10,000 Rush Morgue to See Mary Phagan, Atlanta Georgian, Mon, Apr 28, 1913, Atlanta, GA, Leo Frank Case

10,000 Rush Morgue to See Mary Phagan, Atlanta Georgian, Mon, Apr 28, 1913, Atlanta, GA, Leo Frank Case illustrates the frenzied public response to 13-year-old Mary Phagan’s murder, her strangled body found in the National Pencil Company basement. On Monday, her corpse at Bloomfield’s chapel, with rope marks, attracted 10,000, unprecedented in Atlanta. Before dawn, hundreds assembled, reaching 1,000 by 8 a.m., with factory girls, elderly, and children among them. The Atlanta Constitution reported police reinforcements for the crowd, estimating 4,000 Sunday and 6,000-7,000 Monday. At 10 a.m., Coroner Donehoo’s inquest began, with the jury—Homer C. Ashford, John Miller, J.C. Hood, C.Y. Sheets, Glenn Dewberry, and Clarence Langford—inspecting the body and crime scene, from basement to tip plant. Deferred until Wednesday, it amplified the Leo Frank case, mirroring 1913 Atlanta’s racial and social dynamics.