00:00Victim of murder prepared to die believes Dorsey, Atlanta Constitution, Thursday, May 15, 1913.
00:06Identification slip carried by Mary Fagan in her pocketbook causes theory that the victim had been
00:11threatened with violence. Either threatened with death or warned by some dread premonition of an
00:16untimely end, Mary Fagan is believed by solicitor Dorsey to have prepared for her tragic fate
00:21by writing the identification slip discovered hidden in a compartment of the metal pocketbook
00:26which she carried daily. The slip was given the solicitor Wednesday morning by a reporter for
00:31the Constitution. The reporter also made an authorized statement of the source from which
00:35it was obtained. It was given him by J.W. Coleman, stepfather of the girl victim. The slip was written
00:41six days before the murder. Her parents have never known her to have possessed such an article.
00:46Its presence in her pocketbook is said by them to be as mysterious as her death. Mr. Dorsey values
00:52it highly. Bases new theory on the slip. On it he already has based a plausible theory. Members of
00:59his staff have been assigned to investigation of the motive which impelled the slain girl to strive
01:03so thoroughly as she endeavored in the mysterious slip to establish her identification in case of
01:09emergency. Her parents are puzzled too. They cannot account for the strange script and are assisting the
01:15solicitor in ferreting it out. But little was thought of it until an examination by Mr. Dorsey Wednesday
01:20morning. As he scanned the typical handwriting of the girl of tragedy, he suddenly exclaimed,
01:26Looks as though she expected accident of some kind. By George, she must have. This slip was
01:31written only six days before she was killed. The dating was April 20, 1913. Grand jury meets next
01:38week. The mystery of Mary Fagan's murder will go before the grand jury next week on either Thursday
01:43or Friday. Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey made this announcement yesterday afternoon at 2.30 o'clock,
01:49just after he had finished examining fifty or more witnesses. The names of Leo M. Frank,
01:54superintendent of the National Pencil Factory, and Newt Lee, Negro night watchman of that plant,
01:59will be presented as ordered by the coroner's jury at the inquest held last week. Both are in the tower
02:05to which they were remanded Wednesday, May 7. The solicitor refused to state whether or not he
02:11considered the evidence at hand sufficient to merit a bill of indictment. However, he did declare that
02:16from present prospects no other name or names would be presented to the jury. New evidence expected.
02:22Asked why he had not submitted the case earlier, Mr. Dorsey said that it required time to arrange
02:27the evidence in his possession, sift out the unimportant, and prepare the important. Eight
02:32more days will be occupied in this work. In the meantime, according to the solicitor,
02:36new evidence is expected. William J. Burns is coming to Atlanta. Thomas B. Felder last night
02:42received a cablegram of acceptance from Mr. Burns, who is now in Europe through his New York office.
02:47He will come to this country on the first steamer after hearing from Atlanta, placed in pocketbook.
02:52The identification slip was found in the pocketbook which Mary Fagan had carried daily.
02:57It was left at home on the day of her disappearance because it would not hold the amount of money
03:01she
03:01expected to obtain at the pencil plant in which she was slain. She carried the mesh handbag of her
03:06sister, Ollie, which has never been found. The solicitor prizes the identification slip.
03:11It is likely to cast a new aspect on the mystery, he says, and is expected to unearth new evidence.
03:17The writing is plain and in the characteristic legible hand of the murdered child. It reads,
03:23April 20, 1913. My name is Mary Fagan. I live at 146 Lindsay Street, near Bellwood and Ashby
03:31Streets. The slip was written only six days prior to her disappearance. It is the solicitor's belief
03:36that she probably had been threatened with violence previous to the murder which has startled the
03:41entire Southland. Either that, or she had experienced a vivid premonition of the tragedy which closed her
03:46life. Unlike a young girl. It is utterly unlike a girl of her age to prepare means of identification,
03:53said the solicitor. That she would meet with accident or be killed in any manner undoubtedly never
03:58entered her healthy young mind. It is decidedly apparent that something happened beforehand which
04:04predicted her death. It is possible that her murderer once before threatened to kill her.
04:09Perhaps she was warned. She could have received a strong premonition. That she expected death is
04:15evident from the placing in her pocketbook of the identification card. It was dated six days prior to
04:21the date of her murder. Her parents say she was never known to possess such things as means of
04:26identification. Added mystery was woven around the case Wednesday by the statement before the
04:31solicitor of William Giesling, an embalmer of Bloomsfields, the undertaking establishment to
04:37which the girl's body was carried from the basement of the pencil plant. Dead for many hours. Giesling stated
04:43positively his opinion that she had been dead for ten hours, or probably more prior to the discovery of
04:49her body. Rigor mortis had resulted. Dr. H.F. Harris, of the State Board of Health, is said to have
04:55corroborated Giesling in his statement that the girl had been dead for a period of between ten and sixteen
05:00hours. This will be important testimony, Mr. Dorsey says, and Giesling will probably be summoned before
05:06the grand jury. Also, it is said that Dr. Harris, who performed the autopsy when the body was exhumed at
05:12Marietta several days ago, declared that she had been assaulted at the time of her murder. Dr. Harris would not
05:18verify the report when seen by a Constitution reporter last night. Neither would he deny it.
05:24I am bound by the solicitor to say nothing whatever of my connection with his investigation, he said.
05:29Not until my report has been submitted to his office will it be officially known what is the
05:34result of my examination. Report not yet submitted. Mr. Dorsey said that the report had not been submitted
05:40and would not be put in his hands until he called for it. He also would not tell at which
05:45time he will
05:45take possession of it. The Constitution reporter who had charge of the specimens of Mary Fagan's
05:51handwriting appeared before the solicitor Wednesday morning, and after turning them over to him made
05:56a stenographic statement of the source of the specimens. They were obtained from J.W. Coleman,
06:01stepfather of the Fagan girl, he said several days ago. Mr. Coleman, stated the reporter,
06:07had declared that they were genuine samples of his daughter's script. Although it is said the
06:11solicitor bases a new and convincing theory on the handwriting, he will not talk. The rumor is that
06:17he has discovered new clues with which he expects to gain evidence by comparison with the handwriting
06:22specimens.
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