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

Atlanta Constitution

Thursday, May 8^th, 1913

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

LEE’S CELLMATE MAY TESTIFY AT INQUEST

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

DAY’S DEVELOPMENTS IN PHAGAN MYSTERY

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shirt Found In Trash Barrel.

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

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

He will probably be summoned to testify at the inquest.

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

Body Exhumed For Last Time.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

His Work Hampered Says Lanford.

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

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

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

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

Lee’s Cellmate May Testify.

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

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

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

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

Did Negro Write Notes?

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

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

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

New Witnesses Summoned.

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

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

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

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

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Atlanta Constitution, May 8th 1913, “Stains of Blood on Shirt Fresh, Says Dr. Smith,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

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

Atlanta Constitution

Thursday, May 8^th, 1913

Object to Flaring Headlines Over Phagan Mystery.

One hundred of the most prominent members of the Greek community in Atlanta gathered in their community hall on Whitehall street last night and protested vigorously against the use of the word Greek in an afternoon paper in connection with the Phagan mystery.

The article in question stated that the Pinkertons had said that the murder of Mary Phagan was done in the Mediterranean style and that a certain Greek restaurant employee was being shadowed or words to that effect.

“We protest must vigorously against such use of the word Greek in flaring headlines,” said D. Vafiadis, Greek consul. Before any arrest of a Greek is made flaring headlines in an extra call the city’s attention to the Greek race.

“There is no style in crime that we know of. Each murderer has a style of his own. I never heard of a Mediterranean style until tonight when I read a sensational extra.”

“If a Greek had committed this crime he would never get out of Atlanta alive,” said G. Algers, president of the Greek community. “The Greeks would have lynched him, and we protest most vigorously against such treatment as we received today in the newspapers. We are industrious and law-abiding and the majority of us are prominent property holders in Atlanta. We do not wish to have the public turned against us. If a Greek should ever be arrested, say Mr. Petros as you would say Mr. Smith.”

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Atlanta Constitution, May 8th 1913, “Greeks Make Protest,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

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

Atlanta Georgian

Thursday, May 8^th, 1913

Pinkertons Find No Foundation for Report of Lunch Room Helper’s Disappearance.

Harry Scott, of the Pinkertons, said Thursday that the information obtained by his agency to the effect that a Greek helper in a restaurant had disappeared following the killing of Mary Phagan had proved baseless so far as he was able to determine.

“It was a blind clew,” he said. “We were unable to find that any one was missing from the restaurant. Neither were we able to locate the supposedly missing person in Anniston, Ala., where our information said he was.”

In discussing the alleged mysterious disappearance of one of his employees shortly after the discovery of the murder of little Mary Phagan, this morning, George Pappas, proprietor of the Busy Bee Café at Hunter and Forsyth Streets, said that there was no basis for any rumor involving anybody in his place.

“There was no one working in the restaurant at the time of the murder except my brother, Stamates Pappas, and myself, and, as you can see, we are both still here,” he said.

Girl Not Known There.

“Furthermore, instead of anyone going away, we have just hired another man to wait in the café. He came here last Saturday and is still here.

“So far as the pencil factory and the murder of the girl is concerned I do not know anything about it at all. I didn’t even know the girl by sight. Once in a while some of the girls came in here to get a little lunch, but I didn’t know any of them by name and could not say positively that they worked over there at all.

“I have never been in the pencil factory but twice in my life—once on the Sunday the girl was found dead and once before that to get some dishes that had been sent over there with some lunch for one of the men at the factory.”

When asked about the practice of sending lunches into the factory or the possibility of anyone in his employ getting familiar with the interior of the plant, he said that they very seldom sent anything over there, for the reason that they only had two men, and that the orders usually came at about 12 o’clock when they were too busy in the café to send orders out.

Pappas, telling of the movements of himself and his brother at the time of the murder, said:

“My brother left here about 7:30 o’clock in the evening to go and take a sleep, for the next day was our Easter, and we had to go to church that night and be up the greater part of the night, and he was supposed to open up the café in the morning.

“I closed up the place about 11:30 o’clock and went out for a little while. I came back and took a bath and dressed and at about 1 o’clock in the morning my brother came by for me and we went to the church to the Easter service.

“He came back here earlier than I did and was in the restaurant and the place was open when I reached here shortly before 8 o’clock. I had not been here long before someone came in and said something had happened over at the pencil factory. I went outside and asked a policeman, who was standing there, what the trouble was and he told me that something had happened over at the factory that they did not understand—that a robber had been there and killed someone.

Frank There for Cup of Coffee.

“Later on I heard that it was a girl found dead in the place and went over to see. I went in and looked around for a few minutes and saw Mr. Frank and some of the other employees in there, but I didn’t stay in there long, because they made everyone get outside.

“Of course, I don’t know anything about it, and all I hope is that they will catch the man that did it.”

Asked if any of the employees of the pencil company had been in his place immediately following the discovery of the body, Pappas said that Mr. Frank had been in there about 8 o’clock Sunday morning and had a cup of coffee.

Greek Consul’s Statement.

From the Grecian Vice Consul in Atlanta, The Georgian is in receipt of the following letter, which it prints gladly in justice to a body of citizens of whom the city has always been proud:

To the Editor of The Georgian:

Referring to the article published in yesterday’s Georgian that a Greek is trailed in Anniston, Ala., on suspicion that he is connected with the terrible assassination of poor Mary Phagan, I beg to express my deepest indignation, not so much for the mere fact that a Greek is suspected, as for the off-hand conclusions of the “Pinkertons” that a Greek must be the guilty party who committed this atrocious deed because the crime itself bears the style of the Mediterranean criminal.

This accusation is of such a nature and so unjust to the country I have the honor to represent that you will allow me to place a formal and strong protest against any allegation of this kind.

It is the first time that I ever heard that strangulation is common in Greece. I think that before so detrimental a statement is published you ought to have taken into consideration statistical information from the courts of Greece and not entirely rely upon the suppositions of any detective agency.

Yours very truly,

DEMETRE VAFIADES,

Vice Consul.

The article referred to was published in line with The Georgian’s policy to give its readers all the news and merely as the theory of detectives.

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Atlanta Georgian, May 8th 1913, “Another Clew in Phagan Case is Worthless,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

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

Atlanta Constitution

Thursday, May 8^th, 1913

Mrs. Mattie White Tells Detectives That on Afternoon of Killing She Saw Negro in Factory.

Leo M. Frank will probably be the first witness to take the stand in the Mary Phagan murder inquest to be resumed this morning at 9:30 o’clock in police headquarters. He will be examined thoroughly along lines which neither the chief of detectives, coroner nor solicitor general will disclose.

He was resting comfortably at midnight, and, according to reports from the Tower in which he is imprisoned, he is in fit condition to undergo the ordeal. In the first interrogation to which he was subjected, he was on the stand for a trifle more than six hours. It is not thought that the examination today will last that long.

Headquarters was given a surprise yesterday afternoon with the report brought back by Detectives Rosser and Haslett, who were sent early in the afternoon to interview Mrs. Mattie White, wife of Arthur White, the mechanic who was in the pencil factory during the time Mary Phagan entered the building to draw her pay envelope.

Saw Negro in Factory.

Mrs. White stated that she went to the plant to see her husband shortly before 1 o’clock, and that as she came downstairs a few minutes later, she noticed a stalwart, black negro, sitting on a box on the first floor only a few feet from the elevator. He was seated in the shadow of the staircase, and was almost out of view.

This is the first time she has told of seeing the negro. It also is the first time it has been revealed that a negro was in the building between the hours of 12 noon and 4 o’clock, the fatal afternoon. Mrs. White told the sleuths that she did not recollect the incident at first.

Her statement was written and placed on record at headquarters. She will be summoned to the inquest. Her residence is at 58 Bonnie Brae avenue, where she has resided several years.

“The negro was a big man,” she said to Haslett and Rosser, “and was apparently too well-dressed to be a workman. He was sitting on a box in the shadows of the stairway, and gazing intently at the elevator shafts. I thought nothing of his presence, and hurried on out of the building. I don’t know whether or not I will be able to identify him. I possibly could, though.”

Searching for Greek.

Detectives are searching for a young Greek, who is supposed to have disappeared the day the body was discovered. He was an attaché of the café adjoining the pencil factory, a popular establishment with girl employees of the plant, at which many of whom ate their lunches.

Chief Lanford stated that when city detectives, following clues they had obtained from girls of the factory, sought to interview him, they found him missing. Later, it was reported that he was in Anniston, Ala., in which city Pinkerton men are making a search. He was employed as a waiter at the café, and had been in America for a good many years. The officers will not give his name.

The theory, on which suspicion is directed toward the Greek, is that the girl was murdered on the outside of the factory building, probably in the alley way facing Madison avenue, and that her body was carried into the basement through the rear door which was broken open.

The bursting of the door would have been an easy matter, as the staple could have been taken out, the detectives say, with the fingers.

It is advanced, too, that the slayer was in love with his victim, and that the deed was inspired by insane jealousy.

Added energy was injected into the search for the missing Greek at dusk Wednesday, when W. T. Hunter, a youth living at 250 Grant street, came to police headquarters and told Chief Lanford a story of a scene he had witnessed at 3:30 o’clock on the Sunday morning the body was found.

Hunter told of the appearance of three Greeks in a club at Broad and Hunter streets at 8:30 o’clock the Sunday morning of the discovery. One of the trio, he said, carried a mysterious package under his arm, obviously containing clothing. All three, upon entering the club, went into the washroom, where they cleaned their faces and hands. Detectives have been detailed to look for the three Greeks answering Hunter’s descriptions.

Dorsey Talks With Lee.

Solicitor General Dorsey held a lengthy interview with Newt Lee in the Tower Wednesday afternoon. It was the first opportunity he had gained to talk with the suspect. He would not divulge the result nor tell of the lines along which the negro was quizzed. Immediately after leaving the jail, Mr. Dorsey hurried away in an automobile.

The negro watchman, Chief Lanford says, will also go on the stand today. It will be his second examination. He will be questioned more closely regarding his private interview held with him by Frank Tuesday, a week ago, when both were allowed to talk in the privacy of the negro’s cell.

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Atlanta Constitution, May 8th 1913, “Frank Will Take Stand at Inquest,” 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, May 7^th, 1913

Detectives Figure Strangling Was a Typical Mediterranean Crime—Solicitor Dorsey Grills Watchman Lee in Effort to Get New Points.

A new and sensational interpretation was given the Phagan mystery Wednesday afternoon when it was revealed that Pinkerton detectives are trailing a Greek now missing who was employed in a restaurant near the National Pencil factory before the crime was committed.

The reasons that the city detectives give for the adoption of the new theory are:

The slaying of Mary Phagan was not a negro crime, as the only negro who has been suspected in the case, Newt Lee, would have fled from the scene.

The notes which were left with the evident intention of diverting suspicion from the actual criminal were too subtle for Lee to have framed.

Strangulation, the method by which Mary Phagan was killed, is not a negro method of killing.

But this method is typical of the Mediterranean countries.

Working along these new lines, the detectives are of the opinion that the crime was not committed inside the National Pencil Factory. They believe that the girl was attacked outside the factory and that her body was taken inside with the intention of hiding it ultimately in the furnace, although the body never reached there.

Girls Eat at Near-by Café.

It is not the supposition that it was the intention to burn it, as there were no fires under the boilers. The assailant only wanted to hide the body so that he might have time to make his escape.

Girls employed in the pencil factory are in the habit of getting many of their midday lunches at a little Greek restaurant near the factory building. It was the most natural thing to suppose that Mary Phagan, after getting her money Saturday afternoon, stopped in at the restaurant to get something to eat.

One of the important developments in the search for the slayer of Mary Phagan came Wednesday afternoon in the surprising information that the authorities ordered a second exhumation of the body to confirm the statement of an expert physician that the crime, which was taken for granted by all to have preceded the actual killing of the girl, was not accomplished.

One physician whose opinion has great weight in medical circles and who made a minute examination of the body, declared that he virtually was certain that the girl had not been outraged before she was killed and left in the basement of the National Pencil Factory.

Dr. J. W. Hurt, county physician, is understood to have said that he was not at all satisfied on this point.

The man under suspicion is said to have been employed at the restaurant. It is believed that Mary and the man became involved in a quarrel. The man was in love with Mary, the police argue, and in a rage of jealousy slew the girl, the killing probably taking place in an alleyway near the factory.

Took Body in Rear Door.

The theory holds that the man then gained entrance to the factory by the front door, went into the basement and forced the staple of the back door out. Then he went for the body of the girl, returning with it by the rear way.

Newt Lee’s testimony differed materially with that of the police in regard to the finding of the body. Lee said that he found it lying face up on the basement floor. The police declared that it was lying face downward, with the arms folded underneath.

This discrepancy is believed to be explained by the theory that as late as the hour of discovery the criminal was making efforts to hide the evidence of the crime and that he was interrupted when the alarm was given.

The police believe that the Greek still was in the basement when Lee made his gruesome discovery and that he was the one who disturbed the

NEW AND STARTLING TURN IN PHAGAN SLAYING MYSTERY

Continued From Page 1.

Position of the body before he made his escape out the rear door.

Trailed to Anniston.

The Pinnertons [sic] have trailed the Greek into Alabama and he is believed to be in Anniston, from where news of his arrest is expected hourly.

The detectives say that the new theory explains away all of the discrepancies which hitherto have puzzled those working on the case, except those of the hair found on one of the lathing machines on the second floor, where the struggle was supposed to have taken place. They are of the opinion, however, that too much weight may have been attached to these bits of evidence, and that the hair may have been that of some other girl and that the stains on the floor may not have been bloodstains.

It became evident that the State had taken up the trail of the Greek when Solicitor Dorsey, a Greek interpreter and a man said to be a Burns detective started out in an automobile Wednesday afternoon to gather evidence. The Solicitor would say nothing of the object of his trip, but in view of the most recent developments it immediately was surmised that the Solicitor had interested himself in the new phase of the case and was following down the clews on his own account.

The circumstances of the murder were such as to leave the killing without any understandable motive if this presupposed crime was not accomplished. For this reason the reports of the outrage were accepted by everyone as true, and the authorities themselves have been working on this theory.

Solicitor Would Clear Uncertainty.

If the examination on the second exhumation proves the contention of the expert physician, the detectives will have difficulty in fixing a motive for the murder.

Solicitor General Dorsey ordered that the body be exhumed a second time so that the opinion of the expert physician might be either positively established or disproved beyond a doubt. The conflicting theories which have arisen since the body was exhumed last Monday have cast a shadow of uncertainty over the investigation that the Solicitor was desirous of dispelling at once and for good.

The order for the second exhumation was given by Solicitor Dorsey, but it had not been made up to 2 o’clock on Wednesday.

Coroner Donehoo admitted that Dorsey’s order had been given, but said it had not been carried out. He would make no further statement.

The report published in an early edition of The Georgian that the body had been exhumed was made on statements by officials, and that it was for the purpose of making a microscopic examination of every wound on the body for finger prints and other clews.

It is undoubtedly the intention of the authorities to exhume the body again.

Dorsey Maintains Silence.

Very properly Solicitor Dorsey is not making public every move that the prosecution is engaged in, nor is he giving to the public such evidence as he is enabled to obtain.

It would seem probably that the exhumation will be made, if not on Wednesday, at least some other day soon; for the belief is growing that there still may be some clews that are worthy of further examination.

Parents Object to Exhumation.

Solicitor Dorsey instructed Coroner Donehoo to secure the permission of the girl’s parents before ordering the exhumation of the body, and Coroner Donehoo said Wednesday afternoon that the father of the dead girl, J. W. Coleman, was very much excited over the reports that the body had been exhumed Wednesday morning. The Coroner called on Mr. Coleman and assured him that the body had not been taken from its grave in Marietta.

Though none of the officials would make a statement to that effect, it is probable that the opposition which developed from the girl’s parents has caused the officials to abandon their plans to exhume the body, for the present, at least.

It was reported that the finger prints on the body were to be photographed and compared with the finger prints of persons under suspicion; which may, or may not have any basis in facts and might, or might not be of value. After the remains were discovered in the factory basement they were handled by several p[e]rsons—embalmers and others—and whether there are any finger prints now on the body is problematic.

It is said that a complete chart will be prepared by medical experts to be used at the trial, showing every wound and mark.

Notwithstanding these speculations as to the purpose of the exhumation, Solicitor Dorsey declared Wednesday forenoon that it was not for the purpose of obtaining a record of the fingerprints. One of the principal reasons for the action, he said, was to get a strand of the girl’s hair in order to compare it with the hair found on the lathing machine in the tipping department at the factory. It was at this point that the detectives discovered blood spots on the floor and other evidences of a struggle.

“I cannot talk in regard to the matter,” he said. “The body was exhumed, it is true, at my request. But to reveal further plans would be hurtful.”

Thinks She Didn’t Leave Factory.

The Solicitor is in entire accord with the theory that Mary Phagan never left the factory after she received her pay Saturday noon. He declared that if any search was being made for the man seen with a girl Saturday, April 26, by attaches of the Terminal Station, it was not being conducted under his direction.

The results of the chemical analysis in the laboratory of Dr. Harris in the State Capitol have not yet been made public. Dr. Harris would not admit Wednesday that traces of drugs had been found, bearing out the belief that the girl was drugged and rendered helpless before she was slain in the factory.

All of the remaining evidence in the case will be presented when the Coroner’s inquest resumes Thursday morning at 9:30 o’clock.

It is the purpose of Coroner Donehoo to limit testimony to the points that are regarded as essential, so that the hearing may be concluded by Thursday night.

Have Two Hundred Names.

The Coroner and the Solicitor General have the names of about 200 persons on whom they may call for testimony. These include girls and women employed at the pencil factory. It is unlikely, however, that more than a few of the girls will be placed on the witness stand, but will be held in readiness to testify as was the case last Monday afternoon when the roll-call room was filled with witnesses.

So far as the line of testimony can be anticipated from the information given out by the authorities, the most important will come from the physicians and chemists who have been at work on the mystery under the direction of Coroner Donehoo and Solicitor Dorsey.

Dr. H. F. Harris, director of the State Board of Health, will submit a report on his chemical analysis of the contents of Mary Phagan’s stomach. Dr. Harris also made a careful examination of the wounds and bruises on the body and will report on this to the jury.

Dr. J. W. Hurt, county physician, made the first examination of the girl’s body after it was found in the basement of the factory. He also was present when it was exhumed from its little grave in the Marietta cemetery and another examination made at the order of Solicitor General Dorsey. He will present the results of his observations to the jury some time during the hearing Thursday.

Dr. Smith to Be Quizzed.

Dr. Claude A. Smith, City Bacteriologist, has made a chemical examination of the bloodstains on a shirt found at Newt Lee’s home and of the pieces of wood chipped from the factory floor where the stains of blood were discovered, and will be questioned by Coroner Donehoo.

The recalling of Newt Lee also is regarded as an indication that the authorities expect the night watchman to tell something which he forgot or concealed in his previous examination.

The factory girls will tell of their acquaintance with Mary Phagan, of her companions and habits and of the conditions under which they have to work at the factory, so far as they have any relation to the mystery.

Bowen Released in Houston.

Accompanying mystifying new features of the hunt for the slayer was the news that Paul P. Bowen, held in Houston for the Atlanta authorities, had been released and relieved of all suspicion.

Bowen was employed with the Morrow Transfer Company in Atlanta as stenographer and shipping clerk, and later with the Southern Railway. He had many friends here and with them bore a good reputation.

His father and other relatives live in Newnan, Ga., and are among the best people of that part of the State. Chief of Police Davison, of Houston, was angered that his detective chief should have exceeded his authority in arresting Bowen, and promptly discharged him from authority.

By letters Bowen wrote from Texas and statements of friends it was proved conclusively that he could not have been connected with the Atlanta mystery and he was accordingly freed.

Dr. Claude A. Smith, city bacteriologist, said Wednesday that he was hurrying the examination of the blood stains on Newt Lee’s shirt and probably would submit a report to Coroner Donehoo late in the afternoon.

The shirt was found by detectives in a barrel in Lee’s home when a search was made a few days after the killing of the Phagan girl.

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Atlanta Georgian, May 7th 1913, “Employe of Lunch Stand Near Pencil Factory is Trailed to Alabama,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)