Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-06-11
PHAGAN CASE IS
ANALYZED BY
NAPIER
Letter by Lawyer Gives Legal
Facts as They Concern Leo NJ.
Frank and ConIey,
Continued From Page I.


sion as TO his own guilt as the actual
murderer of Mary Phagan.
Two things, it seems to me, would
crime, in the absence of any proved
motive to commit it, The first is the
work done by him on his books at
the pencil factory on the afternoon Of
the killing and subsequent to the time
which is assigned by common consent
for the occurrence of the deed.
How Could He Have Done Work?
That a man could go to the delicate
and intricate task Of spreading upon
account books the record and figures
of a weeks transactions of a factory
employing large number of hands,
and involving numerous financial
dealings and requiring four Or more
hours Of steady work and that he
could do this with his usual accuracy
and celebrity staggers belief
The other fact is a piece of testi-
mony by the negro Conley himself.
He has made the statement that when
he was assisting Frank in the dis
posal of the dead girls body he no
ticed the time clock in the factory
and saw tnat It lacked four minutes
of / o'clock At that moment, he says,
Miss COrinthia Hall and Mrs Emma
Clark Freeman, two employees, came
into the factory and Frank told him
to hide in a cupboard in the office.
But Miss Hall and Mrs. Freeman
testified that they were at the factory
one hour and eleven minutes earlier
than that, and that they left the fac
tory at ll:45 and did not return that
day. The conversation they had with
Mr.. Frank is the same that the negro
says he heard.
Discrepancy in Time.
The murdered girl reached the city
by street car at 1904. This has been
factory and received her pay envel-
ope at 1910 or 1915. so far as is
known. Thus the negro adds this to
his many other admitted lies-and If
the girl was dead at the time he heard
Frank talking to Miss Hall and Mrs.
Freeman. she was murdered before
she left her home.
To one who is sufficiently interested
to look over the scene Of the crime
several things worth noting VIII be
revealed. Coming down from the Of
fee i'm the pencil factory, a young
girl unprotected might well glance
with nervous dread at the pile OF
large boxes under the stairway near
The elevator shaft In daytime the
corner under the staf~case is I'm semi
darkness II Is an ideal place Tor a
vould-be criminal to screen himself.
II the girl left the factory after re-
cciying her pay and came down the
stairs. this dark corner was behlnu
her as she walked down the steps. y
woman who testified, but whose name
I do not now recall, saw a negro Turk
ing i'm this corner Conley has adj
mitted that he sat for some time near
the elevator.
Negro Had Opportunity.
He had the opportunity TO spring
upon the poor girl as spider Would
upou "A hy II robbery was his mo-
tive. an assault with a stick might
have feIIed her. She could have been
thrown down the elevator shaft or
through the opening near the eleVa-
tor. which has a ladder under II lead
ing down to the dirt floor of the base
ment.
The place on the second floor where
gonIev saws he picked up the body OF
the girl shows no trace or blood.
Every circumstance indicates that
she received the blow on her head
before she died-and he says she was
dead when he saw her there-so II
she bled anywhere the strong prob
ability is that the hloodstains would
have been found where she had been
picked up
Even the mystifyius fact that the
STABLE of the rear door, leading out
of the basement to the street, had
been pulled from the inside could be
easily explained on the theory tnat
the criminal took the preCauuon 10
null that staple so as to be able TO
run down the ladder and make his
exit safely by the back street m the
event any outcry was made by ms
victim.
Much emphasis is placed upon the
dramatic manner with which ConleN
re- enacted the supposed work OF car
rNing the body from the second floor
90 the basement that fatal day.
Miaht Not He Swear Falsely
Does IL tax our Credulity greatly to
believe that "a cunning negro, VINO
has been proved 10 have had unob-
structcd opportunity to commit the
crime. and who admits having Sc
GREETED the body. is capable of swear
ing that another man was with him
when the crime was committed
man behind whom he can hide from
the law
Would drinking, irresponsible.
perhaps criminal man of low order
IF life be incapable of swearing away
the life of any man if by So doing he
could save himself from the gallOws ?
What is called the humanity Of
the law" invests every person charged
with crime with the presumption Of
innocence until his guilt has been
proved, and proved to the extent II
being irreconcilable with every hy-
pothesis Of his innocence. Guilt
must be established beyond a rea-
sonsb BILE doubt
And the reasouableness Of a doubt
on the minds Of the jury trying a
given case might depend largely upon
the state OF the public mind regard
ing that case.
Warns Against Haste.
For this reason. If for no Other.
the people in a community where a
crime has been committed should be
reluctant TO reach a conclusion Of the
guilt Of any one. where only CirCum
stantial evidence is ad6uCible.
IL would be a remarkable termina-
tfon of the Phagan case. which is not
now so mysterious as IL once seemed,