Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-06-14
PLANS To
BREAK FRANK
DEFENSE
Continued From Page I.

against him on the charge 10 which
he has virtually pleaded guilty.
Rosser urged an impartial inves-
tiEation into the possibility That he
Is even more seriously connected with
the crime which resulted in the grew
some death Of Mary Phagan
Chief of Detectives Lanford said
Saturday when he was apprised Of
the contemplated move Of those who
wish 70 see the negro's stories lnves-
tigafea by an impartial body that he
assuredly would honor any warrant
which on It's face appeared bona fide,
but that he would fiEnt any effort 20
take Coulcy 20 the Jail which he sus-
pecteG had back Of 81 the animus Of
persons unfriendly 10 the negro and
friendly to Frank Lanford asserted
that all Of his actions In the Phagan
mystery had been inspired by the de-
sire to get the guilty man, and that
II was his conviction that the negro
was only a tool after the actual crime
Guarding Against Surprise.
After the developments Of Friday
y became evident that the prOseCu-
ton. while Il is busyiug itself In an
effort 10 place the crime on Frank
must guard against the surprise of
finding all Of a sudden that the de-
Tense has stolen a march and has In
the meantime shifted every tenable
suspicion directly upon the negro
Conley.
Most Of the evidence must be cir
c1rnstantial. Even the negroes sue
cession Of contradictory afiidavlts, II
any one Of them Is 10 be accepted
must be regarded as CirCumstantia L
FOR IN none Of them does he say that
he saw the killing Of the girl. She
was dead. he ayers, when he first saw
the bodv So the death might have
been quite accidental even II every
word of tho negro's latest atfidavlt Is
70 be believed.
From the fact that the evidence is
70 purely Circumstantial and that
IL is a matter of grave doubt whether
any Of the ncgro's statements can be
accepted as having any element Of
truth the defense viii maintain, IL
became evident from it's attitude Fri
dav. that the evidence points far
more certainly and positively toward
Couley as the murderer than toward
Frank
Absolutely nothing Of a suspicious
nature has bee" brought against
Traua. the defense viii assert cX-
capt that uc had the opportunity on
the other hand, score of suspicious
circumstances will be brought against
The negro.
The work Of the prosecution from
this time ON will be the adding Of
pururmstory evidence 20 the negro's
stories Tho detectives have pro-
la+..d 90 have "a great amount Of
evidence bearing out Conley's state
meuts Of what happened in the fac
t.ry on the day OF the murder They
have said that they are keeping much
HE This under cover for the purposes
uf prosecution until the trial OF Frank
begins
When taxed with the question as tc
how they could believe the Negroes lat
.tst statement and accept II as the
unqualified truth, when the negro ad.
miftedIy had told "a string Of lies and
faIsehuods previously, they have SAID
chat they viii not have to depend OF
the uegTo's story alone, but viii have
eubstanuatiuR evidence TO bolster uI
every statement that he has made.
Besides the collecting OF conhrma'
tory evidence, the prosecution Is busy
To- an effort TO break down Franks
iron bound alihis So strong have
these aIibls been established II has
appeared that they are unassailable
but the Solicitor General is overlook
iLg no chances and has had hi'
agents investigating Franks every
movement on the day OF the crime.