and maintains that since that time the police have done nothing else save protect the two suspects and obstruct the work of the Burns agency and Solicitor Dorsey.

He attacks A. S. Colyar in a half dozen affidavits appended to his lengthy statement. Colyar, he says, is morally and mentally irresponsible and merely a tool in the hands of Lanford and his agents.

He charges that the Coleman affidavit, imputed by the police to be a repudiation of Felder’s connection with the Phagan investigation, was obtained from J. W. Coleman under pressure.

The police plot, he charges, involves the [P]Inkertons and was organized by Chief Lanford and the Atlanta operatives for the Pinkertons employed the day after the Phagan murder by the National Pencil company.

HIS RELATIONS WITH COLYAR.

The statement given out by Colonel Felder, as he had announced Friday, constitutes a narrative of the events leading up to the conferences in Williams House No. 2, where the dictograph was operated by Colyar and G. C. Febuary. Continue Reading →

“Knew It Was Coming,” Declares Cole Blease

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Knew it was Coming

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

Atlanta Constitution

Sunday, May 25th, 1913

Columbia, S. C., May 24.—(Special.—Governor Cole Blease, on whom the dictagraph [sic] was first sprung in the south, and by a strange coincidence through the instrumentality of Colonel T. B. Felder, feels that his time has come, and recent events are pointed to by him as his complete vindication.

“’He that putteth on the sword by the sword he shall perish’—or words to that effect—is my biblical authority for the paraphrase that ‘he who uses the dictagraph against another and fails to prove anything by it, by the dictagraph himself shall be crucified,’” said Governor Blease in talking of the Atlanta situation today.

“And the worst part of it all,” continued Governor Blease, “is that this same man, A. S. Colyar, is the identical sleuth hound turned loose by Felder on me to injure me among my own people—Colyar, this proven criminal and madman. He was the man chosen by Felder to wreck me, and now he turns up by wrecking Felder, and the strangest part of the whole thing is that Felder, now in his own defense, is forced to the dernier resort of proving that the man he sent to get evidence against me is too contemptible to be worthy of either confidence or belief. My own vindication, therefore, comes from Felder himself. Who would have thought it—and this so soon!”

“I do not suppose anybody that knows Tom Felder would be surprised if he is guilty or if this is a scheme worked up by him to get a little cheap notoriety and advertising.

“However, I presume that the members of the Atlanta bar will immediately furnish certificates of character for their darling Tommy and show that he is above suspicion and a gentleman of the highest character, with unblemished reputation as a man and attorney; and if a court of Georgia should order his arrest, that General Anderson will forthwith call out the militia and have him released, as General Anderson, his former partner and lifelong friend, knows of his character and reputation, and will not for a moment allow his Tommy to be interfered with.

“I am satisfied that poor little misled Joe Brown has had his pardon clerk ready fixing up a release for his innocent darling in case of any conviction.

“And as a matter of course the gutter snipes who went over to Augusta from South Carolina will hurry to offer their services to go on sweet Tommy’s bond, and also to appear in the courts, along with ‘Seaboard Bill,’ and his friend, J. L. Lyon, who have heretofore been his bosom friends in his defense; all save Chairman Carlisle, who, I suppose, will be too busy ‘moneying’ to leave his own state just now.

“Consequently, all will be well. Birds of a feather flock together and, of course, if the lead buzzard rings his bell the congregation will assemble.”

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Atlanta Constitution, May 25th 1913, “‘Knew It Was Coming,’ Declares Cole Blease,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)