Sunday, 29th March 1914: Burns To Give Phagan Case Findings This Week. Mystery Lifted, He Says, The Atlanta Georgian

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### Famous Detective Declares He Will Point Out Slayer of Girl and Give Indisputable Evidence of Guilt.

Frank Discusses the New Motion.

Detective William J. Burns, brought to Atlanta to throw light on every phase of the Phagan murder mystery and to point out without chance of dispute the slayer of the little factory girl, this week will make his complete report to the friends of Leo Frank, his employers, and to the public.

This was made known Saturday night in dispatches from New York to The Sunday American. It was believed that Burns, as rapid as he is in his work and as infallible as he has proved to be in the many cases he has handled, would hardly be able to reach a conclusion in so short a time, but information from New York, where the detective now is working, is fairly positive in the assertion that the whole case will be investigated and wound up by the close of the week.

In the remaining days of the investigation there will be three of the greatest detectives in the country at work on one of the South's most baffling mysteries. They will be Burns himself, Guy B. Biddinger, assistant general manager of the Burns system, and accounted for by one of the most brilliant police detectives that Chicago ever had, and Dan Lehon, of New Orleans, general manager of the Southern division of Burns agencies. Lehon has finished nearly a week's investigation of the mystery in Atlanta.

### Believed He Will Name Conley.

While there is no possibility of forecasting to whom Burns will point his finger when it comes time for him to pick out the man he has determined as the slayer of the Phagan girl, friends of Frank are jubilant in their belief that the great detective will declare Frank entirely innocent of the hideous crime and will fix it upon the negro Conley.

This is the probability that would present itself as almost a certainty were it not for the ruses that Burns has worked before in his investigation of famous cases. In the course of his work in Atlanta, he several times has indicated guardedly"so guardedly that it was impossible to determine his real opinion"that Conley was the man who slipped the coil of rope about the neck of Mary Phagan and tightened it until breath left her body. However, he has repeatedly said that he is not yet airing his conclusions.

Burns will be back in Atlanta Monday or Tuesday. Leonard Haas, of counsel for Frank, returned from his New York trip Saturday afternoon. Mr. Haas said that Burns worked busily on the case while in the North, but denied that either Burns or himself had seen Nina Formby, H. F. Becker, former master mechanic at the pencil factory, or M. W. Osburn, a handwriting expert for the State, who was not called at the trial of Frank.

A dispatch from New York quotes Detective Burns as saying:

"I shall return to Atlanta within a day or so. Very soon thereafter I shall make public my report, giving the facts to all the newspapers. The report will convince the most skeptical as to who murdered Mary Phagan. I can not tell anything further now, for I do not wish to anticipate that report."

"My remaining days in Atlanta will be devoted to running down the loose ends of the case. I shall interview every witness that appeared for or against Frank. The only ones I will not see will be the private detectives, for I would not believe them on oath, anyway. I have investigated their conduct without talking to them."

### Denies He Gets Big Fee.

Referring to the amount that he was being paid for his investigation of the Frank case, Burns denied that he was being paid a large retainer.

A new angle of the case called Herbert Haas, another of Frank's counsel, to Chicago Saturday. The other lawyers refused to discuss his mission.

Frank Saturday was optimistic over his chances for a new trial after the filing of the notice of the extraordinary motion and the publication of some of the important grounds.

"I can not discuss the different grounds of the motion in detail," he said, "but it appeals to me as being so strong as to forbid the possibility of a denial by the judge. However, I am making no forecast. I can only say that I am confident of ultimate vindication. I don't know exactly the manner in which it will come, but I am sure that it is coming."

### Evidence New to Him.

"The testimony of the negro woman, Mary Rich, was practically new, even to me. It was only a short time ago that I learned that she had seen Conley on the day of the crime. Her new evidence, along with that of S. A. Pardee and others, should make it clear that the negro has been lying in every essential detail of his story."

The attorneys for Frank and Solicitor Dorsey will appear before Judge Ben Hill April 16, if the Solicitor does not indicate that he is ready at an earlier date, and the judge then either will set a date for the hearing of argument or will deny the motion without argument, on the ground that the defense had not made a sufficient showing to warrant a hearing.

In the event that he overrules the motion at once, he may grant or refuse a bill of exceptions. This lies in his discretion. If the bill of exceptions is denied, a mandamus may be asked by the lawyers for Frank, in order that the case may be carried to the Supreme Court.

Whatever the outcome of the legal maneuvers that are to be executed within the next few weeks, Frank's friends are confident that the date for his hanging, set by Judge Hill for April 17, will be postponed until the Supreme Court of the United States can decide whether the defendant has been accorded all his constitutional rights in his trial.