Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-04-20

Franks legal fight for life has taken
a place among the celebrated murder
cases of recent years. Seven times
since his conviction in August, 1913.
the lower and supreme courts of the
State of Georgia refused TO grant
Frank q new trial or to set aside the
verdict; three times the sentence of
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 fourteen year. old
Mary Phagan, a factory emp!oye, OF
Atlanta, Ga, which at first appeared
TO be a crime of only local importance,
eventually developed into case Of
nationwide interest. This was due
in large part to the efforts of Frank
and his friends to obtain for him a
new trial on annulInent of the verdict.
Added interest in Atlanta was given
the case because Of its having been
brought into a municipal political con-
troversy, which involved attacks on
that citys police and detective de-
Iartments ana v'ranSles among fac
tons in the city administration.
Soon after the trial ended, the case
came in for agitation which spread
all over the country.
Mary Phagan was murdered April
26, 1919, on Southern holiday in OBJ
servance Of Confederate Memorial
Day. Shortly after noon OF that day
she was seen to enter the pencil fac
- ~ oh l,-1
employed and where she went 20 OBJ
tain wages due her. Her body was
found next morning in the basement
OF the factory. with cord tied about
the neck.
Leo NJ. Frank. a young Jew. a col
leee graduate and married, whose
home had been in Brooklyn, \. Y.
was superintendent Of the pencil fac
tory Three days after the murder
Frank was arrested on suspicion and
on Nav s. Frank and negro watch
man at the factory. Newt Lee, were
held by the coroner for the grand
jury's action. Lee subsequently was
released. Sixteen days later Jim
Conley, q negro sweeper at the fac
tory, made d confession to the police
in Which he accused Frank of having
killed the Phagan girl, and declared
he had helped dispose Of the body.
Conley, who was one of the chief wit
nesses for the State at Franks trial
was convicted as an accessory after
the murder in February. 1915. and
sentenced to one years imprisonment
He began his term last July.
l.
rior Court, July %. 1915, Judge l.. ).
Roam presiding. Judge Roam died
March IS. 1915. in New York. A ver-
dict OF guilty was returned August
%, Frank being sentenced 10 death.
In his statement to the jury at the
close of his trial Frank said he had
seen Mary Phagan in his Office in the
factory. few minutes before the time
the state commended she was MUIR
dered; that he paid the girl her wages
and that she left his Office. The
theory of the defense has been that
Cooley. who. was about the building
when the siri entered, and who had
been drinking, attacked and killed the
girl after she left Frank Office
In October 1913. Franks attorneys
filed a motion for a new trial alleging
lG3 errors in admission of testimony
and conduct of the trial, and also
charging that demonstrations by the
crowd within and outside the court
room during the trial had interfered
with fair verdict. Judge Roam de-
MED the; molten and the Georgia Su-
preme Court affirmed his action Feb
v-.,a far ,,j,,
Of the appeal was denied by the State
Supreme Court two weeks later.
An extraordinary motion for a new
trial and a motion to set aside the
verdict were filed simultaneously in
superior court April is. 1914. Among
the grounds alleged in the motion for
a new trial was that of newly dis
covered 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 prevailed the court room;'' and
also that his constitutional rights mad
been violated because Frank and his
attorneys had been absent from the
court room. without Franks consent,
when the verdict was returned This
absence, it was claimed, was at the
request Of the presiding judge who
was quoted as saying he feared mob
violence against Frank and his law
yers if verdict Of acquittal were re-
turned.
The extraordinary motion for new
trial was denied by the superior court
May s, and the decision was affirmed
by the state supreme court October Il.
The superior court on June 8, 1914,
dismissed the motion to set aside the