The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1914-12-17
SENTENCED TO HANG JAN. 22.
Third Time Atlanta Man Has Faced
Death Penalty.


today was sentenced in the superior
court to be hanged on Friday, Jan
uary %, for the murder here in
April, 1913, of Mary Phagan, a four
teen-year-old factory girl.
Before receiving sentence, which
was pronounced by Judge Ben H.
Hill, Frank made statement de-
nouncing the spirit of mob violence
which pervaded the court room" at
his trial, declaring his death would
LAY an indelible stain upon Geor-
.gias name for justice" and charg-
ing that James Conley, negro, who
was the States principal witness
against Frank, had committed per-
jury.
Today marks the third time Frank
has been sentenced to death for the
Phagan girls murder. The supreme
court refused to set aside the verdict
on the ground that Frank was abb
sent from the court room when the
verdict was rendered.
Frank was taken from the jail to
the court house under an escort of
deputy sheriffs. Tie prisoner walk
ed into the court room with a firm
step and faced Judge Hill with calm
ness.
Franks Statement.
In reply to the usual query by the
court if he had any reason to give
why sentence should not be passed
upon him, Frank made the following
statement:
May it pplease your honor, this
in a momentous day-a day of far
greater importance to the State of
Georgia and to the majesty of law
even than to myself, for under the
guise of law your honor is about to
pronounce words that will condemn
to death an innocent man. Trans
cending in Importance the loss of my
own life is the indelible stain and
dishonor resting upon the name of
this State by reason of its judicially
numbering an innocent man. The
jury's verdict on August %, 1913,
finding me guilty Of the death of
Mary Phagan, did not then, and does
not now, speak the truth. declare
to your honor and to the world that
that verdict was made in an atmos-
phere seething with mob violence
and clamor for my life-a verdict
based on evidence absolutely false,
which under other circumstances
would not have been given mo-.
ment's credence.
"I deeply sympathize with the
parents of Mary Phagan. The brute
that brought so much grief upon
them has plunged into sorrow and
misery unspeakable and is about to
accomplish my undoing.
\ New Era.
But this know, my execution Will
mark the advent of a new era IN
Georgia, where a good name and
stainless honor count for naught
against the word of vile criminal;
where the testimony of Southern
Nf
character is branded as false by the
prosecution, disregarded by the jury,
and the perjured vaporings of black
brute alone accepted as the whole
truth; where a mob crying for blood
invaded the court room and became
the dominant factor in what should
have been a solemn judicial trial.
Oh, shame-that these things be
true.
Life is very sweet to me. 1t is
not an easy thing to give up the love
of dear ones, of wife and parents, Of
ever loyal friends. Though this be
true death has no terrors for me. l
60 to my end in full consciousness
Of innocence and in firm conviction
that as there is a God in Heaven, my
full vindication must come some day.
Will Realize Mistake.
with the dawn of that day there
will come to the people of Georgia
a full realization of this horrible
mistake, a mistake irretrievable-
the execution of an innocent man, a
victim of perjury, prejudice and pas
sion"
1t was learned here today that
Franks attorneys have had under
consideration a final plan to get his
case once more before the courts.
They declined to say what this plan
is, but lawyers who have followed
the case predicted an effort will be
made to take the case before the
United States supreme court on the
alleged ground that a spirit of mob