00:00May indict Conley as Slayer. The Atlanta Georgian, Tuesday, July 1, 1913. Grand Jury reported as
00:06seriously considering connection of Negro with the crime. A well-founded rumor Tuesday was to
00:11the effect that the Grand Jury had Jim Conley's connection with the Mary Fagan murder mystery
00:15under serious consideration with a view of finding an indictment against the Negro
00:19on the charge of causing the death of the little factory girl. Announcement was made after the
00:25close of Tuesday's session that the present Grand Jury would hold its last session Wednesday,
00:30and it was reported that if action were not taken on Conley's case before adjournment,
00:34recommendations would be left with the next Grand Jury suggesting that the Negro's connection
00:38with the crime be rigidly investigated. If the indictment is returned against the Negro,
00:44it will mean that he will be taken from the custody of the detectives and placed in the tower.
00:49He also will bear a different relation to the case in the future, being a defendant instead of a
00:54material witness. Attorneys interested in the case said they had heard nothing of the proposed action
01:00by the Grand Jury. Rumors that Newt Lee, Negro night watchman at the National Pencil Factory,
01:06had made sensational disclosures to his attorney, Bernard L. Chappell, and would be one of the
01:12state's most important witnesses in the trial of Leo M. Frank, were set at rest Tuesday by Mr. Chappell.
01:18The Negro's attorney said after the inquest that he would make no effort to procure the release of Lee,
01:23as he believed his client was a vital witness, and it would be the wisest plan for him to remain
01:28in
01:28the protection of the state. His statements at this time and up to the date of the indictment
01:33found against Frank led to the impression that Lee had confided in his lawyer significant
01:38circumstances, which he has told neither to the detectives nor to the members of the coroner's
01:43jury, denies confession reports. Mr. Chappell said Tuesday, however, that Lee had told nothing which
01:49had not already been published in the newspapers, and that he was absolutely certain that the Negro
01:54had been holding back nothing. The attorney said that until Conley had made his string of affidavits
01:59for the detectives, he had regarded Lee as one of the most important witnesses the state could produce.
02:05Conley's entrance into the case, he thought, changed the whole aspect of the mystery, and largely
02:11eliminated the importance of Lee's testimony, for the reason that its significance on the assumption
02:16that Frank was the only person having the opportunity to commit the crime, was lost when it became
02:21known that Conley also was in the factory, and acting suspiciously near the time it is thought the
02:27girl was murdered. Lee's testimony still remains valuable in the eyes of the attorneys for the
02:32prosecution, and the night watchman will be called to add to the long string of circumstantial
02:37evidence that will be produced by the state. Solicitor Dorsey regards as highly significant the Negro's
02:43story of what happened the Saturday afternoon of the murder. Two sides a phone incident. One of the
02:48circumstances that the state considers suspicious is that Newt Lee found the door leading from the
02:53second floor down to the first closed and locked. It had been his experience, he has testified, that
02:59Frank, when in the E building alone, would lock the street door, but leave the door between the two
03:05floors wide open. Lee said that he went to Frank's office, and that the factory superintendent was
03:10rubbing his hands in a nervous manner. Another feature of his testimony was that Frank called
03:15him up in the evening, something he, Lee's evidence, in Frank's case, discounted, attorney denies
03:20confession, asserts, Conley affidavits, put the watchman in background. Continued from page one.
03:26Never had done before. While the prosecution will lay great weight on this testimony, the defense will
03:32seek to show that it is entirely without significance. Admitting that Frank never called Lee before in the
03:38evening, Frank's attorneys will present evidence to show that he had called repeatedly when the
03:43former night watchman was employed at the factory, and that he was led to call the night of April 26th,
03:49because a discharged employee, J. M. Gant, had been in the factory, and he wished to make certain
03:55that Gant had left. Those concerned in the trial of Frank are awaiting with interest the outcome of the
04:01fight over the subpenas duces tecum issued by the defense. The state has announced that it will
04:06combat the enforcement of these subpenas and has branded them as a subterfuge of Frank's lawyers
04:11to discredit the witnesses introduced by the prosecution. If the state fails, it will have
04:16to produce in court all of the affidavits and statements made by its principal witnesses.
04:21The defense will be able to use these to make a close comparison of the oral testimony with that
04:26which was sworn to weeks before. In the event that any of the witnesses give testimony in any respect
04:32contradictory to the statements in their affidavits, the defense will be in a position
04:37to impeach and discredit their testimony. Solicitor Dorsey and attorney Frank A. Hooper have
04:42characterized this as trickery on the part of the defense, and have announced that they do not
04:47propose to submit their mass of affidavits for the use of the defense, if the law will protect them
04:53in the matter.
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