Sunday, 24th February 1929: Aged Inmate Soon Will Complete 15 Years In Prison, The Atlanta Constitution

Milledgeville, Ga., February 23. (Special.) Bill Creen, aged prisoner at the state prison farm, who won nation-wide publicity when he cut the throat of Leo Frank, convicted murderer of little Mary Phagan, will next October have completed 15 years of service at the farm.

Sentenced in Muscogee county on a murder charge June 6, 1913, he was brought to the state prison farm here on October 16, 1914. After he had attempted to murder Leo Frank, who was afterward taken out and lynched by a mob that raided the prison, Creen was put in a cell for seven years and thought to be insane.

When Judge B. H. Dunaway came to the farm in 1922, he was convinced that Creen was not insane, after submitting the prisoner to various tests, and he took him out of the cell. The old man has made a model prisoner, and has not since that time had to be punished for the slightest offense. He is in charge of the front gate of the prison and guards it with zealous care.

In recent months his age and feebleness have necessitated his role as gatekeeper at the front. The old man extends most cordial courtesy to visitors and answers questions with readiness. Judge Dunaway is the object of his ardent devotion, and the old prisoner has shown in every possible way his loyalty to the superintendent and his eager willingness to cooperate with prison officials.

Bill Creen has a life term, but his trembling hand and his continually slowing gait indicate that not many more years remain of the sentence.