00:00Servant of Frank is liberated after long examination, Atlanta Constitution, Wednesday,
00:04June 4, 1913. Despite grueling third degree, woman maintains denial of having told conflicting
00:10stories. Faced by husband, she contradicts him. Her release came after her attorney had threatened
00:16to take out habeas corpus proceedings. Manola McKnight, the servant girl held in the Mary
00:20Fagan case, was given her freedom early last night and left police headquarters for her home
00:25on Pulliam Street. She was not liberated, however, until the detectives had obtained her signature
00:30to an affidavit telling what she knew of Frank's actions the day of the murder. Her husband,
00:35who was also carried to the police station at noon, was freed a short while before his wife
00:39left the prison. He was present during the third degree of four hours, under which she was placed
00:44in the afternoon. He is said to have declared, even in the presence of his wife, that she had
00:49told conflicting stories of Frank's conduct on the tragedy date. She is reported as having denied
00:55the man's statement in whole, clinging to her first story, which corroborated Frank's story before
01:01the coroner's jury. The detectives are silent regarding her statement. In fact, more so than
01:07during any other stage of the investigation. It is believed that on her story hinges a development
01:12fully as important as any of the results previously obtained. Charge is suspicion. The charge on which
01:18she was put in prison was suspicion. Her attorney, George Gordon, informed the authorities Tuesday
01:23afternoon that it was illegal to hold a person more than 24 hours on a suspicion charge, unless their
01:29charge was obviously well-founded, and had threatened habeas corpus proceedings. No direct
01:34accusation could be made against the woman, and she therefore was entitled to the freedom given her at
01:39dusk. The examination was through and exacting. It was conducted by Detectives Starnes and Campbell at
01:46the order of Solicitor Dorsey, to whose office the two headquarters men have been attached throughout
01:50the Mary Fagan investigation. No one else connected with headquarters was admitted. Two strange men,
01:56however, whose identity was kept secret, were present. After she had been quizzed to a point of
02:02exhaustion, Secretary G.C. Febuary, attached to Chief Lanford's office, was summoned to note her
02:07settlement in full. Statement Long One. It was the longest statement made by the woman since her
02:12connection with the mystery. It will be used, probably in the trial. The Negress was calm and
02:18composed upon emerging from the examination. It was learned Tuesday afternoon that both James
02:23Conley and the servant girl have obtained counsel. Attorney William M. Smith, a conspicuous figure in
02:29many of the city's famous criminal trials, announced that he had been retained by the Negro sweeper and
02:34would represent him throughout the case. George Gordon, a well-known local attorney, has been elected to
02:40represent the Negress. He was at police headquarters all Tuesday afternoon and sat outside the doorway
02:45leading to the room in which his client was being cross-examined. The detectives would not admit him
02:50to the interrogation. Just who is defraying the woman's expenses for counsel is not known.
02:56Attorney Smith admits, however, that Conley is employing him personally. He spent two hours Tuesday morning
03:02interviewing his client and declared to reporters his belief that the Negro was telling the truth.
03:07He was confident that he would maintain the story during trial. There was little, if any, developments
03:12in the case Tuesday. Headquarters detectives who have been investigating the crime were all summoned
03:17before the grand jury and were forced to spend their time at the courthouse. The solicitor, too,
03:22was engaged with the jury. Only Starnes and Campbell were at work on the case. Their energies were devoted
03:27to the McKnight woman's examination. Evidence is important. That some important testimony has been
03:33developed by the cross-examination of the Negress is evinced by the secrecy cloaking the nature of
03:38her statement and affidavit. Chief Lanford has declared that he is hands-off in her connection
03:43with the mystery. Solicitor General Dorsey, he says, has personally requested to be allowed full sway
03:49in investigating the woman, and the chief has granted the wish. Mr. Dorsey said to a reporter Tuesday
03:54night, I will not talk regarding the McKnight woman. Too much publicity at this stage will do
03:59inestimable injury. He emphatically refused to answer any and all questions, as did the two
04:04headquarters detectives assisting him in the case. More mystery is added to the Negress connection by
04:10the presence of Ernest H. Pickett of 295 Rawson Street and Roy L. Craven of 11 Campbell Street,
04:17both of whom assisted the detectives in subjecting her to the third degree. Pickett and Craven,
04:22immediately when the examination was over, eluded reporters at police headquarters and,
04:27when afterwards seen, refused to explain their connection with the case. Employees of Beck and
04:32Gregg. Both men are employees of the Beck and Gregg hardware concern, the head of which L.H. Beck is
04:38foreman of the grand jury which indicted Leo Frank. Significance is attached to this connection of the
04:43jury's foreman, but the veil of mystery is lifted slightly by the fact that Albert McKnight, husband
04:49of the imprisoned servant, is also a porter at the Beck and Gregg establishment. Solicitor Dorsey will not
04:54explain the nature of a big picture now locked in his office, over which he and his detectives
04:59poured last night for an hour or more. When a reporter entered his place at nightfall,
05:04Starnes and Campbell, perspiring freely, their shirts open at the throat and their coats and
05:09collars removed, were examining the mysterious picture. The reporter's view was obstructed by a
05:14sheet of paper, thrown hurriedly over the picture. Whether it is a diagram of some sort,
05:19or whether it is a clue found in the woman's home, is a matter of conjecture. The affidavit
05:24sworn by the servant girl is rumored to contain the statement that Frank arrived at his East Georgia
05:29Avenue home between one and two o'clock on the murder afternoon, and that he departed after
05:34remaining only five or ten minutes. Also it is said to state that he came home about five o'clock
05:39in
05:39the afternoon. The rest is not known.
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