Reading Time: 7 minutes [1250 words]
The Atlanta Georgian,
Saturday, 21st March 1914,
7th Edition (Final),
PAGE 1, COLUMN 1.
PAGE 1, COLUMN 7
REFUSES TO ANSWER DEFIANT MESSAGE OF CONLEY'S ATTORNEY
William J. Burns will extend his investigation of the Phagan case into other cities when Dan Lehon, the superintendent of the Southern Division of the Burns Detective Agency, arrives in Atlanta Sunday. Mr. Burns said Saturday that various features of the case which require a thorough investigation will take him out of the city for a few days. It is understood he will leave Atlanta Monday or Tuesday, placing Lehon in charge of the local end of the case. He declared he expects to be gone only a day or two.
Mr. Burns refused to divulge the nature of the evidence he is going after, nor would he make his proposed destination public. He said positively, however, that the trip will have nothing to do with the investigation of A. S. Colyar, which, it is known, the detective will undertake to establish the dictograph's connection with the case.
Mr. Burns laughingly declined to enter into any controversy with William M. Smith, attorney for Jim Conley, over the latest defiance the lawyer has hurled at him.
When asked his opinion of Smith's diatribe, in which the detective is characterized as a "movie-picture, stage-lecturing, tangoing sleuth," Mr. Burns laughed and said: "Oh, well, he won't bite anybody!"
Mr. Burns was breakfasting at the Georgian Terrace when his attention was called to Smith's statement. He read a few lines, and looked up, with a smile. "Oh, piffle!" *** was his only remark.
Denies He Can Tango.
He read on then to where Smith referred to him as a "movie picture, stage-lecturing, tangoing sleuth, playing to the gallery." "Mr. Smith is wrong," remarked the detective. "I can't tango; I can only turkey trot!" "I see Mr. Smith says I must come to him as a gentleman," Mr. Burns continued. "Well, I certainly don't intend to come to him as a loafer!"
The detective permitted himself another smile when he read Smith's statement that he (Burns) would have to agree to whatever terms the lawyer might dictate if he wanted to see Conley. "Well!" he exclaimed. "If that's the best I can do, I suppose I'll have to be satisfied!"
Refuses to Argue.
Mr. Burns refused absolutely to enter into any argument with Smith or accept the lawyer's challenge to verbal warfare. "I don't intend to try to trample on the rights of Mr. Smith or his client," said Mr. Burns. "I suppose Mr. Smith knows what his rights are, and I suppose he is working solely in the interests of his client when he thus tirades against me, although his statement sounds a little like it might have been inspired. I expect that when the time comes for me to see Conley I shall go to Mr. Smith and make some arrangements whereby I can see the negro. I am in no hurry to interview Conley; he is in jail and always available."
Silent on Finding Purse.
Mr. Burns refused to comment on the report that he has located the purse and the ribbons and flowers that Mary Phagan had when she went to the pencil factory. He reiterated his determination to tell about them when he submitted his final report.
In addition to his activities in the Frank case, Burns now is having a merry round with what he terms a "bunch of dirty liars and crooks, and incapable asses masquerading under the bogus title of detectives." These terms are not applied to members of the Atlanta detective department. Mr. Burns desires it understood that he approves of their zeal as shown in the case on which he is engaged.
"But the man who sent that telegram full of fake stuff from Newark, N. J.," said Mr. Burns, "I know to be the representative of a rival detective organization in New York which has tried to annoy me before this with a mess of lying assertions."
Here is what Mr. Burns calls the latest of the "petty tricks." It is a telegram received in Atlanta and signed "John Black."
Called "Fake Detective."
"Please send this message to Jim Conley: 'Glad you called the fake detective's bluff. Ask him about his uncle, Dick Burns, better known as Ohio Dick, a notorious bank burglar. Dick did his penitentiary bit in Massachusetts, Ohio, New York and Delaware, where his picture and record are.'"
"These dirty liars have done all they could to hamper me recently," said the detective. "The man to whom they refer is, or was, a crook who turned informant for me while he was in prison. His real name was Dick Johnson. He reformed, and I helped him by getting him respectable work to do. Then he went wrong again, and I gave him up. Poor fellow! I think he is dead now. The only time any crook ever said anything about his being my uncle to my face I took him by the neck and crammed that lying assertion down his throat."
Smith's Statement.
Mr. Burns would add nothing to his remarks concerning the latest defiance hurled at him by Smith, who is exceedingly insistent that no one see his client except when he is around.
Conley's attorney in his statement referred to Burns as a "movie-picture, stage-lecturing, tangoing sleuth, following his usual methods of playing to the gallery," and predicting that he would prove "a disappointment to his employers and a downright injury to the cause in which he was hired."
Smith said that if Burns ever sees Jim Conley, he will have to come to him (Smith) "as a gentleman should," express the understanding that "he has no rights in the matter," and agree to whatever terms Smith may dictate.
"No Time for Bombast," He Says.
"Then," said Smith, "Mr. Burns will receive as fair consideration as the situation, in my judgment, demands. If he is allowed to see Conley, it will not be as a matter of right, but as a matter of courtesy from Conley and his counsel." "It ought to be to the everlasting shame and disgrace of William J. Burns if he should come here to perform a high service for truth's sake and sacrifice it upon the altar of his desire for publicity. This is no time for bombast and braggartry."
Smith winds up his philippic with the demand that Burns "for once give us facts, give us light, give us truth, and eliminate the advertising program."
Expert Aides Coming.
Mr. Burns announces that he will summon to his aid in this case Guy B. Biddinger, assistant general manager of the Burns service, who probably will arrive in Atlanta Sunday. Dan Lehon, of New Orleans, is expected Saturday, and with these two men at his side Burns will have what he asserts to be two of the most competent specialists in the detection of crime in America today.
"Together we are going to sift this case exhaustively," said Mr. Burns. "When we have finished, I will be in a position to make good every promise I have made. I am going to show the guilty man to the public, and in such a manner as to dispel every vestige of doubt. Nothing will be concealed. My report will give an account of every action of myself and my assistants. There will be no room left for suspicion nothing that the most violently prejudiced can point to as a reflection upon my connection with this case."
PAGE 8, COLUMN 1
TELEGRAM SENT
CONLEY 'LIES,'
SAYS BURNS
Detective Scores Rivals He Says
Are Trying to Hamper Him
in Frank Case.