The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1915-04-22

Supreme Court Decides Against
Convicted Man-His Only
Hope of Escaping Chair
Is State Pardon.

washington, April 2o.-The supreme
court of the United States today decid-
ed against Lee NJ. Frank in his habeas
corpus case. Justice Pitney delivered
the opinion of the court. He concluded
by saying:
of Georgia the fullest right and oppor-
unity to be heard, according TO the es-
tablished modes of procedure nave pee1
accorded to him.
,In the opinion of this court said
Justice Pitney, "he is not SHOWN 70
have been deprived of n right guar
anteed to him by the 18th amend
ment or any other provision OF the CON
stitution or laws of the United states;
on the contrary, he has been convicted
and is now held in custody under due
process Of law, within the meaning VI
the constitution"
Only Hope Is Pardon.
1t Is believed that only the state par
don officials of Georgia a now saw
Frank from the death penalty tor ms
conviction Of the murder of Mary Pha-
gan, a factory girl.
Justice Holmes delivered a dissenting
opinion, in which Justice Hughes con
CURED.
Leo NJ. Franks legal fight for life has
taken a place among the celebrated
IluIuSI GASES VI tSSl Seip 'SN ~
times since his conviction IN August.
1913, the lower and supreme courts OF
the state of Georgia refused to grant
Frank a new trial, or to set aside the
verdict; three times the sentence or
death was passed upon him and twice
appeals were made to the United
States supreme court, the first being
unsuccessful and the second resulting
in the decision today.
The murder of 14-year-old Mary Pha-
cor ~ 81 ~, .nf A f1nr,fn 20
which at first appeared to be a crime
of only local Importance, eventually de-
yeloped into a case of nationwide inter-
est. This was due" in large part to the
efforts Of Frank and his friends to OBJ
tain for him a new trial or annulment
of the verdict. Added interest in At
lanta was given the case a of its
having been brought into a municipal
political controversy, which involved
attacks on that city's police and detect
I've departments and w~rangles among
factions in the city administration.
After the trial ended, the case came
in for agitation which spread all over
the country.
Murdered on Holiday.
Mary Phagan vas murdered April
rs, 1913, on a Southern holiday in OBJ
servance Of Confederate memorial day.
Shortly after noon of that day she was
seen to enter the pencil factory, in At
lanta, where she had been employed and
where she went to obtain wages due
her. Her body was found mex morn
Ing in the basement of the factory, with
a card tied about the neck.
Leo NJ. Frank, a young jew, a COL
lege graduate and married, whose home.
had been in Brooklyn, N. Y, was sup
erintendent of the pencil factory.
Three days after the murder, Frank
was arrested on suspicion and on May
., Frank and a negro Waterman at the
factory, Newt Lee, were held by the
coroner for the grand jury's action.
Lee subsequently was released. Six
teen days later Jim" Conley. a negro
sweeper at the factory, made a con
fession to the police in which he ac-
cused Frank of having killed the Pha-
gan girl, and declared he had helped
dispose of the body. Conley. who was
one OF the chief witnesses for the state.
at franks trial, was convicted as an
accessory after the murder in February,
1914, and sentenced to one years inn
~prisonment. He began his term last
July.
Frank was placed on trial In superior
court, July %, 1913, Judge L. S. Roar
1915, In New York. A verdict of guilty
was returned August rs, Frank being
sentenced to death. In his statement tc
the jury at the close of his trial Frank
sald ne mad seen Mary Phagan in his
office in the factory, a few minutes,
before the time the state contended she
was murdered; that he paid the cir!
her wages and that she left his office
me theory of the defense has beer
that Conley, who was about the build
ing when the girl entered, and who had
been drinking, attacked and killed the
girl after she left Franks office.
In october, 1918. Franks attorneys
Ilied a motion for a new trial, alleging
1853 errors In admission Of testimony
and conduct of the trial, and also
charging that demonstrations by the
crowd within and ouside the court room
during the trial had interfered with q
falr verdict. Judge Roam denied the
motion and the Georgia supreme court
AFFIRMED his action February II. 1914.
"A motion for rehearing of the appeal
was denied by the state supreme court
W weeks later.
Claimed "Mob Spirit"
An extraordinary motion for a new trial
ana a motion to set aside the verdict were
filed simultaneously in superior court
April 16. 1914. Among the grounds alleged
In the motion for a new trial was that OF
newly discovered evidence. The motion to
set aside the verdict was based on the
ground that Franks constitutional rights
had been violated by the trial court. His
attorneys alleged that Frank had not been
given a fair trial because Of the spirit of
mob violence that pervaded the court
ROOM" and also that his constitutions
rights had been violated because Frank
and his attorneys had been absent from
the court room. without Franks consent.
when the verdict was returned. This alb
sence, it was claimed, was at the request
of the presiding judge who was quoted as
saying he feared mob violence against
Frank and his lawyers if a verdict of ac-
Quittal were returned.
The extraordinary motion for a new trial
was denied by the superior court Nav 6.
and the decision was affirmed by the state
supreme court October IA. The superior
court on June 6, 1914, dismissed the motion
to set aside the verdict on constitutions
grounds. by sustaining the states den,,r-
rer to the motion. The supreme court AZ
frmed this action November II, 1914. and
six days afterward the supreme court re-
fused to certify a writ of error to the
United States supreme court.
To review that action, application was
made first to Justice Lamar, then to jus
.ttce Holmes, and finally to the entire SUI
preme court of the United States, for a
rryrff nf 4 --Jl :.