Journalist Britt Craig, Atlanta Constitution, Mary Phagan, Sun, Apr 27, 1913, Atlanta, GA - 13-Yr-Old Mary Phagan Vanquished

Journalist Britt Craig, Atlanta Constitution, Mary Phagan, Sun, Apr 27, 1913, Atlanta, GA - 13-Yr-Old Mary Phagan Vanquished recounts the shocking discovery that disrupted Atlanta on that Sunday morning. Night watchman Newt Lee located 13-year-old Mary Phagan’s body in the National Pencil Company basement, triggering an immediate police alert. Craig, arriving with Officers Dobbs, Starnes, and Black ten minutes later, noted Phagan’s face covered in soot and shavings, a brutal head wound, and a cord around her neck. Her lavender dress, stained with blood and urine, and missing shoe indicated a savage attack. Police initially misjudged her race due to the filth, but a stocking adjustment confirmed her as white. Two notes on factory letterhead mentioning “a long tall black negro” added mystery. Lee’s detention for questioning began the probe, as the city reeled. Craig’s Atlanta Constitution special extra amplified the tragedy, sparking a 1913 investigation marked by racial and social tensions.