Tuesday, 17th August 1915: Leo M. Frank In Hands Of Mob, The Atlanta Constitution

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### LEO M. FRANK

PAGE 1, COLUMN 6

Prisoner Rushed From State Farm In An Automobile

Mob of Twenty-Five Men Invades Dormitory, Overpowers the Warden, and Takes Charge of Prisoner. "Will Place Frank's Body on the Grave of Mary Phagan in Marietta" Declared Member of Mob. Frank Made Desperate Resistance.

At 6 o'clock this morning, posses of state officers and citizens from Baldwin and a number of other counties were still vainly seeking the mob which shortly before midnight last night abducted Leo M. Frank from the State Prison Farm, at Milledgeville, where he has been confined since his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

One posse from Milledgeville is headed by Captain J. H. Ennis, member of the legislature. He was one of the first to learn of the action of the mob at the State Prison Farm. Officials in practically every county in the state have been notified to be on the lookout, and the governor has announced that he will extend the Baldwin County authorities every aid in his power.

Milledgeville, Ga., August 16. A mob variously estimated at between twenty-five and seventy-five in number, overpowered the warden, superintendent, and guards at the Georgia State Prison Farm, near here, at 11 o'clock tonight and quickly got Leo M. Frank and rushed him away in an automobile.

First reports that it might be the friends of Frank were dispelled when a prisoner said he had heard a member of the mob say that Frank's body would be placed tomorrow on the grave of Mary Phagan, at Marietta. Frank was serving a life term for the murder of the girl.

The mob was orderly, but worked with quick precision. Eight automobiles took the men to within a short distance of the prison. First, all wires from the prison, and all except one from Milledgeville, were cut.

Five men went to the house of J. T. Smith, warden, covered him with pistols and stood guard over him. Other men went to the house of J. M. Burke, superintendent of the prison, and held him under cover of their guns.

Practically every other member of the mob then rushed to the stockade gate nearest to the dormitory where Frank was being housed. Only yesterday, the physicians discharged him from the hospital, where he had been since being murderously assaulted in the dormitory by William Creen.

TWO GUARDS ON DUTY.

As on the night Frank was attacked, only two guards were on duty. The mob quickly overpowered Chief Night Guard Hester and the other man on duty, proceeded to the dormitory and within a few minutes seized Frank and rushed him back to the automobiles.

Those who had been holding Smith and Burke left, as soon as Frank was brought out and joined their fellows. The automobiles reported to number eight then were started in the direction of Eatonton. Nothing more had been heard of them hours after they left.

Only one member of that part of the mob that went to the dormitory talked. He gave the commands to the guards which were backed up by the arms of the other members of the mob.

FIVE MEN MASKED.

Five were masked out of the thirty-five. They said they were from Marietta. Warden Smith's gasoline was emptied out from his auto.

The five men brought Frank out, holding him by hands and feet and hair. Frank resisted but to no avail. He mumbled but the excitement was so great, nothing can be remembered. The mob left Warden Smith and Superintendent Burke handcuffed, and they tied Frank's legs. Everything was done quietly; members of the mob saying they didn't want to get anyone's head; only wanted Frank.

GOVERNOR SHOCKED.

When notified by The Constitution early this morning of the affair, Governor Harris declared: "I am both shocked and aggrieved, and in common with all good people of Georgia who stand for law and order, I feel that a great wrong has been done, that our state will not look with approval on such an act."

The governor stated that he would put forth every effort in his official power to apprehend the members of the mob, should he be called on to furnish aid to the authorities at the State Farm, and in Baldwin County.

ENNIS HEADS POSSE.

Headed by Captain J. H. Ennis, representative in the legislature from Baldwin County, and the first in Milledgeville to learn of the smuggling of Frank from the Prison Farm, a posse of several automobiles filled with local officers started in pursuit of this mob of twenty-five shortly before 1 o'clock.

According to the story told to Captain Ennis by several Negro convicts who were not locked up, a mob of twenty-five men in seven or eight automobiles arrived at the farm at 11:45 o'clock, overpowered and tied Warden Smith and two guards who were sleeping on the front porch, and went directly to the room where Frank was asleep.

The Negroes rushed to the home of J. H. Satterfield, bookkeeper at the farm, and who lives on the state property, and told him that the mob had left with Frank, taking the road toward Eatonton, due north of here. Mr. Satterfield took one of the automobiles kept at the farm and went direct to Milledgeville, notifying Captain Ennis.

Captain Ennis sought to get in communication with the State Farm, but found all telephone wires cut. The wires he found had also been cut on the Macon and Atlanta lines.

Notifying local officials a posse was formed that started in pursuit of the mob. At 2:30 this morning, nothing had been heard from the searching party.

Prison Commissioners Davison and

PAGE 2, COLUMN 2

Rainey were at the farm and had retired to their rooms just before the mob came. They did not leave their room until the crowd had captured Frank and had left the farm. They will leave Milledgeville this morning for Atlanta. Mrs. Leo Frank was also in Milledgeville last night.

PLANNED WORK WELL.

Macon, Ga., August 16. A long distance telephone message from Milledgeville via Augusta confirmed the rumor that a party of 25 men in automobiles had taken Leo M. Frank from the State Farm there at 11:45 p.m. and had left with him in the direction of Eatonton. A message from Eatonton stated the automobiles had not passed through that city at 1 o'clock this morning.

When the mob first reached the State Farm, they separated into three groups. One went to the home of Captain Burke, the farm superintendent, and after calling him from the house, they covered him with their guns, and slipped the handcuffs on him. This group took Captain Burke to the Prison Farm Dormitory and forced him to open the door.

Another group secured and handcuffed Warden Smith in the same manner as the other had done Captain Burke. Two guards sleeping on the front porch were overpowered and handcuffed also.

Warden Smith and Captain Burke both declared they failed to recognize any of the members of the mob, but one of the convicts overheard a remark dropped by one member of the mob that they intended to take Frank to Marietta.

When the party reached the farm, they overpowered Warden Smith and the guards who have been sleeping on the front porch of the prison dormitory since Frank has been confined there. All of them, including the warden, were handcuffed, and with the loss of little time, Frank was secured and placed in one of the automobiles. The cars then hurried away at full speed in the direction of Eatonton.

SATTERFIELD NOTIFIED.

J. H. Satterfield, bookkeeper at the farm, was awakened by some of the Negro convicts after the men had left with Frank. As soon as he learned what had happened, he hastened to Milledgeville and notified Representative Ennis.

The mob apparently planned their work well, for they carried it through without a hitch. Between Milledgeville and the State Farm and between Milledgeville and Macon, they cut the telephone wires, and it was fully an hour or more after they had secured their man and hastened on their way before the news came out.

As far as could be learned at an early hour this morning, none of the members of the mob were recognized. Some of them are said to have worn masks and all were heavily armed.

Not a shot was fired, and no one was injured, as far as is known.

ALL QUIET IN MARIETTA.

Marietta, Ga., August 17. If any residents of this town were in the mob that took Leo M. Frank from the State Prison Farm last night, or if it was intended to bring him to Marietta, it was not generally known here at 3:15 o'clock this morning. Nothing had occurred at that hour to disturb the usual calm of the town.

Leo M. Frank was found guilty of the murder of Mary Phagan on August 25, 1913. He was the superintendent of the National Pencil Company in Atlanta, in the basement of which the girl's body was found by a night watchman on the morning of April 27, previous.

Repeated attempts were made in the state courts to obtain a new trial for Frank, but without avail. Attempts to obtain a writ of habeas corpus in the Federal District Court at Atlanta, and finally in the Supreme Court of the United States, were futile.

On the night of June 21, this year, two days before the date set for the prisoner's execution, he was removed from the county jail in Atlanta and rushed to the State Prison Farm upon orders from Governor Slaton, now retired. The next day, the governor announced that he had granted the petition made in Frank's behalf asking that his death sentence be commuted to life imprisonment.

The taking of Leo M. Frank from the prison last night was the culmination of numerous rumors of threats of mob violence against his life.

But one attack, however, had previously actually been made upon Frank. This was about a month ago, when William Creen, also serving a life term for murder, cut Frank's throat so severely that his life for days hung in the balance. Creen stole out of his bunk about 11 o'clock one night and managed to slip across the large sleeping room to Frank's bunk unobserved. He then drew across Frank's throat a large knife which he had smuggled from the kitchen.

Although Frank's head was cut practically half off by the stroke, his life was saved, largely through the efforts of Dr. Mc Naughton, also serving a term for killing.

The governor and the prison commissioners, a few weeks later, made an investigation at the State Prison and, upon the confession of Creen, who assumed all responsibility for the act, exonerated all prison officials from responsibility.

Creen, in his confession to Governor Harris, swore that he committed the act without aid or suggestion from anyone either inside or outside of the prison.

Frank, after he was wounded, was placed in a private room adjoining the warden's office, where he remained while he was convalescing. It is presumed that he was still in this room when he was taken by last night's mob.

For weeks, all the guards of the prison, including Warden Smith, were required to sleep armed upon the front porch of the prison, which is just outside the room in which the wounded convict was placed. It is not known whether this guard was still being maintained last night.