Leo M. Frank. Superintendent of the National Pencil company, snapped by a Journal photographer on the way to police headquarters. Mr. Frank is not under arrest, but will be a witness at the coroner’s inquest.

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

Atlanta Journal

Tuesday, April 29^th, 1913

Detectives Building Case on Theory that Frank and Negro Can Clear Mystery

Chief Lanford Believes That Testimony of the Superintendent and Negro Night Watchman May Lead to the Arrest of the Person Guilty of the Atrocious Crime That Has Shocked the Whole City—No Further Arrests Expected Soon

MRS. FRANK IN TEARS AT POLICE STATION WHILE HUSBAND IS UNDER EXAMINATION

Frank Was Confronted by Negro Night Watchman—His Attorney, Luther Z. Rosser, Present at Inquiry, Which Was Conducted by Chief Beavers, Chief Lanford and Detectives Behind Closed Doors—Conference Still in Progress at 2

At 1:35 o’clock Tuesday afternoon Chief of Detectives N. A. Lanford, announced that L. M. Frank, superintendent of the National Pencil company’s factory, where Mary Phagan was found murdered early Sunday morning, would be detained by the police until after the coroner’s inquest. The inquest will be resumed Wednesday morning at 9 o’clock.

Chief Lanford made this statement when he emerged from a conference which had been in progress in his office on the third floor of the police station since shortly after 1 o’clock.

Present at this conference were L. M. Frank, Chief of Police James L. Beavers, Chief Lanford, Luther Z. Rosser, Mr. Frank’s attorney; John Black a city detective; Harry Scott, a Pinkerton detective, and W. G. Humphrey, chairman of the city finance committee and former chairman of the police committee.

For an hour or more Newt Lee, the negro night watchman at the factory, had been in the room, when he was returned to his cell at 1:30 o’clock.

THE ONLY WAY TO CLEAR IT UP.

Chief Lanford declared that the police were working on the theory that the murder mystery could be cleared up through evidence which they hoped to obtain from the negro night watchman and from Mr. Frank.

He said that the detectives had been unable to find any credible evidence to the effect that the girl ever had been seen since she entered the factory about noon last Saturday to get her wages.

Chief Lanford returned to the meeting.

Mrs. Frank, with a number of friends, was standing in the hall of headquarters at the foot of the stairs on the floor below that where her husband was being interrogated by the detectives. She was weeping.

MURDERED IN AFTERNOON?

Shortly before 2 o’clock the statement was drawn from Newt Lee, the negro nightwatchman [sic], that he made visits of inspection every half hour during Saturday night to the metal room in which Mary Phagan was murdered.

But he says that he was [5 words illegible] by Inspector Frank, and told not to [1 word illegible] until [1 word illegible].

If his statement is true the girl must have been murdered during his absence—that is, between the hours of 4 and 6 o’clock Saturday afternoon.

Detective Starnes discovered a drop of blood near the elevator, which is taken as further evidence that the body of the girl was dragged from the metal room to the elevator shaft.

Chief Lanford seemed to regard the negro’s statement that he visited the metal room every half hour during the night, as very important.

The police are now entertaining the theory that the murder was committed during the afternoon, and that Newt Lee probably was absent from the factory at the time that it was done.

NO FURTHER ARRESTS SOON.

Shortly after 2 o’clock Chief Beavers came from the meeting in Chief Lanford’s office. He confirmed the statement of Chief Lanford that the police would detain Mr. Frank until after the coroner’s inquest. He also said that no further arrests in the case were contemplated in the immediate future, indicating that he thought the detectives were now working on the theory that they hoped would clear up the mystery.

Attorney Luther Z. Rosser left the room. He made light of the evidence against his client, Mr. Frank and declared that the police could not hold him any longer than he, Mr. Rosser, was willing for them to hold him. By this it was believed Mr. Rosser meant he could obtain his client’s release on a habeas corpus if he chose to take this procedure.

It was stated by the chief of detectives that Mr. Frank would not be confined to a cell at headquarters. He had employed a supernumerary policeman, said the chief, and would be allowed the freedom of headquarters under charge of that policeman.

Attorney Rosser declared that “all this talk about fear of violence to Mr. Frank is pure bosh.”

At the request of the detectives, Mr. Frank copied the notes found by the dead girl’s body, in his own handwriting.

Angry protest that emanated occasionally from behind the doors of the conference was not distinguishable as to the words, but the tones indicated unmistakably that the questions being plied by the detectives to Mr. Frank and the negro were arousing the opposition of his attorney.

Mr. Frank, emerging from the conference for a moment, unaccompanied, was as perturbed as a man might be under the circumstances. He seemed to be indignant. A Journal representative questioned him.

“They are asking me about things this negro has said,” was Mr. Frank’s answer. “And about statements other people have made.”

“What has the negro said?” The Journal man asked.

“What he’s said all along,” returned Mr. Frank. “He hasn’t said a thing that’s new.”

He returned to the conference then.

Mr. Frank returned to police headquarters in company with detectives from the pencil plant Tuesday morning shortly after 11 o’clock. He and the detectives stated that he was not under arrest.

Newt Lee, the negro night watchman who had been awakened at 4 o’clock Tuesday morning by detectives and put on the griddle of questions once more, was taken into the room and confronted Mr. Frank shortly after the latter arrived at headquarters.

Conviction grows that the negro knows more than he has told. His own admission that the elevator could not have been moved Saturday night without his hearing it, is made absolute by the observation of detectives at the plant itself, it is reported. And the theory that the elevator must have been used to carry Mary Phagan’s body from the second floor, where other evidence has shown that she was attacked, to the basement, where it was found, is said to have been better established by stains found along the floor leading from the machine room to the elevator shaft.

These appear to be blood soaked into the dirty wood of the floor. One of them was found Tuesday to have fallen upon a nail head, and the nail was pulled by Detectives Starnes and Campbell, the metal not having absorbed whatever was upon it. The analysis of that stain will be practically absolute. Yet nowhere upon the floor of the elevator, or upon the shaft, was a blood stain distinguishable.

L. M. Frank, superintendent of the National Pencil company’s factory, where Mary Phagan was found murdered early Sunday morning, was taken to police headquarters again Tuesday morning shortly after 11 o’clock. Detective Harry Scott, of the Pinkertons, who are employed by Mr. Frank, and Detective John Black, of the city department, went to the factory in an automobile and Mr. Frank accompanied them to headquarters without any protest.

CONFRONTED BY NEGRO.

At 12:30 o’clock, after Frank had undergone an hour and a half of questioning behind closed doors, detectives sent for Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, and confronted him with Frank, the superintendent.

This meeting, like the first interrogation of the factory superintendent, was in the private office of Chief Lanford, from which all but the police, Frank and the negro night watchman were excluded.

The negro, wearing the same stone expression which has remained unchanged since the hour of his arrest,

Detectives Building Case on Theory That Frank and Negro Can Clear Mystery

(Continued from page one)

entered the office with detectives on both sides, the door shut and the police began the most important effort that they have yet made to force from him the secret of Mary Phagan’s murder.

While the meeting between the negro and Mr. Frank was still in progress Attorney Luther Z. Rosser arrived and entered the room. Excited conversation could be heard through the closed door, but just what was said is not known. Mr. Rosser, it is understood, was present as the attorney of Mr. Frank.

As Superintendent Frank left the National Pencil factory in company with detectives, girls who were employed as operatives gathered at the windows and sobbed hysterically.

The working force at the plant is entirely demoralized; and, while an effort is being made to continue the daily routine of business, the one thought and topic of employes [sic] is the murder of Mary Phagan.

The girls employed as operatives are overwrought, and at the time when the superintendent was returned to [the] police station, they reached a state of hysteria.

In an effort to quiet their fears the factory has posted an order excluding newspaper reporters and visitors.

WAS QUESTIONED MONDAY.

Mr. Frank spent the greater part of Monday morning at [the] police station answering questions of the police. But about noon he was allowed to return home.

The police considered his questions of such importance that they made a stenographic record of them.

Mr. Frank employed Luther Rosser and Albert Haas as attorneys to represent him at this inquisition by the police.

Detective Chief Lanford announced at 10 o’clock that he will hold both Arthur Mullinax and J. M. Gantt without a preliminary hearing.

The statement was made to him by John R. Phillips, manager of the Forsyth hotel, at 67 1-2 South Forsyth street, that a man who seemed to resemble Gantt, and a girl who answers the description of Mary Phagan, came to his hotel at 11 o’clock Saturday night and asked for a room.

He inquired whether they were married and, upon the man’s giving an indefinite answer, he refused to admit them to a room.

BEGAN BEFORE DAYLIGHT.

At 4 o’clock Tuesday morning Newt Lee, the negro, was waked by detectives, and the grilling was resumed which had continued through the day Monday.

In the early dawn detectives began taking turns in questioning the negro. As soon as one would exhaust a series of questions another would begin.

“I don’t know,” was the negro’s only answer.

But now and then he seemed to hesitate, the detectives reported. It appeared that he was on the verge of varying that stolid answer with the information that the police seek. They believe that finally he will break down and tell the whole story.

CLEANED HIS NAILS.

The dirt has been scraped from under his finger nails, and will be examined for traces of blood. Meantime the most unrelenting “third degree” through which the police have ever put a prisoner is continuing.

Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the National Pencil factory, who was questioned during the greater part of Monday morning by the police, has employed Pinkerton detectives to aid the police.

Police are making two random investigations: One is that Mary Phagan was the victim of a white slave plot. The other is that she was taken for an automobile ride before her murder, and was either drugged or made drunk.

They have been informed of a girl, accompanied by a woman and two men, who was seen Saturday night near the National Pencil factory. The girl was sobbing and reluctant, and was being coaxed along by the woman and the two men.

The woman was heard to say:

“Come along dearie. Don’t create a scene. You’ll attract the cops.”

The girl who was crying answered:

“I don’t care. I don’t care.”

The four disappeared down Forsyth street.

ANOTHER IN DISTRESS.

Detectives Black and Rosser secured evidence Monday afternoon from R. B. Pyron a telegraph operator of a young girl, who was crying and in distress, whom he saw in an automobile with three men.

Pyron is a telegraph operator at the signal tower on the Central of Georgia railroad at the Whitehall street crossing. He says that the automobile came from the direction of West End, and stopped on Whitehall street, just after passing the railroad. The girl was sobbing and pleading with the man sitting beside her, and another man standing on the running board was talking to her earnestly and trying to quiet her.

When the men saw Pyron approaching they made off with the car toward the city. Pyron says that the girl was hysterical, and seemed to be either drunk or drugged, but that he would be unable to identify either her or any of the men.

CATCHING AT STRAWS.

Miss Pearl Robinson, of Bellwood avenue, who swears that she went to the Bijon theater with Arthur Mullinax on Saturday night and that he left her at her front door at about 10:30 o’clock, when they returned from the performance. Miss Robinson went to police headquarters in the hopes of establishing an alibi for her friend. Her testimony with that of Jim Rutherford and his mother, with whom the accused man lives, is expected to convince detectives that he has no connection with the horrible crime.

Investigations of such instances as this, however, are straws at which the police are catching in an effort to trace Mary Phagan’s movements from the time she visited the National Pencil factory at 12 o’clock on Saturday, until she was murdered.

Only one individual has been found who says that he saw Mary Phagan after she entered the factory. This is E. L. Sentell, who insists that she was upon the street at midnight with a man whom he at first took to be Arthur Mullinax, one of the four men now under arrest.

He was brought face to face with Gant [sic] at [the] police station Monday afternoon, and said that Gant seemed to be this man. But he was not sure, and the police are not convinced that the girl he saw was Mary.

DID GIRL LEAVE FACTORY?

They are still doubtful whether Mary Phagan ever left the factory after going there at 12 o’clock on Saturday to collect wages for two days’ work.

This is a question of great importance in the search for her murderer, and is one that the police are using every effort to answer.

They are endeavoring to settle this uncertainty, and to discover whether she was murdered in the afternoon, the evening, or late at night on Saturday.

The chief hope for solving all details of the mystery seems to be through a statement by Newt Lee or by J. M. Gant.

But the police are using also all material evidence in their search for the murderer.

BODY EXAMINED.

Dr. J. W. Hurt, county physician, made an examination Monday night of the body to determine the nature of the injuries, but he is reserving his report for the coroner’s jury. The jury will meet at 10 o’clock on Wednesday to assume the inquest, which was begun on Monday with an examination of the cellar in which the body of Mary Phagan was found and of the second story room where she was murdered.

After all, however, the chief hope of discovering the murderer returns to Newt Lee, the negro.

GANT’S VIGOROUS DENIAL.

Gant, who was arrested on Monday afternoon in Marietta and brought to Atlanta at 4 o’clock, was at first reluctant to talk. He first made a brief, non-committal statement in which he left the impression that he returned late Saturday night to the residence of his sister, Mrs. F. C. Terrell, of 284 East Linden street, with whom he made his home. In this detail his statement seemed to conflict with one made earlier in the day by his sister.

At police station, however, he made a vigorous defense of his innocence.

If Mary Phagan was murdered Saturday night, the statement by Mrs. Terrell, Gant’s sister, would tend to furnish him with an alibi. The force of this statement, however, is lessened by the contradiction that he himself made.

SISTER GIVES ALIBI.

She says that Gant returned to her house early Saturday evening, ate supper there, and remained there throughout the night. But detectives may seek to offset this statement with Gant’s own words that “he played pool until 10:30 o’clock.” The inference drawn from his words is that it was some time after supper when he returned.

According to her statement the spent Saturday afternoon up town watching the Memorial day parade. But he returned to her house early in the evening and remained there until Sunday morning.

PLANS MADE EARLIER.

On Monday mornings, she says, he went to Marietta in pursuance of plans that had been decided upon several weeks ago. He had determined to return to the home of his parents in Marietta and to work there on the farm. A week ago his plans had been laid to go to Marietta, and he was following them out when he left Atlanta Monday morning. She insists that his departure for Marietta was not at all hurried, but was a step that had been prepared for well in advance.

On Sunday morning she discovered from the newspapers that a girl had been murdered, but the name of the girl was not known at that time. She says that she and her brother discussed the crime, and that afterward he left the house to go to Sunday school. Later in the morning he called up to tell her that the girl who had been murdered was Mary Phagan, whom both knew and whose relatives live near the Gant family in Marietta. She says that he had heard the murdered girl’s name mentioned uptown.

DECEIVED DETECTIVES.

Mrs. Terrell agrees with her brother in the statement that he had planned several weeks ago to return to his mother’s home near Marietta, and that his trip to Marietta on Monday had been prepared for days in advance.

She admitted that detectives had questioned her on Monday about her brother and that she had pretended not to have seen him for three weeks. But she explained this deception by saying that she merely thought it was better to mislead them. She had a vague feeling that something was wrong, and that the answer she gave was the better course.

She insists that her brother was at her house through Saturday night, and could not have committed the murder.

BODY TAKEN TO MARIETTA.

The body of Mary Phagan was taken at 8:35 o’clock Tuesday morning from the undertaking shop of the P. J. Bloomfield company to Marietta for funeral and interment. The funeral services were held at about 9 o’clock.

At the time that the body was removed from the undertaking establishment, 200 to 300 curious people had collected in the street to stare at the white coffin. A few followed the funeral procession to the station.

* * *

Atlanta Journal, April 29th 1913, “L. M. Frank, Factory Superintendent, Detained by Police,” 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 (Hearst’s Sunday American)
July 27^th, 1913

This newspaper article is a continuation from the first page of an Atlanta Georgian newspaper. The first page is missing from our archives. If any readers know where to obtain the first part of this article, we would appreciate any help! Thank you!

[…] Mary Phagan by strangulation. This was followed by the request of the defense that the State’s witnesses be called, sworn and put under the rule.

The prosecution opened by announcing its readiness to go on with the trial and called the list of witnesses. Bailiffs brought them down from the second floor. In regular order called, their names were: Mrs. J. W. Coleman, mother of Mary Phagan; J. W. Coleman, the girl’s stepfather; George Epps, newsboy; L. S. Dobbs, policeman; W. W. Rogers, bailiff for constable; L. S. Starnes, detective and also prosecutor on the indictment; Pat Campbell, detective; Grace Hicks, girl who identified Mary Phagan’s body; J. M. Gantt, once held for inquiry, now supposed, to be a star witness for the prosecution; Harry Scott, the Pinkerton detective; R. P. Barrett, pencil factory employee; B. P. Haslett, policeman; M. [sic] V. Darley, factory employee; W. A. Gheesling, undertaker that cared for the girl’s body; Dr. Claude Smith, City Bacteriologist; Dr. H. F. Harris, member of the State Board of Health; Dr. J. W. Hurt, Coroner’s physician; E. L. Parry, court stenographer; E. S. Smith, Monteen Stover, girl employee at pencil factory; Minola McKnight, cook at Frank’s home; Albert McKnight, Minola’s husband (McKnight did not appear in court); Helen Ferguson, Mrs. Arthur White, wife of factory employee, and L. Stanford.

Agree on Conley Affidavits.

Attorney Reuben Arnold asked concerning the duces tecum that he had served on the State’s attorneys for the affidavits of Jim Conley and others. On the promise of Solicitor Dorsey that he would produce the affidavits whenever needed the duces tecum was waived.

Solicitor Dorsey said he did not concede the right of the defense to force a production of the affidavit. He, however, at the request of Mr. Arnold, dictated a statement giving the dates of each of the affidavits signed by Conley, saying they were all of the affidavits Conley had made and that he would produce them whenever necessary.

The Solicitor asked then that the defense’s witnesses be called and sworn. This was met by strenuous objection on the part of Attorneys Rosser and Arnold, who claimed their list was fragmentary.

Solicitor Dorsey protected vehemently, declaring that it would be extremely unfair to the State not to swear the defense’s witnesses at this time. Attorney Rosser said it would delay the trial to complete their list at this time.

Judge Roan ruled that he would give the defense time to get up the list. The defense capitulated and it took but five minutes for the list to be made up.

Witnesses for Defense.

Attorney Stiles Hopkins, at the table for the defense, called the names of the witnesses by whom they expect to clear Frank. They were Mary Burke, Dora Small, Ella Thomas, C. P. Gilbert, F. Payne, Eula Flowers, Josephine Stelker, Mattie Thompson, Mrs. L. J. Cohen, J. C. Lowe, M. H. Liebman, Miss Bessie White, Joe Williams, Fred Howell, Wade Campbell, J. A. Price, J. E. Lyon, Cora Lavender, M. O. Nix, J. C. Matthews, F. Jenkins, Mrs. Josephine Selig, E. Selig, J. H. Haas, W. H. Mincey, J. B. Spier, E. L. Skipper, E. L. Sentell, Mary Barrett, Rebecca Carson, C. H. Carson, Harry Denham, Corinthia Hall, Mattie Hall, J. L. Holloway, Mrs. George Jefferson, Jerome Michael, George W. Parrott, M. W. Morrow, Mrs. M. W. Morrow, Rabi David Marx, A. E. Mayo, Fred Weller, A. E. Marcus, Ed Montag, L. H. Haas, W. B. Owens, T. Y. Brent and Ossie Shields.

These were all of the witnesses whose names were called, but at least 100 more, who will be used mostly as character witnesses, were in the room passed the 60-year mark. Solicitor Dorsey put the questions, using the formal ones ask in murder trials.

Being conscientiously opposed to capital punishment or conviction by circumstantial evidence was held not to disqualify a juror by Judge Roan. This was in connection with O. T. Camp, the second talesman.

“I am conscientiously opposed to capital punishment on certain grounds,” said Camp.

“What are those grounds,” asked Solicitor Dorsey.

“Circumstantial evidence,” he replied.

Judge Sustains Defense.

“That disqualifies him then,” said Solicitor Dorsey.

Attorney Rosser objected, saying that such belief did not disqualify the juror. Judge Roan sustained the defense, but Solicitor Dorsey struck him.

A. W. Brewerton was disqualified because he was opposed to capital punishment.

W. H. Winn was struck, Solicitor Dorsey taking this action after looking over his record.

R. G. Elliot was struck by the defense.

L. A. Smith was struck for cause.

C. T. Hopkins, Jr., struck by State.

Not One Is Obtained.

W. E. Cates, disqualified because opposed to capital punishment.

T. G. Young, struck by defense.

D. D. Hewey, struck because he did not believe in capital punishment.

That ended the first panel of talesman and not a single juror was obtained. The State struck three and the defense two. Seven were disqualified for cause.

Four Juryman Obtained.

Four jurors were obtained from the second panel. They are:

A. H. Henslee, No. 74 Oak street, a salesman.

F. V. L. Smith, No. 481 Cherokee avenue, a manufacturers agent.

J. F. Higdon, 108 Ormewood avenue, a contractor.

F. E. Winburn, No. 21 Lucille avenue, a claim agent.

On the second panel the following men were struck:

Howard Oliver, by the defense.

H. E. Luckey, for cause.

O. L. Spurlin, No. 156 Lawton street, struck by defense.

H. A. Shide, for cause.

E. E. Hawkins, No. 369 Edgewood avenue, a negro, who was accepted by the prosecution, but struck by the defense.

L. F. Davis, for cause.

David Woodward, for cause.

M. J. Sewell, for cause.

Imposing Array of Counsel.

The buzz of conversation in the little courtroom instantly was hushed when Judge Roan appeared and Deputy Sheriff Plennie Miner called the court to order. The impanelling of jurors was begun at once.

Luther Z. Rosser, chief of counsel for Frank, pressed his way to the defense’s table just as Deputy Miner rapped for order. Solicitor Dorsey and his associates were at their table busily arranging papers and documents several minutes before the swearing of the veniremen began.

An imposing array of legal talent was presented when the case was called. Heading counsel for Frank were Rosser and Reuben R. Arnold, two of the foremost lawyers of the South. At their table were Herbert J. Haas, a civil attorney, who has been engaged in looking up character witnesses in behalf of Frank; Styles Hopkins of the Rosser & Brandon law firm; Oscar Simmons and Paul Goss, engaged especially to assist in picking the jury; George Cox, of Arnold & Arnold law firm, and Luther Z. Rosser, Jr.

Wife at Frank’s Side.

With Solicitor Dorsey were Frank A. Hooper, the brilliant attorney who made his reputation as a prosecutor in criminal cases. E. A. Stephens, Assistant Solicitor, and detectives who have been working on the case. Jim Conley’s attorney, W. M. Smith, also was in court.

A stir was created when Mrs. Frank, wife of the accused made her way into the courtroom and hurried past the rows of spectators into the anteroom where her husband was confined. She bore herself bravely and when she reached Frank, was seen to converse cheerfully with him.

The loyal woman, who insisted on being by the side of her husband until he was called into the courtroom with his attorneys, drew the attention away from the routine proceedings several minutes.

Judge Roan in Good Humor.

Judge Roan appeared in unusually radiant humor and enlivened the dull routine of the early proceedings with facetious remarks directed at the jurors who sought to evade duty on various pretexts.

To one who claimed deafness, Judge Roan said that he had heard his own name readily enough when it was called.

Another juror, Dr. E. L. Connally, well known capitalist, and gray haired veteran of the war, remarked, smiling rather slyly, that he thought he was over age.

Plea Wins Excuse.

“How do you know that?” inquired the judge.

“My mother says I am,” was Dr. Connally’s reply.

“Do you claim exemption on that account?” asked the court.

“I guess I do, judge,” admitted the capitalist.

“Well, then, I guess I will excuse you,” said the judge, amid a general laugh from the courtroom.

Dr. Connally left his place with a vigor that belled his years.

Old Dr. Stork was responsible for the excusing of several of the jurors. By the time the eighth panel of men had taken the oath three men had told of new arrivals at their homes and had been excused.

Defense Not to Ask Delay.

Luther Z. Rosser, of counsel for the defense, stated to a Georgian reporter as he left his office for the scene of the trial that [t]he defense would make no move for delay.

“We will not seek a change of venue or make any move of any kind to delay justice for our client,” he said. “We are entirely confident that justice and truth will prevail as it always must.”

Reuben R. Arnold, of the defense, made the same kind of a statement.

“We will announce ready as soon as the case is called,” he said.

One important witness for the defense was reported to be missing. He is a traveling salesman, and the defense was said to be confident of locating him.

Sentell in Navy Now.

Edgar L. Sentell, who testified that he saw Arthur Mullinax and Mary Phagan together at midnight of the day of the crime, has enlisted in the navy and will not be able to appear at the trial.

A great crowd gathered in front of the courthouse as the hour of the trial drew near, and when 9 o’clock arrived, Pryor street at Hunter was almost impassable. The corridors of the courthouse were a mass of humanity, through which a lane had to be cut by deputies to allow the passage of witnesses and lawyers and newspaper men.

The crowd was tense with curiosity, but to all appearances inclined to be orderly and apparently was moved only by the commonest of human motives—curiosity.

Frank Feeling Fine, He Says.

Frank was escorted from the Tower to the courthouse shortly after 6 o’clock in the morning, nearly three hours before the trial was scheduled to begin. This was done to avoid the curious crowd which it was expected would be about the courthouse and thronging the corridors at 9 o’clock.

Frank was up and dressed and freshly shaven when Deputy Sheriff Plennie Minor appeared before his cell at the early hour.

“How are you feeling this morning, Mr. Frank?” the deputy inquired.

“Tip top, only I’m mighty hungry,” replied Frank.

Exhibiting the same poised confidence that has characterized him through three months since he was locked in a cell in the county jail, the young factory superintendent chatted freely with Miner on the way to the courthouse.

Sure He Will Be Freed.

He was attired in a natty light gray mohair suit and wore a fancy gray tie. His face was fuller and he appeared slightly heavier than when he was arrested shortly after the murder of the Phagan girl. He seemed cheerful and in the best of health.

“I am very sure of acquittal,” he said, as he arrived at the courthouse. “I am glad that the trial is about to begin after the long wait. I have no fear of the outcome. I am not only innocent of the terrible crime, but I am innocent of any knowledge of it, save as the information has come tome since the officers came to my house that morning three months ago.”

At this moment E. C. Essenbach, a relative of Frank, appeared with a tempting breakfast which was spread in the prisoners’ room at the courthouse. Frank gave ocular proof that his appetite had not suffered from his long confinement as he proceeded to make way with the delicacies prepared for him.

Frank greeted his relative cheerfully and conversed with him for more than an hour. The topic seldom was on the crime or the trial which was about to begin. Long before the time set for the judge to take the bench other friends and relatives of the prisoner had appeared and some of them were permitted to talk to him.

Conley Ready For the Stand.

Jim Conley, Frank’s accuser, was made ready for the trial early in the morning, although it was not probable that he would be called during the day.

He was given a shave and a new suit of clothes, as he had worn for the last three months the same shabby garments that he had on at the time he was arrested while washing a shirt at the National Pencil Factory.

Conley said that he was ready to go on the witness stand at an instant’s notice. He declared that he would stick to the same story that he told in his last affidavit and which he has since repeated many times for the benefit of Solicitor Dorsey.

“If they had just let me face Mr. Frank, I could have made him tell the truth long before this,” he asserted.

Less than half a hundred persons were waiting about the courthouse at 8 o’clock, an hour before the time set for the beginning of the trial. It was thought that not a large crowd would be clamoring for admission to the courtroom as it had become quite generally known that the small room would accommodate hardly more than the witnesses and the veniremen and that it would be necessary to exclude practically all spectators.

Much Preparation Made.

For no trial in the history of Georgia have such elaborate arrangements been made for the comfort of the comparatively small number of spectators who will gain admission, the attorneys who will handle the case, the jury and the newspaper men. Deputy Sheriff Plennie Miner has received much praise for the splendid preparations made.

Electric fans have been installed at every window and on the railing separating the spectators’ seats from the bar, ozonators have been placed to keep the air purified. It probably will be the coolest and best ventilated place in Atlanta.

Not more than 250 spectators will be admitted. Approximately that number of chairs have been placed outside the inclosure. When they are filled the doors will be closed and no one else will be allowed in. No one will be permitted to occupy standing room.

The usual custom of permitting disinterested attorneys to occupy seats inside the bar will not be followed, and this particular part of the courtroom will be less crowded than during the average criminal trial.

How They Will Line Up.

Prosecuting Attorney Dorsey and at least five assistants will occupy a table directly in front of the bench and witness stand with the jury box close on the righthand side. Attorney Rosser with his assistants and the accused will be seated at a table to the left of the State’s and farther away from the jury. The table for newspaper men is back of the State’s table. The arrangements were agreed upon by the attorneys and the judge.

The table for the defense was selected by Attorney Rosser with a view to the number of persons who would wish to be near Frank during the trial. Seats have been arranged to the back of the table to accommodate at least 30 persons, friends and relatives of the accused, who have visited him constantly since he was confined at the Tower.

Deputy Sheriff Plennie Miner, who have charge of the crowd and keeping order in court, will also have charge of the prisoners. Long before any crowd congregated around the courthouse Frank and Lee were brought from the Tower and placed in the room reserved for them. When court opened Frank took his place at the table reserved for his attorneys.

No Room For Spectators Now.

For the first day of the trial, or until the jury is selected and the hearing actually under way, it is extremely doubtful if any spectator will gain admission to the court. Seating arrangements have only been provided for about 250. The venire of 144 men will have to occupy that number of the seats when court is opened. The witnesses for the two sides will occupy the remaining seats and standing room until they are disposed of in some way, which may not be until after the jury is drawn.

The court rule to segregate the witnesses will, of course, be enforced, have qualified as jurors, which will hardly be before the middle of the week.

When the witnesses are segregated they will be kept in the large courtroom on the floor above the trial room. A bailiff will be placed in the hall and one on the door of the witness chamber, and as the names are called they will be brought from the floor above to the court.

It is probable some rule will be made to keep the witnesses for the State and the defense separated, in which event the third floor of the building would have to be used.

Jury Room Carefully Selected.

But if any great difficulty is anticipated in drawing a jury, and the judge thinks it impossible to finish this task during any one day, he will probably excuse the witnesses until the next day, and continue to do so until the jury is impaneled.

The jury room was selected with a great deal of care. It is almost inaccessible from the outside and large and airy. Its windows are about twenty feet above an alleyway that runs on either side. Deputies will be kept in the alley to keep anyone from getting this close to the room.

As each juror qualifies he will be escorted to the room and kept there until the full panel is drawn. Recess will be taken at 1 o’clock in the afternoon and the jury will be taken to luncheon at a restaurant almost directly across the street from the court. At night it will be quartered at the Kimball House under a heavy guard of deputies.

From the time a juror is acceptable to both sides until the conclusion of the case he will not be allowed to go to his home or communicate with anyone except a fellow juror.

The least of the deputies’ troubles will not be in handling the crowd that will gain admission to the court, but in handling the crowd that will daily congregate on the outside and wait through the day for news of the proceedings in the trial. Ten deputies and as many members of the county police will be on duty on the streets around the building.

Luther Z. Rosser, who is leading attorney of counsel for the defense of Leo M. Frank, indicted for the murder of Mary Phagan at the National Pencil factory. Mr. Rosser, as usual, is playing a game of silence. He has not indicated his line of defense.

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

Atlanta Georgian

Tuesday, May 27^th, 1913

What will be the defense of Leo M. Frank when he is called upon next month to answer to the charge of strangling little Mary Phagan?

With the confident announcement of the police Monday that they had completed a case against the factory superintendent that was as conclusive as it possibly could be without the testimony of actual eyewitnesses of the crime, this question naturally is being asked to-day by everyone who has any interest in the mystery, and that means practically every person in Atlanta.

The people will not get their answer from Luther Z. Rosser, the close-lipped and able attorney of Frank, until the trial actually begins. But even at this early date, when only the vaguest of hints have been given as to the course that will be followed in the battle to free Frank from all suspicion, it is patent that there are many openings offered the defense for attacks upon the theories of the State.

Burden of Proof on State.

Those who are close to the daily developments in Atlanta’s baffling murder mystery and who venture to predict the line of defense that will be offered are bearing in mind that, in the first place, the great burden of proof is upon the prosecution and not upon the defense.

It is absolutely necessary, due to the protection with which the law has hedged everyone under suspicion of crime, that the State in some manner, by some piece of evidence, connect Frank directly with the crime or establish his connection beyond a reasonable doubt.

Until the State is able to do this, Luther Z. Rosser may rest on his oars if he so desires. Leo Frank is innocent this moment in the eyes of the law. His innocence does not need to be proved. It is presumed.

It immediately becomes a question, therefore, as to whether the State really has made out a case against Frank, so far as can be judged from the evidence in the hands of the public. Have the detectives by any of their discoveries connected Frank directly with the crime? Have they assembled such a chain of circumstantial incidents as to make his guilt appear certain beyond a reasonable doubt?

Frank’s Friends Deny Connection.

Those interested in the defense of Frank answer both questions emphatically in the negative. Not one thing has been found, they declare, that connects Frank directly with the mysterious strangling. Nor do they regard the circumstantial evidence seriously.

The law will not permit Frank’s conviction for the crime merely because the detectives have discovered that he had the opportunity. It will not permit his conviction, if no convincing evidence is found against him, merely because he is unable to put his hands on another man and say, “This is the man you want. He is the guilty person.”

It is not the intention of the law to hang one man simply because no one else can be found who is the more likely culprit.

After the State has presented its reasons for believing in the guilt of Frank, it is regarded as likely that the defense will claim first of all that the State has failed to establish Frank’s connection with the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. The defense will represent that the most the State has done is to establish that he had the opportunity to commit the murder.

Frank never was seen with the girl, either on the day of the strangling or before. It is not known that he ever spoke to her except in connection with her work. Nothing was found to point the finger of accusation directly at Frank, so far as the public has been informed. None of Frank’s clothing has been found with blood stains upon it. No finger prints upon the girl’s body or her clothes were identified as his. None of this personal belonging were found near the girl’s body. Absolutely nothing was discovered in the search of the detectives that fastened the crime on him.

Own Admission Caused Arrest.

The police possibly would never even have known that Frank was the last person to see Mary Phagan, so far as is known, had it not been for his own free admission. He told the officers the moment he identified the body that that was the girl he paid at noon the day before. No one else knew that Mary Phagan was in the building at that time, so far as the evidence reveals. Frank did not have to tell if he had desired to conceal the fact.

The defense, therefore, will be in a position to ask: “Should not this admission, given freely and voluntarily, be regarded as an indication of innocence rather than as an admission of guilt, as the detectives have considered it up to this time? Is a guilty man likely to tell the officers as soon as he is approached that he saw the girl and talked with her, when there is no need of such an admission?”

If the State attempts to show that the murder was committed between 12 and 1 o’clock Saturday afternoon, as one of the theories contends, the defense will be able to argue that there were several other people in the factory at the time, this fact opening the way to the argument that if the crime was committed at this time it need not have been Frank who did it, and to another argument that Frank would have been very unlikely to attack the girl when he knew there were other persons in the factory at the time who might discover him.

May Prove an Alibi.

Should the State seek to prove that the murder was committed in the evening, as the affidavits obtained from Mrs. Mima [sic] Fomby [sic] indicate may be done, the defense will be able to establish a very strong alibi for the suspected man from the testimony of seven persons who are said to have been at Frank’s house Saturday evening playing a game of cards.

Several of them already have testified before the Coroner’s jury, and all of them are said to be willing to give their testimony in court to the effect that they saw Frank come home that evening about the time he said in his statement to the Coroner’s jury, and that he remained home the remainder of the evening, to the best of their knowledge.

This will bring it to an issue of veracity between Mrs. Mima Fomby and these seven persons, who are persons of reputation and standing in the community, if, indeed, the testimony of Mrs. Fomby is allowed admission, which appears doubtful.

Mrs. Fomby swore in her affidavit that Frank called her on the telephone several times between 6:30 and 10:30 o’clock the Saturday night of the murder, asking her for permission to bring a girl to her place. She testified that she denied the request. It is between these hours that Frank has a very well established alibi from all appearances.

Another Motive Possible.

The defense also will be in a position to suggest that there might have been another motive for the crime than the one generally accepted. No physician has stated positively that he was certain of any conclusions from his examination of the body either immediately after the crime or at the times the body was exhumed.

Added to this fact is the unexplained circumstance that the girl’s purse never has been found. It contained only the wages she had drawn that day, to be sure, but even this small amount might prove an incentive to some persons, the defense very likely will argue. And it is not at all certain that the robber, if robbery was the motive, had any idea that the amount he would obtain would be so small.

“Is it probable that Frank would have taken the trouble to hide the girl’s purse when it could not have incriminated in any way any particular persons had it been lying near her body?” is a question that can be put to the jurors in this connection.

The defense also will fight against the introduction of much of the character testimony that was permitted to go before the Coroner’s jury. Frank’s attorneys will attack the identification of Frank made by Officer House, of Druid Hills Park, on the grounds of its utter improbability.

Will Attack Officer.

They will question the ability of House to identify a man he has seen only once and after a lapse of two years. They will attack the probabilities of a man of Frank’s standing permitting himself to be seen in company with a girl in short skirts.

They will question the probability of his admitting his identity to the officer and saying, “I am Leo Frank, superintendent of the National Pencil Factory,” when his main concern naturally would have been to keep his identity secret. Probabilities are bound to play a large part in the trial, declare those interested in the mystery, for it is very much on a sequence of probabilities that the police are basing their expectations of convicting Frank.

Even should the State be able to prove beyond a doubt that it was Frank whom the park guard discovered in company with a young girl two years ago, the defense will still be able to say that this fact no more connects Frank with the murder than it does hundreds of other persons.

The announcement of the detectives themselves that they do not place implicit confidence in the so-called confession of the negro, James Conley, makes it unlikely that the trial will have anything to do with his statement that he wrote notes at the dictation of Frank the day before the murder.

Sentell May Yet Be Witness.

Laying aside the possibility of a premeditated murder, which no one had even suggested up to the time of the negro’s alleged confession, the friends of Frank, and those who are without personal interest as well, scouted the idea that Frank, who is an intelligent and shrewd man, would taken an ignorant negro into his confidence and do everything but tell him that he was going to commit a murder on the next day.

It is rumored that E. L. Sentell may yet figure in the case again. Sentell is the man who declared positively before the Coroner’s jury that he saw Mary Phagan shortly before midnight the night of the murder. Sentell knew Mary Phagan from infancy. He said that he could not be mistaken in her identification. He testified that he met her on the street in company with some man and that the said, “Hello, Mary,” and that she replied, “Hello, Ed.”

This testimony would appear quite conclusive were it not for the statements of the physicians that the girl must have been dead at least six hours when found. It is known, however, that some confidence is still being placed in his statements.

* * *

Atlanta Georgian, May 27th 1913, “States Face Big Task in Trial of Frank as 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

Friday, May 2^nd, 1913

Outside of Solicitor’s Activity There Have Been No Developments Since the Suspects Were Transferred to Tower

GROUNDLESS RUMORS DENIED BY OFFICIALS

Chief Lanford’s Busy Running Down Tips—Coroner’s Inquest Will Be Resumed on Monday Afternoon at 2

The Atlanta Journal has published every fact and development in connection with the mysterious murder of Mary Phagan. The Journal will continue to print news of further developments and additional evidence as the investigation proceeds. No fact has been suppressed nor will any news relating to the hunt for solution of the crime be withheld from the public. Many silly reports about a confession having been made by one or both of the prisoners held on suspicion in the case have been circulated, but they are without the slightest foundation.

AN INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION.

Forces in the employ of the solicitor general, Hugh M. Dorsey, are making an independent investigation of the Phagan murder case, it was learned Friday.

The solicitor general refuses to state just how many men he has at work on the mystery or who they are. They have developed nothing, however, which he is willing to give out for publication.

The city was filled with foolish rumors throughout the morning Friday and officials were called upon to deny dozens of groundless reports.

Coroner Paul Donehoo, who has more than 100 witnesses subpoenaed, declares that the inquest will certainly be resumed at 2 o’clock Monday afternoon. The coroner says that the investigation is as thorough and exhaustive as it is possible to make it and every report that reaches him is being probed.

“It is not surprising,” said the coroner, “that the mystery has not been solved by this time and the fact that the crime cannot now be laid at the door of any individual and that person brought immediately to trial is no indication that the guilty party will never be brought to justice. In many instances, where the detectives have had as little to start with as in this case, it has taken them months to finally establish the guilt of the right party.”

MANY DETECTIVES AT WORK.

In addition to the city detectives, the Pinkertons employed by the National Pencil company, and the officers employed by the solicitor general, it is said that many other private detectives are working on the mystery.

Colonel Thomas B. Felder has been employed by a number of citizens living in the vicinity of the home of the slain girl, to assist the state in the case, and while he will make no statement it is reported that he has a private detective agency trying to solve the mystery.

Solicitor Dorsey was in conference on Friday with a number of the city detectives, who have been assigned to the task of finding Mary Phagan’s murderer, and the fact that he has actively entered the case is considered the most important development of Friday.

There will certainly be no grand jury action in the matter, however, until Monday. The grand jury, which has been on duty for the past two months, was discharged Friday, and another grand jury will not be organized until Monday.

DETECTIVES NOT TALKING.

Following the transfer of Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the National Pencil factory, and Newt Lee, nightwatchman, to the county jail from police headquarters on coroner’s warrants late Thursday afternoon, and the release of J. M. Gantt and Arthur Mullinax, Chief of Detectives Lanford has issued instructions to his men to talk with no one about the case, and to make direct reports to him. The chief is himself very reticent about developments in the case. He declares that his orders were issued because the few statements made by himself and his officers have been repeatedly exaggerated, and in many instances he and his men have been misquoted.

The transfer of the two principal figures in the case to the tower has resulted in things again assuming a normal attitude about police headquarters. The detectives Friday morning were busy running down the many rumors and “tips” which have come to their ears. The officers are literally bombarded by “tips,” and despite the fact that practically all of them prove valueless when investigated, the officers have scattered in every direction, shifting every report to the bottom.

NO NEED FOR MILITIA.

On reports from sources which he considered reliable, Governor Brown Thursday night advised Adjutant General Nash to communicate with officers of the Fifth regiment with a view to having the national guard in readiness should the necessity arise.

The governor states that he did not go to the extent of suggesting that the national guard be mobilized. He simply recommended that the adjutant general request the officers of the regiment to be prepared for such steps, in the event current rumors were to materialize.

The governor also communicated with the jail authorities and with the police.

In carrying out the suggestion of the executive, Colonel E. E. Pomeroy gathered a few members of the Fifth regiment at the armory. No efforts were made to mobilize troops and by 11:30 o’clock those who had reported were allowed to return to their homes.

In the meantime an investigation had developed that the rumors were groundless. Deputy sheriffs in automobiles rushed over the entire city looking for any excitement, and they declare that never had Atlanta been more quiet.

REASON FOR TRANSFER.

Mr. Frank and the negro Lee were transferred to the tower on the coroner’s warrants, because, it is said, there is considerable doubt of the legality of holding them at police headquarters, as both have been arrested in connection with a state, not a city case.

The warrants are similar in all respects, save that in one Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the pencil factory, is named, and in the other Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, is named.

The warrant against Mr. Frank reads as follows:

“Georgia, Fulton county:

“To the Jailer of Said County: Greetings:

“You are hereby required to take into custody the person of Leo M. Frank, suspected of the murder of Mary Phagan, and to retain the said Leo M. Frank in your custody pending a further investigation of the death of said Mary Phagan, to be held by the said coroner of said county.

“Herein fail not.

“Given under my hand and official signature this the first day of May, 1913.

(Signed)

“PAUL DONEHOO,

“Coroner.”

INQUEST DELAYED.

Mr. Frank and the nightwatchman were transferred to the tower immediately after Coroner Paul Donehoo swore his 160 witnesses, the employees of the pencil company, and adjourned the inquest until 2 o’clock next Monday afternoon.

The coroner’s decision to postpone the inquest from Thursday afternoon until Monday afternoon was reached after a conference with Chief of Police Beavers and Chief of Detectives Lanford. The reason assigned for the postponement is a desire to give the detectives additional time to work on the case.

MULLINAX GOES FREE.

Arthur Mullinax, the young man who has been in jail for several days, held on the statement of E. L. Sentell that he (Sentell) saw Mullinax and Mary Phagan walking on Forsyth street about midnight Saturday, has been completely exonerated.

Mullinax took his release calmly, as he did his arrest.

“I have never been worried,” he said, “for I knew I was innocent and was confident that in a little time everybody else would know it, too.

“I am not sore because I have been arrested. If that girl had been my sister I know that I would have wanted the officers to lock up every man against whom there was any suspicion, and hold him until things cleared up.

“I guess I have lost my job—that’s the only thing which worries me.”

Chief Lanford told the released man that he would make a personal effort to see that he got his position back. Mullinax has been working with the Towel Supply company.

GANTT ALSO LIBERATED.

The release of J. M. Gantt followed that of Mullinax.

When habeas corpus proceedings were started for Gantt by his attorneys he was transferred from headquarters to the Tower, and Chief Lanford had to get an order from Judge George L. Bell, of the superior court, before he had authority to release the man.

The warrant drawn against Gantt in Justice F. M. Powers’ court has been dismissed.

MANY THEORIES OFFERED.

Theories of how Mary Phagan met her death and by just what system her murderer can be brought to justice are flooding the office of the detectives. People are calling over the phone to tell the officers just how they should proceed. Many of them come in person, and the office is in receipt of hundreds of letters from this and half a dozen other states, giving advice and theories.

Many of the letter writers are anonymous, but most of the people sign their names. Several letters have been received from “criminologists,” who are willing to divulge their theories only for money. Several letters have come from “seers” and “mystics,” who have communed with the spirits and learned in that way the “identity” of the murderer.

Among the interesting callers at police headquarters Friday were two ladies, who have dreamed about the murder. Both say that they distinctly saw Mary Phagan in her desperate battle with the murderer.

The ladies arrived within a short time of each other, but their dreams didn’t coincide. Both gave the chief accurate descriptions of the murderers of their dreams.

FRANK IN GOOD SPIRITS.

Mr. Frank got a good night’s sleep Thursday night and Friday, he was in a cheerful frame of mind. Many friends called to see him during the day and Mr. Frank talked to them freely. He is confident that when the coroner’s investigation has been concluded his absolute innocence will have been established.

PINKERTONS AFTER TRUTH.

The position of the Pinkerton detectives, employed by the National Pencil company, in the murder case, has occasioned considerable comment about police headquarters.

When asked about the matter, Harry Scott, the representative who is working on the mystery and assisting the city officers, declared that he and his men were out simply after the truth.

“It doesn’t matter whom it hits,” said Mr. Scott, “we want to do everything in our power to find the guilty man, and if we find him we are going to give every bit of our evidence to the state authorities, and lend our assistance in securing his conviction.

“This is just like any other case with us, and in all of them we go after the facts regardless of whom they help or hurt.

“When, for instance, we are investigating a bank robbery and find that the crime was committed by an employee or an official, we disclose the facts just as if the guilty man had been a highwayman.”

Two additional Pinkerton men went to work on the case Friday, assisting Mr. Scott and the city detectives.

* * *

Atlanta Journal, May 2nd 1913, “Solicitor Dorsey is Making Independent Probe of Phagan Case,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

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

Atlanta Georgian

Thursday, May 1^st, 1913

O. H. Clark, in charge of the check room at the Terminal Station, is convinced that the girl who created a scene there last week, when the man she was with attempted to board a train, was Mary Phagan.

Clark came out to-day with a story that substantiates, in part at least, the story told by the two station guards who watched the couple’s peculiar actions.

Clark asserts that the incident occurred on Saturday rather than Friday, and the man, when he finally abandoned his trip at the girl’s expostulations, went to the check room and put in his traveling bag.

Clark says he remembers distinctly that the identification tag on the bag bore the mark of the “National Pencil Company.”

New Evidence is Favorable to Mullinax.

Further evidence favorable to Arthur Mullinax, one of the suspects held in connection with the Phagan mystery, developed to-day when D. W. Adams, a street car conductor, asserted that E. L. Sentell, on whose identification Mullinax has been held, admitted immediately after the inquest that he was not sure that he saw Mullinax with Mary Phagan on Saturday night.

Adams said that Sentell seemed in doubt as to whether the girl with Mullinax was Mary Phagan or Pearl Robinson, Mullinax’s sweetheart.

It has been shown that Pearl Robinson, on Saturday night when she accompanied Mullinax to the theater, was dressed much like Mary Phagan.

* * *

Atlanta Georgian, May 1st 1913, “Terminal Official Certain He Saw Girl,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

The big picture in the center shows the head of the detective department, Chief Newport A. Lanford. To his left is John R. Black, city detective, who was largely instrumental in convicting the Druid Hills murderers. On the extreme left at the top is Detective Pat Campbell, and below him is J. N. Starnes. To the right of the chief is Harry Scott, of the Pinkertons, who are working on the mystery. The top picture at the extreme right is City Detective S. L. (Bass) Rosser, and below is Detective W. F. Bullard.

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

Atlanta Journal

Thursday, May 1^st, 1913

All Efforts Will Be Concentrated at Inquest Thursday Afternoon to Show That Testimony of Witnesses Who Claim to Have Seen Girl After She Entered Factory on Fatal Day is Vague and Indefinite and Contradictory

NIGHT WATCHMAN EXPECTED TO TAKE STAND AND GIVE INFORMATION HERETOFORE WITHHELD

This Intimation Came From Detectives Thursday Morning After the Watchman Had Been Vigorously Questioned Behind Closed Doors for More Than an Hour—Women Employees of Factory Will Be Called—Witness Admits Mistake

When the coroner’s jury reconvenes Thursday afternoon at 4:30 o’clock the city detectives will endeavor to eliminate all testimony which tends to refute the theory that Mary Phagan never left the National Pencil company’s factory after she went there to collect her two days’ wages last Saturday about noon.

The testimony of Edgar L. Sentell, employee of the Kamper’s grocery company, has been a stumbling block in the way of the case from the very first. The detectives have never believed that Mary Phagan left the factory, yet they were confronted with Sentell’s positive statement that he saw and spoke to her between 11:30 and 1:30 o’clock Saturday night.

At Wednesday’s inquest he said that he was positive that he saw the girl, and said that he believed her companion was Arthur Mullinax.

SAYS SENTELL WAS IN DOUBT.

Thursday, however, D. W. Adams, a trolley car motorman, came to Chief Beavers and told him that he heard Sentell say shortly after he had testified at the inquest, that he was not certain that the woman he saw was Mary Phagan.

“It might have been Miss Pearl Robinson,” Adams quotes Sentell as saying just a short time after he swore positively that he saw and spoke to Mary Phagan. Miss Robinson, was at the inquest, was wearing on Saturday evening a dress very much like the one Mary Phagan wore, and earlier in the evening she and Mullinax says they were together.

Detective Starnes and Campbell have convinced J. L. Watkins who testified that he saw Mary Phagan Saturday afternoon about 5 o’clock that he was mistaken and that the girl he really saw was Miss Daisy Jones, who lives at the corner of Fox and Lindsay streets. Miss Jones will be at the inquest Thursday afternoon and Watkins will take the stand to make the statement that his first testimony was in error.

In demonstrating to Mr. Watkins that he had seen Miss Jones instead of Mary Phagan, the detectives got Miss Jones to put on the same clothes she had on Saturday afternoon and took her out on the street where Mr. Watkins had seen her. Watkins was immediately convinced that Miss Jones was the girl he had seen.

Before the hour of convening of the inquest a number of detectives were engaged in talking to employees of the factory about general conditions, especially with references to the conduct of the men, employees and employers alike, toward the women who worked there.

A number of former employees were among the people who were in conference with the detectives.

SIXTH ARREST MADE.

A sixth arrest in the Phagan murder case was made by detectives at 2 o’clock Thursday. James Connally [sic], a negro “sweeper” employed at the National Pencil factory, was seen washing a shirt at a faucet in the rear of the building. Before he had completed the work detectives who had been phoned, walked in and placed the man under arrest. There were certain marks on the man’s shirt. He claims that they are “rust” marks. The detectives will hold him, at least until a chemical analysis can determine for certain whether or not the stains were caused by blood.

The negro declared to the police that the shirt was the only one which he possessed and that he washed so he could appear in it at the inquest, to which he had been summoned. His statement is believed by the police.

NEW INFORMATION SECURED.

A report that Newt Lee, the night watchman, has given the detectives much additional information was current at police headquarters Thursday morning, and was not denied by the officials working on the case. Lee went through another hour’s examination Thursday morning, and when he was locked in his cell again orders were given that he be allowed to communicate with no one.

It is now reported that he will go before the coroner’s jury, when it convenes again at 4:30 in the afternoon.

The detectives intimate that Lee has given them new information which will materially help them in solving the mystery of Mary Phagan murder. It bears out the theory, they say, upon which they have been working for the past two days.

Shortly after 9 o’clock Thursday morning Lee was brought from his cell at the office of the chief of detectives. There he was examined for an hour by Chief Lanford, Chief Beavers, City Detectives Black and Rosser, and Harry Scott, the Pinkerton representative.

FACTORY GIRLS TO TESTIFY.

Coroner Paul Donehoo has announced his intention of summoning practically every woman employee of the National Pencil Factory, and many of the men, before the jury, which will resume the investigation of the death of little Mary Phagan on Thursday afternoon at 4:30 o’clock.

Trouble, expense and inconvenience cannot be considered in making an investigation in a case of such paramount importance, the coroner declares, and it is possible that some fact of the greatest importance may be developed by thoroughly examining the employees of the factory.

Probably some of the girls there have in their possession facts that would lead the detectives directly to the murderer, yet the girls holding this information may have no idea of its importance.

Coroner Donehoo told Chief of Detectives Lanford of his decision early Thursday and that official immediately offered the coroner two of his men who will serve the subpoenas.

According to the present plan the detectives will secure from the management a list of the employees. Their names will be written on the subpoenas, which the detectives will immediately serve.

Repeated rumors that employees of the factory know more than has ever been developed by the officers, has led, it is said, to the necessity of continuing the probe among them.

Of especial value is the coroner’s inquest for when the witnesses go before it they are placed under oath, and if their stories vary at the trial of any party, who may be indicted for the crime, then the record of the coroner’s investigation may be produced.

It is said that there are between sixty and eighty women and about 104 male employees of the National Pencil factory.

MAY EXHUME BODY.

Coroner Paul Donehoo is considering the advisability of having the body of Mary Phagan, interred at Marietta Monday, exhumed in order that physicians may make an examination of the contents of her stomach.

The coroner took the matter up, following a conference with D. G. Buchanan, formerly a sergeant of police at Augusta. Mr. Buchanan, who is now in business in Atlanta, advances the theory that Mary Phagan was drugged early in the afternoon, and that the tying of the cord and piece of her underskirt about her neck was either a simple “stall” or was done for the purpose of moving the body around by someone, who feared that he would bloody his clothing if he touched it.

FRANK REGRETS DELAY.

Leo M. Frank, when seen by a Journal reporter Thursday morning, said that he has no statement to make until his testimony is given before the coroner’s jury, which will probably be at the afternoon session this Thursday.

Mr. Frank said that a complete stenographic statement had been dictated by him, and that he was anxious to have this before the jury.

He looked worn and tired, but declared that he regretted the delay and was anxious to have his testimony introduced as he was confident the coroner’s inquest would completely establish his innocence.

UNCLE TO AID HIM.

It was learned Thursday that Moses Frank, one of the city’s substantial citizens, is returning to Atlanta today to assist his nephew, L. M. Frank, in establishing his innocence of the crime with which his name has been linked by the charges of suspicion. Mr. Frank had started to Europe, but was reached by wire in New York and immediately started back here, giving up his journey. L. M. Frank is said to be a favorite nephew and the probable heir to his fortune.

The coroner’s investigation of the murder of little Mary Phagan at the National Pencil factory Saturday or Sunday, will be resumed at police headquarters at 4:30 o’clock Thursday afternoon, and the principal witness is expected to be L. M. Frank, superintendent of the factory, who is being detained by the police.

When the inquest, which had been in session from 9 o’clock in the morning, adjourned for the day Wednesday at 6 o’clock, the mystery of Mary Phagan’s death had not been solved, and the crime was far from fixed on any individual.

Coroner Paul Donehoo expects to hold a long night session Thursday. He fixed the hour for the re-convening of the inquest at 4:30 o’clock in order that the city detectives might utilize the entire day in their hunt for evidence which may tend to throw additional light on the factory tragedy.

WEDNESDAY’S SESSION.

G. W. Epps, a fifteen-year-old, [1 word illegible] boy, who says that he lives just around the corner from the dead girl’s residence proved one of the most interesting of the witnesses heard by the coroner’s jury at Wednesday afternoon’s session. Epps, who rode to town with Mary when she went to the factory to get her earnings for two days’ labor, was to meet her again at 2 o’clock at Five Points, and they had arranged to watch the Memorial day parade together.

Coming in on the car, he declared that Mary told him that Mr. Frank had winked at her and looked “suspicious.” She requested him, he said, to meet her at the factory whenever he could.

Edgar L. Sentell, of 82 Davis street, was positive that he saw Mary with a male companion on Forsyth street, near the factory between 11:30 Saturday evening and 12:30 o’clock Sunday morning. They spoke to each other, he said.

Sentell was not quite positive that her companion was Arthur Mullinax, the former street car conductor.

Another witness, a neighbor, claimed to have seen her near her home at 5 o’clock Saturday afternoon, while still another witness who had told the detectives that he saw Mary the afternoon of the tragedy, appeared at the inquest and declared that he was mistaken. Miss Pearl Robinson, who had also been summoned as a witness, was the girl he saw, he declared.

FACTORY EMPLOYEES TESTIFY.

Three employees of the factory were among the witnesses of the session. One, R. P. Barrett, found the blood splotches near Mary’s machine on the second floor, which show that there instead of in the dark basement she commenced her fight for life. Harry Denham and Arthur White, the two young men who worked on the fourth floor of the factory from 7:30 until 3 o’clock Saturday, were the other witnesses. Mr. Frank, they said, came up to their floor shortly afternoon and when told that they couldn’t complete their work by 1 o’clock locked them in the building until about 3 o’clock, when they left him there.

J. M. Gant [sic], another of the men held by the police in the case, was on the stand, and he told on oath practically the same story that he has so often told to the detectives and reporters.

J. W. Coleman, of 146 Lindsay street, step-father of the murdered girl, told the pathetic story of the anxiety of her mother and himself when she failed to appear at home by dusk, Saturday evening. Coleman declared Mary Phagan would have been fourteen years old had she lived until the first day of June.

Frank M. Berry, assistant cashier at the Fourth National bank, was one of the important witnesses at the hearing, and he declared that in his opinion the notes found by the girl’s body were written in the same hand as several other notes, which had been written at police headquarters for the detectives, by the negro watchman, Newt Lee.

WAS FACTORY A RENDESVOUZ.

Repeated questions from the coroner and the members of his jury attempted to bring from many witnesses the statement that the pencil factory had been visited often after working hours by men and women.

No witness before the jury admitted having seen couples enter the place after dark, but it is said that when the jury continues its investigation Thursday several persons who claim to have seen men and women enter the building at night, will be called.

Miss Pearl Robinson, of 133 Bellwood avenue, testified that Arthur Mullinax was with her the greater part of Saturday evening, and it is extremely probable that Mullinax will be released immediately upon the closing of the coroner’s probe.

Expert embalmers from P. J. Bloomfield’s establishment will probably be called before the coroner’s jury Thursday afternoon, and they will give it as their opinion that Mary Phagan had been dead ten hours or more when they received the body.

The undertakers were called about half an hour after the arrival of the police at the factory, or shortly after 4 o’clock Sunday morning.

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Atlanta Journal, May 1st 1913, “Detectives Eliminate Evidence in Conflict with Theory that Phagan Girl Never Left Factory,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

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

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday, April 30^th, 1913

Describes finding of body of slain girl and events at Pencil Factory before and at time of discovery of crime

Newt Lee, watchman at the National Pencil Company’s factory, who notified the police of the discovery of Mary Phagan’s body, told his complete story on the stand at the coroner’s inquest to-day.

Lee was on the stand for more than an hour and was plied with questions intended to throw light on the tragedy. He replied to questions in a straightforward way, and in detail his story is substantially the same as he has made to the reporters ever since his arrest.

His most significant answers concerned his employer, Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the factory. Lee said that when he reported at 4 o’clock for work, Frank told him to go home until 6. He declared that Frank seemed excited, but added that he attributed that excitement to the fact that Frank had just discharged John Gantt, and might have feared trouble. He said he reported back for work at 6 o’clock and that a few hours later Frank called him up by phone from his home to ask him if things were all right. The witness testified that his employer had never done this before.

Chief of Police Beavers said that Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the National Pencil Company, would go on the stand before the coroner’s jury probably late this afternoon.

The Chief said he could not force him to testify as he was in the nature of a defendant, but Attorney Rosser said there would be no objection.

E. L. Sentell, on the stand this afternoon, reiterated that he had seen Mary Phagan with Arthur Mullinax at midnight Saturday night. His testimony and that of other witnesses is printed on page 4.

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Atlanta Georgian, April 30th, 1913, “Newt Lee on Stand at Inquest Tells His Side of Phagan Case,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

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

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday April 30^th, 1913

Edgar L. Sentell, the man who identified Mullinax as being the man he saw with Mary Phagan Saturday night was the first witness to take the stand when the coroner’s jury convened at 2:30 o’clock.

The witness said that he worked at Kamper’s grocery store, starting to work there last Thursday. He was questioned as follows:

Q. How late did you work Saturday night? A. To about 10:30 o’clock.

Q. What is your work? A. I drive a wagon.

Q. What time did you get in with your wagon Saturday night? A. About 9:30 or 10 o’clock.

Q. What did you do after that? A. I stayed about the store for a little while, then went down to the drug store on the corner.

Saw Girl and Mullinax.

Q. How late did you stay there? A. I do not know exactly. I started walking to town and when I reached the Carnegie Library, I waited for a Magnolia street car. I think I waited about ten minutes and then found that the cars had quit running.

Q. Did you see Mary Phagan Saturday night? A. Yes, sir.

Q. Was she with any one? A. She was with this fellow Mullinax.

Q. What time was it? A. I do not know exactly. It was some time between 11:30 and 12:30 o’clock. I think it was nearer 12:30 o’clock, as the cars had quit running.

Q. Where did you see them? A. On Forsyth Street, near Hunter.

Q. What were they doing? A. They were walking toward me.

Q. Were they together? A. They were not exactly together.

Q. Just how were they? A. She as on one side of the sidewalk and Mullinax was on the other.

Q. Did she wear a hat? A. No.

Certain of Identity.

Q. Could you swear that it was Mary Phagan?—A. Yes.

Q. Are you sure that it was Mullinax?—A. I could, not say positively, but it was a man who looked like him, and I have not seen anyone who looks so much like the man I saw as Mullinax does.

Q. How long have you known Mullinax?—A. I have just known his name since Sunday.

Q. Did you know him before?—A. I used to see him around the car barns when I worked there last June, but I did not know his name.

Q. What were you doing around the car barns?—A. I worked there.

Q. When did you first hear of the death of the girl?—A. About 10 o’clock Sunday morning when I was on the car on my way to my aunt’s.

Q. How did you know it was Mary Phagan?—A. I heard the street car men talking. They said the dead girl’s name was Phagan, and I thought it might be Mary Phagan, as I had seen her out late the night before.

Q. When did you first tell of seeing her?—A. I went right on out to the Phagan home instead of going to my aunt’s to find if it was Mary, and told them at the house that I had seen her.

Q. Where is your home?—A. My people live at East Point, but I board at 82 Davis Street.

Q. What work did you do before going with the Kamper Grocery firm?—A. I was in the Navy.

Q. When did you quit that work?—A. April 18.

Q. How long were you there?—A. About three months.

Q. Why did you quit?—A. I was discharged on account of weak eyes.

Q. What was the trouble with your eyes?—A. I could not see the targets.

Q. Do your eyes trouble you ordinarily?—A. No, sir.

Q. Are you quite sure they did not fail you when you met this girl Saturday night?—A. Yes, sir.

Q. Do you drink?—A. Sometimes, but I have never been drunk.

Q. Had you been drinking Saturday night?—A. No, sir.

Q. Did Mary Phagan look like she had been drugged?—A. No, sir, but she looked tired.

Q. Did you speak to her?—A. Yes, sir. I walked between her and Mulling and said: “Hello, Mary.”

Q. What did she say?—A. Hello, Ed.

Q. Did you talk to her any more?—A. No, sir. I walked on.

Q. Did Mary Phagan’s parents allow her to go out with boys at night?—A. No, sir.

Q. Did you say anything to her about being out so late?—A. No, sir, but I thought it was unusual.

Q. How long have you been knowing Mary Phagan?—Nearly all her life.

Q. Did you ever call on her?—A. I went to her house a good many times.

Q. Did you work all day Saturday?—A. Yes, sir.

Q. Are you sure the girl was Mary Phagan, and not some other girl?—A. I am positive that it was Mary Phagan.

Sentell was dismissed at this point and the next witness called.

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Atlanta Georgian, April 30th 1913, “Tells Jury He Saw Girl and Mullinax Together,” 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, April 28^th, 1913

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

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

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

Sentell Positive.

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

Mullinax vehemently declared the accusation false.

“It’s untrue—it’s all false—I was at home asleep,” cried the accused man.

Sentell remained positive and never once varied his identification.

Detectives said Mullinax made a serious blunder in his statement when he told them that he arrived at his boarding house, 60 Poplar Street before midnight, and that he paid Mrs. Emma Rutherford, his landlady, a dollar for some work done on his clothes. Mrs. Rutherford was questioned by Detectives Rosser and Haslett, and told them, they said, that this statement was false.

Sticks to Denial.

According to the officers, Mrs. Rutherford said she did not see Mullinax last night at all; that he paid her the dollar Saturday at noon, and that she did not see him until 7 o’clock Sunday morning.

Detectives regard this as a strong circumstance against the prisoner.

Mullinax became agitated two or three times during his examination by detectives, but stuck to his denial throughout the rapid-fire grilling.

When seen by a Georgian reporter, Mullinax talked freely, reiterating his sweeping denial of any knowledge whatever of the tragedy. He denied he was personally acquainted with the dead girl, but said he had seen her one time, when both he and the girl took part in a Christmas entertainment in the Western Heights Baptist Church.

Girl Supports Prisoner.

Guy Kennedy, a conductor of the English Avenue trolley line, on whose car the Phagan girl had ridden many times to and from her Bellwood home, was reported to have also seen Mullinax and the girl together on Forsyth Street.

Investigation, however, developed the information that the girl Kennedy had seen with Mullinax was not Mary Phagan. Kennedy saw the couple early in the night on his car coming to town.

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Atlanta Georgian, April 28th 1913, “Mullinax Blundered in Statement Say Police,” 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, April 28^th, 1913

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

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

It was 30 minutes after midnight, when Sentell, going home from his work at Kamper’s saw Mary Phagan coming down Forsyth Street near Hunter.

Outside of the stragglers about the cheap hotels in that district, there were few on the streets at that time. The intermittent lights of cheap fruit and soda water stands, the flickering flame of a whistling peanut roaster here and there, added enough light to the dull glow of the city lamps to make pedestrians easily distinguishable.

Mary Phagan, at that hour of the night, was a conspicuous figure. Fourteen-year-old girls on the streets of Atlanta at midnight are not so plentiful that they’re not noticed.

Sentell, then, walking south on Forsyth Street saw Mary Phagan approaching him. She was walking at a medium gait on the inside of the pavement.

On the curb side of the pavement parallel with her, keeping step with her, but exchanging no words, walked a tall slender man.

Exchanged “Hellos.”

Sentell looked at him more or less casually but sharply enough to describe him later to the detectives.

“Hello, Mary” said Sentell.

“Hello, Edgar” said Mary.

That was all. Sentell kept on his way. The couple, now behind him, were swallowed up in the gloom of Forsyth Street.

To Sentell, Mary Phagan looked as if she was tried or angry. That the man of mystery was her companion he had no doubt. As Sentell described him later to the police:

He was six feet tall or over.

His hair was black and curly and his fact, not unattractive, was of dark complexion.

He wore a blue suit and tan shoes and a straw hat.

He was of slender build and appeared to be about twenty-five years old.

At 9 o’clock yesterday morning Sentell was on a street car when he heard that a girl named Mary Phagan had been found murdered. He hurried to her home and found his fears were verified. With a boy friend of the victim’s sister he hastened to Chief Lanford’s office and on his clue the detective department got busy at once.

It is known that Mary Phagan came to the city a few minutes after noon on Saturday and left an English Avenue car at the corner of Broad and Hunter Streets. Motorman W. M. Matthews knew the girl from having had her as a passenger on his car a number of times and says positively that she left his car at the corner of Broad and Hunter Streets and that he saw her walking up Hunter Street in the direction of Forsyth. Conductor W. T. Hollis was in charge of the car that reached the corner of Marietta and Broad at 12:07 o’clock Saturday afternoon and says that he knew the little girl and that she was a passenger on the trip into the city. He was relieved at the corner of Marietta and Broad and does not know anything further about the movements of the child, although he says that he is sure that she was, still on the car when it left the corner going south on Broad Street.

Another Sees Companion.

It was reported to the detectives that Conductor Guy Kennedy of the English Avenue line had admitted having brought a young girl, answering the description of the little victim into the city on his car about 6:45 o’clock Saturday afternoon, and had later seen her in company with a man on the streets. He is said to have furnished the detectives with a description of the mysterious stranger but when seen by a Georgian reporter declined to make any statement other than that he had seen Chief Beavers and that the Chief had asked that he not say anything about it to anyone. He admitted, however, that he had seen the man again yesterday afternoon and the man had told him that he had been out with another girl Saturday night.

Having seen the man at least twice and talked with him once, Kennedy will undoubtedly be able to recognize him.

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Atlanta Georgian, April 28th 1913, “Lifelong Friend Saw Girl and Man After Midnight,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)