Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1914-12-16
FRANK EXECUTION JANUARY 2a.
Prisoner Makes Lengthy Statement
Before Final Date is Fixed.
(Atlanta Georgian, 10th.)


the gallows for the murder OF Mary
Phagan, killed in the National Pencil
Factory on April &c, 1913. Judge
Ben Hill set the date for the con-
demned mans execution as Friday,
January %, 1915.
On each of the other occasions
when he was sentenced to hang
Frank was respited by an appeal to
the higher courts for review Of the
case. There now remains between
Frank and death only the State
Prison Commission and Governor
John NJ. Slaton. Within a week it
is expected that the Governor will be
asked to grant a further respite so
the case can be argued and plea for
clemency entered before the Prison
Commission.
The third sentencing Of Frank was
the most dramatic Of the many dra-
matte episodes Of the famous case.
The court room was jammed with
people, the great majority of them
men, with here and there a woman.
The murmur that greeted the en-
trance of Frank, walking slowly with
a deputy sheriff on either side Of
him, died away to absolute quiet as
| the condemned man rose to his feet
in answer to Judge Hills question as
to whether he had anything to say
why sentence should not be nassed
upon him.
Gestures Emphasize Words.
Quietly and impressively, empha-
sizing his statements with gestures
and again speaking slowly, with his
hands clasped behind his back,
Frank made what was probably the
most remarkable assertion of inno-
cence and belief in his ultimate
vindication that has ever been heard
in Georgia court room.
The prisoner was taken from the
Fulton County Tower shortly before
IL O'Clock by Sheriff Mangum and
Deputy Sheriff Miner Franks aged
father, NJ. Frank, was with his son
when Deputy Sheriff Miner entered
his cell. The aged man assisted his
son into his coat and walked with
him to the door OF the tower, where
a closed automobile waited. At the
door of the tower the father clasped
his sons hand and bade him good
| ha
placed in the automobile and taken
to the court house.
The court room was filled with
men. Many Of them had been wait
ing for hours to witness the sentenc-
ing Of Frank. Every scat was filed by
II O'Clock, and when it became
known that Frank had entered the
building the crowds that had been
waiting patiently in the corridors
rushed in struggling mass of hui
manity into the court room. The
jam became so great that deputy
sheriffs closed the doors and barred
them. Hundreds remained in the
Railways for an hour, hoping to get
a glimpse of Frank
Prisoners Remarkable Statement
The following address was made
to the court to-day by Leo NJ Frank
when asked by Judge Hill, when
brought from the tower, why SEN
tence OF death should not be pro-
nounced on him:
May it please your honor, this is
a momentous day-a day If far
greater importance to the State OF
Georgia and to the majesty of the
law even than to myself for under
the guise Of law your honor Is about
to pronounce words that will con.
demn to death an innocent man
Transcending in importance the loss
Of my own life is the indellible stair
and dishonor resting upon the name
of this State by reason Of its judi
cially numbering an innocent man.
"The jury's verdict of August 25
1913, finding me guilty of the deatf
Of Mary Phagan did not then, anC
does not now, speak the truth.
declare to your honor and to the
world that that verdict was made II
an atmosphere seething with moi
violence and clamor for my life-.-s
verdict based on evidence absolutely
false, which, under other circum
stances, would not have been given
moments credence.
Your honor, deeply sympathiz,
with the parents Of Mary Phagan
The brute that brought so much grie