Tuesday April 29th 1913
(Page 1 Column 2)
Frank M. Berry of the Fourth National Bank Andrew M. Bergstrom of Third National and Pope C. Driver of the American National Examined Notes at Journals Request And Found Same Person Wrote Both
ALL THREE ARE EXPERTS AND MADE MICROSCOPICAL EXAMINATIONS
Their Investigation Shows He Wrote Both Notes and Seems to Prove Conclusively That Either the Negro Committed the Crime or Knows Who the Guilty Party Is
Through its own investigations The Atlanta Journal has proven conclusively that Newt Lee the negro night watchman for the National Pencil company either himself mistreated and murdered pretty Mary Phagan or that he knows who committed the crime and is assisting the perpetrator to conceal his identity.
Locked in this negros breast is the key to the murder mystery which has shocked the entire south.
Three handwriting experts who Tuesday compared the notes found near the girls body in the factory basement with notes written by Lee after his arrest and at the instigation of the city detectives are positive that the same hand penned them all.
The experts who made a microscopical examination of these notes and who are unanimous in declaring that the same person was the author of them all are:
FRANK M. BERRY assistant cashier of the Fourth National Bank.
ANDREW M. BERGSTROM assistant cashier of the Third National bank.
POPE O. DRIVER chief bookkeeper and head of the mail department of the American National bank.
ALL AGREE THAT NEGRO WROTE BOTH.
These men have for years made a study of handwriting and they turn their knowledge to account in detecting all manner of forgeries. In examining the notes submitted to them Tuesday they employed powerful magnifying glasses and minutely analyzed the slant of the writing the shape and size of the letters the peculiarities of spelling the method of expression and the punctuation.
Two notes were found nearby the corpse of the mutilated girl. One of these written on a yellow scratch pad read as follows:
Mam that negro fire down here did this I went to get water and he push me down thro hole a long tall negro black that hoo it woke long sleam tall negro I wright while play with me.
The second note was written on a coarse fibred pencil tablet such as is used by school children. This note read:
he said he wood love me (land dab n?) play like nigh witch did it but that long tall black negro did boy his slef.
Shortly after Lee was arrested Chief of Detectives N. A. Lanford caused him to write the last line of the second note dictating it to him word by word.
COULDNT DISGUISE HANDWRITING.
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