00:00Ready to indict Conley as an accomplice, Atlanta, Georgian, Thursday, May 29, 1913, Dorsey ready to
00:05act if Negro sticks to latest story accusing Frank. Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey announced
00:11that if Conley persisted in his story, he would take steps to have him indicted as an accessory
00:15after the fact and bring him to trial on this charge. Conley was Friday afternoon removed to
00:21the tower on an order signed by Judge Rohn. Conley's startling tale came late Thursday afternoon
00:26after he had been under a merciless sweating for nearly three hours. Noting the signs of weakening,
00:31Detective Harry Scott and Chief Lanford shot question after question at him in rapid succession.
00:37Conley hesitated and then told the men who surrounded him that he had seen Mary Fagan on the day of
00:41the
00:41crime, but that she was dead when he saw her. When it became evident that he most important
00:46disclosures of the long investigation were to be made, G.C. February, Secretary to Chief Lanford,
00:52was called in and took the Negro statement, sticks to note story. Conley stuck to his story that Frank
00:58had him write the notes that were found by the girl's body and the detectives believed that there
01:02can be no doubt of this now. He said that after the notes were written, Frank took his arm and
01:07led him
01:07to the body. Frank's hand was shaking, the Negro declared. Together they raised the limp form from
01:13the floor, Conley told the detectives, and took it into the basement. Offering no explanation of the
01:19tragedy which had occurred, Frank ordered Conley to leave the building, according to the statement.
01:25Conley explained his long silence by saying that he thought Frank had plenty of money and that he
01:30would be able to get both of them free within a short time. Chief Lanford and Detective Scott both
01:35declared after the third degree that they were confident that the Negro at last was telling the
01:40truth. If he has any further knowledge of the crime, they said they would get it out of Friday when
01:45they put him through another grilling. Admission of Conley's statements into a court of justice is
01:50certain to be fought most bitterly. The fact that Conley has been discovered in a tangle of lies which
01:55he has been telling ever since his arrest three weeks ago is expected by the defense to go a long
02:00ways in shutting the doors against his affidavits. In addition to the maze of conflicting stories in
02:05which he has been involved, Conley has signed three separate statements, no two of which agree in
02:11some essential points. His first affidavit swore that he was not at the factory on the day Mary Fagan
02:17was murdered. His second affidavit swore that he was at the factory on the Saturday the girl was brutally
02:23slain, but that he left immediately after he had written the notes at the direction of Frank. He saw Mary
02:30Fagan neither alive nor dead, according to this document. His third affidavit, or statement, repudiated both of the
02:37other statements in many of their details, and declared that he did not leave the factory at the time, stated
02:43in the
02:43other affidavits, but instead assisted Frank to carry the little girl's body to the basement, where it was found by
02:50Newt Lee Sunday morning. The fact that the Negro has altered his statement in some important particular every succeeding
02:56time that he has been questioned has not served to throw suspicion on the Negro in the eyes of the
03:01detective. They have
03:03accepted at its face value each statement as it came, and each time announced themselves satisfied.
03:09Think he is merely a tool. They accept as true the explanation of Conley that he withheld much that he
03:15knew, and lied about
03:16much that he did tell, because he was afraid that if he told all, he would be in danger of
03:21hanging. He was merely a tool,
03:24they believe, and knew nothing about the actual murder of Mary Fagan. Another effort will be made to confront Frank
03:30with the
03:31Negro Friday. The detectives do not regard this as essential, but think it may serve further to strengthen the Negro
03:37story if he can be made to repeat it before Frank, or if he breaks down, to inject the possibility
03:42that he has
03:43manufactured the whole story to protect himself. The Negro, on his own admission, was in the factory for a
03:50considerable time on Saturday, and had an opportunity to commit the crime. The detectives declare they are not
03:56overlooking this fact in their questioning of Conley, although they are firmly convinced at present of his
04:01innocence. During the sweating process Thursday, they took copies of the Georgian into the office
04:06of Chief Lanford, and went carefully over the discrepancies in the Negro's testimony, with the
04:12apparent facts of the case. They made him give an explanation for every occurrence that had been
04:17overlooked on the day before, and went over some of the same ground that had been covered before,
04:21Lanford Mumm on developments. At the close of the third degree Thursday night, neither Chief Lanford nor
04:28Detective Harry Scott would admit that the Negro had made the important admissions. Did Conley admit
04:35that he had seen Mary Fagan alive or dead on the day of the murder? The chief was asked. I
04:40have nothing
04:40to say, replied Lanford. Did Conley make any admissions which indicated that he knew more about the murder
04:46than he divulged in his second affidavits? The reply was the same. The chief then was asked if there
04:52would be any statement of any sort to give out in regard to the testimony that had been obtained from
04:57the Negro. He replied that all he had to say was that he was greatly pleased with the evidence that
05:02had been secured, and that he still held to his belief that Frank was the guilty man. This portion was
05:08added from the following day of the same article editor.
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