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The Atlanta Georgian,
Monday, 13th April 1914,
1st Edition,
PAGE 2, COLUMN 6.
Rumor Had Rival Detective Watching Burns Later Has New Clews
Speculation was aroused Saturday by the report that William A. Pinkerton, head of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, was in Atlanta, and had been here several days under cover. The supposition was that he came here in connection with the Phagan murder mystery, on which his operatives in Atlanta were engaged from a few days after the crime until the conviction of Leo Frank.
The report said he had left New Orleans Monday night, and had come directly to Atlanta, where he kept his identity a secret. As this is not in accordance with his usual habit, it was suggested that he might have come to investigate the activities of William J. Burns, Dan Lehon and Guy Biddinger and the many Burns operatives, whose final report appears likely to be directly at variance with the verdict of the jury, based in part on the testimony of the Pinkerton agents.
Agents Deny Chief Is Here
J. H. Kelley, superintendent of the Pinkertons for this district, and Harry Scott both denied emphatically that Pinkerton was in town or had been here for several months. "He left New Orleans early in the week, and went directly to Hot Springs, Ark., according to the information we have," they declared. "We are sending our reports there for him, and have every reason to believe he is getting them. He is at the Arlington Hotel."
Detective Burns said Saturday that he was not certain when he would make his final report.
Burns Has New Clews
"I have asked that everyone who had any knowledge of Frank's character make an appointment with me in my office, when I will hear their story and make a thorough investigation. I am determined to probe to the bottom every rumor against the prisoner's morality.
"It will be a service to me, and will assist in arriving at the whole truth of the case if everyone who has any information that appears to point toward misconduct on the part of Frank will make it known to me."
Burns admitted that he had been making an extensive investigation of every angle of Conley's connection with the crime, and that he had turned up significant clews that never have had a part in the case before.
3rd Edition-PAGE 1, COLUMN 4
LANFORD AND BURNS NOW CONFER
Chief Refuses to Reveal New Ev Idence He Claims to Have on Frank's Character.
"A very pleasant, friendly affair," said Newport Lanford, Chief of Detectives, Monday, relating details of a visit paid him by Dan Lehon, of New Orleans, a lieutenant of W. J. Burns, and C. W. Burke, a private detective, Sunday.
Revealing the good faith of the Burns agency in the offer of $1,000 reward for convincing evidence of Leo Frank's moral perversion, Mr. Lehon called on the Chief to discover what evidence he had in hand of Frank's immorality.
Lanford's answer was that he was possessed of considerable evidence to that end, included in affidavits that have not yet been revealed. However, he refused to let his visitor see them, declaring that he would disclose them to Burns himself and to no other. "It is a matter to be taken up with Mr. Burns direct," he told Lehon. All other evidence, he said, was in the hands of the Solicitor, and the case had passed altogether out of the hands of the local detectives.
Little else occurred at the meeting, except one significant question from Lehon. "Are you open to conviction in this matter of Frank's innocence?" he asked Chief Lanford. "If anyone could produce evidence pointing to his innocence, I would be glad to help vindicate him," was the answer.
4th Edition-PAGE 1, COLUMN 3
5th Edition-PAGE 1, COLUMN 3
6th Edition-PAGE 1, COLUMN 4
7th Edition-PAGE 1, COLUMN 3
NOT WORRIED OVER SON, SHE SAYS
Burns Man Calls on Lanford, but Chief refuses to Divulge Character of Evidence.
Mrs. Rudolph Frank, mother of Leo M. Frank, arrived Monday in Atlanta from her home in Brooklyn. She is expected to remain here until after the final decision is made upon the extraordinary motion for a new trial which will be filed Thursday with Judge Hill by Frank's lawyers.
To a Georgian reporter Mrs. Frank said that she was not at all discouraged by the refusal of the Supreme Court of Georgia to reverse Judge Roan, and was confident that her son's innocence would be convincingly established by the investigation of Detective W. J. Burns.
Mrs. Frank was cheerful, and appeared in much better health than during the trying days of last summer, when she remained loyally by her son's side during the month that his case was being heard before Judge Roan.
Not Worrying About Son
"I am excitable and am given to worrying about the little annoyances of every-day life," she said, "but the final verdict on the accusation of murder against my son is one thing that I am not worrying about." "It would be an interesting comparison to hold up the moral life of Leo Frank side by side with the characters of the men who have been so active in accusing him. I wish it might be done, for I know the things that have been said about him are lies all lies and I am confirmed in this knowledge by the investigation of Mr. Burns."
Dan S. Lehon, one of Mr. Burns' chief aides in the Phagan murder probe, said Monday that his interview Sunday with Chief Lanford had been virtually fruitless. The Detective Chief, answering Mr. Burns' offer of a $1,000 reward to any person who would give definite proof of Frank's moral degeneracy, had said that he was in possession of such evidence and that he would be glad to give it to Burns gratis.
Lanford Awaits Burns
Lanford is said to have made the objection that he promised the information to Burns and no one else. Detective Lehon said that he was Burns' representative, but Lanford declined to do more than give his visitors an outline of the information he had. He would let Burns see the affidavits, he said, when Burns returned to Atlanta. "I must say that the information he had was of far less consequence than Mr. Lanford had led us to believe was in his possession," said Mr. Lehon. "He did not tell us the names of the persons from whom he had affidavits, but his narration of what they told his men was sufficiently clear to designate them as the Formby woman and the street car motorman, W. P. Murk."
Fails to Make Good, Says Lehon
"I told Mr. Lanford frankly that we had made the investigation into Frank's character and had as yet found nothing to substantiate the stories of immorality that were circulated by the Formby woman, who since has recanted, and that told on the stand by the negro Conley." "I said that we were after the truth and that he would be doing us a service by giving us the evidence in his possession. If what he outlined at our meeting Sunday is all he has, then the charge of degeneracy remains still unproved. Possibly he has something that he is holding back until the return of Mr. Burns, but unless he has he has failed to make good on his promise."
Detective Burns was still out of town Monday. He left Saturday night at 5:10 o'clock on the Louisville and Nashville train, refusing to disclose his destination.