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The Atlanta Georgian,
Friday, 24th April 1914,
3rd Edition,
PAGE 1, COLUMN 3.
Report of Detective Filed as High Card in Defense's Battle for New Trial
Lawyers for Leo Frank played their high card Friday by offering as amendments to the extraordinary motion for a new trial portions of the report of Detective W. J. Burns, which placed directly upon the negro Jim Conley the sole responsibility for the murder of Mary Phagan.
Affidavits accompanying the report were introduced to show that the negro is a pervert of one of the lowest types, and that the circumstances of the murder fitted in with the acceptance of this accusation as the truth.
Other affidavits were submitted to show that the final story told by the negro his story on the stand and in his statements to the police were entirely at variance with the facts. Conley's tale of his movements from 1:30 o'clock, when he said he left the pencil factory by the front door, was the target for the strongest attack on the part of the detective, whose report charged that the negro had lied in almost every essential detail and was, in fact, in places far distant from those where he represented himself to be.
Dorsey Has New Evidence
Hardly less startling than the accusations directed against Conley by the report of Burns is the counter showing prepared by Solicitor Dorsey for submission to the court at the conclusion of the defense's showing.
The Solicitor has had little to say of the case as his investigation has proceeded since the ending of the trial last August, but it is known that he has had special detectives at work continuously, and that lately he has been devoting almost all of his own time to preparations for fighting the extraordinary motion for a new trial.
When court opened Friday morning, he admitted that he was in possession of affidavits from some of the very persons who had figured in the affidavits of the defense, and that their statements to him were directly at variance with those contained in the affidavits which had been read the day before.
3rd Edition, PAGE 2, COLUMN 6
BURNS EXPOSES CONLEY'S LIES; FIXES CRIME
Dorsey Reported to Have New Sensational Evidence to Combat Denfense's Affidavits
*Continued From Page 1.*
the affidavits which had been read the day before.
Burke Trailed by State
Captain C. W. Burke, special detective for the defense, has been the object of the Solicitor's particular attention. It is said that Mr. Dorsey has followed up Captain Burke in virtually all of the interviews he has had with witnesses for the State in the recent trial, with a view of obtaining evidence to show that the special investigator has employed improper methods in procuring recantations and affidavits of other sorts.
The first day of the hearing on the extraordinary motion was occupied entirely by the reading of the motion, which required an hour and fifteen minutes, and the presentation of numerous affidavits in corroboration of the grounds outlined. Shortly before the close of the day's session Attorney Rosser, chief of counsel for Frank, asked that an adjournment be taken so that the lawyers could confer on the advisability of introducing other new evidence at this time. It was supposed to be the report, in full or in part, of Detective W. J. Burns, and the developments of Friday morning showed that this conclusion was correct.
One of the most important of Thursday's affidavits was that of J. W. Boozer, collector for a jewelry firm at the time of the Phagan murder. Boozer testified that he met Conley between 4 and 4:30 o'clock the afternoon of the crime. Conley had sworn that he was at home and asleep at this time, and gave it as his excuse for not coming back to the pencil factory and burning the body of the little girl, as he testified Frank ordered him to do.
Says Woman Told of Screams
An affidavit of Mrs. Elizabeth Cohen, No. 40 Robins street, was read to corroborate the testimony of Mrs. J. B. Simmons, the 60-year-old woman who went to Solicitor Dorsey with the story that she had heard screams coming from the basement of the pencil factory between 2 and 3 o'clock last Memorial Day, the date of the crime. Mrs. Cohen said that she met Mrs. Simmons on the street at about 3 o'clock that afternoon and asked her how she was enjoying the celebration. Mrs. Simmons replied that she had been "awfully frightened and scared" by screams from the pencil factory basement, according to the affidavit.
Among other affidavits were those from Mary Phagan, the negro woman who swore that she saw Conley near the pencil factory at about 2:30 o'clock the afternoon of the murder; Dr. G. Bachman and Dr. J. W. Papez, physicians, who testified to the accuracy with which hair might be identified and distinguished from other hair; Mrs. M. Jaffe, wife of a former Atlanta business man, who testified that she saw Frank at Whitehall and Alabama streets at 1:05 o'clock the afternoon of April 26, a time at which the State asserted he was in the pencil factory directing the disposal of Mary Phagan's body, and from the numerous recanting State's witnesses.
The hearings are being held in two sessions daily, from 10 to 12:30 o'clock and from 1:30 to 5 o'clock. They probably will be concluded Saturday.
5th Edition, PAGE 1, COLUMN 1
PREACHER HEARD CONLEY CONFESS NEGRO ALSO CONFIDED TO WOMAN PRISONER THAT HE KILLED GIRL
Submitting just enough of William J. Burns sensational findings to make them confident of a new trial for their client, counsel for Leo M. Frank Friday closed their presentation of evidence in the hearing of the extraordinary motion before Judge Ben Hill at the State Capitol.
The greater part of Burns report was not made public, counsel for the convicted man not deeming it wise to put it in the possession of the police, whom they accuse of crooked methods. The affidavits revealed, however, included the testimony of a preacher that he had heard Jim Conley telling another negro how he murdered a girl and the statement of a negro woman who was in the Tower with Conley, that he had confessed the crime to her.
The hearing was adjourned until next Friday, when the State will begin presenting its argument for a refusal of the motion for a new trial.
Rev. C. B. Ragsdale, pastor of the Plum Street Baptist Church, swore in his affidavit that he heard one negro tell another he had killed a girl in the pencil factory. Rev. Ragsdale asserted that about three nights after the murder he stepped into the alley behind the pencil factory, and while standing there he heard two negroes talking. He asserts he heard one of them tell the other about killing a girl in the pencil factory, and that later he saw the negroes come out of the alley.
His statement that he was in the alley was corroborated by I. L. Barber, a member of Rev. Mr. Ragsdale's congregation, who asserts in an affidavit that he joined the minister after the latter had been in the alley a few moments. Barber swears that he saw the two negroes come out of the alley and walk down Forsyth street and that he recognized one of them as Jim Conley.
Negress Tells of Confession
Annie Maud Carter, a negress, asserted that she was in jail in the Tower in a cell near Jim Conley, and that Conley told her he had murdered Mary Phagan and wrote the notes to cast suspicion on Newt Lee. Conley became infatuated with her, the Carter woman asserts, and wrote her a number of "love letters" during the time they were incarcerated together. Many of these she says she returned.
She said also that she had a number of confidential talks with Conley and promised to marry him when he was released. In one of these conversations she says Conley told her he had killed a girl in the pencil factory; that he had choked the girl to death, and then thrown her body down the hole, after which he tried to outrage her.
She swears that Conley told her he wrote the death notes that were found lying beside Mary Phagan's body in order to cast suspicion upon Newt Lee; that he first put the notes in the bosom of the dead girl's dress, and then later took them out and laid them beside her body.
Mrs. Maud Bailey, of No. 161 Glenn street, swore, in her affidavit, that on April 26, 1913, at a few minutes after 11 o'clock, she went down town with her mother, Mrs. May Barrett, and left a Stewart avenue car at Mitchell and Forsyth streets. Her home at that time, she said, was at No. 253 Humphries street. She asserted that she walked with her mother to Alverson & Brothers' store, reaching there about 11 o'clock, where Mrs. Barrett left her to go to the pencil factory, where she was employed.
Tells of Seeing Conley
Ten minutes later, Mrs. Bailey swears, she went to the pencil factory to get her mother, and went up on the second floor near the time clocks, one of which registered at that time 11:45 and the other 11:47 o'clock. On the upper floor she says she saw Leo Frank, a stenographer, Corinthia Hall; Emma Clark Freeman, Arthur White and Mrs. White. A few minutes later Mrs. Freeman and Miss Hall left the factory, and Arthur
*Continued on Page 3, Column 3.*
5th Edition, PAGE 3, COLUMN 3
TWO SWEAR THEY HEARD CONLEY CONFESSION
Preacher Tells of Negro Confiding to Another That He Slew Phagan Girl
*Continued From Page 1.*
White and his wife stood near the steps. Later Arthur White went upstairs and Mrs. White left the factory. The stenographer also left about this time.
Mrs. Bailey asserts that about 10 or 12 minutes after 12 o'clock she saw a young girl come up the stairs and go into Frank's office, and, after remaining in the office some three or four minutes, the girl went out of the office and down the stairway to the first floor. She says the girl wore a dress between a lavender and pink color, that it was short and that the girl was young and heavily built.
She further asserts that after the girl left his office Frank went into his private office and she didn't see him again. She went on down the steps with her mother, she says, and met Lemmie Quinn coming swiftly up the steps.
Mrs. Bailey also swears that when she entered the pencil factory that day she saw Jim Conley sitting on a box on the first floor, between the stairway and the elevator. She says she would not have noticed Conley but for the fact that he made a noise with his foot against the box, which attracted her attention.
She asserts that she tried to make an affidavit for Solicitor Dorsey, but that Mr. Dorsey abused her and cut off her story and tried to get her to swear to conditions that were not facts.
Hardly less startling than the accusations directed against Conley by the report of Burns is the counter showing prepared by Solicitor Dorsey for submission to the court at the conclusion of the defense's showing.
The Solicitor has had little to say of the case as his investigation has proceeded since the ending of the trial last August, but it is known that he has had special detectives at work continuously, and that lately he has been devoting almost all of his own time to preparations for fighting the extraordinary motion for a new trial.
When court opened Friday morning, he admitted that he was in possession of affidavits from some of the very persons who had figured in the affidavits of the defense, and that their statements to him were directly at variance with those contained in the affidavits which had been read the day before.
Burke Trailed by State
Captain C. W. Burke, special detective for the defense, has been the object of the Solicitor's particular attention. It is said that Mr. Dorsey has followed up Captain Burke in virtually all of the interviews he has had with witnesses for the State in the recent trial, with a view of obtaining evidence to show that the special investigator has employed improper methods in procuring recantations and affidavits of other sorts.
The first day of the hearing on the extraordinary motion was occupied entirely by the reading of the motion, which required an hour and fifteen minutes, and the presentation of numerous affidavits in corroboration of the grounds outlined. Shortly before the close of the day's session Attorney Rosser, chief of counsel for Frank, asked that an adjournment be taken so that the lawyers could confer on the advisability of introducing other new evidence at this time. It was supposed to be the report, in full or in part, of Detective W. J. Burns, and the developments of Friday morning showed that this conclusion was correct.
One of the most important of Thursday's affidavits was that of J. W. Boozer, collector for a jewelry firm at the time of the Phagan murder. Boozer testified that he met Conley between 4 and 4:30 o'clock the afternoon of the crime. Conley on the stand and in his affidavits to the police had sworn that he was at home and asleep at this time, and gave it as his excuse for not coming back to the pencil factory and burning the body of the little girl, as he testified Frank ordered him to do.
Says Woman Told of Screams
An affidavit of Mrs. Elizabeth Cohen, No. 40 Robins street, was read to corroborate the testimony of Mrs. J. B. Simmons, the 60-year-old woman who went to Solicitor Dorsey with the story that she had heard screams coming from the basement of the pencil factory between 2 and 3 o'clock last Memorial Day, the date of the crime. Mrs. Cohen said that she met Mrs. Simmons on the street at about 3 o'clock that afternoon and asked her how she was enjoying the celebration. Mrs. Simmons replied that she had been "awfully frightened and scared" by screams from the pencil factory basement, according to the affidavit.
Among other affidavits were those from Mary Rich, the negro woman who swore that she saw Conley near the pencil factory at about 2:30 o'clock the afternoon of the murder; Dr. G. Bachman and Dr. J. W. Papez, physicians, who testified to the accuracy with which hair might be identified and distinguished from other hair; Mrs. M. Jaffe, wife of a former Atlanta business man, who testified that she saw Frank at Whitehall and Alabama streets at 1:05 o'clock the afternoon of April 26, a time at which the State asserted he was in the pencil factory directing the disposal of Mary Phagan's body, and from the numerous recanting State's witnesses.
The hearings are being held in two sessions daily, from 10 to 12:30 o'clock and from 1:30 to 5 o'clock. They probably will be concluded Saturday.
5th Edition, PAGE 3, COLUMN 6
C. W. Mangum Again Heads Atlanta U.C.V.
C. W. Mangum began his third term of service Thursday as commander of Camp W. H. T. Walker, No. 925, United Confederate Veterans, having been elected at the annual meeting of the camp.
Other officers are J. B. Smith, first lieutenant commander; R. T. Bowie, second lieutenant commander; A. G. Adderholdt, third lieutenant commander; W. A. Copeland, fourth lieutenant commander; J. H. Shellnutt, adjutant; T. J. Smith, treasurer; Dr. M. C. Martin, surgeon; J. A. Park, chaplain; S. L. Baugh, sergeant major; L. T. Lasseter, color bearer; G. H. Henning and J. T. Henning, color guard; Miss Theo Bowie, sponsor; delegates, J. H. Shellnutt, J. S. Elder, A. P. Adamson, W. D. Harris; alternates, B. S. Osborn, J. A. Pittman, T. J. Smith and H. C. Mc Ewen.
7th Edition, PAGE 1, COLUMN 1
TOLD HOW HE KILLED GIRL, THEY ASSERTS
Another Affiant for Defense Declares She Saw Leave Frank's Office
Holding until the last their powerful and direct evidence that Jim Conley was the murderer of Mary Phagan, the lawyers for Leo M. Frank Friday brought before Judge Hill two affidavits, one from a white preacher and the other from a negro woman, both of whom swore to having heard a positive confession of the murder from the lips of the negro.
The Rev. C. B. Ragsdale, of Kirkwood, was the signer of one affidavit and Annie Maude Carter, the negress, of the other.
Since the dramatic and highly sensational story of Jim Conley, as he told it to the detectives and with variations on the witness stand, there has come no information nor testimony that has borne so completely the appearance of direct evidence as that offered by these two witnesses.
Saw Girl Leave Frank's Office
To make their case the stronger the defense introduced affidavits by Mrs. Maude Bailey, who swore to seeing a girl answering the description of Mary Phagan leave Frank's office and descend the steps toward the first floor on the afternoon of the murder.
The Rev. Ragsdale was corroborated by R. I. Barber, an acquaintance, who identified the negro from whom the minister had heard the confession as Jim Conley. Mrs. Bailey was supported in her statements by her mother, Mrs. May Barrett. Both of them were employed in the pencil factory at the time of the crime.
The Carter woman declared that Conley not only admitted to her killing Mary Phagan, but that he went into minute details as to the manner in which he had committed the slaying. She was arrested last October and met Conley in the Thrower Building, and afterward saw him at the jail. She said that Conley at first sought to make her believe that Frank also had been intimate with the girl, but that he afterward confessed that Frank had had nothing to do with it and that he alone was responsible. The negress also made statements indicating that Conley was a pervert.
What Pastor Heard
The Rev. Mr. Ragsdale swore that, stopping for a few minutes near the rear of the Terminal Hotel on the Wednesday night following April 26, he heard two negroes talking. Here is an account of their conversation as it appeared in his affidavit:
"One of the men said to the other, 'I am in trouble and want you to help me out. I killed a girl at the National Pencil Factory;' and the other man said, 'Well, who all was there?' and the first speaker said, 'Nobody there but Mr. Frank, and I am not certain whether he was there or not;' that immediately upon ending the part of the conversation here testified to these two parties started out of the alley, when deponent discovered they were darkies; that when deponent came out of the alley he met near the mouth of the alley one R. L. Barber, a friend and acquaintance of his; that deponent then told the said Barber the conversation he had heard, and Barber then reminded him that he was a minister and a comparative stranger in the city of Atlanta, and that if he were deponent he would not mention what he had heard, that great excitement was in existence about the
*Continued on Page 2, Column 1.*
7th Edition, PAGE 2, COLUMN 1
2 SWEAR THEY HEARD CONLEY CONFESS
Saw Girl Leave Frank's Office, Woman Asserts
STARTLING NEW EVIDENCE FOR DEFENSE
Preacher and Negress, Prisoner In Tower, Give Affidavits Aiding Doomed Man
*Continued from Page 1*
murder of the Little girl, and that it would be unwise for him to get mixed up in the situation."
The affidavit of Barber bore out the Rev. Mr. Ragsdale in all particulars and affirmed that the signers had known Jim Conley for three or four months and recognized him when he saw him coming out of the alley near the Terminal Hotel.
Story of Negro Woman
Here is the story of Annie Maude Carter in its essentials:
"During Christmas week I was talking with Conley in his cell and he said he would tell me the whole truth about it. I asked him why he waited so long, and he said, 'If I tell you, will you marry me?' and I told him 'Yes.' He then told me that he really did the murder of Mary Phagan, but that it was so plainly shown on Mr. Frank that he let it go that way; that him and Mr. Frank both had been intimate with the girl, but then he immediately confessed that he lied when he said that Mr. Frank had been intimate with the girl, and said that he had done it all alone by himself. He begged me never to say anything about this. He said he first choked her, and after she was unconscious he had attacked her."
"He said he was sitting on a box in the factory when the girl came down; that he told her someone had called her; that she turned back and he then struck her with his fist, knocking her down, and dragged her back where they put rubbers on pencils; that finding Mr. Frank absent he dropped her through the hole; that he then took her around by the furnace, starting to put her in the furnace, but his conscience wouldn't let him; that he put her down there to make people believe Newt Lee did it; that afterward he found a piece of blank paper, tears it in two, picks up a pencil, and puts the paper on the cellar door and writes the notes; that he first took the notes and put them in her bosom, then he took them out and laid them by her side; that he then took a thing they opened boxes with and pulled the staple out of the back door and went out the door, going over to Broad street to get a glass of beer; that he went back to the factory to make people believe he was innocent, but the truth must come to light; that he wanted to save Mr. Frank by saying he helped move the body, but that he knew that wouldn't work; that afterward he went and got drunk and started to leave town, but that he knew that wouldn't do, so he stayed here to show that he wasn't guilty."
Asked Her to Keep Secret
"He begged me not to say anything about this; that he wanted to serve his twelve months so that he would be free; that if he couldn't get me he would go North."
"He told me that he kept the money he found in the purse, but gave the purse to a negro child. He wrote me several letters, but I simply sent the letters back to him, not caring to be in his company any more."
"I have not told this before, because I only got out of jail March 9, 1914, but I want to tell the whole truth about what he told me while in jail, and I am willing to take the witness stand and swear to this at any time. I have not been given any money, or anything else, to make this statement, and I have not been promised anything, and don't ask anything to make this statement. I am simply telling the truth of my own free will."
"Detectives Lanford, Chewing and Sturdivant took a statement from me today. I did not tell them all that I am telling here because I knew they were trying to get things to favor Conley, and I knew he was guilty, and that what I knew wouldn't help him, but would break his neck."
"As to how I come to make this statement, when I was down at the station house today, and the detectives asked me all these questions, I knew what they were trying to do; that they were trying to help Conley, and so I went right from the station house to Mr. Jake Jacobs', on Decatur street and told him everything that had happened, and he told me I ought to make a statement about it, and that is how I come to make this statement."
Mrs. Maud Bailey, of No. 161 Glenn street, swore in her affidavit that on April 26, 1913, at a few minutes after 11 o'clock, she went downtown with her mother, Mrs. May Barrett, and left a Stewart avenue car at Mitchell and Forsyth streets. Her home at that time, she said, was at No. 253 Humphries street. She asserted that she walked with her mother to Alverson & Bros.' store, reaching there about 11 o'clock, where Mrs. Barrett left her to go to the pencil factory, where she was employed.
Ten minutes later, Mrs. Bailey swears, she went to the pencil factory to get her mother, and went up on the second floor near the time clocks, one of which registered at that time 11:45 and the other 11:47 o'clock. On the upper floor she says she saw Leo Frank, a stenographer, Corinthia Hall; Emma Clark Freeman, Arthur White and Mrs. White. A few minutes later Mrs. Freeman and Miss Hall left the factory, and Arthur White and his wife stood near the steps. Later Arthur White went upstairs and Mrs. White left the factory. The stenographer also left about this time.
Mrs. Bailey asserts that about 10 or 12 minutes after 12 o'clock she saw a young girl come up the stairs and go into Frank's office, and, after remaining in the office some three or four minutes, the girl went out of the office and down the stairway to the first floor. She says the girl wore a dress between a lavender and pink color, that it was short and that the girl was young and heavily built.
She further asserts that after the girl left his office Frank went into his private office and she didn't see him again. She went on down the steps with her mother, she says, and met Lemmie Quinn coming swiftly up the steps.
Mrs. Bailey also swears that when she entered the pencil factory that day she saw Jim Conley sitting on a box on the first floor, between the stairway and the elevator. She says she would not have noticed Conley but for the fact that he made a noise with his foot against the box, which attracted her attention.
She asserts that she tried to make an affidavit for Solicitor Dorsey, but that Mr. Dorsey abused her and cut off her story and tried to get her to swear to conditions that were not facts.
Solicitor Asks More Time
The reading of the Ragsdale, Barber and Carter affidavits and those of Mrs. Bailey and Mrs. Barrett occupied the greater part of the forenoon at the hearing in the library at the Capitol. When the defense had finished, Solicitor Dorsey immediately asked for a postponement until next Friday, saying that these affidavits were entirely new to him and that he wished to investigate them before going ahead with the State's side of the case. Judge Hill granted the postponement.
The Solicitor is reported to be preparing to start prosecutions that will involve several of the affidavit-makers for the defense, as well as those who have been instrumental in procuring the statements. He would not comment Friday on the latest sensational developments aside from his statement that they would bear investigation.
Detective Burns is understood to have in his possession messages that passed between Jim Conley and the negro woman, Annie Maude Carter, as well as several other specimens of the negro's handwriting.
Burns Sees Lanford
Burns visited Chief of Detectives Newport Lanford at police headquarters Friday morning and requested that he be allowed to see the affidavit of Mrs. Nina Formby, charging Leo Frank with perversion. Mr. Burns was accompanied by an attorney. Chief Lanford, for the second time, refused to let Mr. Burns see the affidavit, declaring that he would not show it to the detective unless he waited until after the case is over and then came to police headquarters alone.
Mr. Burns said he would wait until the hearing now in progress has been concluded, and then come alone to headquarters, although he expressed his amazement that Chief Lanford would not permit him to have any companions on his visits to the station house.
During the conference Mr. Burns questioned Chief Lanford regarding the State's attitude in the perversion charges, and declared that the chief made "the most astounding statement of the case," in that he declared that the State did not, and never had, charged Leo Frank with perversion. In explanation, however, Chief Lanford stated after Mr. Burns left that he referred to his claim that the perversion testimony during the trial was developed by the defense and not by the prosecution.
7th Edition, PAGE 2, COLUMN 2
LANGFORD DENIES ATTACK ON FRANK'S CHARACTER
A statement, declared by William J. Burns to be the "most astounding" in the entire Frank case, was made by Chief of Detectives Lanford Friday bearing on the charges of perversion that have been made against Leo Frank.
Burns asserts that Chief Lanford, after refusing to allow him to see the affidavit of Mrs. Nina Formby, which details specific acts of perversion, said:
"The State of Georgia and the city detectives does not now, and never did, claim that Leo Frank is a pervert. The charges of perversion have no bearing on the case and were injected by the defense."
