Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1914-04-09
New York Times and the
Frank Case
(Naco Telegraph

stain from expressing an opinion as To
lis guilt or innocence. That as for tie
courts to decide and The Telegra Il.
shall do nothing more than back up the
courts in their work Reference has
been made in these columns to the ire
mendous effort which is bn.ng mad.
not only in Georgia, but throughout the
country, to discredit the Georg. {
courts. A sort of junata seams TO
have been formed, with unlimited
funds, well organized press agents.
volunteer" detectives and influential
newspapers. A powerful campaign
has been made to create a stampede %
public DISTRICT in the courts and to
cause the undoing Of what has been
done.
The New York Times, which is lead
ing the New York end of he can.
paign, takes The Telegraph sharply tn
task for exposing the methods employ
ed recently. The Times quotes fro
The Telegraph, twists the meaning of
what We said and then proceeds to
discourse upon the seriousness or
Furnishing an innocent" man. It
does not wait for a new trial" fo-
Leo Frank, or even for Detective
Burns to present his new evidence"
in the case. 1t says it has already
been practically demonstrated tina.
he is innocent" The Times ought 20
tell US when that demonstration was
made. On this subject the Times says:
The courts Of law, says our
Macon contemporary, are the only
protection which a citizen has. IF
he cannot appeal to them with the
assurance that justice will be
done, that his rights will be guard
ed, and that his life and property
will be protected" and so on,Hu-
man reason never more defiantly
stood On its head and Kicked
thoughtless heels in the air than
in this amazing sentence. How
could the infiction of the death
penalty upon an innocent man in
crease the confidence with which
the citizen, high or humble, could
appeal to the courts for the safe
guarding of his life, his rights,
and his property? 1t has been
practically demonstrated that
Frank is innocent. The more the
Frank case is studied, the more
the conviction grows that he is in
nocent, and those who have stud
led it most deeply have no doubt
at all that the guilty man is an
other than Frank. Yet The Macon
Telegraph, if it's strange article
means anything, means that Frank
nevertheless should be allowed to
GO to the scaffold rather than that
the courts should be brought into
disrepute" by establishing the
wrongfulness of the jury's YER
dict and providing for new trial
where he will have full assurance
that his rights and his lie will
be protected.
The Telegraph did not say, or eve
intimate, that the "ipfliction of tn
death penalty upon an innocent ma
would increase confidence in o.
courts" What we said was that "wha
becomes of Jim Conley, confesst
brute, or Leo Frank, who has bee
convicted in the courts, is of little co
sequence when compared to The effec'
!. which the recent crusade against tn
courts will have upon them" We we
speaking of guilty men"-confesse
and convicted-and not innocea
men"
a AS we have said before, We shs
carefully guard against saying any
!, thing that will prejudice tbs cas-
sither way 1t was to protest agains
:. outside influences" -"Trials Ly News
papers"-that The Telegraph l:scusse
- it as all 1t was in defense Of Georgi
r. al,