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

Atlanta Georgian

Thursday, May 22^nd, 1913

Understood That Cases Will Be Brought Separately, With One Accused as Accomplice.

Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey announced Thursday afternoon that he was prepared to go before the Grand Jury Friday morning with his strongest evidence in the case of Leo M. Frank and Newt Lee, held in connection with the murder of Mary Phagan.

Although Mr. Dorsey would not discuss the form in which the cases would be presented, it was reliably stated they would be heard separately and the charge against one would be that he was an accessory to the fact.

Neither of the defendants will go before the jury. Mr. Dorsey said that in the event any move was made to introduce evidence for the defense he was prepared to block it. He said he had looked up Supreme Court decisions on this question, because when the Grand Jury was asked to indict Dr. W. H. Gillem for beating W. H. Johnson the jury in his absence had allowed Dr. Gillem to come before it, which, he said, was contrary to all law.

Twelve to Govern Action.

The opinion of 12 of the 21 jurymen will govern the action of the body. There can be no minority, said the Solicitor. If 12 of the men indict or decline to indict, the other jurors have to sign the “true” or “no bill” with the 12. Eighteen of the 21 constitute a quorum.

The Solicitor said it would be impossible to present all the evidence in one day, and that it might be necessary to carry the investigation over into the next week. He said, however, that it was not improbable the strongest evidence he had would be presented the first day, and if the jury considered it sufficiently strong, it could return an indictment without hearing the other evidence.

Gets Finger Print Evidence.

He said for the last few days his case had been complete, with the exception of preparing the testimony accumulated and some later important facts brought out by finger-print and handwriting experts. Several witnesses, whose identity has been carefully guarded, would give evidence that no one outside of his office was aware of, said the Solicitor.

C. W. Tobie, of the Burns Agency, stated Thursday afternoon that he was making the most satisfactory progress. He said it was only a question of a few more days when he would have the case in a definite, tangible shape.

The Solicitor would not discuss the findings of P. A. Flak, the finger-print expert from New York, other than to say that nothing had developed from it that would make him contemplate a change in his plan to present the cases to the Grand Jury Friday.

[It was said Thursday that C. W. Tobie, chief criminal investigator for the Burns detective agency, may leave Atlanta on the trail of a new and important witness, whose identity he is carefully guarding.

The man is said to have been with the girl before she went to the pencil factory Memorial Day and to have left the city that day. The detective intimated that the man had not revealed himself because he did not care to be a witness.

It was reported Thursday that P. A. Flak, noted finger-print expert working for Solicitor Dorsey in the Phagan investigation, had found evidence of the greatest importance that would be submitted to the Grand Jury when it takes up the case Friday.

With the Solicitor and city detectives, the expert spent several hours Wednesday night minutely examining the clothing worn by the slain girl, the pad and pencil found in the basement and other articles that have been unearthed since the Solicitor took over the case. Several finger prints that had escaped observation were clearly brought out by the use of chemicals, it was said. — An excerpt from same article printed in the “Evening Edition,” but not in the “Final” — Ed.]

Burns Forces Augmented.

The Burns forces have been augmented by a finger-print and handwriting expert and another detective. The three were closeted with the negro, Newt Lee, for more than an hour Wednesday. Neither would discuss the interview.

L. J. Fletcher, Bertillon expert at the Federal prison, was drawn into the case by Solicitor Dorsey Wednesday.

Mr. Fletcher is a handwriting expert as well. He has been connected with the Government for several years and has made an intimate study of criminology. He worked with Mr. Dorsey’s expert, Flak, when he examined articles for finger prints at the Solicitor’s office Wednesday night.

Department and Pinkerton detectives are conducting a relentless search for the missing mesh bag Mary Phagan carried to the factory with her when she received her pay. If it is found they expect it to prove one of the most important bits of evidence for the State.

City detectives have been assigned the task of locating the young woman

100 Witnesses in Phagan Case Subpoenaed

Grand Jury to Get Much Fingerprint Evidence When Slaying Is Taken Up Friday.

Continued From Page 1.

referred to in Mrs. A. A. Smith’s letter to The Georgian. Mrs. Smith said she heard a young woman on Whitehall Street say she was with Mary Phagan at 4 o’clock Memorial Day afternoon.

Many Subpenas [sic] Served.

Deputies at the Solicitor’s office began Thursday morning serving the large batch of subpenas for witnesses in the Phagan case to appear before the Grand Jury Friday morning at 10 o’clock. More than 100 were issued.

The Solicitor would not say whether he would introduce all of them, but said he would have them in readiness. Several persons whose names have not appeared in connection with the case have been asked to testify.

It became known also that expert testimony on handwriting and finger prints would play an important part in the hearing by the Grand Jury. No less than three famous finger-print and handwriting experts have been called into the case by Mr. Dorsey, and the arrival on the scene Wednesday of the best finger-print expert with the Burns agency established beyond any doubt that “finger prints” and “handwriting” would be strong cards to be played by the State.

Tobie said Wednesday his actions have been misunderstood, and that criticism of his failure to work with the Atlanta detectives was due to a misapprehension. He explained his position in the following statement to The Georgian:

“When I came here, I started to work independently, without asking any information from Atlanta detectives. I have been criticised [sic], but I think the criticism was unjust. It was not egotism, but delicacy, that kept me from going to them.

“They had been working on the case over three weeks. Then I came. Now, if I had gone to them and said, ‘Gentleman, please give me all the information you got in your three weeks’ work,’ don’t you think that would require an unusual amount of nerve?”

Denies He Made Criticism.

“If I were working on a case, and after three weeks a detective from another place should come to me and ask for all my information, I would think he had lots of nerve. It was not egotism on my part—it simply required more nerve than I had.

“I also have been criticised for criticising [sic] the other men on the case. I have been reported as criticising them for not looking into the foot prints and finger prints immediately after the murder. But I did not make that criticism. I said they had overlooked two good clews if they had passed up the finger prints and thumb prints, but I did not say they had passed them up. I still say two good clews were overlooked, providing the thumb prints and finger prints were not traced, but, mind you, I do not say they were not taken up. The fact is, I don’t know to-day whether they were or not.”

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Atlanta Georgian, May 22nd 1913, “Grand Jury Won’t Hear Leo Frank or Lee,” 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 21^st, 1913

Stories That He Was Retained by Prisoner’s Friends Silly, He Declares.

Mystery piles up upon mystery in the Phagan case.

Colonel Thomas B. Felder was asked Wednesday afternoon by The Georgian to reply to rumors circulating on the street, all making the general charge that he had been retained by friends of Leo Frank, prisoner in the Phagan case, and that his object in bringing the great detective, William J. Burns, here, was not to aid the prosecution.

Colonel Felder said:

“Any stories to that effect are silly and ridiculous—if nothing worse. Anybody who knows me or Mr. Burns knows that we would not lend ourselves to any scheme to block justice. Mr. Burns in hunting down a criminal can not be stopped. He could have made a million dollars by listening to the importunities of friends of the McNamaras in the dynamiting cases, but he is above price.”

Loath to Discuss Rumors.

Mr. Felder said that he was loath to discuss the rumors on the street because he wanted to avoid injecting into the case any issues that might impede a speedy solution of the mystery.

He stated also that he had never said he was retained by the family of the dead girl, but that a committee of citizens had been the moving spirits in getting him to take hold and using his influence to bring Burns’ talents to bear on the case.

Mrs. J. W. Coleman, mother of Mary Phagan, stated to a Georgian reporter Wednesday that the statement that Colonel Felder had been retained by her and her husband to prosecute the search for the slayer of Mary Phagan was without foundation.

Mrs. Coleman said that the first she heard of Colonel Felder taking up the case was when she read of it in a newspaper.

Saw Burns Man Once.

Neither any of the murdered girl’s relatives nor the citizens of Bellwood got up the fund to aid in the employment of William J. Burns or his agent, or in retaining Felder. She stated further that she had seen the Burns agent only once and then only for about three minutes. Mrs. Coleman said she was returning from market about 8 o’clock Tuesday evening and the Burns detective stopped her long enough to ask two or three questions. This is the only time she has seen him.

Mrs. Coleman and her step-daughters believe that the guilty man is known, and while more evidence may be necessary to convict him, they believe this evidence will be brought to light and Mary’s death avenged.

Mrs. Coleman thinks that Lee has not told all he knows, but that he slow in taking action against the will if the police department gets behind him strong enough. She does not think that Lee had a hand in the crime, but thinks that he was hired to dispose of the body afterward and lost his nerve.

Elevator Boy Grilled.

Severe grilling of Gordon Bailey, the elevator boy at the National Pencil Factory, and a city-wide search for the possessor of the “voice in the street,” heard by Mrs. A. A. Smith, 198 West Peachtree Street, to declare Mary Phagan was seen at about 4 o’clock on the afternoon of her murder, inaugurated Wednesday morning’s investigation of the Phagan case.

Bailey, who at the time of the strangling was employed as janitor and sweeper in the factory, was cross-examined by city detectives. Bailey was in the building the greater part of the afternoon on the day of the tragedy. Despite the testimony that he has given many times previously, he has always been considered as what might be an important

Voice in Street Now Sought in Phagan Case

Gordon Bailey, Negro Elevator Boy, Also Subjected Again to Close Examination.

Continued From Page 1.

link in the solution of the crime. That a final effort is being made to break down his former alibi before the cases of Frank and Lee are placed before the Grand Jury is evident.

Case Ready for Grand Jury.

Solicitor Dorsey declared Wednesday morning that everything has been prepared to present the case Friday to that tribunal in a clear and concise form.

City Detective John Black, who has superintended the city’s investigation of the case, announced that evidence had been secured to fix the guilt and merit the conviction of the girl’s slayer.

Despite these preparations, however, C. W. Tobie, the Burns operative, is making an exhaustive research into the case and blazing the trail to be followed by William J. Burns when the famous detective arrives in Atlanta. Mr. Tobie is also making daily reports to Solicitor Dorsey and Colonel Thomas B. Felder. The material which Detective Tobie is unearthing is said to be of great importance.

Spends Day at Girl’s Home.

Characteristic of the Burns method in handling such cases. Tobie spent the entire day Tuesday at the home of the Phagan girl, familiarizing himself with her life.

Mrs. Smith’s letter, mailed to The Georgian, stated that on Monday, May 5, she overheard a conversation on the street downtown in which a female voice declared that its possessor had seen Mary Phagan at 4 o’clock on the afternoon of the murder:

Mrs. Smith’s letter follows:

Editor Atlanta Georgian,

Atlanta, Ga.:

Dear Sir—On Monday, May 5, 1913, between 4 and 5 o’clock in the afternoon, on Whitehall Street, in front of J. M. High & Co.’s store, I heard three ladies in conversation. One was a rather stout lday, about 25 years old; the other two ladies were older. I did not note the appearance of the two older ladies as closely as I did the younger one, for the reason that the younger lady did most of the talking.

Tells of Seeing Girl.

These ladies were talking about the Phagan case. The younger one said that she believed justice ought to be given to everybody. She said she knew Mary Phagan well and that she saw her on Whitehall Street, near Trinity Avenue, about 4 o’clock on Memorial Day, after the parade had ended. One of the other ladies said if she knew that she ought to tell it to the authorities.

I was deeply impressed with the sincerity of this young woman, and have deeply regretted that in the interest of justice I did not ask her name.

So strongly have I felt upon this subject that I have dared to write this. Begging that the ladies referred to in some way communicate with the editor of this paper. I suggest the editor because I believe that the editor would fairly treat the informant, and would see that the information given will be fairly used.

I have no possible interest in the Phagan case, except to see justice done. Will you not give this matter such publicity as will bring a reply from the ladies mentioned?

Very truly yours,

MRS. A. A. SMITH.

J. W. Tedder, a business man of Kennesaw, Ga., a small town near Marietta, called on Chief Lanford Tuesday to tell him he was acquainted with the mysterious girl in red, who was reported to have accompanied Mary Phagan to the factory when she went there to draw her pay. It is rumored that the girl in Kennesaw has made a public statement to the effect that she knows the girl. Detectives are working on this feature of the case to-day.

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Atlanta Georgian, May 21 1913, “T. B. Felder Repudiates Report of Activity for Frank,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)