Author Archives: Archivist

Citizens Deny Authority for Using Their Names

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

Atlanta Journal

Sunday, May 25th, 1913

Capt. English, Robt. F. Maddox and Others Comment on Dictograph Interview

Captain James W. English, president of the Fourth National bank, Saturday gave The Journal a statement to the effect that he has had no connection whatever with Attorney Thomas B. Felder’s investigation of the Mary Phagan murder mystery.

Robert F. Maddox, vice president of the American National bank, made a similar statement.

Captain English said:

“I don’t know what Mr. Felder could have had in mind when he made the statement, if he did make it, that I, among other citizens, was backing him in his efforts to solve the Mary Phagan murder mystery. I never had a conversation with him or with anyone representing him in regard to the Phagan case. In fact, I have not conferred with anyone about the case, beyond casually asking some of the city detectives their theory of the case, and casual discussion of the case with friends. I want to make it clear that I have never talked with Mr. Felder, with anyone representing him, or with anyone associated with him, in regard to his efforts to discover the guilty party.”

Mr. Maddox said: Continue Reading →

Colyar, Held as Forger, is Freed on Bond; Long Crime Record Charged

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

Atlanta Georgian

Sunday, May 25th, 1913

Athens Judge Tells Colonel Felder That Dictograph ‘Trapper’ Is Under Suspended Sentence in Georgia. Knoxville Complaint To Be Pressed.

A. S. Colyar, soldier of fortune, who plotted the destruction, by means of the dictograph, of Colonel T. B. Felder and Mayor Woodward, last night was released under bond from the city prison.

The charge of forgery on which he was arrested, he declared, was trumped up in order to take him from Atlanta, and was brought, he says, by Felder or his friends.

Colyar was arrested at Marietta and Forsyth Streets Saturday afternoon by Detectives Chewning and Norris when a telegram came from Ed Conners, of Knoxville, Tenn., to hold him. The charge mentioned in the telegram was that Colyar obtained $90 from Rosa Johnson, of Knoxville, on a forged draft.

Several hours later two friends came to Colyar’s rescue. Detective R. S. Ozburn signed the required bond of $1,000 and an unknown friend delivered $200 as a cash bond for the prisoner. Colyar was released.

Chief Beavers said last night that he arrested Colyar as a matter of courtesy to Chief Conners, possessing no warrant authorizing him to take Colyar into custody. It probably will be Thursday, according to the telegram from Chief Conners, before requisition papers can be had.

“The alleged incident occurred four years ago,” Colyar said last night. “During that period I have been to Knoxville a number of times, and have not been molested. The charge, coming as it does now, is the result of a plot to “get me away from Atlanta.” Continue Reading →

Police Chairman Confident of Honesty of Officials

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Police Chairman

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

Atlanta Constitution

Sunday, May 25th, 1913

“Except to say that I have absolute confidence in the honesty and integrity of Chiefs James L. Beavers and Newport Lanford, I do not care to express myself,” said Carlos Mason, chairman of the police commission, yesterday when asked for an official expression in regard to the charges made by Colonel T. B. Felder that the police and detective departments are full of graft and corruption.

“All that I know of the case has been learned through the evidence and statements made public,” he said added, “and as I have not been drawn into the matter and am not conversant with its details I would not care to say in what light I regard the attack.

“I knew nothing in advance of the efforts of the detectives to fasten evidence upon Colonel Felder through the use of a dictagraph [sic],” he added, “and it has come as a surprise to me.

“As to the charges themselves, as made by both parties to the case I have formed no opinion which I could express. I have no hesitancy, however, in stating my belief in the honesty of the departments.”

* * *

Atlanta Constitution, May 25th 1913, “Police Chairman Confident of Honesty of Officials,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Chief Lanford Calls Felder’s Charges False

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

Atlanta Journal

Sunday, May 25th, 1913

Denies That Police Have Suppressed Evidence in the Phagan Mystery

Chief of Detectives Newport Lanford when apprised of Colonel Felder’s statement as issued Saturday afternoon to the effect that the police had plotted to protect and shield the slayers of Mary Phagan, pronounced the charges as absurd as they were false.

In replying to Colonel Felder’s assertion that Chief Lanofor[d] and some of the men on the detective force hda [sic] leagued themselves with the Pinkertons to suppress evidence in the Phagan case the minute Leo M. Frank and Newt Lee were placed under arrest, Chief Lanford said:

“The people of Atlanta themselves can judge just how much evidence we have suppressed on Frank and Lee from the result of the Phagan investigation thus far. Our efforts have been to find the slayer of Mary Phagan at any event and we believe that we have succeeded.

“The mere fact that my men worked with the Pinkertons spells nothing sinister. The Pinkertons are employed by the National Pencil company, it is true, but they are obligated only to find the murderer of Mary Phagan. Like the city detective department the Pinkertons believe they have succeeded.

“At any event, no matter what Tom Felder may charge against this or any other department of the police, future developments in the Phagan case will vindicate utterly the position of the police.

THE COLEMAN AFFIDAVIT.

On Colonel Felder’s accusation that the affidavit of J. W. Coleman, imputed to repudiate Felder’s employment in the case, was forced from Coleman by Chief Lanford, the head of the detectives said: Continue Reading →

Attorney, in Long Statement, Claims Dictograph Records Against Him Padded

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Colonel Thomas B. Felder in an earnest attitude, as he denies charges of attempted bribery and sourges Atlanta's police officials.

Colonel Thomas B. Felder in an earnest attitude, as he denies charges of attempted bribery and s[c]ourges Atlanta’s police officials.

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

Atlanta Georgian

Sunday, May 25th, 1913

Colonel Thomas B. Felder Saturday night issued an exhaustive statement denying once more that he had offered a bribe of $1,000 to Chief Lanford’s clerk, G. C. February [sic], for evidence involving his superiors; charging that the dictograph records of his conversations with February and A. S. Colyar were padded; denouncing Colyar as a proved crook and ex-convict, and charging wholesale corruption in the police department, particularly against Beavers and Lanford. He said he would furnish positive proof of this corruption later.

Here is Colonel Felder’s statement, in full:

To the People of Atlanta:

The publication of the sensational “story” relating to myself and my connection with the Phagan case is but the symptom of manifestation of one of the most diabolical conspiracies ever hatched by a venal and corrupt “system” to protect crime in a civilized community.

To be more specific, this conspiracy was formed just after the arrest of Newt Lee and Leo Frank, charged with the murder of Mary Phagan. The controlling genius of it is Newport Lanford, chief of the city detectives. Its object is to shield and protect the murderers of this innocent child, and in its wicked ramifications it marks our distinguished (?) chief of detectives as the Lieutenant Becker of our “system,” and renders his co-conspirators as dangerous to the lives, liberty, property and reputation of our citizens as the bloody and deadly Society of the Mafia.

Pity it is that the press of the city has been and is being made the innocent, if effective, instrument in their hands to further and effectuate the object of this wicked conspiracy by prostituting their potential columns to the exploitation of the mass of forgeries, and perjuries which has been given to the public through their columns, for it is known that these papers have tacitly sanctioned the utterances of Colyar by reproducing his affidavits in the face of the fact that [t]he editors and proprietors of all would, without hesitation, swear that they would not believe him on oath if called upon to do so.

Says Police Shielded Frank.

Strangely enough, a portion of the criminal record of this man Colyar is reproduced, showing him to be a man steeped in crime and infamy, while in the parallel columns is published his defamatory utterances against me. Continue Reading →

Colyar Tells Where He and Col Felder Ought to be for Good of Society

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Colyar Tells Where

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

Atlanta Journal

Sunday, May 25th, 1913

Editor The Journal:

I herewith hand you a telegram in answer to one that I got Chief of Police Beavers to send, which explains one of Thomas B. Felder’s visions, which appeared in the Morning Eye-Opener of Saturday, and from my relations and connections with this astute and would-be bribe giver, my conscience tells me that society at large would be better off if T. B. Felder and myself were both in Sing Sing.

(Signed) A. S. COLYAR.

The telegram referred to follows:

Ossining, N. Y., May 24, 1914.

J. L. Beavers.

Chief of Police, Atlanta, Ga.

No record of A. S. Colyar can be found in Sing Sing prison.

JOHN S. KENNEDY, Warden.

* * *

Atlanta Journal, May 25th 1913, “Colyar Tells Where He and Col Felder Ought to be for Good of Society,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Colyar a Success in Preacher Role

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Colyar a SuccessAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Constitution

Sunday, May 25th, 1913

Professed Conversion During Revival at Cartersville and Married Rich Widow Before the Meeting Was Over.

Athens, Ga., May 24.—(Special.)—A. S. Colyar, now in the public eye in the Felder matter, had a short, hot, meteoric career in Athens in 1905. He came here representing himself as a former law partner of Hon. Andrew Lipscomb, of Washington, ingratiated himself with the bar, passed a forged check on his father at the Georgia National bank, secured the indorsement of Colonel C. H. Brand, then prosecuting attorney for the state, on a fraudulent draft and disappeared.

He was located in Richmond, Va., serving a sentence on the chaingang for a serious offense. Requisition brought him back to Athens and on April, 11, 1905, he faced the charges of forgery, was convicted, and in a speech to the court before he was sentenced, he not only had jurors and attorneys weeping, but actually those he had wronged financially and the court itself, Judge Russell. He broke down and was carried from the room.

The sentence was suspended, a fund was made up in the court room of enough to buy him a suit of clothes and a ticket to Chattanooga. At Cartersville he left the train and was drawn to a revival meeting in progress, professed conversion, and went to preaching with great apparent power. Before the meeting was over, he had married a rich widow whose husband had been dead only a short time and he is said to have absorbed a small fortune left his wife.

He preached in Athens a number of times, billing himself ahead like a circus and filling the old Colonial theater with the curious crowd that wanted to hear him.

He went to Atlanta that summer and spoke at a tent meeting which was being conducted under the direction of Dr. Broughton and the Tabernacle church. On the docket of the superior court today the suspended sentence is still open and stands against Colyar. Judge Russell, who suspended that sentence, is now on the appellate court, which this week decided that a judge cannot effectively suspend sentences.

* * *

Atlanta Constitution, May 25th 1913, “Colyar a Success in Preacher Role,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

“Felder is the Mouthpiece of the Vice Gang,” Declares Chief of Police Jas. L. Beavers

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Felder is the MouthpieceAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Journal

Sunday, May 25th, 1913

“This is the First Gun in a Fight to Oust Me From Office,” Says the Chief in an Interview Given Out Saturday Afternoon — “This Issue Is Between the Decent People and the Allies of Vice Who Have Controlled the City Politically for Years”

MAYOR WOODWARD SAYS HE’S AGAINST BEAVERS, BUT NOT IN ANY CONSPIRACY TO REMOVE HIM FROM OFFICE

Says He Differs With the Chief on Policy, Not Personally. The Mayor Says Recent Dictograph Episode Has Destroyed His Belief in the Efficacy of That Ingenious Instrument — Charles C. Jones Denies Any Part in Fight to Remove Chief

As one of the many outgrowths of the alleged dictographed conversations of Colonel Thomas B. Felder, Mayor Woodward, Charlie C. Jones and E. O. Miles, in which they are quoted as seeking evidence to impeach Police Chief James L. Beavers and Detective Chief N. A. Lanford, Chief Beavers late Saturday afternoon gave out a red-hot statement in which he charged that the vice gangsters were conspiring to oust him from office because of his activity in closing up Atlanta’s restricted district.

The chief declared that Colonel Felder was the mouthpiece and agent of the gang which seeks his scalp. He said this gang was endeavoring to get him in a corner and that the fight now on and that it would be a fight to the finish.

According to Chief Beavers he has been informed that checks aggregating $1,500 have been deposited to be given over to any woman who could get him into a room with her.

“The houses have been closed eight months and they will remain closed as long as I am chief,” he says. “Those fighting me will resort to any political trick to bring my undoing. I am fully advised as to what they are doing and all I ask is that the decent people of this city continue to give me their support.” Continue Reading →

I’ll Indict Gang, Says Beavers

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I'll Indict Gang

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

Atlanta Georgian

Sunday, May 25th, 1913

Declares He Will Die Fighting ‘Foes of Reform’

Felder Denies Bribe Charges and Scores Police

Chief Sees Conspiracy to Overthrow His Rule and Calls Felder Leader in the Plot

Chief of Police James L. Beavers Saturday night gave to The Sunday American a sensational statement in reply to Colonel T. B. Felder’s accusations against him and the police department, and declared that he would go before the Grand Jury, and seek to indict Felder and all others implicated in the “conspiracy” against him. He made it very plain that if there were men “higher up” he would go after them, too.

While the Chief mentioned no names but that of Felder, it is known that the dictograph evidence in the hands of the police involves the names of Mayor Woodward, Charles C. Jones and Edward O. Miles.

The Chief said he would present his evidence to the Grand Jury at its next session. He said further that he does not depend solely on the evidence furnished by A. S. Colyar, Jr.

Has Proof of Plot, He Says.

“I have the testimony of other reputable witnesses that will show up this plot against me,” asserted the Chief.

The Chief declared that the alleged attempt to bribe Detective Secretary G. C. February [sic] to steal the evidence in the Phagan case was but an effort to discredit him and is “the fight of a gang of vice promoters and defenders.” He asserted that the fight is now open and on to the finish, and that he will “fight to the end, even if he dies in his tracks.” Continue Reading →

“Becker of South” Lanford is Branded by Col. Tom Felder

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Becker of South

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

Atlanta Constitution

Sunday, May 25th, 1913

System of Corruption as Poisonous as That of the Mafia Exists in Atlanta, According to Statement Made by Attorney Accused of Trying to Bribe Secretary G. C. Febuary to Steal Affidavit in the Phagan Case—Says Detectives Are Trying to Shield Murderer of Girl.

COLONEL FELDER IS MAKING HIMSELF LAUGHING STOCK, SAYS LANFORD; HINTS AT NEW BRIBERY CHARGES

A. S. Colyar, Leading Figure in Bribe Charges, Is Placed Under Arrest on Warrant From Knoxville, But Is Released on Bond—Connally [sic], Negro Employee of the National Pencil Factory, Tells Officers He Wrote Notes at Dictation of Frank—Police Believe These Were the Ones Found by the Body of Mary Phagan.

Branding Detective Chief Newport Lanford as the “Lieutenant Becker” of the south, and charging that there exists in the Atlanta police department a “system” of corruption that is as poisonous as the deadly society of Mafia, Colonel Thomas B. Felder has issued counter charges to those of attempted bribery made against him Friday afternoon.

He declares that every bit of his sensational accusations can be supported by substantial evidence. He even asserts that the charges against him were made in an effort to shield and protect the murderer of Mary Phagan, whom the detective department are alleged to be assisting by the destruction of damaging evidence and by procuring witnesses.

First, and the most important of Saturday developments, was the indictment by the grand jury of Leo M. Frank, the suspected factory superintendent. The true bill was returned before noon. He now will be tried before Fulton superior court on the direct charge of Mary Phagan’s murder.

Second, was the confession of James Connally, a negro sweeper in the pencil factory, who declares that he wrote, at the dictation of Frank, notes which the detectives believe to be the ones found by the body of Mary Phagan. After making complete acknowledgement to Detective John Black and Harry Scott, he made an affidavit supporting the confession. Continue Reading →

State Didn’t Show its Case to Secure Indictment Against Superintendent Leo M. Frank

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State Didn'tAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Journal

Sunday, May 24th, 1913

No Documentary Evidence Was Placed Before the Grand Jury and James Conley, the Negro Sweeper Who Made Sensational Affidavit About Writing Certain Notes at Frank’s Dictation on Day Before Tragedy, Was Not Examined by the Jury

DR. HURT COULD NOT SAY POSITIVELY THAT MARY PHAGAN HAD BEEN ASSAULTED BEFORE DEATH

Both the Other Two Witnesses Gave Their Opinion in the Affirmative—Complete Summary of Evidence on Which the Grand Jury Decided That Frank Must Stand Trial for Death of Girl—Has Lee Given New Evidence to His Attorney?

While Solicitor General H. M. Dorsey will make no statement, it is undoubtedly true that the state did not show “its hand” even in the secrecy of the grand jury room to secure the indictment Saturday of Leo M. Frank on the charge of murdering Mary Phagan.

Sharing interest with the returning of a true bill against the factory superintendent, is the sensational eleventh hour statement of James Conley that he wrote certain notes similar in language to those found by the murdered Mary Phagan at Mr. Frank’s dictation.

Despite the fact that Conley stuck to his story when vigorously cross examined by Solicitor Dorsey, it is said that the official does not fully credit the negro’s sensational statement.

It was not necessary to put the negro before the grand jury and Mr. Dorsey did not go into the details of his statement until after the true bill had been returned.

Even then he did not consider Conley’s statement of sufficient importance to secure from a safety deposit vault the notes found by the slain girl’s body, and they have never been offered to Conley for identification.

The effect of the negro’s statement on the state’s whole case is known to the solicitor alone. Its influence is apparently disturbing, and it has been said that the solicitor was preparing to introduce finger print and handwriting experts in an effort to show that Frank himself wrote the words on the two sheets of paper found in the basement of the National Pencil factory on the morning of April 27.

If Conley’s story can not be shaken, the experts will not be needed unless it is to swear to the similarity of his handwriting to that of the notes. Continue Reading →

Felder’s Fight is to Get Chief and Lanford Out of Office

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dictograph_works

Burns showing how a dictograph can be concealed in a wall. The arrow points to the dictograph. [Right:] The great detective holding a dictograph ready to place it to collect evidence.

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

Atlanta Georgian

Saturday, May 24th, 1913

Chief of Detectives Newport A. Lanford said Saturday that the whole sinister significance of the charges brought against Colonel Thomas B. Felder lay in the fact that the forces of evil in the city had been steadily laboring for the downfall of himself and Chief Beavers ever since the city was cleaned up and the disreputable resorts put out of business.

He declared that since that time spies and agents of “the interests” that were most harmed had been on the trail of himself and Chief Beavers trying to “get something on them” which would result in their disgrace and dismissal from office.

The theft of affidavits and other papers from his safe, he declared, was only a part of the deep plot to discredit the heads of the police and the detective departments.

Every accusation that is made by Lanford, Colonel Felder has denied to The Georgian, and has replied to Lanford by saying that the detective department has not been seeking to find the real criminal in the Phagan mystery, but has been making every effort to save the guilty man from the consequences of his terrible crime.

* * *

Atlanta Georgian, May 24th 1913, “Felder’s Fight is to Get Chief and Lanford Out of Office,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

100 Years Ago Today: The Trial of Leo Frank Begins

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Leo-Frank-Atlanta-Georgian-courtroom-sketch-340x264

Originally published by the American Mercury on the 100th anniversary of the Leo Frank trial.

Take a journey through time with the American Mercury, and experience the trial of Leo Frank (pictured, in courtroom sketch) for the murder of Mary Phagan just as it happened as revealed in contemporary accounts. The Mercury will be covering this historic trial in capsule form from now until August 26, the 100th anniversary of the rendering of the verdict.

by Bradford L. Huie

THE JEWISH ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE (ADL) — in great contrast to the American Mercury and other independent media — has given hardly any publicity to the 100th anniversary of the murder of Mary Phagan and the arrest and trial of Leo Frank, despite the fact that these events eventually led to the foundation of the ADL. Probably the League is saving its PR blitz for 1915, not only because that is centenary of Leo Frank’s death by lynching (an event possibly of much greater interest to the League’s wealthy donors than the death of Mary Phagan, a mere Gentile factory girl), but also because encouraging the public to read about Frank’s trial might not be good for the ADL — it might well lead to doubts about the received narrative, which posits an obviously innocent Frank persecuted by anti-Semitic Southerners looking for a Jewish scapegoat.

For readers not familiar with the case, a good place to start is Scott Aaron’s summary of the crime, from his The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank, which states in part:

“ON SATURDAY morning at 11:30, April 26, 1913 Mary Phagan ate a poor girl’s lunch of bread and boiled cabbage and said goodbye to her mother for the last time. Dressed for parade-watching (for this was Confederate Memorial Day) in a lavender dress, ribbon-bedecked hat, and parasol, she left her home in hardscrabble working-class Bellwood at 11:45, and caught the streetcar for downtown Atlanta.

“Before the festivities, though, she stopped to see Superintendent Leo M. Frank at the National Pencil Company and pick up from him her $1.20 pay for the one day she had worked there during the previous week….

“Almost no one knew it at the time, but by one o’clock one young life was already over. For her there would never again be parades, or music, or kisses, or flowers, or children, or love. Mary Phagan never left the National Pencil Company alive. Abused, beaten, and strangled by a rough cord pulled so tightly that it had embedded itself deeply in her girlish neck and made her tongue protrude more than an inch from her mouth, Mary Phagan lay dead, dumped in the dirt and shavings of the pencil company basement, her once-bright eyes now sightless and still as she lay before the gaping maw of the furnace where the factory trash was burned.”

Continue Reading →

Beavers Says He Will Seek Indictments

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

Atlanta Georgian

Saturday, May 24th, 1913

“Gang of Vice Promoters Have Been After Me,” Declares Police Chief.

Chief of Police J. L. Beavers, in answering the turmoil of accusations of graft and frame-ups which have been cast at himself and Detective Chief Lanford, declared the whole to be the result of a plot of gangsters which has been working against him ever since he closed up the Tenderloin section of Atlanta.

“This whole proposition is a fight against me by a gang of vice promoters,” declared Chief Beavers. “Tom Felder is the leader of it and C. C. Jones is his chief lieutenant.

“They have made repeated attempts to attack me. Only last Christmas I learned that they had offered $300 to a man if he would get me into a room with a woman of ill fame.

“Their action now is the result of the constant prodding I have been giving them. They have had to come out into the open and fight. This is going to be a fight to the finish, too.

“I am going to carry this matter before the Grand Jury. It is going to be a fight to the finish, even though I get killed in the meantime.”

* * *

Atlanta Georgian, May 24th 1913, “Beavers Says He Will Seek Indictments,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Residents of Bellwood Ask The Journal to Say That Mr. Felder Was Not Employed by Them

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Residents of Bellwood

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

Atlanta Journal

Saturday, May 24th, 1913

Certain residents of Bellwood, the part of Atlanta where live Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Coleman, the parents of little Mary Phagan, wish The Journal to put them publicly on record in denouncing as absolutely untrue certain published reports to the effect that a subscription has been collected from them to employ Attorney Thomas B. Felder or any other lawyer, to assist in the prosecution of the alleged slayer.

Saturday morning, J. W. Hammond, of 161 Bellwood avenue, delivered the following statement to The Journal:

“There is absolutely no truth in the report that a subscription has been started by the residents of Bellwood to employ Thomas B. Felder to assist in the prosecution of the slayer or little Mary Phagan. I have lived out there for a long time, and certainly would have been approached had such a move been started.

“When I heard of the list, and yet did not see it, I could not understand why the persons circulating it had not been to me.

“I began to inquire around, and soon became convinced that no such move had been started.

“The people out here know of no such thing having been attempted, and certainly all of us would have been more than willing to give—had we wanted Mr. Felder.

“He simply ‘butted in.’”

J. M. Redd, proprietor of a drug store at 195 Bellwood avenue, declared to The Journal, with Mr. Hammond, that he had never been approached for funds and had heard of no such list being circulated.

George C. Barron, of 151 Wheeler street, how is conducting a series of revival meetings in Bellwood, was another who desired to be quoted. He said that he had heard nothing of the subscription being gotten up. Continue Reading →

Blease Ironic in Comments on Felder Trap

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

Atlanta Georgian

Saturday, May 24th, 1913

COLUMBIA, S. C., May 24.—When asked for a comment upon the Felder dictograph story, Governor Blease dictated the following:

I do not see that it is necessary for me to give out any interview or to have anything to say. It is not inside of my State and I do not suppose anybody that knows Tom Felder would be surprised if he is guilty, or if this is a scheme worked up by him to get a little cheap notoriety and advertisement.

However, I presume that the members of the Atlanta Bar will immediately furnish certificates of character for their darling Tommy and show that he is above suspicion and a gentleman of the highest character, with an unblemished reputation as a man and attorney, and if a court of Georgian should order his arrest that his friends will forthwith call out the militia and have him released, as they know of his character and reputation and will not for a moment allow Tommy to be interfered with. I am satisfied that poor little misled Joe Brown has had his pardon clerk already fixing up a release for his innocent darling in case of any conviction.

And, as a matter of course, the gutter snipes who went over to August from South Carolina will hurry to offer their services to go on sweet Tommy’s bond, and also to appear in the courts, along with Seaboard Bill and his friend, J. F. Lyon, who have heretofore been his bosom friends in his defense—all save Chairman Carlisle, who, I suppose, will be too busy “moseying” to leave his own State just now.

Consequently all will be well. Birds of a feather flock together, and of course if the lead buzzard rings his bell the congregation will assemble.

* * *

Atlanta Georgian, May 24th 1913, “Blease Ironic in Comments on Felder Trap,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Chief Lanford Replies to Col. T. B. Felder

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

Atlanta Journal

Saturday, May 24th, 1913

“Where Is Col. Felder’s Fee in Phagan Case Coming From?” He Asks

Chief of Detectives Newport Lanford told The Journal Saturday afternoon that he doesn’t want to make any formal statement at this time regarding the charges of Colonel Thomas B. Felder. The charges were absurd, as any one familiar with the workings of the detective department would know, he said. The “personal attacks” were entirely unwarranted, he said.

“I want Felder to answer this question,” the chief said. “Why was he working without fees? Ask him where were his fees coming coming from.”

Chief of Police Beavers said he did not care to discuss the matter at this time.

* * *

Atlanta Journal, May 24th 1913, “Chief Lanford Replies to Col. T. B. Felder,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Frame-Up Aimed at Burns’ Men, Says Tobie

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

Atlanta Georgian

Saturday, May 24th, 1913

Denouncing A. S. Colyar as an “eagle-beaked crook,” W. C. Tobie, the Burns detective who is here making an investigation of the Phagan case, declared on Saturday that the charges of bribery and double-dealing brought against Felder were a frame-up concocted by the Pinkerton Detective Agency and the Atlanta Police Department, with these three ends in view:

To discredit the Burns Agency.

To drive the Burns Agency from the State of Georgia.

To discredit Colonel Felder because he employed Burns men.

Tobie charges also that Colyar was used as the “capper” in the frame-up. He declares that Colyar tried to induce him to be a party to a fake frame-up on the Police Department and the Pinkertons, and that Colyar invited him to attend the conference at the Williams House No. 2 between Colonel Felder, G. C. February [sic] and Colyar. He declares that Colyar told him he had affidavits that proved crookedness and graft in the Police Department and that he heard Colyar, on last Sunday, offer to sell the evidence to Colonel Felder for a stipulated sum. He declares also that Colyar said he wanted to get even with the police because they had arrested him once.

Tobie’s Complete Statement.

Mr. Tobie’s complete statement, in which he outlines the position of the Burns Agency in the squabble, follows: Continue Reading →

Frank’s Attorneys Make No Comment

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Frank's AttorneysAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Journal

Saturday, May 24th, 1913

Neither L. Z. Rosser Nor Herbert Haas Had Any Statement to Make

“Not a word to say,” was Attorney Luther Z. Rosser’s comment when informed by a Journal reporter that his client, Leo M. Frank, had been indicted by the grand jury for the murder of Mary Phagan.

Mr. Rosser held in his hand a Journal extra telling of the affidavit by the negro, James Connally [sic], that on the day before the tragedy Mr. Frank called him into his (Frank’s) office and asked him to dictate two notes, and that he believes the notes he dictated are the same ones found beside the murdered girl’s body in the pencil factory basement.

Asked if he would permit The Journal to interview Mr. Frank, Mr. Rosser said he would not.

“I have no statement to make. You’d better see Mr. Rosser,” was the reply of Attorney Herbert Haas when seen a few moments later by the same reporter and informed of Mr. Frank’s indictment.

Mr. Haas is associated with Mr. Rosser in the defense.

He likewise declined to permit Mr. Frank to be interviewed.

* * *

Atlanta Journal, May 24th 1913, “Frank’s Attorneys Make No Comment,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Strangulation Charge is in Indictments

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Strangulation Charge

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

Atlanta Georgian

Saturday, May 24th, 1913

True Bills Already Drawn by Solicitor Against Frank and Lee.

The Grand Jury resumed Saturday morning the Phagan murder case with indictments against Leo M. Frank and Newt Lee charging strangulation.

While nothing definite could be learned, it was confidently expected at the office of the Solicitor Saturday morning the case of Frank might be completed during the day. Only a few more witnesses were to be called. It was learned, and these could tell what they knew in a few hours.

The indictments are the first of the kind to have been drawn in Fulton County in the recollection of the oldest court officials, and for this reason the exact verbiage is being kept secret. Fearing that if the indictments are not drawn in strict conformity to law, there would of course be some question of their validity, and there being so little law on this particular form of indictment, the Solicitor would not make public the phrasing of the bill until his assistant could find some precedent in the Supreme Court records.

It became known Saturday that none of the “star” witnesses for the State would go before the Grand Jury unless at the last moment the Solicitor thought it would be necessary to introduce them to secure the bill. Those who testified Friday were the detectives who appeared before the Coroner, and similar witnesses are awaiting their turn to be called upon Saturday.

The city detectives are the principal witnesses. From their investigation and examination of witnesses they are telling the Grand Jury everything they have found out. The Solicitor was confident this form of introducing evidence would not only greatly expedite matters, but would present the case in a more concise form. Continue Reading →