- 10 hours ago
Grand Jury May Enter Phagan Case; Coroner Resumes Inquest Monday With Over 200 Witnesses Summoned
Thomas B. Felder, a prominent Atlanta attorney, was retained Friday by a committee of Bellwood citizens to assist Solicitor General Dorsey in prosecuting the killer of Mary Phagan. Felder told reporters he expected to have convincing evidence within a day or two, confirming that a private investigation was already underway though declining to reveal its details.
A special session of the Fulton grand jury is widely expected to be called as the investigation intensifies. The first sign came when Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey summoned Police Chief Beavers and Detective Chief Lanford to his office for a closed door conference. Dorsey was direct about his purpose: "My only reason for calling them in was to ascertain what progress they had made and to see if I could assist them in any way." He assured both chiefs of his full cooperation and confirmed a special grand jury session would be called if necessary.
Suspects Sorted: Two Jailed, Two Freed
Coroner Donehoo issued warrants Thursday sending Leo Frank, the factory superintendent, and nightwatchman Newt Lee to the Tower jail, where they remain held under suspicion pending further inquiry. Just thirty minutes before their transfer, James Gantt and Arthur Mullinax were released from police custody.
The scene at headquarters was charged with emotion. Mullinax's mother and sister had kept vigil at the station all day. When he finally walked free, his mother threw her arms around him and wept. Both Gantt and Mullinax departed immediately for home.
Frank arrived at the Tower first, moving quickly through the jail entrance. Lee followed on foot, pausing briefly at the barred doorway before the two were processed and assigned to their cells.
Record Number of Witnesses
More than 200 witnesses, believed to be the largest number ever subpoenaed for an inquest in Georgia, were called to police headquarters Thursday. Coroner Donehoo ordered every employee of the National Pencil factory to appear. The crowd of workers, many of the women dressed in their finest, flooded the building and spilled onto the street. All were sworn in as a group and excused until Monday's session at 2 o'clock.
Donehoo clarified that his purpose in summoning the factory workers was not to examine conditions at the plant or assess Frank's character, but to gather direct testimony about Mary Phagan as a working girl at the factory where she had been employed for over a year.
A Letter Found on the Trolley
Detectives were briefly intrigued by a letter addressed to Mary Phagan, discovered beneath the seat she had occupied on the English Avenue streetcar the day she was killed. A conductor brought it to investigators. After reviewing the contents, detectives said they attached little significance to it, noting only that it appeared to be from a friend.
Thomas B. Felder, a prominent Atlanta attorney, was retained Friday by a committee of Bellwood citizens to assist Solicitor General Dorsey in prosecuting the killer of Mary Phagan. Felder told reporters he expected to have convincing evidence within a day or two, confirming that a private investigation was already underway though declining to reveal its details.
A special session of the Fulton grand jury is widely expected to be called as the investigation intensifies. The first sign came when Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey summoned Police Chief Beavers and Detective Chief Lanford to his office for a closed door conference. Dorsey was direct about his purpose: "My only reason for calling them in was to ascertain what progress they had made and to see if I could assist them in any way." He assured both chiefs of his full cooperation and confirmed a special grand jury session would be called if necessary.
Suspects Sorted: Two Jailed, Two Freed
Coroner Donehoo issued warrants Thursday sending Leo Frank, the factory superintendent, and nightwatchman Newt Lee to the Tower jail, where they remain held under suspicion pending further inquiry. Just thirty minutes before their transfer, James Gantt and Arthur Mullinax were released from police custody.
The scene at headquarters was charged with emotion. Mullinax's mother and sister had kept vigil at the station all day. When he finally walked free, his mother threw her arms around him and wept. Both Gantt and Mullinax departed immediately for home.
Frank arrived at the Tower first, moving quickly through the jail entrance. Lee followed on foot, pausing briefly at the barred doorway before the two were processed and assigned to their cells.
Record Number of Witnesses
More than 200 witnesses, believed to be the largest number ever subpoenaed for an inquest in Georgia, were called to police headquarters Thursday. Coroner Donehoo ordered every employee of the National Pencil factory to appear. The crowd of workers, many of the women dressed in their finest, flooded the building and spilled onto the street. All were sworn in as a group and excused until Monday's session at 2 o'clock.
Donehoo clarified that his purpose in summoning the factory workers was not to examine conditions at the plant or assess Frank's character, but to gather direct testimony about Mary Phagan as a working girl at the factory where she had been employed for over a year.
A Letter Found on the Trolley
Detectives were briefly intrigued by a letter addressed to Mary Phagan, discovered beneath the seat she had occupied on the English Avenue streetcar the day she was killed. A conductor brought it to investigators. After reviewing the contents, detectives said they attached little significance to it, noting only that it appeared to be from a friend.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Frank and Lee held in tower, others released. Atlanta Constitution, Friday, May 2, 1913.
00:06Grand Jury may take up Fagan investigation following conference between Dorsey Beavers
00:11and Lanford. Mullinax and Gantt are given freedom. Coroner's jury will resume hearing on Monday
00:17following the subpoenaing of 200 witnesses. Thomas B. Felder, member of the firm of Felder,
00:23Anderson, Dillon, and Whitman, has been engaged to assist the Solicitor General in the prosecution
00:27of the murderer of Mary Fagan. He was retained yesterday by a committee of citizens from the
00:32Bellwood community in which the dead girl lived. The council fund has been subscribed by residents.
00:39Mr. Felder said last night to a reporter for the Constitution that within a day or so he would be
00:43abundantly supplied with convincing evidence. He already has started private investigation, he said,
00:49but would not divulge its form. He would not discuss the rumor that the Burns Detective Agency
00:53had been employed. A special session of the Fulton Grand Jury is expected to be called to take action
00:59in the Mary Fagan mystery. Evidence of this probability was first noted yesterday afternoon,
01:05when Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey summoned Police Chief Beavers and Detective Chief Lanford to
01:10his office in the thrower building. Following a short conference, in which the solicitor informed both
01:16chiefs that he was willing and ready to cooperate with them, they returned to headquarters.
01:20The will consult with Mr. Dorsey again shortly. It will then be determined whether or not the
01:25grand jury will take a hand in the case. The process of eliminating suspects is now being put
01:30into operation by the police. J.M. Gant and Arthur Mullinax, who were arrested immediately after the
01:36Negro watchman had been taken into custody, were released late Thursday afternoon. Thirty minutes
01:42before they were given freedom, however, Coroner Donohue issued warrants demanding to the Tower Leo Frank,
01:47the factory superintendent, and Newt Lee, the night watchman. They are held under suspicion,
01:53and will be detained until further investigation by the coroner's jury. The inquest, which was
01:59postponed until four thirty o'clock Thursday afternoon, was again adjourned. It will be resumed
02:04next Monday afternoon at two o'clock. It was at the request of Chief Beavers and Lanford that this action
02:10was taken. More than two hundred subpoenaed. The largest number of witnesses ever summoned before an
02:16inquest in Georgian was subpoenaed by Coroner Donohue Thursday morning, when he ordered every
02:21employee of the National Pencil Factory to give testimony at the hearing. More than two hundred
02:26men, women and girls, came to police headquarters at four o'clock. They were two words, illegible a
02:31body, after which all were excused until the Monday session. Although it was though at first that they
02:37had disclosed a clue which would give them a new lead upon which to turn their investigation,
02:41the detectives say they attach but little significance to a letter addressed to Mary
02:46Fagan, which was brought to them yesterday morning by a street-car conductor. The letter
02:51was discovered a day or so ago on an English Avenue trolley car, the one on which she rode
02:56to town shortly before noon of the day on which she disappeared. It was found under the seat on
03:01which she sat. The sleuths would not divulge its contents. It was from a friend was all the
03:07information they would give. Police headquarters was not surprised when the coroner ordered Frank
03:11and the Negro to jail. A large crowd had thronged the place since dawn. It had grown to tremendous
03:17proportions when the detaining warrants were issued. They were typewritten in Chief Beaver's office and
03:22are as follows, accepting the changes of name for each individual writ. To the jailer of Fulton
03:27County, greeting. You are hereby required to take into custody the person of L. M. Frank Newt Lee,
03:32suspected of the murder of Mary Fagan, and to retain the said L. M. Frank Newt Lee, in your custody
03:38pending
03:39the further investigation of the death of the said Mary Fagan, to be held by the coroner of said
03:43county. Herein fall not, signed, Paul Dunhu. Coroner. Given under my hand an official signature
03:50this the first day of May, 1913. Dorsey explains action. My only reason for calling Chief Beaver's and
03:56Chief of Detectives Lanford into conference this morning was to ascertain what progress they had made
04:01in the Fagan case, and to see if I could assist them in any way. The idea that I brought
04:06them to
04:06my office to reprimand them for the lack of progress in the matter is absurd. I have no authority to
04:12take such an action. The foregoing statement was made by Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey
04:18immediately after a conference held in his private office behind locked doors between him and the
04:23authorities yesterday. Although Mr. Dorsey did not confirm a rumor to the effect that the conference will
04:29result in the state taking the case in its own hand, should not immediate and telling results be
04:35shown by the police department in the case, the report was given added credence because of the
04:39renewed activity that has been shown in the investigation. A short while after the conference,
04:45the sixth arrest in the case was made. James Connolly, a Negro sweeper employed at the factory,
04:50was taken into custody. His arrest came as the direct result of detectives learning that he had been
04:55washing clothes at the factory. The sweeper's explanation of this was satisfactory, however,
05:01little importance is attached to the affair. He declared that he had been summoned to appear at
05:06the inquest, and that he had been obliged to wash the shirt, as it was soiled and he had no
05:11clean one
05:11to wear. Officials called to conference. Relative to the conference with Solicitor Dorsey, Chief
05:17Beavers would have nothing to say last night. It has been his inexorable attitude throughout the entire
05:21investigation to say nothing. He will give no information whatever, and it is impossible to
05:27ascertain through him what progress the police have made. Chief Lanford, however, told a reporter for
05:32the Constitution that he and the police chief had been called to the Solicitor General's office to give
05:37Dorsey their views of the situation so that he could gain an insight into the progress that had thus
05:42far been made. He also stated his opinion, the detective chief said, that the newspapers were publishing
05:48too much of the sensational case, and that, by some means or other, they were daily gaining information
05:54that was injurious to the work of the investigation. He seemed pleased with our progress. He denied the
06:00circulated report that he had denounced our methods and was disappointed in the lack of evidence we
06:05had gathered. We were assured of the support and cooperation of his office and of the grand jury.
06:10A special session, he said, would be called if necessary. The chief also told that he and Chief
06:16Beavers would soon hold another conference with the Solicitor, and that it would then be determined
06:21whether or not the grand jury should take action in the investigation. It requires two words
06:26illegible for the two prisoners to be transferred from police headquarters to the tower, transferred
06:31in Anton. There they were put in automobiles, Beavers in charge of one, and Black and Rosser
06:36in charge of the other. The van was made to the tower in less than thirty seconds. Frank, who was
06:41first to
06:41arrive darted through the jail door, the negro walked across the sidewalk, stopping before the barred
06:46doorway, and one word illegible for the newspaper camera, one word illegible. Frank and the watchman
06:53signed two words illegible papers, and were two words illegible the jail proper. They had hardly been
06:59assigned to one word illegible new prison when Gant and Mullinax were released from headquarters.
07:04All day the mother and sister of the latter haunted the station. There was a cry of joy when he
07:09emerged
07:10from his cell. The mother threw her arms about his neck and wept hysterically. Both Gant and
07:15Mullinax left immediately for uptown. They will one word illegible in their respective homes.
07:21Coroner Donohue said late in the afternoon that his plan for summoning the employees of the pencil
07:25factory was to obtain possible evidence having direct bearing on the murder. It was not to ascertain
07:31conditions in the factory, as was rumored, or to procure testimony of Frank's character. It was to learn
07:36something definite of Mary Fagan as a working girl at the plant where she had been employed for more
07:41than one year. The concern was shut down at three o'clock. It will be closed again next Monday.
07:47In their finest frocks and hats, the girls of the plant came to headquarters. The immense crowd of
07:52employees flooded the building. There were not seats enough to provide for them in the courtroom,
07:57and they overflowed to the street. There they mingled with the crowd of curious that had flocked to
08:03the scene. Frank given high praise. In regard to the arrest of Leo Frank in connection with the
08:08investigation of the Fagan murder, Milton Klein has furnished the Constitution with the following
08:13statement. Leo Frank, the superintendent and general manager of one of Atlanta's largest and most promising
08:21industries, spends two hours in his office on a holiday after generously relieving the watchman during
08:27these hours. His habits are regular and industrious, and his life while in Atlanta is perfectly blameless
08:33in every respect. The terrible crime committed in his plant calls forth the closest scrutiny of Mr.
08:39Frank's relations with his two hundred workmen and women. Only the highest words of praise and confidence
08:44in his character are heard on all sides. I have worked with Mr. Frank for years in various charitable
08:49organizations and have ever found him the most polished of gentlemen, with the kindest of heart and the
08:54broadest of sympathy. To such an extent it is recognized among his fellow lodgemen that we
09:00have honored him with the office of president, which is the highest rank in our organization.
09:04He is a liberal supporter of many worthy enterprises, but his greatest work has been among his own
09:10employees at his factory. The first to report in the morning and the last to leave at night,
09:15every day in holidays, he has labored to build up a factory that in spirit and efficiency is second to
09:21none south of the Mason and Dixon's line. After the magnificent work he has done in his adopted home,
09:27shall we, without consideration, emphasize every bit of gossip which unjustly and groundlessly
09:33connects him with this awful tragedy? No one seeks more fervently to discover the real perpetrator of
09:38this atrocious crime than Mr. Frank. Deputy asks for calm. Deputy Sheriff Plenty Minor makes the following
09:45plea for calm consideration of the Fagan case. While a crime of a most revolting nature has been
09:51committed in our midst and our people are naturally excited and incensed over the deplorable affair,
09:56there are things that we need to consider coolly and carefully. Every possible effort is being put
10:02forth by the officers and the public generally to apprehend the guilty party or parties. Nothing is
10:07being left undone. No clue is being overlooked that would lead to a solution of the mysterious tragedy.
10:13But this is not a time for us to become too excited or too hasty in our efforts to ferret
10:18out the
10:19criminal. Above all things, and especially at this time, it is absolutely necessary for us to keep
10:24perfectly cool, to work carefully and quietly, running down every possible clue with caution.
10:31I respectfully ask that the public be patient, refraining from criticism of the unceasing
10:37efforts on the part of the officers or private individuals who are working so generously and
10:42faithfully on the case. And I would as respectfully ask that the daily papers refrain from printing anything
10:48calculated to unduly inflame the public mind, and from using such headlines as are calculated to
10:54arouse undue indignation. And you may rest assured, if faithful and persevering work counts for anything,
11:00justice will be done. I have known during my several years of experience as an officer and in
11:05criminal cases, undue haste in matters of this kind, brought on by excitement and enthusiasm to produce
11:12a miscarriage of justice. But I have never known a cool and systematic investigation of a tragedy,
11:17backed up by an earnest public sentiment demanding the apprehension of the real perpetrator of a crime
11:23like this to fall of attaining the desired end.
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