00:00Negro Sweeper tells the story of Murder Notes, Atlanta Constitution, Thursday, May 29, 1913.
00:06James Conley makes new affidavits swearing that he wrote at the dictation of Leo M. Frank.
00:11Evidence chain now completes say police Conley declares Frank gave him $2.50 for writing the
00:17notes he writes Night Witch for Night Watchman. James Conley, the Negro Sweeper at the National
00:22Pencil Factory, in which little Mary Fagan was murdered, made a new affidavit Wednesday morning
00:27in which he threw additional light on the case, incriminating Leo M. Frank, and which detectives
00:33think will solve the long, drawn-out mystery. Right Night Watchman, he is said to have been
00:38commanded by detectives Wednesday morning. The result was Night Witch, just as in the note
00:43found by the body of the murdered girl. This, the detectives declare, is the strongest corroboration
00:49of his statement that he wrote the notes at the direction of Frank, the factory superintendent.
00:54The city detectives are said to put full credence in his statements now, as in the new affidavit
00:59he is said to have sworn that the notes were written on Saturday, about one o'clock, and
01:04not on Friday, as he first declared. Feared for his neck. His reason for deception the first
01:10time is said to be that he feared for his own neck if he admitted the truth. As matters
01:14stand now, he is regarded by the detectives merely as an unwilling tool, and not as an accomplice
01:19of the murderer, whomever he may be. According to this new affidavit, the Negro's complete
01:24story of his part in the affair is said to be as follows. A little after ten o'clock
01:29Saturday morning, he was standing at the corner of Forsyth and Nelson Streets, when Frank, his
01:34employer, passed by, going in the direction of Montag Brothers. Mr. Frank is said to have
01:39told him to wait there until he, Frank, came back. A few minutes later, according to the
01:44Negro, Frank returned and took him to the factory with him. Here he made the Negro sit on a
01:49box by the stairs, so the affidavit is said to state, and wait and see what he could see.
01:55When wanted, Frank is said to have told him that he would whistle. Be careful not to let
02:00Mr. Darley see you, he swears, the superintendent said. Heard Frank whistle. About an hour later
02:06the Negro is said to swear that he became sleepy, as he had had a beer, was in a comfortable
02:11position,
02:11and doing nothing. He dozed a while, and then awakened as he heard a sharp whistle, so he says,
02:17and saw Frank standing in the doorway at the head of the stairs. He responded to Frank's call,
02:22and when he reached the factory superintendent's side, the latter is said to have grasped the Negro
02:27under the arm. Conley swears that Frank was quaking violently. The Negro further swears that it gave
02:33him the impression that Frank wished to keep him from looking toward the rear. In this way, the Negro
02:38was led into Mr. Frank's office, so he swears. He also swears that as they passed the time clock,
02:43he looked up and noticed that it was four minutes to one o'clock. According to Frank's sworn testimony
02:49before the coroner's jury, before he was formally accused, the murdered girl, Little Mary Fagan,
02:55had received her pay and left before that hour, put him in wardrobe. The Negro swears that they went
03:01back into the inner office, Frank saying nothing, but still maintaining the tight grip on the Negro's arm.
03:06People were heard approaching, the Negro declares, and Frank put him in a big wardrobe,
03:10soon disposed of the visitors and released him from his temporary confinement. Then Frank,
03:16trembling from head to foot, so the Negro declares, said that he wanted to get a sample
03:20of the Negro's handwriting. Frank dictated, and the Negro wrote Conley swears that he remembers that
03:26one of the notes began, Dear Mother. Conley swears that as Frank walked back and forth nervously in
03:32the office, his hands trembled. He ran them constantly through his hair, and at one time muttered to
03:37himself in an undertone. There's no reason why I should hang. Conley says that after he finished
03:43writing, Frank warmly thanked him, called him good boy, etc., and gave him $2.50, and lead him to the
03:50door at the lead of the stairs. The Negro swears that he left the factory at ten minutes after one
03:55o'clock. He further states that he did not see Mary Fagan at any time on the day of the
04:00murder,
04:00and that he didn't see Frank again until Tuesday morning. Said he could not write.
04:04For the first two weeks of his incarceration, the Negro Conley stoutly maintained that he could not
04:10write. However, the detectives found that he had brought two watches on the installment plan
04:15and signed deeds to them. They compared his writing on these, they say, and found it identical with
04:21the writing on the slips of paper found by the body in the pencil factory. A short while after this
04:27he
04:27called for Detective John Black and made his confession. The fear that he himself would hang is said to be
04:32the reason that the Black denied any connection with the case. Conley still maintains that he had
04:38no knowledge of a crime being committed in the building. Chief Beavers has conferred with Judge
04:43Ellis Roan as to whether he could take the Negro to Frank's cell and confront the superintendent with
04:48the Black. Judge Roan, it is understood, told the chief that under the law, Frank would be entitled
04:54to consult his attorney and have the latter present should such a meeting be arranged. Frank's attorney,
05:00Luther Z. Rosser, is at present at Clayton-Rabun County, engaged in the Tallulah Falls suit.
05:06Sheriff Wheeler Mangum sent Frank word and the latter stated that he did not wish to see the
05:10officers or the Negro unless his attorney was present. Without Frank's consent, the sheriff would
05:16not allow the officials to visit Frank in the tower and the attempt was given up. Whether Chief
05:21Beavers will make another effort to get Frank and Conley together is not known. Conley has only admitted
05:26having written the phrase of the murder notes in which appear the words. That long, tall, black
05:31Negro did this by himself. He has not been shown the remainder of that note or the other note found
05:37beside the body. Detectives will today compare Conley's handwriting with that of the other note.
05:42The Negro says he wrote the other phrases at Frank's dictation but cannot recall any beside the
05:48words indicated. He says he can identify the other writing if it is shown him, which will be done
05:53sometime today. Detectives now place complete confidence in his story and will keep him in
05:59prison as a material witness in Frank's trial. Many people have wished to know just exactly how
06:04Conley copied the handwriting on the murder notes. Some believe that the notes were placed before him
06:09and he was told to copy them, while others think he wrote from dictation. According to Harry Scott of
06:15the Pinkertons, Conley has not yet seen the murder notes. The words were dictated to him but not
06:20spelled as was done in the case of Newt Lee. Conley's spelling corresponds with that of the note.
06:26Scott says that Conley's story is to the effect that he withheld his confession because he expected
06:30to be paid a large sum by Frank or his friends. When he made his first confession, he believed that
06:36if
06:36he admitted having written the notes on Saturday instead of Friday, it would incriminate him more than
06:41the suspected superintendent and he would be hanged on circumstantial evidence. The Negro Conley is
06:46regarded by the detectives as their most material witness. He is the missing link, they think, which
06:52connects the chain of circumstantial evidence which they have gathered. George W. Gentry, the young
06:57stenographer who took down the dictograph conversation, is in hiding at present, owing to
07:02annoyance caused by much questioning by strangers in regard to the affair. Gentry left Monday morning
07:08after an interview with a man who posed as a newspaper reporter and told Gentry that he was in danger
07:13of
07:13being arrested on a trumped-up charge. Since leaving, he is said to have been in constant
07:17communication with his mother or other members of the family at 32 East Alexander Street. His family
07:23are confident that he will return as soon as the excitement over the dictograph affair subsides.
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