On Monday, April 28, 1913, Chief of Police Beavers and two detectives retraced, step by step, the path they believed the killer had followed through the National Pencil Company factory. They moved from the spot where Mary Phagan was first attacked, down the route where she had been dragged across the floor, down the stairs, and through the trapdoor into the basement where her body was found. They began their search in the tip plant on the second floor, where dark bloodstains and matted hair lay in the dust, suggesting a fierce and desperate struggle.
Outside the building, a large crowd of curious onlookers gathered, pressing close to the windows and doorways. The excitement among employees grew so intense that the factory was forced to shut down for the day. Some men in the crowd pushed their way inside and refused to leave when ordered, and one detective had a brief but tense confrontation with a man who refused to step back.
Inside, the workers were deeply shaken. After hours of trying to keep order and let people work, the foreman saw that the girls and other employees were too upset to continue and dismissed them for the day. The building, once filled with the noise of machines, was now heavy with silence and fear.
Chief Beavers and the detectives pressed on with their inspection, more convinced than ever that the crime had been committed inside the building by someone who had regular access. They demonstrated that the stains on the floor were blood, not red paint. When alcohol was applied, the marks became brighter instead of washing away, and employees confirmed that the spots had not been there on Saturday, when the factory had been cleaned.
For further analysis, the chief had workers chip out sections of the stained floor and carry the pieces to police headquarters. Detectives also believed they had worked out how the killer had escaped. A staple in the rear basement door had been pulled completely from the wood, and because the door slid along a track, they concluded it had been forced open from the inside.
Even with these clues, they still held to the theory that the murderer had entered through one of the main doorways and that night watchman Newt Lee knew more than he had admitted—if he would ever choose to tell it.
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