Author Archives: Archivist

Sister’s New Story Likely to Clear Gantt as Suspect

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Sister's New Story May Clear Gantt

A photographic study of the victim in the strangling mystery showing the sad expression in her eyes. Another picture of the Phagan girl in a studious pose. The child was strikingly pretty and the pictures here shown are from photographs prized by grief-stricken relatives in Marietta. Mary Phagan and her young aunt, Mattie Phagan, who was one of the girl’s best friends and is heart-broken over the tragedy.

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

Atlanta Georgian

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

F. C. Terrell, 284 East Linden Avenue, told a Georgian reporter to-day that his wife had declared to him that she did not tell the truth to the detectives and Georgian reporters to whom she had said that she did not know where J. M. Gantt, accused of the murder of pretty Mary Phagan, was on Saturday night.

When seen soon after the discovery of the deed, Mrs. Terrell stated that Gantt, who is her half brother, had left her home where he had been for the past seven years, three weeks ago, presumably to go to California and that she had not seen him since.

“Most certainly he was in his room here Saturday night,” declared Mrs. Terrell to a Georgian reporter to-day. “He came in at 11 o’clock.” Continue Reading →

Murder Analyzed By Dr. M’Kelway

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Murder Analyzed by Dr MkelwayAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Constitution

Wednesday, April 30th, 1913

“If Children of Such Tender Years Were Not Forced to Work, Mary Phagan Might Be Living,” He Says

“If social conditions in Atlanta were of the best—if conditions in factories were of the best and lastly if children of such tender years were not forced to work little Mary Phagan would probably never have been murdered,” declared Dr. A. J. McKelway, president pro tem of the Southern Sociological congress speaking at the final meeting held in Wesley Memorial church last night.

“Let us take this murder and analyze it. A little child of tender years is forced to work. Think of the heavy toll which she undergoes and the physical conditions under which she labors.

“Why is it that such is allowed in our fair land? The sociological congress must do its share of enlightenment. It has shown these evils to the world.” Continue Reading →

Pinkertons Hired to Assist Police Probe the Murder of Mary Phagan

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John M. Gantt, former bookkeeper of the National Pencil company, and acquaintance of Mary Phagan, who is under arrest, and was put through a gruelling [sic] third degree last night at police station. He maintains his innocence.

John M. Gantt, former bookkeeper of the National Pencil company, and acquaintance of Mary Phagan, who is under arrest, and was put through a gruelling [sic] third degree last night at police station. He maintains his innocence.

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

Atlanta Constitution

Tuesday, April 29th, 1913

For Hours Detectives Labor With John M. Gant [sic], Former Employee of National Pencil Company and Alleged Admirer of Pretty Mary Phagan.

SISTER OF PRISONER ADMITS SHE DECEIVED ATLANTA DETECTIVES

Told Them Gant Had Not Been Home When He Declared He Was in Bed. Now Admits Story Untrue. Gant Caught in Marietta, With Suit Case Filled With His Clothes.

Despite the fact that four suspects in the Mary Phagan case are held at police station, two white men and two negroes, the detective department is not satisfied, and the city is being scoured for evidence that will lead to the arrest of the guilty party.

Last night the Pinkerton detective department was engaged by Leo M. Frank, president of the National Pencil company, to aid the local officers in the search for the man responsible for the brutal murder, committed Sunday morning in the plant of his company on Forsyth street. Continue Reading →

Seek Clew in Queer Words in Odd Notes

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Seek Clue in Queer Words in Odd NotesAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Tuesday, April 29th, 1913

Who Would Be the Most Interested in Saying That the Night Watchman Did Not Do It?

While the tendency of the police straight through has seemed to be to doubt that Mary Phagan, the murdered girl, really wrote the small notes found beside her body purporting to give a clew to her murderer, the girl’s stepfather, W.J. Coleman, thinks it possible that she may have written one of the scrawls.

That one is the note written on the little yellow factory slip—so faintly traced it is almost impossible to read it. It is the one that says:

mama that negro hired down

here did this I went to get water

and he pushed me down this hole

a long tall negro black that has it

woke long lean tall negro I write

while play with me.

“Somehow, it looks like her handwriting to me,” said Mr. Coleman. “But, of course I can not be sure. Now, about the other note I am doubtful. It seems to be written too well for the child to have done it in the almost insensible condition she must have been in at the time. Whether she wrote either of the notes of her own accord, though, or whether she was forced to do it by her murderer to turn suspicion from himself, of course is mere speculation. Only time can tell, if anything.” Continue Reading →

Factory Employe [sic] May Be Taken Any Moment

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Gantt reading murder warrant [John M. Gantt was a family friend of Mary Phagan's and was accused of being "infatuated" with the young girl. He was let into the factory on Saturday to retrieve pairs of shoes he had left there prior to his leaving the company. Newt Lee accompanied him as he retrieved his shoes and left Saturday afternoon -- Ed.]

Gantt reading murder warrant [John M. Gantt was a family friend of Mary Phagan’s and was accused of being “infatuated” with the young girl. He was let into the factory on Saturday to retrieve some old shoes he had left there prior to his leaving the company. Newt Lee accompanied him as he retrieved his shoes and left that fateful Saturday afternoon — Ed.]

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

Atlanta Georgian

Tuesday, April 29th, 1913

A sensational arrest will be made in the Mary Phagan murder mystery within a few hours.

It will be based on the firm theory of the police and detectives that the strangled girl was never outside the factory of the National Pencil Company from the time she went in there for her pay Saturday noon until her dead and mutilated body was taken to the morgue early Sunday morning.

The detectives do not believe that Arthur Mullinax is guilty of the murder.

They do not believe that J. M. Gantt is guilty of the murder.

They do not place any dependence on the identifications of Gantt and Mullinax made by various persons before Chief of Detectives Lanford.

They are confident that the author of the terrible deed was a person who is not under arrest at the present time. They know his name. They have talked with him. They have his story of what he declares is all he knows of the happenings Saturday night in the building of tragedy on Forsyth Street. Continue Reading →

Guilt Will Be Fixed Detectives Declare

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Guilt Will Be Fixed Detectives Declare 1

Mrs. J. W. Coleman, below, mother of slain Mary Phagan, and Ollie Phagan, sister of the murdered girl [above]. Mrs. Coleman is prostrated by grief over the crime, and warns all mothers of working girls to watch carefully their loved ones.

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

Atlanta Georgian

Tuesday, April 29th, 1913

Has the murderer of pretty little Mary Phagan slipped the net that the police most carefully spread for him?

Is the author of the crime that shocked the city and State with its terrible brutality still at large?

Is the mystery, as baffling in its myriad conflicting elements as it is revolting in its details still as far from solution as it was when the beaten and bruised little body of Mary Phagan was found lifeless in a pile of trash and litter in a Forsyth Street basement?

When the city detectives and Pinkertons picked up the twisted skelna of evidence this morning they admitted that they were as badly tangled as when they laid them down after working incessantly upon them until long after midnight. Continue Reading →

Former Playmates Meet Girl’s Body at Marietta

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Former Playmates Meet Girl's Body at Marietta

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

Atlanta Georgian

Tuesday, April 29th, 1913

The little town of Marietta, Ga., where her baby eyes first opened upon the light of day scarcely fourteen years ago, will to-day witness the sorrowful funeral of Mary Phagan, the sweet young girl who was mysteriously murdered in the National Pencil Factory Saturday night and whose body was later found in the basement where it had been dragged by unknown hands.

The casket, accompanied by the girl’s stricken family—her mother and stepfather, her sister Ollie, 18 years old, and her three brothers, Ben, Charley and Josh, all young boys, left the Union Depot at 8:15 o’clock this morning. Reaching Marietta, it was met by throngs of Mary’s former playmates and friends bearing flowers to lay upon the young girl’s grave after they have looked for the last time upon her face. Continue Reading →

“I Am Not Guilty,” Says John M. Gant [sic]

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I Am Not Guilty Says John M. GanttAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Constitution

Tuesday, April 29th, 1913

“I Was Not in Love With Mary and She Was Not With Me,” Asserts Man Accused of Murder.

“I did not kill Mary Phagan. I haven’t seen her within a month. They accuse me falsely. I’m innocent and will swear it by heaven above.”

John M. Gant [sic], the youthful bookkeeper arrested on the charge of murdering Mary Phagan, sat in the detective chief’s office at police headquarters last night, looked his questioners squarely in the eyes, and sweepingly denied all accusations.

“I went to Marietta to take charge of a farm I have bought. My folks live there. I had been planning to go for several weeks. Surely, the mere fact that I went to Marietta isn’t proof conclusive that I killed the girl.” Continue Reading →

Charge is Basest of Lies, Declares Gantt

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Charge is Basest of Lies Declares GanttAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Tuesday, April 29th, 1913

John Milton Gantt, the accusation of a terrible crime hanging over him, from his cell at police headquarters, has made to-day a complete denial of any connection with the Mary Phagan murder in the first formal statement to the public since his arrest in Marietta yesterday afternoon.

The statement, which was given to a Georgian reporter, was said by Chief Beavers to be substantially the same as that taken by the police department stenographer last night for the use of the city detectives.

This remarkable denial, if it is to be given credence, sweeps away a whole train of circumstantial evidence that appeared most strongly to connect him with the brutal tragedy. Continue Reading →

Slayer’s Hand Print Left On Arm Of Girl

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Slayer's Hand Print Left on Arm of Girl

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

Atlanta Georgian

Tuesday, April 29th, 1913

Hope for apprehension of the slayer of Mary Phagan has come to the police with the discovery of distinct finger prints, stamped in blood on the sleeve of the dead girl’s jacket.

The discovery was made by a Georgian reporter in the course of a minute inspection of the girl’s clothes yesterday evening.

The finger prints are on the right arm of the light silk dress. The imprints of two fingers are just below the shoulder, staining purple the lavender of the child’s dress and penetrating to the arm, as if they were established at the pressure of powerful fingers grasping her arm. Continue Reading →

Keeper of Rooming House Enters Case

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Keeper of Rooming House Enters CaseAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Tuesday, April 29th, 1913

J. W. Phillips Thinks Couple Who Asked for Room May Have Been Gantt and Girl.

Was the young woman who, in company with a young man, applied to John W. Phillips, keeper of a rooming house at Forsyth and Hunter Streets at about 11 o’clock Saturday night for a room, Mary Phagan, the little girl who was found murdered the following morning? And was Gantt the man with her?

Phillips was not positive to-day.

He saw the young woman in the morgue at Bloomfield’s undertaking establishment, and it is understood he positively identified her to city detectives and the County Solicitor. She looked very much like the young woman, he said, but he would not make the positive statement to a reporter to-day. Continue Reading →

Pastor Prays for Justice at Girl’s Funeral

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Pastor Prays for Justice at Girl's FuneralAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Tuesday, April 29th, 1913

Mother and Aunt of Mary Phagan Swoon at Burial in Marietta This Morning.

A thousand persons saw a minister of God raise his hands to heaven to-day and heard him call for divine justice.

Before his closed eyes was a little casket, its pure whiteness hid by the banks and banks of beautiful flowers.

Within the casket lay the bruised and mutilated body of Mary Phagan, the innocent young victim of one of Atlanta’s blackest and most bestial crimes.

The spirit of the terrible tragedy filled the air. An aunt of the strangled girl suddenly screamed, fell over in her seat and was carried from the church in a swoon from which she did not fully recover for hours.

The stricken mother collapsed and it was feared that her condition might become critical.

The scene was in the Second Baptist Church at Marietta, where Mary Phagan had lived when she was a child of only three or four years. An immense crowd was at the station when the funeral train arrived at 10 o’clock. Many of them were young people who had played about with the strangled victim when she had lived there years before. Continue Reading →

Loyalty Sends Girl to Defend Mullinax

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Loyalty Sends Girl to Defend Mullinax

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

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

Atlanta Georgian

Tuesday, April 29th, 1913

Brave little Pearl Robinson!

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

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

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

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

Love Gave Her Courage.

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

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

Bartender Confirms Gantt’s Statement

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Bartender Confirms Gantt's StatementAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Tuesday, April 29th, 1913

Says Phagan Suspect Left Pair of Shoes In His Place Saturday Evening.

Charles W. McGee, of Colonial Hills, a bartender in the saloon of J. P. Hunter at 35 South Forsyth Street, almost directly across from the National Pencil Company plant, corroborated to-day the story told by J. M. Gantt about leaving a pair of shoes in the saloon from Saturday night until Monday morning.

“The man I judge to be Gantt from the description came into the saloon, but stayed only a short time,” said McGee. “I noticed nothing suspicious about Gantt or the man who was with him.”

* * *

Atlanta Georgian, April 29th 1913, “Bartender Confirms Gantt’s Statement,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Factory Head Frank and Watchman Newt Lee are “Sweated” by Police

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Factory Head Frank and Watchman Newt Lee are Sweated by Police

Leo M. Frank. [The lascivious superintendent of the National Pencil Company, so candidly described by several women and girls who worked at the factory. These women gave testimony describing Frank’s lascivious character at the coroner’s inquest, including inappropriate touching of the women and sexual advances in exchange for money — Ed.]

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

Atlanta Georgian

Tuesday, April 29th, 1913

Mysterious Action of Officials Gives New and Startling Turn to Hunt for Guilty Man—Attorney Rosser, Barred, Later Admitted to Client.

Has the Phagan murder mystery been solved? The police say they know the guilty man.

Chief of Detectives Lanford at 2 o’clock this afternoon told The Georgian:

“We have evidence in hand which will clear the mystery in the next few hours and satisfy the public.”

All the afternoon the police have been “sweating” Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the factory where the girl worked, and putting through the “third degree” Lee, the negro watchman at the factory.

[The statement came at the end of a second long conference between John Black, city detective; Harry Scott, Pinkerton detective, and Leo Frank, superintendent of the National Pencil Company factory.

Additional clews furnished by the head of the pencil factory were responsible for the closing net around the negro watchman.

With the solution of the mystery at hand came the further information that what suspicion had rested on Frank was being rapidly swept away by the damaging evidence against the black man. It was announced that he probably would be liberated to-night or in the morning.

“It looks a great deal better for Frank who has been detained only for his own protection and to furnish further information to the department,” said the detectives. Continue Reading →

Is the Guilty Man Among Those Held?

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Is the Guilty Man Among Those Held

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

Atlanta Georgian

Tuesday, April 29th, 1913

Is the murderer of Mary Phagan among the four men who are being held at police headquarters, or is he still at large, either among those still unsuspected or among those who have been severely quizzed by the officers?

The men still in custody are:

1—Newt Lee, negro night watchman, who is thought to know much more about the crime than he has told, but who has not been regarded as the perpetrator;

2—Arthur Mullinax, former street car conductor, for whom a strong alibi has been established, and from whom suspicion is shifting; Continue Reading →

Negro Watchman is Accused by Slain Girl’s Stepfather

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Negro Watchman is Accused by Slain Girl's StepfatherAnother in our series of new transcriptions of contemporary articles on the Leo Frank case.

Atlanta Georgian

Tuesday, April 29th, 1913

That Mary Phagan never left the factory after she entered it at 12:15 o’clock Saturday, the day of her murder, and that she was killed and her body dragged into the basement by the negro night watchman, Newt Lee, now in jail, is the firm belief of the child’s stepfather, W. J. Coleman, and other members of her family.

As for Arthur Mullinax, former street car conductor, held on suspicion, Mr. Coleman told a Georgian reporter he thought him innocent of the crime. He was also very doubtful if J. M. Gant [sic], ex-bookkeeper for the pencil factory, where the girl worked, had anything to do with her murder or knew anything about it.

“If the negro watchman did not kill the child, how would it have been impossible for him to hear her screams going on in the building?” he asked.  “A livery stable man next door heard them, and it would have been much easier for the watchman to. If the black did not do it himself, then he must have known something about it, and who the person was who did it.” Continue Reading →

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

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Who Saw Pretty Mary Phagan on Saturday

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

Atlanta Constitution

Tuesday, April 29th, 1913

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

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

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

* * *

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

‘I Feel as Though I Could Die,’ Sobs Mary Phagan’s Grief-Stricken Sister

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'I Feel as Though I Could Die,' Sobs Mary Phagan's

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

Atlanta Georgian

Tuesday, April 29th, 1913

Among all the hearts that are bowed down in sorrow over the murder of Mary Phagan, the 14-year-old factory child found dead in the National Pencil factory Saturday, there is none who feels the suffering and the anguish of the separation so keenly as her sister, Ollie, 18 years old, her companion since childhood.

For with her it is the suffering of youth, when the rose-veil of life has been lifted to show its tragic and terrible side in all its fullness for the first time. And it is all the more pitiful for her because it is the kind of suffering that brings to one that sense of despair and a later sadness that makes the whole world seem never quite the same again, no matter what happens. Something of its sweetness and joy has gone out to stay.

“Oh, I am so lonely without her,” the young girl told a Georgian reporter as the tears fell down her face unheeded. She was at her little home on Lindsay Street. “Mary and I were always together and we always told each other everything. We slept in the same bed at night; we had ever since we were little bit o’ kids; and we always talked after the lights went out. There wasn’t a thing that Mary wouldn’t tell me, and I would always advise her and tell her what I thought was right if little questions would come up between us. She was always such a good little thing, nobody could help loving her!” Continue Reading →

$1,000 Reward

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Thousand Dollar Reward

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

Atlanta Constitution

Tuesday, April 29th, 1913

The assault and murder of 14-year-old Mary Phagan comprise the most revolting crime in the history of Atlanta Homicide is bad enough. Criminal assault upon woman is worse. When a mere child, a little girl in knee dresses is the victim of both there are added elements of horror and degeneracy that defy the written word.

This outrage with all its gruesome and pitiful settings occurred in the very heart of Atlanta. It was committed by some human beast with more than jungle cruelty and less than jungle mercy.

The detective force and the entire police authority of Atlanta are on probation in the detection and arrest of this criminal with proof. To justify the confidence that is placed in them and the relation they are assumed to hold toward law and order they must locate this arch-murderer. Continue Reading →