Tag Archives: Jim Conley

Harlee Branch Tells of Conley Pantomine

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

Atlanta Constitution
August 19th, 1913

Harlee Branch, a newspaper man who was present when James Conley, the negro sweeper of the National Pencil factory, went through for the police a pantomime of what he claims occurred on the day of the murder when he says he aided Leo Frank in hiding the body of Mary Phagan, was the first witness called lo the stand Monday morning.

Mr. Branch had been on the stand Saturday, but had not finished his testimony when court adjourned. Through his statements as to the time, Attorney Reuben Arnold drew the conclusion that 49 minutes must have elapsed while Conley was enacting the motions through which he calms lo have gone with Frank.

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Atlanta Constitution, August 19th 1913, “Harlee Branch Tells of Conley Pantomine,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Arnold Ridicules Plot Alleged by Prosecution And Attacks the Methods Used by Detective

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

Atlanta Constitution
August 22nd, 1913

When Attorney Frank A. Hooper had made the opening speech of the prosecution, Attorney Reuben R. Arnold prepared for the first speech of the defense. It had been announced that he would review the entire history of the case and when he started at noon the pasteboard model of the pencil factory was brought In.

A large diagram giving a synopsis of the case was also brought in, but was not unwrapped when Mr. Arnold first started, “Gentlemen of the fury, we are all to be congratulated that this case is drawing to a close,” Mr. Arnold began in a quiet voice as though addressing several friends on an everyday subject.

“We have all suffered here from trying a long and complicated case at the heated term of the year. It’s been a case that has taken as much effort and so much concentration and so much time, and the quarters here are so poor.

Particularly hard on you members of the jury who are practically in custody while the case is going on.

“I know it’s hard on a jury to be kept confined this way, but it is necessary that they be segregated and set apart where they will get no impression at home nor on the street.

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Frank as Innocent as Angels Conley Told Her, Says Witness

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

Atlanta Constitution
August 16th, 1913

Miss Julia Fuss, a girl about 16 years old, and an employee at the National Pencil factory took the stand to testify as to Frank’s character. She not only testified that she believed the defendant’s character to be good, but that she had heard Jim Conley declare that Mr. Frank was as innocent as the angels in heaven.

Mr. Arnold asked Miss Fuss whether she had ever been in Frank’s office when anything immoral took place.

She replied that she had not.

“Do you know Jim Conley?”
“Yes.”

“Did you talk with him after the murder?”
“Yes. On Tuesday and Wednesday.”

“What conversation took place between you and Jim Conley?”

Wanted to See Newspaper.

Jim asked me to let him see a newspaper which I had there. I asked him what he thought about the case but before he answered or saw the paper he was called by Mr. Darley or somebody. On the next day he came to me again and asked me let him see the paper. This time I asked him again, ‘Jim, what do you think about the case? Do you think Frank did it?’ He said Mr. Frank is as innocent as the angels in heaven.”

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Miss Mary Perk Tells Jurymen She Believes Conley Is Guilty

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

Atlanta Constitution
August 16th, 1913

Miss Mary Perk, a forelady in the polishing department of the pencil factory followed Mrs. Carson to the stand.

“Do you know Frank and his general character?” she was asked by Mr. Arnold.

“Yes, for five years.”

“Is it good or bad?”
“Good.”

“Do you know Jim Conley?”

“I saw him Monday. I accused him of the murder and he tucked his head and walked away.”

“Is his character good or bad?”
“Bad.”

Mr. Dorsey on cross-examination.

“You reported your suspicion of Conley to Frank on Monday, didn’t you?”
“No.”

“What made you suspect Jim?”
“He acted like he was guilty.”

“To whom did you first report your suspicion?”
“To Mr. Rosser and Mr. Arnold.”

“Can you explain why you didn’t tell of your suspicion to Frank when you saw he had Pinkerton detectives at work on the case?”
“I just didn’t think it best.”

“Have you ever known of Frank being accused immorality?”
“No.”

“Did you know Mary Phagan?”
“Yes.”

“Ever see Frank go over and call her off to one side?”
“No.”

“Ever see Frank scuffling with her?”
“No.”

“Ever hear of Frank slapping girls?”
“No.”

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Atlanta Constitution, August 16th 1913, “Miss Mary Perk Tells Jurymen She Believes Conley Is Guilty,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Never Saw Any Women in Office of Frank Says Negro Witness

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

Atlanta Constitution
August 16th, 1913

Walter Pride, a negro employee in the National Pencil factory, who is named in Jim Conley’s story, was put on the stand in the middle of the afternoon.

“Where do you work on Saturdays?” he was asked by Arnold.

“I work every where anything is to be done on the machinery.”

“Have you missed a single Saturday since May?”
“No.”

“What floors do you work on on Saturdays?”
“From basement to the roof.”

“What do you do on the office floor?”
“Work on the toilets.”

“What time do you generally leave on Saturdays?”
“4:30 o’clock.”

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Leo Frank Innocent, Said Conley, According to a Girl Operator

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

Atlanta Constitution
August 16th, 1913

Mrs. Dora Small, a machine operator for the pencil factory, was the last witness of the afternoon session.

“How long have you been working with the factory?” she was asked by Arnold.

“For five years.”

“Did you know Mary Phagan?”
“Only when I saw her.”

“Did you know Jim Conley?”
“Yes, I saw him the week after the murder.”

“Did you see him with newspapers?”
“Yes, he borrowed money from me to get them with.”

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Every Girl on Fourth Floor of Factory Will Go on Stand

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

Atlanta Constitution
August 16th, 1913

Mrs. E. H. Carson, mother of Rebecca Carson, and a forewoman in the pencil factory, was put on the stand late in the afternoon.

“How long have you been employed by the pencil factory?”

“Three years.”

“Did you ever see blood spots around the dressing rooms?”

“Yes.”

“When did you see Jim Conely last?”

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Factory Employee’s Testimony Causes Laughter in Court Room

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

Atlanta Constitution
August 16th, 1913

Joseph Stelker, an employee of the National Pencil company, followed the Montag’s credit man to the stand.

Stelker was questioned closely about conditions at the factory, and while he was on the stand both sides again took up the much-discussed question of whether or not Frank had a raincoat with him on the day of the murder. Stelker, in his testimony, made the spectators laugh when he told of how Jim Conley had swindled him out of a half a can of beer. He also remarked that he thought Jim was a better negro for having served in the city chaingang.

“Where were you on the day the little girl was killed?” asked Mr. Arnold on direct examination.

“I was at home.”

“Did you see the spots said to be blood and also the white stuff partly covering them?”
“Yes.”

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Witness, Called by Defense, Testifies Against Frank

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

Atlanta Journal
August 16th, 1913

MISS IRENE JACKSON DECLARES FRANK LOOKED INTO DRESSING ROOM ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS

Daughter of Policeman A. W. Jackson Testifies That Frank Opened the Door of Dressing Room and Looked in While Young Lady Was Dressing and That a Complaint Was Registered With a Forelady, Miss Cleland, About It

NEWSPAPER MAN TELLS OF JIM CONLEY’S PANTOMIME RE-ENACTMENT AT FACTORY

Solicitor Dorsey Attacks the Pinkertons, Charging That They Failed to Report Their “Finds” to Police—Many Young Women Employed at the Factory Testify to Frank’s Good Character—Court Adjourns Until Monday Morning

With Harllee Branch, a reporter for The Journal, on the witness stand where he had just described Conley’s pantomime re-enactment of his alleged part in the disposal of the body of Mary Phagan, witnessed by him as a newspaper man, the trial of Leo M. Frank was adjourned at 1:05 o’clock Saturday afternoon until Monday morning at 9 o’clock. Mr. Branch, summoned by the defense to testify in regard to an interview with Jim Conley at the tower, over the protest of Attorney Luther Z. Rosser, was permitted by the court to describe Conley’s pantomime re-enactment when requested to do so by the solicitor.

Just before court adjourned, Judge Roan addressed a few words to the jury, expressing regret that it was necessary to keep them away from their families another Sunday but stating that he sincerely hopes this would be the last Sunday that they would have to held together.

Unexpected testimony for the state was drawn from Miss Irene Jackson, daughter of Policeman A. W. Jackson, a former employe of the factory, who had been summoned as a defense witness. On cross-examination Solicitor Dorsey developed testimony to the effect that the girls in the factory were somewhat afraid of Frank, that on one occasion Frank had looked into the dressing room while Miss Emily Mayfield was partly dressed and that Miss Mayfield had complained to a forelady, Miss Cleland. She told of other occasions on which the superintendent is alleged to have pushed the door of the dressing room open while the girls were in there dressing. She admitted on cross-examination that the occurrence to which she testified occurred last summer, but that she had […]

when her father made her leave. She also admitted that there had been complaint of the girls flirting through the windows of the dressing room and that Frank had spoken to her forelady about it.

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Girls Testify For and Against Frank

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

Atlanta Georgian
August 16th, 1913

‘I’D DIE FOR HIM!’ CRIES ONE, CONVULSING COURT

CLUB AND ENVELOPE FOUND BY PINKERTON MAN PUT IN EVIDENCE

Two factory girls, one of them defending Leo M. Frank with all the eloquence at her command, and the other admitting that she had known of the factory superintendent opening the door to the girls’ dressing room on three different occasions and looking in, formed the center of interest among the score of witnesses who were called Saturday by the defense. They were Miss Irene Jackson and Miss Sarah Barnes.

Miss Jackson, daughter of County Policeman Jackson, testified on direct examination that she never had known of any improper conduct on the part of Frank, and that his character was good. Cross-questioned by Solicitor Dorsey she admitted that she had been in the room where the girls change from their street to their working clothes and had witnessed Frank open the door, look in and then turn around and leave. Once she said, Miss Emmeline Mayfield was in the room with her. On another time her sister was there, and on a third occasion, she said Miss Mamie Kitchen was the other girl in the room.

She said that her sister had started to quit at the time Frank opened the door when she was in the dressing room. The witness also was asked if N. V. Darley, general manager of the factory, ever had made the remark at the time several girls were thinking of quitting the factory directly after the murder that “if the girls stick by us through this, they won’t lose anything by it.” Miss Jackson said she had heard Darley say this. Miss Jackson quit work the day after the body was found.

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Dr. William Owen Tells How Conley’s Story Was Re-enacted

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

Atlanta Constitution
August 14th, 1913

Dr. William D. Owens, a well-known physician and one of the timekeepers in the re-enaction of Conley’s story in the pencil factory was recalled to the stand at the afternoon session.

He was questioned by Mr. Arnold and cross-examined by Mr. Hooper.

“How much time did it require you to go through this performance?” asked Mr. Arnold.

“Eighteen and a half minutes.”

“How rapidly did you go through it?”
“Just as fast as the directions could be read.”

The cross-examination began.

“Where did you start the performance?”

“From the second floor to the basement.”

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Schiff Admits He Kept Conley Knowing He Was Worthless

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

Atlanta Constitution
August 12th, 1913

H. G. Schiff, Leo Frank’s assistant in the National Pencil factory, was put on the stand for a conclusion of the state’s cross examination when court convened Monday morning.

“How many books and papers were there that you say had not been worked on Friday night, and that you found completed Monday?” asked Solicitor Hugh Dorsey.

“The financial sheet and those papers I showed you Saturday,” Schiff replied.

[several words illegible] finished Friday?”
“Because when I left the office Friday I had not got up the data for them,” the witness said.

“If Frank had started to work at 8:30 o’clock Saturday morning and had worked until 10:30, then he could have done that work, couldn’t he?” the solicitor asked.

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Is Defense Planning Telling Blow At Testimony Given by Jim Conley?

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

Atlanta Constitution
August 10th, 1913

Will the defense strive to show by witnesses that the pencil factory elevator was not run on April 26 as told by Jim Conley in his remarkable story?

Since a question put to General Manager Darley by Luther Rosser when Darley was placed on the tand Friday, much speculation has been created in this regard.

Although attorneys for the defense will not discuss the subject, it is the prevalent belief that an effort will be made to show by mechanicians that the elevator was not in operation at any time during that fateful afternoon.

Darley was being questioned about workmen on the third floor who, as was a Saturday afternoon custom, were oiling and repairing the machinery while it was idle during a holiday. He asked if these same workmen did not oil and clean the motor which propels the elevator.

Before the question was answered it apparently was withdrawn as though in an effort to conceal its real purpose and not show an important card in the hand of the defense.

It is rumored that a mechanic, who gave much of his time to oiling and cleaning the elevator motor about the time Conley says he and Frank were lowering Mary Phagan’s body into the basement, is ready to testify that the motor was not in operation at this time or during any time of the afternoon.

If this evidence is produced, as rumored, it will be one of the most significant and telling points submitted by the defense thus far. It will come as near breaking the testimony of the negro Conley as any contradictory evidence yet presented.

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Atlanta Constitution, August 10th 1913, “Is Defense Planning Telling Blow At Testimony Given by Jim Conley?” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Schiff Put on Stand to Refute Conley and Dalton Testimony

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

Atlanta Constitution
August 10th, 1913

HIS STATEMENTS HELP DEFENSE

Herbert G. Schiff, assistant to Leo M. Frank at the National Pencil factory, followed J. H. Minar on the stand Saturday. His testimony was used by the defense in an ef[f]ort to refute the stories of Jim Conley and C. B. Dalton to the effect that Frank frequently had women in the office on Saturdays and holidays and he also went into great detail and testified to the complexity of the financial sheet and the large amount of work necessary to complete it.

He was being cross-examined by the state when court adjourned at 12:30 o’clock until 9 o’clock Monday morning. At the time of adjournment the solicitor was trying to show by cross-questions that the witness had exaggerated the amount of work and the time required upon the financial sheet which it is claimed Frank made out on the Saturday before the murder was discovered.

“Do you have anything to do with keeping the books and getting up the financial statement?” Mr. Arnold began.

“Yes, I do.”

“Who went to work for the factory first, you or Mr. Frank?”
“Mr. Frank.”

“What sort of work did you first do?”
“I assisted in the office work of the factory and early in January was promoted and went on the road, then the office force got short and I offered my services in the office again and returned to help Mr. Frank.”

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Schiff Testimony Contradicts That Given by Dalton and Negro Conley

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

Atlanta Constitution
August 10th, 1913

Saturday by Far the Best Day for the Defense Since Start of the Frank Trial Two Weeks Ago.

SAYS WOMEN DID NOT VISIT FRANK’S OFFICE

Lawyers for State and Defense in Frequent Clashes During the Testimony of Frank’s Assistant at the Factory.

By far the best day the defense in the Frank trial has had came to a close Saturday afternoon at 12:30 o’clock when a recess was taken until 9 o’clock Monday morning, at which time Herert Schiff, assistant to Leo M. Frank, will again be on the stand to undergo a thorough cross-examination at the hands of Solicitor Dorsey.

Schiff’s direct testimony Saturday was of a convincing nature and the defense will largely bank on it to disprove the idea that Frank could have committed the murder and afterward done the intricate mathematical work he claims to have done during the afternoon of Memorial day. Just how Schiff’s testimony will stand up under the cross fire of Solicitor Dorsey is a question which Monday alone will answer. Thus far his testimony has been the most convincing of any that has been introduced by the defense. He is an extremely bright young man, ready with his answers and he possesses a good memory. When court adjourned Saturday Solicitor Dorsey had failed to shake him on any material testimony or point.

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Conley’s Story is Still Center of Fight in Frank Case

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Questions asked witnesses by Attorneys Rosser and Arnold indicate that the defense may attempt to convince the jury that it would have been possible for the little girl to have been killed on the first floor of the factory and her body later disposed of through a chute leading from the first floor to the basement at the rear of the building. According to this theory the girl was met at the foot of the stairs leading from Frank’s office, taken toward the back of the building and killed. Her body was then dragged to the trap door leading to the chute and dropped into the basement. Later, according to the theory, it was taken to the spot where it was found by Newt Lee. The accompanying drawing was made from the model of the factory which is being used by the defense at the trial.

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

Atlanta Journal
August 10th, 1913

After Two Weeks of Testimony Only Evidence Directly Linking Frank With the Crime is the Sensational Statement Made on the Stand by Negro Sweeper-Summary of Developments in Trial to Date

STATE HAS INTRODUCED 34 WITNESSES, DEFENSE 10

A Synopsis of the Evidence Presented by Both Sides Shows Just What the State Has Sought to Prove and How the Defense Has Begun to Fight to Convince Jury of Frank’s Innocence

For two long and tedious weeks Leo M. Frank, indicted for the murder of Mary Phagan, has been on trial for his life. During those two weeks forty-eight witnesses have testified, innumerable exhibits, documents, books, diagrams, photographs and illustrative contrivances have been displayed to the jury.

Only the remarkable story of James Conley, the negro sweeper, directly connects the defendant with the crime, and even in this ingenious narrative the negro did not say that he actually saw Frank do the deed.

Time and again while under the merciless gruelling of Attorneys Rosser and Arnold, Conley frankly and complacently confessed that he had lied and lied frequently in his many statements and affidavits to the detectives. However, he clung fast to his story as related upon the witness stand Monday, Tuesday and part of Wednesday. He had every circumstance and feature of this story clear in his mind and not once during the sixteen and a half hours that he was in the witness chair did he admit that any portion of it was false — notwithstanding the terrific bombardment of questions hurled at him on cross-examination by Attorney Rosser.

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One Glance at Conley Boosts Darwin Theory

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

Atlanta Georgian
August 10th, 1913

Frank’s Accuser Is Not the Type of Negro White Men Consider Their Friend.

By TARLETON COLLIER.

Jim Conley is a low-browed, thick-lipped, anthropoidal sort of negro. You look at him and your faith in Mr. Darwin’s theory goes up like cotton after a boll-weevil scare.

Here is a burly, short-necked black man. On his upper lip is a scanty mustache of the kind that most negroes fondle with the vain hope that it will grow into a bushy thickness. Conley is the most common African type as to physique.

Never a flash of brightness, never a gleam of wit, never the sparkle of unconscious humor came during the three days Conley was on the stand. Newt Lee made the courtroom laugh. Conley didn’t. He was always deadly earnest.

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Conley, Unconcerned, Asks Nothing of Trial

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

Atlanta Georgian
August 10th, 1913

Despite the attacks of the defense in the trial of Leo Frank has made upon his story, Jim Conley—from whose lips fell the most damning and abhorrent testimony a Georgia jury has ever heard—sits calmly in his cell at the Tower, inscrutable and unconcerned.

The negro, for weeks the greatest puzzle in the criminal annals of the State, has become an even greater puzzle since he told his story and was taken back to the gloominess of the jail. The fact that he is an admitted accessory after the fact in the murder of little Mary Phagan does not apparently weigh upon his mind.

He asks no questions about the trial or whether the defense has succeeded in breaking down his remarkable tale, and whenever information is vouchsafd to him he receives it with the same cunning smile that baffled Frank’s attorneys and that has baffled students of criminology since the negro became connected with the Phagan case.

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Atlanta Georgian, August 10th 1913, “Conley, Unconcerned, Asks Nothing of Trial,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Frank or Conley? Still Question

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

Atlanta Georgian
August 10th, 1913

Issue Firmly Drawn Between Two Men

Defense Starting to Mould Its Case

Theory That Negro Attacked Mary Phagan With Motive of Robbing Her Will Be Shown; Two Charges Against Accused Must Be Refuted

By AN OLD POLICE REPORTER.

The second week of the trial of Leo Frank, charged with the murder of Mary Phagan in the National Pencil Factory on the afternoon of April 26, came to a close Saturday noon.

The State’s case has been entirely made up in its primary aspects, and the defense has gone into its story of the great crime sufficiently to make clear both its theory and probable line of pleading.

The public, as the case has progressed, has been swayed this way and that, and to-day the remarkable mystery of Mary Phagan’s untimely and tragic end remains, in hundreds of minds, quite as much of a mystery as ever.

The Battle Is a See-Saw.

The State has had its good days and its bad days, and the defense has met the same fate. At times things have seemed dismally dark and gloomy for Frank, while at other times the clouds apparently have lifted from about him decidedly.

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Schiff Refutes Jim Conley and Dalton

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

Atlanta Journal
August 9th, 1913

WITNESS IN MOST OF DORSEY’S GRILLING WHEN COURT ADJOURNS UNTIL NINE O’CLOCK ON MONDAY

Assistant Factory Superintendent Refutes Testimony of C. B. Dalton and Jim Conley That Frank Frequently Had Women Callers In His Office on Saturday Afternoons and During Holidays—He Says He Never Saw Conley There Saturday Afternoons

DECLARES THAT WIFE OF THE ACCUSED FREQUENTLY CALLED ON HUSBAND AT HIS OFFICE ON SATURDAYS

Attorney Arnold Registers Another Objection Against Laughter of Spectators in the Court Room—Solicitor Draws From Schiff Change of Answers Made to Several Previous Statements of His While on the Witness Stand

The second week of the trial of Leo M. Frank, charged with the murder of Mary Phagan ended at 12:30 o’clock Saturday when court adjourned until 9 o’clock Monday morning. Herbert Schiff, assistant superintendent of the National Pencil factory was on the stand for the defense at the hour of adjournment and will resume under cross-examination by Solicitor Hugh M. Dorsey on Monday. During the cross-questioning of Schiff, he and the solicitor had many tilts regarding the system of the factory office and were frequently interrupted by objections from Attorney Arnold for the defense. The solicitor put Frank’s assistant through a grilling examination during the course of which he caused the witness to change several answers he had previously made to the jury.

That Jim Conley, the negro sweeper who accuses Frank, feared the crowd gathered in front of the pencil factory following the murder of Mary Phagan and that the negro declared that he would give a million dollars if he had a white skin, was the declaration of Schiff, earlier during his testimony. Schiff also declared that the financial sheet made out in Frank’s handwriting on April 26 was accurate and the handwriting of the accused superintendent was normal. Schiff works with Leo M. Frank in the office and assists in making up the weekly financial sheets.

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