davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Washington times., 1915-04-04
NO BLOOD NEAR WHERE
BODY WAS FOUND.

At the place Conley said the dead girls
body lay and where it was natural
to suppose there would be the most
blood, there was none at all, nor
was there any around the lathe on
the handle of which the State held
the girl had struck her head in the
struggle with Frank. The supposed
blood spot was where Conley said he
dropped the body.
Conley said he had watched" for
Frank at the front door while Frank
had women in his Office on the
second floor, but he was unable to
tell Of any one he ever had stopped
either on previous occasions or on
the day of the murder. In fact, IL
his story Is true, he permitted Mon
teen Slower to go directly to Frank
Office after Mary Phagan had gone
UP, after he had heard her and
Frank walking toward the metal
room, after he had heard her shrek
and after he had heard Frank tip
toeing to the front Of the building
and back to the rear where the girls
body lay. II Lemmie Quinn's test-
mony is credible, Conley also let
Quinn go up after all this took place.
The states theory was that Mary
Phagan entered the factory first, and
was followed by Monteen Stover two
or three minutes later. The Stover
girl went to Franks office and found
no one In. The reason was, accord
Ing to the State, that Frank at that
moment had lured the Phagan girl
to the metal room under pretense OF
seeing IL the metal had come. The
Slower girl, however. testified that
she entered the factory at 120S
o'clock and left at 1910. The Phagan
girls car was not even due In town
at 1905 o'clock. The Phagan girl
arriving in town at. 1901. could MOI
have reached the factory before
12.1O to 1915. The Slower girl, there.
fore, must have been to the factory
and gone before Mary Phagan ar
rived, unless, as the State argued, the
car came in ahead Of time and the
clock at the factory was severa
minutes slow.
The Washington times., 1915-04-04
PROVED FRANK KNEW
LITTLE MARY PHAGAN.

Frank made much Of his assertion
that he did not know Mary Phagan
and did not even know her name. If
one is not struck at once by the i'm
probability of this statement. coming
as it did from superintendent who
had had this girl In his employ for a
year, most of the time on the same
floor as his office, then there is the
testimony of several witnesses who
were very sure Frank knew her and
that he had sought at times to talk
to her.
you seem to know Mary pretty we'll,
J. NJ. CAN'T testified Frank said to him.
the remark itself showing that Frank at
least knew the girls name.
Another circumstance that made ludi-
crous his claim that he did not know
Mary Phagan by sight or name was his
statement to his detective, Harry Scott.
that he knew CAN'T to be an intimate
acquaintance of the girl, information 1t
would have been impossible for Frank
to give had he not known the identity
of the girl. This information was given
at time when CAN'T was under sus-
picion and by many was Interpreted as
an endeavor on the part of Frank TO in
Atensify the suspicion against his former
employe.
The Washington times., 1915-04-04
DORSEY HAD WITNESSES
TO BACK UP CONLEY.

If Frank is a degenerate, his attack
and the vicious strangling which caused
his victims death are even more easily
explained. The defense claimed that
Conley's tstimony was the only basis
for the charge of degeneracy, but the
fact remains that after Conleys story
got In the Solicitor could not get into
the record any more testimony OF the
same character. 1t was common knowl-
edge that he had one or moro other
witnesses who would have substanu-
ated Conley. at least in part
But, as have indicated before, II
was not necessary to prove previous bad
character. An overwhelming case had
been made out against him without the
testimony of these girls, who would
have told much more than they did tell
had the lawyers for Frank dared cross
examine them. Even had the defense
succeeded in proving that Frank. prior
to the crime, had borne an unsullied
character-which they did not prove
that could not have saved him from
conviction. Deeds Of passion and vio-
lenCe have been done my many men Of
supposed uprightness and morality.
The contention of Franks lawyers
that the notes found by the body of the
dead girl could not have been dictated
by white man, but were the concep-
ton of a negro brain, is best answered
by the broad statement that Southern
negroes do not write notes to leave by
the bodies Of their murdered Victims
The Washington times., 1915-04-04
REASONS FOR BELIEVING
CONF is GUILTY..

Er,nk,s LAWYERS gave as their rea-
sons for their belief that Conley WAS
guilty these assertions:
/ On the day of the murder Cohley
was drunk and concealed hllnself IN a
position where he readily could nave
committed the murder.
Q, On Monday morning he was unduly
excited, so much so as to arouse the
suspicious of the employees OF the rac-
tory.
| 3. When the police were in the building
he was caught hiding In an obscure
part Of the factory.
4. When questioned about his conduct
he said he would give large sum to
be a white man so he could get past
the police.
8. He persisted for long time in the
denial that he could write. and did
not admit that he could until he found
further denial useless.
| g. He was continually hard up and
owed a number OF men about the fac
tory. The girls pay envelope would
have furnished at least an initial mo-
tive for the attack.
7. He was caught washing a shirt at
the factory, thing he never had done
! before.
8. He denied all participation In or
| knowledge OF the crime until he was
driven by the charge that he wrote
| the notes found near the body.
o. On May 1s he made signed state
ment processing to outline his move.
ments on April 20, but he made nc
mention Of the murder.
TO- On May "a he made an affidavit say
| Ing that on April rs. before the mur-
der on April 20, be wrote the notes
at the request Of Frank, for which
Frank gave him cigarettes and $3.50.
| II. On May % Conley made long af
fidavit, full Of contradictions and alb
surdities, mostly disconnected with
the murder.
IL. On May 20, although he already hat
sworn that he had made his true, full
and last statement, he made anothe
statement. in which, for the first time
he charged that he aided Frank in tn
disposal of the body.
The Washington times., 1915-04-04
DOCTORS PRONOUNCED
FRANK "NORMAL."

The only story Of Franks perversion
was told by negro Conley and he
made no mention of this In any of
his affidaYits. Physicians examined
Frank and pronounced him normal,
SO far as they could determine. De-
tective Burns. after the trial, or
fered 81 1000 to any one who would
furnish satisfactory proof OF Frank S
immortality. No one claimed the re-
ward, which later was raised to So,-
600. Chief Of Detectives Lanford
then said he never had asserted FRANK
was a pervert. The State, disbellev-
ing Nina Formby. who was ready
to testify that Frank called her up
the night of the murder asking tc
bring a girl to her place and tha'
she previously had spied on franh
when he was at her house with girls
refused to call her as witness.
Neighbors Of the Frank family II
Brooklyn, schoolmates OF Frank al
Pratt Institute, college mates at cor
nell, instructors at both institutions
business associates and sociai &C
quaintances in Atlanta testified TO MI
good character.
The Washington times., 1915-04-04
OFFICE-WORK DEFENSE
A FLIMSY ARGUMENT.

In considering his various occupa
tions on Saturday, April 26. 1t Is neces
sary to refer to one Of the defenses
set up by the prisoner This was that
he spent all Saturday afternoon in get
ting up the intricate financial sheet for
the weeks production of the National
Pencil Factory. OF which he was su-
perintendent. Franks lawyers called
upon the Jurors to think how pre-
posterous and unreasonable 1t would be
to suppose that Frank, after murder
ing the factory girl shortly after noon,
could sit down coolly at his desk. with
the image Of her dead body before
him, work out the involved computa-
tlons of the financial sheet and set them
down in his usually clear handwriting
without a tremor or sign Of nervous
ness.
This was one of their weakest and
nimsiest arguments, and yet hours
were spent in showing the jurors what
a great length OF time must be spent
In the calculations and how easy 1t
would be for a person in disturbed
state Of mind to make serious errors.
The truth was that Frank made out
that financial sheet before noon. Al.
though Franks lawyers made frantic
efforts to establish that he invariably
made ont the sheet Saturday afternoons
working on 1t from about o'clock tc
| $50, and never did the work in the fore
Moons, the Jury was perfectly satisfied
that the work was finished, or nearly
| finished. before Mary Phagan entered
The Washington times., 1915-04-04
FRANK WAS TREMBLING
LIKE AN ASPEN LEAF"

In riding to the police station later
in an automobile Frank sat on Darley's
lap. Darley said that the young su-
perintendent was trembling like an
aspen leaf"
Asserting that Frank suggested the
plant" Of a bloody shirt at the home
Of Newt Lee is merely a conjecture
and probably should not be taken
very much into consideration. Still,
1t fits so perfectly in with the other
actions Of the defendant that the fact
that n bloody shirt was found at
Lees house cannot be garded
entirely. There Is not a scintilla of
evidence that 1t was a plant" aside
from the circumstance that II was
discovered at the home of a man who
was then a suspect. but who proved
he could have had nothing to do with
the crime.
The finding of a club and a pay
envelope on the first floor of the
pencil factory, near the spot Conley
Is known to have been sitting the
| day OF the crime, Is in the same cate
| CORY with the bloody shirt Detec-
tives had searched carefully over this
area several times after the murder.
Then, on May 10, nearly three weeks
after the girl was killed. the bloody
club turned up. There Is no evidence
that 1t was planted" there by
Franks friends or any one else, but
1t Is subject to the same suspicion as
| the shirt.
The Washington times., 1915-04-04
CONLEY LEFT FRANK,
BUT STORIES DIFFER.

Conley testified that he and Frank be-
gan their disposal of the body at four
minutes to and concluded the writing
of the notes in time for him (Conley)
to leave the building at 100 He said
he left Frank still inside the factory
at 130, but Miss Helen Kern testified
to seeing Frank waiting for his car
for home at 1.10; neighbors and MEM
bers of his family swore he arrived
home, a mile distant, at 1.20. and
Albert Mcknight, one OF the States
own witnesses, testified to seeing
Frank at home at 1.30 or little be-
fore This effectually contradicts Con-
ley's story.
II all was done that Conley testified to-
it manifestly could not have been &C
complished between four minutes to
and time for Frank to have caught a
10 car for home Assuming that II
required ten minutes to roll the girl
up in the cloth, carry her to the. ele.
vator, take her to the basement and tc
the rear near the boiler, return to the
second floor, where Conley said Frank
washed and dried his hands before
going into the office. there would have
been left less than two minutes ir
which to do all the rest which Conley
MISUNDERSTANDING two minutes fol
Frank to catch his car. But Conley
testified he was hid in the wardrobe
seven or eight minutes after this and
then that he wrote four notes fol
Frank. Conley never was able tc
write one of the notes In less thar
two minutes by test. This would have
brought the time to 1.22. Besides this
Conley related a long conversation HI
said took place between him ant
Frank about burning the body, abou
his watch, about Frank getting hin
out on bond If he was arrested, ant
about Franks "rich people" in Brook
lyn. At 1.20 Frank was said by half ;
dozen persons to have been home
The Washington times., 1915-04-04
SLAYERS QUIT SCENE
WITH GREATEST HASTE.

The negro murderer quits the scene
OF his crime as rapidly as his legs will
take him, and he rarely returns. The
thought of writing a note to hide
crime apparently never has entered a
uegro's mind. at least the mind OF an
i!literate Southern negro.
No negro would loiter about the place
he had killed a girl laboriously to man
ufacture two or three notes to throw
the suspicion on some one else ESCAPE
is his first and only thought after his
crime is completed A note is the In
vention Of white man. There is little
doubt of that among those of us who
live in the South
Granting that the phraseology Of the
notes is that of a negro, 1t is perfectly
consistent to believe that Frank sup
piled the idea to the negro, with pos
sibly a suggestion or two from Conley
himself ss to his own safety, and thal
Conley wrote the notes in his own
words.
These are the main points of the case
against Frank. They pretty ConClu-
siVely demonstrate his guilt There Is
little against the negro except the facr
that he was in the factory and had
the same opportunity that Frank had.
He bore himself after the crime In a
manner that comported exactly with his
story that he was only an accessory
after the murder had been committC l.;
and he evidently did not know how
serious this oncnse was, as lie returned
to his work at the factory the next
Monday, and probably would have con
tinucd working there without revealing
his knowledge Of the crime had no,
tho police become suspicion" ~ him
and discovered that h" could write, a
fact which he had denied.
The Washington times., 1915-04-04
Attendant at Trial Declares
Every Move Showed Frank
Was StrangIer.
MANY FATAL CONDOLENCES
Solicitor General Dorsey Crum-
bIed Defense Long Before
Jury Retired.

Leo Frank killed Mary Phagan. 1t is
difficult to understand how any person
who heard the testimony Of the cele-
brated Atlanta trial. day after day, as
I heard 1t, could entertain any serious
doubt Of this mans guilt.
To account for the long, unbroken
chain Of circumstances against Frank
by the explanation that they were Co
incldences" and that he had the mis-
fortune, innocent though he was, to do
just the things that later were to be
construed as highly suspicious actions
is an intolerable strain on ones Gre
dulity and sense of logic. Every move
of Frank indicated that he was the
stranger, that he was the man who had
on his conscience the Staying of the
little factory girl.
Columns might be written on the
series of defenses built up by Franks
able lawyers, nearly every one of which
had been crumbled by the assaults OF
Solicitor General Dorsey long before the
trial came to an end. All were futile
and many OF them bore the appearance
of makeshifts hurriedly constructed BY
men in desperate straits. But 1t Is more
particularly the purpose Of this article
to follow the movements OF Frank OF
the day Of the crime and thereafter, a.
brought out in the evidence. and show
their uninistakable bearing on the prob
lem Of finding the girls murderer.
The Washington times., 1915-04-04
FIVE CONLEY STATEMENTS
WERE AT VARIANCE.
eet SATURDAY afternoons.

Conleys long string of Statements
five of them, four of them sworn
each one of the last four different
from the one preceding, gave strong
support to the contention of the do
fense that all Of them were lies and
were nodded and shaped and changed
by Conley as the inconsistencies and
most glaring improbabilities were
pointed out to him. And when he
went on the stand he told story
different even than his last affidavit,
in which he had accused Frank of
the murder and had involved himself
as accessory. He had denied to the
detectives hearing any scream after
Mary Phagan went upstairs, had de-
MED seeing Monteen Stover, had de-
MED hearing any commotion at all
upstairs, had denied any converse
tion about burning the body and had
denied seeing Mary Phagan's mesh
bag All these he told of when on
the stand.
The Washington times., 1915-04-04
GIRLS BODY is FOUND
BY NEWT LEE.

A few minutes after 3 o'clock the next
morning Newt Lee, going toward the
rear of the pencil factory basement,
found the body Of the girl. He called
the police station on tho telephone, and
then made every endeavor to get Frank.
He was still at the telephone when the
officers arrived at the building. Frank
did not answer, In spite of the prolonged
ringing by central.
On the arrival of the officers they,
too, tried to get Frank. officer An
derson said he tried two times, hav-
ing central ring long each time, and
he received no response.
Detective John N. Starnes was the
hrst to succeed in getting Frank on the
telephone, and this was not until be-
tween z and 8 o'clock Sunday morning.
Starnes told Frank that he was needed
down at the factory. a statement that
Immediately led Frank to inquire what
had happened. Starnes would not an
swer him.
Frank was carried to the morgue to
identify the girl. If he actually
looked upon the features of the Pha-
gan girl, 1t was the briefest Of
glances. Either he was so upset by
the news Of the tragedy that he could
not. bear the sight of the murdered
girl, or he feared he would show his
guilt IL he looked upon the face of his
victim.
Taken then to the factory, Frank was
Enthusiastically nervous. The detectives
anu police testified to this, and even
his associates in the factory admitted
| 1t. He trembled and f1dgeted, and
could not on his first attempt run the
elevator. which he had run many times
before. Darley. general manager of the
factory. had to take a hammer From
Franks hands and nail up the door ir
! the basement. Frank continually re
ferred to the fact that he had had NJ
breakfast and no coffee. and explained
his nervousness in this manner
The Washington times., 1915-04-04
FRANK "GUILTY" AND INNOCENT" SAY TWO EXPERTS

time element was concerned, they might
have made an impression on the Jury.
1t devolved upon them, therefore. to
prove that the car on which Mary came
to town the day OF the crime was not
ahead OF time and that the clock in the
pencil factory was not behind time.
1t was also necessary for them to
prove that Frank left the pencil fac
tory for home at 1 o'clock that after
noon They were able to establish none
Of these things satisfactorily. Frank,
in his first statement to the police,
said he left tho factory about 1.10
O'Clock. Proving these things, the de-
fense would have demonstrated that
the States theory Of the way things
| happened at the pencil factory be-
manifestly wrong
The Washington times., 1915-04-04
sTENOGRAPHER DECLARED
HE WORKED IN FORENOON.

Franks lawyers had failed to protect
themselves against one avenue Of at
tack when they called a Miss Fleming,
formerly a stenographer in Franks Of
fee, as q character witness. She had
testified to Franks good character, and
Solicitor Dorsey took her for the cross
examination. He asked her casually
what Frank did on Saturday forenoons
Not having been coached on this point
she replied:
HE worked on the financial sheet" Z"
and thereupon this carefully planned
phase Of the defense fell to pieces. If
this was not enough, the jurors had be-
fore them tlfe testimony given at the
coroners inquest by Miss Hattie Hall.
another stenographer, who swore that
on the forenoon of the day of the crime
Frank was working on the financial
sheet. She changed her testimony when
called by the defense at the trial. but
the Jurors had in mind her original tes-
timony at tho inquest.
Even without these witnesses who had
been led into admissions that Frank
worked on the financial sheet Saturday
forenoons, one at the inquest and the
other at the trial, the Jury had tho un-
disputed fact that Frank had arranged
| with his brotherin-law to go to the bal
game Saturday afternoon, an engage.
ment which would have sprecluded hin
| from working on the financial sheet from
| 3 o'clock to $50 o'clock in the afternoon
and practically necesstated him doing
the work in the forenoon.
The Washington times., 1915-04-04

attacked, describe negro totally
unlike Conley, who is rather short,
chunky and ginger colored, and were
written by Conley alone to throw
suspicion on another negro.
Frank made out an intricate sheet
the Saturday afternoon of the
crime, the defense holding he could
not have gone through all these
involved calculations and set them
down without an error and with
out a trembling Of the pen IL he
had just been guilty of the fiend-
jsh murder. Franks business asso-
ciates at the factory said 1t was his
invariabls custom to make out the
sheet Saturday afternoons.
The Washington times., 1915-04-04
TIME ELEMENT DEFENSE
FAILED TO IMPRESS.

The time element figured strongly in
the Frank case, and it was on the brief
time that was given for the commission
of the crime that Franks lawyers con-
tended it would have been impossible
for their client to have committed 1t.
Their strongest stand was made on this
point, and had ii not been for the fact
that the long chain of crCumstantial
evidence had SO hound Up the prisoner
that the burden of proof had been
shifted to the defenY. so far as the
The Washington times., 1915-04-04
EVIDENCE PROVED
! FRANK INNOCENT,
SAYS REPORTER
Man Who Attended Every Ses-
sion of Trial Declares Two
Things Were Established.
oPPoRTUNITYALONE SHOWN
State Failed to Fix Crime on
Defendant, but Made It =
Ist4 Black for ConIey.

A one who attended every session Of
the Frank trial in Atlanta, and who
from the testimony could reach no
other conclusion than that the defend
ant was convicted on circumstances that
pointed toward his innocence rather
than toward his guilt, have been asked
to set down the reasons for my strong
opinion in the matter.
Let me say at the outset that only
two things were established at the trial
of Leo M. Frank. They were that Mary
Phagan was dead and that Frank had
the opportunity to kill ier. Beyond that
the State proved nothing that made
Frank look a guilty man.
The defense did not dispute the fact
nor the atrocity of the murder. 1t was
willing also to agree, with certain res
ervations, that Frank had an oppor-
tunity to kill the girl, but 1t maintained,
and very logically, too, that the negro
Jim Conley, from his known vantage
point of the foot of the stairs on the
first floor of the National Pencil Fac
tory, had even better opportunity.
The law intends that man shall
not be convicted on the mere fact that
he had the opportunity to commit q
crime. 1t must be shown beyond a
reasonable doubt that he actually did
commit the crime. This was not done
at the Frank trial.
Frank freely admitted the only cir
cumstance the Solicitor General hao
against hinl--that the Phagan girl had
come to his office for her pay at about
l21O or 12.15 o'clock Saturday after
noon, April 26. That was not the reti'
cence Of a guilty man. Had he slair
the girl he could have kept this fac
secret and no one ever would have
been able to establish that she hac
been to his office.
The Washington times., 1915-04-04
LANGUAGE OF NOTES
UNQUESTIONABLY CONLEY'S.

The language OF the note uuques-
tionably is Conley's. They could not
have been dlctated--in the general
acceptance OF the term--by Frank.
The most that one can conceive Of
Frank doing Is suggesting to the ne
gro the idea to put in them, but
Conley said, "He told me what to
write" Either Frank barely sug-
gested the idea or he had nothing 20
do with the notes at all. Every en-
preston Is typiCally Conlcys and is
duplicated in his testimony, in some
cases scores of times. "A long, tall
negro. black" "a long, slim, tail ne
gro" and "a long, tall black negro"
show a style of description that oc-
ours in Conley's testimony on the
stand again and again. play like
the night witch did it" is Conley's,
this use of the word like" appear
ing probably one hundred times in
his testimony on the stand and hard
ly likely 10 appear in a note dicS
tated by an educated Northern man.
The notes, purporting 10 have been
written blythe girl after she had been