Sunday, 9th November 1913: Jim Conley Faces Trial On Tuesday, The Atlanta Journal

Negro

Charged With Being Ac-

cessory After Fact in Murder

of Mary Phagan

Jim Conley, the negro sweeper at the

National Pencil factory, principal witness against Leo M. Frank, who is under

sentence of death for the murder of Mary Phagan on April 26, will be put on

trial Tuesday before Judge B. H. Hill, of the criminal division of the Fulton

county superior court.

Conley is under two indictments, both

charging him with being an accessory after the fact in the murder of the Phagan

girl. These indictments are based upon his own admission that he assisted Frank

in taking the girls body to the factory basement and that he wrote the notes

found by the body.

One of the indictments against Conley

was brought on a section of the criminal code which fixes the offense with

which he is charged as a felony, the punishment being five years. The other indictment

is based upon another section of the code which classifies the crime of an

accessory after the fact in a murder case as a misdemeanor, the maximum penalty

for which is one year.

Conley will

plead guilty when he is arraigned in court.