Tag Archives: Mary Phagan

Felder Exonerates Beavers, But Says Lanford is Corrupt

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thomas_b_felder0011Another in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Journal

Wednesday, June 4th, 1913

Witnesses Summoned in Dictograph Controversy, Although Foreman Says Vice Probe Is Not Complete

BEAVERS AND FELDER ASK INVESTIGATION

Felder’s Charges Against Lanford to Be Heard With Dictograph Case—Felder Says the Records Are Forged

Four witnesses were called Wednesday morning by the Fulton county grand jury to testify in regard to the existence of vice in Atlanta. They were Colonel Thomas B. Felder, who was on the stand but a few minutes Tuesday; A. J. Young, a real estate man; J. E. Skaggs, agent of the Southern Express company, and Police Chief James L. Beavers.

Neither of these witnesses would indicate along what lines he was questioned by the grand jury. It is understood, however, that Colonel Felder submitted a supplementary list to the list of alleged disorderly houses furnished Tuesday by Attorney Carl Hutcheson and that he also turned over to the grand jury a number of affidavits relative to houses which are operating in the city without police interference.

Colonel Felder is said to have supplied evidence attacking the official integrity and moral character of Detective Chief Newport A. Lanford.

Chief Beavers, it is understood, was questioned at length concerning his vice crusades and the general moral condition of the city as he observes it. He was also asked, it is said, about Attorney Hutcheson’s charge that he had failed to make raids upon disorderly houses which had been reported to him.

Upon leaving the grand jury room Chief Beavers stated that he could not discuss what had transpired there as he had been requested not to do so, but he admitted that he had been asked whether he thought his recent crusade against vice had bettered conditions in the city and that he had replied that it was his opinion that conditions were much better today than they had ever been before.

The chief says he admitted that it was probable that some disorderly houses were operating surreptitiously and that he assured the grand jury that he was diligently endeavoring to obtain evidence against such places and that as fast as he got thme [sic] evidence he made cases against the proprietors and inmates. Continue Reading →

Today is Mary Phagan’s Birthday; Mother Tells of Party She Planned

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

Atlanta Georgian

Sunday, June 1st, 1913

Parents Intended to Give Child Happy Surprise—Now They Will Strew Flowers on Her Grave in Marietta Churchyard.

By MIGNON HALL.

This will be the saddest Sunday with Mary Phagan’s family since that fatal Sunday just five weeks ago when the little girl’s body was found hidden away in the basement of the National Pencil factory.

For to-day is Mary’s birthday, and it had been planned by her mother and stepfather, Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Coleman, that they would give her a party. If she had lived it would have been celebrated last night in her little home on Lindsay Street, where she had spent the past fifteen months of her life.

Instead of that, there is a shadow over the household, and she was spoken of with an ache in the throat and tears. Where last night would have been so happy for Mary, there was silence, and to-day the family expects to go to Marietta to weep above the little mound where she rests and lay flowers on the grave.

Was to Have Been a Surprise.

Mary’s birthday party, Mrs. Coleman said, was to have been a surprise, and as she told of it Saturday morning over the ironing-board—spoke of her other childish birthdays, the things Mary said and did, and all the tender little recollections of her a mother’s heart holds dear—her voice choked with sobs so that she could scarcely speak.

“It would have been the child’s first party,” she said simply. “The poor little thing never had had much in her life—she had to work so hard. It was Mr. Coleman’s idea. He thought it would be nice for her. He was like a father to her, anyway, and the only one she had ever known. Her own father died before she was born. Continue Reading →

Conley’s Statement Analyzed From Two Different Angles

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At the top is a photograph of the note written by James Conley, the negro sweeper, at the factory Friday afternoon after he had pantomimed his part in the murder of Mary Phagan. He wrote from memory and without prompting. At the bottom is a portion of one of the notes found by the dead girl’s body and which Conley admits he wrote.

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

Atlanta Journal

Sunday, June 1st, 1913

The Weak Points in the Negro’s Story Are Shown in One Analysis and the Points That Would Seem to Add to Its Reasonableness Are Weighed in the Other.

Below are given analyses of the negro, James Conley’s latest statement or confession from two viewpoints. In one analysis the negro’s statement is weighed with the idea that Conley has not told the whole truth, that he is endeavoring to hide his own responsibility in an accusation of Mr. Frank, who is innocent of the crime, is the victim of a chain of circumstances which link his name with suspicion. In the other analysis Conley’s confession is discussed from the standpoint of the man who regards it as being truthful and its points are argued from that partisan angle. The Journal presents these discussions without any wish to influence any reader to either view but simply for whatever news value they may have in throwing light on the case.

Conley’s Story Is Unreasonable from This Viewpoint

Those who have all along argued that Superintendent Leo M. Frank could not have had any hand in the murder of Mary Phagan, the pencil factory girl, whose body was found in the factory basement on Sunday morning, April 27, are, since the confessions of James Conley, the negro sweeper, more than ever convinced that Frank is innocent.

They now hold to the theory that the negro not only took the girl’s body to the factory basement and wrote the notes found beside it, as he says in his confession, but that he, and he alone, committed the murder.

Calling attention to the fact that Frank is an educated, gentle and refined man, and one whose past record and reputation are such as to win the respect and loyalty of his friends and acquaintances, all of whom still believe in him, despite certain unfortunate circumstances which militate against him, they make the flat assertion that Frank, being the man he is, could not have committed the brutal crime charged to him by the grand jury.

After asserting this proposition, those who believe in Frank’s innocence and the negro’s guilt undertake to analyze the evidence adduced at the coroner’s inquest and the negro Conley’s affidavit of confession. In doing this they seek to substantiate the statement made by Frank at the inquest and to point out the improbabilities and weakness of the negro’s story. Continue Reading →

100 Reasons Leo Frank Is Guilty

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Leo Frank smiles for the camera just one day after the body of Mary Phagan was discovered, Suspicion at that time was directed to his employee, the African-American night watchman Newt Lee.

Leo Frank smiles for the camera just one day after the body of Mary Phagan was discovered, Suspicion at that time was directed to his employee, the African-American night watchman Newt Lee.

Proving That Anti-Semitism Had Nothing to Do With His Conviction — and Proving That His Defenders Have Used Frauds and Hoaxes for 100 Years

by Bradford L. Huie
originally published at The American Mercury

MARY PHAGAN was just thirteen years old. She was a sweatshop laborer for Atlanta, Georgia’s National Pencil Company. A little over 100 years ago — Saturday, April 26, 1913 — little Mary was looking forward to the festivities of Confederate Memorial Day. She dressed gaily and planned to attend the parade. She had just come to collect her $1.20 pay from National Pencil Company superintendent Leo M. Frank at his office when she was attacked by an assailant who struck her down, ripped her undergarments, likely attempted to sexually abuse her, and then strangled her to death. Her body was dumped in the factory basement.

Leo Frank, who was the head of Atlanta’s B’nai B’rith, a Jewish fraternal order, was eventually convicted of the murder and sentenced to hang. After a concerted and lavishly financed campaign by the American Jewish community, Frank’s death sentence was commuted to life in prison by an outgoing governor. But he was snatched from his prison cell and hung by a lynching party consisting, in large part, of leading citizens outraged by the commutation order — and none of the lynchers were ever prosecuted or even indicted for their crime. One result of Frank’s trial and death was the founding of the still-powerful Anti-Defamation League.

Video version of this article:

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Special Session of Grand Jury Called

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special-sessionAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Saturday, May 31st, 1913

Will Reconvene Next Tuesday for Routine Business Only, Declares Foreman Beck.

Lewis H. Beck, foreman of the Fulton County Grand Jury, which has been called to meet in special session at 10 o’clock next Thursday morning, said Saturday afternoon that the Grand Jury positively would not take up either the Phagan case or the Felder-Beavers row.

The purpose of the special session, Mr. Beck said, was to appoint certain committee. Mr. Beck went a step furthere [sic] and said the Grand Jury had been called for no other purpose except to appoint these committees and that no other business would be transacted.

Announcement of the special session for next Thursday was made Saturday morning. It was called by the foreman himself. Following the announcement, unfounded rumors were circulated to the effect that the Grand Jury would delve deeper into the Phagan murder and possibly also look into the Felder bribery charges.

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Atlanta Georgian, May 31st 1913, “Special Session of Grand Jury Called,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Conley Star Actor in Dramatic Third Degree

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

Atlanta Georgian

Saturday, May 31st, 1913

In all the grim annals of Atlanta’s criminal history an illiterate negro, Jim Conley, stands out to-day the principal figure in one of the most remarkable and dramatically impressive “third degrees” ever administered by the city police.

A chief of police, ordinarily stolid and unmoved, and chief of detectives and members of his force, a Pinkerton operative—all men in daily touch with every sort of crime and evil—hung with tensest interest on each word as it came from the lips of the negro, and watched, as wide-eyed as any tyro in man-hunting, the negro’s every move as he re-enacted Friday afternoon what he steadfastly asserted was his part in the ghastly Mary Phagan tragedy.

Factory Men Look On.

Dumb under the spell of the drama in which Conley played a triple role—first in his own personality, then as Leo M. Frank, and, finally, as the young girl victim—two employees of the factory listened to the damning accusations that unconcernedly, almost glibly, were made against their superintendent. They were Herbert Schiff, chief clerk, and E. F. Holloway, the timekeeper.

Both had reckoned Frank innocent. They had said many times that he could not have committed the shocking deed. More likely, they had declared, it was the negro himself. Yet here they were the spectators of a grewsome performance in which Frank was represented as nervous and shaking and half in a panic as he directed the carrying of Mary Phagan’s limp and lifeless body to the elevator on the second floor of the factory and down into the dark and dirt-strewn basement. Continue Reading →

Conley Tells Graphic Story of Disposal of the Dead Body

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14322732_10155193222022977_8447592096195399923_nAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Constitution

Saturday, May 31st, 1913

Following is the complete signed confession of James Conley, the negro sweeper employed at the National Pencil factory, which was made to Chief of Detectives Lanford, Chief of Police Beavers, Harry Scott, of the Pinkertons, and others, late Friday afternoon:

“On Saturday, April 26, 1913, when I came back to the pencil factory with Mr. Frank I waited for him downstairs, like he told me, and when he whistled for me I went upstairs and he asked me if I wanted to make some money right quick, and I told him, yes, sir, and he told me that he had picked up a girl back there and had let her fall and that her head hit against something—he didn’t know what it was—and for me to move her and I hollered and told him the girl was dead.

“And he told me to pick her up and bring her to the elevator, and I told him I didn’t have nothing to pick her up with, and he told me to go and look by the cotton box there and get a piece of cloth, and I got a big wide piece of cloth and come back there to the men’s toilet, where she was, and tied her, and I taken her and brought her up there to a little dressing room, carrying her on my right shoulder, and she got too heavy for me and she slipped off my shoulder and fell on the floor right there at the dressing room and I hollered for Mr. Frank to come there and help me; that she was too heavy for me, and Mr. Frank come down there and told me to ‘pick her up, dam fool,’ and he run down there to me and he was excited and he picked her up by the feet. Her feet and head were sticking out of the cloth, and by him being so nervous he let her feet fall, and then he brought her up to the elevator, Mr. Frank carrying her by the feet and me by the shoulder, and we brought her to the elevator, and then Mr. Frank says, ‘Wait, let me get the key,’ and he went into the office and come back and unlocked the elevator door and started the elevator down. Continue Reading →

Grand Jury Called to Meet Tuesday in Special Session

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grand-juryAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Journal

Saturday, May 31st, 1913

Meeting Called by Foreman Lewis H. Beck, but He Declined to Say What the Jury Will Investigate

WILL FELDER’S CHARGES BE SIFTED BY JURY?

Chief Beavers Silent—Colonel Felder Not Informed About Meeting, but Says It’s Matter of Indifference to Him

A special session of the Fulton county grand jury has been called for next Tuesday morning at 10 o’clcok, the purpose of which is unannounced and unknown.

The call was issued by the foreman, Lewis H. Beck, who declines to state what matters will be considered by the grand jury. The impression is general that Foreman Beck has yielded to the demands of Police Chief James L. Beavers that a searching probe be made into the charges preferred by the city detectives against Colonel Thomas B. Felder, involving an alleged attempt to bribe Secretary G. C. Febuary to take certain papers from the safe of the chief of detectives, and also to thoroughly inquire into Colonel Felder’s counter charges that the police and detective departments are corrupt and are affording protection to disorderly houses and gambling resorts.

NOT THE PHAGAN CASE.

Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey gave out the first information that the grand jury had been called in special session, but stated that he did not know why nor what for. He did not think the called session would consider any phase of the Phagan murder case, although some persons were inclined to believe the grand jury might take up the confession of James Conley, the negro sweeper. However, if this were true Solicitor Dorsey would certainly know about it, for it would be he that would bring this matter to the grand jury’s attention.

Chief Beavers only smiled when questioned concerning the special meeting of the grand jury. He would not say whether he was advised concerning it or whether it had been called at his instance. The chief’s attitude strengthens the belief that the grand jury is preparing to investigate the charges of the city detectives and the counter charges of Colonel Felder. Continue Reading →

Plan to Confront Conley and Frank for New Admission

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

Atlanta Georgian

Saturday, May 31st, 1913

Police Hope Meeting Will Prove Whether Negro Will Stick to Latest Story Under Eyes of the Man He Accuses—Ready to Pay Penalty.

[Important Developments Looked For, but Nothing Sensational Made Public—Insists He Has Told All, but Further Confession Is Expected.

For hours Saturday James Conley, negro sweeper, whose sensational confession accuses Superintendent Leo M. Frank of the murder of Mary Phagan, explained in detail to Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey the dread mysteries of the National Pencil Factory on April 26, explaining many things that had not been clear to the officials, but sticking tenaciously to the story he told the city detectives.

Conley was taken to the Solicitor’s office at that official’s request and put through a severe cross-examination. With an elaborate diagram, drawn for the Solicitor by Bert Green, a Georgian staff artist, to guide him, the negro traced the various scenes in the factory after the slaying of the girl.

He told just where he first claims to have found her and how he and the superintendent he accuses attempted to dispose of the body. The drama he enacted in the factory Friday for the detectives he re-enacted for the Solicitor in the little room at the court house with the artist’s charge as the stage and his finger as the tracer of tragedy.

Dorsey Well Satisfied.

The Solicitor was well satisfied with the results obtained in the secret conference behind closed doors and certain points that had been vague to him before were made clear.

At Conley’s own request, through William Smith, his counsel, the negro was later transferred to the police station. The negro had been so besieged by questioners at the county jail that he asked to be put within the shelter of police headquarters, where he had been closely guarded and where none but policemen had been allowed to interrogate him.

Conley intimated that he had been threatened at the jail, but little credence was put in his ramblings. It was plain that he wanted rest. He had told his story so often—each time, it may be noted, in almost the same words—that he was tired. The police agreed that he had answered enough questions from outsiders and he was moved. — The above section in brackets is additional information reported in the earlier “home” edition of the Georgian from the same date — Ed.]

A determined effort is being made by the police department to bring Leo M. Frank face to face with his accuser, Jim Conley, the negro sweeper.

The detectives wish to learn how Conley will go through the ordeal of confronting the man he accuses of directing the disposal of the body of Mary Phagan, and dictating the notes that were found her body. Continue Reading →

Mary Phagan’s Murder Was Work of a Negro Declares Leo M. Frank

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14390922_10155190778292977_6948068707988274765_nAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Constitution

Saturday, May 31st, 1913

“No Man With Common Sense Would Even Suspect That I Did It,” Prisoner in Fulton Tower Tells Attache. “It’s a Negro’s Crime Through and Through.” Asserts His Innocence to Turnkeys and to Fellow Prisoners.

“IT’S UP TO MR. FRANK TO TELL THE TRUTH,” ASSERTS JAMES CONLEY

“I Believe He’d Let ‘Em Hang Me to Get Out of It Himself if He Had the Chance,” Says Negro Sweeper—Chief Lanford Is Pleased With Work of Department and Ready for the Case to Come to Trial Immediately.

“No white man killed Mary Phagan. It’s a negro’s crime, through and through. No man with common sense would even suspect that I did it.”

This declaration was made by Leo M. Frank in his cell at the Tower to a jail attaché, the attaché told a reporter for The Constitution last night. He is also stated to have made incessant pleas of innocence to turnkeys and prisoners who are permitted within the sacred confines of his cell.

No newspaper men are allowed to see him. He has instructed Sheriff Mangum to permit no one in his presence except at his request. The sheriff is obeying the order to the letter. Even Chief Lanford, headquarters detectives and Harry Scott, of the Pinkertons, which agency is in the prisoner’s employ, are denied admission to his cell.

Coupled with the declaration Frank is said to have made to the jail attaché, comes his statement made Friday to Sheriff Mangum that he knew not who was guilty, but that the murderer should hang. This was made after news reached him of Conley’s confession, it is said.

Many Friends Visit Frank.

Frank devours newspaper stories of the Phagan investigation, it is said at the jail. His cell is crowded daily with friends and relatives who bring him papers and delicacies. His wife now visits him once each day. He talks but little of the crime to anyone beside his friends, and but little is gained from him by the jailers and prisoners who visit him. Continue Reading →

Conley’s Confession is Given in Full

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Jim Conley

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

Atlanta Journal

Friday, May 30th, 1913

“On Saturday, April 26, 1913, when I came back to the pencil factory with Mr. Frank I waited for him downstairs like he told me, and when he whistled for me I went upstairs and he asked me if I wanted to make some money right quick, and I told him, yes, sir, and he told me that he had picked up a girl back there and had let her fall and that her head hit against something—he didn’t know what it was—and for me to move her and I hollered and told him the girl was dead.

“And he told me to pick her up and bring her to the elevator, and I told him I didn’t have nothing to pick her up with, and he told me to go and look by the cotton box there and get a piece of cloth and I got a big wide piece of cloth and come back there to the men’s toilet, where she was, and tied her, and I taken her and brought her up there to a little dressing room, carrying her on my right shoulder, and she got too heavy for me and she slipped off my shoulder and fell on the floor right there at the dressing room and I hollered for Mr. Frank to come there and help me; that she was too heavy for me, and Mr. Frank come down there and told me to ‘pick her up, dam fool,’ and he run down there to me and he was excited, and he picked her up by the feet. Her feet and head were sticking out of the cloth, and by him being so nervous he let her feet fall, and then he brought her up to the elevator, Mr. Frank carrying her by the feet and me by the shoulder, and we brought her to the elevator, and then Mr. Frank says, ‘Wait, let me get the key,’ and he went into the office and come back and unlocked the elevator door and started the elevator down.

Frank Ran the Elevator.

“Mr. Frank turned it on himself, and we went on down to the basement and Mr. Frank helped me take it off the elevator and he told me to take it back there to the sawdust pile and I picked it up and put it on my shoulder again, and Mr. Frank he went up the ladder and watched the trapdoor to see if anybody was coming, and I taken her back there and taken the cloth from around her and taken her hat and shoes which I picked up upstairs right where her body was lying and brought them down and untied the cloth and brought them back and throwed them on the trashpile in front of the furnace and Mr. Frank was standing at the trapdoor. Continue Reading →

But One Thing is Proved in Mary Phagan Mystery

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

Atlanta Constitution

Friday, May 30th, 1913

Amid the warp of falsehood and the woof of conjecture, one thing stands out like a scarlet thread in the Mary Phagan murder mystery—for mystery it still is and still will be until a jury of twelve men fixes the guilt on some man or men.

That one thing—startling in its vivid contrast to the murky maze of contradictions—is the fact that James Conley, the negro sweeper employed at the National Pencil factory, wrote the notes which were found beside the mutilated and lifeless body of Mary Phagan early in the morning of April 26.

Why he wrote them, when he wrote them, whether he wrote at the dictation of someone else or whether he himself committed the crime, are matters yet to be determined. He has lied and lied out of a lie. First he said he wrote the notes on Friday; now he comes forward and admits he wrote them on Saturday, the day the murder was committed. He tells various stories about the writing of the notes. He puts improbable words in the mouth of Leo Frank. He has squirmed and twisted and backed and stalled; but once having stated he wrote the notes his handwriting proves the assertion as indubitiably [sic] as if the bits of paper on which the messages were scrawled bare the crimson imprint of his fingers. Continue Reading →

Conley, Taken to Factory, Shows Where Girl Was Found—How They Put Body in Basement

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

Atlanta Journal

Friday, May 30th, 1913

Gruesome Part Played By Him Illustrated

In Presence of Detectives, Factory Officials and Newspaper Men, the Negro Goes Over Every Point of His Statement From the Time Frank is Alleged to Have Directed Him to the Metal Room Until Girl’s Body Was Left in the Basement

“MR. FRANK AND HIS FRIENDS HAVE FORSAKEN ME AND I DECIDED TO TELL THE WHOLE TRUTH,” HE DECLARES

He Says His Statement Is Voluntary, That He Has Not Been Browbeaten Nor Mistreated by the Detectives—Full Story of His Confession to Being an Accessory After the Fact and His Visit to the Pencil Factory—Frank Makes No Comment

Following his full confession of his part in the mysterious murder of Mary Phagan, the pretty fourteen-year-old factory girl, James Conley, the negro sweeper, was Friday afternoon taken to the National Pencil factory on South Forsyth street and there in the presence of a half dozen detectives, several newspaper men and the factory officials illustrated in detail his own and Superintendent Leo M. Frank’s movements after he was called upstairs to aid in removing the dead girl’s body.

Conley led the officers back to the extreme rear of the metal room on the second floor and into a little alleyway off to the left where he said he found the girl’s dead body after Frank let him in. He lay down on his stomach with his hands stretched by his side to show how the body was found. He said a cord was about the girl’s neck and was stretched on the floor at right angles to the body.

He said that after he saw the body he went back to where Frank was standing at the head of the stairs watching and went into a room on the left just beyond the stairs where he got a big piece of crocus-bagging; that he took this bagging back and tied the girl’s body up in it much after the fashion a washerwoman tied up her soiled clothes; that he then took the body on his right shoulder and started up toward the elevator in the front (Frank remaining at the head of the stairs and just outside the double doors  to the metal room all the while.)

Conley declared that when he had walked half way up the room the body slipped off his shoulder to the floor. (This was the place where the bloodspots were found and where it has hitherto been believed the girl was murdered.) Continue Reading →

Former Pencil Worker Outlines His Theory

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former-pencil-workerAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Journal

Thursday, May 29th, 1913

Gustave Haas, of 165 Pulliam street, who at one time worked at the National Pencil factory, and is familiar with the arrangement of the building, has furnished The Journal with his theory of the Phagan murder.

He believes the motive was robbery, and it was done by a negro who laid in wait for some of employees to get their pay. Little Mary Phagan happened to be his victim, and according to Haas, he threw the body down the elevator shaft after a scuffle. Then he strangled the almost lifeless body to death. He had already robbed her of her mesh bag, which he thought contained a lot of money.

Haas believes the sweeper and the night watchman both had their part in the crime.

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Atlanta Journal, May 29th 1913, “Former Pencil Worker Outlines His Theory,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Detectives Seek Corroboration of Conley’s Story

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

Atlanta Journal

Thursday, May 29th, 1913

They Declare That They Are Anxious to Get at the Truth of the Murder Case, Regardless of Who Is Guilty

Little if any credence is placed by the city detectives in the theory of the officials and employes of the National Pencil factory that Mary Phagan was killed by James Conley, the newro [sic] sweeper, and that his motive was robbery.

The detectives have accepted as true Conley’s second affidavit, in which he swears that he wrote the notes found by Mary Phagan’s body, and that he did so about 1 o’clock on the day of the murder, at the dictation of Superintendent Leo M. [F]rank, who is now under indictment by the grand jury.

However, they are somewhat puzzled by the discrepancies in the time of certain occurrences as sworn by Conley and testified at the coroner’s inquest by other witnesses.

Harry Scott, the Pinkerton detective who is working with the city detectives on the Phagan murder case and who developed the fact that Conley could write, notwithstanding his denials, declared that the shortest route to a complete solution of the mystery is to bring the negro Conley and Superintendent Frank face to face. He says the negro insists that he is anxious and willing to confront Mr. Frank with his story, and that if Mr. Frank and his attorneys agree, they (Conley and Mr. [F]rank) will be brought together to discuss the truth or falsity of the negro’s declarations. Continue Reading →

Conley Says He Helped Frank Carry Body of Mary Phagan to Pencil Factory Cellar

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conley-says

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

Atlanta Constitution

Friday, May 30th, 1913

Helped Frank Dispose of Mary Phagan’s Body Conley Now Confesses

Negro Sweeper Who Swore to Detectives That He Wrote Murder Notes Found Near Dead Girl’s Body Now Admits His Complicity in Case, According to Statements Which Have Stirred Police Headquarters as Nothing Since Murder.

LANFORD AND BEAVERS PLEASED OVER RESULT OF GRILLING NEGRO, THEY ANNOUNCE TO REPORTERS.

Police and Detective Heads Refuse to Go Into Details of Negro’s Statement Or to Discuss What He Said, But Declare That It Will Prove a Big Factor in the Murder Case—Negro Will Be Subjected to Another Third Degree Today.

Dumbfounding his hearers with the confession that he had helped Leo M. Frank lower the lifeless body of Mary Phagan into the darkness of the pencil factory basement, James Conley, the negro sweeper, is authoritatively said to have made that astounding admission during a strenuous third degree at police headquarters late Thursday afternoon.

He is said to have minutely described the movements of himself and Frank as they packed the mutilated form from the office floor of the building down into the dark cellar, where it was left in the desolate recess in which it was discovered the following morning.

Saying he had found the girl stone dead when he entered the building at 1:15 o’clock with the suspected superintendent, he is declared to have admitted that he and Frank proceeded immediately to remove the corpse, silently and with utmost precaution, to its hiding place in the basement.

Conley Asked No Questions.

Through fear he states he did not ask his employer how the little girl met her death. He is said to have told the police that he asked no questions, carried out Frank’s instructions to the letter, and departed directly after he emerged from the grewsome trip into the basement. Continue Reading →

Negro Conley’s Affidavit Lays Bare Slaying

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negro-conleys-affidavit

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

Atlanta Georgian

Thursday, May 29th, 1913

Swears Frank Told Him Girl Had Hit Her Head Against Something.

The Georgian in it second Extra published exclusively the first REAL confession of James Conley, the negro sweeper at the National Pencil Factory, regarding the part he played in the Mary Phagan mystery.

The Georgian has dealt in no haphazard guesses as to the negro Conley’s testimony to the police and in giving prominence to his statements desires to say that it must not be taken as final until it is examined at the trial of Frank. Continue Reading →

Conley Re-enacts in Plant Part He Says He Took in Slaying

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conley-re-enacts

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

Atlanta Georgian

Thursday, May 29th, 1913

With Detectives Looking On, Negro Shows How He Carried Girl’s Body to Basement at Direction, as He Swear, of His Employer, Leo Frank.

As a sensational climax to the confession of his part of the Mary Phagan tragedy, Jim Conley, negro sweeper, was taken to the National [P]encil Factory Friday afternoon, where he enacted by movement every detail of the event that took place in the building of mystery after the death of the little girl.

With the detectives noting every sentence that fell from the ready lips of the negro, Conley started from the exact point at the top of the stairs on the second floor where he says Leo Frank met him, and went through the grim drama with a realism that convinced all who listened and watched that he at last was telling the whole truth.

He reproduced the conversations that passed between him and Frank. He lay down full length at the rear of the metal room to show precisely how the body of the little girl lay when he first saw it. He lay partly on his face, with his right leg slightly drawn up, to portray the position of the dead girl when he first saw her as he was led to the rear of the building, as he says, by Leo Frank.

Show How Body Laid.

Later in the basement he lay down again to show the detectives just how the body was dropped to the ground as though it had been a sack of salt. The negro lay on his face. His right arm was curled up under his body. The left arm was partly under his body, but straight. His feet pointed toward the rear door and his head toward the front of the building.

The announcement that this spectacular reproduction of the crime was to take place was made at the end of another third degree session in the office of Chief Lanford. The negro was put in Chief Beavers’ automobile. All the curtains were drawn and the utmost secrecy was maintained. Only those in authority in the factory were aware that the tragedy was to be re-enacted, step by step.

Conley was handcuffed to Chief Beavers when he stepped from the car. Many of the employees, at leisure during the noon hour, were congregated at the foot of the stairs on the first floor when the strange procession filed up the stairs. The city detectives had come on foot. Chief Lanford and Chief Beavers, with the negro, arrived a few minutes later. Continue Reading →

The Leo Frank Trial: Closing Arguments, Solicitor Dorsey

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Hugh-Dorsey-340x264Originally published by the American Mercury on the 100th anniversary of the Leo Frank trial.

by Bradford L. Huie

THE AMERICAN MERCURY now presents the final closing arguments by Solicitor Hugh Dorsey (pictured) in the trial of Leo Frank for the murder of Mary Phagan — a powerful summary of the case and a persuasive argument that played a large part in the decision of the jury to find Frank guilty of the crime. It is also riveting reading for modern readers, who have been told — quite falsely — that the case against Frank was a weak one, and told, equally falsely, that “anti-Semitism” was a major motive for the arrest, trial, and conviction of Frank.

Here we present it for the first time on any popular periodical’s Web site. Not until the Mercury began its efforts have these or the other arguments in this case and relevant contemporary articles been presented on a popular Web site in correctly formatted, easy-to-read type with OCR errors removed.  (For background on this case, read our introductory article, our coverage of Week One,  Week Two, Week Three and Week Four of the trial, and my exclusive summary of the evidence against Frank.)

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THE SOLICITOR GENERAL FOR THE STATE.

Mr. Dorsey:

Gentlemen of the Jury: This case is not only, as His Honor has told you, important, but it is extraordinary. It is extraordinary as a crime — a most heinous crime, a crime of a demoniac, a crime that has demanded vigorous, earnest and conscientious effort on the part of your detectives, and which demands honest, earnest, conscientious consideration on your part. It is extraordinary because of the prominence, learning, ability, standing of counsel pitted against me. It is extraordinary because of the defendant — it is extraordinary in the manner in which the gentlemen argue it, in the methods they have pursued in its management. Continue Reading →

Pinkerton Man Says Frank is Guilty

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Pinkerton Man Says Frank GuiltyAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Monday, May 26th, 1913

Pencil Factory Owners Told Him Not to Shield Superintendent, Scott Declares.

Harry Scott, assistant superintendent of the Pinkertons, announced Monday his belief that Leo M. Frank was responsible for the slaying of 14-year-old Mary Phagan April 26. He added that his agency had been working on this theory from the time its services were engaged by officials of the National Pencil Company, two days after the crime.

Scott previously had said the Pinkertons were on the case to find the guilty man, even though it might be Frank. His latest statement is believed to have been prompted by the attack on the Pinkertons by Colonel Thomas B. Felder.

Mr. Scott declared he not only believed Frank responsible for the killing, but that he proposed to lay his evidence before the court and assist in the prosecution of the factory superintendent. He is in possession, he said, of considerable evidence which has not been made public.

Soon after the investigation was undertaken, Scott says he went to the men employing him and asked if he was supposed to protect Frank. He said if he was he would have to throw up the job. He was told, he said, that he had been engaged to find the guilty man, whoever he might be. It was on this assurance the Pinkertons continued the investigation, according to Scott.

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Atlanta Georgian, May 26th 1913, “Pinkerton Man Says Frank is Guilty,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)