The Washington times., 1915-02-14
Detective Burns's Comment

after the direct and cross.exa1ni-
nation was finished and Just as the
negro was to step down from the
stand.
Months had been spsnt In search
for the mesh bag. TO complete
the states cAse against Frank the
mesh bag WAS needed. Jim conley
repeatedly had denied seeing It,
but he furnished the necessary tes-
timony readily enough after he got
In the hands OF the solicitor.
I'VE asked him about burning
the body" Scott says. Conley re-
piled that there hadn't been any
. talk Of burning Ehe body. denied
that.he intended to burn the body,
or that Frank had commissioned
him to the grewsones task.
But the detectives evidently gave
Conley what ne considered .
mighty good idea. II he could
weave mat into his story IL would
make II Just 10 much more con-
winding. He muIlsd II over and
over In his negro mind - iss had
the other details Of his story, and
when he got upon the stand the
story WAS perfected. Yes. Frank
had asked him to burn the body.
had asked him to como back to shs
factory and burn the body. and hs
had gone home promising to re-
turn In forty minutes.
Why they did not burn the
body right then and there. Conley
did not explain, but he did have
an expAna tion handy Of why he
did not come back and carry out
his promise. He went home and
fell asleep! He did not wake up
until half past six.
BY this time. I know. the
reader recognizes IN Jim Coniey
a most extraordinary negro.
Slept Through All.
with the screams Of Mary
Phagan ringing In his ears. Jim
Conley says he calmly went to
sleep down on the hrst floor Of
the pencil factory.
Later. with the thought on his
mind that he must return to the
factory to throw Mary PhAgan's
body into the boiler. to be burned
until no vest4Ee OF 1t remained,
he went home. lay down and
slumbered peacefully as q child
all afternoon. and until too late
to carry out his purpose
Possibly some readers may
have difficulty in believing this
story of the negro. but to that
t,rru IN Ala pt> e x-,~. ~nsnnl
truth
To be sure, Conley said in his
last statement to the police and
detectives that he did not \,Ar
any scream or any disturbance
up stairs. but the screams and
tip-toeing materialized in plenty
Of time for him to. testify to
them At the trial. The screams
and the tip-toeing. there can be
no doubt, were added either ct
the suggestion Of Conley's ''tratn-
ers' or from his own imaSina-
zion to make his infamous
story carry more weight with the
Jury.
There are q score Of other points
which should be made right In
this connection were thers the
space, and there are one or two
more wish to direct attention to
in conclusion.
One Is that even In that last
statement to the police. Conlsy
said no word about being on
guard for Frank At the front
door OF the pencil factory. either
on the day Of the murder or on
previous occasions. He said moth
ing Of having been given instruc-
tions to lock and unlock the
front doors on certain signals
from Frank. All this detail was
worked out between the time he
made his last afndavtt and the
time of the trial.
Neither did he charge Frank
with the sross immoralities which
he related 80 Elibly on the stand,
and which unquestionably had q
large part In arousing sentiment
against Frank and In bringing
his conviction. These. like all the
other things I have enumerated,
were woven into his testimony
by the negro In order surely to
save his own neck by making
Frank appear suc1 ar abhorvent
creature that there ould Be n,
mercy for him.
That there was not 4 shred Of
truth In these fabrications was
proved by the Burns agency In
it's investigation OF the case. We
looked Into the record of Fraak
from his boyhood. Then We pub
lished an offer Of 81 .0OO to tho
person who would bring forwari
satisfactory proof Of Franks i'm
morality. No claimants. Then we
raised It to 5000. This offer 10
still open, but Mas not been
claimed either BY Chief OF Dstec.
tives Lanford or Solicitor Dorsey
nH