The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-08-21
GEORGIA ABLE TO DEAL WITH THE LYNCHERS, SAYS HARRIS
Georgia Governor Declares He Will Resent Outside nterfer ence in Bringing Members of Mob to Justice-'Tisa Georgia Problem and Must Be Handled
 by Georgians, He Says

Atlanta. August 20.-Gov Nat E. liar
 rls let it be known today that the peo ! ! pie of Georgia would resent outside in- tcrferenoe or advice in dealing with con | ditions growing out of the lynching of
 Leo NJ. Frank.
 The lynching," he said. was crime against the civilization of our state and a blot upon Georgias fair name that cannot be erased. None of us approve of mob violence or lynch law, and all of us regret what has happened I have and will continue to exert every power
 at my command to bring the members
 of the mob to justice.
 But If the members of the mob arc
 brought to justice it will be through
 the courageous efforts of Georgia of llcials, and courts. supported by the sentiment of the citizens of the state, and not through the newspaper editor. ials and resolutions of indignation and offers of rewards coming from other states.
 T am afraid these things will only
 serve to aggravate a situation that al ready is humliating to our people, and If they continue will eventuate in a great deal more harm than good by de-
 feating the efforts of the state to ap- prenend the guilty parties" Telegrams Received The governor has received many tele- grams and letters during the past two days urging him to take decisive ac- tion. Shortly before his inauguration the
 latter part of June when 1t was
 thought the Frank case might come be-
 fore him for final determination, Gov
 ernor Harris received many communi-
 cations on the subject from all parts of the United States. He announced at that
 time that: You can say for Nat Harris
 that if the case ever comes before me
 will be guided by my own conscience
 and the infiunece of Georgians. Outside influences will have no weight This Is @ Georgia case to be settled by Geor~ gians."
 So far as the public Is advised. the
 only forward step taken in connection
 with the lynching today was the an- nouncement that the governor soon
 would ask the prosecuting officials O.
 Baldwin and Cobb counties to meet with him at his office to consider what fu-
 ture action shall be taken. The state
 prison farm is in Baldwin county, and
 Franks death, as far as Is known, oc- cured in Cobb county. The superior court judge, the solicitor and the sher- if of the two counties are to he ia-
 vlted to the conference, which will be | officials to reach Atlanta.
 There has been some doubt among these
 officials, according to common report, as
 to which should take the initiative in
 discovering the identify of the so-called
 vigilance committed which abducted
 Frank from Milledgeville and later left
 his body dangling at the end of rope
 near Marietta.
 It is contended on behalf of the Mill
 ledgeville authorities that the actual kill
 ing of Frank did not take place in that
 county and therefore the real prosecu-
 tion of the case would not lie lin their
 hands. On behalf of the Cobb county
 authorities it Is argued that the officials
 there did not come in actual contact with
 the mob and were unaware of the crime
 until the perpetrators had made their escape
 Governor Harris said he would urge the judges and solicitors to bring the matter before their respective grand juries and would ask the sheriffs to co-op9rate in every possible way No grand jary ses- l sions are imminent in either county and so far as could be learned tonight no special sessions are contemplated Herbert Clay, solicitor of Cobb county where Frank was found dead, was one of the Marietta citizens who appeared l before the prison board sometime ago and
 urged that there should be no commuta- tion of the sentence of death passed upon the alleged slayer of Mary Phagan. Apparently the only tangible investga- tion of the lynching actually under way is that being conducted by Coroner John Booth of Cobb county, who impanelled jury soon after he cut down Franks body