Atlanta Georgian
August 18^th, 1913

By JAMES B. NEVIN.

It is rather an extraordinary thing that on this Monday, the beginning of the fourth week of the most remarkable murder trial ever held in Georgia, the interest should be in nowiseabated or lessened, and that the opening of court to-day saw the biggest, hungriest and most insistent crowd of curious spectators yet on hand at the opening of court.

Far from letting go the Phagan mystery, the public to-day seems to be gripping it even more eagerly than ever before.

Opinion still is widely divided as to the guilt or innocence of Leo Frank, and there have been many switches of conclusion and reversals of theory, pro and con, within the past week, and no doubt there is much more of the same sort of thing to come.

People to-day believe Frank guilty who started out believing him innocent, and the rule is working right around the other way, moreover!

Despite the many things that have been said and the countless things that have been written of the Frank trial and all that led up to it, it remains, on the threshold of its fourth week, the most absorbing melodrama ever enacted in Atlanta—the most bitterly fought and the most uncompromisingly contested trial known to the criminal history of the State of Georgia.

The principal parties to the case are, of course, Mary Phagan, the dead girl; Leo Frank, the defendant at bar, and Jim Conley, the grimly accusing negro.

Four months ago no one of these people was known to many Georgians.

Mary Phagan, a sweet little working girl, had a circle of perhaps a hundred friends—not 1 per cent of the population of Atlanta ever had heard of her.

Frank Little Known.

Leo Frank, the superintendent of the National Pencil Factory, was hardly known by very many more people—he had a business and college acquaintance, and a limited circle of social intimates. Not more than 2 or 3 per cent of Atlanta’s population ever had heard of him.

Jim Conley, the negro, more than well known in police circles, along the way of the “Butt In” bar in Peters street, and a familiar figure enough along Darkest Decatur, numbered among his respectable acquaintances not more than 50 people—if nearly so many—perhaps.

Now—less than four months after the terrible deed enacted in the pencil factory on Saturday, April 26—there is not a hamlet, a crossroads store or a country or city home in all Georgia that has not heard of every party to the sordid story, and that has not discussed everyone of them, together and singular, from every point of view imaginable!

It is more than morbid curiosity upon the part of people that prompts this great and never-flagging interest in the Phagan case—it is more than the mere fascination of crime that links the heart and mind of the people to it.

In the case of Leo Frank there is that indescribable element we call “human interest,” that vague and elusive thing that tugs at the heart-strings and nags at the conscience—there is the knowledge upon the part of the public that a monstrous crime has been committed, and that responsibility for it must be fixed, no matter the cost and no matter the effort!

The public does not clamor for Leo Frank’s life so much, nor for Jim Conley’s—it demands that responsibility for Mary Phagan’s brutal murder be fixed, and it will not be satisfied until that responsibility IS fixed.

At the same time, I believe—and I have believed all along—that the public wants to see justice done and fair play indulged in.

If Frank is not guilty he has been punished already beyond reason or reparation. He should be turned loose, with every amend decency and mistaken zeal may summon to their embarrassed effort at righting a frightful wrong.

If, however, he is guilty, and that is shown, then the inconvenience and discomfort accorded him thus far will matter little, if anything.

It is a tremendously big game the lawyers are playing in the stuffy little courtroom in the old City Hall Building.

One one side is the majesty of the law of the land, that must be maintained at any and all cost—that majesty of the law that may be invoked in behalf of the humblest no less than the highest. On the other hand is the defendant—an abstract thing in the sight of the law.

On one side is the great State of Georgia, calling for a “tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye”—on the other side are those guaranteed rights of citizens, embodied in Frank, that must not be challenged lightly or without complete and compelling reason.

It is a Big Game.

It is a big game—it involves that most precious of all gifts of God, a human life, and a human reputation, a home and the happiness thereof. It is a game, nevertheless, that involves on the contrary a sinister charge of utter unworthiness upon the part of the man who still protests his rights to these precious gifts, jealously given of a Divine Power, and as jealously guarded by His laws, no less than by the laws of human beings.

One can not get away from the conclusion, cited many times, that, after all is said and done, Frank’s character will determine the verdict in the case now on trial.

His character will be found to be his greatest asset and his most sure dependence, in this his hour of pressing peril—as his lack of it, if shown, must prove to be his final and everlasting damnation.

Frank, by injecting his character in issue, has challenged the worst upon the part of the State.

He has cited scores of witnesses to uphold it—he has made a brave and maybe an abundant, showing.

The State, however, says it will break down that character—that it will show Frank’s unspeakable depravity, even as charged glibly and smugly by the negro, Conley, as yet uncorroborated by any person the most abandoned would care to believe.

If the State can do this thing—

Can it be possible that Frank, through all these years, has been leading a double life?

Can it be true that he has, while professing to be an honorable and upright man, a faithful husband, a dutiful and worthy son, a deserving and decent friend among his neighbors and his kind, nevertheless been, really, a moral degenerate, an ignoble and deceitful creature—and can it be that these things, so long and so cleverly concealed, at last led him to murder?

The State’s Contention.

The State holds that his family circle, his intimate social acquaintances, and his business associates, would, as a matter of fact, be the last people in the world to know the truth of Frank’s double life—for, say they, Frank would employ every artifice and summon to his aid every possible device to keep those very people from discovering the truth concerning him.

This, so the State contends, is precisely what Frank did do—and in that way they justify his alleged intimacy with Conley and his quick calling upon Conley for help, when eventually he found himself with the blood of a human being on his guilty hands.

The State is asking a good deal when it asks the public to believe this of Frank, in the light of the evidence of his good character tendered last week, and it hardly is possible that the public WILL believe it, unless the State makes its charges crystal clear.

Men will ask themselves—and will ask themselves wisely—whose reputation is safe, if it may be brushed away and broken down by the uncorroborated word of such a creature as Conley?

But, Conley uncorroborated in one thing—while Conley corroborated is quite and altogether another!

The State is yet to be heard in rebuttal of Frank’s character witnesses—and so judgement must be suspended pending their revelations.

The only point is—and it has been an evident point so long that to reemphasize it seems trite—the State must make good on its sinister charge of perversion and degeneracy upon the part of Frank, or its case will be greatly weakened, perhaps beyond repair.

I have an idea that Frank’s statement on the stand may weigh heavily in the minds of the jury.

Frank the Star.

Indeed, it is not improbable that the very best jury speech and jury argument put forth in defense of Frank, with all due appreciation and respect of and for Mr. Rosser and Mr. Arnold, will be made by Leo Frank himself!

His statement, although not sworn to, will carry an appeal that hardly can be framed of other lips—either that, or it will fall flat and stale and of no consequence whatever.

The trial long ago resolved itself into a matter of Frank vs. Conley.

It is the defendant’s word against the negro’s.

Both have self interest in the verdict—the life of one or the other must pay the forfeit of Mary Phagan’s murder.

The forthcoming statement of Frank, and the rebuttal of the character witnesses, constitute the two events ahead that may, within themselves, make or mar this case, as one may come to view it eventually.

And it is this situation, no doubt, that holds up the interest to-day, as the fourth week begins—for, despite all that has gone before, the case is not yet nearly ended, and there still remains many things undetermined.

* * *

Atlanta Georgian, August 18th 1913, “Leo Frank’s Own Story to Add Final Touch to State’s Greatest Trial,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

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

Atlanta Georgian
August 18th, 1913

That his married life has been very happy; that his office safe door was open and he could not see Mary Phagan as she spoke to him on leaving after drawing her pay; that he was in his office from 12 until just before going home to lunch.

PROFOUND IMPRESSION MADE BY PRISONER’S REMARKABLE STORY

FRANK LOOKS STRAIGHT AT JURY AND TELLS STORY DELIBERATELY

During his statement, Frank looked straight into the faces of the jurymen and talked very distinctly and deliberately. His voice was not very strong and the deputies had to rap frequently to keep down the noise.

From the lips of the man accused of the murder of Mary Phagan, came a remarkable story Monday afternoon, August 18, 1913.

The spectators in a densely packed courtroom listened with strained interest as Leo Frank told in graphic words of the events of the day which brought the charge of a terrible crime against him.

It is doubtful if a tale so clearly told, so thorough in its detail, so logically presented ever has been related in a Georgia court of justice by a man over whom has hung the accusation of a horrible murder.

His wife smiled affectionately at him when he told of his marriage to her and said with feeling: “My married life has been exceptionally happy; in fact, the happiest period of my life.”

His words, dispassionate at first, grew in force as he proceeded, but he seldom departed from his moderate tons of voice. The only exceptions were when he was referring to some particularly vital point.

At one point he adverted to one of the Solicitor’s charges that he had not done all the work on Saturday that his lawyers claimed for him. Frank displayed a sheaf of requisitions to the jurors, and said with a trace of heat:

“Notwithstanding any insinuations that may have been made, I wrote these requisitions!”

He brought out the closing words with a startling force he had not displayed before, emphasizing each word with a blow of his hand on the railing front of the jury box.

At another time he held up a long sample case of vari-colored pencils to the view of the jury.

Solicitor Dorsey objected to the display of the pencils on the ground that they had not been introduced as evidence.

Frank smiled and said to the jurors:

“I guess you have seen enough of the pencils to perceive there are a great many kinds.”

The spectators smiled with him as they saw he had accomplished all he desired.

Here is Frank’s story as it was told with its various interruptions:

Mr. Arnold: “Now Mr. Frank, such papers as you want to use you can come down here at any time or from time to time and get them on this table right here.

The Court: “Before you commence your statement, I want to read the law. In criminal procedure, the prisoner will have the right to make to the Court and jury such statement in the case as he may deem proper in his defense. It shall not be under oath and shall have such force as the jury shall think right to give it. They may believe it in preference to the sworn testimony in the case. The prisoner shall not be compelled to answer questions on cross-examination. He should feel free to decline to answer them. Now you can make such statement as you see fit.”

The defendant said: “Gentlemen of the jury, in 1884, the 17th day of April, I was born in Cuero, Texas. At the age of three months my parents took me to Brooklyn, New York, which became my home until I came South, to Atlanta, to make my home here. I attended the public schools of Brooklyn and prepared for college in Pratt Institute of Brooklyn, New York.”

“In the fall of 1902 I entered Cornell University, where I took the course of mechanical engineering, graduating after four years, in June, 1906. I then accepted a position as draughtsman with the B. F. Sturdevant Company, of Hyde Park, Massachusetts. After remaining with this firm for about six months, I returned once more to my home in Brooklyn, where I accepted a position as testing engineer and draughtsman with the National Meter Company of Brooklyn, New York”

Came to Atlanta In October, 1907.

“I remained with these parties until about the middle of October, 1907, when at the invitation of some citizens of Atlanta, I came South to confer with them with reference to the starting and operation of a pencil factory to be located in Atlanta. After remaining here for about two weeks I returned once more to New York, where I engaged passage and went to Europe. I remained in Europe nine months. During my sojourn abroad, I studied the pencil business and looked after the erection and testing of machinery which had been previously traded for.”

“In the first part of August, 1908, I returned once more to America, and immediately came South, to Atlanta, which has remained my home ever since. I married in Atlanta an Atlanta girl, Miss Lucille Selig. The major portion of my married life has been spent in the home of my parents-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Emil Selig, at number 68 East Georgia avenue, Atlanta. My married life has been exceptionally happy. Indeed it has been the happiest days of my life.”

“My duties as superintendent of the National Pencil Company were in general as follows: I took charge of the technical and mechanical end of the factory, looking after the processes and seeing that the product was turned out in quality equal to the standard which was set by our competitors. I looked after the installation of new machinery, and the purchasing of any machinery, and in addition I had charge of the office work at the Forsyth street plant, and the lead plant on Bell street.”

Looked After the Purchase of Materials.

“I looked after the purchasing of the raw material. I saw after the manufacture of pencils and kept up with the market of these materials, and when the prices fluctuated so that the purchases could be made to the best possible advantage.

“On Friday, April 25, 1913, I arrived at the pencil factory on Forsyth street at about 7 o’clock, my usual time. I immediately started in on my regular routine work, looking over the papers I had laid out the evening before, and attending to any work that needed my special attention that morning.”

“At about 9:30 o’clock I went over to the office of the general manager and treasurer, Mr. Sigmund Montag, whose office is at Montag Brothers on Nelson street. I stayed over there a short time, and got what papers had arrived in the mail all the mail of the pencil factory comes over to their office. I got that mail and brought it back to the Forsyth street office. I then separated the mail and continued in my usual routine duties in the office on Forsyth street.

“At about 11 o’clock Mr. Herbert Schiff handed me the payroll book, covering the plants at Forsyth street and Bell street, for me to check over and see if the amounts and extensions were correct. Of course, this work has to be very carefully done, so that the proper amount of money is drawn from the bank. This checking took me until about 12:20 p.m.”

Went to Bank To Get Pay Money.

“I then went over to Montag Brothers, took the checks drawn and had them signed by Mr. Sig Montag, after which I returned ot Forsyth street and got the leather bag in which I usually carried the money and coin from the bank, and got the payroll slip, on which the various denominations which I desired to have on the payroll were made out, and went, accompanied by Mr. Herbert Schiff, my assistant, to the Atlanta National Bank, where I had the checks cashed.”

“Returning to the factory in company with Mr. Schiff, I placed this bag containing the money for the payroll, in the safe and locked it. At this time my wife called for me and in her company and that of Mr. Schiff I went over to the car, and went with my wife home to lunch. After lunch I returned to the factory and took a tour for about an hour through the factory, after which I then assisted Mr. Schiff in checking over the amounts on the pay envelopes, checking the money
against the duplicate slips that we had got from the bank to see that the correct amount had been given us, and helped Mr. Schiff in checking over the money and in filling the envelopes.”

“This took us approximately until a quarter to six to fill the envelope and sent them, and place them in a box we have there with two hundred pigeon holes in it, that we call our payoff box.”

Paid One Man Check in Cash.

“While I was so occupied with Mr. Schiff in filling the envelopes, a young man named Wright, who had helped us out in the office as clerk during the past week came in and I paid him in cash, as Mr. Schiff had neglected to put his name on the payroll. I just made out a ticket and put it in the payroll box, not the cash box, and continued in the office with Mr. Schiff, taking all the envelopes that were due the help that had worked from Friday, April 18 to Thursday, April 24, inclusive, to pay them through the window in one side of the office. There is a little window built in the hall. I had stayed in my office, checking over the amount of money which had been left there.”

“This amount should have been equal to the amount loaned out in advance to the help. I took a ticket out when we were filling the envelopes in checking this amount there. As near as I recollect it, it was about $15.”

“I noticed a shortage of about $1.20, or something over a dollar, at any rate, and I kept checking to see if I could find the shortage shortage in the various deductions which had been made. I could not locate it that evening, after the help had been paid off, during which time I stayed in my office. No one came into my office and asked me for the envelope or for an envelope of any other party.”

“After the paying off of the help had taken place, Mr. Schiff returned and handed me the envelopes which were left over, bound with an elastic band, and I put them in the cash compartment, which is different from the cash box, the key to which is kept in my cash box, and placed them in the safe, and Mr. Schiff placed the amounts in the box, and placed the box in the safe and left them.”

Tells of Putting Slips in Time Clock.

“I placed in the time clock slips which were to be used the next day. I took the two time slips dated April 25, which had been used by the help on Friday, April 25 these are the two that I put in the slot,” exhibiting the same to the jury.”

Mr. Dorsey thereupon vigorously protested that Mr. Frank shouldn’t be allowed to exhibit these slips to the jury, because they had not been offered in evidence on the grounds that they were immaterial and irrelevant, and on the second ground that he could not put them in evidence on his own statement.

Counsel for the defendant insisted, however, that they should be allowed to offer these slips in evidence as they had been testified to by Mr. Darley and others. The testimony, however, was not produced, and Judge Roan ruled that Mr. Frank might make any statement concerning the same, but that he would withhold his ruling until further investigation. Mr. Frank thereupon proceeded to explain to the jury.

“Gentlemen, as I was saying, these two slips that have April 26, 1913, written at the bottom are the two slips I put in the clock on the evening of Friday, April 25, to be used on the day following, which, of course, was April 26.”

“I neglected to mention also, in going over my duties at the factory, that Mr. Darley was superintendent of labor and manufacture, and it fell to his duty to engage the help and distribute the help throughout the plant, and to discharge the help in case it was necessary. It was also due to him whether the wages were raised or not. In other words, he was the man that came directly in contact with the help. Moreover, he saw that the goods processed through the plant without stopping, speedily and economically for their manufacture.”

“On Friday evening (April 25th) I got home about 6:30 o’clock, had my supper, washed up, and with my wife played a game of suction bridge at a friend’s home in the evening. My wife and I returned home and retired about 11 o’clock.”

“On Saturday, April 26, I rose between 7 and 7:30 o’clock and leisurely washed and dressed and ate my breakfast, and caught a Washington Street or Georgia Avenue car. I don’t really remember which, at the corner of Washington and Georgia avenue, and arrived at the factory, the Forsyth street plant, at about 8:20 o’clock.”

“Upon my arrival at the factory I found Mr. Holloway, the day watchman, at the usual place, and I greeted him in my usual way, and found Alonzo Mann, the office boy, in the office.”

“I took off my coat and hat and opened my desk and opened the safe, and removed the various books and files and wire trays containing the various important papers which were placed there the evening before and distributing them in their proper places about the office. I then went out to the shipping room and conversed a few minutes with Mr. Irby, who was at that time shipping clerk, about the work he was going to do that morning.”

“According to my recollection, we did no shipping that day, owing to the fact that the freight offices were not receiving any shipments, due to the fact that it was a holiday.”

“I returned to my office and looked through the papers and sorted out those which I was going to take over on my usual trip to the general manager’s office that morning.”

“I then turned to the invoice covering shipments which were made by the pencil factory on Thursday, April 24, and which were typewritten on Friday, April 25, by Miss Eubanks, who was the stenographer who stayed at my office. She had hurried through with the office work on the day previous, so that she could go home and spend the holiday in the country where she lived. But I didn’t get to check over the invoices on the shipments on Friday, due to the fact that Mr. Schiff and myself were completely occupied the entire day. So we left the factory with the payroll. So that naturally, these invoices covering shipments which were made on April 24, ought to have been sent to the customers, and I got right to work checking them.”

Shows Invoices to Jury First Time.

“Now I have these invoices here, (Frank taking up the papers and exhibiting them to the jury). These papers have not been exhibited to you before, but I will explain them. You have seen some similar to these.”

“Of all the mathematical work in the office of a pencil factory, this very operation, this very piece of work that I have now before me is the most important. It is the invoices covering shipments and is sent to the customer, and it is very important that the prices are correct, that the amount of goods shipped agrees with the amount which is on the invoices, that the terms are correct, and that the price is correct. Also, in some cases, there were freight deductions, all of which has to be very carefully checked over and looked into, because I know of nothing else that exasperates a customer than to receive invoices which are incorrect.”

“Now, with reference to the work I did on these orders that is not such an easy job as you might be led to believe. Here are initials. They represent the salesman who took the order. Sometimes, I have to go to through a world of papers to find out to whom to credit these orders.”

“I notice that one of the orders to R. B. Kindele calls for a specialty. That has to be carefully noted and recorded. One column represents the shipping point, another the date, etc.”

“The next step is to fill in the orders on this sheet. On this sheet I must separate the orders into price groups. Evidently no work has been done on this sheet since he went away. The reason this is done in the pencil business as in all manufacturing business it is advantageous to sell as much of the high priced goods as possible.”

“This sheet is the only means of telling how much of the various goods we are selling. It is the barometer of our business and requires most careful work.”

Declares He Wrote Financial Sheet.

“After I have finished that work I have had to do this, and not withstanding any insinuations that have been made, I wrote these requisitions.”

Frank read the name on each requisition, which were the same as the names on the orders.

“Now that is all my handwriting, except what as written at a subsequent date to April 26.”

“Well, moreover, this operation this morning took me longer than it usually takes the ordinary person to check invoices because usually one calls out and the other checks, but I had this work all myself that morning. As I did this work this morning I saw that Miss Eubanks had evidently sacrificed accuracy to speed, and everyone of them was wrong. I went over the invoices to make the corrections, figure them out, correct them, and made deductions, if any were to be made, and then get the total shipments, because isnce these shipments were made on April 24, which was Thursday and the last day of our fiscal week, and it was on this week which the financial report which I make out every Saturday afternoon, which has been my custom, so that the total shipments could be figured out, and therefore I could not let it go out at that, so I had figure every invoice in its entirety, so I could get a figure I would be able to use.

“The first order here is to Hilton, Hart & Kern Co., Detroit, Mich. Here is the original order, which exists in our files in our office. Here is the original transaction which was made March 18, but it was not to be shipped until April 24. This is a small order, 100 gross of Number 2; and here is an order of the Packard Motor Car Company for 125 gross of No. 3, and 150 gross of No. 4. Those figures represent the grade of hardness of the lead in the pencil.”

Explains How Orders are Filled.

Frank thereupon explained how such orders were usually filled, whether in part or in whole, and how the shipments were made, and continuing said:

“In investigating shipments made by the pencil company our method is as follows: We make them in triplicate. Our first original is a white sheet that goes to the customer; the second is a pink sheet that goes over to the general manager’s office and is filed serially, that is chronologically, that is, one date after the other, and from that the charges are made on the ledger, and the last sheet, the third sheet, or yellow sheet, which is here (exhibiting it) and those are place in the files in my office, and are filed alphabetically. These yellow sheets that I have here are not the yellow sheets I had that day, because they have since been corrected, and I am just taking the corrected sheets I made the corrections and Miss Eubanks corrected them on Monday by the corrections I had on the white sheet from the corrections I made and I presume at that time made that correct.”

Mr. Frank exhibited to the jury various orders similarly written, to H. W. Williams and Company, of Forth Worth, Tex.; The Fort Smith Paper Company, of Fort Smith, Ark.; S. O. Barnum & Sons, of Buffalo, N. Y.; F. L. Schmidt and Company, of Chicago, and H. S. Kress and Company, of New York.

“Now, there is an order that takes a great deal of study (referring to other Kress order) because in common with these five and ten cent syndicates, there is a great deal of red tape. These are invoices that were typed on April 25, Friday, and were shipped on April 24. It was the date on which the shipment was made irrespective of the date there, (referring to the date on the letter) and these were typewritten. In other words, shipments took place April 24, and that date was at the top, typewritten and stamped by the office at the bottom, April 24. Among other things that the S. H. Kress Company demand on their orders, we must state whether or not it is complete, must give the case number, and must tell by which railroad the shipment goes.

Checking Made Hard By Much Red Tape.

“Here is one for F. W. Woolworth and Company, Fort Wayne, Ind., which shows 35 pounds, less 86 cents per 100 pounds credit. In other words, we had to find out what was the weight of that was on a basis of 86 cents for every 100 pounds shipped. Then here is another of our large distributors in New York. They have a freight allowance of 86 cents a 100 pounds also, and their shipments amounted to 618 pounds on Thursday, April 24.

“I started on this work. As I said, I have gone in it in some detail, to show you the carefulness with which the work must be carried out, and I was at work on this until about 9 o’clock, as near as I remember.

“Mr. Darley and Wade Campbell, the inspector of hte factory, came into the outer office and I stopped what work I was doing, which was this work, and went to the outer office and chatted with Mr. Campbell for ten or fifteen minutes, conversed with them, joked with them and while I was talking with them, I think about 9:15, or a quarter after 9, Miss Mattie Smith came in and asked me for her pay envelope, and the envelope of her sister-in-law. I went to the safe and got out the package of envelopes that Mr. Schiff had given me the evening before, and placed the two remaining envelopes in my cash box, as I considered they might come in and I wanted to have them near at hand so that I could pay them off when they came in. I keep my cash box on the lower side of my desk. After Miss Smith had gone away with the envelopes, in a few minutes Mr. Darley came back with one of the envelopes, and pointed out an error in one of them, the one of the sister-in-law of Miss Mattie Smith, who had gotten too much money.

“When I took the amount which was too much, that amount balanced the error in the payroll that I had noticed the night before, and left about five or ten cents. Those things generally right themselves, anyhow. I continued to work on these invoices when I was interrupted by Mr. Lyon, the superintendent of Montag Brothers, and he brought me a pencil display box. He seemed to be in a hurry, and I told him if he would wait a minute I would go over with him, but he passed out of the office, and then I found a stopping place in the work I was working on, and I put on my coat and when I got to the outer office I found that Mr. Lyon had already left.

“Mr. Darley and I left about 9:35 or 9:40, and we got out of the factory and stopped at the corner of Hunter and Forsyth streets, where we each had a drink at Cruickshank’s soda fountain, and I bought a package of my favorite cigarettes.

“After that conversation there I left him and went alone to Montag Brothers, where I arrived about 10 o’clock or maybe a little after. I entered Montag Brothers and spoke to Mr. Sig Montag, general manager, on business, and he brought the papers which I collect and laid them on his desk, and I then took the papers out, thrust them in the folder and took the other papers which I had in my folder, and […]

LEO FRANK’S OWN STORY ADDS FINAL TOUCHES TO STATE’S GREATEST TRIAL

[…] then distributed them at the proper places in the Montag plant. I don’t know just which ones they were.

Conversation With Miss Hall Recalled.

“In chatting with Mr. Montag I spoke to Mr. Montag and Mr. Korse, after that I spoke to Miss Hattie Hall, the pencil company’s stenographer, who stays at Montag Brothers, and asked her to come over and help me that morning, as I have already told you, that these invoices were wrong, and I wanted her to help me on that work, and could not take it up to-morrow. In fact, I told her I had enough work to keep her busy that whole afternoon if she would stay. She said she didn’t want to do that; she wanted to have at least a half holiday.

“I then spoke to members of the Montag Brothers force, on business matters, and then other matters. Also I then spoke to Mr. Guttenheim, who was sales manager of the Montag Brothers and of the pencil factory, and then spoke to him about several of his orders that were in the factory. There were two of his orders that he paid special stress on that were desired to be shipped right away. I said, ‘I don’t know how una [sic] far along in the process of manufacture the orders have proceeded, but if you can come back I can look it up and tell you when they can be shipped.’ He said he could not come then, but he would come a little later. I told him I would be glad if he would come up a little later on in the afternoon; that I would be there until about 1 o’clock in the morning, and then about half past three. I then took the folder and returned.

Arrived at Factory At About 11 o’Clock.

“Upon arrival at the pencil factory I went up to the second or office floor, and then I noticed that the clock was perhaps five minutes after 11 o’clock, and I saw Mr. Holloway there, and I told him he could go as soon as he got ready. He told me he had some work to do for Harry Denham and Arthur White, who wanted to do some repairing on the top floor, and that he would do the work first.

“I then went to the office, and found Miss Hattie Hall, who had preceded me from Montag Brothers, and another young lady, who introduced herself to me as Mrs. Arthur White. Mrs. White wanted to see her husband. I went into the inner office, and took off my hat and coat and removed teh papers which I had brought back from Montag Brothers and put the folder away.

Week’s Sheet Left In Incomplete Form.

“It was about this time that I first heard the elevator motor start up, and the circular saw in the carpenter shop which was near to it, and I heard it sawing through some boards and thought it was evidently the work that Mr. Holloway had referred to.

“I separated the orders from the letters which required answers, and took from them the letters that did not need immediate attention and laid them in the various places, and it was about this time I had an idea I would like to see how far along the report sheets were which I used in getting up the financial report every Saturday afternoon. To my surprise I found that the sheet contains the records of the pencils packed for the week had been entered for Thursday. The last day of the fiscal week was omitted, and Mr. Schiff, evidently in the stress of figuring out and filling the envelopes for the payroll for Friday instead of Saturday, had evidently not had enough time. I told Alonzo Mann, the office boy, to call up Mr. Schiff and find out when he was coming down; and Alonzo said that the answer came back over the telephone that Mr. Schiff would be right down, so I didn’t pay any more attention to that part of the work, because I expected Mr. Schiff to comem down any minute.

Mrs. Freeman and Corinthia Hall Came In.

“It was about this time that Mrs. Emma Clark Freeman and Miss Corinthia Hall, two of the girls that worked on the fourth floor, came upstairs and asked to go upstairs and get Mrs. Freeman’s coat, which permission I gave them. I told them at the same time to tell Arthur White that his wife was downstairs. A few minutes after they left my office two gentlemen came in, one of them Mr. Graham, and another gentleman; fathers of two boys who had gotten into some trouble during the noon recess and were taken down to police headquarters, and, of course, could not get their pay envelopes the night before. I gave the required envelopes to the two fathers, and chatted with them at some length in reference to the trouble that their boys had gotten into on the day previous.

“Just before they left the office Mrs. Emma Clark Freeman and Mrs. Corinthia Hall came into my office and asked my permission to use the telephone, and started using the telephone during the time these two gentlemen left my office. Previous to the time these two gentlemen came in I had called Miss Mattie Hall in and dictated what mail I had to give her, and she went out and was typewriting the mail.”

Frank went back to the stand. He was handed a glass of water as he resumed his seat but declined it.

“Miss Hall left my office” he continued, “on her way home at this time. There were then in the building Arthur White, Harry Denham and Mrs. White. It must have been from ten to fifteen minutes after that this little girl whom I afterwards found to be Mary Phagan came in. She asked for her pay. I got my cash box referred to the number and gave her the envelope.”

“As she went out she stopped near my outer office doer and said:”

“‘Has the metal come?'”

Sound of Voice Made Little Impression.

“The safe door was open and I could not see her, but I answered No.’ The last I heard was the sound of her footsteps going down the hall. But a few moments after she asked me, I had the impression of a voice saying something but it made no impression on me.”

“The little girl had hardly left the office when Lemmie Quinn came in. He said something to me about working on a holiday and went out. A few minutes before 1 o’clock, I called up my wife and told her I was coming to lunch at 1:15 o’clock. I then went upstairs to (the fourth floor) where Denham and White were working and found […]

Frank Details His Own Story to Jury

[…] they had a bit of the floor taken up and were sawing.”

“I explained to them that I was going to lunch and would lock the door when I left. Mrs. White left at this time. Some lady said that at 12:35 o’clock she found me in front of the safe. It is barely possible that she did. I don’t recall her being there. Her memory probably is fresher than mine on this point.”

“When I went up stairs, I asked Mr. White if his wife was going to stay there with him. She said no, that she would go. She left and then I got my hat and coat and left, locking the outer door.”

“Now, gentleman, to the best of my recollection from the time the whistle blew until I went upstairs to see Mr. White, I did not stir out my office. I went on home.”

(Narrators note: The Atlanta Georgian, omitted part of Leo Frank’s statement, where he spoke about the possibility of unconsciously going to the metal room to use the men’s toilet there, to explain why Monteen Stover found his second floor business office empty between 12:05 p.m. and 12:10 p.m. This evidence was crucial because in State exhibit B, Leo Frank had made an unsworn statement that Mary Phagan was alone with him in his office during this exact time. End of narrator commentary. Leo Frank continues…)

“I called up my brother-in-law, Mr. Ursenbach, to tell him I was unable to keep the engagement to go to the ball game. The cook answered the phone.”

“My wife and mother-in-law were going to the opera. My father-in-law and I ate lunch. He went into the backyard while I lit a cigarette and lay down for a moment.”

“I left and while passing the home of Mrs. Wolfsheimer, saw Mrs. Michael on the porch. I went in to see her and saw Mrs. Wolfsheimer, Mr. Loeb and others.”

Watched Parade When Street Cars Stopped.

“To catch the next car I ran down to Glenn street. On the car I met my wife’s cousin, Mr. Loeb. The car was blocked at the corner of Washington and Hunter streets. I walked up to Whitehall street and stood there possibly for fifteen minutes watching the Memorial Day parade.”

“As I walked down Whitehall street I met Miss Rebecca Carson. This was probably 3:10 or 3:15 o’clock. I greeted her and walked on. I stopped at Jacobs’ Pharmacy and walked on. I went from there to the factory.”

“When I reached there I went upstairs and let the boys know I had returned. A minute later, I returned to my office and started to work on the financial sheet.”

“In a few minutes the clock bell rang and Arthur White came into the office to borrow two dollars. It was while I was at work on the sheet at probably 4 o’clock that I went to the toilet.”

“As I returned toward the office, I noticed Newt Lee coming toward me from the head of the stairs. I told him he could go on off but to be sure and be back at 6 o’clock. I told him I was very sorry I could not let him know about the half holiday but that he was at liberty to enjoy himself as he saw fit, but that he must not fail to return at 6 o’clock.”

“The first night that Newt Lee went to work at the factory, I took him over the building, and stressed the fact that he must go into the basement, especially the dust bin every half hour.”

“I told him it would be part of his duties to watch the back door. He was to make a complete tour every half hour and punch the clock.”

“Now, I will return to the work of the financial sheet. This sheet contains the cost of all the pencils made that week. There are no names but this sample case will show you.”

Evidence Excluded But Jury Sees It.

Frank unfolded a sample case.

Dorsey: “We object to this being used as evidence.”

Judge Roan: “I sustain you.”

Frank placed the sample case to one side.

“Well,” he said, ” you got a sufficient glance at those pencils to see there was a great many.”

“In making up this sheet it was necessary to go through the list of all that were packed. Specials of course, have to be figured separately.”

“For instance, there is a special 60-60-x pencil known as Crackerjack.’ Now I notice that the two expert accountants reported two errors. While they were unimportant, I wish to explain that these errors were not mine. They were made by Mr. Schiff. I never checked his figures. I checked over mine, but not his.”

“Now the next is jobs.’ The accountant found the only error in my financial sheet there in the item jobs.’ It was not an error, as I will show you. He did not know my method of figuring.

“Two items here are totals. The total gross amount is 791 gross, the total value amount $396.75. In figuring the average I obtained $50.01. In that average he discovered an error. It was not an error. I simply did not go as far into the decimals as he did. One-tenth of a cent was close enough for my purpose.”

“Now some of the items in here are taken from the reports of the foremen of the different departments.”

Frank then exhibited a report from the foreman or forewoman of each department and explained it.

“Then there is the report of Mr. Schiff, showing the gross of pencils shipped each day of that week that week was an exceptionally heavy one.”

“Now there is a little report here that constitutes one of the most difficult calculations. It is from the packing room. We have a trick of the trade to put the pencils that do not sell very fast into fancy packages to make them go.”

“Now, very often these pencils are taken from the shelf, where they have laid for more than a year, and repacked in the fancy cases. I made all the calculations on this that afternoon, despite everything that has been said here to the contrary.

“Now here is a little sheet that deals with the grades of the pencils. It shows the totals for each class of pencils shipped that week. This data sheet—we have had very few clerks at the Forsyth street office capable of keeping it, because it requires rather advanced mathematics to reach the totals.”

“Now I will have to get all my thoughts on this sheet. It isn’t a hard job but it is a very tedious one and requires much care and accuracy. Here is rubber—cheap rubber and good rubber. Now it has been intimated that some of these items—this one in particular, if I am not mistaken—that I could take two that were already figured and subtract them from the total and get the cost of the third.

“That is not so. Some of the pencils haven’t any rubber in them at all. I have to go through the same tedious operation on each item. There are various sorts of packing boxes used. Then there are the skeletons in the boxes. Some pencils don’t have skeletons at all.

“All these items must be gone through accurately to get correct results of this sheet. Then there is no section on this data sheet showing the cost of tips. You can’t use rubbers without tips, so, after figuring them, I just added them to the rubbers.

“Some pencils take wrappers and some don’t. The very cheap pencils are tied with a cord, so we have the same tedious figuring again.

“The slat item is not worked out because I could not find the data. I just put it off until Monday.

“Here are the jobs—the payroll at Forsyth street and the payroll at Bell street.

“Now the shipments were figured for the week. I did part of that work in the morning and I explained to you about the invoices being wrong. Well, here are the items on this financial sheet. Then, as to the orders received. Entering the orders received that day involved no more work than transferring.

Has Own Method of Figuring Cost Data.

“Here they are in comparison the amount shipped.

“One of the most intricate things in making out this financial sheet is figuring the cost data. This sheet I may say is a child of my own brain. The first one gotten out was gotten out by myself.

“This item here gives us the net value and the net amount of money the pencil factory received for its pencils. The burden that a business has to carry is its fixed charges—rent, insurance, certain salaries, etc.—the charges that are the same whether great or few pencils are made.

“The machine shop is variable. We did make many machines at first, but later the machine shop was used solely for upkeep. The stats are figured at 22 a gross. That cost was simple multiplication.

“The figuring of that price is not done in making out the financial sheet Saturday afternoon. Mr. Montag and myself figure that in advance, making allowance for profit, breakage, etc.

“I have here on the report of April 26 ‘Slats, not complete;’ that was because Schiff had not made out the slat report, and I planned to complete it Monday morning before taking it to Montag.

“Now, beside the making this large sheet here and the financial sheet, there are three other sheets that I made out. Now, I want to call your attention to this. I did not typewrite it. I merely filled in the blanks. I have several of them typewritten and keep them in my desk.

“In addition to that I make out two condensed financial sheets, showing the principal figures. They are sufficient for a director or stockholder to see what the factory is doing.

Mailed Statements To Stockholders.

“One of these statemetns I mailed to my uncle, Mr. M. Frank, who is president of the company, and the other to Oscar Papenheimer, who was a director.

“I put one in an envelope and addressed it to Mr. Oscar Papenheimer; the other I sent to my uncle along with a price list, and I wrote him this letter.

“This price list is too long for an ordinary envelope, hence the large envelope.

“After finishing the financial sheet, I folded the large sheet and addressed it to Mr. Selig Montag. I then took up the checking up of hte cash and balancing of the cash book. I did that work as near as I remember, between 5:30 and 5 minutes to 6 o’clock. It did not take me an hour and a half. I did it in about 25 minutes. There was $30.54. There couldn’t have been any more. It was mostly in small change. There was one loan to Mr. White, making the total amount of cash $28.50.

“Beginning that week, we had $39.25 as a balance. We drew two checks of $15 each—I mean by that that we went to Mr. Montag’s office and had him draw the checks. The total amount of money we had to account for was 69.25. What it was spent for, of course, is shown on the debit side.”

Frank explained each of those items, including drayage, parcel post, etc.

“I found at the end a shortage of $4.34 coming about in payrolls within the last three months.”

Drinks Water After Talking Two Hours.

At this point Frank paused to take a drink of water having been talking for 2 hours and 30 minutes.

“I finished this work I have just outlined,” he continued, “at 5 minutes to 6 o’clock. I took those slips—I won’t show them to you—stamped April 28. They were put into the clock because no one was coming into the office until Monday.

“Newt Lee’s punches on Monday night would appear on the strip placed on the clock Monday night. Just before I left I put new tape in the clock and made Newt Lee punch it. Then he went on down stairs to wait and let me out.

“As I started out of the factory, I saw Newt Lee talking to a man named Gantt, who had been released about two weeks before, I gave them permission to go into the factory and get Gantt’s shoes which he said were left there and I told Newt Lee to go with him.

“I reached home at about 6:25 o’clock and at 6:30, thinking Newt Lee woudl be near the clock, I called him over, the phone to see if everything was all right. I could not get him. I called again at 7 o’clock and again at 7:30. At that time I got him and he told me everything was all right.

“That night my parents-in-law had company at the home. Those present were Mr. and Mrs. Marcus, Mrs. Goldstein, Mrs. M. Marx, Mrs. A. B. Marx, Mr. Ike Strauss—who came in at about 10 o’clock. I read a magazine until about 10:30 and then retired.”

Told Officer He Did Not Know Girl.

At this juncture the jury retired for five minutes.

Frank conferred with his attorneys while the jury was out. Upon its return he resumed:

“I believe I have taken in every move Saturday night. I retired Saturday night. Sunday morning about 7 o’clock I was awakend by the telephone ringing and a man’s voice which I afterwards found out to be Detective Starnes, said: ‘I want you to come down to the factory.’ ‘What is the trouble?’ I asked. ‘Has there been a fire?’ ‘No,’ he said. ‘A tragedy has occurred.’ I said, ‘All right,’ and he said he would send an auto.

“They came before I finished dressing. At this point I differ with the detectives, Black and Starnes, about where the conversation took place. They say it was after we were in the machine, I say it was before we left the house, before my wife. At any rate, here is what was said:

“They asked me if I knew Mary Phagan. I answered that I did not. They asked me if I did not pay off a little girl with long hair down her back the afternoon before. I said I did. They said they wanted me to go the undertaking establishment to see if I could identify the body. They made the trip to the undertaking establishment very quickly. I went in and stood in the doorway. The attendant removed the sheet from the little girl’s face and turned the head toward me. His finger was right by the cut on the head. I noticed her nostrils were filled with dirt and cinders and there were several discolorations. I noticed a piece of cord around her neck, the kind we used in the pencil factory. I said it looked like a little girl that came to the factory the day before. They had already told me it was Mary Phagan. We went to the factory and by examining the payroll I found that Mary Phagan had drawn her pay the day before and that the amount was $1.20.

“As we went into the factory I noticed Mr. Darley going in. We went to the office and I found Newt Lee in the custody of the officers. They told me they wanted to go down into the basement. I got the elevator key, but when I tried to start the elevator machinery I found I could not and I told Mr. Darley to see if he could start it.

Admits Nervousness And Defends Himself.

“He started the car, and when we got further down I found that one of the chains had slipped. They showed me where the body was found, where the shoe was found and pointed out everything that was at that time known. After looking about the basement we got some nails and a hammer, and Mr. Darley nailed up the back door. Back upstaris Mr. Darley, Chief Lanford and myself went on a tour of inspection of the three upper floors. We went through the metal room, the same metal room that has figured so prominently in this trial, and neither Mr. Darley nor myself noticed anything particular on that floor. Nor did Sergeant Lanford, chief of the Atlanta detective force.

“We went to the time clock. I took out the slip and a casual note of this ship would indicate nothing was on it. There was something on it. It had been partially rubbed out. It could not be rubbed out altogether without rubbing out the printed lines. I did write with a pencil across the face of it, ‘8:26 a. m.’ We noticed a slip but overlooked any skips. I folded the time slip as it is now and handed it to Chief Lanford. Now, gentlemen, I have heard a great deal during this trial about nervousness.

“I was nervous. I was completely unstrung. Imagine yourself called from sound slumber in the early hours of the morning, whisked through the chill morning air without breakfast, to go into that undertaking establishment and have the light suddenly flashed on a scene like that. To see that little girl on the dawn of womanhood so cruelly murdered—it was a scene that would have melted stone. Is it any wonder I was nervous?”

Notes Found by Dead Girl’s Body Described.

“I got in an automobile and sat on Mr. Darley’s knee. I was trembling, perhaps. Later Sunday morning, I went to the home of Mr. Sig Montag and told him what had occurred. I got home about 11 o’clock. My wife and I went over to my sister-in-law’s, Mrs. Ursenbach’s, and with a number of friends we discussed the tragedy.

“We went back home to dinner and mentioned there the terrible crime. After dinner I read a short time and about 10 minutes to 3 o’clock caught a car downtown.

“The conversation on the car was about the little girl that had been found dead in the factory. At 3:10 o’clock I went back to the undertaking establishment and found Joe Stelka there.

“On Monday I went to the police station with Darley and he said he would like to talk to Newt Lee alone. We were shown the two notes found by the side of the slain girl.”

Frank then described the notes.

“Now, on one of the notes there was an erasure, but the tracing was still discernible. It was January 11, 1912. The order number was very indistinct, but it was evidently an old serial number.

“Returning to my home at 4:15 I met Mr. Haas and he asked me about the murder. Several people on the street also asked me.

“I remained at home until 5 o’clock, then I went to Mr. Montag’s home and made a report of the tragedy to him. From there I went to the home of Mr. Marcus where I had received a telephone message from my wife, and I went by there to get her.

“At supper that night the conversation was again about the murder. After supper I read the paper. I called up Mr. Marcus and asked him if he would come down. He said he could not.

“Mr. and Mrs. Selig had a party that night. About 10 o’clock, my wife and I went up to bed. Next morning before I had finished dressing, the door bell rang. It was Detectives Black and Hazlett. They said they wanted me to go to the police station with them.

Kept in Ignorance of Charge Against Him.

“I went and on the way I asked them what was the trouble. They said Chief Lanford would tell me.

“I arrived at the police station and sat in an outer office for probably an hour without seeing Chief Lanford. Near 9 o’clock, Mr. Sig Montag and Mr. Herbert Haas came down. Near 10 o’clock I saw Mr. Rosser. He came in and said, ‘Hello boys, what’s the trouble.’

“Mr. Haas took him off to one side. Chief Lanford came out and said to me: ‘Come in here.’

“I went into his office. He handed me the time slips and if I am not mistaken this same time slip had the figures still unerased: ‘8:26 a. m.’

“I took the slip and examined it closely, discovering the slips. There seemed to be some altercation about Mr. Rosser getting into the room with me. I heard him say: ‘I am going into that room. That man is my client.’ Chief Beavers asked me if I would give him a statement.

“I heard Mr. Rosser say: ‘Why, it’s preposterous. The man who did that would have signs on his […]

ACCUSED DID NOT PEER INTO GIRLS’ DRESSING ROOM, WORKER SAYS

[…] body.” I jumped up and, opening my clothes, let the detectives see for themselves.

“I then gave them a statement, willingly and freely and without any reluctance. Then one of them said something about examining my linen at my home. I knew that none of it had gone to the laundry at that time and invited the detectives to make a search, which they did. Mr. Herbert Schiff went with them. They were very well satisfied with the search, or rather, they found nothing.

Employed Pinkertons To Aid the Police.

That afternoon I telephone Mr. Schiff to get Mr. Montag’s permission to employ the Pinkertons to aid the police. I told him I would be down about 3 o’clock.

“I went around to Mr. Wolfsheimers, got into his automobile and went downtown. I saw Mr. Schiff, Mr. Darley and a number of others, including Mr. Quinn.

“Mr. Quinn said he wanted to take me back to the metal room where it was claimed blood spots had been discovered and wheere the hair on the lathe was discovered by Mr. Barrett.

“I examined them closely, particularly the spots. I did not examine them standing up. I got down on my knees and examined them with a strong electric flashlight and I arrived at certain conclusions.

“That floor is grease, soap and dirt covered to a thickness varying from a quarter to half an inch.

“To return to that spot. I don’t claim it was not blood. The space where these spots were adjoins the ladies’ dressing room. There have been accidents which may not have been brought out in this trial. We do not report every time one of the employees cuts his finger.

“There are all sorts of paints around the factory. I have seen girls drop bottles in the hall, not exactly at that point, but near there. But the point about those spots is that when I examined them there was over them an accumulation of dirt not of days or weeks, but of at least three months.

Phoned to Prevent Alarm of Family.

“The white stuff was not fresh. It was dry. And another thing: If that compound had been put on the blood fresh, it would have been pink and not the white that it was.

“Now, when the Atlanta papers containing the statement that I was detained were published, I telegraphed Mr. A. R. Montag to communicate with my uncle that I was no longer; that I had been released. I did this because I knew they would be alarmed if they saw the sensational stories in the papers.

“Harry Scott of the Pinkertons came in and spoke to me in the presence of Mr. Darley. He said he had not read the newspapers. I told him all that had been published and in addition the statement that Mrs. White had seen a negro about 1 o’clock on the first floor.

“After I had told him all I knew, I took him over the factory. On the second floor I noticed was a piece of cord such as I learned had been found around Mary Phagan’s neck. I asked him as to the rates of the Pinkertons. He told me and I informed Mr. Montag, who approved them.

“Mr. Scott said that at it was the usual custom of the Pinkertons, he would work hand in hand with the police. I went home and found my family there and sat up until about 10 o’clock, when I went to bed.

Gave Officers All Information Wanted.

“Tuesday a. m. I arose between 7 and 7:30 and caught the 8:10 car. I remember I got to the factory at 8:30. I went right into my routine work and at 9:30 o’clock went on my regular trip to Montag’s. I then went back to the factory and to work again.

“After a while Detectives Black and Scott came and told me they wanted me to go to the station house. I went and I have been incarcerated since then.

“I went down in an automobile. They took me to Chief Lanford’s office. I answered all the questions they asked. In a few minutes, Detective Scott and Black came in with a bundle.

“They showed me a piece of material and asked me if I had a shirt like that. I told them I never had. They showed it to Newt Lee and they said he admitted having a shirt like that but declared he had never worn it.

“They then unfolded a bloody shirt.

“About 10 o’clock Mr. Rosser came down and said Chief Beavers thought it best for me to remain at the station, and they thought I might employ a supernumerary to avoid being locked up. I assented, because, of course, I could not do anything else.

“They wanted a sample of my handwriting. I told them I was willing. They dictated it word for word, spelling the unusual words. Detective Starnes took me down to the desk sergeant and searched me.

“I was locked up in a cell while my father-in-law was providing a supernumerary.

“The detectives came to me and said: ‘Mr. Frank, we would like to talk to you a little bit.’ We went into a little room and they stressed the possibility of a couple being let in the pencil factory at night. Then they said: ‘You talk to Lee. You are his boss. He will talk to you.’

“The detectives told me to go after him strong and tell him we would both go to hell. Detective Black said that.

“I went in and talked to Lee. I tried to get him to talk. I said: ‘Newt, you had better tell everything you know or you will get us both into trouble.’ He stuck to his statement that he had told the whole truth.

“Then the detectives came in and I was initiated to the Atlanta police department third degree for the first time. Detective Black went after that poor negro. He called him every vile name he could think of. He fairly streamed with profanity.

“I want to touch upon a few accusations that have been leveled against me, besides this crime. The first is that I would not talk to the detectives. Let us look into that and see if there is any truth in that. I went there Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and discussed the matter freely and openly. I gave them a written statement. I talked to them at midnight. I talked to Newt Lee at their instance. What did they do? They grilled him. They twisted my words. They put words into his mouth he never heard. After that, I said I washed my hands of them. They came to me again—Scott and Black. Black said: ‘We are suspicious of that man Darley. Now, open up and tell us all you know about him.’

Could Not Trust Even His Own Detectives.

“I said: ‘He is the soul of honor.’

“Come on, Scott; nothing doing,’ said Black.

“Then I knew I couldn’t trust even our own Pinkerton detectives. After that I treated them with silence. That is why I would not see Conley surrounded by a bevy of city detectives. They would distort; they would falsify. That is the reason I kept my silence.

“Now this second charge that I knew Conley could write. The same day that Conley was arrested I was taken to the Tower. There was nothing in the papers that said he could not write. The first thing I knew about it Harry Gottheimer came to see me on May 12 and told me the Pinkertons had turned suspicion toward Conley, but that he stood them down he could not write.

“I told him that I had received too many notes from Conley not to know that he could write. I told Harry that if they would look into the drawer of the safe in my office they would find a card with a jeweler’s name on it, and that if they would go to him he could probably show a contract that Conley had signed.

“Gentlemen, the first man that pointed out the way to prove Conley could write is sitting before you now.

“That other insinuation that is so dastardly that it is beyond the comprehension of a human being—that my wife didn’t come to see me—she was down stairs at the police station. Rabbi Marx was with me. I advised with him whether I should let her come up or not. We had to restrain her.

Brands Conley Tale As a Tissue of Lies.

“I know nothing of the murder of Mary Phagan. I never saw Jim Conley on that day.

“This man Dalton I never saw before this trial. He was never around the factory with Daisy Hopkins that I know of.

“Irene Jackson is mistaken. I have no recollection of ever looking in on the girls in the ladies dressing room when the girls were undressed.

“That room on the fourth floor has no bath. It is simply a place in which young ladies can change their outer clothing. I might have looked in to see that they were not loafing. I heard complaints about them flirting and I wanted to stop it.

“The statement of Jim Conley is a tissue of lies. He never saw me with any women.

“Conley’s statement about seeing me in improper positions with women is so vile that I have no words fit to denounce it.

“My father is notable to work. I have no relative of any means except my uncle in Atlanta.

“There is no fund raised to pay these attorneys. The fees are paid, but they were paid by sacrificing a portion of my family’s small estate.

“Gentlemen, some newspaper men have called me the silent man in the Tower. I was silent, but it was advisedly. The time to talk is now. The place is here, and I have told you the whole truth.”

Frank bowed slightly to the twelve men to whom he had addressed this remarkable statement and then stepped down from the stand. Court adjourned until 9 o’clock Tuesday morning.

Hapeville Episode Hinted by State.

That Frank rode on a street car to Hapeville with a girl the Saturday previous to the murder of Mary Phagan and repeatedly sought to persuade her to leave the car with him was the sensational testimony Solicitor Dorsey endeavored to get from Mrs. J. G. Wardlow Monday.

Anticipating the nature of the questions the Solicitor was about to ask Mrs. Rae Frank, mother of the defendant, stopped her ears with her fingers and then rushed from the room. Attorneys for Frank at first objected to the questions and the jury was excused
. It was at this moment that Mrs. Frank made her dramatic exit. She was evidently fearful of repeating her outburst of a few days ago.

Mrs. Wardlaw denied that she ever knew of such a circumstance. She denied as well that she had been told of it by Harmes Stanton or H. G. Backer, street car men.

Another sensation was created when the defense called to the stand Miss Emmeline Mayfield, the young woman whom the State maintains was in the dressing room when Frank looked in at one time. Miss Mayfield denied this was true.

Paving the way for the eagerly awaited statement of Frank, the lawyers for the defendant devoted Monday morning to the gathering up of the story ends of their case, most of the time being occupied with the testimony of character witnesses.

More than a score of women and girls employed in the National Pencil Company were called to tell what they knew of Frank’s character and what they had observed of this conduct about the factory. All asserted that they never had known personally of any misconduct on the part of the superintendent and never had heard of any.

Explains Looking Into Dressing Room.

Mrs. Mattie Thompson proved one of the most important of the character witnesses. After testifying to Frank’s good character, Mrs. Thompson declared that the girls on the fourth floor were in the habit at one time of flirting from the windows of the dressing room. She said that the practice became a matter of comment among the elder women on the fourth floor and that she finally took it upon herself to report it. Whereupon orders were issued against it.

The testimony of Mrs. Thompson was produced to provide a basis for the contention of the defense that Frank had opened the dressing room door on several occasions solely for the purpose of determining if his orders were being carried out.

Miss M. E. Fleming, a stenographer said that she worked in Frank’s office from April to December, 1912, and that she never had observed any misconduct on the superintendent’s part nor had seen women visiting his office.

Godfrey Winecoff superintendent of the lead plant of the National Pencil Company, testified that it was his custom to visit the pencil factory office every other Saturday afternoon about 3 o’clock. He said he always found Frank or Schiff, Frank’s assistant frequently both working in the office. He asserted he never saw any women there.

A large crowd was attracted to the courtroom by the probability that the prisoner would tell his story Monday, and the keenest expectancy prevailed. It was problematical whether there would be any cross-examination. Ordinarily, of course, the accused in a murder case merely makes his statement and the jury can believe it or discard it entirely as it chooses. It is said, however, that Frank has earnestly urged his lawyers to allow the Solicitor to cross-examine him.

When court reopened Monday Solicitor Dorsey took up the cross-examination of Harlee Branch, a reporter for the Atlanta Journal.

Took Conley 15 Minutes To Tell Crime Details.

Branch was asked.

“Can you give any estimate of the time taken in conversation in Conley’s re-enactment of the crime?” He replied that it took about fifteen minutes.

Q. You never said it was about half the total time, did you? A. I don’t recall.

Attorney Arnold took the witness.

Q. You said it took about fifteen minutes to cover the time lost in conversation? A. Yes.

Q. He began at 12:18 and you left at 1:08? That would be about 50 minutes that you were there? A. Yes.

Q. How long was he writing the notes? A. Two minutes at the most. He did not write fast or slow?

Q. How long did he stay in the wardrobe? A. About one minute.

Q. Did you see Conley in the newspapermen’s room here in this courthouse reading a newspaper since this trial began? A. I saw him looking at one as though he was reading it.

Mr. Branch was excused and Lou Castro, former ball player and at present fight promoter, was called as a witness by the defense to testify to time it took to walk certain distances.

Q. Did you walk from Marietta and Forsyth streets to the second floor of the pencil factory? A. Yes.

Q. How long did it take you? A. Four and one-half minutes.

Q. Did you walk from the National Pencil Company to the corner of Whitehall and Alabama streets? A. I did.

Q. How long did it take you? A. Three minutes and twenty seconds.

Q. Did you walk from Broad and Hunter streets to the Pencil Factory?

Employees of Factory Character Witnesses.

Miss M. E. Fleming was the next witness called. She is one of Frank’s former stenographers. She testified on direct examination that Frank’s character was good. Dorsey cross-questioned her.

Q. Were you ever there on Saturday? A. Yes

Q. How long did it take you? A. One and one-half minutes.

Q. On the day of the murder were you there Saturday afternoon? A. No, I was off then.

Q. Did you ever see Mr. Frank work on the financial sheet Saturday mornings? A. Yes, I saw him work on it a little.

Miss Fleming was excused and Godfrey Winecoff, superintendent of the lead plant of the pencil factory, took the stand.

Q. Did you visit the National Pencil factory on Saturdays between July 1, 1912 and May 1, 1913? A. Yes.

Q. What time? A. Three to 5 o’clock.

Q. How often? A. Almost every Saturday.

Q. Did you ever see women there in Frank’s office? A. No.

Q. Who was there? A. Frank, Holloway, Schiff and the office boy.

Dorsey took the witness on cross-examination.

Q. Are you sure Holloway was there at 3 o’clock? A. Yes.

The witness was excused, and Mrs. Mattie Thompson, an employee of the factory working on the fourth floor took the stand testified as to Frank’s good character. Arnold questioned her.

Q. Do you know anything about that dressing room on the fourth floor and the conduct of the girls there? A. I made a complaint about the girls flirting out of the window.

Dorsey took the witness on cross-examination.

Q. Who has talked to you in the last few days about what you were to swear on the stand here? A. Mr. Haas talked to me.

* * *

Atlanta Georgian, August 18th 1913, “Leo Frank Testifies,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

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

Atlanta Georgian
August 18th, 1913

The eyes of Leo Frank’s wife and his mother-in-law, Mrs. Emil Selig, were constantly upon him as he sat in the witness chair talking conversationally with the jurors. His mother seldom looked at him, maintaining her usual attitude, looking slightly downward and toward the judge’s bench.

Frank had been talking only 10 minutes when they unexpectedly was interrupted by a heated argument between the opposing attorneys over Frank’s explaining the time slips, including the one which the defense claims was taken from the time clock Sunday morning following the finding of Mary Phagan’s body.

Frank had mentioned the time slips and was undertaking to make an explanation of the manner they are used when Attorney Rosser called for the slips for Frank to explain before the jury.

Solicitor Dorsey made an instant objection, arguing that the slips had not yet been placed in evidence. All four of the principal attorneys interested in the case were on their feet at once, two and sometimes three of them, were talking at the same time.

Papers Withheld.

Judge Roan was compelled to caution them to proceed parliamentarily. His r
uling was that Frank might refer to them as much as he pleased, but that he must not go before the jury with them until they had been properly identified and offered for evidence. The same situation developed when Frank sought to explain the details of his work by means of papers and records of his office. He was allowed to sit in his chair and refer to them but not to exhibit them to the jurors.

Fearless and Direct.

Frank talked to the jurors directly and fearlessly. There was no trace of uncertainty in his voice or in his manner. He appeared exacty as though he were in an informal conference with some persons interested in the factory and was outlining his duties and leading up to some particular incident that had engaged their attention and interest.

He was entirely at ease. He assumed an easy pose in his chair, gestured frequently as he proceeded with his narrative, and occasionally changed his position. His hands most of the time were clasped in front of him, except when he illustrated a point with an unconscious gesture. He found it necessary often to adjust his glasses which seemed not to fit him perfectly.

Tells Complete Story.

He touched only briefly on his early history, telling merely of his place of birth, his career in school and college, his short business experience after his graduation and finally his coming to Atlanta in 1908 to take charge of the National Pencil Factory.

He began with Friday, August 25, the day before the crime and recounted his movements almost minute by minute. Coming to the fatal Saturday, he told of leaving his home, reaching his office, talking with his employees and taking up the work of the day.

He was given orders, records, acknowledgement of orders, record sheets, financial sheets and all the other minute details that are involved in the work of the office. Those that had been submitted in evidence he took before the jury and explained at length and in detail the amount of work required in getting these out.

His Own Best Witness

Notebook in hand, Solicitor Dorsey took a seat almost directly in front of Frank, but this appeared to disturb the prisoner not in the least.

Through the major share of the remarkable address, with its clear-cut statements and explanations, there was little or no attempt at oratory, but the speech was unquestionably a most eloquent argument. As had been prophesied, Frank was his own best witness.

* * *

Atlanta Georgian, August 18th 1913, “Frank Makes His Own Best Witness Telling Direct Detailed Story,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

The complete Leo Frank Trial Brief of Evidence from 1913 is now fully uploaded to Minds.com and is fully available to view with a free Minds account. You can find the full archive on the Crime Time Capsule channel at www.minds.com/crimetimecapsule.

This collection contains the full and official Trial Brief of Evidence from July through August 1913, originally presented in the Fulton County Superior Court Annex in Atlanta, Georgia. The entire record has been published as 202 narrated transcript clipping video segments, preserving the verbatim testimony and courtroom proceedings exactly as they were heard by the jury. Taken together, this material represents one of the most important primary sources for understanding the Leo Frank case in its original legal context.

The archive can be accessed here: Crime Time Capsule on Minds, www.minds.com/crimetimecapsule.
Please note that while the content is free, you must create a free Minds account to view the full series of 202 clipping videos.

Minds was chosen intentionally. It presents itself as a platform committed to First Amendment principles and open discussion. In the past, whenever newly transcribed Leo Frank legal records were published on my independent websites, those sites were quickly targeted by repeated denial of service attacks and hacking attempts. These incidents often originated from foreign IP addresses and resulted in servers being knocked offline or compromised. The clear pattern suggested an effort to prevent the public from examining the trial record in full.

Those attacks reinforced an important point. When fair minded readers are allowed to study the original evidence, testimony, and legal arguments for themselves, they may reach conclusions similar to those reached by the jurors in 1913 and by the Georgia Supreme Court in 1914. That court explicitly affirmed that the evidence presented at trial was sufficient to support Leo Frank’s conviction.

To prevent future disruption, the project has shifted toward diversification, distribution, and decentralization. Rather than relying on a single website, the official trial documents, transcripts, audiobooks, and clipping videos are now distributed across free speech oriented platforms that are more resistant to coordinated suppression. Minds offers a stable environment where the full Brief of Evidence can remain accessible without interference.

The trial testimony itself unfolded between Monday, July 28, 1913, and Thursday, August 21, 1913. Closing arguments began on August 21 and concluded at midday on August 25. Later that same afternoon, the jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty. On August 26, 1913, Judge Leonard Strickland Roan formally affirmed the verdict and sentenced Leo Max Frank to death by hanging. The execution was delayed as Frank’s attorneys pursued a lengthy series of appeals that extended the case for nearly two years.

If you want to study these records for yourself, you can watch all 202 narrated segments of the Leo Frank Trial Brief of Evidence by visiting Crime Time Capsule on Minds at www.minds.com/crimetimecapsule. A free Minds account is required to access the full archive.

This release represents one of the most complete public presentations of the trial’s primary evidence ever assembled. Its purpose is simple. Preserve the record. Make it accessible. Allow independent study beyond censorship, suppression, or selective quotation.

If you would like to support this work, I invite you to purchase the 2025 second revised and expanded edition of The Murder of Little Mary Phagan, now available on Amazon. Each copy helps fund ongoing transcription, digitization, and preservation of historical material connected to this case. These efforts are aimed at ensuring future generations can examine the original legal record in full, rather than relying on summaries or interpretations.

Permission has been granted by Mary Phagan Kean to repost her statement from X regarding this project.

#Minds #LeoFrank #LeoFrankTrial #MaryPhagan #TrialTranscript #FultonCounty #Atlanta #Georgia #TrueCrime #CrimeTimeCapsule

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

Atlanta Journal
August 17th, 1913

Defense Has Attacked the State’s Case at Every Point, Considering No Detail Too Small to Raise a Reasonable Doubt Against It.

When the third long week of the trial of Leo M. Frank ended Saturday afternoon 203 witnesses had taken the oath and told the jury what they knew of the circumstances surrounding Atlanta’s greatest tragedy, the murder of Mary Phagan in the National Pencil factory on Memorial day, April 26. Of these witnesses thirty-four had testified for the state and 169 for the defense and among them all only one directly connects the factory superintendent with the crime. Jim Conley, the negro factory sweeper, is Frank’s accuser. He not only accuses the superintendent of murder, but adds the charge of perversion and it is through this charge that the state hopes to show a motive for the crime.

Center of Attack

Much of the most determined work done by the defense during the third week, just finished, has been concentrated upon the testimony given by H. F. Harris, secretary of the state board of health, and upon the testimony of C. B. Dalton, both of whom were introduced by the prosecution.

In attacking Dr. Harris’ testimony, the defense introduced several physicians who characterized Dr. Harris’ conclusion as guesses and said that they attached no importance to them and believed them to be without scientific foundation. It will be remembered that Dr. Harris’ testimony fixed the time of Mary Phagan’s death, in the opinino of the witness, at not more than 45 minutes after she ate her last meal of cabbage and bread at home and started for town to meet her death. This was based upon the stage of digestion attained by the contents of her stomach and arrested by death.

Dr. Harris testified further regarding other details which had convinced him that violence of some nature was inflicted upon the girl, and that she was rendered unconscious from the blow upon the back of her head, being choked to death later by cord around her neck. The defense assailed each of the conclusions, combating most vigorously the one that Mary Phagan was killed within a specified number of minutes after her last meal.

Witnesses from Walton county were introduced one after another to swear that they know C. B. Dalton and that they would not believe him on oath. Dalton’s own experiences with the criminal law were revealed, the defense lawyers securing his admissions of them. Dalton’s testimony was menacing to the defense because it purported to corroborate in incidental particulars the general story told by Jim Conley—whose evidence is the center of the whole attack by the defense.

Points at Issue

The state has sought to prove that Mary Phagan met her death in the metal room on the second floor of the pencil factory before 1 o’clock on April 26.

The defense has sought to refute this with testimony that it is impossible to determine the hour in which the girl died, and that there are chances that she met her death in another part of the building.

The state clings to the theory that the girl was struck on the head, rendered unconscious by falling against a piece of machinery, then was strangled to death by a cord.

The defense has put its witnesses up to testify that the wound on the back of the dead girl’s head may not have caused unconsciousness and that the manner in which she met death is a question which possibly no physician can answer correctly.

The state has sought to prove that Frank was the last person to see the girl alive. So far nothing has developed in the trial to show that the girl was seen after she drew her pay from the factory superintendent.

By the testimony of Monteen Stover, who swore that she found Frank’s office vacant at 12:05 o’clock on the afternoon of the tragedy, and waited five minutes, and left then without having seen or heard anyone, the state got before the jury the allegation that just after Mary Phagan was supposed to have entered the factory neither she nor the factory superintendent was seen around the office by the witness. On this too the defense directed a heavy attack, introducing witnesses who swear they saw Mary Phagan get off a trolley car as late as 12:10—thus tending to make immaterial Frank’s absence from his office while Monteen Stover was there.

The state has produced a witness (Conley) who says he heard a girl scream after Mary Phagan entered the factory, but this same witness says that Mary entered ahead of Monteen Stover, and the latter swears she entered at 12:05, and then too according to the defense’s witness Mary Phagan was seen outside of the factory after that time.

The state has sought to prove that violence was done the girl before her death. The defense has put its experts on the stand to swear that testimony that violence was done is only guess work; and many well known Atlantians witnesses have testified to the good character of Frank.

The state has sought to prove that when Frank went about to get lunch on the day of the tragedy he left immediately without eating, but the defense produces witnesses who swear that Frank remained in his home at least forty minutes at that time.

The state has sought to prove that the accused was very nervous on the day, following the tragedy, and that has admitted by the defense; like defense has put up witnesses who swear that Frank was not nervous on the night of the tragedy and did not become so until he was informed by the detectives that a girl had been murdered in his place of business.

Attack Is General

In every detail, no matter how minute, the defense had attacked the state’s case against Leo M. Frank. No particular been considered too small to the efforts of Attorneys Arnold and Rosser to a responsible doubt against it if they could and no particular had been too small for Solicitor Dorsey and his assistant Attorney Hooper to permit an attack upon it to go unchallenged and unresisted. From one angle then another, the defense aligned its bombardment, and at one angle then another, state’s attorneys have striven to fend off any damage in their case, impugning a witness when they could, striving to ridicule him or her, endeavoring to show interest, excessive for Frank, or other controlling motive have been on guard at every argument against the determined onslaughts of the attorneys for the accused.

Week’s Developments

Whether the defenses continued its attack on the testimony given by Dr. H. F. Harris that Mary Phagan died within a half or three quarters of an hour after calling for midday lunch and that there were evidences of violence immediately preceding death. Dr. Leroy Childs began the attack on the evidence of the secretary of the state board of health on Saturday week, and on Monday Drs. George Bachman, Willis Westmoreland, T. H. Hancock and J. C. Olmstead testified and were followed and substantiated on Wednesday by Dr. W. S. Kendrick.

In nearly every instance where a physician testified for the defense the testimony, or parts of it, as given by Dr. Harris was refuted. When the evidence give by the physicians for the defense is boiled down to an essence, it is up to the effect that in their opinion the statements by Dr. Harris that the girl died within the time limit set by him is but a mere guess, and that his testimony that violence preceded death is a second guess.

The jury heard medical testimony that it could be impossible for any physician to examine cabbage from the stomach of any patient and state the correct length of time the food had remained in the stomach. To substantiate this, several jars of partially digested cabbage taken from the stomach of several patients were exhibited to the jury with the statements of a physician that no one could tell exactly how long any of the exhibits had remained in the stomach.

Was Violence Committed?

Some of the evidence given by these physicians termed Dr. Harris’ statements that violence had been committed on the girls shortly before as a mere guess. It was testified that the distended condition of the blood vessels might have resulted from numerous causes.

It will be recalled that Dr. Harris testified that he examined parts of the body after nine days after death, and that Dr. J. W. Hurt, the coroner’s physician, testified he had made an examination prior to that by Dr. Harris. The jury was told that the first examination might have caused the conditions noted under microscope by the state board of health’s secretary. As to the distended condition of the blood vessels, it was testified that the injection of the examining fluid and several other causes might have produced the same conditions.

That Frank’s work on the financial sheet, which it has been testified required expert work running into decimals, could not have been done by any one committing such a crime as is charged to the factory superintendent immediately following the commitment, and the is to quote by the testimony of expert who were put on the stand. Joel Hunter, the last witness to inquiry Monday, gave his opinion that the work does on the made out on April 26 was the work of Leo M. Frank, and in substance was correct.

Dalton’s Story Eliminated

Twenty-two witnesses took the stand on Tuesday and six of them gave testimony impeaching C. B. Dalton, one of the witnesses put up by the State to corroborate Jim Conley in his testimony that he frequently acted as lookout for Frank on Saturdays and holidays when women visited the superintendent at the factory. Dalton was pictured by the witnesses as anything but a truthful witness. His past was exposed in the news and when he himself was recalled to the stand admitted portions of the testimony derogatory to his character.

These witnesses against Dalton were brought to Atlanta by the defense from places where Dalton had formerly lived. They told of his indictment by a grandy jury of a for a certain crime and stated that they would not believe him under oath. Dalton, it will be remembered, was expected to prove a strong witness for the state in its corroboration of the negro’s story. He admitted visiting the factory after work hours with certain women employees of the place and stated in the jury that Frank frequently had women visitors at the time he made his visits. His impeachment by witnesses from his further homes, eliminates, to a certain extent, his testimony as material.

The defense scored again on Tuesday when Miss Magnolia Kennedy was on the stand. Her testimony refuted that given by Helen Ferguson that she asked for Mary Phagan’s pay on the Friday before the murder and it was refused. Miss Kennedy works in the pencil factory and declares that she knew both Mary Phagan and Helen Ferguson. She told the jury that she followed the Ferguson girl to the pay window and that nothing was said about Mary Phagan’s pay. She also declared that she went out of the factory immediately behind Helen Ferguson and both walked on down the street in the same direction.

Cook Denies Affidavit

Minola McKnight, the negro cook in the Selig home where Mr. and Mrs. Frank live was also on the stand Tuesday and denied the truthfulness of her affidavit made to the police concerning the notions of the aroused immediately following the tragedy. The negroes declared that she had been forced to sign the paper and that most of the allegations were false.

Mr. and Mrs. Emil Selig, the father and mother-in-law of the secured, took the stand in defense of the factory superintendent on Tuesday and corroborated the statement made by Frank to the coroner concerning his moves on the day of the tragedy before and after the hour in which the girl met her death. They denied any knowledge of certain matters mentioned in the Minola McKnight affidavit, reflecting on the behavior of the accused on the Saturday of the tragedy and Sunday following.

Charles W. Bernhardt and Henry Wood were called to the stand to tell the results of their examinations of the Selig home and explain the blue prints of the home to the jury. Albert McKnight, husband of the Selig cook, had stated that he was sitting in the kitchen and saw Frank enter the dining room on the afternoon of the tragedy, go to the sideboard and leave without eating. According to export testimony it would be impossible for any one sitting in the kitchen at the point where the McKnight negro claims he was sitting to see the parts of the dining room as testified by him.

Character Evidence

On Wednesday the defense put the character of the accused to issue and no sooner had the character evidence started well when the real evidence started well when the real sensation of the week occurred in the court room. It was Frank’s mother, Mrs. Rae Frank, of Brooklyn, N. Y. who startled judge, jury, counsel, and spectators by shouting her denunciation of Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey when he asked a question of a character witness reflecting strongly on the character of the defendant.

John Ashley Jones, an insurance man, had been put up by the defense and had just told the court that after investigation, his company had found the character of the accused man to be good. When the solicitor began his cross-examination he asked several questions concerning the investigation made by the insurance company and then began a series of questions, all of which the witnesses answered to the negative, but caused the jury to lean forward and caused the mother of the accused man to give the so indignation by of denial, of a certain question the witness on the stand could answer in the negative.

The solicitor asked the witness if he never heard of Frank’s familiarity with little girls around the factory. To this Mrs. Rae Frank shouted: No, and you haven’t either!” Following new outrage, she left the room.

The solicitor used the names of several with whom he intimated the factory superintendent had been familiar. He is expected to call them in rebuttal to the witnesses who have testified for the state.

Can Dorsey Supply Link?

What evidence the solicitor has to use in rebuttal is indicated only by his questions to the witness Jones and by the sudden appearance in Atlanta of the former inmate of the Home of the Good Shepherd, in Cincinnati, in company with the police matron. The only evidence derogatory to the accused’s character was given by the negro Jim Conley who charged perversion to the factory superintendent. While the state was having its innings no evidence was given to corroborate this charge because the character of the defendant had not then been put in by the defense. Now that the defense put up witnesses to prove the accused’s good character, the state can put up testimony to prove the contrary.

It is understood that the solicitor will call the girl, who has just returned from Cincinnati, and other witnesses, who will be ready to blast the character of the defendant if they are asked the questions by the defendant’s own counsel.

Judge Roan permitted the solicitor to ask defense witnesses questions reflecting on Frank’s character Wednesday, and on Thursday refused a request of the accused’s counsel to have the questions stricken from the secured. The trial judge held that the prosecutor had a right to question character witnesses as to whether they had heard certain things derogatory to the defendant’s character.

Frank’s Story Corroborated

On Thursday the defense put up witnesses which by their testimony, accounted for the presence of Frank at almost every hour during the day of the tragedy. The story of his movements as he told it to the corner immediately after the murder was fully corroborated. He was trailed from his home in the morning to the factory, from his office over to Montag’s offices and back to the factory; from his office to where he took a car, and from the time he stepped from the car in front of his home until he left again to less than an hour. He was also seen on Whitehall street after getting off the car on his return to the office for his afternoon’s work.

The members of the card club whose party was being given at the Selig home on the night of the tragedy took the stand and accounted for his presence that night. The state has proven, and to a certain extent it is admitted by the defense, that Frank was nervous on Sunday after being informed of the murder. The state contends that this was the nervousness of a guilty man, while the defense contends that under the same circumstances most anyone would have been very much agitated.

Those who attended the card party on the night of April 26 declare that Frank was his natural self; that his actions indicated anything but nervousness, and that he sat in the hall and read for at least two hours during there visit to the Selig home. By this testimony the defense hopes to show that Frank had no knowledge of the crime until informed by the detectives and consequently not nervous until after he learned that a little girl had been slain in the factory of which he was superintendent.

Court Records Broken

When Thursday’s morning session of the trial exposed all court records for Georgia had been broken. The testimony from Wednesday night amounted to 600,000 words, enough matter to fill 500 columns of newspaper print.

One feature of the developments which stands out significantly in the loyalty of the defendant’s classmates from Cornell. Several of the young men who attended college with him came from their homes in the east to testify to his good character. With them came two professors at the university.

Friday was taken up with testimony by Atlantians hearing on the good character of Frank and by evidence given by factory employee against the character of Jim Conley, the negro who accuses Frank of the crime and who admits having disposed of the body after the girl’s death.

Members of Conley’s own race declared that they would not believe the negro on oath, that he could not be trusted and that from what they knew little dependence could be put in what he said. White women who knew both the negro and Frank told the jury that the negro was unreliable and that from what they knew Frank’s character was good.

Forty-one witnesses, many of them prominent Atlantians, bore testimony to Frank’s good character on Friday and were followed on the stand by the accused’s own mother. Mrs. Rae Frank, of Brooklyn, occupied the chair Friday afternoon and resumed it Saturday. Nothing of great interest was developed and resumed it Saturday. Nothing of great interest was developed by her testimony except that portion referring in the letter which her son wrote up the day of the tragedy and mailed to his uncle in New York. This letter was introduced as evidence. Its contents referred to Memorial day and to grand opera, in Atlanta.

Saturday’s Testimony

Fifteen girls who work or have worked in the pencil factory were on the witness stand Saturday and of the number, only one cast a slur on the character of the factory superintendent. Miss Irene Jackson, the daughter of Policeman A. W. Jackson, who has quit the employ of the factory since the murder, while under cross-examination declared that Frank had looked into the dressing room of the factory while some of the girls were in only half attire.

Solicitor Dorsey made an attack on the Pinkerton detectives Saturday while W. D. McWorth, one of the agency’s men was testifying concerning a bloody bludgeon found in the factory. The solicitor charged that the Pinkertons had not worked in harmony with the city police and held withheld evidence from them. Harlee Branch, a Journal reporter, was the last witness on the stand and court adjourned while he was under the solicitor’s examination. He told of Jim Conley’s re-enactment of the tragedy in the presence of detectives and newspaper men.

[Below is a transcription of this article’s inset]

A MILLION WORDS OF TESTIMONY

The trial of Leo M. Frank, charged with the murder of Mary Phagan, is believed to have broken at least three records in criminal prosecution in the south.

More witnesses have been called than in any other case on record, more actual time has been taken up in hearing testimony, and the transcript of evidence is the most voluminous, so far as known, ever taken in a criminal court south of the Mason and Dixon line.

When court adjourned Saturday afternoon thirty-four witnesses had been called by the state and 169 by the defense, a total of 203; for three weeks the jury had listened to testimony, having spent approximately 115 1-2 hours in court; and the evidence transcribed by the stenographers exceeded 875,000 words.

It is considered likely that before the end of the trial nearly 300 witnesses will have been called and the transcript will total considerably more than a million words.

One of the most remarkable features of the trial is the way in which the court stenographers have taken down the testimony. The defense, anticipating the need of having a copy of the official record in their possession as quickly as possible after a witness’ testimony has been taken down, engaged two extra stenographers to work with the two regular court reporters of the county. The four work in relays. One will “take” for an hour. He will then be relieved, and while another is writing down the questions of the attorneys and the answers of the witnesses he is either typing from his notes or reading from them into a dictophone. In the latter event an assistant takes the testimony as it is dictated by this device.

In this way the defense is able at any time to refer immediately to any part of the testimony which has already been given in the trial.

* * *

Atlanta Journal, August 17th 1913, “Summary of Frank Evidence at End of Week,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

Atlanta Journal
August 17th, 1913

While Defense Has About Forty Character Witnesses, It’s Not Believed That Their Testimony Will Take More Than One Day, and Frank Himself Will Probably Tell His Self to the Jury Some Time Tuesday.

REBUTTAL EVIDENCE WILL TAKE TWO DAYS AND THE ARGUMENTS OF ATTORNEYS TWO MORE

This Will Put the Case In the Hands of the Jury at the End of the Week – All Interest is Now Centered in the Witnesses That the Solicitor Will Put on the Stand In an Effort to Break Down Fine Character Showing Made by Frank.

The present week will see the end of the trial of Leo M. Frank charged with the murder of Mary Phagan, all attorneys connected with the case believe.

Counsel expect to conclude the young factory defense certainly before the end of Tuesday morning’s and probably during the day Monday.

Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey says that he expects to be longer than two days is introducing testimony is rebuttal. With two days for the arguments this will mean that the fate of Frank will be in the hands of twelve jurors by Saturday. The length of the Frank trial, which has passed through its third week, long ago broke all records for criminal cases in Georgia. While many, civil cases run over a much longer period of time, few if any equal the Frank trial, which has passed through its third week, long ago broke all records for criminal cases in Georgia. While many, civil cases run over a much longer period of time, few if any equal the Frank trial in the matter of straight testimony delivered on the stand. The official court reporter, Judge H. L. Parry, states that his record showed 375,000 words. Judge Parry is working court reporters in relay and typing the evidence as rapidly as possible. The record now shows over 3,000 typewritten legalese pages.

Interest in the trial centers largely in the rebuttal testimony, which will be offered by the state. Approximately fifty witnesses have been summoned by the solicitor general to give rebuttal testimony at the trial, and according to rumors some of the testimony will be sensational. The solicitor has indicated by questions to witnesses that he has under subpoena a girl, who will testify that two weeks prior to the tragedy Frank made advances to Mary Phagan, and that she was forced to beg him, to leave her alone. Much mystery surrounds the probable testimony of Dewey Howell, who was brought here from the Home of the Good Shepard to Cincinnati to be a witness.

The greater number of the rebuttal witnesses have been called as character witnesses and they can only say that they consider Frank’s general character good or bad, unique, then are asked about defense.

The statement of Leo M. Frank will be one of the big features at the trial next week. Despite the fact that there is little that can be added to the detailed statement of his movements on the day of the tragedy made at the coroner’s inquest, there is much interest manifested in the account which the young superintendent will give of his life.

NO WRITTEN STATEMENT.

While he will have a number of notes to which he will, it is said that Frank will probably not have a written statement, but will tell his story largely from memory.

Little said to be left in the defense’s case except Frank’s statement. According to well established reports W. H. Mincey, who claims that Conley made a confession to him, will not be put upon the stand.

While the defense will probably place about forty more witnesses on the stand practically all of them, it is said, will be factory employees who will testify to the good character of the defendant, and go to the character of his chief accuser, the negro Conley.

The putting of Frank’s character in issue, which has greatly increased the length of the trial, is the result of Frank’s own request, according to a well authenticated rumor.

Frank knew that his character could only be put in issue by his own lawyers, and they, it is said, put the matter up to him, and he requested that they let down the bars, declaring that the state could prove nothing against him.

DEFENSE NOT DISTURBED.

Despite the statement of Solicitor General Dorsey that he had several “high-class ladies” who attack Frank’s character, it is said that attorneys for the defendant are satisfied that no credible testimony will be offered against Frank’s character.

Frank has stood the three weeks of the trial well, and is ready and anxious, it is said, for a chance to tell his own story.

* * *

Atlanta Journal, August 17th, 1913, “Frank Should Know Fate Before the Week Passes is Opinion of Attorneys,” Leo Frank case newspaper article series (Original PDF)

The Murder of Little Mary Phagan

Phagan-Kean, Mary

Buy Now

by Claire Randall

WITH OVER 500 pages, more than twice the length of the first (1987) edition, the newly-revised and expanded second edition of The Murder of Little Mary Phagan is now available for purchase via the link on www.LittleMaryPhagan.com

The author, Mary Phagan-Kean, states: “This book is the great work of my lifetime, a compelling personal journey, a tale of the shocking sex murder and abuse of my great-aunt, 13-year-old Mary Phagan — and it’s the story that the ADL and other shadowy forces don’t want you to read.”

This is the monograph that finally, and definitively brings the truth about the murder of Mary Phagan by her killer, sweatshop boss and B’nai B’rith official Leo Frank, to light. It’s available now! Click the link or scan the QR code to get your copy at a discount price today.

by Alexander Sullivan

In a rare and deeply personal interview, Mary Phagan-Kean, the grand-niece and namesake of Mary Phagan, shared her family’s perspective, her personal journey, and why she remains firmly convinced of Leo Frank’s guilt.

Mary Phagan’s murder at the National Pencil Company in Atlanta set off a chain of events that would culminate in Leo Frank’s conviction, a contentious commutation of his sentence, and ultimately, a lynching by a group of vigilantes. Over a century later, her descendant Mary Phagan-Kean is determined to make sure her family’s voice is heard in a narrative that she says has been distorted by powerful forces.

A Silence Broken at Thirteen

Mary Phagan-Kean first learned of her infamous namesake at the age of 13 in a Charleston, South Carolina classroom. When her science teacher asked whether she was related to the murdered girl from Atlanta, it was the first time she’d ever heard of the story. Traumatized and confused, she took the question home to her father, who turned pale with shock. The family had kept a vow of silence—so strict that even Mary’s mother, who had been married to her father for 14 years, was unaware of the case.

“He told me Leo Frank was a sexual pervert who murdered little Mary Phagan,” she recalled. “That’s all he told me at the time.”

It wasn’t until she moved back to Atlanta at 15 that the full weight of her legacy hit her. On the first day of school at Shamrock High in DeKalb County, every single one of her teachers asked if she was related to Mary Phagan. “It was shocking. I thought I’d never be asked that question again—but all my life, I’ve been asked that question.”

A Lifelong Investigation

Her father eventually encouraged her to investigate the case on her own terms. “He told me to go read everything, form my own opinion, and that the family would help me along the way.”

Thus began a decades-long journey of personal research and collecting. Mary dove into archives, books, court documents, and original newspaper reports. Over the years, she amassed a collection spanning 57 years, which she recently donated to the Georgia State Library. Her goal: to ensure that the “other side” of the story was not lost.

“I was stunned when I learned that a rabbi was donating a collection supporting Leo Frank’s innocence,” she said. “I knew then that I needed to make sure our side was preserved too. There are always two sides to a story.”

Questioning the Narrative

Phagan-Kean expressed concern about how the Leo Frank case has been portrayed over the years, particularly by powerful institutions such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). “They rewrote history,” she asserted. “They turned Leo Frank into a victim and ignored what happened to my family.”

She referred to her careful reading of period sources, including trial summaries, newspaper articles that included question and answers from the trial and the “brief of evidence” that survives in place of a now-missing transcript. She emphasized that the early books on the case presented both sides fairly, particularly citing Guilty or Not Guilty by Francis X. Busch. In contrast, she found later works such as A Little Girl is Dead and A Night Fell on Georgia to be misleading and agenda driven.

When Alonzo Mann, a former office boy, came forward in 1982 with claims that he had seen janitor Jim Conley moving Mary’s body—claims used by some to suggest Frank’s innocence—Phagan-Kean was skeptical. She argued that this “new evidence” was not convincing and had too many discrepancies when weighed against the detailed court reports and media coverage of the time.

Family Opposition to the Pardon

Mary Phagan-Kean took an active stance in opposing efforts to posthumously pardon Leo Frank. She reached out to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles when she learned that a group, including members of the ADL, was applying for the pardon without the family’s knowledge. One board member, Michael Wing, was unaware that close relatives of Mary Phagan were still living.

Eventually, in 1983, the Board denied the pardon, stating they could not determine guilt or innocence. However, in 1986, a surprise announcement was made: Frank was granted a posthumous pardon—without addressing his guilt or innocence.

Phagan-Kean viewed this as a betrayal. “It was all done in secret. We were kept in the dark again,” she said. “It was all orchestrated by backroom deals, including by people like Governor Roy Barnes and Rabbi Lebow. I’m calling them out in my new book.”

Continuing the Fight for the Truth

Despite the passage of time and repeated portrayals of Frank as a victim of antisemitism, Phagan-Kean remains resolute. She acknowledged that antisemitism is a serious issue but rejects the idea that it was the motive behind Frank’s conviction.

“To me, the racism in this case was more directed at Jim Conley, an African-American man who was treated horrifically by both sides. But the real issue is that Leo Frank had a fair trial, and there was strong evidence against him.”

Her upcoming book, a revised edition with 16 new chapters, is set to address what she calls “hoaxes and misinformation,” including media portrayals such as the NBC miniseries that aired in 1987. She claimed the dramatization was riddled with falsehoods, including fabricated scenes that never occurred.

The Legacy of Mary Phagan

The Phagan family has remained protective of their ancestor’s legacy. When the city of Marietta, where Mary is buried, sought to mark her grave with signage for historical tourism, her father refused. “She already has a beautiful marble grave,” Phagan-Kean said. “We don’t need a marker. We don’t want this to be a sideshow.”

Now, at 70 years old, Phagan-Kean says she speaks out only when asked and doesn’t lead with her connection. “You have to ask me about it. I don’t go around introducing myself as the grand-niece of Mary Phagan.”

Yet, when asked, she speaks with a clarity forged over decades of painful discovery, independent research, and unwavering commitment to what she sees as the truth.

“My only goal is for the truth to win again,” she said. “This isn’t about hate. It’s about facts. And those facts have been buried long enough.”

by Dale Bennett

ON THIS, the 112th anniversary of the rape and strangulation murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan by her sweatshop boss — and Atlanta B’nai B’rith president — Leo Max Frank, let us remember her young life and reflect on the massive Jewish propaganda machine that has been attempting to whitewash her killer’s reputation for more than a century.

Besides the victim, Mary Phagan, there were five people in the National Pencil Company building when she was killed on 26 April 1913. We know that four of them didn’t do it. That leaves Leo Frank.

110 years later, the ADL is still trying to frame the janitor, Jim Conley, for Mary Phagan’s murder: How likely is it that Conley, a Black man—in 1913 Georgia—would rape and kill a White girl just a few feet from the unlocked glass-paneled front entrance door of the National Pencil Company, where people were coming and going all day, right at the foot of an open staircase at the top of which was Leo Frank’s open office door? Preposterous.

Leo Frank was elected the Atlanta B’nai B’rith president of the Gate City Lodge #144 in 1912 and his Summer of 1913 conviction for the rape and strangulation-murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan had galvanized B’nai B’rith HQ to found the ADL less than two months after the fact.

Even though Leo Frank was convicted in late August 1913, in September 1913 his 500-member Independent Order of B’nai B’rith fraternal organization in Georgia voted unanimously (see Atlanta Constitution, September 24, 1913 at leofrank.info) to re-elect him their president. So while Leo Frank was incarcerated in the city jail as his appeals were wending their way through the appellate courts, he was running the affairs of this powerful Atlanta Jewish group like a powerful mafia boss behind bars until the Autumn of 1914. He was not re-elected once the affidavits, testimony, and evidence of the Leo Frank Georgia Supreme Court records were revealed to the public (available at the Internet Archive and leofrank.info).

A must-read on the topic is “100 Reasons Leo Frank Is Guilty” from the American Mercury, and another important source every student of the case must read are the contemporary works of Tom Watson.

I encourage everyone to please listen to the works of investigative journalist Tom Watson in the audio books by Vanessa Neubauer, from the pages of Watson’s Jeffersonian Magazine, January, March, August, September and October of 1915.

I promise you won’t be disappointed.

1. Tom Watson: The Leo Frank Case

2. Tom Watson: A Full Review of the Leo Frank Case

3. Tom Watson: The Celebrated Case of The State of Georgia vs. Leo Frank

4. Tom Watson: The Official Record in the Case of Leo Frank, a Jew Pervert

5. Tom Watson: The Rich Jews Indict a State!

Tom Watson articulated the evidence, testimony and exhibits of the Leo Frank trial with such force and power it is impossible to believe Leo Frank is innocent. Listen and find out why!

Introduction to Mary Phagan-Kean’s Insights into the Murder of Her Great Aunt

HERE ARE SOME of the key points offered by Mary Phagan-Kean in her latest interview with social media activist Ryan Dawson. (video above)

Mary Phagan-Kean’s journey into the dark and complex narrative surrounding the murder of her great aunt, Mary Phagan, began unexpectedly. Her father first shared the story after her name was recognized by a teacher, sparking a lifelong quest for truth and justice. The tale, as recounted by her father, painted a grim picture of Leo Frank, the man convicted of Mary Phagan’s murder. According to testimony, Frank was a sexual pervert who molested numerous young girls and even boys, earning him the moniker “the B’nai B’rith pedophile” — a reference to the fact that he was president of the Atlanta chapter of the Jewish fraternal order B’nai B’rith, the organization which gave birth to the powerful ADL, or “Anti-Defamation League.” Frank was even re-elected president of the group after his conviction for murdering little Mary.

The Vigilance Committee, which consisted of leading community leaders and which sought “Southern justice” after a corrupt governor (who was a partner in the law firm that defended Frank) commuted Frank’s death sentence, played a pivotal role in the case by executing him themselves after, as they saw it, outside influencers had illegally prevented his lawful hanging. (The New York Times-invented “Knights of Mary Phagan” never existed. That moniker was likely invented to link the Vigilance Committee to similar-sounding “Knights” factions of the Ku Klux Klan, in order to smear the Committee.)

The lynching of Frank was the first done by automobile, quite a feat considering the limited ownership of automobiles in Marietta, Georgia, in 1915 — further proving that prominent citizens, who were outraged by Governor Slaton’s involvement in the law firm that defended Frank, and his commutation of his sentence, were involved, and not a “mob.”

The Anti-Defamation League, an organization with a vested interest in the outcome, has been relentless in its efforts to secure a full pardon for Frank for decades. Their tactics, however, have been marred by deception and misinformation, leading to numerous hoaxes, including false claims about a pardon (the existing “pardon” does not address his guilt at all).

Mary Phagan-Kean’s father never mentioned Frank’s Jewishness but emphasized his perverse behavior. Her grandfather, Mary Phagan’s brother, was deeply emotionally affected by the case, becoming distraught when asked about it, particularly noting the resemblance between Mary Phagan-Kean and little Mary.

The narrative surrounding the case is fraught with controversy. Jews have even attempted to portray Mary Phagan as a seducer, a claim that Mary Phagan-Kean vehemently rejects.

There has been documented collusion between Jewish groups and officials to alter the wording on Mary’s commemorative plaque, with the altered plaque suggesting that Frank was exonerated for the murder — which he was not. This alteration occurred under the cover of night and was set up during secret meetings from which the Phagan family — and the public — were excluded, further obscuring the truth.

Rabbi Steven Lebow, a prominent figure in the area Jewish community, demanded that Mary’s marker be changed because it “offended” the Jewish community to tell the truth about the non-pardon. This defense of a convicted child rapist and murderer is a strange hill for Jewish groups to die on.

During the 1960s, when Jewish authors Leonard Dinnerstein and Harry Golden were writing their books on the case, the trial transcript mysteriously disappeared, making it unavailable for public scrutiny.

The best outcome of the efforts of both sides in this case, Mrs. Phagan-Kean says, has been the creation of a team to digitize and make all relevant documents on the case available and searchable online. And the best way to study the case, she avers, is to examine these newspaper articles in conjunction with the Brief of Evidence (all now available on leofrank.info and leofrank.org). Contrary to popular belief, the newspapers were pro-Frank and had Jewish editors, contradicting the notion of an anti-Frank, anti-Jewish atmosphere. Nevertheless, the firsthand reports of the trial at that time were mostly honest and paint a very different picture from that of the “Leo Frank is an innocent victim of anti-Semitism” narrative being pushed today. (One can learn, for example, that the grand jury that indicted Frank included four Jews out of 21 members, and that all voted to charge Frank with the murder.)

The Jewish community’s claims that Frank did not know Mary Phagan are untenable. Frank walked past her daily for a year, handled her pay packets weekly, and even directed police to investigate James Gannt, claiming he was “close to” Mary. These actions suggest a familiarity that contradicts his claim of ignorance.

The Anti-Defamation League’s never-ending defense of Frank has inadvertently contributed to the cause they claim to oppose: anti-Semitism.

Mary Phagan was brutally raped, as evidenced by the autopsy report, which, though difficult to read, showed no markings on her body except those of strangulation. There was blood in her panties, and family proof confirmed she was not on her menstrual cycle. ADL-linked author Steven Oney referred to Mary as a “voluptuous woman,” a claim that Parade magazine attempted to exploit this by implying she was “flirting” before her death, a particularly odious insinuation.

A 1980s miniseries, inspired by Harry Golden’s book and dubious material from Alonzo Mann, was produced without consultation with Mary Phagan’s family. This miniseries further muddied the waters of the case.

In a more recent development, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, under pressure from Rabbi Lebow and the Jewish power structure, established a “Conviction Integrity Unit” in Atlanta. This unit, ostensibly to exonerate falsely convicted individuals, including Blacks, was really created explicitly to push for the exoneration of Frank. They have even floated the idea of a new trial for Frank, despite the extreme improbability of a proper prosecution more than a century later.

Contrary to ADL claims, the “mass exodus” of Jews from the area after the Frank case never occurred. This is one of the many hoaxes that will be debunked in the forthcoming new edition of Mrs. Phagan-Kean’s book, The Murder of Little Mary Phagan.

Mary Phagan-Kean’s father’s enduring belief was that “the truth will always win,” a sentiment that continues to guide her quest for justice.