The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1915-08-20
MOB KILLS
NOTED PRISONER
IVA rs
Leo M. Frank Taken From
Georgia Prison Farm.
Body Found Hanging to Tree One
Hundred Miles From Pen
itentiary.

WilcuBcVlllc, Va, aug. ia
mob variously estimated as made up
of from twenty-five to seventy-five
men. after overpowering the warden,
superintendent and guards of the
Georgia State prison farm here, took
Leo M. Frank from the dormitory at
IL o'clock last night.
First reports that they may have
been friends of Franks were dispell-
ed when a prisoner in the dormitory
stated that he heard a member of the
mob say that Franks body would be
placed tomorrow on the grave of
Mary Phagan. at Marietta.
Frank was serving a life term for
the murder of the girl.
The mob was orderly. but work.
ed with quick precision. Eight au-
tomobiles took the men to within a
short distance of the prison. First
all telephone wires leading to the pri-
son adm all except one from Millledge
vile were cut. Five men went to
the house of ]. T. Smith, warden,
covered him with pistols and stood
guard over him. Other men went
to the house of J. M. Burke, super
intendent of the prison, and held him
under cover of their guns. Practi-
cally every other member of the mob
rushed to the stockade gate nearest
the dormitory where Frank was be-
ing housed. Only yesterday did ply
sicians discharge him from the hos
pital, where he had been since be-
ing murderously assaulted in the
dormitory.
Previous to the attack, wires lead
ing to the prison itself he'd been cut.
Frank was placed in an automobile
and rushed in the direction of Ea-
tonton.
The attack was shortly before mid
night. The warden and most of the
guards were sleeping on rear porch
of the main building in which the
prisoners are confined. Both he and
the guards were handcuffed after
which the party entered the prison
and removed Frank.
Marietta, Ca, Aug. 17.-Leo M.
Frank. who was serving a life term
for the murder of Mary Phagan. an
Atlanta factory girl. who was taken
from the prison farm at Milledgeville
last night. was lynched two miles east
of here today by the armed party,
which too him from the farm. He
was hanged to a tree.
A party of armed men in five auto
mobiles hortly before midnight drove
up to the prison farm at Milledgeville
and took the superintendent prisoner,
marched him to the prison gates. COW
ed the guards with guns and entered
without struggle. They went to
Franks room and dragged him out.
placed him in an automobile and
whisked him away.
ltlcpnOuCo udcnCu tlC hCWo Out
no trace of Frank was found until
this morning when the body was dis
covered hanging to tree almost
within sight of the former home of
Mary Phagan. a hundred miles from
Milledgeville. No shots were fired.
body. barefooted and clad on
ly in prison trousers and shirt was
found about $3.50. It is believed he
was lynched about daylight.
Several automobiles. we'll loaded
left here last night in the direction
of Milledgeville. After the return of
some of them this morning officers
started out. They had gone two miles
when they saw Franks body near the
roadside. The body was viewed by a
large crowd. and was cut down at
1915.
The crowd took a vote whether to
multilate the body or allow the cor
onor's inquest to take its proper
course. deciding in favor Of the later.
When the body was cut down.
parts of Franks shirt was torn away
by souvenir hunters. The body was
handled before 1t was put
into the undertaker's wagon. from
which it was subsequently removed
to an automobile.
Within a short time after the body
had started for Atlanta. the excie-
ment here subsidized and the town