Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-08-17
LEO M. FRANK HANGED
BY AN ARMED MOB
CONTINUED From First Page.l

A
spread rapidly and within short time
the scene. No immediate effort was
made to cut the body down, as Sheriff
Hicks was not In town and the coroner
took no action.
II is believed that the stop at the
bridge over Little river. near Eatonton,
when the armed party talked loudly
and fired shots, was n ruSe to delay
pursuers. The vicinity of the bridge
was thoroughly searched and at the
time the search was being made Ii is
probable Frank already had met death.
The crowd increased rapidly as the
day wore on. BY 10 o'clock many
women and children were mingling
with the crowd at the edge OF the
wood where the body still hung. At
that hour no effort had been made 10
dispose of the body, although Coroner
Booth had been summoned.
Franks body was cut down at 1918
O'Clock. but not until one of the crowd
had advocated mutilatiOn OF the body.
Newton A. Morris Immediately
pleaded with the throng to allow an
inquest to take its proper course. A
vote was suggested and taken. IL was
Overwhelmingly I'm favor of allowing
the coroner TO take charge of the body.
1t then was cut down and the two-mile
trip to Marietta started. The inquest
was set for II o'clock.
At the suggestion of Newton n.
Morris. former superior court judge
here, the body was taken from the
undertaker's wagon in which II was
placed at the lynching scene and put
into an automobile on the outskirts
of the town. The automobile started
toward Atlanta.
Souvenir Hunters Busy
Judge Morris telephoned from
Smyrna to an Atlanta undertaken to
meet the automobile and take charge
of the body.
When the body was cut down,
parts of Franks shirt were torn away
by souvenir hunters. The body was
roughly handled before it was put
into the undertaker's wagon.
Within a short time after the body
was started for Atlanta, excitement
here subsided and the town presented
almost a normal appearance before
noon.
After a special session of the Cobb
county commissioners, at which the
employment of a special attorney to
assist the coroner's jury was author
ICED. Coroner John A. Booth empan-
elled a jury and began an investigation
of the lynching.
Newspapermen Find Trail
For hours after the attack no trace
of the automobiles bearing the party
could be found, but at about daylight
newspapermen picked up the trail at
a point on Little River, near Eatonton,
Ga. ]. K. Jackson, a white farmer,
living near bridge over Little River,
said that shortly after midnight he
heard several automobiles stop there.
Soon afterward he said he heard loud
talking and then many shots. He
heard the automobiles leave in the
direction of Eatonton after the firing.
Hurried search of the immediate vi
cinity failed to reveal anything that
would indicate that Frank had met
summary vengeance there.
The armed men arrived in the vi
cinity of the prison farm practically
unnoticed and proceeded methodical-
ly to its business. All means of wire
communication from the institution to
Milledgeville. three miles away, were
destroyed and all wires. except one
telephone wire from Milledgeville also
were cut.
Warden Made Prisoner
Five men went to the house of War
den ]. T. Smith. awakened him and
made him a prisoner At the same
time a small squad of men went to
the home of ]. NJ. Burke, superinten-
dent of the farm. Burke was forced
to go with them to the gate nearest
the dorTnitory where 1t was believed
duty there were ordered, while guns
were levelled on them, to open the
gates
The party then rushed in, quickly
got Frank and hurried him to one of
the waiting automobiles. He was
forced down into the car, while a mem
Der of the party is said to have -four
ished a rope in front of him.
Without delay those who had been
guarding Warden Smith left him and
joined the party at the gates. The
automobiles then started off swiftly
in northerly direction.
Communication Severed
With only a limited number of
guards at the prison and with wire
communication with Milledgeville in
terrupted, immediate pursuit was i'm
possible. Some time elapsed before
word could be brought here and Off
GERS started in the direction taken by
the party. None of these officers re-
ported for several hours after they
left. The first report of the route
taken came from newspapermen who
left Macon at about the same
time the officers got started from Mil
jledgeville.
In the absence Of definite news that
Frank had been lynched many were
inclined to believe that possibly
| it was his friends and not his foes who
took him away and that the display oil
the rope and the shooting were part:
of plan to cover the real intention.
of the party. Frank was sufficiently
| recovered from the wound il