Sunday, 25th May 1913 Thomas Felder Brands the Charges of Bribery Diabolical Conspiracy

Name: Sunday, 25th May 1913 Thomas Felder Brands the Charges of Bribery Diabolical Conspiracy
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00:00Thomas Felder Brands, The Charges of Bribery, Diabolical Conspiracy, Atlanta Constitution,

00:06Sunday, May 25, 1913. Thomas B. Felder, the Atlanta lawyer who is accused of having offered

00:12a bribe for an affidavit of J. W. Coleman, stepfather of Mary Fagan, now in the possession

00:17of the police, yesterday issued the following statement, to the people of Atlanta, the publication

00:23of the sensational story in the Atlanta Journal on yesterday afternoon, relating to myself and

00:29my connection with the Fagan case is but the symptom or manifestation of one of the most

00:34diabolical conspiracies ever hatched by a venal and corrupt system to protect crime in a civilized

00:41community. To be more specific, this conspiracy was formed just after the arrest of Newt Lee

00:46and Leo Frank, charged with the murder of Mary Fagan. The controlling genius of it is Newport

00:51Lanford, chief of the city detectives. Its object is to shield and protect the murderers of this

00:57innocent child, and in its wicked ramifications it marks our distinguished chief of detectives

01:02as the lieutenant becker of our system, and renders his co-conspirators as dangerous to

01:07the lives, liberty, and property, and reputation of our citizens as the bloody and deadly society

01:12of the mafia, part played by papers. Pity it is that the press of the city has been and is

01:18being

01:18made the innocent, if effective, instrument in their hands to further and effectuate the object

01:23of this wicked conspiracy by prostituting their potential columns in the exploitation of the

01:29mass of forgeries and perjuries which has been given to the public through their columns. For be it

01:34known that these papers have tacitly sanctioned the utterances of Collier by reproducing his

01:40affidavits in the face of the fact that the editors and proprietors of all would without hesitation

01:46swear that they would not believe him on oath if called upon to do so. Strangely enough,

01:51a portion of the criminal record of this man Collier is reproduced, showing him to be a man

01:56steeped in crime and infamy, while in the parallel column is published his defamatory utterances

02:01against me. I would have the good people of this community know that from the day and hour of the

02:07arrest of Lee and Frank, charged with the murder of little Mary Fagan, Newport Lanford and his co-conspirators

02:14have left no stone unturned in their efforts to shield and protect these suspects, and I shall

02:19demonstrate later the truth of this statement with so much clearness that he who runs may read

02:25winked at forgeries. In furthering and effectuating this conspiracy, they have suborned perjury,

02:32winked at forgeries, and in short, employed every agency that low and groveling criminal instincts

02:37could contrive and conjure up. In their frantic efforts to shield the murderers of this girl,

02:43Lieutenant Becker Lanford secured the services of A.S. Collier, Jr., whose criminal record was known

02:49to the lieutenant, but whose services he willingly availed himself of. Having promised this much,

02:55I shall now address myself to the task of disposing of Lieutenant Lanford's man Friday,

03:01as Collier. About two and one-half years ago, while I was engaged in a controversy with the criminal and

03:07vagabond governor of the state of South Carolina, a prominent citizen of Atlanta, a client and friend

03:12of mine, whose name I withhold because he is not now in the city, and I have been unable to

03:17reach him

03:18over the phone, but whose name will be given later, called at my office, and discussing this controversy

03:23said that he knew a man by the name of A.S. Collier, Jr., sometimes lawyer, detective, newspaper man,

03:30etc., who had spent some time in the state of South Carolina, and who was in possession of valuable

03:36information touching that situation, brought Collier to my office. He afterwards brought this man,

03:42Collier, to my office, and after discussing the matter with him at length, I reached the conclusion

03:47that he was thoroughly undependable, and the interview closed. Afterwards, he was sent to the

03:53state of South Carolina to obtain the information, and forwarded to me three affidavits, which seemed to

03:59establish conclusively that the governor of that state had been engaged in criminal practices.

04:05Upon a careful examination of these affidavits, I discovered that the jurates attached to the

04:11three affidavits were all upon separate sheets, attached to what purported to be the genuine

04:16affidavits. This aroused my suspicions, and I sent a trusted clerk from my office to the state of South

04:22Carolina to personally interview the affiance, with the result that he was informed by them that

04:29this man Collier had represented to them that they were heirs at law to a considerable estate in

04:34Tennessee, and that if they would make an affidavit stating who they were, he would be able to secure

04:40for them their respective inheritances without cost. Indeed, that he was sent to them for that purpose,

04:47whereupon the affidavits were prepared and signed, that afterwards Collier detached the jurates attached

04:53to the genuine affidavits, and attached them to the spurious affidavits which he furnished.

04:58These affidavits are now in my files, and are subject to the inspection of anyone who may be

05:04interested. It is needless for me to add that they were never made public in connection with the

05:09charges of criminal conduct lodged against the vagabond governor of South Carolina.

05:13Met Collier in Chattanooga. Afterwards I met this man Collier accidentally in the city of Chattanooga,

05:19and when I confronted him with the fact that he had forged these affidavits, he freely confessed the

05:25forgery to me, and stated that he had been reduced financially to dire extremities, and that he had

05:31forged the affidavits in order to get money from the gentleman who had introduced him to me.

05:35I respectfully submit that after this experience with this man it does not seem reasonable that I

05:42would entertain respect for him, much less repose confidence in him. On Sunday afternoon, while engaged

05:48in a conference at my home with parties interested in the Fagan case, I received a telephone message,

05:53and was informed that the party speaking was as Collier Jr. He stated to me that it was important

05:59for him to have an interview with me during the afternoon or evening of Sunday. I made an

06:04appointment to meet him at my office at 8.15 o'clock. I met him by appointment. Knowing the

06:09man's character, I telephoned Mr. Toby of the William Mr. E.O. Miles, my friend and client, to come to

06:14my

06:15office. Sleuths suppress evidence. In my conversation with Collier, he stated to me that the city detective

06:21force was engaged in suppressing evidence in the Fagan case, that they were in a conspiracy with

06:26the Pinkertons who had been employed to investigate this case by Frank, one of the suspects, and that

06:31they had entered into a conspiracy to thwart the efforts of the Burns agency and myself in the

06:38investigations in progress. That he overheard a conference between Lanford and the Pinkerton

06:43agent who was employed in the case by Frank to the effect that it was important to circumvent the

06:48efforts of the Burns agency and myself in establishing the guilt of the murderer or

06:53murderers. That on the morning of the Sunday evening, Lanford had caused an affidavit to be

06:59prepared and dated back, and had forced Mr. and Mrs. Coleman to sign it under threats and duress,

07:05repudiating my employment. That Lanford had arrested a Negro by the name of Connolly, as I remember,

07:11and had held him at the police station for two or three weeks, and had forged a confession of the

07:16Negro to the effect that he himself had killed Mary Fagan, and that Newt, Lee, and Frank were

07:21neither participants in the murder or had knowledge thereof. That in order to discredit the Burns

07:27agent, the solicitor's office, and myself, they had framed up affidavits charging the solicitor general,

07:33the Burns agent, and myself with corruption, and that at the opportune time these would be given to

07:39the public through handbills. Would not accept statement. I stated to Collier that I would not accept

07:45his statements even under oath, and that if he had any documentary evidence establishing the fact

07:51that these parties were engaged in a conspiracy to suppress evidence, I would like to see it,

07:56whereupon he handed me the original Coleman affidavit, what purported to be a copy of the

08:01confession of the Negro Connolly, what purported to be an original affidavit in relation to the

08:06solicitor general, and also what purported to be an original affidavit that one of the leading

08:11newspapers of the city had been bribed by suspects or their friends. In this conversation he told me

08:17that he had original affidavits establishing the immorality of the chief of police and the chief

08:22of detectives, and that they were guilty of acts involving moral turpitude, and he specified the

08:28acts. It is not necessary to give these to the public at this time, but they will be published later,

08:33relation to Fagan case. I stated to him that I was not interested in the moral and official

08:39derelictions of the chief of police and chief of detectives, except insofar as they might relate

08:44to the suppression of evidence in the Fagan case. He thereupon asked me if the mayor of the city was

08:50interested in obtaining this evidence. I told him that I was not in the confidence of the mayor,

08:55that I had not spoken with him for months, but that if he was interested in the exposure of

09:00official rottenness in the various city departments, he would be a strange and unnatural

09:05official, and that I would bring the matter to his attention, which I afterwards did.

09:10On the following day, Collier called me over the phone and asked me if I would meet him and some

09:15friend of his who had knowledge of the facts heretofore adverted to in conference. I stated

09:20to him that I was coming into the city on Monday evening, and would meet them at my office.

09:25I met Collier and a young man by the name of February at my office, according to appointment.

09:30The interview of Monday evening developed in substance and effect what was developed on Sunday

09:35evening, together with the additional fact that young February stated that he had been used

09:40so much by the chief of police and chief of detectives in carrying out their projects of

09:44corruption, that he was sick and tired of the job and would like very much for me to assist him

09:50in

09:50getting other employment, that if I would assist him he would willingly turn over to me all documents,

09:55files, etc., going to show that these parties were engaged in suppressing evidence in the

10:00Fagin case, and that while they were ostensibly working for the city and for the interest of the

10:06people, that they were really working in conspiracy with the Pinkertons, the employees of Frank,

10:11to shield and protect Frank, showed me affidavits. He also exhibited to me numerous affidavits,

10:18documents, etc., purporting to be evidence of the official corruption of the two chiefs.

10:23Among other documents submitted were two lists which he claimed that he prepared for chief of

10:27police beavers and chief of city detectives, Lanford, purporting to contain a list of blind

10:32tigers and immoral houses which were under the protection of these departments, and from whom

10:37they received monthly payments for this alleged protection. I made it plain to both of these

10:42parties that I had no interest whatever in any of these documents, except such as might tend to

10:47establish the fact that they were suppressing evidence in the Fagin case. They asked me if Mayor

10:53Woodward and other gentlemen in the city, naming them, would be interested in obtaining this evidence.

10:58I stated to them that I thought that not only Mayor Woodward, but every other prominent citizen

11:03in the city of Atlanta, such as Mr. Sam Inman, Captain English, Mr. Grant, Mr. Maddox, and scores

11:09of others, would be entirely willing to raise a fund to drive these people from the high places

11:13if they were guilty of the acts of moral turpitude alleged against them. They asked me if in my judgment

11:19they could be indicted and punished if they turned over this evidence to the Mayor or his agents.

11:24I gave it as my judgment that they could not, and that even if they could they would not be,

11:28that I had too much confidence in the Mayor of the city of the Atlanta, in the prosecuting attorney

11:33of the circuit, of the criminal court, and of the Governor, as a last resort, to believe that any of

11:40these officials would suffer them to be punished if they made of themselves instrumental means of

11:45exposing the colossal corruption which they represented existed in the various departments

11:50of the city government. This conference lasted one hour and fifteen minutes. Just before it drew

11:56to a close, Collier asked me if I would be willing to pay to him in February one thousand dollars

12:00for

12:01this documentary evidence, not willing to play. I told him emphatically that I would not. He then

12:06asked me if I thought the Mayor of the city would be willing to pay to him in February one

12:11thousand

12:11dollars for this evidence, and to provide February with as good a position as the one he now held,

12:17upon the delivery of the evidence to them. I told him that I entertained no doubt that if they could

12:23furnish the Mayor with the evidence conclusively establishing the guilt of Beavers and Lanford,

12:27the Mayor, through the public-spirited citizens of the town, would be willing to raise this sum of

12:33money and pay it over to them for the documentary evidence. This ended my interview upon this occasion.

12:38On the following morning I received a telephonic communication from this man, Collier, asking me

12:44if I would come to his room at the Williams house at one o'clock. I told him that I

12:48had an engagement.

12:49He asked me when it would be convenient for me to meet him. I stayed at three thirty, so at

12:55the

12:55appointed time I called upon him at his room at the Williams hotel. While there I met February,

13:00my conference with them lasted perhaps ten minutes, as I was back in my office before four o'clock

13:06to meet an appointment, having stopped en route for at least ten minutes to receive a treatment

13:10from my throat specialist, I shall demonstrate in an affidavit attached to this card, and made a part

13:16thereof, that the alleged dictograph stuff is manufactured. In my brief interview with these

13:22parties at the Williams house, I stated to them that I would not pay them a cent for the documents

13:27that they had in their possession, establishing the moral turpitude of the Chief of Police and Chief

13:33Lanford, that I had no interest in this branch of the controversy, and that I had declined employment

13:38in this branch of the controversy, but I stated to them that I had talked with the Mayor, and that

13:44I

13:44had made an appointment with Mr. Miles, and that I would meet Mr. Miles, who was making some

13:49investigations for the Mayor at my office at four o'clock, and that I would send him over to them.

13:54When I arrived at my office at four o'clock, Mr. Miles and Mr. Toby of the Burns National Detective

14:00Agency were awaiting me, and I gave Mr. Miles a note of introduction to this man, Collier,

14:05which, I am informed, was presented. On the day after Mr. Miles asked me if I would object to

14:11accompanying him to Lakewood for a conference with Collier in February, I stated to him that

14:15I most emphatically declined, and would advise him to do likewise, and he acted upon my advice.

14:20I stated to him further that if they had any business with me they could conduct it at my office,

14:25but

14:25as I understood the situation, I had no business with them. If I had consented to pay money for

14:31this evidence, I could have paid it either on Sunday or Monday night, and all of the documents

14:35would have been turned over to me. Statement is absurd. The statement contained in the affidavits of

14:41this man, Collier, and of February that I offered them one thousand dollars for the Coleman affidavit

14:46is too absurd to justify a denial. Why would I pay one thousand dollars for this affidavit when it was

14:52within the power of the conspirators to obtain another affidavit within five minutes after the

14:57surrender of this affidavit to me? In this connection I desire to state that in my career

15:02at the bar, covering a quarter of a century, I have never, directly or indirectly, sought employment

15:08in any case, civil or criminal. I have never found it necessary to resort to Barretree to keep busy in

15:13my profession. It is inconceivable that I, or any other reputable lawyer, would seek employment to

15:19prosecute a man for murder. I was employed in the Fagan case by a committee of citizens residing

15:24in the vicinity of the family of the Fagan girl. My contract of employment is in writing and duly

15:30signed by my employers. I do not give in this connection a copy of the contract and the name

15:36of the signers, for the very obvious reason that with their names in possession of Lieutenant

15:41Becker Lanford and his Keough conspirators, my clients would immediately become the objects of

15:46attack at the hands of the system. The contract above referred to was made with my law firm,

15:51Felder, Anderson, Dillon, and Whitman, and is in our files and open to the inspection of any decent

15:57citizen at any time. How Felder was employed. In addition to this employment, we were employed by

16:02a committee of prominent and distinguished ladies in the City of Atlanta to aid in this investigation.

16:08The names of these ladies are withheld from publication for obvious reasons. I have never said,

16:13and I do not now say that I was ever employed either by Mr. or Mrs. Coleman, but I do

16:18say that

16:18on Friday afternoon, the date I do not remember, but it being the day upon which the coroner's inquest

16:24was to be held at the police barracks, I was called over the phone by one of the gentlemen who

16:28employed

16:28me in the case and asked to come down to the barracks. I immediately repaired to the barracks and stated

16:33to my client that I felt a delicacy in appearing at the coroner's inquest, unless my employment was

16:39approved by the parents of the deceased girl. I was thereupon introduced to Mr. Coleman,

16:45and explained to him my feelings in the matter. He stated to me that he had no money to employ

16:50counsel, that he appreciated the unselfish act of his neighbors in their effort to assist in the

16:55prosecution, and so far as he was concerned my employment met with his approval, but being the

17:01stepfather of the young lady, he would prefer not to ratify my employment at that time, but would ask

17:06his wife to come to my office on the following day, to the end that she would ratify the same.

17:12On the following day, I left for the city of New York without seeing the mother of Mary Fagan and

17:17was absent from the city for ten days. I entertain the same feeling now that I did then, namely I

17:23feel

17:23a delicacy in participating in the case without the approval of the parents of the deceased girl,

17:28although I am urgent to do so by my clients and many of the best people in the city of

17:33Atlanta.

17:33In this connection, I desire to submit for the consideration of the graft-ridden people of this

17:39city the statement that my employment in this case was never brought into question until the

17:44criminal investigator of Mr. Burns appeared upon the scene. On Sunday following his appearance,

17:51Lt. Becker Lanford dictated an affidavit to his secretary, Mr. February, not in the presence of

17:57either Mr. or Mrs. Coleman, and without knowing what they would be willing to say in relation to the

18:02matter, and hurriedly repairing to the home of the Colemans coerced them into signing the same,

18:07as I am informed, by threats that if they or either of them ratified the connection of Mr.

18:13Burns or myself with the case, they would take no further interest in the matter. Burns well endorsed.

18:19The character of William J. Burns for honesty and courage is too well established in the American

18:24Union to need endorsement at my hands. The insinuation emanating from the city detective

18:28department that he could be hired to betray a trust, and industriously circulated by them,

18:34needs no contradiction or refutation at my hands. A sufficient answer to this vile insinuation

18:39is that there was no time during the McNamara investigation, if Burns was purchasable, that he

18:46could not have received to call off the case a million dollars flat. This fact is known to all men

18:51who are familiar with the current events appertaining to that investigation. Moreover, I deem it the work of

18:57supererogation to enter a denial in my own behalf to the base insinuation that I have been employed

19:03in conjunction with Burns by the Jews of the city to assist in shielding Frank from prosecution.

19:09I have never conferred with any Jew upon this subject, and in behalf of the Jews, who constitute

19:15a large and most respectable element of our population, I desire to brand the insinuation as a vile,

19:21baseless slander promulgated by the city detectives as a part of the conspiracy to defeat the ends of

19:28justice in this case. The statement that Toby had an appointment at my office for a conference with

19:32Messrs. Hirsch, Myers, and Greenstein is a figment of the disordered and distempered imagination of

19:38Lt. Becker Lanford and his man Friday. As Collier, junior Mr. Joseph Hirsch needs no defense at my hands from

19:46this vile and baseless insinuation. He has lived a long and honored life in this community, and I

19:51gravely doubt if there is a man, woman, or child in it who would believe any man who stated on

19:56oath

19:56that Joseph Hirsch would do a dishonorable thing to shield either Jew or Gentile, much less to enter

20:02into a conspiracy to bribe and corrupt lawyers and detectives who are engaged in an honest effort to

20:08establish the guilt of a murderer. Let me put this question frankly to the people of Atlanta.

20:12Is it not passing strange that the city detective department, whose wages are paid by the taxpayers

20:18of this city, should hobnob daily with the Pinkerton detective agency, an agency confessedly employed in

20:25this investigation to work in behalf of Leo Frank, that they would take this agency into their daily

20:30and hourly conference and repose it in their confidence and cooperate with it in every way

20:36possible and withhold their cooperation from W.J. Burns and his able assistants who are engaged

20:42by the public and for the public in ferreting out this crime? What is the purpose? What is the purpose

20:49of the city detective department in violently assailing me and the Burns agency if it is not

20:54to protect the real criminal in this case? What motives inspired them in their almost superhuman

20:59efforts to hinder, circumvent, and defeat the efforts of this great agency in locating the criminal

21:05or criminals in this case? From the moment that Leo Frank and Newt Lee were placed under arrest the

21:10city detectives, or a majority of them, I am advised and believe that there are several good and honest

21:16men in the department have been engaged in a systematic effort to destroy all tangible evidence against the

21:22suspect, when they got possession of the note that was found by the body of the dead girl, and which

21:28constitutes, or should, the rock of Gibraltar, of the evidence in this case, and which should have been

21:34promptly placed for safekeeping in a safety deposit vault, was turned over to a reporter of one of the

21:41papers who had the custody of this note for several days, and when it was demanded by the able solicitor

21:46general of the circuit, it was only forthcoming after a diligent search. I was informed by Messrs.

21:52Collier in February that shortly after the murder the city detectives arrested a negro by the name of

21:58Connolly and kept him in close confinement for several weeks, and that they extorted from him a

22:04written confession that he, and not Frank, was the perpetrator of this crime, and the further

22:09confession that the negro had been procured to write the note that was found by the body of the deceased,

22:15thereby destroying the effect of any evidence that might be introduced in this case to show that

22:21Frank was the author of the note so found. Thereafter, on the day the grand jury was convened for the

22:27purpose of investigating the charges against Frank and Lee, Lieutenant Becker Lanford furnished the

22:33press of the city an affidavit which he had secured from a woman of questionable veracity and character,

22:39containing the recital that between the hours of six and ten-thirty on the fatal evening Frank called

22:45her over the phone several times, importuning her to permit him to bring this girl to her lodging-house,

22:50the object and purpose of this affidavit are so obvious that it is needless for me to do more

22:55than avert to it, and are as follows. To destroy the state's theory presented by the medical experts

23:01and Mr. Toby of the Burns Agency, that this girl came to her death between the hours of twelve and

23:06one on Saturday, and further to establish the fact that the girl was in life between the hours of six

23:12thirty and ten-thirty p.m., by positive and conclusive proof and alibi. Hour by hour, day by day, and

23:19step

23:19by step, has this man Lanford bended all of this energies and efforts to the single purpose of

23:25diverting suspicion from the accused in this case, and throwing about them the cloak of his protection.

23:30I have neither the time or the disposition to discuss at length the affidavits reproduced in the

23:35press of the city made by Collier in February. As to these, I deem it only necessary to say that

23:40they

23:41are false from beginning to end.

23:42As to the so-called dictograph, I wish to say that I shall demonstrate that this is either

23:47manufactured and fabricated, or was so greatly revised and changed by the stenographer who took

23:53the notes, if a dictograph was in fact used, which I doubt as to greatly impair, if not totally destroy

23:59the meaning of what was said on the occasion referred to. To begin with, it is impossible for

24:04the conversation imputed to me to have occurred and been transcribed in less than an hour. As I have

24:10stated heretofore in this article, I was in the room at the Williams house, not more than five or ten

24:14minutes, arriving there at 3.30 and reaching my office at 4 p.m., stopping en route to have my

24:20throat treated by a throat specialist which consumed from 12 to 15 minutes. I mention this fact as

24:26illustrating the impossibility that the so-called dictograph report could be genuine. The dictograph is

24:31an instrument that records conversations with exactitude and any expert can instantly detect the

24:36genuine from the spurious. While this purported conversation is permeated with evidences of

24:42its being a frame-up, I think it will be sufficient to call the attention of the public to only

24:46two

24:46extracts therefrom to illustrate what I have stated. Collier is quoted in the alleged dictograph report as

24:52follows. But I said this young man does not want to lose his position. I am quoted as answering,

24:57well, he says, tell him for me that I will give him a position today just as good as the

25:01one he has.

25:02It will be observed that my answer, instead of being in the first person, singular number,

25:07is in the second person, singular number, thereby clearly establishing that it is a frame-up.

25:12The next illustration. Felder. Well, you understand I do not want the papers unless they are evidence

25:17enough to put Lanford and Beavers out of business. Collier made the answer as follows. Now, Collier says,

25:23you say that you have got the papers that will put them out. This alleged colloquy reported from the

25:28dictograph between Collier and myself clearly demonstrates that it is a frame-up. In conclusion,

25:34permit me to say that I have written the above and foregoing pages under great difficulties.

25:38I have been constantly interrupted during the day by diligent newspaper reporters and by friends

25:43throughout the city and state assuring me that they are ready to aid in exposing the conspirators

25:48in their efforts to prejudice Burns and myself and to protect the murderer or murderers of Mary Fagan.

25:54Owing to the interruptions, I have only been able to cover some features of the case. In a later

26:00communication which I will furnish the press for publication, I expect to go into details in respect

26:06of the alleged corrupt practice of the heads of the several departments at the police station.

26:10Their many acts of moral turpitude are well known to numerous citizens of the city of Atlanta,

26:16and to them my recital will be no news. I pledge the good people of Atlanta to address myself at

26:22an

26:22early date assiduously to the task of not only fully exposing all of the conspirators,

26:27but to bring about their impeachment upon proceedings that I expect to institute looking to this end,

26:32and if I am successful in scourging them from the high places, I shall regard it as not only a

26:38great

26:38service rendered to a graft-ridden people, but the greatest achievement of my professional career.

26:43먼

26:44is

26:45no

26:45You

Sunday, 25th May 1913 Thomas Felder Brands the Charges of Bribery Diabolical Conspiracy

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