Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-10-21
FISHER DECLARES
HE WAS MENACED
Accuses Prominent Atlanta Man
of Staying Little Girl in
Pencil Factory.

All night long headquarters detec-
tives secuted over the Grant Build
ing in an effort to lay hands on /.
w. Fisher, now Of Birmingham, for
merry. OF Atlanta, who says Leo Frank
did not kill Mary Phagan and ac-
cuses another Atlanta man of the
crime, and who was held securely
undef JOCK and key in the offices Of
Luther Rosser on the seventh floor.
FISHER arrived in Atlanta Sunday
morning. He was taken Immediately
to the Offices of Messrs. Rosser and
Arnold. He is temporarily, though
voluntarily, under confinement.
His story exonerates Leo Ii. Fra
convicted of the Phagan murder. and
accuses another Atlanta man whose
name is being withheld. Attorneys
Rosser and Arnold, they say, are in
Yestlgatlng this man of their own ac-
cord. They declare they have asked
headquarters detectives to assist them
in the investigation. The headouar-
ters men told the attorneys that they
would use their own discretion in the
matter. No investigation along that
line has been put forth by the de-
tectlves up to date.
Fisher sayS-through Mr. Rosser
and Mr.. Arnold-that the rumor is
false .that he witnessed the murder.
His story is to the effect that the
man he accuses, who is former ac-
Quaintance, came to him on the morn
ing of the crime and told of an en-
gagement he was alleged to have had
with Mary Phagan at the pencil fac
tory.
Later in the day, Fisher says, the
man came to him, and, after confid-
ing" his secret, gave Fisher an amount
of money on which to leave the city,
advising Fisher to depart immediate
ly. Fisher says he acted accordingly,
going to Tennessee and later to Bir-
ming ham -
He also states that the accused man
has sent him liberal sums OF money
at intervals, always with the admoni-
ton to keep mum. Fishers explana-
ton of his confession is that the Sc
cret weighed so heavily on his con-
science that he could hold it no long
er, deciding last Friday night to pour
it into the willing ears of Chief Of
Police Bodeker in Birmingham.
Both Mr.. Arnold and Mr.. Rosser
say the man named in Fishers story
is still in Atlanta, that he has lived
iiCA c Oil Ills litC CIitll - d tIIstH HltH
wife and two children. He is a man
of moderate means, they say, who
lives in respectable neighborhood.
They would not reveal his occupation
or even the section Of the city in
which he resides.
Fishers connection with the IA
NOUS case has created a clash be-
tween Franks defense and the de-
tective department that is yet to be
equaled. Late Sunday night Detec-
tives Waggoner, Coker, Garner and
John Starnes, the latter Of whom is
one of the two prosecutors in the
Frank trial, frankly told the two at
torneys that they intended holding
the Birmingham man as a material
witness so that they might investi-
gate him thoroughly That is, if they
could lay hands on him.
Mr. Arnold and Mr.. Rosser replied
fully as frankly that the headquar-
tiers men had no opportunity to lay
hands on Fisher, and that they in
tended keeping him locked up in order
to keep the detectives from making
him a real prisoner. Both men init
mated that, before they would allow
Fisher to fall into the hands of the
detectives, they would, of their own
accord issue warrant against him
and have him jailed on their respon-
siblity,