00:00Burns called into Fagan mystery on way from Europe. Atlanta, Georgian, Monday, May 12, 1913.
00:06Famous American detective cables he will return immediately in response to Colonel Felder's plea
00:12for his services to capture Slayer. William J. Burns, the world-famed detective, probably will
00:17take charge of the Fagan case. The man who unearthed the dynamite outrages and brought
00:22the McNamara brothers to justice will in all probability come to Atlanta within the next few
00:27days and lend his efforts toward clearing up the mystery of the death by strangulation of Mary
00:32Fagan. This information was made public Monday, following correspondence between Colonel Thomas
00:38B. Felder and Mr. Burns since the discovery of the body in the pencil factory. Mr. Burns is now on
00:44his
00:44way from Europe and will arrive on Tuesday or the following day. Upon his arrival in New York, he
00:50will confer with detectives there and then proceed to Atlanta. Credit largely due Felder. The services
00:55of Mr. Burns have been secured largely through Mr. Felder's efforts it has developed. Upon Mr.
01:01Felder's retention by the citizens of Marietta and relatives of the slain girl to work on the case,
01:06he journeyed to New York for a conference with Raymond Burns, son of William J. Burns, on the case with
01:12a
01:12view to getting the great detective to come here. At that time the elder Burns was in Europe investigating
01:18the disappearance of Wilberforce Martin, and upon being cabled of Mr. Felder's desires, replied that he
01:24would return immediately. Monday it was announced that Burns was on his way to America and that
01:29Colonel Felder would take up the Fagan case with him. Felder, it is understood, will give up his own
01:34fee to employ Burns and will assist in raising funds for the purpose. Mr. Burns' warm personal
01:39friendship for Mr. Felder has served in a large measure to draw the wizard into the local mystery
01:44investigation. The history of their acquaintance leads back to the South Carolina dispensary graft case,
01:49which Mr. Felder prosecuted and on which the detective was employed. It was there the two met.
01:55When the Fagan murder was committed and its baffling details confronted Atlanta police,
02:00Mr. Felder lost no time in communicating with his friend. That the man who has struck terror to the
02:06hearts of criminals by his marvelous knowledge of their ways and his wonderful deductive powers will
02:12quickly clear up the mystery as declared certain by those who have followed his work.
02:16With the final rounding up of the evidence against Leo M. Frank and Newt Lee nearing completion,
02:22Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey on Monday began the process of elimination of unimportant matter
02:27and the shaping of the case for presentation to the grand jury.
02:31Waits to arrange evidence. Whether the case will be ready for that tribunal this week is a matter of
02:36doubt. The great mass of testimony presents a tangle which will require some time before it is
02:41straightened out and arranged properly. Solicitor Dorsey declared Monday morning that he would not
02:46present the matter to the grand jury until it has been put into a clear, concise form and can be
02:52easily handled. Quick disposition of the cases of the accused men is assured once the matter is placed
02:58before the grand jury. Should that body find the evidence sufficient to hold Frank and Lee to trial,
03:04their cases will be taken up immediately before Judge L.S. Roan, who will open the criminal court
03:09division of the Fulton County Superior Court on next Monday. The evidence against both men will
03:14be placed before the grand jury simultaneously, according to Mr. Dorsey. Sleuth leaves mysteriously.
03:20Much importance is attached to the departure of Solicitor Dorsey's detective Monday morning for
03:24parts unknown. While the Solicitor, when questioned as to the destination and purpose of the detective's
03:30trip, would give no direct answer, it is believed that the mission is in connection with some clue in the
03:36Fagan case, which has been unearthed by the mysterious investigator. The fact that a large number of
03:42character witnesses are now being interrogated in Brooklyn, NY, the former home of Frank, and in
03:48other parts of the country bears out this supposition. That the detective has not confined himself to the
03:54theory followed by city police officials in their accumulation of evidence against Frank and Lee,
03:59however, was admitted by Solicitor Dorsey, and also the possibility that he has stumbled upon an
04:04important clue. Wife sees Frank in tower. While police are exhausting every available source of
04:10information to unravel the mystery, Frank and Lee remain in their cells in the tower, chafing with
04:15impatience. Mrs. Frank went to the tower on Sunday afternoon, paying her first visit to her husband since
04:21his arrest nearly two weeks ago. Mrs. Frank was accompanied to the jail by her father, Emil Selig, of 68
04:28East
04:28Georgia Avenue. They remained in consultation with the prisoner for nearly an hour. It was definitely
04:34learned Monday that Chief Lanford had not completely eliminated Newt Lee, the Negro night watchman of the
04:40pencil factory, and that there still exists a suspicion that he may know something of the crime.
04:45In fact, the night watchman has come to be regarded as the real puzzle in the case.
04:50Chief Lanford is not satisfied as to Lee and any possible part he may have played in the tragedy.
04:55He declared he had lain awake at night trying to figure out satisfactorily the Negro's position.
05:00First words still puzzle. The point that prevents detectives from eliminating Lee is his first
05:05statement to officers following his discovery of the dead girl's body. When he first called the
05:10police station, he said he had found a white woman dead in the basement. The officers who hastened to
05:16the factory declared it would have been impossible for him to have discerned whether the girl was white
05:20or black from his position when he found her. When the officers arrived, Lee told them the girl was
05:26lying flat of her back. They went into the basement and found the dead girl lying face downward. Lee
05:31also told them that the girl had a wound in the back of the head. Detectives say it is possible
05:36that
05:36the Negro, in the excitement of finding the body, may have been honestly mistaken as to its position,
05:41but at the same time they find these statements a stumbling block. Facts hard to explain.
05:46Whenever I figure on eliminating Lee, these contradictory statements always bob up,
05:51said Chief Lanford. There are many apparently little things in this case that become veritable
05:55mountains when we try to get over them. Newt Lee's statements may have been entirely innocent if
06:00they were. They are hard to explain and get out of the way. The Chief smilingly added,
06:05if a fellow doesn't care to become gray-haired or land in the insane asylum, he'd better not spend too
06:11much time trying to figure out the truth of the mystery and reconcile all of its varied phases and
06:16features. The Pinkertons have instructions to find the murderer, no matter who he may be.
06:22Operatives of the agency employed by the National Pencil Company recently put the matter squarely up
06:27to Luther Rosser, the company's attorney. He said, urge diligent search. Find the murderer of Mary
06:33Fagan. Work in cooperation with the police. Work with anyone. Work any way that might lead you to
06:39success. Let your chips fall where they may. You are employed to hunt the murderer until he is found
06:44and convicted. It matters not who is guilty. Five men from the detective agency are working on the
06:49case under the direction of Assistant Superintendent Harry Scott. Through City Detective Black, the
06:55Pinkertons work in connection with the City Police. Leo M. Frank was visited by Mr. Rosser at his cell
07:01in the Tower Sunday. They were together only a short while. Mr. Rosser stated he had only paid a social
07:07visit and had not discussed the case. Chief of Detectives Lanford said Monday that he was satisfied with the
07:13progress of the case so far. He said that the investigation unavoidably had been slow and
07:19burdened with a mass of evidence, much of which would have to be eliminated in the final consideration
07:24of the case. He was pleased with the new developments which, he said, added much strength to the line of
07:29evidence as men are building up.
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