Tuesday, 22nd June 1915: Atlanta Banks Will Pay Dividends July 1, The Atlanta Journal

Reading Time: 8 minutes [1438 words]

### Citizens Get Tired of Discussing Frank Case and Go Back to Business

Atlanta Citizens settled down Tuesday to the even tenor of their ways, after twenty-four hours of conversation, some of it rather noisy, and most of it based on rumors that came from nobody knew where.

The whole town took a day off Monday to discuss Governor Slaton's action in commuting the sentence of Leo M. Frank from death to life imprisonment. On every street corner, the theme of the conversation was the same. As the day wore on, rumors of this thing and that thing multiplied. Wild reports were circulated and they grew in their wildness as they increased in their circulation. Crowds of people congregated at various points in the city to swap news. The City Hall and the State Capitol were the two most popular points for the debaters. There was hardly an hour during the day, that there was not a considerable gathering around the City Hall, and the State Capitol was the scene of several separate and distinct meetings, the chief of which, however, was held during the afternoon when the crowd assembled in the Hall of Representatives. Sheriff Mangum visited the Capitol during this gathering and made a brief talk. He was received not only with respect but even with enthusiasm.

Monday night the streets were filled with people and hundreds of automobiles were flittering to and fro filled with citizens who had come out to see what was going to happen. For the most part, the crowds were orderly. At all congested points, the police were on the job and they did their work well in maintaining order and in dispersing the crowds whenever they became too large and impeded traffic. Shortly after 8 o'clock a crowd of several hundred began to march out Peachtree Street, supposedly headed for the country home of Governor Slaton but moving more or less aimlessly and apparently without any definite object in view. Mayor Woodward rode up and down Peachtree Street looking the crowd over and at no time did he seem disturbed over what he saw or in the least alarmed in the thought that some of the crowd might lose their heads and create disorder. The crowds moved slowly out on Peachtree Street, breaking up into groups that were separated by several blocks in distance.

### Many Friends There

As the night wore on and the march continued slowly out Peachtree, rumors increased in number and in the magnitude of the information which they were supposed to impart. These rumors brought other people to the scene and the number of automobiles filled with curious citizens was greatly augmented. Hundreds of citizens drove out to the home of Governor Slaton and stood there in front of his estate awaiting developments. There were fully as many people at the gates of the Governor's home who had come there as his friends, as there were in the crowd that was marching from the city.

Chief Mathieson, a few of the county police, Sheriff Mangum and a number of specially deputized citizens were present, and at no time did they display the slightest uneasiness. When the crowd, which had been described in excited telephone calls from the city as a mob of thousands, finally arrived, it did so aboard a single street car. It was a large car and there was no available standing room either inside or out when it drew up in front of the Governor's home. Shortly after the street car unloaded its throng, several companies of militia arrived in automobiles and took charge of the situation. Fifteen minutes after their arrival, automobiles had begun to return to the city, and all who could do so were catching street cars. In a very short time, Peachtree Road was practically deserted, and the militia and the county police were left in undisputed control of the whole territory in the vicinity of the Governor's home.

Tuesday morning, the militia and the county police were still on the job, but the citizens had apparently satisfied their curiosities and returned to their daily pursuits.

### Gatherings Elsewhere

In several other Georgia towns, there were more or less animated discussions of the Frank case on Monday. At several points, notably Marietta, Newnan, Ringgold and West Point, there were gatherings and demonstrations, manifesting a protest on the part of those participating against Governor Slaton's action. But reports from all over the state on Tuesday indicated that excitement had subsided and that the people were settling down to business. Those who approved of the Governor's action, and those who disapproved, seemed equally tired of a useless discussion and began devoting their minds and energies to other things.

### Many Telegrams Received

While those who disapprove of Governor Slaton's action have been making their attitude known by demonstrations, those who feel that the Governor has acted in the interest of justice have not failed to manifest their approval of his course by messages of congratulation. Since the announcement of Frank's commutation on Monday morning, an avalanche of telegrams of congratulation from people in all walks of life and from all parts of Georgia and the Union has poured into the Governor's office.

In addition to expressions of approval by telegram, a great many people called on the Governor at his office in the Capitol Tuesday and personally congratulated him.

### Dorsey Gives His Views on Frank Commutation

Solicitor who prosecuted case makes statement on action of Governor.

Solicitor Hugh M. Dorsey, who prosecuted Leo M. Frank, has given out the following comment on Governor Slaton's action in commuting Frank's sentence to life imprisonment:

"The action of Governor Slaton nullifying the judgments of the state and federal courts and overruling the recommendation of the State Board of Pardons was as surprising to me as it was unprecedented."

"No defendant within my recollection has had the benefit of more appeals to the judicial processes, state and federal, than Leo Frank. His guilt was conclusively established beyond a reasonable doubt to the satisfaction of an impartial jury of twelve reputable Georgians and their verdict was approved by the trial judge and affirmed by the Supreme Court of Georgia. Repeated efforts to have the judgment set aside have been denied by the State Supreme Court, the United States District Court, and the Supreme Court of the United States."

"With the unbroken record of all available courts declaring Frank guilty of the heinous crime with which he was charged, the influential friends of Frank appealed to the State Board of Pardons elected by the people to pass on applications for pardons and commutations to be considered by the chief executive of the state, and the Pardon Board sustained the records of the courts of justice and declined to recommend the application for a commutation."

### Satisfied of Verdict

"I did not appear before the Pardon Board because I felt confident that, with the evidence and the court records before them, there would be no interference with the course of justice. When their decision refusing to recommend commutation was transmitted, I felt it to be my duty to plead for the enforcement of the law by the chief executive because I knew the force of the influences at work to upset the judgments of the courts and of the Pardon Board."

"I knew that the senior member of Governor Slaton's law firm, Rosser, Slaton & Phillips, was the leading counsel for Frank, not only throughout his trial, but in prosecuting the original and extraordinary motion for new trial, and I knew it would be difficult for the Governor to escape the subconscious effect of his environment."

"The Constitution of Georgia commands the impartial and complete administration of our laws, and imposes this command upon the Solicitor General of each circuit, as well as upon the Governor of the state.""My feeling that the Governor was disqualified, at least to an extent, by his environment and affiliations, from viewing the Records in this Case impartially, prompted me to appear before him in person to urge the enforcement of the Law."

"Not one of the Grand Jurors who found the true bill against Frank and not one of the Jurors who convicted him, joined in the Petition for Clemency, which was granted over the protest of the prosecuting Attorneys and over the adverse recommendation of the State Board of Pardons."

"I cannot find in the Record of the Frank Case, or in the Governor's lengthy Statement of attempted justification, one Reason why the Governor should have departed from his declared Policy, and interfere with their Judgments of the Courts in this Case."