Friday, 20th March 1914: Burns Says He’s Solved Purse Mystery, The Atlanta Georgian

Reading Time: 12 minutes [2166 words]

### ACTIVITY OF COLYAR IS PROBED

Famous Detective Begins Investigation of Alleged Bribe Offers for False Testimony.

A. S. Colyar, dictographer, quondam lawyer and mysterious figure in the Phagan murder case, has been brought into the light by the latest activity of Detective Burns and his operatives.

This became known Friday shortly after the day's most important development"Burns' positive declaration that he already was in a position to clear up the mystery of Mary Phagan's missing purse and pay envelope and of the ribbons and flowers missing from her hat.

The strange disappearance of the slain girl's mesh bag has remained one of the baffling and unexplained features of the case up to the present. Jim Conley, having never before mentioned it in any of his sworn statements, startled the courtroom at the trial of Frank by declaring that he saw it on Frank's desk when he went in to write the murder notes after the girl had been killed.

#### Will Explain All, He Says.

Burns was non-committal when he was asked if he actually had found the missing articles or simply had ascertained their disposition by the murderer.

"I will explain everything about the mesh bag, the pay envelope and the other articles when my final report is made," he promised.

Another important contribution to the day's developments came in the shape of an interview with Henry F. Becker, former master mechanic at the pencil factory, by The Georgian's correspondent in Irvington, N. J. It was on an old order pad used by Becker in 1909 that the death notes were written by Conley.

Becker, in his interview with The Georgian representative, expressed his firm belief in the innocence of Frank and declared that he was confident that Jim Conley, whom he knew as a worthless, no-account negro, was the person who slew the little girl.

Burns admitted Friday that he had located Colyar in an Alabama city and that his men were investigating every incident of Colyar's connection with the murder mystery, including his alleged effort to obtain by a $1,000 bribe testimony defamatory to Frank's character.

#### Says Colyar Ought To Be in Jail.

"If all I hear about this man is true, he ought to be in jail," said Burns. "I imagine he has been successful in escaping much of the imprisonment which he deserves not so much because he is clever, but because the authorities think he is not entirely responsible."

Burns will find out every detail of Colyar's connection with the detective department and with Chief Lanford, for whom it was generally understood he was working when he dictographed Colonel Thomas B. Felder and Mayor Woodward. The detective wishes to know if Colyar's service for the detective department extended into the investigation of the Phagan murder.

"I am looking into every angle of the case," said Burns. "No detail is too small to attract my attention. If Colyar was acting on his own initiative when he made the alleged attempts at bribery, I want to know it. If he was taking orders from someone else or was acting under their direction when he was carrying on this alleged crooked work, I want to know who it was."

"I know exactly where Colyar is. I am acquainted with his past record. He is not the only one whose connection with the case is under investigation."

Burns, discussing the charges of "frame-up" that have been made against the detective department, said that he had come across nothing as yet to indicate a deliberate plot against Frank.

"The detectives, as frequently is the case, were over-zealous," he said. "They undoubtedly were misled in the turmoil and excitement of the first days of the tragedy. There were rumors of every sort afloat. It was only natural that they followed some of them and came to believe in their truth."

"They jumped at conclusions exactly the same as the general public did. An investigation now can be conducted with much better results than then, I believe. The intense feeling that followed the murder has been tempered in the last few months. People are willing to think sanely and soberly now."

#### Wild Stories Told.

"Stories that were told the detectives and Solicitor then, now are found in many instances to have been fabrications or the product of over-excited or unscrupulous minds. The mystery is near its close. I have found nothing difficult in it. No obstacles have been placed in my way. I wish to have conferences with all those who engaged in the prosecution and I am sure that they will assist me in every way possible at arriving at the truth."

"I am not ready to hazard an opinion as to the guilt or innocence either of Frank or of Conley. I only wish to call attention to the too common practice of jumping at conclusions. When I make my report I will point out the guilty man and I will have positive information on which to base my declaration."

Mr. Burns intimated that his investigation is rapidly approaching a climax, and that his final report may be expected within two weeks. Dan Lehon, of New Orleans, superintendent of the Southern division of the Burns agency, is expected to arrive in Atlanta Sunday or Monday to assist his chief in the final stages of the probe. His arrival is taken to indicate that Burns has begun to gather up the threads of the mystery and weave them into tangible shape.

#### Trail Grows Plainer.

The famous detective declared that this investigation is progressing satisfactorily, and that every day the trail of the murderer grows plainer and easier to follow. He declared that his final report will contain evidence that will dissipate the last remaining doubt as to the identity of the murderer, although he would not say whether his report would affect Frank or some other person.

"I intend to prove absolutely the identity of the guilty man," said Mr. Burns. "I will leave nothing to the imagination; nothing to prejudice. That may sound like I am boasting, but I am just egotistical enough to believe that I know what I am doing, and that I can do what I say I can. I can find the murderer of Mary Phagan, and I will find him, and before very long, too."

Mr. Burns also took occasion to contradict rumors that he was working on the case solely with a view to clearing Frank. This he declared to be ridiculous and absurd.

"I am here to find the murderer, not to shield Frank or anyone else," he declared. "I went into this case with the understanding that my investigation should be impartial; that if I found after careful investigation that Frank is the guilty man I should say so without reservation."

"There isn't enough money in the world to tempt me to thwart justice or aid in thwarting it. I came into this case with an open mind, with a contract that gave me liberty to investigate as I pleased without the necessity of shielding anyone; and I intend to continue making my investigation impartially, and will find the guilty man and prove that he is guilty, no matter who he may be."

Mr. Burns reiterated his intention of seeing Jim Conley and interviewing the negro, but would not say when he expected to do it.

"Throughout the plot of this murder can be seen plainly the thread of a criminal's mental process," said Burns. "The slayer of Mary Phagan was a criminal of the worst type. I have never before come in contact with so foul a crime. And now I see my way clear to point my finger at the guilty man."

As to when this would be done, however, Mr. Burns declined to be specific.

#### Will Give Data to Dorsey.

"It may be in a few days; it may be a couple of weeks; it may be more," he said enigmatically. "I will have all the facts in hand, and a convincing statement to make when I make it. When I am near the end I shall hand over my data to the Solicitor General, and he, of course, will act as he sees fit."

### BECKER, FORMER CHIEF MECHANIC AT FACTORY, CALLS FRANK INNOCENTIt was while talking of Mr. Dorsey's work in the prosecution that Mr. Burns intimated that the trail he was following was leading away from Leo Frank, as he has plainly done several times, although expressing no opinion as to his guilt or innocence.

"It is quite possible," he said, "that the Solicitor has been misled in some particulars. But if he was, it was by private detectives one of the most dangerous institutions with which we have to contend. The Solicitor was zealous in the prosecution, I understand. But that is proper. He believed he was right, and his belief was founded on substance supplied to him by investigators. That substance was enough to warrant him in his position. As to Mr. Dorsey's zeal, I would merely state that this country would be in a very bad way if it did not have public prosecutors who carried on their work with zeal and determination. I am quite sure Mr. Dorsey was not prejudiced in this case."

Thursday night Mr. Burns spent more than two hours locked with his assistants in the National Pencil Factory building on Forsyth Street. It is understood that he went carefully over the scene of operations outlined by Conley and established in the trial as the theory of the State. He expects, he says, to make other visits to the factory.

Becker Defends

Frank as Upright.

IRVINGTON, N. J., March 20. "I am absolutely certain that young Frank is innocent of the killing of Mary Phagan in fact, I would be willing to stake my life on my belief. I have known Frank for four years possibly a little longer and in all that time I have found him to be nothing but a sober, industrious and highly esteemed young fellow, a willing worker and certainly an honest citizen."

"As for Jim Conley, I always knew him as a no-account negro, whose every statement was well worth investigating before accepting. He had a mighty bad, a very bad, name around the factory of the National Pencil Company in Atlanta, and there wasn't a person in the place, male or female, who had any use for him. In fact, they all avoided him as much as possible."

"Though, of course, I have no actual proof nothing but my own beliefs obtained from fellow-employees and my own personal observations of the man from my knowledge of the man's character I feel sure that he and no one else killed the girl."

"The whole case appears to me as if an attempt and a mighty contemptible one is being made in certain quarters to send a man, and a decent young fellow at that, to the gallows for some crime he did not commit."

"I am waiting for a call to Atlanta to testify, and I want to say that when the call comes I will lose no time getting there. Frank knows nothing more concerning the killing of Mary than I do, and I see nothing but acquittal for him if he ever is granted another trial."

"Georgia will sanction a terrible crime if she permits this innocent young fellow to go to the scaffold, for truth will surely prevail in the end, and Frank will be absolved. It would be better to sift the matter right through to a finish at this time and save the official name of Georgia from an everlasting stigma."

"I would like to say a great deal more now, but I have already told you that I am expecting to be called as a witness and do not think it would be justifiable of me to say any more at this time."

This was the statement made today by Henry Frederick Becker, of No. 41 Mapleton Avenue, Irvington, former superintendent of the National Pencil Company of Atlanta and at present mechanical superintendent of the Best Pencil Company of Irvington.

Says He Has New Testimony.

Becker, at first, was loath to discuss the Frank case, under the belief that he might say something that lawyers for Frank might not wish made public at this time. He admitted that he had much testimony of an important nature that would be of material help to Frank if placed on trial again, and intimated that none of it had come out at the previous trial.

Mrs. Becker, his wife, spoke highly of young Frank, saying that while her husband was in charge of the pencil factory that she had met Frank many times and that he appeared to be honest, sober and not of the degenerate type of youth pictured at his trial.

"He could never have committed this atrocious murder," said Mrs. Becker, "for the simple reason that I do not believe him to be of that type of man. If given a new trial I am as confident as my husband that he will be vindicated."