Wednesday, 18th March 1914: Burns Sees End Of Mystery, The Atlanta Georgian

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'PLAIN TRAIL

OF SLAYER'

FOUND

Indications that William J. Burns is rapidly approaching a climax in his investigation of the murder of Mary Phagan are seen in statements by the famous detective made to The Georgian Wednesday. Burns declared that there is no question that he will be able to clear up the element of mystery that has surrounded the case from the beginning.

"The track of the murderer of the little girl is plain," the famous detective said. "Every criminal, especially a murderer, leaves a track, some trace of his operations that points to him as unerringly as would the blood-stained finger of his victim. In some cases the track is plainer and the trail easier to follow than in others; but in all of them the track is there."

"In the Phagan case I have found that the murderer left a plain track; there are many things that point to the murderer. I have found the trail and my work now will be to follow it to its conclusion, where we will find the murderer."

Don't Discuss Details.

Mr. Burns declined to discuss the details of the case, nor would he divulge the nature of new evidence which it is believed he has unearthed within the past few hours. He declared, however, that he attached great importance to the discovery that the signature of H. F. Becker is plainly discernible on the notes that were found by the side of Mary Phagan's body.

The detective refused to express an opinion on the possibility of Leo Frank having had some of Becker's blanks on his desk in the pencil factory office.

Burns expressed his satisfaction at the published statement of Chief of Detectives Lanford that the detective department will co-operate with him in his efforts to solve the mystery of the murder.

"I never had any doubt," he said, "that Chief Lanford would aid me, or allow me to aid them, in the investigation. It is to their interest, and to my interest, to work together."

Think Dorsey Was Honest.

The detective also took occasion to express his belief in Solicitor Dorsey's honesty of purpose in prosecuting Leo Frank for the crime.

"I believe that Mr. Dorsey was honest and sincere in his work," said Mr. Burns. "I don't believe he would have prosecuted Frank unless he had really believed the man guilty of the murder. The one fault that could be found with the prosecution, in my opinion, is that they possibly made the mistake that is so often made. One man is seized upon as the perpetrator of the crime, and all the work is done with a view to connecting him with it rather than getting at the real truth of the case. I have known detectives and there are thousands of the kind who formulate a theory of a crime and who distort incidents, and almost commit murder sometimes to make the facts of the case fit the theory. Their motives are excellent, no doubt, but their zeal is misdirected."

New Motion Ready.

Counsel for Frank, in announcing Wednesday that the extraordinary motion for a new trial virtually is completed and will be filed the latter part of this week or the first of next, intimated that far more sensational grounds than those already made public will be cited.

The grounds generally known include the repudiation of his testimony by Albert Mc Knight; the assertion by Dr. H. F. Harris that the hair found on the lathe on the second floor was not that of Mary Phagan; the discovery that the pad on which one of the murder notes was written was one which had been written on in 1909 and probably never had been in Frank's office, but more probably had been found in the basement by the murderer; the claim by George Epps that his evidence was framed by John Black; the affidavit by Mima Formby that her sensational statement against Frank before the trial was suggested by Detectives Chewning and Norris and was not true in any particular; and the declaration of Mrs. J. B. Simmons that she heard screams from the factory basement at a time after the State contended Mary Phagan had been slain by Frank on the second floor.

Among grounds yet to be made public, several are said to involve young factory girls who testified against Frank at the trial. Notice of twenty days will be given to the Solicitor upon the filing of the new motion, at the end of which time arguments will be heard, unless a postponement is asked for.

The judge is empowered to deny the motion without arguments if he believes the motion to be without sufficient grounds.

Developments of Wednesday indicate that H. F. Becker, formerly master mechanic at the pencil factory, will be an important witness for the defense in the coming legal battle.

Becker now is living at No. 41 Maple avenue, Irvington, a New York suburb. He was master mechanic at the National Pencil factory from September, 1908, to December, 1912. It was Becker who hired Mary Phagan, about a year before he left the employ of the pencil company. And it was the name of Becker that the defense asserts appears dimly, in carbon tracery, on one sheet of the famous "murder note" found by the side of the dead girl.

The contention is that the note was written on old waste paper the carbon copies of old orders or requisitions, which never would have been on the desk of Leo Frank in his office as stated by Conley in his testimony but rather in the basement, where they had long ago been consigned as waste paper.

That theory the defense supports by means of the printed date on the sheet, "190 ;" by the number of the requisition, 1018, and by the difficulty of Becker's signature, indicating, of course, that the order had been issued at some time during Becker's tenure of office, and prior to 1910.

When seen at his home, Becker said that he had signed practically all of the factory orders. He also stated that he had hired Mary Phagan; that she was in the factory about a year before he left, and that he had never known Frank, the girl, or had any conversation with the girl. He added that he would identify the order-duplicate on which the note was partly written, if called on by the authorities, and if it appeared to his mind to be plainly what it purported to be a duplicate of one of his old orders.

PAGE 5, COLUMN 2

BECKER CONFIRMS

FRANK EVIDENCE

Continued From Page 1.