Tag Archives: Saturday night

Loyalty Sends Girl to Defend Mullinax

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Loyalty Sends Girl to Defend Mullinax

Miss Pearl Robinson, sweetheart of Arthur Mullinax, the man questioned by the police in connection with the slaying of Mary Phagan. Her story cleared Mullinax of any suspicion of complicity in the crime which has shocked Atlanta.

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

Atlanta Georgian

Tuesday, April 29th, 1913

Brave little Pearl Robinson!

Her loyalty and devotion to Arthur Mullinax, one of the four men held in connection with the brutal strangling of Mary Phagan, form the only bright feature in a sordid and revolting crime.

What did she care for the stares of the groups of people that hung about the detective headquarters when the life of her lover appeared to be in danger?

What did she care for the remarks that were directed at her when she pushed and shoved her way through the morbid crowds awaiting for a new sensation?

What difference did it make to her that her name instantly would be on the lips of everyone as the defendant of a man pointed out by one witness as the mysterious person with little Mary Phagan the last time she was seen alive?

Love Gave Her Courage.

It was the ages-old story of a woman’s heart refusing to believe any ill of the man to whom it is pledged and devoted.

In the young heart of pretty Pearl Robinson was implanted that eternally feminine and eternally remarkable attribute as deeply as though she were twice her 16 years. Continue Reading →

Who Saw Pretty Mary Phagan After 12 O’Clock on Saturday?

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Who Saw Pretty Mary Phagan on Saturday

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

Atlanta Constitution

Tuesday, April 29th, 1913

A remarkable fact in connection with the murder of Mary Phagan is that no one has thus far come forward stating they saw her after she drew her pay at the National Pencil factory shortly after 12 o’clock.

Several persons have stated that they “believed” they saw her or that they “saw a girl answering her description,” but positive statements are lacking.

The Atlanta detective department is particularly anxious to trace every movement of the girl from the time she left the factory, and is particularly desirous of obtaining the names of all who saw Mary Phagan after 12 o’clock Saturday.

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Atlanta Constitution, April 29th 1913, “Who Saw Pretty Mary Phagan After 12 O’Clock on Saturday?” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Was Victim of Murder Lured Off on Joy Ride Before She Met Death?

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Was Victim of Murder Lured Off on Joy Ride Before She

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

Atlanta Constitution

Tuesday, April 29th, 1913

Evidence obtained by Detectives Black and Rosser Monday afternoon has led the detective department to suspect that little Mary Phagan was lured away by her murderer Saturday afternoon by the pleasures of a joy ride during which she was drugged or made drunk with whisky.

This new aspect of the case came from R. B. Pyron, telegraph operator at the signal tower on the Central of Georgia railroad at the Whitehall street crossing.

Pyron told the detectives Monday afternoon that about 10 o’clock Saturday night he was standing at the entrance to the signal tower when an automobile came from the direction of West End and stopped on Whitehall street just after it had crossed the railroad. Continue Reading →

Girl and His Landlady Defend Mullinax

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Girl and His Landlady Defend Mullinax

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

Atlanta Georgian

Monday, April 28th, 1913

Declaring her belief in the absolute innocence of her sweetheart, Arthur Mullinax, in the murder of Mary Phagan, pretty 16-year-old Pearl Robinson made a pathetic figure as she appeared before Chief of Detectives Lanford this afternoon and accounted for the whereabouts of Mullinax Saturday night up until about 10:30 o’clock.

With Miss Robinson were Mrs. Emma Rutherford, the landlady of Mullinax, and her two sons, Thomas and James, who took up the moves of Mullinax from the time he left Miss Robinson until the next morning, establishing what appears to be a complete alibi. In order to establish the alibi Mrs. Rutherford had to contradict entirely a statement she made last night to the police in which she had said that she knew nothing of where Mullinax was from noon Saturday until Sunday morning.

Call Mullinax “Good Boy.”

“Arthur is a good boy,” said his loyal little sweetheart.

“I know he would do nothing bad. He was too good and true. He was with me Saturday night from 8 o’clock until nearly 11 o’clock. We went to the Bijou theater together and left before it was over. We got home about 10:30 o’clock. Continue Reading →

3 Youths Seen Leading Along a Reeling Girl

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3_Youths_Seen_Leading

Edgar L. Sentell, lifelong friend of Mary Phagan, says he saw a man answering this description, walking with the girl after midnight Sunday, a few hours before the body was found. He has identified the man as Arthur Mullinax, who, however, was to-day apparently cleared by an alibi established by his sweetheart.

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

Atlanta Georgian

Monday, April 28th, 1913

E. S. Skipper Tells Police He Saw Lads Urging Her Down Street Night of Crime.

The story of three men leading a weeping, unwilling girl on Forsyth Street Saturday night is being sounded to its depths to-day by Atlanta policemen in their efforts to unravel the mystery of Mary Phagan’s death.

The story is told by E. S. Skipper, of 224 1-2 Peters Street. He declared that on Saturday night about 10 o’clock he saw a girl whose appearance fitted the description of the girl-victim. Three men were with her, all of them young and flashily dressed.

The girl was reeling slightly, Skipper declares, as if rendered dizzy by drugs. She was crying, and time and again lagged behind her companions, as if she feared to go farther. Each time they insisted and she seemed powerless to resist them.

Skipper declared that he can identify the three men. He followed in their wake when first he saw the party on Pryor Street, near Trinity Avenue. At Trinity they turned toward Whitehall, he said, the men urging the girl to accompany them. Down Whitehall to Forsyth he accompanied them, and saw them turn north toward Mitchell Street. There he left them, going toward the Terminal Station, his original destination.

Skipper said that the girl did not appear intoxicated, but merely sick and pitifully weak. Continue Reading →

Mullinax Blundered in Statement, Say Police

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Mullinax Blundered in Statement, Say Police

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

Atlanta Georgian

Monday, April 28th, 1913

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

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

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

Sentell Positive.

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

Suspect Gant [sic] Tells His Own Story

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Suspect Gant Tells His Own Story

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

DENIES GUILT BUT IS IDENTIFIED AS MAN SEEN LEADING GIRL

Atlanta Georgian

Monday, April 28th, 1913

The Georgian will pay $500 reward for EXCLUSIVE information leading to the arrest and conviction of the murderer of Mary Phagan.

J. M. Gant [sic], accused of the strangling of Mary Phagan, was brought to Atlanta this afternoon at 4 o’clock from Marietta, where he had been under arrest in the Sheriff’s office since forenoon.

Fearing a demonstration from the crowd that had been waiting at the Walton Street station for several hours, Detective Hazlett transferred his prisoner from a Marietta car to a Decatur car and had him locked up in the police station before many were aware that he was in town.

Gant, trembling and nervous, refused to talk at first.

“I have nothing to say, nothing to say,” he repeated to the interrogations of the reporters.

As Hazlett led them to the police station, Gant glanced apprehensively around as though he were in fear of being taken away from the officer.

When no demonstration occurred, Gant, recovering his poise in a measure, turned to the reporters and declared his absolute innocence of any connection with the gruesome affair.

Makes Complete Denial

“I know nothing about it,” he declared. Continue Reading →

Lifelong Friend Saw Girl and Man After Midnight

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Lifelong Friend Saw Girl and Man After MidnightAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Monday, April 28th, 1913

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

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

Where and With Whom Was Mary Phagan Before End?

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Where and With Whom Was Mary Phagan Before EndAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Monday, April 28th, 1913

Detectives to-day are using all their resources to learn where Mary Phagan was every minute of Saturday and Saturday night, whom she saw, with whom she talked, and what she said.

There are wide blanks in the story of her movements. These must be filled.

12:10 p. m.—Mary Phagan appeared at the National Pencil Factory at ten or fifteen minutes after 12 o’clock noon, Saturday, and drew the pay due her, $1.60. She chatted a few minutes with friends. The manager is sure she then left the building.

She told her mother she was going to see the Memorial Day parade.

Did she go straight from the factory to see the procession? Who joined her? Where did she stand? When the procession had passed, where did she go? Did someone, that early in the day, start weaving around her the net which later caused her death?

10 p. m.—E. S. Skipper, 224 1-2 Peters Street, saw a girl answering the description of Mary Phagan at about 10 o’clock Saturday night. She was walking up Pryor Street near Trinity with three youths. She was crying, and seemed to be trying to get away from her companions. She seemed to be under the influence of an opiate, not of drink.

Was this, in truth, Mary Phagan? If so, who were the youths? Where had they been, and where did they go? Continue Reading →

Soda Clerk Sought in Phagan Mystery

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Soda Clerk Sought in MysteryAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Monday, April 28th, 1913

Weeping Girl Like Mary Phagan Seen Saturday in Company of Soda Jerker.

The police late this afternoon began a search for a soda water clerk who was seen talking to a girl answering the description of Mary Phagan Saturday night at 12:10 o’clock, in front of a rooming house at 286 1-2 Whitehall Street. The information was given to the police by L. B. and R. C. King, brothers, who said they passed the Whitehall Street address at that hour and saw the couple.

Their attention was called to them, they say, by the fact that the girl was sobbing. As the King brothers passed they heard the girl say:

“Don’t do that; be a friend to me.”

In company with the King brothers three detectives went to Forsyth and Whitehall Streets, where the clerk is said to be working. If he can be found he will be taken to police headquarters and examined by detectives.

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Atlanta Georgian, April 28th 1913, “Soda Clerk Sought in Phagan Mystery,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Man Held for Girl’s Murder Avows He Was With Another When Witness Saw Him Last

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Man Held for Girl's Murder Avows

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

Atlanta Journal

Monday, April 28th, 1913

Arthur Mullinax, Trolley Conductor, Denies That E. L. Sentell Saw Him Saturday Night With Mary Phagan

Arthur Mullinax, identified by E. L. Sentell, of 22 Davis street, clerk for the Kamper Grocery company, as the man whom he saw with Mary Phagan, the murdered girl, at midnight Saturday, vehemently denies any part in the atrocious crime, and declares that he will be able to prove an alibi. Subjected to a quizzing in the office of Chief of Police Beavers, he told an apparently straightforward story of his actions on the night preceding the finding of the body. Investigation of his statement by the police, however, developed discrepancies, they say. He is kept in solitary confinement on a tentative charge of suspicion.

Sentell, who was an acquaintance of the dead girl, told the police that he saw her at Forsythe and Hunter streets with Mullinax at 12:30 o’clock Sunday morning. He said he spoke to her and that the former street car man tipped his hat in response to the salutation.

In the presence of Chief Beavers, Chief of Detectives Lanford, Police Captain Mayo and Detective Black, the clerk and Mullinax were brought face to face. The clerk reiterated his identification. Pointing at the prisoner, he said:

“That is the man who was with the girl last night. I’m positive. There’s no doubt about it.”

“It’s false! It’s a lie!” cried the man accused. “I was at home asleep, and I can prove it.” Continue Reading →