With Two Men Held in Tower, Mystery of Murder Deepens

Friday, May 9th, 1913

Belief that detectives possessed withheld evidence dissipated by sworn admissions; case now moves to grand jury

Scott and Black Refused to Name Suspected Man

Coroner Paul Donehoo and six jurors concluded Thursday what may stand as the most thorough and exhaustive probe of a violent death ever conducted in Fulton County, and perhaps the entire state. Their verdict: Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the National Pencil factory, and Newt Lee, the factory's night watchman, are both to be held for investigation by the grand jury.

Yet the mystery of little Mary Phagan's death remains unsolved.

After two weeks of hard, conscientious work by city detectives and numerous private investigators, after every piece of gathered evidence had been placed under oath before the coroner's jury, the death of the thirteen-year-old factory girl is still, by the admission of the men who know most about it, an open mystery.

No Positive Evidence

John Black, a city detective, and Harry Scott of the Pinkertons have been on the case nearly from the moment Newt Lee telephoned police headquarters to report finding the body of a murdered woman in the factory basement. Both men took the witness stand Thursday afternoon and made a statement that deflated weeks of mounting public expectation.

They had no positive evidence pointing to any individual.

"We are working on a chain of circumstances," Scott told the jury. Black was equally direct. "I have no positive information as to who committed the murder," he said.

Rumors had circulated widely that the state was sitting on significant evidence, choosing to withhold it from public view. That suspicion was not entirely unfounded. Investigators did hold back certain material at the inquest, details believed to reinforce the circumstantial chain being built against one or both suspects. But the sworn statements of the two lead detectives made clear that nothing in that withheld material rises to the level of conclusive proof. The mystery, whatever its contours, has not been broken.

Case Now Goes to Grand Jury

Action by the Fulton County grand jury on the cases of Frank and Lee is not expected for at least a week.

Following Thursday afternoon's commitment of both men by the coroner's jury, public attention has turned to what the grand jury will do. That body held a regular session Friday morning, but the Phagan case was not among the matters brought before it. Officials say the state's case remains far from complete, and considerable work lies ahead before prosecutors will be prepared to lay their evidence before the grand jurors.

The grand jury does retain the authority to take up the matter on its own initiative. Judge W. D. Ellis has already issued a special charge directing it to investigate the Phagan case.