The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1915-05-13
BAMBERG, S. G.. THURSDAY, MAY Is, 1915.
FRANK Is RESENTENCED.
Atlanta Man Makes Statement.-To
Hang on June END.

Atlanta, Ga, May 10.-Leo. VI.
Frank was today resentenced 10 be
hanged on Tuesday, June %. for the
murder of Mary Phagan, factory
girl. Sentence was passed by Judge
Ben H. Hill, of the Fulton county
superior court. Mary Phagan was
killed April 26, 1913. Before sem
tence was pronounced, Frank made
statement to the court, reiterating
his declaration of innocence.
Frank had prepared his statement
in advance and when Judge Hill ask
ed him if he had anything to say
why sentence should not be pronoun-
ced upon him, the prisoner stood
erect, with his head thrown back and
without once referring to the writ
ten text, declaimed it with the en-
phasis and gestures of an attorney
making a plea before the court. He
said:
Again l stand before you. Again
can but reiterate that l am innocent
of the murder of Mary Phagan.
have absolutely no guilty knowledge
of that tragic occurrence.
Il am innocent of this charge and
l assert that the record of the evil
dence conclusively proves this. No
appellate tribunal has ever passed
upon this evidence. The only Judge
who has ever heard it stated that he
had the most serious doubts as to
my guilt.
MY execution will not avenge Ma
ry Phagan's death. A life will have
been taken for a life, but the real
culprit will not have paid the penal
ty. 1 will suffer for another's crime.
'.My trust is in God, who knows
that my protestations of innocence
are the truth. At some future date
the whole moral world will realize
it. 1t is the knowledge that God
knows it now and that the world will
know it some day that inspires me
is I stand before your honor and as
1 face the future.
Precarious Position.
"Anything else I might say at this
time would be but an elaboration of
my words to the court Yet I am
fully alive to the fact that my posi-
tion is most precarious 1t is a sit
uation which is so far removed from
anything that my life and mental at
titude could have bespoken. 1t is
hideous, but at the same time, so
unreal, so incongruous.
1T is fundamental in human life
to want to live. This desire to exist
is ingrained in all of us-it is the
basic morality of all who live. To
those who have the proper ideals Of
living, life without honor is insult
ferable. This is the message of theo-
logy and ethics.
.'In the light of the whole truth
I know-and the Almighty knows
that the morality Of my position in
this case is unassaillable. This being
so, my complete exoneration of this
terrible charge lies in the future.
When that day arrives I shall be
vindicated-andi if I am alive, l will
be enabled to enjoy freedom and
honor.
Therefore I'want to live.
"The full truth and all of the facts
in the case, when they come to light,
as some day they will, will prove to
the world that my assertion of inno-
cence is the truth.
"The legal arena is now closed to
me. The bar is placed forever
against further legal process. Yet
the issue of guilt or innocence has
been before but one court, that in
which the jury sat. All subsequent
appeals were made upon alleged legal
and juridic errors: not upon the facts
or the evidence. Since the jury heard
the case. no court of inquiry or re-
view has sifted the evidence. No
decision of any appeals court under
took to predicate an opinion on the
record of the testimony and evidence.
The doubt of the trial Judge still re-