The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1915-04-22
LEO FRANK AGAIN LOSES
SUPREME COURT DISMISSES THE
CASE OF ATLANTA MAN.
Leo VI. Frank, Under Sentence of
Death, is Refused Release On
Habeas Corpus Proceedings

Washington, April 19.-Leo VI.
Frank, under death sentence for the
murder of Mary Phagan, an Atlanta
factory girl, lost another step in his
fight for life in the supreme court Of
the United States today.
In a decision, to which Justices
Holmes and Hughes dissented, the
court dismissed Franks appeal from
the federal court of Georgia which
refused to release him on a writ of
habeas corpus. ~
Frank contended that alleged
mob violence" at his trial and the
fact that he was absent from the
court room when the jury returned
it's verdict had removed him from
the Jurisdiction of the courts of Geor-
gia.
The majority opinion of the su-
preme court rejected all these con-
tentions and declared Frank had en-
joyed all his legal rights in the Geor-
gia courts.
Seemingly, no other avenue of es-
cape from the death penalty is open
to Frank through the courts. The
State pardon officials might relieve
him.
Justice Pitney delivered the opin-
ion. declaring that lin al the pro-
ceedings in the courts of Georgia the
fullest right and opportunity to be
heard, according to the established
modes Of procedure" had been ac-
corded Frank. :
I'm the opinion of this court" con-
tinued the justice, ''he is not shown
to have been deprived of any right
guaranteed to him by the 18th
amendment or any other provisions
of the constitution or laws of the
United States; on the contrary, he
has been convicted and is now held
in custody under due process Of
law within the meaning of the con-
stitution.'
It is believed by legal authorities
here that only the State pardon Of
ficials of Georgia now can save Frank
from paying the death penalty for
his conviction of the murder of Mary
Phagan, the Atlanta factory girl.
Justice Holmes delivered a dis
senting opinion in which Justice
Hughes concurred. ....
The courts decision was based on
an appeal from the action OF, the
United States district court for nor
them Georgia in refusing to release
Frank. on a writ of habeas corpus.
. His petition for habeas corpus rest
ed on allegations of disorder during
his trial in Atlanta amounting to a
mob domination and his involuntary
absence when the verdict was re-
turned.
Justice Pitney, in his decision, held
that the obligation rested on the su-
preme court to look through the
form and Into the very, heart and
substance of the matter" not only in
the averment in Franks petition, but
in the trial proceedings in the State
courts themselves. =.
"The petition contains narrative
of disorder, hostile manifestations
and uproar," said Justice Pitney,
which if'it stood alone and were to
be taken as true, may be conceded to
have been inconsistent with a fair
trial and an impartial verdict. But
to consider this as standing alone is
to take wholly superficial view; for
the narrative is coupled with other
statements from which it clearly ap-
pears that the same allegations OF
disorder were submitted first to the
trial court and afterwards to the su-
preme court Of Georgia as a ground
for avoiding the consequences OF the
trial and these allegations were con-
sidered by those courts successively
at times and places and under cir
cumstances wholly apart from the
atmosphere of the trial, and free
from any suggestion of mob ,domina-
ton or the like; the facts were exam
ined by those courts upon evidence
submitted on both sides, and both
courts found Franks allegations to
be groundless except with respect to
a few matters of irregularity not
harmful to the defendant