Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1915-04-20
JUSTICES HOLMES AND
HUGHES q 4 ] DISSENT D 8 ] ! ! IN oP1N-
ION UNFOLDING VERDICT
or LOWER COURT.
SAY NO RlGa7 Is VIOLATED A 1
No Murder Case Has Been So
stubbornly Fought in Re
cent Years.

preme court held that the state Of
Georgia had denied Leo M. Frank no
right under the federal constitution
in sentencing him to death for the
murder of Mary rPhagan, he Atlanta
factory girl. The court affirmed the
action of the United States district
court for northern Georgia, refusing
to release Frank on a writ of habeas
corpus. Justice Holmes dissented,
Hughes concurring. This decision, it
is believed here, exhausts all means
of fighting in the courts to save
Franks life. His attorneys have 80
days in which to file application for
q rehealing. 4.
At the end of that time the courts
mandate will issue, and apparently
only the possibility of a pardon will
be between the prisoner and death.
# Lost lts Jurisdiction.
Habeas corpus proceedings rested
on the claim that the trial court had
lest jurisdiction over the prisoner BY
reason Of "mob domination during
the rtial& aad bYs Franks involuntary
absence az the time the verdict was
rendered. a majority Of the court
held that the findings by the supreme
court OF Georgia, that Of alleged mob
dominance" amounted to nothing
more than irregularities and was not
prejudicial to Frank.
Celebrated Case.
Leo M. Franks legal fight for life
has taken place among the celebrat-
ed murder cases Of recent years. Sew
en- times since his conviction in Au-
gust, 1913, the lower and supreme
courts OF the state of Georgia refus-
ed to grant Frank 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 sec
ond resulting in the decision today.
The murder of 14.year-0ld Mary
Phagan. a factory employe, Of Atlanta
Ca, which at first appeared to be q
crime Of only local importance, event.
nally developed into case of nation.
wide interest. This was due In large
part to the efforts of Frank and his
friends to obtain for him new trial
or annulment OF the verdict. Added
interest in Atlanta was given the case
because of its having been brought in.
to q municipal political controversy,
which involved attacks on that city's
police and detective departments and
wrangles among factions in the city
administration.
Soon after the trial ended, the case
came In for agitation which spread
all over the country.
Murdered April e, 1918.
Mary Phagan was murdered April
26, 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 fac,
tory, in Atlanta, where she had been
employed and where she went to OBJ
tain wages due her Her body was
found next morning in the basement
OF the factory, with a cord tied about
the neck.
Leo NJ. Frank, young Jew, a col.
lege graduate and married, whose
home had been in Brooklyn, N. Y,
was superintendent of the pencil fac.
tory. Three days after the murder,
Frank was arrested on suspicion and
on May 8, Frank and negro watch.
man at the factory, Newt Lee, were
held by the coroner for the grand
iury's action. Lee subsequently was
released. Sixteen days later jim
Conley, a negro sweeper at the fac
tory, made 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, 1871. and SEN
fenced to one years Imprisonment.
He began his term last July.
Verdict Of Guilty.
Frank was placed on trial in supe'
rior court, July 2S, 1913, Judge I: s:
Roam presiding. Judge Roam died
March %, 1915, in New York. A YER
dict Of guilty was returned August
25. Frank being sentenced to 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
state contended she was murdered;
CONTINUED on Page Two.)