Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-07-13

dercr Of Mary Phagau, whoever It
might bel"
Beyond the suspicion. therefore,
! that Frank NIGHTS have Killed
! Mary Phagan because he was In
| the factory al a time when the
| murder MIGHT have been consum-
| mated. and the fact Of the Conley
adidavits against him. what else
remains2
II gets back where I left IT last
Sunday, TO this:
Both the prosecution and the de-
fence likely viii have 20 rely upon
Conley largely I'm trying the in
dictment againt Frank.
II Conlcys statement Is made to
stand up" In court, IT viii be very
damaging 10 Frank.
II It falls down, II will clear
Frank, no doubt!
The present Grand Jury, however,
in seeking to determine whether IT.
ought to indict Conley NOW, will
not consider, in all probability the
effect such an indictment might
have upon the Frank case.
OF course, n the Mincey state
ment against Conley can be sus-
tanned by competent corroborative
evidence-and il now is claimed
that there are creditable witnesses
ready to swear that COnley DID
say the things to Mincey which the
MinCey affidavit charges him with
having said-the case against Con-
ley Immediately gets partly out OF
the circumstantial evidence cata-
logue, and Conlev viii stand face TO
face with the peril Of DIRECT evil
dence
II Il can be shown to the Grand
Jury that Conley did say to Mincey
in the manner Mincey says he said
II. on the afternoon OF the day Mary
Phagan was killed, Il have killed
one girl to-day and do not wish to
kill another" and that he was in
a half-drunken stupOr when he said
it, that, in connection with
the other evidence against Conley,
unquestiOnably would seem TO make
Il the present Grand Jurys positive
DUTY to indict Conley without
| further adol
And particularly is this true II it
can be shown that Mary Phagan's
pay envelope was found near where
Conley was sitting on the day the
girl was killed.
Grand Jury Wants Justice.
The Grand Jury will be guided
SOLELY. / think, however by
what seems the surer way To get at
JUSTICE and the truth of Mary
PhaRan's death.
Since this case. whether It turns
finally against Frank or Conley, will
be controlled In large measure by
the law of cirCumstantial evidence.
and since there Is much confusion
| in the public mind as to just what
circumstantial evidence Is, | looked
up some law in the Georgia SUI
preme Court Reports Saturday and
] am sure It VIII help many Of my
readers I'm specializing upon the
Phagan case TO contemplate that
law as | have done.
Section 9S4 Of the Penal Code
lays down this law:
ITO warrant conviction on cir
cumstantial evidence, the proved
facts must not only be consi stent
with the hypothesis Of guilt, but
must exclude EVERY OTHER
REASONABLE YPOTHE SIS
save that of the GUILT of the ao-
cused."
In other words the cirCumstantial
evidence relied upon must prove the
guilt Of the accused to the ENCLU-
SION OF ANY OTHER CONCLU-
SION that might be reasonably
reached from that evidence!
Verdicts Of guilty uuder circum-
stantial evidence are arrived at, II
arrived at legally, through a stern
process Of elimination.
The law is very jealous Of its
! honor and complete integrity!
II will be observed. therefore, that
there is "a very great and grave
difference between CIRCUMSTAN-
TIAL EVIDENCE and SUSPl-
CIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES.
In this connection I find that no
| less eminent an authority than that
wonderful turist. Chief Justice Hi
/ ram Warner. grandfather Of the
present Mr. Justice Hiram Warner
| Hin. in the Fifueth Georgia, carp
| VS.. the state. said:
"The law does not allow anyone
to be convicted of ANY offense
merely on a SUSPICION of his
/ guilt"
Simmons Words Fit Case.
Further along I found, in the case
OF Williams VS.. the state. ll3 Geor-
gia, some words from the pen OF
Chief Justice simmons that Mt
strangely into the Phagan case in
many ways.
Citing section GAS OF the Crlmi-
nal Code. heretofore laid down I'm
this article. Chief Justice simmons
said:
"Uuder this rule, il the State re-
lies upon cireumstantial evidence,
that evidence must be so strong as
TO exclude every other hypothesis
SAVE that of guilt Of the accused.
1T MUST BE INCONSISTENT
WITH HIS INNOCENCE.
This court has ruled on several
occasions that in. cases involving
life or liberty this rule MUST NOT
BE RELAXED
when a heinous crime has been
committed in a community, and the
people are greatly shocked thereby,
| il is natural for them to catch at
any little circumstance TO throw
suspicion upon SOME person and
to conclude from this or that cir.
oumstance that he is the guilty
party.
THE horror of the crime. and
| their desire as good citizens to see
the guilty party punished and the
| law vindlcated frequently lead them
| to premature Judgment, which oft
entimes follows them into the Jury
| box where, as iuymen, they not