00:00Burns Agency quits the Fagan case. Toby leaves today, Atlanta Constitution, Tuesday, May 27,
00:051913. Dan P. Lahann holds conference with Solicitor General Hugh Dorsey and other officials
00:11and then makes announcement of severance of connection with case. Felder to continue probe,
00:15he declares. No statement soon. One of the girls in the pencil factory brings statement to the
00:21Constitution defending the character of employees. Bribery attempts are denied. As a startling climax
00:27to the sensational turn of affairs in the Mary Fagan murder investigation, it was announced
00:31yesterday by Dan P. Lahann, Superintendent of the Burns Southern Offices, that his agency had retired
00:38from the investigation of the Atlanta mystery. The announcement was made after a conference he
00:42held for several hours with Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey and other officials promoting the
00:48investigation. C.W. Toby, Chief of the Burns Criminal Department, who has been in command of the Burns
00:53men at work on the case, leaves for Chicago this morning. Toby makes statement. Toby was seen last
01:00night by a reporter for the Constitution in his apartments at the Piedmont Hotel. He was preparing
01:05to leave the city but spared time to give the newspaper man a statement regarding the departure
01:09of the Burns forces and their attitude in the Mary Fagan case. General Superintendent Lahann, he said,
01:16left Atlanta Monday afternoon. The connection of the William J. Burns Agency with the Fagan case,
01:21he told the reporter, is now severed entirely. We have nothing whatever to do with the investigation.
01:26When these bribery charges were published, I immediately notified Dan Lahann, General Superintendent
01:32of the Southern branches of our organization. He came to Atlanta Monday morning. After he and I had
01:38conferred and he had talked with the Solicitor General and other officials interested in the case,
01:43his decision was to drop operations and return to Chicago. I will probably leave tomorrow or the
01:48following day just as soon as matters can be satisfactorily arranged. What is the principal
01:53reason for your severance of connection? he was asked. Primarily because in the face of open
01:58opposition and efforts to frustrate our work, we cannot successfully operate, he said. We cannot
02:04render service proportionate to the money we are being paid. It is being insinuated by certain forces
02:09that we are striving to shield Frank. Frank guilty, I believe. That is absurd. From what I developed in my
02:15investigation, I am convinced that Frank is the guilty man. We were working on the theory that he
02:21was the murderer. We were employed to find the slayer. We would have done it too, and pinned the
02:26guilty beyond a doubt, had we remained longer on the ground. Toby said the bribery charges of Chief
02:32Lanford and the counter charges were unfortunate, in that they create a situation which deplorably
02:38hampers the investigation of the murder. Solicitor Dorsey told Lahan, Toby said, that he possessed
02:45evidence to convict Frank, and that the investigation had been so thorough and successful that really,
02:51the Burns men would not be greatly needed any longer. He praised us for the work we did in the
02:56short time we were on the case, and said we had developed new phases which would prove invaluable to
03:01his case. Confidence in Felder. The Burns agent also declared his belief in Colonel Felder's sincere
03:07and honest attitude in the Fagan case. He said the attorney had employed his agency only to apprehend
03:13the slayer, and that upon his arrival in Atlanta, he had been told by Felder that, from all appearances,
03:19Frank was guilty. He stated, too, that he had never exerted a single effort toward investigating
03:24alleged corruption in the police or detective department, and that he had never anticipated doing
03:29so. Colonel T. B. Felder, foremost figure in the bribery charges and counter charges of police
03:35corruption, would make no statement to Reporters Monday. He would not commit himself on Lahan's
03:40statement that the Burns men had detached themselves from the Fagan investigation. Mr. Felder says,
03:46however, that his individual investigation would continue as in the past, and that he had no
03:51intention whatever of ending his efforts. Not until he deems it seasonable, he declares, will he issue
03:57additional statements to the newspapers. Lahan reaches Atlanta. Lahan came from New Orleans
04:03Monday, in answer to instructions given, it is said, from his New York office, sending him to
04:08investigate the Atlanta situation. He immediately conferred with the Solicitor General and others.
04:14The indictment of Leo Frank has not served to lessen in the slightest the energy of the police
04:18headquarters detectives, the Pinkerton men, and the Solicitor General's staff. Chief Lanford and Harry
04:24Scott of the Pinkertons both say that they each unearthed evidence sufficient to convict the
04:29suspected superintendent. No new developments arose Monday. Frank maintains his attitude of silence,
04:36refusing to see anyone besides his friends and relatives. A stranger greeting him in his cell at
04:41the tower gets only a fleeting glimpse of the prisoner. Bribery attempts denied. Strong denial is made,
04:47however, of rumored bribery attempts to pay witnesses for the prosecution to leave the city.
04:52These denials are made by attorneys representing the suspect. Another denial of a published report
04:58was made Monday by Colonel Felder, who declared that the rumor of this elimination from the Fagan
05:03case was false to the core, and that his efforts, instead of slacking, would continue with renewed
05:08vigor. It was published that Mr. Felder is eliminated entirely from the case, and that up until the time he
05:14had begun to bombard the public with statements of his belief of Frank's guilt, it was generally believed he
05:20was in the suspect's employ. Complete denial is made of this report. The following unsigned statement
05:26has been personally submitted to the Constitution by a young girl employee of the National Pencil Factory
05:32who champions conditions in that plant and the character of their imprisoned superintendent.
05:37I wish to speak in behalf of our factory and the girls working there, and would like for the public
05:42to
05:42know that we all thought just as much of little Mary Fagan as we possibly could, and are just as
05:47anxious to
05:48see the guilty punished as the rest of the public. Nothing was ever said about the girls of the National
05:53Pencil Factory
05:54until after the terrible murder, but since there has been one continual talk, just as though we were to blame
06:01for
06:01the deed, good as any girls. If the public would only interest themselves enough to look into other factories and
06:08stores, they would soon find that the girls of the National Pencil Factory are just as good as any other
06:14set of
06:15working girls in the city. Of course, it looks rather hard to the public for us to have to work
06:20in the
06:20building where one of our companions was so horribly murdered, but even at that we are all poor girls
06:25trying to make an honest living, and we try not to think of the gruesome tragedy any more than possible,
06:30and we have the interest of the company too much at heart to desert them in times of trouble.
06:35We try to look on the bright side of this trouble, and hope it will be only a few days
06:40until everything
06:41will be all right once more. We all hope and pray that the guilty will be duly punished and the
06:46innocent given their
06:47freedom, for we all feel that our superintendent was, and still is, a soul himself, so much as to think
06:53of such a
06:54thing, much less commit such a horrible crime. Hoping the guilty man will soon be brought to justice, and that
07:01the
07:01public will soon be satisfied, I am a girl of the National Pencil Factory, confers with police.
07:08C.C. Sears, superintendent of the Atlanta branch of the Burns Detective Agency, communicated with Chief
07:14Beavers and Chief Lanford Monday afternoon, telling them of the severance of connection with the Fagan
07:20investigation, and notifying them that he would mail letters of explanation to the police department
07:25sometime today. According to Chief Lanford, Superintendent Sears gave, as the reason for the Burns
07:31action, the desire to get out of an unfortunate situation. Toby, he said, would return immediately
07:37to Chicago to resume his duties as chief of the criminal department. Regarding the Burns agent,
07:43Chief Lanford has said, Toby, I believe, is straight and honest. He was victimized by Felder. The Burns
07:49man, I am convinced, was working toward the interest of those seeking to clear the mystery. He just boarded
07:54the wrong boat. That was all like the old dog tray, got mixed in the wrong company.
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