The Penn's Grove record., 1915-08-20
LEO FRANK is
LYNCHED BY MOB
Dragged From Georgia Prison
Farm by Thirty-F i've Men
HUNG NEAR GIRLS HOME
G~eorgians Who Stormed Jail Rush
Him 100 Miles Away in Automo-
biIes-Morbid Throngs View
Body on Tree.
HUNG NEAR GIRLS HOME

Misunderstanding swiftly and
smoothly, and meeting little trouble,
a party of about thirty-five armed
men took Leo Frank, serving a life
sentence for the murder of Mary
Phagan, from the State Penitentiary
al Milledgeville, conveyed him almost
100 miles in an automobile and strung
him up to an oak tree two miles east
of Marietta, the village twenty miles
north of here which was the birthplace
of the little factory girl.
His body was discovered at $50
a. M, and it hung for hours in the
sun, while a crowd of the morbid
gathered at the scene. When John
A. Booth, Coroner, announced his in
tention of cutting down the body MEM
bers of the crowd clamored to be
allowed to shoot it full of holes"
A former judge, N. A. Morris, plead
ed with the crowd not to mutilate the
body, and asked for a vote on the
matter. The vote was not to disturb
the body. But as soon as it touched
the ground hands were c%lutching at
it, tearing away pieces of clothing for
souvenirs.
Officials of Cobb county began an
investigation. County Commissioners
met and authorized the Coroner to
employ extra counsel. The Coroner
impaneled a jury, which adjourned
to permit the gathering of evidence.
The Mayor issued a statement "in
behalf of justice and order"
But predictions were freely made
here that no member of the party
which got through the gates of the
State P~enitentiary without a shot be-
ing fired, and without taking the
trouble to don masks, ever will be
arrested.
Probably Marietta Men Guilty.
The fact that Frank was taken al
most 100 miles from the prison to the
tree where he was hanged, the &C
knowledged bitterness of the popula-
ton of Marietta toward Frank and
the behavior the crowd which gazed
at the body led to the conclusion that
the lynchers are to be found in that
village.
Efforts to learn if several large auto
mobiles had left Marietta brought the
response from n citizen that he mo-
ticed several of the best automobile
drivers in town are not around" This
provoked the Mayors anxious denial.
Governor Nat E. Harris went to
Fitzgerald early to attend the annual
reunion of Confederate Veterans. He
sent word that he would return at
once to Atlanta to aid in an investiga-
ton of the lynching.
The people are entitled to all the
facts in the case" he said, land /
propose to see that they have them"
He previously had issued a state
ment saying that he was "grieved
and indignant"
Acting Sheriff Hicks of Cobb
county was quoted as saying there
would be no arrests. He said further
that sentiment is such that it would
be impossible to find a man in the
county who would serve on a grand
jury to indict the lynchers or a petit
juror who would convict.
Common report in Marietta is that
the band was formally organized and
a pledge of secrecy exacted from each
member. Men were sent in automo-
biles days in advance to learn the
roads and may them. In Milledgeville
they made through observations of the
prison grounds and the barbed wire en-
tanglements. They acquainted them
selves with the telegraph and tele-
phone connections.
Early in the night the automobiles
assigned to the task went over their
respective routes to pick up the
chosen men.