Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-08-20
miscellaneous Rraaing.
KILLING OF LEO FRANK
Graphic Story as Told by Atlanta
Newspaper Man.

Inc SAlldIlld NSoISNoh
contained the following story of the
murder of Leo M. Frank:
Marietta, Aug. 17.-Leo M. Frank is
dead. He was hanged at sunrise
Tuesday morning in Cobb county, just
two miles from the public square OF
Marietta and from the cemetery in
! which the body of Mary Phagan lies.
Leo NJ. Frank was hanged by the
neck-hanged by a we'll organized and
disciplined mob, a mob that took him
from the state prison farm at Milledge-
Vile, rushed through the country in
motor cars, avoiding large towns and
frequented highways, and reached
Cobb county just at daybreak.
Leo NJ. Frank is dead-hanged by the
neck. And all Tuesday morning q
growing crowd Of curious people made
the breathless pilgrimage to Frey's
gin and went to peer fearfully into the
dark little grove that concealed from
the road all that was left OF Georgias
most famous prisoner.
The news hat Frank had been taken
from the state farm reached Marietta
at 2 o'clock Tuesday morning. Extra
| papers came in later from Atlanta.
They must have reached the town al
most precisely at the time when the
moose was being fitted about the neck
| of the doomed man not two miles from
the courthouse.
Answer in Death Grove.
There was a lull. Where is he
what have they done with him." was
| the question. The extras said the mop
had disappeared-that there had been
shooting-that there were rumors the
body had been found near Macon.
Where is he-what have they done
| with him." was the question. And the
answer at that moment was hanging In
| the death agony in the little oak
grove on the Roswell road, not two
miles away.
Suddenly the news broke.
A dust covered buggy with the
horse in a lather, came dashing into the
public square. AS if by instinct a
knot Of men gathered about 1t.
There was a low hum of conversa-
ton. Then
Hes there!" shouted a man, ana
he began to run to the east along the
Roswell road. They got him." he
shouted. Others began to run. A
motor car buZzed out Of the square.
Another followed, men fairly dropping
off the running board as it got under
way. And the Roswell road was hid
den under a thick cloud Of dust.
1t was then $40 o'clock.
When the first persons reached the
spot, Franks body was still warm. The
wound in his neck had gaped beneath
the rope, and the blood was still
fresh and unclotted.
He had been hanged-hanged in a
calm, deliberate and businesslike
manner-hanged by the neck until
dead"-as the court had said so many
times.
Body Is Left Hanging.
And the body of Leo NJ. Frank was
left hanging, four feet above the earth,
IAN offense against the rising SUM-"
The body was clad in a silk night
shirt, the initials, IL. M. F." worked
sack was tied about his loins. The
legs and feet were bare, and showed
the deep purple that follows death by
strangulation. The ankles were bound
with rope the hands, also purple,
were manacled by steel handouts III
front Of the body. |.
Across the upturned face was neatly
bound a liner handkerchief, concealins
the eyes and most Of the features. The
hair, long, black, and wayy, fell back
from the brow, tumbled but not dis
ordered. There was blood on the
moose where it squeezed the freshly
opened and gaping wound.
The moose was tied as If by an eX-
pert-it had not failed to draw taut and
deadly upon the slender throat within.
The work had been done neatly-in a
workman-like manner. The new rope
of hemp, was run through the fork of
a large limb fifteen feet from the earth,
drawn across and made fast to another
tree, twenty feet away. There was no
evidence Of bungling.
All about the swinging object OF
their gaze the t~hickening crowd press
ed and peered, and caught it's BREATH
and there was no loud talking, and
there was no demonstration. |,
But they said, ITS him, all right"
and pointed to the great, gaping wound
along the neck, and they peered at the
limp purple hands, and said, See
where he grabbed the knife"
And again they said, ITS him, all
right-they got him."
There were women in the growing
crowds that reached a thousand be-
fore the coroner of the county started
to the scene, just before 9 o'clock.
There were women, many women
Some of them had children in their
arms, very small children n others
were led by the hand, and some were
RSA AAtNS ~ IN IN NSsAAo aAo N'sfo L
in the quiet grove.
In the terrible way it was like some
religious rite. Watching the curiously
reverent manner of those people,
manner of thankfulness and Of grave
satisfaction it was borne in with ire
mendous force what the feeling must
be on those Cobb county men and wo-
ed had slain Mary Phagan.
The iOurney tn Frey'S gin was al
sort of dreadful pilgrimage.
II couldn't bear to loo at another
human being, hanged like that" said
one woman But this-this is diff
ferent. 1t is all right. 1t is-the JUS
tice of God" |
Among the men there was evident
a grim and terrible satisfaction.
They did a good job" was the COM
ment, spoken in many tones, but with
a curious infection that was always
the same. "A good job" they repeat
ed, and went on to speak of the dead
ly determination, and the care, n the
~precaution Of the score and more of
men who had done Leo Frank to death.
No man spoke a name. No man had
a guess to make Of where those men
came from. No man had a hint to
drop Of where they were--of where
they had gone, their dreadful work be-
ing done.
In the night they had stormed the
state prison farm, in the night they
had swept across 160 miles of coun-
tryside, striking the big towns, slipping
along unfrequented roads. In the gray
morning light they had approached the
town where Mary Phagan lies buried.
And then
Secret Locked With Lynchers.
1t is a secret locked in the breasts
of the men who saw Leo NJ. Frank
hanged by the neck until dead"
Was there a demand for a confess
sion? Vas the half clad prisoner
witt his manacled hands confronted
by a grim array of men ut once
judges and eXecutioners? Did they
tell him to make his last and final
statement?
And what did Leo NJ. Frank say?
What did he do? Did the iron nerve
that sustained him through, the trial,
in the Tower, in the former shadows
Of the gallows, and on the road to
M~illedgeville, did the iron nerve sus-
L tain him Sti13 |