00:00Coming of Burns is assured, says Colonel Felder, Atlanta Constitution, Friday, May 16, 1913.
00:05To solve Fagan murder, Joseph Hirsch, capitalist, starts public subscription to assure fund for
00:10Burns. Society women aid movement for fund local detectives in conference and are believed to have
00:15secret documents bearing on case. With the Constitution's donation of $100 as a nucleus,
00:21Atlanta today begins building a fund with which to employ to ferret the mystery of Mary Fagan's
00:26murder, Detective William J. Burns, America's most successful detective. Assurance that
00:31subscriptions will be plentiful and generous came to attorney Thomas E. Felder last night in
00:36telephone messages from numerous public-spirited businessmen who informed him that they would
00:40send checks this morning for their share of the fund. One was these was Joseph Hirsch, a leading
00:46capitalist and financier, who told Colonel Felder that he wanted to see Atlanta take such means to
00:51solve the baffling mystery as to employ the detective by public subscription.
00:56I have infinite confidence in Mr. Burns's ability, he said. I am assured that he will clear the murder
01:03and apprehend the murderer. I will send a check Friday morning for my share of the amount necessary
01:08to procure him. Burns coming sure.
01:10Mr. Felder stated last night that Burns' trip to Atlanta was guaranteed. He will arrive in New York
01:16on June 1st and will come immediately to the South. The headquarters of his agency already have
01:21dispatched an expert criminal investigator to proceed him to this city and to take up the murder
01:25investigation before the case grows cold. The expert left New York Thursday. He will arrive in
01:31Atlanta sometime today and will begin work right away. His chief object will be to blaze a trail for
01:36his superior and to prepare the investigation for Burns to take hold. Besides Mr. Hirsch, six other
01:43prominent businessmen telephoned Colonel Felder Thursday night to assure him of their cooperation in
01:48obtaining Detective Burns. The attorney would not divulge the names because of the expressed desire
01:54to withhold their identity. Neither would he give the names of the five women who are conspicuous
01:59figures in Atlanta's social world and who are playing prominent parts in the campaign to raise
02:04the Burns Fund, Society Women Aid. This quintet of society representatives, says Mr. Felder, are the source
02:12of the idea to raise the Burns Fund through public subscription. When it was made known that Colonel
02:17Felder was endeavoring to employ the noted sleuth, he was visited by the five women, who suggested
02:23that if the money could not be raised otherwise, public subscriptions be solicited. It will require
02:28three weeks or a month for Burns to complete his investigation. Colonel Felder is informed by Raymond
02:34Burns, the detective's son and manager of the Burns headquarters in New York. The expert investigator
02:39preceding him will set instantly to work today, and one word illegible said will operate in
02:45conjunction with the Solicitor General's office. In courtesy to Burns, Mr. Felder will not reveal the
02:50amount necessary for his employment. It can be obtained easily, though, says the attorney, and within
02:56three days or less, he declares, the subscription campaign will have been finished. Burns is coming,
03:01that's a settled fact, Mr. Felder told a Constitution reporter last night. The money two words illegible to
03:07procure him depends mostly on the time necessary for his investigation. He will not be in Atlanta for more
03:13than three weeks at the longest. He will bring with him a staff of expert criminal investigators.
03:18His work will be secret, and not until his investigation is completed will any inkling of
03:24his progress be made known. The secrecy of his operations is one of the many secrets of his
03:29phenomenal success as a detective. Donations expected today. Colonel Felder expects a number of
03:35donations today. He requests that all persons subscribing to the Burns Fund to notify or send them checks to
03:41Charles Thurse Ryan, cashier of the Fourth National Bank and whose charge has been placed the financial
03:47end of the move to employ the detective. For the second time since her husband's arrest, Mrs. Leo Frank
03:53visited the prisoner in the tower Tuesday afternoon. He was brought by a turnkey from his cell on the
03:58second floor to the dining room downstairs where they were closeted for an hour or more. Tears dimmed the
04:04eyes of both husband and the pretty wife when they emerged. He walked with unsteady step back to his cell,
04:10and she hurried to the street, dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief as she made her way to the
04:15entrance. On account of her weakened condition caused by the shock of her husband's arrest and
04:20the charge against him, Mrs. Frank has been able to make but two trips to the jail. On the second
04:25journey she brought a tray of dainties and a package of clothing. Frank is undergoing imprisonment with
04:30remarkable fortitude. His appearance does not betray the effect of confinement, and he spends most of
04:36the time reading and pacing the confines of his cell. Documents held secret. It was freely rumored
04:42around police headquarters yesterday that detectives have procured new and startling evidence which they
04:47intend holding secret until the presentation of the Fagan case before the grand jury. It is said to
04:53be in documentary form and in the shape of certain papers or letters. Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey,
04:59detectives from headquarters and members of the solicitor's staff, held secret conference in Dorsey's
05:04office in the thrower building last night. They were closeted for several hours after six o'clock.
05:09Although no one who was present would talk, the report is that the consultation was for the purpose
05:14of preparing the evidence at hand so that it can effectively be submitted to the grand jury,
05:20before which the mystery will go sometime late next week. Mr. Dorsey announced Thursday that in the
05:26event a bill of indictment was returned against Frank or the Negro, Newt Lee, or against both,
05:31the case would not go to trial before the last of June. This sets at rest a general impression that
05:37the case would be rushed to trial. An interesting witness who has been summoned before the solicitor
05:41is Jay Williams, ex-policeman and operator of a livery stable at 35 South Forsyth Street,
05:48only a few doors distant from the pencil plant. Williams has not yet made his statement,
05:53but will probably be called to the solicitor's office sometime today. The new witness was in the
05:58basement of the factory early Sunday morning. He had come from his establishment shortly after it
06:03had been made known that a girl's body had been discovered in the cellar. It was he who lay in
06:08the
06:08spot in which the murdered girl was found, while the Negro night-watchman went through the pantomime
06:13of the discovery. Will describe Frank's conduct. Williams was also in the place upon Frank's arrival,
06:20and will be asked by Mr. Dorsey to testify to his observance of Frank's conduct, whether or not the
06:26superintendent was nervous or agitated. He also will be questioned as to whether or not he witnessed
06:31Frank's failure to replace the broken staple, and on account of reported nervousness turn the hammer
06:37and staple over to his assistant, Mr. Darley.
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