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

Tor what he declares was his pcrIured
testimony,
The lad goes into great detail as to
the manner in which his TESTIMONY
was built up, and asserts that he told
Black repeatedly that IL was lie but
that the detectives invariable reply
was that 1t. would he all right and
that he would give Epps some money
to get out OF town after the trial II
he wished to 60.
Black il the witness who wilted uu-
DER the TRIBE fire OF Luther Rosser :
cross examination during the Fran"
trial and became so confused that ne
was compelled 20 leave the stand
Here is the Epps' affidavit in full:
Epps Boys Affidavit
state of Georgia-County OF Bald
win
Now comes George Epps who,
upon his solemn oath. deposes ana
says: ! am Is years OF age, ! reside
at No. 246 Fox street in the CITY OF
Atlanta, but at present ] am the re-
formatory AZ Milledgeville. Georgia.
In August. 1919 7 was witness Tor
the State against Leo NJ, Frank VINO
was at that time on trial for the nuI 70
der OF Mary Phagan.
Il was also called as a witness ny
the Solicitor General before the Cor
oner's inquest over the death OF Mary
Phagan.
Il now state that nj both the Cor
oner's inquest and the trial OF Leo ~
Frank ! sWore falsely J now state
that ] was persuaded 10 give the ialse
testimony in both OF the before-Ine
toned hearings by Detective 1onh
g he
tell the truth and relieve my miha
and conscience and clear myself OF
the perjured testimony given at both
hearings | have prayed to Coo TOT
forgiveness. and / now want To eN-
plain all Of the circumstances ana m
nuauces that made me swear talselN
At both of those hearings. ! VIII say
that the only statements in my tesu
mouv that is of truth is that ! knew
Mary Phagan and that ! rode on tne
street car with her on April 20. 1913,
which was the last time ! ever saw
Mary Phagan alive.
ITO explain all of the particulars as
10 how / become to be lead TO give
false testimony in the Mary Fhasah
case. ! will begin with my hrst meet
ing with Detective John Black OF me
police force My home Is IN the
neighborhooi in which Mary Phagah
lived. and knew her and most of the
neigh 1rhood knew her, and it was
known throughout the neighborhood
that John Black was making m
quiries there for boys and girls OF
nelghbors that knew her
Tells Of Black Seeing Him,
at was known generally in the
neigh borhood that played with Mary
Phagan and talked with her around
the streets OF the neighborhood. IN
Nav. fNla, was employed at Hirsch-
Snlts Red Factory IN the city of At
lanta and one day in May | was told
nv my boss in the factory there was
somebody out at the front who want
cd 10 see me. and ! went out anu ihg
man who was there and who wanted
to see me was Detective John BACK,
He then told me that he understood
that / knew something about the
Mary Phagan case. tolu nltl
didn't know anything about the Mary
afghan murder case, but in renly 10
his further questions, adnltteu 'hdt
knew Mary Phagan.
II also told him that I rode down
Town on the same car with Mary Pha-
gan on April % 1913 He asked me
what time | boarded tn ecar, and /
told him it was between 10 ana 10
minutes TO T.. He asked me how
knew the time. and | told him ! h@d
seen the time on a clock that ~ IN
Mr. Rrvan's store. There is In this
store a clock and while standing in
The door Of this store | noticed that
clock The minute hand was then
between the hours of 9 and 10 ana
the hour hand was nearly 10 IL
o'clock. know that this clock is not
reliable as 10 time, sometimes IT.
doesn't run at all. but It Is the only
clock that ! saw, that IS how knew
the time that / was boarding the car
Il had been playing ball, and. being
Saturday, / did not work az the FAC
tory. but went downtown and sold
newspa pcrs, and | generally left home
10 20 downtown about II O'Clock, but
| was a frald would be late this day
April 20. Black further questioned
me if I saw Mary Phagan on the car
and | told him / did, that she sat I'm
the front seat on the left hand side
facing forward, and ! sat three seats
behind her.
Spoke to Her on Street.
Il did not speak TO Mary Phagan OF
the car, but when We got off the car
al Marietta and Forsyth streets Mary
got Oft ahead of me. and ! said, Hell
TO- Mary Where are YOU gong :
Mary answered, and said, I'm going
TO set my money and go 10 see tn,
parade. this day being Decoration
Day and a holiday. This was all OF
the conversation that had with MaN
on that day last saw Mary as she
was going over the yiaauct south OF
FORSYTH street and ] went under n,
yiaduCt TO The journal building