Author Archives: Archivist

Shot Fired Near Lee May Break His Nerve

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Shot Fired Near Lee May Break His NerveAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Constitution

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

Walter Graham Discharges a Derringer in His Cell at the Police Station.

Will Newt Lee, the negro night watchman accused of the murder of Mary Phagan, be unnerved today as a result of the firing of a double-barreled derringer in a nearby cell last night.

Will his nerves become so shattered at the thought of death that he will confess, admitting the crime, or implicating others?

This is what the police will determine today in further third degree work with Lee.

Walter Graham, a young white youth of 76 Marietta street, smuggled a double-barreled derringer in his cell last night when arrested. In a nearby cell was Lee, drooping over after the strain of the last investigation. Continue Reading →

Leo Frank’s Friends Denounce Detention

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Leo M. Frank, Superintendent of the National Pencil Company's factory, still held by the police. Frank's lawyer says he has given to the police every detail of his whereabouts to account for his time on Saturday and Sunday.

Leo M. Frank, Superintendent of the National Pencil Company’s factory, still held by the police. Frank’s lawyer says he has given to the police every detail of his whereabouts to account for his time on Saturday and Sunday.

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

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the National Pencil Company and one of the central figures in the sensational murder mystery surrounding the death of little Mary Phagan, is well regarded by a host of friends in Atlanta, who scoff at the idea that he can in any way be implicated in the horrible tragedy.

His friends are all loud in their denunciation of the efforts that have apparently been made to drag his name into the affair as a principal.

Mr. Frank, 28 years of age, a native of Brooklyn, N. Y., came to Atlanta about five years ago to take charge of the plant of the National Pencil Company. Three years later he married Miss Lucille Selig, daughter of Mrs. E. Selig, of 68 East Georgia Avenue, and has since made his home with Mrs. Selig.

Mr. Frank is a mechanical engineer and a graduate of Cornell University, and prior to his coming to Atlanta held a responsible position with the B. F. Sturdevant Co., of Boston, Mass. Continue Reading →

Policeman Says Body Was Dragged From Elevator

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Policeman Says Body Was Dragged From ElevatorAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

R. M. Lasseter [sic], the policeman on the morning watch past the pencil factory, was called at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. He was questioned as follows:

Q. Were you in the pencil factory Saturday night or Sunday morning?—A. I was there at 4:45 Sunday morning.

Q. What did you find?—A. A parasol.

Q. Where did you find it?—A. At the bottom of the elevator shaft. I found there also a big ball of red wrapping twine that never had been opened. (Here the witness was shown the cord that had strangled the girl and asked if that was the kind of cord he had found. He said it was not. The cord he found was very much smaller.)

Body Had Been Removed.

Q. Had the body been removed when you were in the building?—A. Yes.

Q. Where was the elevator?—A. I don’t remember; it was on the second or third floor.

Q. Is the bottom of the elevator shaft of concrete, or wood, or what?—A. I don’t know. It was full of trash and I couldn’t see.

Q. Did you look for signs of a struggle?—A. Yes, I saw where something had been dragged along the ground, and I traced it back to the elevator shaft.

Q. Did you find anything to indicate that the body came down the ladder?—A. No, sir; the dragging signs went past the foot of the ladder. I saw them between the elevator and the ladder.

Dragged From Elevator.

Q. You think, then, that the body was dragged from the elevator?—A. Yes, sir; I think from the evidence that it was dragged from the elevator.

Q. Where was the umbrella?—A. In the center of the elevator shaft, closed.

Before the witness was dismissed he said that he had passed the pencil factory at 1 o’clock Sunday morning and saw that the back door was closed. He said he did not pass the place again until after the body was removed. This was a voluntary statement from the witness and was not made in answer to any question.

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Atlanta Georgian, April 30th 1913, “Policeman Says Body Was Dragged From Elevator,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Confirms Lee’s Story of Shirt

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Confirms Lee's Story of ShirtAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

Negro Woman Says Man Accused of Phagan Crime Was Not Home Saturday Night.

If Newt Lee, the watchman, went home on Saturday night and discarded a bloody, stained shirt, Lorena Townes, the negro woman with whom he boarded, knows it. Lorena says Lee was not home on Saturday night.

Detectives found the blood-stained shirt in an old barrel in Lee’s room, and around this point has been built the theory that after committing the crime the man went home, changed his shirt, returned to the factory and then telephoned the police. Supporting this belief are the alleged omissions in Lee’s time clock checks during the night.

Lee lived in a little back room at 46 Henry Street; Lorena Townes sleeps in the front room opening on the porch. There is no hallway. There is a side door to Lee’s room, but it is always locked from the inside, according to Corinne Holsey, who lives in the other half of the house. Continue Reading →

Business Men Protest Sensational “Extras”

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Business Men Protest Sensational Extras

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

Atlanta Journal

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

Following an interview between Mayor Woodward and Chief of Police Beavers and Chief of Detectives Lanford, in which the mayor protested that extras on the Phagan murder case which were based on information alleged to have been given out by the officers and the detectives and which were liable to unduly inflame the public, a petition has been circulated among local business men asking the newspapers not to issue so many sensational extras.

The petition states that extras such as have been issued are hurting business and will hurt it still further, that the community is being aroused to a dangerous degree by them, and that they may bring extremely unfortunate conditions. Continue Reading →

Reward of $1,000 Urged by Mayor

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Reward of a Thousand Dollars Urged by MayorAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

Brown Offers $200 for Capture of Slayer—C. C. Jones Also Gives $100.

Governor Joseph M. Brown to-day offered a reward of $200 for the apprehension and conviction of the murderer of little Mary Phagan and Mayor James G. Woodward issued a call for a special meeting of Council for tomorrow morning at 10 o’clock, urging a $1,000 reward.

Governor Brown’s decision was reached on receipt of the following letter from Solicitor Hugh M. Dorsey:

“From the best information obtainable, it is my belief that the circumstances surrounding the death of little Miss Mary Phagan indicate a most brutal murder, probably attended with another horrible and detestable crime.

“The officers of the local police and detective departments seem to be using their best efforts toward the solution of the mystery, but I believe it advisable to ask that you offer a reward for the apprehension, with evidence to convict, of the guilty party.” Continue Reading →

City Offers $1,000 as Phagan Case Reward

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City Offers Thousand Dollar RewardAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

At Special Council Meeting Called by Mayor Only One Man Opposes Action.

At a special session of city council to-day, called by Mayor Woodward, to give the city’s financial aid to the apprehension of the guilty persons in the Mary Phagan strangling case, $1,000 was appropriated as a reward to the person furnishing information leading to the arrest of the man or men who committed the deed.

The appropriation found one opponent in Councilman Thomson, who said the lure of a high award would be likely to result in the arrest and hanging of an innocent person who might be sworn to his death by some one desiring the reward.

The Councilman said he was in favor of using the money in engaging an additional force of expert detectives.

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Atlanta Georgian, April 30th 1913, “City Offers $1,000 as Phagan Case Reward,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Went Down Scuttle Hole on Ladder to Reach Body

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Went Down Scuttle Hole to Reach BodyAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday April 30th, 1913

Previous to Watchman Newt Lee’s testimony, three police officers, who were called to the pencil factory when Mary Phagan’s body was found, testified. Their testimony, with the exception of such parts as were unfit to print, follows:

W. T. Anderson, police call officer on duty Sunday morning, was first witness.

“We went over in an automobile to the pencil factory and the negro took us into the cellar where the body was found,” he said.

Anderson told of the location of the scuttle hole, from which a ladder led to the basement, and of the location of the body. Continue Reading →

Newt Lee’s Testimony as He Gave It at the Inquest

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Newt Lee's Testimony as He Gave it at the Inquest

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

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, was questioned as follows:

Q. What is your name? A. Newt Lee.

Q. Where do you live? A.  Rear of 40 Henry Street.

Q. What do you do? A. Night watchman at the National Pencil Company.

Q. What kind of work do you do? A. Watch and sweep up the first floor.

Q. What time do you go to work? At what time? A. Six o’clock. If it is not quite 6 o’clock I go around and see if the windows are down. If it is at 6 I punch the clock and then go around. Continue Reading →

Inquest This Morning.

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

Atlanta Constitution

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

Coroner Donehoo last night set the time for the inquest at this morning at 8:45 o’clock. It will be held in Bloomfield’s undertaking establishment on South Pryor street. A thorough investigation will be made into the mystery. It will then be determined if the evidence at hand is sufficient to commit Frank and the negro watchman to higher courts.

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Atlanta Constitution, April 30th 1913, “Inquest This Morning,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Leo M. Frank Holds Conference With Lee

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Leo M Frank Holds Conference with LeeAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Constitution

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

After Talking With Him an Hour, Factory President Fails to Secure a Confession.

Sitting alone in the detectives’ office at headquarters, Frank, the factory president, and Lee, the negro night watchman, both suspects held in connection with the Phagan murder, conferred for an hour shortly before midnight.

The conference was made at the request of detectives. It was believed Frank would be able to wring a confession from the negro. At midnight, he emerged from the room.

“I can’t get a thing out of him. He tells the same story over and over.”

It was the first time the two prisoners [had] faced one another since the [grueling] third degree to which both were doubly subjected at noon. It was the first opportunity they had obtained to converse in private.

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Atlanta Constitution, April 30th 1913, “Leo M. Frank Holds Conference With Lee,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (original PDF)

Tells Jury He Saw Girl and Mullinax Together

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Tells Jury He Saw Girl and Mullinax TogetherAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday April 30th, 1913

Edgar L. Sentell, the man who identified Mullinax as being the man he saw with Mary Phagan Saturday night was the first witness to take the stand when the coroner’s jury convened at 2:30 o’clock.

The witness said that he worked at Kamper’s grocery store, starting to work there last Thursday. He was questioned as follows:

Q. How late did you work Saturday night? A. To about 10:30 o’clock.

Q. What is your work? A. I drive a wagon.

Q. What time did you get in with your wagon Saturday night? A. About 9:30 or 10 o’clock. Continue Reading →

Girl’s Death Laid to Factory Evils

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Girl's Death Laid to Factory EvilsAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

Working Conditions Here Wrong, Proved by Phagan Crime, Says McKelway.

Dr. A. J. McKelway, president pro tem of the Southern Sociological Congress, declared to-day that if factory conditions in Atlanta were what they should be 14-year-old Mary Phagan never would have been slain.

“If social conditions, if factory conditions in Atlanta were what they should be here, if children of tender years were not forced to work in shops this frightful tragedy could not have been enacted,” he asserted.

Dr. McKelway’s remarks came in the course of a conversation in which he discussed at length the evils of child labor in industrial plants and the absolute necessity of rigid child labor legislation.

A reception at the Piedmont Driving Club yesterday marked the close of the four-day sessions of the sociological congress in Atlanta, Delegates left last night and to-day for their homes.

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Atlanta Georgian, April 30th 1913, “Girl’s Death Laid to Factory Evils,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Mayor Confers with Chief; Says Extras are Misleading

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Mayor Confers with Chief Says Extras are Misleading

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

Atlanta Constitution

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

“I don’t want a disturbance on the street of Atlanta. The town has been stirred over the Phagan tragedy, and I fear that sensational and misleading extras may cause mischief. I have requested Chief Beavers to use great caution in giving out news.”

Mayor James G. Woodward made the above explanation of his visit to Chief James L. Beavers, at police headquarters, shortly after 8:30 o’clock last night. The mayor said that he made a tour of the city and found the people in all sections in a highly nervous state.

He charged that a “misleading and sensational headline” in one of the night extras had caused many to believe that Newt Lee, the negro held by the detectives had been proven guilty. Continue Reading →

Boy Sweetheart Says Girl Was to Meet Him Saturday

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Boy Sweetheart Says Girl Was to Meet Him Saturday

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

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday April 30th, 1913

G. W. Epps, Jr., 14 years old, of 248 Fox Street, who lives just around the corner from Mary Phagan, and who was her boy sweetheart, testified before the Coroner’s Jury this afternoon that Mary Phagan had asked him to come down by the factory and go home with her a few days ago. She told him, he said, that Mr. Frank had been in the habit of going down to the front door and waiting there until she came out and looked suspicious at her and winked. He was asked:

Q. When did you see Mary Phagan last?—A. Saturday morning. We came to town on the car together. We got to town at 12 o’clock. When we got off the car she told me that she was going to the pencil factory to get her pay and would meet me at the (Falkin?) Drug Store at Five Points to see the parade at 2 o’clock. I looked for her all around at that time. I could not find her. I stayed there until about 4 o’clock selling papers. She never appeared. There wasn’t much of a crowd and I would have seen her if she had come.

Q. Where did you go at 4 o’clock?—A. I went to the ball game.

Q. Where did you go after that?—A. I went home, reaching there at 7 o’clock.

Q. Did you go over to Mary’s house?—A. Yes, I went over there immediately.

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Atlanta Georgian, April 30th 1913, “Boy Sweetheart Says Girl Was to Meet Him Saturday,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Gantt Turned Over to Sheriff of Fulton

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Gantt Turned Over to Sheriff of FultonAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Constitution

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

After a hearing before Judge George L. Bell of the superior court in which his attorney George T. [1 word illegible] gave a scathing denouncement of the police and detective department for what he termed the grilling system. J. M. Gantt, held on a warrant charging the murder of Mary Phagan was taken from the police and turned over to the sheriff to be held in the Tower.

Judge Gober stated that he would arrange for a hearing early today before Justice F. M. Powers before whom the original warrant was sworn out. The coroner’s inquest is set for 9 o’clock and Judge Gober declared that if possible he would have a hearing on the warrant before that time and if not he would have it immediately after that.

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Atlanta Constitution, April 30th 1913, “Gantt Turned Over to Sheriff of Fulton,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

City to Offer $1,000 for Slayer’s Arrest

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City to Offer 1000 for Slayer's ArrestAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Constitution

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

Mayor Woodward Declares the Stain of Blood Must Be Wiped Out.

Atlanta, April 29, 1913

To the General Council,

City of Atlanta:

The general council of the city of Atlanta is hereby called to convene in special session tomorrow morning at 10 o’clock, April 30, 1913, to take cognizance, in an official way, of that most brutal crime that was committed in this city on last Saturday night.

I think it proper that the city government should take some befitting action as regards this most deplorable matter, which, as it is, is liable to cast unenviable criticism upon the name of our fair city, and I would suggest that your honorable body offer a suitable reward of not less than $1,000 for the capture of the brute or brutes that could so far forget themselves as to commit such an outrageous crime. I feel satisfied that every taxpayer of this city will heartily co-operate in endorsing the action of the mayor and general council in offering this reward. Respectfully submitted,

(Signed) JAMES G. WOODWARD

The murder of poor little Mary Phagan, in the dark basement of the National Lead Pencil company’s factory, Saturday night, will be considered by Atlanta’s city council, today. Continue Reading →

Net Closing About Lee, Says Lanford

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Net Closing About Lee Says LanfordAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

Chief of Detectives Lanford was confident this morning that he and his department had completed a strong case to present to the Grand Jury for indictment. He said that the evidence against the negro night-watchman at the National Pencil Factory had grown stronger since yesterday.

He declared, however, that there still appeared the strongest indications that another person, in all probability a white man, was involved in some manner in the crime.

Many puzzling questions have arisen, since the closing of the net around Lee began.

The detectives have been utterly unable to trace the girl from the factory after she arrived there Saturday noon to obtain her pay from Leo Frank, the superintendent. They have interviewed every friend and every acquaintance of the girl. None of them saw her at any time Saturday afternoon.

If she was kept in the factory from Saturday noon, it was not Lee who kept her in the building or induced her to stay, for he was not in the building at noon. Continue Reading →

Tells of Watchman Lee ‘Explaining’ the Notes

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Tells of Watchman Lee 'Explaining' the NotesAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday April 30th, 1913

Sergeant L. S. Dobbs was the third witness. He said he answered the call to the pencil company plant Sunday morning.

Q.—Did you find an umbrella? A.—No. Lassiter did.

Q.—Did you find the notes there? A.—One of them.

He then identified the two notes.

Q.—Were you at the plant when Lassiter found the umbrella? A.—No; he found them about 7 o’clock.

Q.—Where did you find the body? A.—About 150 feet from the elevator shaft.

Q.—Did you examine the body? Continue Reading →

Mother Prays That Son May Be Released

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Mother Prays that Son May Be ReleasedAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

Gantt’s Mother, for Whom Mary Phagan Was Named, Weeps for Son.

In an easy chair in front of an open fireplace in a little Cobb County farm house, sat an aged mother, with lines of suffering marking her face and her white head bowed in sorrow, praying that her son may be found innocent of the terrible crime for which he is held by the Atlanta police.

For two days she sat in the same chair, staring constantly with dry eyes into the embers of the dying fire, seeing in the clouds of smoke as they swirl upward into the chimney, visions of her son caged in a felon’s cell—her mind filled with terrible pictures of her boy struggling with the horrors of the “third degree.”

The mother is Mrs. Mary Lou Gantt. Her son is James Milton Gantt, the young bookkeeper who is held by the police as a suspect in the terrible murder of little Mary Phagan. Mrs. Gantt was prostrated when the news of her son’s arrest was brought to her Monday morning. Her boy had been away from home for three long weeks, and during that time had narrowly escaped death in an accident at Copper Hill, Tenn., where he had been working. Continue Reading →