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THE TRIAL OF LEO M. FRANK FOR THE MUR-
DER OF MARY PHAGAN, ATLANTA,
GEORGIA, 1913.

THE NARRATIVE.

Saturday, April 26, 1918, was Memorial Day, a holiday,
and there was no work going on in the National Pencil
Company’s factory at Atlanta. But Leo M. Frank, the
superintendent, was in his office when, a little after noon,
Mary Phagan, 4 white girl, fourteen years old, whose duty:
was to attach metal tips to pencils, and who had not been at
work for a week, as the supply of metal had run out, called
to get some pay which was due her, There was no one else
in the building except two workmen on the top floor. Frank
stated that he handed her an envelope containing $1.20; that
she asked if the metal had come and that he replied, ‘‘no’’;
that she left his office, and that he heard her footateps as she
‘went away. There was no evidence that she was ever seen
alive by anyone after that.

Early next morning (Sunday) Newt Lee, the negro night-
watchman, found in the basement the body of Mary Phagan,
strangled to death by a cord. There was a cloth tied around
her head which was torn from her underskirt. There were
no external signs of rape. The body was not mutilated, but
there were wounds on the head and elbow and below the knee.
Newt Lee was arrested, but denied all knowledge of the
erime; so did Frank, who expressed a strong desire to find
the murderer, and placed everything he could in the hands
of the detectives to aid their search. But on April 29, 1913,
Frank was arrested, and on May 24 he was indicted for the
murder of the little girl, |

On the trial, Newt Lee’ testified that Frank had told him
to be back at the factory at four o’clock Saturday afternoon,

1 Post, p. 190.
182

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