Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-03-04

hen I CHANGED 10 read In one OF
the Atlanta papers an attacn u
Rosser had made on my affidavit ana
INV reputation. was angered by
this article, and gave up my lhteh-
ton to tell the truth
During the G. A. r. reunion IN
Chattanooga some time between the
18th and goth of September 1913,
saw Detective Black and twitted hlm
upon the breaking down of his testl-
mony during the Frank trial, and said
to him: You know, John, you were
living right straight through, and that
is why they got you twisted up, He
said: That's right, Nina, anu just
laughed.
II wish TO state now, absolutely and
uneduivocally, that everything | SAID
In that affidaVit was an absolute
falsehood My making the statements
did was induced by being piled with
iduor. as | have before set out, ana
by my fear of the power held over me
by the Atlanta detectives.
Il repeat, | had never spoken 10
Mr.. Frank before I spoke TO MN IN
his cell that day. l had never seen
him. except the one time he was point
ed out 10 me a year and a half oelore
the murder by one OF his employees
He had never set foot IN my mousse
he had never telephoned to me- ne
had never asked me for a room IN
INV house. not only do not know
that he is a degenerate or a pervert,
h,,t had never even heard such
thing before the detectives had sug-
gested it to me before plying me with
liauor, I do not believe Mr.. Frank ls
a peryert or a degenerate beileve
him to be absolutely innocent OF this
crime.
Ever since maze the affidavit be-
fore Chief Lanford, my conscience mas
troubled me. / realize | have done
great and terrible wrong to an lnno-
cent man, and l firmly believe that
the entire case against Mr.. Frank IS
nothing more or less than the usual
police frame-up. Certainly my en-
tire participation in the case has been
false from beginning to end, and
know nothing against Mr.. Frank.
During the time that Chewing
and Norris used to come up to my
apartment and visit me they always
cautioned me about saying anything
to reporters about this matter, or 10
outsiders, saying that | might get into
trouble if I did so. They would also
say: We know that Jew is guilty
and you know he is guilty, and we
have got to get him, and we are
going to get him They would say
this over and over again, always eau
tioning me not to say anything to any
reporters or any outsiders"
The affidavit concludes with the
statement that she Is willing to go to
Atlanta at any time and appear be-
fore any court and substantiate her
present statements.
Not to Seek Venue Change.
No change of venue from Fulton
County will be asked for Frank If
Judge Ben Hill grants Franks petit
tion for rehearing, according to At
torney Rosser.
while there still is a great deal Of
prejudice and misinformation in At
lanta concerning the Frank case"
said Rosser, Il think people have
changed their opinions.
at any rate, there Is not so strong
a prejudice as there was. If the trial
court agrees, we are willing to have
the case tried there again, because
we believe people are awakening to
the realization that a horrible mis-
take may have been made"
Rosser gave a statement in New
York containing these and other
statements:
Jim Conley is the murderer of that
l:ttle girl" he said beyond shad-
ow OF a doubt 1t was the affidavit
Of this Formby woman which start
cd the talk about Franks bad char
scter. and she has recently stated
there was not a word of truth in
her affidavit.
Outrageous statements about the
reputation Of Frank and about the
condition OF the body of the little girl
were given wide circulation. Such
was the effect of these statements
that many persons in Atlanta still
believe Them in spite of sworn tes-
timony at the trial absolutely refut-
ing them.
Hope to Show False Testimony.
in our extraordinary motion for a
lew trial we hope to show that some
of the witnesses in the trial now ad-
nit they gave false testimony.
zone OF the most vital questions at
stake in the trial is whether Frank
was in the pencil factory between l
and 1880 p m. the Saturday of the
murder. We thought we had proved
he was not. We have additional evil
dence that he was not.
"Conley swore he was with Frank.
disposiEg Of the body, from minutes
before until 1880 that afternoon. II
we show that Is not true, everything
else Conley says falls to the ground.
We will show it,"