Mary Phagan

Barrycdog

Major
Joined
Jan 6, 2013
Location
Buford, Georgia
A SUMMARY OF THE CASE OF

LEO MAX FRANK

AND ITS AFTERMATH

Life in Atlanta of 1913 was neither the best of times nor the worst of times. It was an era far different from the Atlanta that we know today. Full of boosterism, yearning to achieve its first half-million population level, a bustling commercial and distribution center, Atlanta had grown significantly since the close of the War. Indeed, it had begun to accumulate a smattering of light industry, including the National Pencil Company located at 37-39 Forsyth Street. This four-story building, plus basement, employed some 100 people, mostly female, in the manufacture and distribution of pencils, variously known as "Magnolias," "Jeffersons," and the like. It was poorly ventilated, dirty, its windows clouded over by grime. Its laborers were paid a rate of $.10 per hour for ten and twelve-hour days, plus a half day on Saturday. Wages were hourly and paid only when work was available. It was, in short, a sweat shop of the Northern urban variety.

Georgia, like the rest of the South, had not recovered from the ravishes of the Civil War. Confederate currency and government obligations had been repudiated. Uncompensated emancipation, which had destroyed the bulk of the South's capital investment, tremendous property destruction, an incredible toll of life (exceeding percentage wise that of any of the European powers of World War I or World War II), high tariffs, discriminatory freight rates and redemption of Northern green-backs in gold left little hope for capital accumulation or for the establishment of heavy industry in the South. Indeed, Southern states were forced to contribute to Union veteran pensions, while carrying Confederate veteran benefits alone. This reduction of the South to colonial status had the inevitable effect of resettling families from small towns and farms into urban areas where wives and children were forced to work to help the family survive. One of these was the family of 13-year old Mary Phagan, which had moved from Marietta, the home of her childhood, to the Bellwood section of Atlanta. Mary had taken employment at the National Pencil Company, working in it second floor metal room fixing metal caps on pencils by machine. Her last day of work in the fatal week ending April 26, 1913, was Monday, when she was told not to report back to work until a shipment of metal had arrived. On Saturday, April 26, she set forth from home to collect the wages due her, some $1.20 for Monday's work at the usual Saturday pay time of noon at the Company. It was her intention to watch the Confederate Memorial Day parade that afternoon before returning home. Her Sunday plans included participation in her Baptist church's bible contest. An unusually attractive child, Mary was seen leaving the trolley car and heading for the company at or shortly after noon. Her body was discovered at about 3:00 a.m. the next morning in the basement of the company by the night watchman, Newt Lee. She had been struck, apparently by a fist, about the left eye, had suffered a nearly simultaneous 1 1/2-inch gash running from "down to up" in the back of the head (the blow had apparently rendered her unconscious but had not fractured the skull) and had been strangled by a cord which was embedded in her throat with her tongue protruding some inch and a half from her mouth. She had been raped, her undergarments were torn and bloody and a piece of undergarment had been wrapped around her head. She had been bitten on her shoulder and a breast. Her body had apparently been dragged across the basement floor, judging by the fragments of soot, ashes and pencil shavings on the body and by the drag marks leading from the elevator shaft to her final resting place. There was no evidence, such as skin fragments or blood under her fingernails that she had inflicted any harm on her assailant. Two notes scribbled on Company order carbon forms were found near the body, reading as follows:

Mam that negro hire down here did this i went to make water and he push me down that hole a long tall negro black that hoo it wase long sleam tall negro i wright while play with me

he said he wood love me land down play like the night witch did it but that long tall black negro did buy his slef.

Interrogation of Newt Lee by the detectives revealed that he had arrived for work at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday as ordered by the factory superintendent, Leo M. Frank, found the doors locked, let himself in with his pass key but was sent away by Frank who, unexpectedly walked over to Lee, "bustling out of his office," rather than ordering Lee to report to him as Frank customarily did. He sent Lee away from the factory, ordering him not to report until 6:00 p.m. Lee did as he was told, returning at the later hour, and shortly after was followed by J.N. Gantt, a white former employee of the Company who was also a friend of the Phagan family. Again, Frank appeared startled and frightened to see Gantt who, after some objection was ultimately allowed into the factory in the company of Lee to retrieve a pair of shoes that Gantt had left behind.

Frank thereafter left the factory, but called back at 7:00 p.m. to inquire of Lee if everything at the factory was "all right." This type of call was without precedent by Frank. Lee testified that he checked the basement during his rounds every hour, but that because the single gas jet had been turned down quite low, he did not discover the body until he proceeded to the Negro bathroom in the basement at about 3:00 a.m. Lee called the police who arrived in ten minutes, accompanied by an Atlanta Constitution reporter who was sleeping off a hangover in the police car. Lee also called Frank's house but got no response. An early investigation discovered the notes which were read out loud. No blood was found near the ground or the sawdust around the body.

Later in the morning about 6:30 a.m., Frank was reached by telephone by the police, repeated earlier calls by both Lee and the police not having been answered. When collected by the detectives, Frank appeared extremely nervous, asked to eat his breakfast before leaving and denied knowledge of a "little girl" named Mary Phagan. He repeatedly asked for a cup of coffee. One of the detectives suggested a shot of whiskey but was told Frank's father-in-law had drunk it all the night before for his indigestion. At the morgue, Frank scarcely looked at the body, would not enter the room where it lay and continued to be in a nervous, agitated state. Arriving at the factory, Frank consulted his time book and reported, "Yes, Mary Phagan worked here. She was here yesterday to get her pay.

"I will tell you about the exact time she left here. My stenographer left about 12:00 and a few minutes after she left, the office boy left and Mary came in and got her pay and left."

Later at the coroner's inquest, Frank would swear under oath that he heard Mary Phagan come into his office Saturday "between 12:05 and 12:10, maybe 12:07", looked up and gave her pay, and when she asked if the metal had arrived (so that Mary would know whether to come to work on Monday) he replied, "I don't know."

Mary Phagan's machine was next to the dressing room and, in going to the bathroom, the men who worked on the second floor had to pass within two or three feet of it.

Pinkerton Agency Detective Scott had been assured by Frank that from the time he arrived at the factory from his visit to Montag Brothers office Saturday morning until 12:50 p.m., the time he went upstairs to the fourth floor of the factory, he had been inside of his office the entire time. Frank repeated under questioning that he was inside his office "every minute" from 12:00 to 12:30. Again, on Monday morning, April 28, Frank told the Chief of the Atlanta detectives that "the office boy and the stenographer were with me in the office until noon. They left about 12:00 or a little after."

At the factory Sunday morning, Frank confirmed that the time slips punched by Lee were correct. However, the following day he announced that the time slips contained errors. When Frank arrived a police headquarters for further questioning on Monday morning, he was preceded by his attorneys, Luther Rosser and Herbert Haas, who had evidently been contacted Sunday. Frank advised the police that both lee and Gantt had been at the factory at 6:00 p.m., thus causing their arrest. On Tuesday night, Frank acceded to the police suggestion that he confront Lee alone, which he did, but announced that he was unable to change Lee's story. Frank's assertion that the time sheet had not been punched correctly would have given Lee an hour to have gone to his house and come back. At Lee's house, a blood-stained shirt was found under a barrel of clothing.

During his conference with Lee, when rejoined by the detectives, Frank was "very squirmy in his chair, crossing one leg after the other and didn't know where to put his hands; he was moving them up and down his face.,..he breathed very heavily and took deep swallows and hesitated somewhat."

Frank advised Harry Scott, superintendent of the local branch of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, who was employed by Frank for the pencil factory (but under the licensing requirements of the City of Atlanta had to work in conjunction with the Atlanta police department, revealing to them all evidence it uncovered) that Gantt "knew Mary Phagan very well." According to Pinkerton Chief Scott, "Frank seemed to lay special stress on it at the time."

When the factory opened for work again early Monday morning, a machinist promptly reported that he had found a blood spot at the west end of the dressing room on the second floor which had not been there Friday. The spot was described as being four or five inches in diameter with little spots trailing behind from the rear, six or eight in number. They were discovered between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m. Haskoline or pot ash was smeared over the spots. In addition, hair was found on the handle of a bench lathe, swinging down on the handle of the machine whose operator had used it until quitting time on Friday, April 25, at 5:30 p.m. The piece of work on which the operator had been working was still in the machine undisturbed.

The discovery of the new blood spots was corroborated by the sweeper who swore that the spots were not present at closing time on Friday. A female worker corroborated the presence of the blood spots, describing them as being "as big as a fan" in front of the girls' dressing room, and swore the spots had not been there Friday. In addition, it was pointed out that strands of cord of the type used to strangle Mary Phagan hung near the dressing room, readily available for bundling up pencils.

In time, Frank himself was arrested about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, April 29. Again, it was reported that his hands were quivering very much and that he was very pale.

Frank repeatedly stated:

"She (Mary Phagan) came in between 12:05 and 12:10, maybe 12:07 to get her pay envelope, her salary. I paid her and she went out of the office."

The police obtained a statement from Mineola McKnight, the Negro cook in the Frank-Selig home. She was questioned at length and then signed an affidavit in the presence of and attested by her attorney, G. F. Gordon.

Among other things, she recited in the affidavit that when Frank came home that Saturday night he was drunk and that he talked wildly and threatened to kill himself, forcing his wife to sleep on the floor.

On the next Saturday, Atlanta detectives received a windfall in the appearance of Monteen Stover. She explained she had come for her pay, not having collected it on April 26 because of Frank's absence from his office.

"It was five minutes after 12:00. I was sure Mr. Frank would be in his office, so I stepped in. He wasn't in the outer office so I stepped into the inner one. He wasn't there either. I thought he might have been somewhere around the building so I waited. I went to the door and peered further down the floor among the machinery. I couldn't see him there."

"I stayed until the clock hand was pointing exactly to ten minutes after 12:00. Then I went downstairs. The building was quiet and I couldn't hear a sound. I didn't see anybody..."

At the Coroner's Inquest, Frank (under oath) generally repeated his story of his whereabouts on April 26, including Mary Phagan's arrival and departure from his office shortly after noon, and the following exchange took place:

"Were you out of the office from the time the noon whistles blew until Quinn came in?" (c. 12:25)

"No."

At the Coroner's Inquest, Monteen Stover testified "I was at the factory at five minutes after 12:00 that day. I stayed there five minutes and left at ten minutes after twelve. I went there to get my money. I went into Mr. Frank's office, he was not there. I did not see or hear anyone in the building. The door to the metal room was closed. I looked at the clock on my way up. I went from the first office into the second office."

At the conclusion of the Coroner's Inquest on May 8, the jury returned a verdict of murder at the hands of a person or persons unknown. Frank and Lee were returned to custody in Fulton Tower. On May 24, Solicitor General Hugh A. Dorsey, Sr., asked for a true bill against Frank after evidence had been presented to the grand jury. The jury accordingly returned a no bill against Lee and an indictment against Frank, charging him with first-degree murder.

The case of The State of Georgia against Leo M. Frank came on for trial at Atlanta in Fulton County Superior Court on July 28, 1913. Presiding was the Honorable L. S. Roan, a veteran jurist of wide experience and respect. Solicitor General Dorsey appeared for the State assisted by Special Assistant Frank A. Hooper, Sr., and Assistance Solicitor E. A. Stephens. Frank was represented initially by Ruben A. Arnold, Luther Rosser, Stiles Hopkins and Herbert Hass. Dorsey never evidenced any doubt of Frank's guilt nor did apparently the general population of Atlanta which had been following the story in the vivid newspaper accounts. One informal poll indicated that four of five Atlantans responding held this view. The courtroom was daily crowded with extra persons waiting in line in the morning to find a place. However, there was no report in the daily papers nor in the accounts and motions of the various attorneys during or after the trial of any "mob" influencing the jury by external noise or otherwise, until the final day of the announcement of the verdict. Even then, affidavits of court officials and the jurors themselves rebutted the suggestion that they had heard or been influenced by demonstrations or other noises, nor was a mistrial or change of venue sought by defense counsel during the trial.

The State's case simply put was that Frank had previously seduced and taken indecent liberties with a number of other young factory girls and had made unsuccessful advances on Mary Phagan. Frank had refused to send her pay envelope home on Friday by a fellow employee and hence knew that she was coming into the factory sometime on Saturday after 12:00. Frank had trained and now utilized again the factory's Negro sweeper, Conley, to act as a lookout to see that he was not interrupted during his immoral activities in the factory. Mary Phagan arrived in Frank's second-floor office shortly after noon on Saturday to collect her pay, was lured to the metal room by Frank and was there assaulted and murdered. During the time of the assault, Monteen Stover arrived at Frank's office at 12:05, checked out both offices and found them empty and then left precisely at 12:10. Thereafter, at approximately 12:15, Frank called Conley to the metal room to assist him in moving Mary Phagan's body to the basement via the elevator. Thereafter, they returned to the second floor office where Frank dictated the notes for Conley to transcribe. Frank then went home for lunch, returned to the office, and remained there until 6:00 p.m., waiting for Conley to return to burn the body.

A jury was selected in four hours. All were white male and subjected to the usual disqualifications on the basis of having already formed conclusions with regards to the case and having reservations about capital punishment. Both sides had the right to strike for bias, plus ten peremptory strikes for the state and twenty peremptory strikes for the defense. All jurors were residents of Atlanta, except W.M. Jeffries who resided in Bolton. Their average age was 35 years and five months. They were lodged at the Kimball House during the trial.


Leo Frank Trial Jury


C. J. Basshart 24 Single Pressman Atlanta
A.H. Hensle 36 Married Head Sales Atlanta
Buggy Co.


J. F. Higdon 42 Married Building Atlanta
Contractor
W. M. Jeffries 33 Married Real Estate Bolton
M. Johenning 46 Married Shipping Clerk Atlanta
W. F. Medcalf 36 Married Mailer Atlanta
J. T. Ozburn 36 Married Optician Atlanta
Frederick V. L. Smith 37 Married Paying Teller Atlanta
D. Townsend 23 Married Paying Teller Atlanta
F. E. Windburn 39 Married Railroad Claims Atlanta
Agent
A. L. Wiseby 43 Married Cashier Atlanta
M. S. Woodward 34 Married Cashier-King Atlanta
Hardware



 
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