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A PBOGBXiSITB ttBPOBUCAM MBWSPAP^ DEVOTED TO Til£ UPBCjlLTING OF AUE»1CAN SOHSS AND AlCEI^ijr WOiirgTBmB.
^ BUELINGTON, AIAMANCE C0UNT%; NOBTH CABOWNA, tWAY, JUNE 25, 1915.
A
'difficult myv^rt for an 'ride to rea^h the' ti^h.
, ftiirty days* because -the audience, in t to. details ^tliiwd in' thoiuiaAds of
^tlie court room upon a few OMasionsjpa^ of t^timony. I will present
iudieated their sympathies. Howevery tbe mor« salieM .features, and have
jthe deep .feeling: against Frank which a rigiit to asic that all persons «rho
developed in the prog^ress of the eind-
lovernoi- Slaton’s statement, in
'H-hich he reviews and aiiialy&es the
•conflictinK testimony in th» Frank
case and iii which He KtSi forth the
grounds upon which he granted
M. Frank’s application for a com
mutation of his sentence of d^th to
one of life imprisonment, follows in
full:
“Executive Oifice, J\»ne 21, 1915.
"In Re Leo M. Frank, ^Iton Superi
or Court. Sentenced to be executed,
vuiie 22Ed, 1915.
^'Saturday, April S6th, 1913, was
Memorial Day in Georgia aud a gen
eral holit'^.y. At that time Mary
Phagan, a white girl, of about 14
years of age, was in the employ of the
National Pencil company, located near
the corner of Forsyth and Huntar
streets, in the city at .\tlanta. She
came to the pencil factory a little af
ter noon to obtain the money due her
for her work on the preceding Mon
day, and Leo M. Frank, the defendant,
paid her ?lJ20, the amount due her,
and this was the last time she was
SL-cn alive,
"Frank wiw tried for thB offense anj^
found guilty the succeeding August.
Application is how made ts me for
clemency.
“This ease has been the subject of
extensive conunents through ^tho
newspapers of the United States and
has occasioned the transmission of
over 100,000 letters from various
.states^ requestins t$«msnc^ Many
corarauiiJcatiom! have been recelvca
Irom citizens of this state advocating
or opposing interference with the sen
tence of the court.
“I desire to say in this connection
that the people of the state of (ieor-
gia desire the esteem and good will
of the people of avery state in the
u.'iio'!. ^vei y citizen wishes the ap
probation of his fellows and a state
or nation is not excepted. lu the
preamble to the Declaration of Indc-
p«ndence, Thomas' Jeiferson wrote
that ‘when in the coarse, of human
events it becomes necessary for one
people to diaMlve the poiiticai bonds
which have connoted them with an
other, and to assume among the pow
ers of the earth the separate and equal
station to which the laws of nature
and of nature’s God entitles them a
decent respect to the opinions of man
kind regowes tb«t tbey should de
clare the cnuses -»hicK impel tltem to
the separation.^
Oatjride Criticism.
"Many newspapers and multitodes
of people itave attacked the state of
Georgia, because of the conviction of
Lico H. Frank and have declared the
conviction to have been through the
domination of a mob and witli ao
►
evidence to support the verdict. This
oi^on has been formed to a great
ftxteni by t&ose have not read th»
evidence and who are unacquainted
(vith the judical procedure in our
state.-
"I have been unable to even open
a large proportion of the letters sent
me, because of their number and be
cause I conld noi throiegH the^ jcain
any assistance in detormining my
duty.
‘"Hie murder cQinn^itt^ was a most
heinous one. A young girl was
strangled to death by a cord tiad
, . - . , • I — - ,— U^rested and Frank was requestM by i was punched for each half hour, anJ
court, or even a trial court, to-*r»i'-t j ^ cannot, witijin ‘tfte short time {the detwtives to go in and. tafic to' subsequently Frank claimed that some
ja new trial in a case which oceopieid jgivrt me to decide the caw, enter in- jhim i„ order to find what he knew.' punches had been missed. The sug-
Lee says that Frank dropped hi i ^ gestion was that he had eitlier mani-
head and stated “if you keep that up,' pulated the alip to place the burden:
we Vp'il! Iwth go to hell.’ - ;6n Lee, -oi' was so excited ^3 to J>e
Lee DiacoTers 1M>. unable to read the slip correctly.
“On Sunday morning at about .i, ‘-The sstat.; intj-oduced a witness,
o’clock, iifter Newt Lee, the. night Munteen Stover, to prove that at thj
watchma.i, had f£llephoned' the police. time when Mary Phagan and Frank
station- of the diiicovery of the dead were in. the metaJ ioom she Was in
b.:dy anv! the .(fiirers had cOme to the Frank's; office and he was ab^nt, al*
luctory, they endeavored to rejich though he had declared he had riot
Frahli by telephone, but could not get left his office. The state showed that
a response. They telephoned at 7:30 the hair of Mary Phagan had b^n
Sunday morning and told Frank that washed by the undertaker with pine
they wanted him to come down to tar soap, which would change its
the factory and when they came for color and thereby. interfere with the
him. he was very nervous and tremb- ability of the doctor to tell the simi-
lod. The body at that time had been lanty between the hair on the lathe
taken to the undiertaker’s, and accord' and Mary Phagan's hairi
ing to the evidence of the officers who “The state further showed a cord
took Frank by the undertaker’s estab- of the. character wbich strangled
lijh.ment to identify the girl, hi Mary Phagan was found in quantities
(Frank) showed a disinclination tj on the ri)eta) room floor, and Was
look at the body and did not go into found in less quantities and then cat
the room where it lay. but turned up in the basement. As to this Detsa-
away at the door. tive Starnes testified, ‘I saw a cord
“Frank had made an engagement on like that in the basement, but it wns
&r» interested in the determinstion
^ehce was in the atni^tspheie and re-'^f matteir, shall read ealmty and
gardlcs* of dte comnusslon of those dispassionately the facts.-
acts of which, the coiii’t wOuld takej The SUte'a Case,
cognizance, the feeHng of the public I ' “The state! proved that Leo M.
- ■— W8S strong. jFrank, the general superintendent of
■ - “Since Governor Brown has related ^ the factory, was in his ofhce a little
around her throat and the offende;- secret history in his public argument after 12 >’clock on the 26th day oi
deserves the punishment of death, before, me, I may state that Friday j Api^il, 1913, and he admitted having
The only que-stion is as to the identi- night before the verdict was expectcJ ^ paid JIary Phagan $1.20, being the
ty of thfe criminal, ; Saturday, I had the sheriff to call at mges due her for one day’s work.
“The responsibility is upon : the^*'® mansion and inquired whether hu She asked Frank whether the metal
people of (^rgia to protect the lives anticipated trouble; This was after had come, in order to know when she
of her citizens and to maintain the people had told me of possible cotUd return to work. Prank admits
digility of her laws, and if the choice danger and an editor of a leading'this and so-far as is known, he vfas
must be made between the approba- newspaper indicated his antKipatio.i jthe lust one who saw her alive. -4t
tioi: of citizens of other states and trouble. The slteriif stated he 3 o’ciot'k the next morning (Sunday)
the enforcement of our laws against thought his deputies could avert any j Newt Lee, the night watchman, found
Tir>inders, whether powerful or weak, difficulty. Judge Boan telephoned nie' in the basement the body of Mary
we must choose the iatier Bltirna.t:v?. that he had arranged for the defendar:t JPhagan strangled to death by a cord
-4s to Mob Coercion: ^ absent when the verdict was'of a kind kept generally in. the metal
"It is charged that the court and ’■c'’dered. Like Governor Brown, I room, which i.s on Frank’s tl«or. Sho 1
jury were terrorized by a m^ob and entcied into conimunication with the had a doth tied around her head which'
t}]g jui*y were ■ coerced into their colonel of the Fifth legiment, who wtss lotn from her underskirt. I{cr
verdict. stated he would be ready If they xxxx H-ere either ripped or cut and
“I txp^t.t to pvesfent the facts in necessity. ^some blood and xxxx were upo!i
this ciisc .nth absoluti fairness ond was ieaving on Satufday, the day them. Her eye was very black, iiidi-
to state conditioi... with regard only verdict was expected, for Color-' eating a blow, and there wa.s a cut
TO the tfuth. Springs to attend the congress of two and a half inches in iength about
“Whan Frank was indicted and tha governors, and did not wish to four inches above the car and to the
an- was lilk-J with rumors as to th« absent if my presence were-tiBces-.lrft thereof, wlUch extended through
n.urtlp)- and mutilation of the dead ^ original order the scalp to tbe skull. The county
girl, thciV -vas i.'lteni'e feelina, a.id I»-ePared by me at the time, in the phy sif'ian who exantined her on Sun^
to Slich extent that my predecessor, “ necessity for it. day moniing declared there was a no
Governor Brown, stated in argument ^ *>ecame convinced thore would fa« violence xxxx and the blood was
bafoue ir.e that he had the militia chance for any use of force'characteristic of xxxx flow. There
ready to protect the defendant in therefore filled my aigaeemrnt were no external signs of rape. The
the event of any attack was mad.-. ''' h-jSy was not multilated, the wounds
Ko .such attack was made and from the “Judge Roan, in the exercise of pre- thereon being on the head and
evidence that he obtained none was requested that both coonscl stratches on the elbow, and a wound
contemplated. defendant be absent when tho about two inches below the knee.
"Some weeks after this the defend- rendered, in order to avoid “The showed that Mary
ant was put on trial. Georgia prob- possible demonstration in the Phagan had eaten her dinner of bread
ably has the broadest provisions foi' of acquittal, and cabbagx: at ll;*JO o’clock and had
change of venue in criminal cases defendant caught the car to go to the pencil
that exist in any state Our lavj 8’^'lty and with the exception of dc- factory which wouid enable her to
permits the judge to change the venue nionstration outside the court room, arrive.at the factory within the neigh-
on his own motion, in the event he^‘s°rier. bor hood of about thirty minutes. Tha
"Hence, it will be seen that nothin,!; el«ment of exact time wiU he dis-
was done which courts of any stata cussed later.
could correct through legal machinery, • "Dr. Harris, the secretary of the
A court must have something more ^ state board of health, and an expert
than an atmosphere with which to ^in tlus linn, examined the contents
deal, and especially wlien that atmos-;,-,f Mary Phagan’s stomach ten dayjs
phere has been created through th >* after hec burial and found from th>
processes of evidence in disclosing a ^ state of the digcation of the cab-
borribie crime. -bage and bread that she must have
“Oar supreme court, after carefully' been killed within about thirty min
ing a change of venue, and submitted considering the evidence as to ife-|utea after sh.^ had e-iiwi the meal,
his case to a. jury that was acceptable raonstrations made by spectators, de-, “Nevrt Lee, the negro, night watch
thinks a fair trial cannot be given iu
any county. The defendant can move
for a change of venue on the same
ground, and if ;t be lefus^, the re
fusal cf the judge is subject to an
immediate appeal to the supreme
court, and in fact, the entire genius
of our law demands fair trial, abso
lutely frei "rom external influence.
“Frank went to trial without ask-
Friday to to the baseball game on cut in pieces. I saw a good many
Saturday afternoon with his brother- cords like that all over the factory,”
in-law, !mt broke the engagement, II- “Hofioway testified: ‘These cords
he said in his statement, because of are all over the building and in the
the financial statement Iie^ad to make basement,’
up, while before the coionev’s .iury, “Darl?y testified to the same effect,
he said he broke t!ie cnf'agmneiit be- “However, this contradicts thi
causK of threatening weather. testimony that was presented to thi
“The contention of the state, as jury for solution,
will hereafter be disclosed, was that “The stale claimed to the jury that
Frank renuiindeil at the factory Sat- witne-sscK for the defend,•srt, under th.‘
urday afternoon to dispdse of the suggestion of counsel, would change
body of Mary Phagan, and that that their testimony so that it might not
was the reason he gave Newt Lee operate against the defendan.
hi.'i unusual leave of absence. “I have now enumerated all cons-
*^fhe cook‘s husbar.d testified that on picious circuin.stances urged by th»
Sa*urday, the oay of the mui'der, h^ state, but have mentioned what have
his wife at the home of Mr. appeared to me the most prominent
Selig, defendant’s father-in-law, ones. Where I have not mentioned
where Frank and his wife were liv- the nu>re prominent ones, an inspe^-
itife. and that Frank came in to dinner tion of record fails to maintain the
iind ate nothing, Tiie negro cook of contention,
the beligs was placed upon the stand *’lt is contended that a lawyer was
and denied that her husband was in engaged for Pi-aiik at the !1jation.
the kitchen at all on that day. For house before he was arrested, "niis
purposes of impeachment, thcrefoi-e, * is replied to by the defense that .'i
tha .state introduced an .'iffidavii from friend had engaged counsel withaut
this cook taken by the detectives, and Frank’s ack((owtedge, and the tow-
as sha claimed under duress, which yev advised Frank to make a fall
tended to substantiate the story of .statement to the detectives,
her husband and which affidavit de- Jim Conley's Testimony,
cisred that on Sunday morning after “The most startling and spectacu-
the murder, she heard Mrs, Frank iar evidence in the case was Uka>-
tell her mother that Mr. Frank wa.s given by a negro, Jim Coniey, a roan
drinking the night before and ntad^ twenty-seven years of age, and osie
her sleep on a rug and called for « who frequently had been in the
pistol tn shoot himself, because h.* gang. Conley had worked at the fac-
(Frank) had murdered a girl. This jtory for about two years and was
to him. He was aWy represented by them without merit, and in this man, testified that Frank had told him affida-.it was relevant for, purpose of ^thoroughly acquainted with it. , H.
counsel of conspicuous ability an-J orderly ppocesaes of our j to be back at tha factory at 4 o’cloi:;
experience tribunals are not subject to criticism. |SftturdBy afternoon and when he came
“During the prosress cf the case, | Racial Prejudice. 'upstairs to report, Frank, rubbing his
after evidence had been introduced “Th® charge against the state of ihands met Newt Lee and told him toi.st.ind, the cook declared that she wa«' “On May 1, he was an-estod t.y
laying the crime, irith many offensive Georgia of racial prejudice is unfair. | go out and have a good time until 3Voei-fed by her husband and detectives the detectives
impeachment, although, of course, it had worked iu the basement about
had no legal, probative value as to two months and had run the elevator
t'\^ facts contained thereiii. On the about a year and a half.
deUtls, Vipos. Tl-iSiki the feeling A, conspicuous Jewish family in j o’clock, although Lee said he wouW
against him became intense. He was Georgia is descended from one of the prefer to lie down and sleep. When
the general superiiiitendent of the fac- original colonial families of the state. - Lee returned, Frank changcd the slip
tory, and Mary fbagan was a poor *’»'ve been presidents of our ^ in the lime clock, m3.nife»titig ncrv-
warldng girL He -was a Cornell boards of education, principals of our ;ousness and taking a longer time
graduate, ond she dependent i'or her j schools, mayor of our cities, and can-{than usual,
livelihood upon her labor. Accord- spicuous in all our commercial enter-'. “When Frank walked out of thL-
jng to a witness, whose testimony will pnses.
subsequently be related more com- ‘^itany neAvspapers and
plstely, when this girl came to get dents have declared that Prank j charged a short time before. Prank
her jsms’i pay, »nce die only workcl was convicted without any evidence to; looked frightened, his explanation be-
one day in the week, becau.se of lack sustain the verdict. In large meas- ing that he anticipated harm. Gantt
under threat of being locked up unless j "Near the body in the basement hsA
she g:;ve it, a»d it was made at the i been found two notes, one written on
sfc'.tion houao. The state proved it brown paper and the other on a leaf
was given in the presence of her law^- ^of a strateh pad. That written oa
ye:‘ anu said that her denial of the w-hite paper in a nesTro's hanriwritiBS
truth of the affidavit was because her ‘ showed tha fo’ili>wiiig;
wages had been increased by the j " ‘He ?aid he would love me. Jay
■ front door of the factoi-y, he met a parent ot Mr!. Prank- No details down, i lay like the night w'itcb,
of material, this general superintend- ure, those giving expression fc> this declared he wished to go upstairs and
ent solicited her to yield to his im- uticrancfe have :n,t read tile evidence [get two pairs of shoes which perm>s-
portunities, and, on her refusal, slew' and are not acquainted with the fact*;, f aion Frank Anally granted, stating
her. I The same may be said r'agarffing many j ^hat he thought they had been swept
“The relatioa of these facts any-' of those who are demanding his ex-; out.
where and in any community would ecution. | ''About an hour after this occur-
excite unbounded condemnation. "|u my jvidgment, no one has .t renee. Prank called up Lee over the
Feeling Ran Strong. | right to an opinion who is not ac- telephone, a thing he had never done
“If the auditoce in the court room' quainted with the evidei^ in the before, and asked him if everything
numif^ted their deep resentment to- case, and it must be conceded that
ward Prank, it was largely by this ^ the jury who saw the -witness and
evidence of feelinjr beydcd the power behel| their^demeacor tf^n the standt .wliieh he had liever found that way be-
of a court to correct. It would be' are in the best position as- a
was all right at the factory. Lee
found the double , inue.’? doors locked,
itee., ' SubMquently, when Lee was
tioy hi .'If.’
the brown
presi-iman named fi^ntt, whom he had di:«-U'lc given as to where tlie conversc-
1*1 J ^ —i. —.. I tion occurred Ijfetween Mrs. i^aidc | the brown paper, which was
and her mother as to how she hap- ■ tho ;arbon sheet of an order blavk
pened to iiear the conversation. It'headed ‘Atlanta,
Ga.,~
will be easily s>een that the effect of
the afSdavit upoT the jury might be
great.
“It is hard to con«cive that any
man's power of fabtication of min
ute details conld reach that which
Conley showed, unle.ss it be the
truth.
Use Slipu
“The evidence introduced tended to
show that on Sunday morning Frank
took out of the time clock the' dip
which he had admitted »t that tfnMr
290—,’
vrkich hereafter becomes imporian;,
wa.s written in a negro's h:^dv^f^g
the following: , ; , ,
“ *Mam that negro nne
did this i went to make xxxx an« he
push me down a hole a long tall u»-
gro black did (had) it. i write ^ile
play with me.’
’‘The detectives learned about t&a
middle of May that Conley cOQld
write, although at .Irat he denied it.
H« tna^ one statement and
' affidavits, whic>r are more fully re-
I NT