- 20 minutes ago
Thursday, May 1, 1913
Investigators Work to Discredit Witnesses Who Claim Mary Phagan Left the Factory
When the coroner's jury reconvened Thursday afternoon, city detectives made it their priority to undermine all testimony suggesting that Mary Phagan had left the National Pencil Company after entering it on Saturday to collect her wages.
The biggest obstacle to their theory had been Edgar Sentell, a grocery employee who swore he had seen and spoken to Mary on Forsyth Street between 11:30 Saturday night and 12:30 Sunday morning. That account was thrown into doubt Thursday when trolley motorman D. W. Adams told police Chief Beavers that he had heard Sentell privately admit, shortly after his testimony, that he was no longer certain the woman he saw was Mary Phagan. It may have been Pearl Robinson, Mullinax's girlfriend, who had been wearing a similar dress that same evening.
Detectives Starnes and Campbell also persuaded another witness, J. L. Watkins, to recant his earlier statement that he had seen Mary at around 5 o'clock Saturday afternoon. The detectives dressed a neighborhood girl named Daisy Jones in the same clothes she had worn that day and brought her to the same location. Watkins immediately acknowledged that Jones was the girl he had actually seen.
Sixth Arrest Made
At 2 o'clock Thursday, detectives arrested James Connally, a Black sweeper employed at the factory, after finding him washing a shirt at a tap behind the building. Suspicious marks were visible on the shirt, which Connally insisted were rust stains. He told police it was his only shirt and that he was washing it to wear to the inquest, to which he had been summoned. Police said they believed his explanation but would hold him pending a chemical analysis of the stains.
Night Watchman Questioned Again
Reports circulated Thursday morning that Newt Lee had provided detectives with significant new information. Lee was brought in for another hour of questioning by Chief Lanford, Chief Beavers, Detectives Black and Rosser, and Pinkerton representative Harry Scott. When he was returned to his cell, orders were issued that he have no contact with anyone. Detectives indicated the new information supported the theory they had been developing for the past two days.
Factory Workers to Testify
Coroner Paul Donehoo announced plans to call virtually every woman employed at the National Pencil Factory before the jury, along with many of the male workers. The factory employed between sixty and eighty women and approximately 104 men. Donehoo noted that some employees might be holding information of critical importance without realizing it, and that testimony given under oath at a coroner's inquest could later be used at trial if accounts changed.
Investigators Work to Discredit Witnesses Who Claim Mary Phagan Left the Factory
When the coroner's jury reconvened Thursday afternoon, city detectives made it their priority to undermine all testimony suggesting that Mary Phagan had left the National Pencil Company after entering it on Saturday to collect her wages.
The biggest obstacle to their theory had been Edgar Sentell, a grocery employee who swore he had seen and spoken to Mary on Forsyth Street between 11:30 Saturday night and 12:30 Sunday morning. That account was thrown into doubt Thursday when trolley motorman D. W. Adams told police Chief Beavers that he had heard Sentell privately admit, shortly after his testimony, that he was no longer certain the woman he saw was Mary Phagan. It may have been Pearl Robinson, Mullinax's girlfriend, who had been wearing a similar dress that same evening.
Detectives Starnes and Campbell also persuaded another witness, J. L. Watkins, to recant his earlier statement that he had seen Mary at around 5 o'clock Saturday afternoon. The detectives dressed a neighborhood girl named Daisy Jones in the same clothes she had worn that day and brought her to the same location. Watkins immediately acknowledged that Jones was the girl he had actually seen.
Sixth Arrest Made
At 2 o'clock Thursday, detectives arrested James Connally, a Black sweeper employed at the factory, after finding him washing a shirt at a tap behind the building. Suspicious marks were visible on the shirt, which Connally insisted were rust stains. He told police it was his only shirt and that he was washing it to wear to the inquest, to which he had been summoned. Police said they believed his explanation but would hold him pending a chemical analysis of the stains.
Night Watchman Questioned Again
Reports circulated Thursday morning that Newt Lee had provided detectives with significant new information. Lee was brought in for another hour of questioning by Chief Lanford, Chief Beavers, Detectives Black and Rosser, and Pinkerton representative Harry Scott. When he was returned to his cell, orders were issued that he have no contact with anyone. Detectives indicated the new information supported the theory they had been developing for the past two days.
Factory Workers to Testify
Coroner Paul Donehoo announced plans to call virtually every woman employed at the National Pencil Factory before the jury, along with many of the male workers. The factory employed between sixty and eighty women and approximately 104 men. Donehoo noted that some employees might be holding information of critical importance without realizing it, and that testimony given under oath at a coroner's inquest could later be used at trial if accounts changed.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Detectives eliminate evidence in conflict with theory that Fagan Girl never left factory.
00:04Atlanta Journal, Thursday, May 1, 1913, page 7, column 1. All efforts will be concentrated at
00:11inquest Thursday afternoon to show that testimony of witnesses who claim to have seen Girl after
00:16she entered factory on fatal day is vague and indefinite and contradictory. Night watchmen
00:22expected to take stand and give information heretofore withheld. This intimation came from
00:27detectives Thursday morning after the watchmen had been vigorously questioned behind closed doors for
00:32more than an hour. Women employees of factory will be called witness admits mistake. When the coroner's
00:38jury reconvenes Thursday afternoon at 4 30 o'clock, the city detectives will endeavor to eliminate all
00:43testimony which tends to refute the theory that Mary Fagan never left the National Pencil Company's
00:48factory after she went there to collect her two days wages last Saturday about noon. The testimony
00:54of Edgar L. Centel, employee of the Camper's Grocery Company, has been a stumbling block in the way of
01:00the case from the very first. The detectives have never believed that Mary Fagan left the factory,
01:06yet they were confronted with Centel's positive statement that he saw and spoke to her between
01:1011 30 and 1 30 o'clock Saturday night. At Wednesday's inquest, he said that he was positive that he
01:16saw the
01:17girl and said that he believed her companion was Arthur Mullinax. Says Centel was in doubt. Thursday,
01:23however, D. W. Adams, a trolley car motorman, came to Chief Beavers and told him that he heard Centel say
01:30shortly after he had testified at the inquest that he was not certain that the woman he saw was Mary
01:35Fagan. It might have been Miss Pearl Robinson. Adams quotes Centel as saying just a short time after he
01:42swore positively that he saw and spoke to Mary Fagan. Miss Robinson was at the inquest, was wearing
01:47on Saturday evening a dress very much like the one Mary Fagan wore, and earlier in the evening she and
01:53Mullinax says they were together. Detective Starnes and Campbell have convinced J. L. Watkins, who testified
01:59that he saw Mary Fagan Saturday afternoon about 5 o'clock, that he was mistaken, and that the girl he
02:05really saw was Miss Daisy Jones, who lives at the corner of Fox and Lindsay streets. Miss Jones will
02:11be at the inquest Thursday afternoon, and Watkins will take the stand to make the statement that his
02:16first testimony was in error. In demonstrating to Mr. Watkins that he had seen Miss Jones instead of
02:22Mary Fagan, the detectives got Miss Jones to put on the same clothes she had on Saturday afternoon
02:27and took her out on the street where Mr. Watkins had seen her. Watkins was immediately convinced that
02:33Miss Jones was the girl he had seen. Before the hour of convening of the inquest, a number of
02:39detectives were engaged in talking to employees of the factory about general conditions, especially
02:44with references to the conduct of the men, employees, and employers alike toward the women
02:49who worked there. A number of former employees were among the people who were in conference with
02:54the detectives. Sixth arrest made. A sixth arrest in the Fagan murder case was made by detectives at
03:00two o'clock Thursday. James Connolly, a Negro sweeper employed at the National Pencil Factory,
03:06was seen washing a shirt at a faucet in the rear of the building. Before he had completed the work,
03:11detectives who had been phoned walked in and placed the man under arrest. There were certain marks on
03:16the man's shirt. He claims that they are rust marks. The detectives will hold him, at least until a
03:22chemical analysis can determine for certain whether or not the stains were caused by blood. The Negro
03:27declared to the police that the shirt was the only one which he possessed, and that he washed, so he
03:32could appear in it at the inquest, to which he had been summoned. His statement is believed by the
03:37police. New information secured. A report that Newt Lee, the night watchman, has given the detectives
03:43much additional information was current at police headquarters Thursday morning, and was not denied by
03:48the officials working on the case. Lee went through another hour's examination Thursday morning,
03:54and when he was locked in his cell again, orders were given that he be allowed to communicate with
03:58no one. It is now reported that he will go before the coroner's jury when it convenes again at 4
04:04.30
04:04in the afternoon. The detectives intimate that Lee has given them new information which will
04:09materially help them in solving the mystery of Mary Fagan murder. It bears out the theory, they say,
04:15upon which they have been working for the past two days. Shortly after 9 o'clock Thursday morning,
04:20Lee was brought from his cell at the office of the chief of detectives. There he was examined for
04:25an hour by Chief Lanford, Chief Beavers, City Detectives Black and Rosser, and Harry Scott,
04:31the Pinkerton representative. Factory girls to testify. Coroner Paul Dunhu has announced his intention
04:37of summoning practically every woman employee of the National Pencil Factory, and many of the men before
04:43the jury, which will resume the investigation of the death of little Mary Fagan on Thursday afternoon
04:48at 4.30 o'clock. Trouble, expense, and inconvenience cannot be considered in making an investigation
04:54in a case of such paramount importance, the coroner declares, and it is possible that some
05:00fact of the greatest importance may be developed by thoroughly examining the employees of the factory.
05:05Probably some of the girls there have in their possession facts that would lead the detectives
05:10directly to the murderer, yet the girls holding this information may have no idea of its importance.
05:16Coroner Dunhu told Chief of Detectives Lanford of his decision early Thursday, and that official
05:21immediately offered the coroner two of his men who will serve the subpoenas. According to the present
05:26plan, the detectives will secure from the management a list of the employees. Their names will be written
05:32on the subpoenas, which the detectives will immediately serve. Repeated rumors that employees
05:37of the factory know more than has ever been developed by the officers has led, it is said,
05:42to the necessity of continuing the probe among them. Of a special value is the coroner's inquest for
05:49when the witnesses go before it they are placed under oath, and if their stories vary at the trial of
05:54any party, who may be indicted for the crime, then the record of the coroner's investigation may be
06:00produced. It is said that there are between 60 and 80 women and about 104 male employees of the
06:06National Pencil Factory may exhume body. Coroner Paul Dunhu is considering the advisability of having
06:12the body of Mary Fagan interred at Marietta Monday exhumed in order that physicians may make an
06:18examination of the contents of her stomach. The coroner took the matter up, following a conference
06:23with D.G. Buchanan, formerly a sergeant of police at Augusta. Mr. Buchanan, who is now in business in
06:29Atlanta, advances the theory that Mary Fagan was drugged early in the afternoon, and that the tying of the
06:35cord and piece of her underskirt about her neck was either a simple stall, or was done for the
06:40purpose of moving the body around by someone who feared that he would bloody his clothing if he
06:44touched it. Frank regrets delay. Leo M. Frank, when seen by a journal reporter Thursday morning,
06:50said that he has no statement to make until his testimony is given before the coroner's jury,
06:56which will probably be at the afternoon session this Thursday. Mr. Frank said that a complete
07:01stenographic statement had been dictated by him, and that he was anxious to have this before the jury.
07:06He looked worn and tired, but declared that he regretted the delay, and was anxious to have his
07:11testimony introduced, as he was confident the coroner's inquest would completely establish his
07:16innocence. Uncle to aid him. It was learned Thursday that Moses Frank, one of the city's substantial
07:25citizens, is returning to Atlanta today to assist his nephew, L. M. Frank, in establishing his
07:31innocence of the crime with which his name has been linked by the charges of suspicion.
07:36Mr. Frank had started to Europe, but was reached by wire in New York and immediately started back
07:41here giving up his journey. L. M. Frank is said to be a favorite nephew and the probable heir to
07:46his
07:46fortune. The coroner's investigation of the murder of Little Mary Fagan at the National Pencil Factory
07:52Saturday or Sunday will be resumed at police headquarters at 4.30 o'clock Thursday afternoon,
07:57and the principal witness is expected to be L. M. Frank, superintendent of the factory, who is being
08:02detained by the police. When the inquest, which had been in session from 9 o'clock in the morning,
08:08adjourned for the day Wednesday at 6 o'clock, the mystery of Mary Fagan's death had not been solved,
08:14and the crime was far from fixed on any individual. Coroner Paul Donahue expects to hold a long night
08:20session Thursday. He fixed the hour for the reconvening of the inquest at 4.30 o'clock
08:25in order that the city detectives might utilize the entire day in their hunt for evidence,
08:30which may tend to throw additional light on the factory tragedy.
08:36Wednesday Session
08:37G. W. Epps, a 15-year-old, one-word, illegible boy who says that he lives just around the corner
08:43from the dead girl's residence, proved one of the most interesting of the witnesses heard by the
08:47coroner's jury at Wednesday afternoon's session. Epps, who rode to town with Mary when she went to
08:53the factory to get her earnings for two days' labor, was to meet her again at 2 o'clock at
08:575
08:57points, and they had arranged to watch the Memorial Day parade together. Coming in on the car,
09:03he declared that Mary told him that Mr. Frank had winked at her and looked suspicious.
09:08She requested him, he said, to meet her at the factory whenever he could.
09:11Edgar L. Sentell, of 82 Davis Street, was positive that he saw Mary with a male companion on Forsyth
09:18Street, near the factory between 11.30 Saturday evening and 12.30 o'clock Sunday morning.
09:23They spoke to each other, he said. Sentell was not quite positive that her companion was Arthur
09:28Mullinax, the former streetcar conductor. Another witness, a neighbor, claimed to have seen her near
09:34her home at 5 o'clock Saturday afternoon, while still another witness who had told the detectives that
09:39he saw Mary the afternoon of the tragedy, appeared at the inquest and declared that he was mistaken.
09:45Miss Pearl Robinson, who had also been summoned as a witness, was the girl he saw, he declared,
09:50Factory employees testify. Three employees of the factory were among the witnesses of the session.
09:55One, R. P. Barrett, found the blood splotches near Mary's machine on the second floor,
10:00which show that there, instead of in the dark basement, she commenced her fight for life.
10:05Harry Denham and Arthur White, the two young men who worked on the fourth floor of the factory from
10:117.30 until 3 o'clock Saturday, were the other witnesses. Mr. Frank, they said, came up to their
10:17floor shortly after noon, and when told that they couldn't complete their work by 1 o'clock,
10:21locked them in the building until about 3 o'clock, when they left him there. J. M. Gant, another of
10:27the
10:28men held by the police in the case, was on the stand, and he told on oath practically the same
10:33story
10:34that he has so often told to the detectives and reporters. J. W. Coleman, of 146 Lindsay Street,
10:42stepfather of the murdered girl, told the pathetic story of the anxiety of her mother and himself
10:47when she failed to appear at home by dusk Saturday evening. Coleman declared Mary Fagan would have
10:52been 14 years old had she lived until the first day of June. Frank M. Berry, assistant cashier at the
10:58Fourth National Bank, was one of the important witnesses at the hearing, and he declared that in his
11:03opinion, the notes found by the girl's body were written in the same hand as several other notes,
11:08which had been written at police headquarters for the detectives, by the Negro watchman, Newt Lee.
11:16Was factory a rendezvous? Repeated questions from the coroner and the members of his jury attempted
11:22to bring from many witnesses the statement that the pencil factory had been visited often after
11:27working hours by men and women. No witness before the jury admitted having seen couples enter the
11:33place after dark, but it is said that when the jury continues its investigation Thursday,
11:38several persons who claim to have seen men and women enter the building at night will be called.
11:43Miss Pearl Robinson, of 133 Bellwood Avenue, testified that Arthur Mullinax was with her the
11:50greater part of Saturday evening, and it is extremely probable that Mullinax will be released
11:55immediately upon the closing of the coroner's probe. Expert embalmers from P.J. Bloomfield's
12:00establishment will probably be called before the coroner's jury Thursday afternoon, and they will
12:06give it as their opinion that Mary Fagan had been dead ten hours or more when they received the body.
12:11The undertakers were called about half an hour after the arrival of the police at the factory,
12:16or shortly after four o'clock Sunday morning.
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