A job promise dangled. A private detective using an alias. A pugilist ruse. Characters in a charade. A wild goose chase by train. A New Orleans cover story. Four days in Birmingham. A newsboy witness falsely accused. Affidavit repudiations. The Frank appeals chaos. And George Epps’s 1968 libel suit against Harry Golden. From Saturday, April 26, 1913, to Saturday, December 14, 1968: a story with bookends spanning nearly fifty-five years.

BY HENRY HOLLAND

September 24th, 2026

Epps’s Bookends in the Mary Phagan Case

The background to the distant bookends of George Washington Epps’s involvement in the Mary Phagan case, including his long fight for his own truth, seemingly spanned almost a lifetime.

Once upon a time, George W. Epps Jr. was a newsie who lived around the corner from Mary Phagan in the Bellwood neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. Little did he know that the fight over his own story would follow him for the next fifty-five years.

His part in the case begins with a murder mystery the day after her body was found and runs through the coroner’s inquest, the murder trial, Frank’s first appeal to the Supreme Court of Georgia, the extraordinary motion for a new trial, and the second appeal. It did not end there. Fifty-five years later, George Epps was in federal court defending his name against a Jewish-American author and ex-con Harry Golden, who once upon a time engaged in a mail fraud scheme. Golden, born Herschel Goldhirsch and later known as Harry Goldhurst, headed the brokerage firm Kable and Company by 1926. After the firm failed in 1929, he was charged with mail fraud and pleaded guilty in October 1929. The basic allegation was that he improperly retained client money entrusted to him by numerous investors, causing them losses. He received a five-year federal sentence and was released in 1933, after serving roughly three and a half years at the federal penitentiary in Atlanta.

Where the Epps Controversy Erupted in 1913-1914

George Epps changed his story. His trial testimony was attacked in open court. Months after the Frank verdict, he signed an affidavit saying much of it had been false and why. Then he reversed himself again and swore that Frank defense investigators had lured him out of Atlanta under a false name and a prize-fighter story, carried him train to Birmingham, Alabama, frightened him, sleep-deprived him, and got the recantation out of him in a hotel there.

This complex episode unfolds through a contested record of testimony, sworn affidavits, direct and circumstantial evidence, with competing allegations and denials. Some of Epps’s claims cannot be independently proved from the surviving record. Other statements by him drew express denials under oath.

But the story has a curious providence, one of the defense private investigators, Captain C. W. Burke, later swore to a surprising amount of the wild-goose-chase operation, himself. That is what makes the Epps affair worth closer study with modern eyes and illuminating the nuance of events. The deception is substantially documented. The coercion is disputed. The complicated evidence, when sifted through a careful modern lens, makes this broader picture easier to see and supports a reasonable inference about the Leo Frank defense and its methods in the post-conviction period.

This research report follows the record in order, quoting Epps’s own sworn words, the defense investigators’ affidavits, and the Atlanta and New York newspapers by name, date, and headline.

The People in the Record

Many names pass through this story. Here, in short form and limited to what the record actually shows, is who each of them was in their connection to the ongoings: the nonfiction dramatis personae of the George Epps real life drama.

THE EPPS FAMILY

George W. Epps Jr. A teenage newsboy who lived around the corner from Mary Phagan and knew her well. He worked for a time for the Miller Minute Messenger Service. He was the State’s second witness at Leo Max Frank’s trial. By 1968 he lived in Cedartown, Georgia.

Vera Epps. George’s younger sister and a friend of Mary Phagan. The newspapers gave her age as twelve in April 1913 and eleven in August 1913. She testified for the State in rebuttal.
George W. Epps Sr. George’s father, night superintendent of the Candler Annex building in downtown Atlanta. He publicly rejected his son’s recantation in March 1914.

W. H. “Henry” Epps. George’s uncle, superintendent of the Putnam Mill and Power Company in Eatonton, Georgia. He visited George at the Milledgeville reformatory in March 1914 and swore to what the boy told him.

THE MURDER CASE

Mary Phagan. A thirteen-year-old employee of the National Pencil Company, murdered at the factory on Saturday, April 26, 1913.

Leo Max Frank. Superintendent of the National Pencil Company, convicted of Mary Phagan’s murder on Monday, August 25, 1913.

Mrs. J. W. Coleman. Mary Phagan’s mother, the State’s first witness at trial.

J. W. Coleman. Mary Phagan’s stepfather. By Detective Black’s account, he brought George Epps to police headquarters after the murder.

Jim Conley. The pencil factory sweeper whose testimony was the center of the State’s case against Frank.

R. P. Barrett. Robert P. Barrett, a National Pencil Company machinist and State witness who found hair on a lathe in the factory after the murder.

Helen Ferguson. A National Pencil Company employee and State witness. Her complaint led to the June 1914 indictments of Burke and Wrenn.

Ivy Jones. A witness in the case whom the defense investigators also approached under a cover story.

THE POLICE AND THE PROSECUTION

Detective John Black. An Atlanta city detective who worked the Phagan case, called by the Constitution “Chief Lanford’s star man.” Epps’s 1914 recantation accused him of putting the story in the boy’s mouth.

Newport Lanford. Chief of Detectives of the Atlanta Police Department.

Hugh M. Dorsey. Solicitor General of the Atlanta Judicial Circuit, who prosecuted Frank and opposed the extraordinary motion.

Frank A. Hooper. An Atlanta lawyer assisting Dorsey in the prosecution.

Edward A. Stephens. Assistant Solicitor General, who handled the Epps family affidavits in Dorsey’s office on Saturday, March 7, 1914, while Dorsey was out of the city.

Detectives Pat Campbell and John Starnes. Atlanta city detectives present when the Epps family affidavits were prepared.

N. A. “Newt” Garner. An attaché of the Solicitor’s office. He stood with Epps in Atlanta on Friday, May 1, 1914, when Epps identified Burke.

THE DEFENSE LAWYERS

Luther Z. Rosser and Reuben R. Arnold. The Atlanta lawyers who led Frank’s defense at trial and argued the extraordinary motion.

Herbert J. Haas. One of Frank’s lawyers. He read the defense’s Epps affidavits into the record in May 1914.

Stiles Hopkins. An Atlanta lawyer working with Frank’s defense. He took the Birmingham affidavit to Milledgeville and had Epps sign it again there so that it would have a Georgia stamp and thereby improve its veracity.

THE DEFENSE INVESTIGATORS

C. W. Burke. A special investigator for Frank’s defense after the trial. Epps knew him in Birmingham as “Kelly.” Indicted on Thursday, June 18, 1914, on a charge of attempting to suborn perjury in the separate Helen Ferguson matter.

J. W. “Jimmie” Wrenn. Burke’s employee, who approached Epps under the false name “Terry.” Indicted on Friday, June 19, 1914, on the same charge.

Austin G. Dennison. Described by the Atlanta Journal as “a New York detective who was working on the case.” By Burke’s and Wrenn’s account, he was the third man in Birmingham and wrote the statement.

William J. Burns. The nationally known private detective brought into the case on Frank’s side in 1914, whose agency’s affidavit methods came under attack at the May 1914 hearing.

THE STREETCAR MEN, THE REPORTER, AND THE REBUTTAL WITNESSES

John M. Minar. A reporter for the Atlanta Georgian who visited the Epps home the night after the body was found. He testified for the defense that George never mentioned riding with Mary.

W. M. Mathews. Motorman on the English Avenue streetcar Mary Phagan rode on the morning of the murder. He testified for the defense.

W. T. Hollis. Conductor on the same car. He testified for the defense and was recalled by the State.

W. C. Dobbs. An Atlanta city fireman who testified in rebuttal about what Mathews told him three days after the murder.

J. D. Reed. A passenger who rode Hollis’s car the Monday after the murder. He testified in rebuttal for the State.

THE JUDGES AND OFFICIALS

Judge Leonard S. Roan. Fulton County Superior Court judge who presided at Frank’s trial.

Judge Benjamin H. Hill. Fulton County Superior Court judge who heard and denied Frank’s extraordinary motion in May 1914.

Judge Tindall. Judge of the Atlanta juvenile court who committed Epps to the Milledgeville reformatory.

Captain Lovvorn. Superintendent of the State Reformatory at Milledgeville.

J. Cleveland Cooper. Clerk of the superior court who attested the February 27, 1914 Milledgeville affidavit.

John Corrigan. Notary public of Fulton County, before whom George Epps Sr. and W. H. Epps swore their affidavits on Saturday, March 7, 1914.

Colonel Roy Stubbs. The Epps family’s lawyer, who went with Henry Epps to the Milledgeville reformatory in March 1914.

Chief Justice William H. Fish and Justice Marcus W. Beck. The two dissenting justices when the Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Frank’s conviction in February 1914.

Chief Judge Woodrow Wilson Jones. Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, who ruled on Epps’s 1968 libel suit.

LATER FIGURES

B. Bernard. An Atlanta auctioneer whom Epps pointed out in 1914 as resembling the Birmingham “chief.” Burke and Wrenn swore Bernard was not there.

Harry Golden. A writer living in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, author of the 1965 book A Little Girl Is Dead, which argued that Frank was wrongly convicted.

The Hearst Corporation. Publisher of the paperback edition of Golden’s book through its Avon Division.

Stanley Kramer. The Hollywood producer and director who planned a film of Golden’s book.
Ryan Reft. Author of a 2025 overview of the case in The Saturday Evening Post.

Part One: The Witness

Saturday, April 26, 1913: the murder

Mary Phagan, thirteen years old, went to the National Pencil Company on South Forsyth Street in downtown Atlanta around noon on Saturday, April 26, 1913, Confederate Memorial Day, to collect her pay. Her body was found in the factory basement early the next morning. She lived on Lindsay Street, in the English Avenue neighborhood. The Epps family lived nearby on Fox Street.

Sunday night, April 27, 1913: a reporter at the Epps house

That Sunday night, John M. Minar, a reporter for the Atlanta Georgian, went to the Epps home. He later testified for the defense at Frank’s trial. The Brief of Evidence records his reason for going: “I went there to ask him and his sister when was the last time either of them had seen Mary Phagan.” George’s father was present. Minar said George’s younger sister, Vera, told him she last saw Mary on Thursday, and that George said nothing about seeing Mary on Saturday or riding with her on the car. On cross-examination Minar added: “At that time Mr. Frank had not been mentioned in connection with the case at all.”4

That is the first credibility problem in the record. It would be fought over at trial.

Monday, April 28, 1913: Vera Epps on Fox Street

By Monday, April 28, 1913, the Epps family was in the papers. A story headed “12-Year-Old Girl Sobs Her Love for Slain Child” centered on Vera Epps, George’s younger sister, interviewed at her home on Fox Street near the Phagan home. She remembered playing with Mary days before the murder and called her “a good girl, very nice, sweet, and pretty.”1

Wednesday, April 30, 1913: the coroner’s inquest

George Epps testified before the coroner’s jury at police headquarters on Wednesday, April 30, 1913. That day’s paper ran his account under the headline “Boy Sweetheart Says Girl Was to Meet Him Saturday.” It identified him as G. W. Epps Jr., fourteen years old. Mary, he said, had asked him to meet her at a drug store at Five Points at 2 o’clock to watch the Memorial Day parade after she drew her pay. He waited until 4 o’clock. “I looked for her all around at that time. I could not find her.” He went to a ball game, then to her house at 7 o’clock that evening.2

Thursday, May 1, 1913: “Frank Tried to Flirt With Murdered Girl”

The next morning, Thursday, May 1, 1913, the Atlanta Constitution put Epps on its front page under the headline “Frank Tried to Flirt With Murdered Girl Says Her Boy Chum,” with the subheads “Mary Phagan Was Growing Afraid of Advances Made to Her by Superintendent of the Factory” and “Boy Had Engagement to Meet Her Saturday but She Did Not Come.”3

The Constitution printed his questions and answers. Asked his age, he said, “Fifteen, going on sixteen.” Asked how far he lived from the Phagan home: “Just around the block.” About the meeting: “We were to have met at 2 o’clock in Elkin & Watson’s drug store at Five Points.” He waited “until 4 o’clock in the afternoon. I stuck around two hours waiting for her.” Then came the testimony that made the headline:

“When she would leave the factory on some afternoons she said Frank would rush out in front of her and try to flirt with her. She told me that he had often winked at her and tried to pay her attention.”3

The Constitution called him “a bright, quick-witted chap” and “an eager witness.”3

A note on his age

The record does not agree on how old George Epps was. The Wednesday, April 30, 1913 paper said fourteen. The Thursday, May 1, 1913 Constitution quoted him as “fifteen, going on sixteen.” At trial on Monday, July 28, 1913, he swore, “I am fourteen years old.” The Constitution of Thursday, March 5, 1914 put him “in the neighborhood of 15 or 16.” On Monday, May 4, 1914, he swore he was “just 15.”2 3 5 7 16 No birth record in this file settles it. He was a teenage boy, and this paper leaves it there.

When did George first tell the story?

His father, George W. Epps Sr., night superintendent of the Candler Annex building, later told the Atlanta Constitution that George first told him about riding with Mary “the Sunday or Monday after the murder,” before anyone took the boy to the detectives. “His mother also questioned him,” the father said. Detective John Black of the Atlanta police said the boy was brought to headquarters by J. W. Coleman, Mary’s stepfather.5

Two days later the father swore out a fuller account, and it puts George’s first telling on Sunday night, after Minar’s visit. In his affidavit of Saturday, March 7, 1914, printed in the Atlanta Constitution of Sunday, March 8, 1914, George W. Epps Sr. described the visit this way:

“On the Sunday night after Mary Phagan was killed, Mr. Minor, The Georgian reporter, and I went out to see my little girl, and while we were talking to her about it, George spoke up several times and tried to tell something, and I made him hush because I didn’t want my family mixed in it.”18

The father sent George over to Mrs. Reed’s, where the boy’s mother was. Then, he swore, “Mr. Minor and myself and little girl came uptown on the car to have a picture taken.” The Georgian’s story on Vera ran the next day. When the father got home, “I got the boy and asked him what it was he was trying to tell. He told me that Mary Phagan had told him riding on the street car with him that she was afraid of Mr. Frank and that he had winked at her.” The father’s answer was, “G. W., you keep out of this and have nothing to say whatsoever.” The boy’s mother, he said, “also cautioned him about not getting into it.”18

If the father’s affidavit is accurate, it explains Minar’s testimony without calling either of them a liar. George said nothing to the reporter because his father had told him to hush. The father’s account also puts Frank’s name in George’s story on the first Sunday night, before the police had George and before the Constitution’s Thursday, May 1, 1913 headline. Minar testified that Frank “had not been mentioned in connection with the case at all” at the time of his visit.4 The two statements can both be true: the public had not yet connected Frank to the case, but a boy in the Epps home may have.

A caution goes with this. The father swore to it on Saturday, March 7, 1914, ten months after the fact, when his son’s recantation was front-page news and the family was trying to answer it. It fits what he told the Constitution on Thursday, March 5, 1914. It is still a parent’s memory, set down in a fight.

Monday, July 28, 1913: the State’s second witness

Leo Max Frank’s trial opened in Fulton County Superior Court on Monday, July 28, 1913, before Judge Leonard S. Roan. Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey prosecuted, assisted by Frank A. Hooper. The Atlanta lawyers Luther Z. Rosser and Reuben R. Arnold led the defense. After the jury was seated, the State called Mary’s mother, Mrs. J. W. Coleman. George Epps followed that afternoon as the State’s second witness.

The official Brief of Evidence preserves his direct testimony in full:

“I am fourteen years old. I live right around the corner from Mary Phagan’s home. I have known her about a year. The last time I saw her was Saturday morning coming to town on the English Avenue car. It was about ten minutes to twelve when I first saw her. I left her about seven minutes after twelve at the corner of Forsyth and Marietta Street. She had on that hat, parasol and things when I left her. She was going to the pencil factory to draw her money. She said she was going to see the parade at Elkin-Watson’s at two o’clock. She never showed up. I stayed around there until four o’clock and then I went to ball game. When I left her at the corner of Forsyth and Marietta, I went under the bridge to get papers and she went over the bridge to the pencil factory, about two blocks down Forsyth Street. I sat with Mary on the car.”7

On cross-examination the defense went after his times:

“I know what time it was when I met Mary because I looked at Bryant and Keheley’s clock, at the corner of Oliver and Bellwood, where I caught the car. She caught the car at Oliver and Lindsey and I caught the car at Oliver and Bell Street. She got on before I did, just one block before. I didn’t say anything before the Coroner’s jury about seeing a clock there, but I did see one. I know it was about seven minutes after twelve when I got off at Marietta Street because I can tell by the sun. I lived in the country and when I got off I looked at the sun. Mary got off the street car with me. No, she didn’t ride on to Hunter Street. I am sure of that. She walked on down to the pencil factory on the right-hand side of Forsyth Street.”7

The Atlanta Journal covered the day on Tuesday, July 29, 1913, under the headline “Mother’s Sorrow and Newsie’s Wit Play on Emotions at Frank Trial.” It called him a “bare-footed, tow-headed newsboy.” Asked how he knew the time, he said, “Tell by the sun.” Pressed on whether he really could, he answered, “Sure. Tell now, if the sun was shinin’ in here.”6

The trial record is narrower than the Thursday, May 1, 1913 headline. Nothing about Frank flirting with Mary appears in his preserved trial testimony. What the jury heard from Epps was about the streetcar, the time, and where Mary was going.

Friday, August 8, and Saturday, August 9, 1913: the streetcar men

The defense answered him with the two men who ran the English Avenue car that morning. The Atlanta Journal reported them on Friday, August 8, 1913, under “Defense Attacks State’s Case From Many Angles.”8 The next morning, Saturday, August 9, 1913, the Atlanta Constitution gave each man his own headline.

“Epps Boy Not With Mary Phagan, Declares Street Car Motorman” covered W. M. Mathews, the motorman. He said Mary rode his car and “got off at Hunter and Broad at 10 minutes after 12.” Asked whether a little boy was with her, he said: “No, not when she got on at Lindsay street, not when I sat behind her in the car and not when she got off.” Asked about her dress, he said, “I was looking at the girl, not the dress.”9

“Conductor Also Swears Epps Boy Was Not on Car With Mary Phagan” covered W. T. Hollis, the conductor. He said Mary “was not accompanied by a boy,” and under cross-examination by Frank A. Hooper for the State he said he saw no “tow-headed boy” get on.10

Friday, August 8, 1913: “Couldn’t Locate Epps Boy When Wanted in Court”

That same Friday afternoon, the defense wanted Epps back on the stand. He did not answer. The Constitution reported it on Saturday, August 9, 1913, under “Couldn’t Locate Epps Boy When Wanted in Court”:

“Mr. Arnold asked the assistance of Judge Roan in bringing the boy to court. The judge dispatched a bailiff in search of the newsie, armed with an attachment. He was not produced, however, at any time during the afternoon session.”11
Saturday, August 9, 1913: “Did you try to hide from this court?”

Epps turned up on Saturday morning, August 9, 1913, as the first witness of the day. The Atlanta Journal that afternoon described him: “Barefooted and coatless, the tow-headed newsboy walked again to the witness stand.” Asked why he had not been there the day before, he said: “I got tired waiting, and you said you’d send for me if I was needed, and when they went out to the house for me I was out playing ball.” And: “No, whenever you send for me I come right straight.”27

Reuben Arnold asked him about Minar’s Sunday-night visit. The Brief of Evidence gives his answer:

“I was present on Sunday after the murder when a gentleman came out to the house and talked to me and my sister about when was the last time we had seen Mary Phagan. He didn’t ask me, he asked my sister. I wasn’t there. I was in the house. I didn’t hear him ask my sister that.”7

The Constitution of Sunday, August 10, 1913 ran “Epps Boy Denies Trying to Avoid Being Called to the Stand Again.” Solicitor Dorsey asked him straight out: “George, did you try to hide from this court?” Dorsey objected that “Mr. Arnold tried to give the impression yesterday that this witness was hiding out rather than testify when the defense wanted him.”12

Wednesday, August 20, 1913: the State’s rebuttal

In rebuttal on Wednesday, August 20, 1913, the State called George’s sister, Vera Epps. Her sworn testimony in the Brief of Evidence:

“My brother George was in the house when Mr. Minar was asking us about the last time we saw Mary Phagan. I don’t know if he heard the questions asked. George didn’t tell him that he didn’t see Mary that Saturday. I told him I had seen Mary Phagan Thursday.”13

The Atlanta Journal of Thursday, August 21, 1913 described her as “aged eleven years” and said that “although brought in as a State witness, she practically corroborated the statement by John Minar, a Georgian reporter.” Her testimony cut both ways. It supported Minar on what was said. It also backed George’s point that he may not have heard the question.14

The State then went after the streetcar men. W. C. Dobbs, a city fireman, swore that three days after the murder the motorman had told him something very different from what he told the jury. The Journal reported that Mathews “told him Mary Phagan rode into the city on April 26 with George Epps, the newsboy, and that both left the car at Forsyth and Marietta streets.”14

Hollis, the conductor, was recalled. The Journal printed the exchange: “‘You swore when you were on the stand before that you did not remember seeing Epps on the car, didn’t you?’ ‘Yes.'” Next came J. D. Reed, a passenger who had ridden Hollis’s car the Monday after the murder. He said the two talked about the case on the way into town, and “Hollis told him … that Mary was talking to a little boy whom he afterwards learned was her sweetheart, George Epps.”14

So the jury had all of it. Epps said he rode with Mary. Mathews said he did not, but Dobbs said Mathews told him otherwise three days after the murder. Hollis first said the boy was not there, then said he did not remember, and Reed said Hollis told him otherwise two days after the murder. Minar said George never mentioned the ride. Vera half agreed with Minar and half agreed with her brother.

Anyone who writes George Epps as either destroyed or vindicated at trial is simplifying a mixed record. His credibility was fought over in open court, in front of the jury.

Monday, August 25, 1913: Dorsey’s closing and the verdict

Solicitor Dorsey came back to Epps in his closing argument. The Atlanta Journal of Monday, August 25, 1913, under “Leo M. Frank’s Fate Is Now in Hands of the Jury,” quoted him: “The defense has made a mighty effort to break down the testimony of little George Epps.”28

That day the jury found Leo Max Frank guilty of the murder of Mary Phagan. Epps was one witness among many. The State’s case rested on Jim Conley, the factory sweeper, and on the medical evidence, the factory witnesses, the timing evidence, and Frank’s own statements. What Epps added was Mary on her way to the pencil factory near noon.

The Epps story could have ended there. It did not.

Part Two: Birmingham

September 1913: Burke sends “Terry”

The next stage comes from C. W. Burke himself, a special investigator for Frank’s defense after the conviction. Eight months later, the Atlanta Journal of Wednesday, May 6, 1914 reported his sworn affidavit under the headline “Frank Loses Fight for New Trial,” with the subhead “Judge Hill Denies Motion as Defense Closes Arguments”:

“Burke swore that some time in September of last year Wrenn reported to him that Epps, who was with the Miller Messenger service, had met him casually … Burke swore he then instructed Wrenn to tell Epps he was Terry, a prize fighter, and was getting ready to go to New Orleans for a bout.”15

This is not Epps accusing the defense of inventing Terry. This is Burke saying he authorized it.

The man’s name was J. W. “Jimmie” Wrenn, Burke’s employee. “Terry” was false. The New Orleans cover story was admitted by Burke. Nothing found so far shows whether Wrenn had ever boxed, and the case does not need it. The deception is already in Burke’s own account: Wrenn went to Epps under a false name, telling a prize-fighter and New Orleans story that Burke told him to tell.

Fall 1913: in front of the Aragon Hotel

Epps described a short, thin man who “always wore a sour grin on his face” stopping him in front of the Aragon Hotel in downtown Atlanta. Over several meetings, Terry won the boy’s trust, then asked “if I did not want to travel with him.” Terry said “he had a show company” and offered “$10.00 a week and expenses.” He told the boy “to keep this secret; not to let my father and mother or anybody know that I was going off.” Epps kept the secret.16

Wrenn’s own affidavit confirms part of this. The Journal of Wednesday, May 6, 1914 reported that “when he first met Epps, the boy was ragged and filthy and he gave him some castoff clothing of his own to wear and also a dollar to get some food.”15 Wrenn told it as kindness. Epps told it as being groomed for a trip. The meaning is disputed. The clothes and the dollar are admitted.

One Sunday before the trip, Epps also saw Terry walking down Forsyth Street with a second man, the man he would later know as Kelly.16

Four days in November 1913

The Birmingham trip can be pinned to four days. The anchor is the father’s sworn statement that he found his son back in Atlanta on Saturday, November 22, 1913, and that the boy said Terry “carried me over Wednesday night.”18 Epps’s own sworn account in the Supreme Court record then runs night by night: the train in on Wednesday night, a sleepless first night and a statement sworn the next afternoon, a move to a second hotel “the next morning,” and a 3 a.m. train home “that night.”16 Put together, the days fall this way:

Wednesday, November 19, 1913. Epps leaves Atlanta at night with “Terry.”
Thursday, November 20, 1913. Arrival in Birmingham about 3 a.m. The Birmingham Hotel, the fake call, the “chief,” the three-page statement. Epps swears to it that afternoon.
Friday, November 21, 1913. The move to the Empire Hotel and the telegrams.
Saturday, November 22, 1913. The 3 a.m. train home, arriving in Atlanta about 7 a.m.; his father finds him on Peachtree Street that afternoon.

Only the Saturday date is sworn to directly. The other three are counted from it, using Epps’s own sequence.

Wednesday night, November 19, 1913: Forsyth and Hunter Streets

That evening Terry gave Epps some old clothes and a dollar and told him to get a bath. At about 10:30 that night, Epps met Terry at the corner of Forsyth and Hunter Streets. “He already had my ticket,” Epps swore, and “said we were not going to New Orleans but were going to Birmingham.”16 The Journal of Tuesday, May 5, 1914 summarized it the same way: a ticket “to Birmingham instead of New Orleans.”17

Here the evidence has to stay divided. Burke admitted the New Orleans cover story. Burke admitted the Birmingham trip. Burke did not admit promising Epps a personal trip to New Orleans and switching it at the last minute. That part comes from Epps.

Terminal Station: four people on one train

The Journal of Wednesday, May 6, 1914 ran Burke’s account of the trip under a paragraph heading, “Rode in Different Coaches.” Burke and Austin G. Dennison, “a New York detective who was working on the case,” took the same train to Birmingham with Wrenn and Epps “but did not talk to them en route as they were in the day coach and he and Dennison were in the Pullman.”15

There is no need to dress that up. A teenage boy was going to another state with a man using a false name. Two more men from the same operation were on the same train, in another car, and did not make themselves known to him.

The blind man

At Atlanta’s Terminal Station, a man in glasses who “pretended he could not see good” asked Epps to help him down the steps.16 Wrenn’s affidavit agreed there was a blind man on the train, but said “the man was not Burke, but was some one Wrenn had never seen before.”15 Epps never settled who the man was. In his affidavit he said the man looked like the one who “passed off as Kelly.” The Journal’s Tuesday, May 5, 1914 summary gave his opinion that it was B. Bernard, an Atlanta auctioneer.16 17 That identification later fell apart, as described below. The blind man appears in both accounts. His identity is unresolved.

About 3 a.m., Thursday, November 20, 1913: “Detective Kelly”

The train reached Birmingham, Alabama, at about three in the morning on Thursday, November 20, 1913.16

Epps’s account of what happened next came out in the Atlanta Journal of Tuesday, May 5, 1914, under “Many Sensations Sprung by Dorsey at Frank Hearing,” with the subhead “Epps Charges Frame-Up in Getting His Affidavit.” Two blocks from the station, a man claiming to be “Detective Kelly, of the Birmingham police department,” came up and “placed him under arrest, charging him with the theft of $12 from a messenger service.”17 In his sworn affidavit the amount is “$10.00 from the Miller Minute Messenger Service,” the Atlanta messenger company Epps had worked for, and the man said he “was going to take me to jail.”16 The two records disagree on the amount.

Burke admitted the confrontation and denied the rest. The Journal of Wednesday, May 6, 1914:

“After they got off the train, he (Burke) approached the other two and did talk with Epps about the money he had stolen from the messenger service, but was very careful not to say or intimate at any time that he was an officer.”15

So by Burke’s own account, a teenage State witness was brought out of Georgia by a man using a false name and a prize-fighter story, and on arrival one of the investigators confronted him over supposedly stolen money.

Thursday, November 20, 1913: the telephone call

According to Epps, Terry talked Kelly out of taking him to jail and into taking him to the Birmingham Hotel, where Terry offered to pay the boy’s fine. Kelly said he would telephone the chief of detectives. Epps swore Kelly “called him up, or pretended to call up,” and then said the chief had another charge against him: “perjury in the Phagan case.”16

Burke’s version, from the Journal of Wednesday, May 6, 1914:

“After they went to the hotel, he told Epps he would phone to Atlanta about the money, but instead phoned Dennison by previous arrangement, and then told Epps that his (Burke’s) chief was coming up to talk to him.”15

This is the part that is hardest to explain away as routine interviewing.

It is not Epps’s accusation. It is Burke’s account. A supposed call to Atlanta about the boy’s supposed crime was really a signal to a confederate, arranged ahead of time. The confederate then walked in after Burke called him his chief. Calling it a prearranged telephone performance is accurate.

In the same affidavit Burke said Dennison approached Epps “as one simply interested in the Frank case.”15 That produces an odd sequence even inside the defense’s own version. Burke says his chief is coming. Dennison comes. Dennison then acts like a man who is simply interested in the case. This does not prove Dennison posed as Birmingham’s chief of detectives. Epps said that. But Burke’s own account documents a staged introduction built on the fake call.

Thursday, November 20, 1913: the three-page statement

According to Burke, Dennison asked Epps to tell his story, and Epps repeated his trial testimony. The Journal printed the exchange: “Then Dennison said: ‘I don’t see anything wrong with that if it is the truth.’ Epps said: ‘Some of it was the truth, and some of it wasn’t.'” Burke and Wrenn left Dennison alone with the boy, “and when they returned Dennison had written out a three-page statement.” Dennison read it to Epps, who made several corrections. “A stenographer was called in and the statement was dictated to him,” and Epps was told again to make corrections, “but this time he had none to make.” Then “they took the boy before a notary and he swore to the affidavit.”15

Epps’s version is harder. He swore all three men “told me I had sworn a lie and had to come up and tell the truth or go to jail.” They “got me over in the corner right at the window and pulled down the shades” and “cursed John Black, city detective of Atlanta.” “They kept talking to me and did not let me go to sleep all night.” In the morning the chief said “he had to go home and get his breakfast” and would come back “and bring a stenographer.” When he returned with the stenographer, he said he would have the statement “copied on the typewriter” and “bring it back to me at four o’clock and take me to a lawyer to be sworn in on it.”16

Terry then gave the boy two dollars “to buy a clean shirt” and told him to “go to the shows.” Epps swore: “About 3:30 I came out of the Benita Theater in Birmingham.” The men were waiting. “They took me over to a building I don’t know the name of and they took me by the jail. They took me to the office and started reading it to me, and when it was done they made me hold up my right hand and swear to it.”16

That places the swearing of the Birmingham affidavit on the afternoon of Thursday, November 20, 1913, sometime after 3:30.

He signed, he said, because “they threatened me and I was scared and wanted to get back home,” because “if I didn’t sign it I would have to go to the Birmingham Reformatory,” and because if he changed it in Atlanta, “Birmingham would fix me.”16 Afterward, he said, Kelly took him back to the Birmingham Hotel, Terry walked him around town, and that night he went to his room and slept.

On one point the two accounts agree. George Epps did not write the Birmingham statement. Austin Dennison did.

What Burke denied

Burke denied coercion. He denied any reward. He denied presenting himself as an officer. The Journal of Wednesday, May 6, 1914: “He was made absolutely no promise of reward, nor was he coerced in any way, Burke swears.”15

The published summary contains those three denials. It does not give a line-by-line answer to everything Epps alleged, including the arrest and the sleepless night.

Friday, November 21, 1913: the Empire Hotel and the telegrams

“The next morning,” Epps swore, Terry “said he was going to move to the Empire hotel.” They turned in the key at the Birmingham Hotel and went over. At about 8:30 Terry came back and bought breakfast in the Empire’s cafe. Then “Mr. Terry got two telegrams and he claimed they were from Atlanta and that the show had to come back to Atlanta before we could go to New Orleans.”16 The affidavit was already sworn. Even so, the New Orleans story was kept alive.

Saturday, November 22, 1913: Peachtree Street

“That night I got ready and we left about 3 o’clock,” Epps swore, “and we got on the train and came back to Atlanta.” They arrived at about seven in the morning on Saturday, November 22, 1913. Before the train got in, Terry gave the boy a dollar and a half and told him to go to the Gate City Hotel in Atlanta “and stay there and don’t let anybody see me.” Terry came for him about one o’clock and gave him another dollar and a half “in nickles and dimes and told me to go out to the football game.”16

That afternoon his father found him. The Atlanta Constitution of Sunday, March 8, 1914 printed the father’s affidavit:

“On Saturday afternoon, November 22, I saw G. W. standing on the sidewalk on Peachtree street across from the Georgian Terrace … ‘A boxer by the name of Mr. Terry had had me over in Birmingham, Ala. He carried me over Wednesday night. He was going to make a boxer out of me. He promised to pay me $10 per week while I learned. We were stopping at the best of hotels and he was giving me plenty of money to spend. He said that he was going to carry me from Birmingham to New Orleans and from New Orleans to New York.'”18

Asked when he got back, George said: “This morning.” That same evening, the father swore, he met his wife uptown and she said, “Oh, do you know George is in Birmingham and going to New Orleans and New York?” He answered, “No, he isn’t, he’s in Atlanta.” She had gotten a letter from George that day saying he was in Birmingham, “getting $10 a week from Mr. Terry and learning to be a boxer.” The father swore that “George didn’t say anything about making an affidavit.”18

The father’s account supports the outline. Terry was in George’s story the day he got back. The boxing story existed. George had gone to Birmingham. His parents had not arranged it. It does not prove what happened inside the hotel.

The ten dollars a week was never paid.

The missing Birmingham affidavit

The document at the center of this story has not been found. No original, copy, or photograph of the Birmingham affidavit of Thursday, November 20, 1913 has turned up in the newspapers, the Brief of Evidence, or the Supreme Court record examined for this paper. Without it, we cannot read the date written on it, the name of the Birmingham notary, or the name of the stenographer.

Its existence is not in doubt. Burke swore to it. Epps swore to it. The Atlanta Journal of Thursday, May 7, 1914 reported that Burke and Wrenn “admit they were present when Epps made the Birmingham affidavit.”30 Captain Lovvorn, as the father reported his words, was shown it at Milledgeville. The uncle said the boy told him the Milledgeville affidavit was “the same one.” And three months later a version of it was sworn again in Georgia, printed in Atlanta, and carried by The New York Times.

Until the Birmingham original turns up, the careful statement is this: the surviving evidence places the first swearing of the Epps recantation in Birmingham on the afternoon of Thursday, November 20, 1913. That date is reconstructed from the sworn accounts, not read off the document.

Part Three: The Recantation
December 1913: Milledgeville by his own choice

About three weeks after he got home, Epps was brought before Judge Tindall of the Atlanta juvenile court. The judge was willing to give him probation. Epps asked to be sent to the State Reformatory at Milledgeville, in Baldwin County, instead. His reason, in his own sworn words: if he stayed in Atlanta and took back the Birmingham statement, “they would take me to Birmingham and put me in jail for signing the statement over there.”16

A boy who asks to be locked up rather than stay where those men could reach him is telling us how afraid he was.

Tuesday, February 17, 1914: Frank loses his first appeal

While Epps sat in Milledgeville, Frank’s ordinary appeal reached the Supreme Court of Georgia. On Tuesday, February 17, 1914, the court affirmed the conviction by a vote of 4 to 2, with Chief Justice William H. Fish and Justice Marcus W. Beck dissenting.19 Frank’s lawyers asked for a rehearing. On Wednesday, February 25, 1914, the court refused it. The Atlanta Constitution of Thursday, February 26, 1914 reported it under “Frank Rehearing Refused,” saying the court acted “after twenty-four hours’ deliberation” and that “the court is unanimous in overruling the application for a rehearing.”35 Frank’s lawyers turned to an extraordinary motion for a new trial on newly discovered evidence.

Friday, February 27, 1914: the Milledgeville affidavit

Ten days after the ruling, Stiles Hopkins, an Atlanta lawyer working with Frank’s defense, came to see Epps at the reformatory. According to Epps, Hopkins “told Capt. Lovvorn he wanted to see me; that they had an affidavit which I had made in Birmingham and they wanted me to sign it.” Captain Lovvorn was the reformatory’s superintendent. Epps compared the copies, agreed “that was the same one,” and signed.16 The Atlanta Journal of Tuesday, May 5, 1914 reported that the affidavit was made “on February 27, and was attested by J. Cleveland Cooper, clerk of the superior court,” and that Hopkins swore he went to Milledgeville “in February or March” with an affidavit “to read to George Epps.”17

Hopkins told a narrower story than Epps did. The same Journal report said the affidavit “was handed to him by one of Frank’s counsel,” that “he did not know who wrote the affidavit,” and that he went to Milledgeville to secure Epps’s signature “if George Epps said its contents were true.”17 So Hopkins did not say it was the Birmingham paper, and he did not say it was not. Epps and his uncle said it was the same one. Captain Lovvorn, as the father reported him, said the men told him so. Hopkins said only that a Frank lawyer gave it to him and he did not know who had written it. By Burke’s later account, the man who wrote the Birmingham statement was Austin Dennison.

Dennison’s Birmingham text now carried a Georgia oath.

Wednesday, March 4, 1914: “Epps Boy Charges Police Plot”

On Wednesday, March 4, 1914, the Atlanta Georgian published the affidavit on its front page under the headline “Conley Hit in Story, Epps Boy Charges Police Plot.”20 The Constitution summarized it the next day. Epps swore that the story of Frank’s advances “was concocted by Black and put into his mouth,” that Black promised him “money with which to leave Atlanta after the trial,” that his parents first learned of his inquest testimony from the newspapers, that his father whipped him that night, and that Solicitor Dorsey had encouraged it all. The affidavit closed:

“I do this in the hope of making myself clearly understood and in explaining how I was persuaded by Detective Black and encouraged by Solicitor Dorsey to swear falsely. I have been sorry for this false swearing ever since the trial of Mr. Frank … I am willing and hope that this sworn statement will be delivered to Mr. Rosser, who was the attorney for Mr. Frank, as it is every word true.”5

Nobody reading it that week knew the text began as three pages Austin Dennison wrote in a Birmingham hotel.

Thursday, March 5, 1914: the father answers

The Atlanta Constitution answered on Thursday, March 5, 1914, under “Geo. Epps Brands as a Falsehood Story of His Son in Affidavit,” with the subheads “Father of the Boy Who Charges John Black With Framing Affidavit Says His Story Is Absurd” and “That His Son Told Him Before He Knew of Such a Person as Black.”5

George W. Epps Sr. had telephoned the paper himself. A reporter found him at the Candler Annex, where he worked as night superintendent. He said:

“Why, that boy told me the story he told on the stand at least two days before he ever saw Detective Black. I was the first one to whom he mentioned the fact that he had ridden to the city with Mary Phagan. Before he told anyone else, he gave me the entire story which he related on the witness stand. That shows that affidavit is a lie on the face of it.”5

He said George had told his parents “numerous times” that Mary “was scared of someone down at the pencil factory,” and that “she wanted him to sit on the seat beside her to keep her from having to sit beside some man.” About the whipping the affidavit described: “I don’t think I have whipped him in years.” About the prayers for forgiveness: “Penitent! Penitent nothing! He hasn’t anything to be penitent over, unless it’s this affidavit.”5

Thursday, March 5, 1914: Detective Black and Chief Lanford

The same Constitution article carried the answer of Detective John Black, the city detective the affidavit accused, whom the paper called “Chief Lanford’s star man”: “This Epps affidavit is nothing but undiluted bunk. … Epps made his first statement to me voluntarily. It is a lie that I went to hunt him. He was brought to police headquarters by J. W. Coleman, step-father of Mary Phagan.” Newport Lanford, Atlanta’s Chief of Detectives, called the affidavit a lie too, and pointed out that Jim Conley “had not even been arrested” when Epps testified at the inquest.5

The Atlanta Journal ran the father’s statement the same day, in “Leo M. Frank Begs Detectives to Open Minds to the Truth.”22

The father’s statement deserves weight. It was also made ten months after the fact, in the middle of a public fight over his son. It should not be read like a note written in April 1913.

Thursday, March 5, 1914: The New York Times takes it national

Outside Georgia, The New York Times of Thursday, March 5, 1914 carried the recantation to a national audience under the headline “Lied Against Frank, a Newsboy Swears.”21 A reader in New York met George Epps as a State witness confessing to perjury and accusing Atlanta police of coaching him. The Times had the affidavit. It did not have Birmingham.

Thursday, March 5, 1914: the uncle goes to Milledgeville

That same Thursday morning, Henry Epps, the boy’s uncle and superintendent of the Putnam Mill and Power Company of Eatonton, went to see the boy in person. The Atlanta Constitution of Friday, March 6, 1914, in a dispatch from Milledgeville under “Frank’s Time Alibi Gets New Support in Two Affidavits Given the Defense,” reported that “his uncle, Henry Epps … and his attorney, Colonel Roy Stubbs, came to Milledgeville and went directly to the reformatory, where they held a long conference.” The uncle, the paper said, did “not think that detectives should have been allowed the privilege of interviewing this young boy,” and “made a strong protest at the reformatory against any further interview,” afraid “the boy would become entangled and get deeper in trouble.”29

That night W. H. Epps telephoned his brother in Atlanta. He had learned at Milledgeville that an affidavit had been taken from the boy in Alabama.18

Friday, March 6, 1914: 2 a.m. at the Hilburn Hotel

At 2 o’clock the next morning, Friday, March 6, 1914, the father met Captain Lovvorn, superintendent of the reformatory, at the Hilburn Hotel in Atlanta. The father later swore to what Lovvorn told him.18

Lovvorn said the boy had admitted to him “that his statement about Black and Solicitor Dorsey in the affidavit was false.” Lovvorn also described the visit that produced the Milledgeville affidavit. When he objected to the men interviewing the boy, the father swore, “they pulled out a paper and said: ‘Here, we’ve got an affidavit already signed by him in Birmingham, Alabama.'” When Lovvorn asked why they needed it signed again, “they said: ‘We got it signed in Alabama and now we want it signed in Georgia.'” And Lovvorn said “they read the affidavit so fast that he, himself, couldn’t understand it, let alone the boy, and that he had to call them down once or twice to read it slower.”18

These words reach us secondhand: Lovvorn to the father, the father to a notary, the notary’s document to the newspaper. But they fit exactly with Epps’s own account and with Burke’s.

Saturday, March 7, 1914: the family swears

On Saturday, March 7, 1914, George W. Epps Sr. and W. H. Epps each swore an affidavit before John Corrigan, notary public of Fulton County. The Constitution reported that “the documents were made Saturday afternoon at 3 o’clock in Hugh Dorsey’s office in the Thrower building.” Dorsey himself “was out of the city.” In the room were “Assistant Solicitor General Edward A. Stephens, Detectives Pat Campbell and John Starns and a stenographer.”18 The detective is usually spelled John Starnes. The affidavits were made in the prosecutor’s office, with two city detectives present. That does not make them false. A reader weighing them should know where they came from, the same way a reader should know Dennison wrote the Birmingham statement. Both affidavits end: “Sworn to and subscribed before me this March 7, 1914. John Corrigan, Notary Public, Fulton County.” They were handed to Solicitor Dorsey.18

Sunday, March 8, 1914: “Uncle, I was trapped into it”

The next morning, Sunday, March 8, 1914, the Atlanta Constitution published both affidavits under “New Developments in Case of Frank Come With a Rush After Resentence,” with the subhead “Repudiation of Testimony Given on Stand by George Epps Attacked in Two Affidavits.” One section was headed “Says Boy Was Trapped.”18

The uncle’s affidavit quoted what the boy told him at Milledgeville. Asked why he signed, George said: “Uncle, I was trapped into it.” Then:

“A man named Terry took me over there last November, promising to take me to New Orleans and let me work in a show. When I got to Birmingham there were three detectives who met us and went with us to a hotel. One of them gave his name as Detective Kelly, and this new affidavit is the same one they got me to make over there. … Why, Uncle Henry, it’s the same one they got in Birmingham and they brought it to me here already typewritten out and I just signed it. … And, Uncle Henry, what I said up there at the trial in Atlanta is the real truth, every word of it.”18

The father swore that the boy “was spirited from Atlanta without the knowledge of his family.” W. H. Epps told a Constitution reporter at the Piedmont Hotel that he had gotten involved only “in effort to vindicate his family.”18

By Sunday, March 8, 1914, the Epps family had put Terry, the boxing story, Detective Kelly, the three men at the hotel, and the Birmingham affidavit on the public record. That was two months before Burke admitted any of it.

Part Four: The Hearing
Spring 1914: the extraordinary motion

Frank’s extraordinary motion for a new trial was heard before Judge Benjamin H. Hill of the Fulton County Superior Court in late April and early May 1914. Rosser and Arnold argued it for Frank, with Herbert J. Haas and Stiles Hopkins among the lawyers on his side. It relied on newly discovered evidence, recantations, and affidavits attacking the original prosecution, the Epps affidavit among them. Solicitor Dorsey answered with a large counter-showing, and a good part of it went after the methods used to get the defense affidavits.

Friday, May 1, 1914: Epps identifies Kelly

On the morning of Friday, May 1, 1914, Epps was brought from Milledgeville to Atlanta. That day, standing with N. A. Garner of the Solicitor’s office, he watched a man come out of the National Pencil Company factory and get into an automobile. Epps said it was Kelly. Garner told him the man was known in Atlanta as C. W. Burke. “I am now prepared to say, and do say under oath,” Epps swore, “that he is the man who was with me in Birmingham, passing under the name of Kelly. That is the name the man known as Terry called him; and it was what I called him, as he was introduced to me as being Mr. Kelly.”16

Monday, May 4, 1914: Epps reaffirms his testimony

On Monday, May 4, 1914, Epps gave Solicitor Dorsey his full account under oath and said his trial testimony had been true. “The reason I signed the affidavit for them in Birmingham,” he swore, “was because they threatened me and I was scared and wanted to get back home.” He signed every page. The last line reads: “I am now just 15 years old.”16

Tuesday, May 5, 1914: “Epps Charges Frame-Up in Getting His Affidavit”

The Atlanta Journal of Tuesday, May 5, 1914 carried it under “Many Sensations Sprung by Dorsey at Frank Hearing,” with the subhead “Epps Charges Frame-Up in Getting His Affidavit”:

“Another interesting feature was the affidavit of George W. Epps, Jr., in which the newsboy reaffirmed the testimony given by him at the trial of Frank … Epps swears he has since learned that the man who called himself Terry was in reality Jimmie Wrenn, that ‘Detective Kelly’ turned out to be C. W. Burke, and that the chief of detectives was in reality B. Bernard, of Atlanta.”17

The same report noted that “Mr. Haas read an affidavit by George W. Epps, Jr.,” the Milledgeville one, “to clarify Stiles Hopkins’ connection with the matter.”17 The New York Times of the same day ran “Frank Affidavits False, Says Dorsey.”23

Tuesday, May 5, 1914: Burke as “Kelly” with R. P. Barrett

The same day’s Journal carried evidence from the defense’s own filings about Robert P. Barrett, the National Pencil Company machinist and State witness who found hair on a factory lathe after the murder. Wrenn’s affidavit said Barrett was writing a book on the Frank case, that Wrenn told Burke, and that Wrenn later “took Barrett to the Kimball house and introduced Burke to him as Kelly.” The Kimball House was one of Atlanta’s best-known hotels. The Journal wrote that “Burke, posing as Kelly, asked Barrett about his writings and the papers he had collected,” and that Burke was taking an affidavit from Barrett “when Barrett interrupted, declaring he didn’t want to give any affidavit.”17 The Journal added that “Burke admits he did pose as a magazine man to Barrett,” who “said he was figuring on writing a story about the case.”17 That was a second false identity, a writer rather than a detective, used on the same State witness.

That does not prove Burke called himself Detective Kelly in Birmingham. It does prove, by Wrenn’s own sworn account, that Burke used the name Kelly with another State witness. When Epps said the Kelly he met in Birmingham was C. W. Burke, the name was not something he made up out of nothing.

Tuesday, May 5, 1914: the Ivy Jones cover story

The same report carried a third cover story from the same two men. Burke’s affidavit about Ivy Jones, another witness in the case, said he told Wrenn to get Jones to recount his movements on Saturday, April 26, 1913, the day of the murder, by bringing up “an accident that occurred on Memorial Day, April 26,” in which “the injured man had named Jones as one of the witnesses.”17 It was a way to get a witness talking about the murder day without saying that was the subject.

Wednesday, May 6, 1914: Burke’s affidavit is read

On Wednesday, May 6, 1914, the defense answered Epps. The Journal introduced it plainly: “An affidavit from C. W. Burke was read in which he detailed his version of the Epps Birmingham episode.” Then: “The affidavit of J. W. Wrenn was read next, corroborating Burke in detail.”15 Burke’s affidavit is dated Tuesday, May 5, 1914.16

This is the point where the Epps story stops resting only on Epps.

Wednesday, May 6, 1914: Judge Hill denies the motion

That afternoon, the Journal reported, “The extraordinary motion of Leo M. Frank for a new trial was denied by Judge Benjamin H. Hill … at the conclusion of arguments by Attorneys Luther Z. Rosser and Reuben R. Arnold, for the defense.” A subhead said the court “Renders Decision Without Hearing From Solicitor Dorsey.” And “Judge Hill announced he would certify to a bill of exceptions, allowing the defense to carry the case to the supreme court of Georgia.”15

The New York Times of the same day ran “May Call Burns Before Grand Jury.”24 William J. Burns was the nationally known private detective brought into the case on Frank’s side in 1914. The Times reported that the defense’s methods for getting affidavits might go before a grand jury.

Epps answers Burke

Epps answered Burke’s affidavit point by point in a further sworn statement preserved in the Supreme Court record. He denied telling Wrenn his testimony was false, denied planning “a hobo trip,” and denied saying he was afraid to give an affidavit in Atlanta. Every statement Burke attributed to him, he said, was “absolutely and unqualifiedly false.” Wrenn, he said, “did not discuss the Frank case with witness casually or otherwise in Atlanta but decoyed witness out of the city and out of the state to discuss it with him.”16

Thursday, May 7, 1914: the Bernard identification falls apart

One part of Epps’s May 1914 account did not hold. The Atlanta Journal of Thursday, May 7, 1914 ran “George Epps Not Guilty of Charge of Perjury.” B. Bernard, an Atlanta auctioneer, had sworn out a warrant against the boy. The Journal explained: “Epps had pointed out Bernard to Newt Garner, attaché of the solicitor’s office, as the man who impersonated the chief of the Birmingham detectives.” When Bernard drew the warrant, “he was under the impression that Epps had sworn in an affidavit that he (Bernard) was the third man of the Birmingham trio.” Epps was found not guilty of the charge.30

The same article cleared Bernard: “Mr. Bernard has been completely exonerated of all complicity in the deal by the sworn statement of C. W. Burke and Jimmy Wrenn, two defense detectives, who admit they were present when Epps made the Birmingham affidavit. They both agree that the third man was Austin Dennison, a New York detective.”30

So Bernard does not belong among the Birmingham men. Burke, Wrenn, and Dennison do, by the defense investigators’ own sworn statements.

Thursday, June 18, and Friday, June 19, 1914: Burke and Wrenn indicted

Six weeks after the hearing, the Fulton County grand jury turned to the defense investigators themselves. The Atlanta Journal of Friday, June 19, 1914 ran the headline “Indictment Is Returned Against Jimmy Wrenn,” with the subhead “Attempt to Subornate Perjury in Leo Frank Case Is the Charge.” The Journal reported that “Jimmy Wrenn, an employee of C. W. Burke, special investigator for the defense in the Frank Case, was indicted by the Fulton County Grand Jury Friday for attempt to subornate perjury,” which was “the same charge on which Burke was indicted Thursday afternoon.”31

This was a separate matter. The witness was Helen Ferguson, a National Pencil Company employee who had testified for the State. Wrenn was charged with approaching her between the trial and the extraordinary-motion hearing “and attempting to get her to change her testimony.” She “declared that Wrenn, who is a young man, made violent love to her and promised to marry her if she would change her testimony.” Burke “was also indicted on her testimony.”31

An indictment is an accusation, not a conviction. The Ferguson indictments do not prove Epps was coerced in Birmingham. They do show that the grand jury looked hard at how the same two men went about changing witnesses’ testimony.

Wednesday, October 14, 1914: the second appeal

The extraordinary-motion appeal reached the Supreme Court of Georgia as Frank v. State, 142 Ga. 617. On Wednesday, October 14, 1914, the court unanimously affirmed Judge Hill.25 It did not rule on whether each thing Epps said was true, and it did not find Burke guilty of anything. It reviewed the motion record as a whole, including the State’s counter-showing, and let Hill’s refusal stand.

The Epps affair ended its first legal life there. George Epps was not finished defending his name.

Part Five: “A Little Girl Is Dead,” 1965 to 1968

1965: Harry Golden’s book

In 1965 the World Publishing Company brought out Harry Golden’s A Little Girl Is Dead, a book arguing that Leo Max Frank had been wrongly convicted.32 Golden lived in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. George Epps was still alive, living in Cedartown, Georgia. According to The New York Times, Golden’s book called him a “legendary liar.”34

Wednesday, February 1, 1967: the Avon paperback

The Hearst Corporation bought the paperback rights from World. Its Avon Division published the paperback, which the federal court later found was “printed and distributed” by Hall Printing Company of Chicago, Illinois, “on or about February 1, 1967.”33

1968: Epps v. Golden

George Epps sued Harry Golden and The Hearst Corporation for libel in the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, at Charlotte. He claimed the book “has embarrassed, mortified and humiliated him in his community among his friends and fellow citizens.”33

The reported decision, Epps v. Golden, 295 F. Supp. 520, by Chief Judge Woodrow Wilson Jones, dealt only with jurisdiction over Hearst, a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in New York City. The court held that Hearst “was not transacting business in North Carolina” and dismissed Hearst from the case. Judge Jones noted that Epps could “bring this action in his home state of Georgia where the injury occurred and obtain service on the defendant, Hearst, there where a Division Office is located.”33

The court did not decide that Epps was a liar. It did not decide that Golden’s book was true. It did not decide that Golden had libeled him. The ruling was about where Hearst could be sued. The claim against Golden himself went on.

Saturday, December 14, 1968: “Harry Golden Settles Suit”

On Saturday, December 14, 1968, The New York Times ran an Associated Press dispatch from Charlotte under the headline “Harry Golden Settles Suit Over ‘A Little Girl Is Dead.'” Golden paid $1,200 to George Epps of Cedartown, Georgia, to settle the libel suit. The dispatch, dated Friday, December 13, 1968, said the settlement was recorded in federal court the day before, which places it on Thursday, December 12, 1968. The Times described Epps as a key prosecution witness in the 1913 trial, and said Golden settled to clear a legal roadblock to Stanley Kramer’s plans to make a film of the book.34

A settlement is not a finding. Golden did not lose a libel trial, and the Times did not report him admitting his description was false. But George Epps sued, and Golden paid him.

Fifty-five years after the Atlanta Constitution called him Mary Phagan’s “boy chum,” George Epps was still fighting over his name.

Part Six: What the Record Proves

The admitted core

Take out every disputed claim, and this is what is left, all of it from Burke’s affidavit as the Atlanta Journal reported it on Wednesday, May 6, 1914, and from the Journal’s report of Burke’s and Wrenn’s sworn statements on Thursday, May 7, 1914.15 30

J. W. Wrenn approached George Epps under the false name Terry. Burke authorized the name. Burke authorized the prize-fighter presentation. Burke authorized the New Orleans story.

Epps went to Birmingham. Burke and Austin G. Dennison rode the same train in another car and did not speak to him.

Burke confronted Epps over supposedly stolen messenger-service money. Burke told Epps he would telephone Atlanta. Burke called Dennison instead, by previous arrangement. Burke told Epps his chief was coming. Dennison came and questioned Epps about the Frank case. Dennison wrote a three-page statement. It was dictated to a stenographer. Epps was taken to a notary and swore to it. Burke and Wrenn were both present.

Wrenn corroborated it “in detail.” None of those points depends on George Epps.

The disputed outer layer

Epps went further. He said Terry personally promised him New Orleans and switched it to Birmingham. He said Burke posed as Detective Kelly of the Birmingham police and arrested him. He said he was accused of perjury, threatened with jail, and kept awake all night. He said another man posed as the chief of detectives. He said he signed because he was scared.

Burke denied coercion, denied any reward, and denied posing as an officer. Those allegations stay where the evidence puts them: disputed.

The defense admitted deception, not a crime

Did the defense admit wrongdoing? It admitted deliberate deception. It did not admit a crime. Burke never admitted a false arrest, threats, coercion, or impersonating a police officer. He gave no reason for the false name or the fake call, and he offered no apology for either. He did not call them wrong. He did not call them proper. He described them and swore the boy was neither coerced nor promised a reward.

What he did admit: the false Terry identity, the prize-fighter and New Orleans cover, the separate travel to Birmingham, the misleading telephone call, and Dennison’s prearranged entrance as his “chief.” The same hearing record shows Burke using the name Kelly with R. P. Barrett and admitting he posed to Barrett as a magazine man, and Burke and Wrenn using an accident story to get Ivy Jones to account for his movements on the murder day. Six weeks later both men were indicted over their approach to Helen Ferguson.

Those are not charges made up by hostile witnesses. Most of them come from the defense investigators’ own affidavits.

Where the evidence stops

This paper does not need every word George Epps said in May 1914 to be true. His credibility had problems going back to 1913. John Minar, the Georgian reporter, said he never mentioned the ride. W. M. Mathews, the motorman, said he was not on the car. W. T. Hollis, the conductor, did not remember him. He could not be found when the defense wanted him back. He repudiated his testimony, then repudiated the repudiation. His identification of B. Bernard did not hold. A skeptical historian has to see all of that.

The original Birmingham affidavit is still missing, so its written date, its notary, and its exact wording remain unknown.

But skepticism has to run both ways. Burke’s own affidavit describes an operation built on a false name, a prize-fighter cover, a trip out of the state, investigators riding apart, a confrontation over stolen money, a fake telephone call, a confederate introduced as Burke’s chief, and a three-page statement written far from the boy’s home.

Burke denied crossing the line into coercion. The surviving evidence does not let us call that denial disproved.

The deliberate deception does not depend on George Epps. Burke admitted it. Wrenn backed it. The Barrett and Ivy Jones affidavits show the same men using a false name and a cover story on other witnesses.

The deception is substantially documented. The coercion is disputed.

The story outside Georgia, then and now

Readers outside Georgia got the March version first. The New York Times ran “Lied Against Frank, a Newsboy Swears” on Thursday, March 5, 1914.21 Two months later it carried the State’s side in shorter reports: “Frank Affidavits False, Says Dorsey” on Tuesday, May 5, 1914, and “May Call Burns Before Grand Jury” on Wednesday, May 6, 1914.23 24 The Atlanta papers carried the names, the hotels, the phone call, and the three pages. The national reports carried much less.

The March version is still in print. On Wednesday, October 29, 2025, The Saturday Evening Post published Ryan Reft’s “Justice Miscarried: The Trial, Conviction, and Murder of Leo Frank,” which says Epps “recanted, stating both his testimony at the inquest and during the trial had been coerced by the police’s lead investigator.” It says nothing about Terry, Birmingham, Burke, Dennison, the family affidavits, or Epps’s sworn reaffirmation on Monday, May 4, 1914.26

A benchmark for the other witnesses

C. W. Burke’s name turns up again and again in the disputed affidavits of Frank’s post-conviction campaign. Albert McKnight, husband of Minola McKnight, the cook at the Selig family home at 68 East Georgia Avenue where Leo Max Frank lived with his in-laws, also gave Burke an affidavit repudiating his trial testimony. Ivey Jones, Mary Rich, Aaron Allen, Frank Reese, Fred Perkerson, Helen Ferguson, and others made complaints of false pretenses, prepared statements, inducements, or pressure to change their evidence. The Epps affair does not prove any of those complaints. Each one has to be tested on its own documents.

What George Epps gives us is one episode where the investigator swore to the method himself. A false name. A cover story. Investigators out of sight on the same train. A fake phone call. A “chief.” A statement written by someone else and sworn before a notary. When another witness describes something like that, it can be held up against what Burke swore he did to a teenage newsboy in Birmingham in November 1913, and tested document by document.

THE VERDICT OF HISTORY

George Epps in a sense got the last word in 1968 when he sued Harry Golden for defamation over the portrayal of him as a liar in A Little Girl Is Dead, and Golden settled the case for $1,200. That payment closed the book only on the defamation claim. Yet the accusation itself still sits in Golden’s book, and few readers ever learn that a libel suit was filed or that it ended in a settlement. For the historical record, however, the core of Epps’s account (that defense investigators used a false name, a prize-fighter cover story, and a trip to Birmingham to secure his recantation) carries weight. Parts of it were later confirmed under oath by C. W. Burke himself, one of the men directly involved.

Looking at the record as a whole, Epps’s version of events holds up reasonably well. What he told the press early in the murder mystery investigation about Frank’s pestering, and later during the post-conviction period about the defense machinations, and what he said on the stand at Leo Frank’s 1913 trial, and what he later claimed about how the Birmingham affidavit was secured are, in their main points, consistent with the documents and press reports that survive the case as a whole. The deception of the defense is well attested and corroborated.

Chronology

Saturday, April 26, 1913. Mary Phagan is murdered at the National Pencil Company.

Sunday, April 27, 1913. Night: Atlanta Georgian reporter John M. Minar visits the Epps home on Fox Street. By the father’s later affidavit, he hushes George during the visit, and George tells him afterward that Mary was afraid of Mr. Frank.4 18

Monday, April 28, 1913. “12-Year-Old Girl Sobs Her Love for Slain Child,” on Vera Epps.1
Wednesday, April 30, 1913. Epps testifies at the coroner’s inquest. “Boy Sweetheart Says Girl Was to Meet Him Saturday.”2

Thursday, May 1, 1913. Atlanta Constitution: “Frank Tried to Flirt With Murdered Girl Says Her Boy Chum.”3

Monday, July 28, 1913. Trial opens before Judge Leonard S. Roan. Epps testifies that afternoon as the State’s second witness.7

Tuesday, July 29, 1913. Atlanta Journal: “Mother’s Sorrow and Newsie’s Wit Play on Emotions at Frank Trial.”6

Friday, August 8, 1913. Motorman W. M. Mathews and conductor W. T. Hollis contradict Epps. The defense cannot find Epps that afternoon.8 9 10 11

Saturday, August 9, 1913. Epps is recalled. Solicitor Dorsey: “George, did you try to hide from this court?”7 12 27

Wednesday, August 20, 1913. Rebuttal: Vera Epps, fireman W. C. Dobbs, Hollis recalled, passenger J. D. Reed.13 14

Monday, August 25, 1913. Dorsey’s closing: “a mighty effort to break down the testimony of little George Epps.” Leo Max Frank is convicted.28

September 1913. By Burke’s account, Wrenn reports on Epps. Burke sends Wrenn back as Terry.15

Wednesday, November 19, 1913 (reconstructed). About 10:30 p.m. at Forsyth and Hunter Streets; the Birmingham ticket; Burke and Dennison in the Pullman.15 16 18

Thursday, November 20, 1913 (reconstructed). About 3 a.m. arrival; Birmingham Hotel; the call to Dennison; the three-page statement; after 3:30 p.m., the affidavit sworn.15 16

Friday, November 21, 1913 (reconstructed). Empire Hotel; the telegrams.16

Saturday, November 22, 1913. The 3 a.m. train home; Gate City Hotel; his father finds him on Peachtree Street across from the Georgian Terrace.16 18

About mid-December 1913. Judge Tindall of the juvenile court sends Epps to Milledgeville at his own request.16

Tuesday, February 17, 1914. Supreme Court of Georgia affirms Frank’s conviction, 4 to 2.19

Wednesday, February 25, 1914. The Supreme Court of Georgia unanimously refuses Frank a rehearing. Atlanta Constitution, Thursday, February 26, 1914: “Frank Rehearing Refused.”35

Friday, February 27, 1914. Epps re-signs the Birmingham text at Milledgeville for Stiles Hopkins.16 17

Wednesday, March 4, 1914. Atlanta Georgian: “Conley Hit in Story, Epps Boy Charges Police Plot.”20

Thursday, March 5, 1914. Atlanta Constitution: “Geo. Epps Brands as a Falsehood Story of His Son in Affidavit.” Atlanta Journal: “Leo M. Frank Begs Detectives to Open Minds to the Truth.” The New York Times: “Lied Against Frank, a Newsboy Swears.” Henry Epps and Colonel Roy Stubbs go to the reformatory.5 21 22 29

Friday, March 6, 1914. 2 a.m., Hilburn Hotel: Captain Lovvorn meets the father.18

Saturday, March 7, 1914. 3 p.m., Dorsey’s office in the Thrower Building: the father and uncle swear their affidavits before notary John Corrigan, with Assistant Solicitor General Edward A. Stephens and Detectives Pat Campbell and John Starnes present.18

Sunday, March 8, 1914. Atlanta Constitution: “New Developments in Case of Frank Come With a Rush After Resentence.”18

Friday, May 1, 1914. Epps identifies C. W. Burke as Kelly, with N. A. Garner present.16

Monday, May 4, 1914. Epps reaffirms his trial testimony under oath for Solicitor Dorsey.16

Tuesday, May 5, 1914. Atlanta Journal: “Many Sensations Sprung by Dorsey at Frank Hearing.”

The New York Times: “Frank Affidavits False, Says Dorsey.” Burke’s affidavit is dated this day.16 17 23

Wednesday, May 6, 1914. Atlanta Journal: “Frank Loses Fight for New Trial.” The New York Times: “May Call Burns Before Grand Jury.” Judge Benjamin H. Hill denies the motion.15 24

Thursday, May 7, 1914. Atlanta Journal: “George Epps Not Guilty of Charge of Perjury.” Bernard cleared; Burke and Wrenn name Dennison as the third man.30

Thursday, June 18, 1914. Burke indicted for attempting to suborn perjury in the Helen Ferguson matter.31

Friday, June 19, 1914. Wrenn indicted on the same charge. Atlanta Journal: “Indictment Is Returned Against Jimmy Wrenn.”31

Wednesday, October 14, 1914. Supreme Court of Georgia affirms Judge Hill, Frank v. State, 142 Ga. 617.25

1965. World Publishing Company publishes Harry Golden’s A Little Girl Is Dead.32
Wednesday, February 1, 1967 (about). Hearst’s Avon Division paperback is printed and distributed.33

1968. Epps v. Golden, 295 F. Supp. 520: the federal court in Charlotte dismisses Hearst for lack of jurisdiction.33

Thursday, December 12, 1968. Golden’s $1,200 settlement with Epps is recorded in federal court.34

Saturday, December 14, 1968. The New York Times: “Harry Golden Settles Suit Over ‘A Little Girl Is Dead.'”34

Wednesday, October 29, 2025. The Saturday Evening Post repeats the recantation without Birmingham.26

Sources

The Atlanta Georgian. (1913, April 28). 12-year-old girl sobs her love for slain child. https://archive.org/details/1913-04-28-12-year-old-girl-sobs-her-love-for-slain-child

The Atlanta Georgian. (1913, April 30). Boy sweetheart says girl was to meet him Saturday. https://archive.org/details/1913-04-30-boy-sweetheart-says-girl-was-to-meet-him-saturday

The Atlanta Constitution. (1913, May 1). Frank tried to flirt with murdered girl says her boy chum. https://www.maryphagan.com/1913-05-01-frank-tried-to-flirt-with-murdered-girl-says-her-boy-chum-the-atlanta-constitution/

State of Georgia v. Leo M. Frank. (1913). Brief of evidence: John M. Minar, sworn for the defendant, 98th to testify. https://archive.org/details/john-m-minar-sworn-in-for-the-defendant-98th-to

The Atlanta Constitution. (1914, March 5). Geo. Epps brands as a falsehood story of his son in affidavit. https://archive.org/details/1914-03-05-geo-epps-brands-as-a-falsehood-story-of-his-son-in-affidavit

The Atlanta Journal. (1913, July 29). Mother’s sorrow and newsie’s wit play on emotions at Frank trial. https://archive.org/details/1913-07-29-mothers-sorrow-and-newsies-wit-play-on-emotions-at-frank-trial

State of Georgia v. Leo M. Frank. (1913). Brief of evidence: George Epps, sworn for the State, second witness [Direct examination, cross-examination, and recall]. https://www.maryphagan.com/pdf-files/leo-frank-trial-sworn-statements/002-George-Epps-Sworn-In-For-The-State-2nd-To-Testify.pdf

The Atlanta Journal. (1913, August 8). Defense attacks State’s case from many angles (p. 1, col. 1; continued p. 4). https://www.maryphagan.com/1913-08-08-defense-attacks-states-case-from-many-angles-the-atlanta-journal/

The Atlanta Constitution. (1913, August 9). Epps boy not with Mary Phagan, declares street car motorman. https://archive.org/details/1913-08-09-epps-boy-not-with-mary-phagan-declares-street-car-motorman

The Atlanta Constitution. (1913, August 9). Conductor also swears Epps boy was not on car with Mary Phagan. https://archive.org/details/1913-08-09-conductor-also-swears-epps-boy-was-not-on-car-with-mary-phagan

The Atlanta Constitution. (1913, August 9). Couldn’t locate Epps boy when wanted in court. https://archive.org/details/1913-08-09-couldnt-locate-epps-boy-when-wanted-in-court

The Atlanta Constitution. (1913, August 10). Epps boy denies trying to avoid being called to the stand again. https://archive.org/details/1913-08-10-epps-boy-denies-trying-to-avoid-being-called-to-the-stand-again

State of Georgia v. Leo M. Frank. (1913). Brief of evidence: Vera Epps, sworn for the State in rebuttal, 188th witness to testify. https://archive.org/details/vera-epps-sworn-in-for-the-state-188th-witness-to-testify

The Atlanta Journal. (1913, August 21). Both sides concluded their cases Wednesday afternoon [Rebuttal testimony of Vera Epps, W. C. Dobbs, W. T. Hollis, and J. D. Reed]. https://archive.org/details/1913-august-21-atlanta-journal-16-pages-georgia

The Atlanta Journal. (1914, May 6). Frank loses fight for new trial: Judge Hill denies motion as defense closes arguments. https://www.maryphagan.com/1914-05-06-judge-hill-denies-motion-as-defense-closes-arguments-the-atlanta-journal/

Supreme Court of Georgia. (1914). George Epps affidavit in response to Leo Frank’s appeals [Affidavit sworn May 4, 1914, with further statement answering the affidavit of C. W. Burke]. Frank v. State case record. https://archive.org/details/101-george-epps-affidavit-state-prosecutor-hugh-dorsey-atlanta-georgia-response-to-trial-appeals

The Atlanta Journal. (1914, May 5). Many sensations sprung by Dorsey at Frank hearing: Epps charges frame-up in getting his affidavit (p. 1, col. 7). https://www.maryphagan.com/1914-05-05-many-sensations-sprung-by-dorsey-at-frank-hearing-the-atlanta-journal/

The Atlanta Constitution. (1914, March 8). New developments in case of Frank come with a rush after resentence [Includes the affidavits of George W. Epps Sr. and W. H. Epps, sworn March 7, 1914]. https://www.maryphagan.com/1914-03-08-new-developments-in-case-of-frank-come-with-a-rush-after-resentence-the-atlanta-constitution/

Frank v. State, 141 Ga. 243, 80 S.E. 1016 (1914).
The Atlanta Georgian. (1914, March 4). Conley hit in story, Epps boy charges police plot (7th ed., p. 1). https://www.maryphagan.com/1914-03-04-conley-hit-in-story-epps-boy-charges-police-plot-the-atlanta-georgian/

The New York Times. (1914, March 5). Lied against Frank, a newsboy swears. https://littlemaryphagan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/new-york-times-march-05-1914-lied-against-frank-a-newsboy-swears.pdf

The Atlanta Journal. (1914, March 5). Leo M. Frank begs detectives to open minds to the truth (p. 1, col. 7; continued p. 2). https://www.maryphagan.com/1914-03-05-leo-m-frank-begs-detectives-to-open-minds-to-the-truth-the-atlanta-journal/

The New York Times. (1914, May 5). Frank affidavits false, says Dorsey (p. 4). https://www.maryphagan.com/the-new-york-times-1914-may-5-frank-affidavits-false-says-dorsey-the-new-york-times-p-4/

The New York Times. (1914, May 6). May call Burns before grand jury. https://www.maryphagan.com/the-new-york-times-1914-may-6-may-call-burns-before-grand-jury-the-new-york-times/

Frank v. State, 142 Ga. 617, 83 S.E. 233 (1914).

Reft, R. (2025, October 29). Justice miscarried: The trial, conviction, and murder of Leo Frank. The Saturday Evening Post. https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2025/10/justice-miscarried-the-trial-conviction-and-murder-of-leo-frank/

The Atlanta Journal. (1913, August 9). [Report of George Epps’s recall as the first witness Saturday morning]. https://archive.org/details/1913-august-09-atlanta-journal-14-pages-georgia

The Atlanta Journal. (1913, August 25). Leo M. Frank’s fate is now in hands of the jury. https://archive.org/details/1913-august-25-atlanta-journal-16-pages-georgia-main-edition

The Atlanta Constitution. (1914, March 6). Frank’s time alibi gets new support in two affidavits given the defense. https://archive.org/details/1914-march-06-atlanta-constitution-12-pages-georgia

The Atlanta Journal. (1914, May 7). George Epps not guilty of charge of perjury. https://archive.org/details/1914-may-07-atlanta-journal-18-pages-georgia

The Atlanta Journal. (1914, June 19). Indictment is returned against Jimmy Wrenn: Attempt to subornate perjury in Leo Frank case is the charge. https://archive.org/details/1914-june-19-atlanta-journal-18-pages-georgia

Golden, H. (1965). A little girl is dead. World Publishing Company. https://archive.org/details/ALittleGirlIsDeadByHarryGolden_201607

Epps v. Golden, 295 F. Supp. 520 (W.D.N.C. 1968). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/8785981/epps-v-golden/

The New York Times. (1968, December 14). Harry Golden settles suit over “A little girl is dead” [Associated Press dispatch, Charlotte, North Carolina, December 13, 1968].

The Atlanta Constitution. (1914, February 26). Frank rehearing refused. https://archive.org/details/1914-february-26-atlanta-constitution-12-pages-georgia