Sunday, 19th October 1913 Frank Innocent Says Man Who Claims To Be Murder Witness
The Atlanta Constitution,
Sunday, 19th October 1913,
PAGE 1, COLUMNS 1 AND 6.
HE WILL TELL
WHO
COMMITTED
CRIME
ON ARRIVAL
HERE
Makes Statement to Chief of
Birmingham Police
and Catches Train at Midnight
for Atlanta in
Company With Detective"
Prominent Citizen
Slew girl, He Says, But It Was
Not Frank.
By L. W. Friedman.
Birmingham, Ala., October 18"(Special.)"A Birmingham man
who says he was an eyewitness to the murder of Mary Phagan in
Atlanta, and who asserts positively that Leo M. Frank is not guilty,
left here at midnight tonight for Atlanta in company with the
detective sent to Birmingham by Sheriff Mangum, of Fulton
county.
This man, whose name has not been given out here, works
in Birmingham, and is a respectable citizen, according to local
police officers, to whom he made his statement.
The guilty man is a prominent citizen of Atlanta, he told
Chief Bodeker, of the Birmingham police, but it is not Leo Frank. I
have no interest in the case other than to see that no innocent
man hangs for the crime, and I will tell the whole story when I get
to Atlanta.
This man told his story to Chief Rodekar Friday, and the chief
promptly wired Sheriff Mangum. A detective arrived today, and
the man left with him for Atlanta at midnight.
Sheriff Mangum was reached by phone at his home early
Sunday morning and stated to a Constitution reporter that he
knew nothing about such a man in Birmingham"that he had
never heard anything of the case, and had not sent a detective to
Birmingham. Mr. Friedman, the man who sends the story to The
Constitution, is a reporter for The Birmingham News, and has
been for twenty years. He is probably the best known and one of
the most highly respected newspaper men in Alabama. The
Birmingham News is printing the story.
PAGE 50, COLUMN 3
ATLANTA
PYTHIANS
ARE PREPARING
FOR
DISTRICT
CONVENTION
The Pythians of Atlanta are making extensive preparations
for the fifth district convention of Pythias, to be held in Atlanta on
October 29.
The sessions of this convention will be held in the Phythian
assembly hall in the Kiser building, one beginning at 3 o'clock in
the afternoon and the other at 8 o'clock at night. The afternoon
session will be devoted to business, and will be attended by
delegates from every Pythian lodge in the fifth congressional
district. The night session will be devoted exclusively to the
promotion of sociability and good fellowship. To this evening
session every Knights of Pythias in reach of the convention hall is
invited to be present:
Among those invited to speak at this convention are
Supreme Chancellor Thomas J. Carling, Grand, Chancellor Miller S.
Bell, Past Grand Chancellors James W. Austin, Frank A. Hooper
and Hamilton Douglas. The program in detail will be announced
later.
PAGE 53, COLUMN 4
FRANK JURORS TO
OFFER
CHARACTER
AFFIDAVITS
Hearing Set for
Wednesday"Af-
fidavits to Be
Submitted for
Henslee and
Johenning.
Affidavits attesting the character and standing of A. H.
Henslee and M. Johenning, the two jurors in the Leo M. Frank case
accused of expressing personal animus before the trial, will be
part of the defense which Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey will
submit at the hearing Wednesday morning before Judge L. S.
Roan.
The date of hearing was definitely set as Wednesday when
attorneys representing the state and the defense appeared
Saturday before Judge Roan. Every indication is that the motion
will be settled next week, at least as far as the superior court is
concerned.
Solicitor Dorsey and Attorneys Frank A. Hooper and E. A.
Stephens held a lengthy conference Saturday afternoon with
Jurors Henslee and Johenning and both the men swore to
affidavits, denying the charges of bias. At that time they also
made preparations for the affidavits from other citizens as to their
character and reputation.
Dorsey Seeks Jurors Affidavits.
The solicitor has been working for over a week to get
affidavits from each of the jurors, denying that they were
influenced by the cheering for the solicitor, which took place
several times toward the close of the trial, and by which the
defense claims the jurors must have been influenced.
Juror J. V. L. Smith, who recently was notified that he was
heir to a small fortune, is now in New York in the interests of his
claim and the solicitor secured his address and mailed him an
affidavit for him to fill out and swear to before a notary or
commissioner.
Both the state and the defense are anxious to end the case
this week. Attorney Luther Z. Rosser declared in court Saturday
that unless the motion was heard at once that it would have to be
put off for a while, as he had other cases that were pressing him.
The solicitor also is anxious to get down to work on the scores of
other cases which are congesting the court docket.
New Evidence Coming.
Both sides agreed to submit to each other before the case is
taken up various papers which they have prepared and which
have not been made public. It is stated that both sides have
additional evidence to be produced at the hearing and which has
not been filed with the clerk of the court.
Judge Roan also urged haste in bringing up the motion,
saying that he felt it necessary to take his place on the court
appeals bench and allow Judge Benjamin H. Hill to become a
member of the Fulton superior court.
The fight, which is set for Wednesday, is expected to be a
long and bitter one and the various technical errors which Judge
Roan is alleged to have made on rulings which the defense
protested, will call for a great deal of argument and also for the
citing of many authorities and records of the decisions of the
supreme courts.
The fight over the charges against the two jurors will also
take up much time and may involve lengthy arguments before it
is finished.
A bound volume about two feet thick and representing all
the evidence taken in the previous case in which Frank was
convicted for the murder of Mary Phagan, was filled Saturday with
Deputy Clerk John H. Jones. This was formally placed on the court
records by the defense and was the typewritten transcript of the
court stenographer's notes.