Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1915-08-17
ed as to whyths shooting was done at
this partieeuaaxr fplace. !

Il ~
was done to friehten Frank.
/ Another theory was that ro"
boat was in waiting at Little rive
| at this point, and that Frank was Z
have been placed in boat here ant
taken down stream to some point II
the Oconee river, where he could b.
rescued in an automobile. lni'
stream flows into the Oconee rive
only two miles below.
Another theory was that Frank
was shot and killed that his body
was thrown from the bridge into
the stream. This was soon disprovet
by the message from Marietta.
New York, Aug. II "Thank God
he is dead, and through with his trou
bles," said Mrs. Rudolph Frank,
mother of Leo M. Frank, when in
formed at her home, 152 Underhil
avenue, here today. that her sons
body had been found.
eff he had lived, his life would
have been torture to him and they
might have killed him in a worse
way"
Mrs. Frank said she had received
no message from Georgia regarding
the kidnapping of Leo from the prison
AS has often been told, Leo M :.
Frank was convicted for one OF the
most sordid crimes in the history of
pretty fourteen-year-old Mary Plla-
gan, little worker in the Nationa
Pencil Factory, who had kissed he,
mother goodby less than an hour be-
fore her death.
Frank, an educated man of a gooc
Jewish family, was superintendent o.
the factory. His uncle was the presl
dent of the company. In private life
Frank had hitherto been without re
proach. He was an active lodge mem
Der and good husband.
The testimony against him hinged
on the story of Jim Conley, negro
who told of helping dispose Of the
girls body. Called an Ignorant
black by Franks supporters, Con-
ley yet withstood without weaken.
ing twelve and half hours straight
cross-examination by Luther Rosser
dean of the Atlanta bar; At the enc
his testimony was unshaken.
Frank is the son Of Mr.. and Mrs
Rudolph Frank, of Brooklyn. Hi:
father was retired business man OF
means. The son graduated fro pub
lie schools and Pratt Institute il
Brooklyn, and then took an engineer.
ing course at Cornell University. He
married Miss Lucille Selig, daughte'
IF wealthy Brooklyn family, who
stood by him steadfastly and always
mas maintained his innocence to the
end.
The body of the young girl, bearing
marks of violence and evidently mur
dered, was found in the cellar Of tn'
factory building Sunday morning,
April 81, 1913. Beside it lay severa
notes.: purporting to have been writ,
ten by the girl herself and fixing the
blame,on "a tall negro"
Conley declared he wrote the notes
at Franks direction. He gave long
account of repulsive depravity thai
he attributed to Frank. He said he
had acted as "look out" while Franz
received the young woman in his
office. She was strangled in strug-
Cling unsuccessfully against out:
rage.
After Frank had choked~ the CIR
to death, the negro said, he ordered
his employee to burn the body in the
factory furnace. Conley baked al
this, so. together they carried the
body to the basement where it was
found.
The girl, it was shown by the State
had left her home that afternoon tt
collect some money due her. The de-
Tense maintained the girl did not
reach the factory at the definite time
the murder was said to have beer
committed ,and also tried to prove ar
alibi for Frank.
On the other hand, the States at
torney brought the child's mother t.
testify Mary left home at about la!
Saturday morning, the day proceed
ing her death. after hastily eatins
some boiled cabbage. A newsbo!
said that he rode to the city with ne
and that she reached the factory
few minutes after noon. A physici
an stated after an examination of tn
girls stomach that she must hav
met death within thirty or fort.