Sunday, May 4, 1913: Grand Jury to Take Up Phagan Case Tomorrow

Sunday, May 4th, 1913

The uncertainty that has marked every phase in the case of Mary Phagan probably will be somewhat removed when the new Fulton County Grand Jury for the May term of the Superior Court meets tomorrow. Definite action by that body is anticipated after the Coroner's jury, which also resumes its sessions tomorrow, has reached a decision.

The action, it is believed, will be the result of the efforts of a small army of private detectives retained by the authority of Solicitor General Dorsey. The number of the detectives could not be determined, but it is the opinion in official circles that the county and the State are ready, if necessary, to spend an unlimited sum to bring the murderer of Mary Phagan to justice.

The State has taken a hand in the investigation, co equal with the city, and every force at the command of the Solicitor General has been employed to unravel the mystery. It was at the request of Solicitor Dorsey that the investigation of Coroner Donehue was suspended last Thursday afternoon, when more than 200 witnesses had been subpoenaed, that he might make a thorough examination for himself before all the facts in the hands of the police were made public, and before any possible clue got cold.

It was for this reason that a conference was held yesterday, at which were present the Solicitor General, Chief Lanford of the detective force and Coroner Donehoo, after which the party went to the scene of the tragedy for a personal investigation. In the course of the conference two witnesses examined were Dr. J. W. Hurt, County Physician, and M. B. Darley, general foreman of the pencil factory where Mary Phagan was employed. No details of the conference were revealed, although it was known that two girls who worked at the factory with Mary Phagan also had been summoned.

Phagan Case Enters on Second Week Unsolved
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Girls as Witnesses.
These girls, and probably others, will be witnesses before the Grand Jury after it is convened. Three young women who were intimate with the slain girl at the factory also will be called. Lee is expected to tell more to the Coroner's jury than has been made public, and Frank probably will be heard.

Besides the private detectives, the powers of the State and county courts have obtained the services of experts in medicine, in handwriting and even in certain forms of insanity, and the most capable detectives of the public force, that the case may be whipped into tangible shape in time for immediate presentation to the Grand Jury upon its organization.

Among the experts whose efforts were solicited is Dr. Claude Smith, city bacteriologist, who has been requested to analyze the blood stains on the shirt found in the yard of Newt Lee, the suspected negro watchman.