00:00Solicitor Dorsey is making independent probe of Fagan case. Atlanta Journal, Friday, May 2,
00:051913. Page 1, Column 5. Outside of solicitor's activity, there have been no developments since
00:12the suspects were transferred to tower groundless rumors denied by officials. Chief Lanford's busy
00:17running down tips. Coroner's inquest will be resumed on Monday afternoon at 2. The Atlanta
00:22Journal has published every fact and development in connection with the mysterious murder of Mary
00:27Fagan. The journal will continue to print news of further developments and additional evidence as
00:32the investigation proceeds. No fact has been suppressed, nor will any news relating to the
00:37hunt for solution of the crime be withheld from the public. Many silly reports about a confession
00:43having been made by one or both of the prisoners held on suspicion in the case have been circulated,
00:48but they are without the slightest foundation. An independent investigation. Forces in the employ
00:54of the Solicitor General, Hugh M. Dorsey, are making an independent investigation of the Fagan
00:59murder case. It was learned Friday. The Solicitor General refuses to state just how many men he has
01:05at work on the mystery or who they are. They have developed nothing, however, which he is willing to
01:10give out for publication. The city was filled with foolish rumors throughout the morning Friday,
01:15and officials were called upon to deny dozens of groundless reports. Coroner Paul Donahue, who has
01:21more than one hundred witnesses subpoenaed, declares that the inquest will certainly be resumed at two
01:26o'clock Monday afternoon. The coroner says that the investigation is as thorough and exhaustive as it
01:32is possible to make it, and every report that reaches him is being probed. It is not surprising,
01:37said the coroner, that the mystery has not been solved by this time, and the fact that the crime cannot
01:42now be laid at the door of any individual, and that person brought immediately to trial, is no
01:47indication that the guilty party will never be brought to justice. In many instances, where the
01:53detectives have had as little to start with as in this case, it has taken them months to finally
01:59establish the guilt of the right party. Many detectives at work. In addition to the city
02:06detectives, the Pinkertons employed by the National Pencil Company, and the officers employed by the
02:12Solicitor General, it is said that many other private detectives are working on the mystery.
02:17Colonel Thomas B. Felder has been employed by a number of citizens living in the vicinity of the
02:22home of the slain girl, to assist the state in the case, and while he will make no statement,
02:27it is reported that he has a private detective agency trying to solve the mystery. Solicitor Dorsey
02:33was in conference on Friday with a number of the city detectives, who have been assigned to the task
02:37of finding Mary Fagan's murderer, and the fact that he has actively entered the case is considered the
02:43most important development of Friday. There will certainly be no grand jury action in the matter,
02:48however, until Monday. The grand jury, which has been on duty for the past two months, was discharged
02:53Friday, and another grand jury will not be organized until Monday. Detectives not talking.
02:58Following the transfer of Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the National Pencil Factory, and Newt Lee,
03:04night watchman, to the county jail from police headquarters on coroner's warrants late Thursday
03:08afternoon, and the release of J. M. Gant and Arthur Mullinax, Chief of Detectives Lanford has
03:13issued instructions to his men to talk with no one about the case, and to make direct reports to him.
03:19The chief is himself very reticent about developments in the case. He declares that his
03:23orders were issued because the few statements made by himself and his officers have been repeatedly
03:28exaggerated, and in many instances he and his men have been misquoted.
03:32The transfer of the two principal figures in the case to the tower has resulted in things again
03:37assuming a normal attitude about police headquarters. The detectives Friday morning were
03:42busy running down the many rumors and tips which have come to their ears. The officers are literally
03:48bombarded by tips, and despite the fact that practically all of them prove valueless when
03:53investigated, the officers have scattered in every direction, shifting every report to the bottom.
03:58No need for militia. No need for? On reports from sources which he considered reliable,
04:06Governor Brown Thursday night advised Adjutant General Nash to communicate with officers of the
04:115th Regiment with a view to having the National Guard in readiness should the necessity arise.
04:17The Governor states that he did not go to the extent of suggesting that the National Guard be
04:21mobilized. He simply recommended that the Adjutant General request the officers of the regiment to be
04:27prepared for such steps. In the event, current rumors were to materialize. The Governor also
04:32communicated with the jail authorities and with the police. In carrying out the suggestion of the
04:37executive, Colonel E. E. Pomeroy gathered a few members of the 5th Regiment at the armory.
04:42No efforts were made to mobilize troops, and by 11.30 o'clock those who had reported were allowed to
04:48return to their homes. In the meantime, an investigation had developed that the rumors were
04:52groundless. Deputy sheriffs and automobiles rushed over the entire city looking for any excitement,
04:58and they declare that never had Atlanta been more quiet. Reason for transfer. Mr. Frank and the
05:04Negro Lee were transferred to the tower on the coroner's warrants, because it is said there is
05:08considerable doubt of the legality of holding them at police headquarters, as both have been arrested in
05:14connection with a state, not a city case. The warrants are similar in all respects, save that in one
05:19Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the pencil factory, is named, and in the other Newt Lee,
05:25the Negro Night Watchman, is named. The warrant against Mr. Frank reads as follows.
05:30Georgia, Fulton County, to the jailer of said county. Greetings. You are hereby required to
05:36take into custody the person of Leo M. Frank, suspected of the murder of Mary Fagan, and to
05:41retain the said Leo M. Frank in your custody pending a further investigation of the death of said
05:46Mary Fagan, to be held by the said coroner of said county. Herein fail not. Given under my hand an
05:52official signature this the first day of May, 1913, signed.
05:56Paul Dunhu, coroner, inquest delayed. Mr. Frank and the Night Watchman were transferred to the tower
06:03immediately after coroner Paul Dunhu swore his 160 witnesses, the employees of the pencil company,
06:09and adjourned the inquest until two o'clock next Monday afternoon.
06:12The coroner's decision to postpone the inquest from Thursday afternoon until Monday afternoon
06:17was reached after a conference with Chief of Police Beavers and Chief of Detectives Lanford.
06:22The reason assigned for the postponement is a desire to give the detectives additional time
06:27to work on the case. Mullinax goes free. Arthur Mullinax, the young man who has been in jail for
06:32several days, held on the statement of E.L. Centell that he, Centell, saw Mullinax and Mary Fagan
06:38walking on Forsyth Street about midnight Saturday, has been completely exonerated. Mullinax took his
06:44release calmly, as he did his arrest. I have never been worried, he said, for I knew I was innocent
06:50and was confident that in a little time everybody else would know it too. I am not sore because I
06:55have been arrested. If that girl had been my sister, I know that I would have wanted the officers to
07:00lock
07:00up every man against whom there was any suspicion and hold him until things cleared up. I guess I have
07:06lost my job. That's the only thing which worries me. Chief Lanford told the released man that he would
07:11make a personal effort to see that he got his position back. Mullinax has been working with the towel
07:16supply company. Gant also liberated. The release of James Milton Gant followed that of Mullinax. When
07:23habeas corpus proceedings were started for Gant by his attorneys, he was transferred from headquarters
07:28to the tower, and Chief Lanford had to get an order from Judge George L. Bell of the Superior Court
07:34before he had authority to release the man. The warrant drawn against Gant in Justice F.M.
07:39Powers Court has been dismissed. Many theories offered. Theories of how Mary Fagan met her death
07:44and by just what system her murderer can be brought to justice are flooding the office of the detectives.
07:49People are calling over the phone to tell the officers just how they should proceed.
07:54Many of them come in person, and the office is in receipt of hundreds of letters from this
07:58and half a dozen other states, giving advice and theories. Many of the letter writers are anonymous,
08:04but most of the people sign their names. Several letters have been received from criminologists,
08:09who are willing to divulge their theories only for money. Several letters have come from seers and
08:14mystics, who have communed with the spirits and learned in that way the identity of the murderer.
08:20Among the interesting callers at police headquarters Friday were two ladies who have dreamed about the
08:26murder. Both say that they distinctly saw Mary Fagan in her desperate battle with the murderer.
08:31The ladies arrived within a short time of each other, but their dreams didn't coincide.
08:35Both gave the chief accurate descriptions of the murderers of their dreams.
08:39Frank, in good spirits. Mr. Frank got a good night's sleep Thursday night and Friday.
08:44He was in a cheerful frame of mind. Many friends called to see him during the day,
08:49and Mr. Frank talked to them freely. He is confident that when the coroner's investigation
08:53has been concluded, his absolute innocence will have been established. Pinkerton's after truth.
08:59The position of the Pinkerton detectives employed by the National Pencil Company in the murder case
09:05has occasioned considerable comment about police headquarters. When asked about the matter,
09:10Harry Scott, the representative who was working on the mystery and assisting the city officers,
09:15declared that he and his men were out simply after the truth.
09:18It doesn't matter whom it hits, said Mr. Scott. We want to do everything in our power to find the
09:24guilty man, and if we find him, we are going to give every bit of our evidence to the state
09:29authorities and lend our assistance in securing his conviction. This is just like any other case with
09:34us, and in all of them we go after the facts, regardless of whom they help or hurt. When, for
09:39instance,
09:40we are investigating a bank robbery and find that the crime was committed by an employee or an official,
09:45we disclose the facts just as if the guilty man had been a highwayman. Two additional Pinkerton men
09:51went to work on the case Friday, assisting Mr. Scott and the city detectives.
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